Why is this Holiday / New Year's message on time?
Well, of course because it is actually last year's letter a little late. Really! I was still thinking about writing a letter about 2006 at the time of the 2007 Summer solstice! And I had been thinking about putting this New Year's message up on Ye Olde Cancer Blog, where I had my year-end message about 2005 (here) . But I decided to start with a clean slate /blogger template -- although I don't mean to keep this up as a blog, it's just a New Year's update.
HEALTH -- all good news
Recent good news: Learned that I do NOT have the breast cancer gene
A very simple blood test (costing $3100, but paid for by my insurance) revealed this good news. You can learn more about the breast cancer gene here.
An article in the New York Times in September discussed the issue of testing for the breast cancer gene in detail, and I raised it again with my doctors.
Previously they had said, since I had no family history of breast cancer, I didn’t have the gene. But reading that article made me want to know for sure. And, genetically speaking, I don’t have a lot of family members – I have no cousins or aunts who are blood relatives. My father was an only child, and so was my mother’s father (men can carry the gene but are much less likely than women to get the disease). So it seemed possible that the gene could be lurking. If I had the gene, it would mean I faced a 40-55% cancer of a reoccurrence of my cancer. Without the gene, my odds for a reoccurrence are around 10% -- still not great (ain’t no-one sellin’ me any life insurance …) but much better than having the gene Women who do have the gene face the decision of having prophylactic surgery: removal of the breast(s) and / or ovaries, or just to have more intensive monitoring. So I don't have to face that decision. Yay!!
I continue to be checked by my cancer specialists quarterly, and to be in great health.
On the sad side: One member of my cancer support group, Roberta, passed away (in October), and a memorial service was organized by another member of our group and held just a few days before X-mas. She was an incredibly vivacious woman and it is quite sad to face that the disease can conquer someone who had been so electrifyingly full of energy.
A toast to Guinness (the dog)
2006 was the year of the dog – in the Chinese calendar and in my life. First, my roommate got a greyhound. My two elderly cats passed away – Pam in Dec. 2005, then Bertie in March 2006. The end of an era! I still do find stray bits of cat hair and kitty litter. The roommate moved away, and in Sept 2006 I got Guinness – an adorable long-haired dachshund -- he was then 9 months old (born on Jan. 4, 2006). I got him through Rosie's daughter, Ariela – he belonged to her boss, who found she didn’t have time for a puppy. I got a real dose of puppy behavior as he chewed through the computer cords (crashing the hard drive – luckily he wasn't a fried hot-dog!) and even my breast prosthesis (Mmm, yummy silicone!!)
Now he's almost 2 and much calmer. But, still I contemplate on the profound change of going from being a "cat person" for 17 years to being a "dog person." Maybe it's something like having a sex change – I really relate to the world in a different way, people who never looked at me before are so friendly and engaging!
Travel / Family / Friends
There was lots of travel: New Years 2006 in Guatemala, also a week in Guatemala in April 2007, at a language school (really great and incredibly cheap). Here's a picture of me in Guatamala (Quetzaltenango)Feb. 2006: Cuba (!!!) for an amazing week with some colleagues from the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis
August 2006 – Santa Fe, NM – My mom and I saw some great opera
Oct. 2006 -- Prestigious NEA Journalism Institute, hosted by Columbia University. My journalistic products are here and here, as well as the Clarke Society Newsletter.
Nov. 2006 – Hawaii (Oahu ) – hey, it was a conference, lots of hard work! Followed by Thanksgiving in California with my family.
August 2007 – Oxford UK with Laura Macy for the Scrabble tournament (just kidding, we played a lot of Scrabble, with her winning almost all of it.)
November 2007 – AMS (American Musicological Society) in Quebec City
Speaking of family – my sister is now a very successful Realtor with her own webpage
My niece has her driver's license and a job at a photography store. My nephew continues to play guitar and is learning to drive. Both are doing well at school.
Rosie and I celebrated our fourth anniversary. Links for Rosie's rabble rousing here and professional life here.
This summer, my mom exhibited several of her artworks (in watercolor and fiber media) at the Kniznick Gallery in the WSRC
Friends -- well, friends, you're the ones reading this, right?? I feel so fortunate to have such a fabulous, devoted and fun group of friends!!
Work: Clarke and other historic women
I had the very great privilege of teaching a class on women composers (mostly historic) at Brandeis in the spring of 2007. The eight students and one auditor represented a wide spectrum of experience and interests. They all did excellent work and we contributed articles to Wikipedia (the online dictionary) about many of the composers we studied.
The Rebecca Clarke Society's commission of composer Ruth Lomon to orchestrate Clarke's Sonata for Viola came to fruition with the premiere on June 8, 2007 – this was a very big project. That performance was certainly the first of many – the second will be on Feb 10, 2007!
An audio file of the second movement (Vivace) of the orchestrated Sonata is available on our website where there is also information and our latest newsletter (PDF).
I also started working on a project revitalizing The Women's Philharmonic as an advocacy organization; I'll be focusing on this a lot in 2008.
SAVE THE DATE: NOV. 2, 2008
On Oct. 16, I'll be turning 50, and by way of a birthday party, I am planning a concert. So far I have the date, Sunday, Nov. 2 – I'm pretty sure about this. Also the place, The Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis, and it will be a string quartet concert: I've commissioned a new work from a Cuban composer, Magaly Ruiz, and a work by Ruth Lomon will be on the program. For the rest of the details, stay tuned!
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