September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. While ovarian cancer only plays a small part in Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace, its affect on the Pierson family is profound.

Ovarian cancer is very treatable if detected early; however because there is no reliable test, the vast majority of cases are not detected until the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries. For this reason it’s crucial that women must become familiar with the symptoms of ovarian cancer and recognize and understand those symptoms in their own bodies.

Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance and the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition provide detailed information on symptoms, detection, treatment options, etc. Symptoms are subtle but persistent, frequently increasing over time. They include:

            Bloating
            Pelvic or abdominal pain
            Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
            A feeling of frequency or urgency to urinate

Other symptoms commonly reported include: fatigue, indigestion, back pain, intercourse pain, constipation, and menstrual irregularities. However, these symptoms are not as useful in identifying ovarian cancer because they are often found in women in the general population who do not have ovarian cancer.

Women should consult their physician if these symptoms persist for more than a few weeks. When ovarian cancer is diagnosed early, the 5-year survival rate is 93% so it’s important that every woman be aware of ovarian cancer and the symptoms.

The horrific car accident in which a woman driving drunk killed eight last week in New York sheds light on a disturbing trend - the increased instances of women getting behind the wheel when legally drunk.

In Westchester County, NY - where Diane Schuler’s fatal crash occurred - the number of women arrested for driving under the influence is up 2 percent in 2009. Across the U.S. a federal study found that the number of women who reported abusing alcohol nearly doubled, rising from 1.5 to 2.6 percent in the 10 year period from 1992-2002.

Men still drink more than women and are responsible for more drunken-driving cases, however their rates continue to decline while DUI’s among women are rising rapidly. In 2007 the number of women arrested for DUI was 28.8 percent higher than in 1998, while the number of men arrested declined by 7.5 percent.

In the 15 years I drank, I was never picked up for DUI. Did I drive drunk? Unfortunately, my answer is yes, worse there was more than one occasion where I did not remember how I got home. In Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace, Kay Scott tells her brother Paul he must stop drinking before he is responsible for something “he can never take back” and certainly driving drunk is at the top of the list.

Ms. Schuler’s family appears to be in denial that she had a drinking problem, a fact which only compounds the tragedy. But the increasing numbers of women driving drunk now has the attention of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The department’s annual crackdown which begins in late August will focus on getting drunk women driver’s off the road.

HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET…..IF WE EVER KNEW…?
by Deloris Wright

This is the story of our Grandmothers, and Great-grandmothers, as they lived only 90 years ago.  It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.  Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of ‘obstructing sidewalk traffic.’  

They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold.  Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the ‘Night of Terror’ on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail.  Their food–all of it colorless slop–was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.      

So, refresh my memory. Some women won’t vote this year because–why, exactly?  We have carpool duties?  We have to get to work?  Our vote doesn’t matter?  It’s raining?

Read Deloris Wright’s complete essay on the difficulties and brutality our foremothers faced in fighting for the right to vote, by clicking here.

This election day, remember how lucky we are and how far we have come. More so than any other election year history is being made and you can be a part of it by exercising your right to vote for the candidate of your choosing.

Earlier this week, a study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research that indicates even a small amount of alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer, particularly estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor positive breast cancer.

Since Shades of Darkness includes the topics of alcoholism and cancer, I found the correlation between even moderate drinking and an increased breast cancer risk intriguing. While previous data has suggested that consuming alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer, precise mechanisms had not been clarified.

The new study followed 184,000 postmenopausal women for an average of seven years. The study found that women who had less than one drink a day increased their risk of breast cancer by 7 percent compared to teetotalers. Women who consumed two drinks a day had a 32 percent increased risk, and those having three or more glasses of alcohol per day increased their risk to 51 percent. The risk was similar whether women consumed beer, wine, or spirits. However, the risk was seen mostly in those 70 percent of tumors classified as estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor positive.

Other researchers urged caution in interpreting the results, but women can learn more about breast cancer at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Additionally, women, especially those over the age of 40 need to be sure they are getting regular mammograms. For a recovering alcoholic such as myself, discussing an increased risk due to past behavior with my physician is something I will pursue.

March celebrates Women’s History Month and the many achievements of women throughout history. This year’s theme - Women’s Art, Women’s Vision - seems especially appropriate as I launch my novel, Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace.
This is true for a couple of reasons. First, there is the idea of writing as an art form, one I’m committed to as a female author looking to tell stories that have at their core multifaceted women protagonists, and in the case of this work, antagonists as well.

Second, the novel is told from the perspective of Kay, oldest of the Pierson children. This is a woman who is on equal footing with her two brothers, and one who is tough, strong-willed, smart, and successful, but also understands the depth of her flaws. She most likely inherits those traits from her mother, Beverly, who like her daughter has found success in business, while being forthright in her opinions and beliefs. Both women put a premium on their family and aren’t hesitant to protect those they love.

For all the anguish she causes, Pamela too, is a woman who knows what she wants and goes after it, regardless of the cost. Pamela is a consummate manipulator who finds the weakness in others only to exploit it, and she is a woman who understands the power of sex and how to wield it to her advantage.

Women in art and in history are not one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs but complicated beings with desires and conflicts. Whether they represent the good, the bad, or somewhere in between, celebrate women in all of their vast diversity.