As much as I agree with her on almost everything, I really can't recommend anyone read anything written online by Amy Tuteur. She's not good at Tone On The Internet. Really really REALLY NOT GOOD.

Harriet Hall is much much better. Same information, but less likely to send people into rage blackouts.

(And on further inspection, the actual linked article is by Dr Isis, who is also fairly awesome. So it's safe to click, as long as you don't follow any internal links to Amy Tuteur. Seriously, don't do it. But the rest of Science-Based Medicine is fantastic.)

Allyson, glad your car is done and fixed!

I love Bloggess. When one of hte kids is especially pesky, we yell, "KNOCK KNOCK" to replace the desire to yell Motherfucker at them.

And let's not forget that fake medicine is also a billion-dollar industry. It turns out you can make a lot more money when you don't have to prove that your products actually do anything. (Or, in the case of homeopathy, when the whole point is to guarantee that your products contain nothing at all.)

At yoga, my teacher was talking about the fact that her friend went to Deepak Chopra's We Care which, with a regiment of juice fasts and daily colonics, cures people who have cancer or at least prolongs terminal cancer patient's lives. My yoga teacher was deeply skeptical of that claim and said her friend went because she wanted to lose another 25 lbs. I mean, cures cancer AND encourages anorexia!

Have any of you read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks? Such an awesome book. But the fact that they used to treat cervical cancer by packing radium into the vagina and then sewing it in place? Fucked up. But fascinating.

But the fact that they used to treat cervical cancer by packing radium into the vagina and then sewing it in place?

The most effective treatment of my mother's cancer wasn't that different. They inserted thin hollow tubes around the tumor and put radium pellets into the tubes and exposed it to very focused radiation. Same idea but more refined.

with a regiment of juice fasts and daily colonics, people cure cancer or at least prolongs terminal cancer patient's lives.

The assumption being that people with terminal cancer want to spend more of their remaining time getting daily colonics?

Have any of you read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

It's on my list! But no, not yet.

I just bought the Henrietta Lacks book, Kat. I've been reading all up about her on the internet, and keep telling people at work about her (there's a tentative parallel to a user ID we use for testing without the user's knowledge). Except he's not HeLa. He's HaNa.

I read the HeLa book, and I found most fascinating the dynamics between the author and the family. It was a nice change from the "white person swoops in and saves the black people" narrative.

I already knew about that cancer treatment because I am pretty sure that Anais Nin had the same treatment, and at one point I actually read all of her diaries.

ETA: every time I think about HeLa I get earwormed with Hey Ya!

Is HaNa is first two initials of first and last name, ita?

I cannot recommend Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks highly enough. It's just so well done and so fascinating. I read it from the library on my Nook and then I bought a hardcopy of the paperback. I am thinking of getting a class set and having my seniors read it as a their book from my class.

The assumption being that people with terminal cancer want to spend more of their remaining time getting daily colonics?

I don't know. I am skeptical about cleanses to begin with. I get the point, but I kinda think it's bunk. Essentially at We Care, you do a juice fast for 4 days with daily colonics and then you break your fast with a dehydrated rice cracker and some lemon. My yoga teacher's friend basically felt like that cracker was the best thing she's ever eaten. And she left having seen the light on how great cleanses are so now she wants to be a raw food vegan. Sigh.

Sophia, this is kind of tangential, but an acquaintance of mine who works in a costume shop at my former place of employment has a blog you might find interesting: [link] Lots of detailed info on the rigs she makes, and hats, and safety, and reducing the water needed for dying, and all kinds of things. She teaches MFA students, among other things.

I found most fascinating the dynamics between the author and the family. It was a nice change from the "white person swoops in and saves the black people" narrative.

Absolutely. And the deep suspicion the family had about Skloot herself. And the insane duration of the relationship. So much of it is riveting.

Also, David, thank you for the nice comment on my "mastery". I have been feeling more and more that what I have to learn now has more to do with sharing what I know and how I do that than learning new skills, although there are certainly skills that I lack. But as a broad-based costume person, I know at least a little bit about how to do a lot of things. And if I just keep doing those things and don't share them, I am doing my students a disservice.