In my column Sunday, I told my tale of rescue and redemption on Poplar Avenue, and I’ve been amazed by the response. Lots of shout-outs yesterday at church, and I had a delightful message this morning from Howard Lee, whose wife uses a walker, and who was delighted and gratified by the help she got at a restaurant out near Wolfchase. Being grateful seems contagious … pass it on! And share your stories … what are you grateful for?

Sometimes I hear a story that’s so sad, it’s almost unbearable, and this is one, sent by way of a friend in Florida. But grab a tissue and read it. Then, if you know or love a teen, find out more about Menactra, the meningitis vaccine, and get your kid vaccinated. Now.

It was about a week ago that I watched one of my best friends and her husband bury their 19-year-old daughter.Rachel Futterman was a happy, feisty, energetic, athletically gifted student at the University of South Florida. Last Saturday night, at 11:30 pm, I received a phone call; good news never arrives in late night phone calls. In a whispered voice, Karen said, “Barb, it’s Rachel Futterman.  She’s in a coma at University Hospital in Tampa.  She’s got bacterial meningitis.  It doesn’t look good.  She’s not showing any brain activity.  Tammy’s hysterical.” By the next morning, Karen and I were in Tampa holding vigil by Rachel’s bedside.  We watched as Tammy, Joel, Robert, and Jaime endured two agony filled days watching their daughter and sister survive on life support.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s always a mind-blowing night — the first time I went I actually met Rosa Parks — and last night’s Freedom Awards gala didn’t disappoint. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first democratically elected leader of Liberia, set the tone when she reflected on her awe at being in Memphis, and touring the National Civil Rights Museum, and the 92-year-old historian John Hope Franklin voiced my own feelings when he chided his country for sitting around wondering whether “it’s almost time” for a woman to lead it. He named the long list of nations who have elected women leaders, and wondered how we could be so “short-sighted and arrogant” as to not want to put our future into the hands of women. Not a commercial for any one candidate, he said, but a ringing endorsement of thinking that shouldn’t be so radical in 2007. Amen, Mr. Franklin.

And more good news for the museum: The Ford Fund has given it $1 million to use to refurbish the permanent exhibits and develop new technology and educational programming. Don’t be distracted by the recent heat and light about the lease of the museum — this is a treasure that our community needs to continue to value, and last night shows that the museum and its board are committed to continuing to play at the highest level.

 What is it about this time of year? In my column Sunday, I mentioned a few of my friends who had recently gotten diagnoses of breast cancer, and today I heard from an old friend in the fight who, I’m sorry to say, is wrestling with another chapter of her breast cancer drama. When she saw yesterday on Oprah that Dr. Oz was interviewing “cancer patients who are dying pretty soon, I thought I simply couldn’t watch it. I am too emotional right now, too vulnerable … But, Leanne, I’m so glad I did. Because they were so strong, so together, as to what’s important in this life, that it just gave me resolve to nag the crap out of women to get their damn mammograms.”

In what I can’t imagine is a coincidence, one of the women on Oprah was Kris Carr, author of “Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips” (a Skirt! book; read more here) and queen of a burgeoning movement to empower women with scary diagnoses (as well as young women with cancer) to take the fight into their own hands. My only quibble … Read the rest of this entry »

Is to watch this every morning before going out into a world that can seem scary, what with crime and fears of crime, prejudice real and perceived, the grind of life that leaves you exhausted at the end of the day.I know it made my day.