NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, herself a breast cancer survivor, talk above about one of the biggest concerns sparked by the new guidelines: that insurance companies will now choose not to cover mammograms for women under 50. Doctors say this won't happen immediately, but is certainly possible, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance is already changing its system for grading health plans to reflect the new recommendations. Because of this, many worry that the change is motivated by a desire for cost-cutting, and not a concern for women's health. Carol H. Lee of the American College of Radiology says,

The only conclusion I can come to is it's economically motivated. In this climate, when we are all paying attention to how we can decrease the cost of health care, in my opinion that's the primary motivation.

But the United States Preventive Services Task Force, which not only recommended the change in mammogram ages but also said breast self exams have little benefit, says the real issue is unnecessary screening and even treatment. Women in their 40s are 60% more likely to experience false positives from mammograms, leading to unnecessary follow-up tests and anxiety. While these risks may seem relatively minor, early screening also increases the odds that a woman will be treated for cancer that never would have sickened her — and unnecessary cancer treatment is a much more serious proposition than a biopsy. Some women, in fact, seem relieved by the new guidelines. 51-year-old Nancy Moylan told the New York Times,

Sure, I know plenty of women who have breast cancer. And I know many, many women who've received false-positives. It always struck me that most women seemed so relieved to know that they don't have cancer that they never took the next step and said, ‘Hey, why was I just put through that anxiety? I've had all these invasive tests and worry only to find out that the mammogram isn't all it's cracked up to be?'

What's frustrating for many women may be the uncertainty of breast cancer screening, uncertainty only further compounded by the new guidelines, which have already been criticized by the American Cancer Society. Liesl Schillinger writes in The Daily Beast,

The only consistent message from the scientific community to women is to be afraid. How can issues of such life-and-death importance to women-more than half the population-be so murkily understood, and so conflictingly explained? Are medical authorities playing a guessing game with women's health?

Unfortunately, when it comes to breast cancer, a guessing game still seems to be the only game in town. Dr. Donald A. Berry, a statistician on the task force, says the money spent on regular mammograms for women under 50 "was buying something of net negative value," and that with the new guidelines, "the economy benefits, but women are the major beneficiaries." And in fact, many women have long forgone mammograms because they personally feel the risks outweigh the benefits. Unfortunately, mammograms only reduce the breast cancer death rate by 15% — a big deal if you are one of the ones saved, but still a relatively small fraction of all sufferers. This statistic — and the high number of false positives associated with mammograms — shows that what women really need are better screening tools. But for now, we have to decide what to do with the tools we have, and this decision has just become a lot more complicated.

Mammograms And Politics: Task force Stirs Up A Tempest [Washington Post]
Many Doctors To Stay Course On Breast Exams For Now [NYT]
New Mammogram Advice Finds A Skeptical Audience [NYT]
Panel Urges Mammograms At 50, Not 40 [NYT]
The Great Mammogram Debate [Daily Beast]

The new guidelines weighed the risk of false-positive tests against the benefits of screening women for breast cancer and found that although some lives were saved, more hospitals were ordering needless tests, and more women were being subjected to anxiety and stress, than was truly necessary. While for many, a false positive seems like no big deal - worth it, when you consider the alternative - the government-funded panel says the risks of a false positive are real, and can result in unnecessary treatment for cancers that are growing too slowly to be an issue during a woman's lifetime. False positives and the battery of unnecessary testing that follows may cause extreme panic and anxiety, which can also adversely affect the body.

To arrive at their radical new guidelines, the task force examined several studies from England and Sweden. They also commissioned six groups to make make statistical models to analyze date. These groups were essentially brought in to answer the question: How much does it benefit women over 40 to get screened for breast cancer every year, and do these benefits outweigh the (often quite high) cost? Donald A. Berry, a statistician at the University of Texas and a leader of one of the modeling groups, says that they almost unanimously found that there was "very little" benefit to screening women, "so little as to make the harms of additional screening come screaming to the top."

For younger women, they found that the benefits of screening for cancer are low when weighed against the risks of a false positive. For each case of cancer-related death prevented among women under 50, 1,900 women must be screened, according to their report. For women 50-59, the ratio drops to 1 for 1,300, and for women aged 60 to 69, 1 for 377.

The task force still advises that women with the breast cancer gene get routinely screened, but suggest that women at a normal risk should forgo yearly testing until their 50s. They were even more blunt about the benefits of performing self-examinations. "Women should know it doesn't work," said Dr. Diana Petitti, vice-chairman of the task force. And naturally, there are studies to back this up: Two large studies involving 200,000 women in China and over 100,000 in Russia found no benefits from breast self-examinations.

While the National Cancer Institute has announced plans to re-evaluate their guidelines in light of the report, the American Cancer Society and the American College of Radiology both said they are sticking to their current guidelines, which advise annual mammograms for women over 40. Phil Evans, a professor of radiology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and president for the society for Breast Imaging, says he is "shocked" by the new findings. "There's a ton of scientific data in this country and others on screening that shows a significant benefit for women between 40 and 49 to be screened," he says. He also points out that the task force's interpretation of data did not take into account the fact that saving younger women leads to more "life years saved" than for older women. Dr. Constance Lehman, chair of the American College of Radiology, says that mammograms are necessary for early detection, and can "put them in a group of women where they more likely can have their breasts conserved. Without that early detection they are much more likely to be told they need the breast removed." She says younger women and African-American women are increasingly developing aggressive cancers that will not be detected if they are only screened every other year.

Of course, one of the biggest issues to come out of the new guidelines relates to how they will effect health insurance. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will continue to cover annual mammograms (congress currently requires Medicare to cover yearly screening for patients), but many private companies may feel differently. The guidelines will also change the grading system for health plans, which are issued by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, and are used as a marketing tool. One measure of the grading is based upon the percentage of patients getting mammograms every year starting at age 40.

While some researchers fear that the new report will be viewed as a political effort by the Obama administration to save money on health care costs, Dr. Berry is quick to note that the money is only one consideration. "The money was buying something of net negative value," he said. "This decision is a no-brainer. The economy benefits, but women are the major beneficiaries."

Less-Rigorous Guidelines For Breast-Cancer Screenings [Wall Street Journal]
In Reversal, Panel Urges Mammograms At 50, Not 40 [New York Times]
Panel: Mammograms Should Start At 50, Not 40 [NPR]

1) "Renehan and colleagues designed a model to estimate the number of cancers that could be blamed on being fat in 30 European countries. In 2002, they calculated that 70,000 cases of cancer out of about 2 million cancer cases were attributable to being overweight or obese. By 2008, the number had jumped to at least 124,000." Renehan is Andrew Renehan, of the University of Manchester, a cancer researcher who "presented his findings to a joint meeting of the European Cancer Organisation and the European Society for Medical Oncology in Berlin on Thursday."

In an extremely useful article, "How to Read Articles about Health and Healthcare," Dr. Alicia White of the Behind the Headlines team writes:

Research presented at conferences is often at a preliminary stage and usually hasn't been scrutinised by experts in the field. Also conference abstracts rarely provide full details about methods, making it difficult to judge how well the research was conducted. For these reasons, articles based on conference abstracts should be no cause for alarm. Don't panic or rush off to your GP.

The research here might be rock-solid for all we know, but at this point, we should take a moment to remember how much we don't know. How, exactly, did they design a model for estimating how many cancers can be blamed on fat? How much of the blame does fat get, and on what basis? What do they believe caused that leap between 2002 and 2008? And perhaps most importantly, what the hell does Renehan mean when he says, "Obesity is catching up at a rate that makes it possible it could become the biggest attributable cause of cancer in women within the next decade"? Is that prediction dependent on the obesity rate continuing to rise and if so, at what rate? Or does he believe (based on the 70,000 - 124,000 jump we're currently just taking his word for) that we'll see a similar leap in the next decade, regardless of whether the population gets fatter?

Also, when you say it's "possible it could become" blah blah blah, it would be helpful if you indicated how possible you think that is. Highly plausible? Quite possible? Eh, could happen? And how much does that prediction depend on "major causes of cancer, such as smoking and hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women" continuing to "drop dramatically," which would give obesity a leg up on becoming a leading risk factor without it necessarily becoming any more of a crisis than it already ostensibly is?

2) "Renehan said that in the U.S., some studies found obesity was responsible for up to 20% of cancers." No word on whether he added that in 2007, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study by a group from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute that found obese people have a lower risk of dying from several other forms of cancer, which made the overall cancer risk among the fat population a draw. As Gina Kolata wrote in The New York Times:

[C]ontrary to expectations, the obese did not have an increased risk of dying from cancer. They were slightly more likely than people of normal weights to die of a handful of cancers that are thought to be related to excess weight - cancers of the colon, breast, esophagus, uterus, ovary, kidney and pancreas. Yet they had a lower risk of dying from other cancers, including lung cancer. In the end, the increases and decreases in cancer risks balanced out.

The fact that breast, uterine and ovarian cancer are all correlated with fatness probably accounts for the fact that Renehan's warning is specifically to Western women; sucks for us that a lot of lady cancers fall in that group. If you're fat and have a family history or other risk factors for cancers considered obesity-related, it absolutely makes good sense to be extra vigilant. (Meaning, from my perspective, watch for symptoms and get screened, since permanent weight loss is likely to fail.) But do keep in mind the "slightly more likely" part, as well as the "thought to be related." When you take those qualifiers on top of the evidence that overall "the obese did not have an increased risk of dying from cancer," it puts the alarmist headlines about fat causing cancer in a somewhat different light.

3) Even the mainstream media bothered with a bit of balance for once. Despite Renehan's dire pronouncements, cancer expert Jan Coebergh tells the AP, "It is not likely (obesity) will have as severe an effect as smoking." Which isn't to say it won't have any effect at all, of course, but trust me on this one: I have read approximately a gazillion articles about how obesity kills in the last few years, and it is incredibly rare to find one that includes an expert saying, "Nah, that's overstating it."

Also, credit where it's due, Renehan himself notes that "Just telling the population to lose weight obviously hasn't worked," so if we want to see a drop in obesity rates, "We need to find the biological mechanism to help people find other ways of tackling obesity." That's the point you almost never see in articles about the dangers of fat — that there's still not much individuals can do about it, other than watch for symptoms and get screened. (And, of course, try to eat a balanced diet and get regular exercise, which once again, are good ideas for everyone who's able but will not necessarily cause permanent weight loss.)

I'm not saying Renehan and his colleagues are wrong. Fact is, I don't know and have no way of knowing. But I am saying, as I always say, that it's irresponsible for the media to whip up panic about fat causing X,Y and Z when a closer examination of their sources reveals that the evidence supporting the headlines is far from conclusive. As White puts it:

If you've just read a health-related headline that's caused you to spit out your morning coffee ("Coffee causes cancer" usually does the trick) it's always best to follow the Blitz slogan: "Keep Calm and Carry On"... The most important rule to remember: "Don't automatically believe the headline". It is there to draw you into buying the paper and reading the story. Would you read an article called 'Coffee pretty unlikely to cause cancer, but you never know'? Probably not.

Obesity Could Become Top Cancer Cause For Western women [USA Today]

Related: "How To Read Articles About Health" – by Dr Alicia White [Bad Science]
Causes Of Death Are Linked To A Person's Weight [NYT]

Wheeler had to wait until her reign as Miss Virgina was over before she could shave her shoulder-length brown hair. It became clear to Wheeler relatively early on that she wouldn't be able to raise the amount required—she topped out at just over $30,000—but she says she wanted to shave regardless, to both show support for all the young children battling cancer and to challenge beauty ideals. "Society needs to take a second look at how we deem someone pretty," she said back in April. "Beauty is as beauty does."

To prove it, she had her mother shave her head bald on Monday in front of dozens of onlookers (and, apparently, her local news station). The former Penn State ice hockey player admits she cried a little the morning before, but she had resolved to take it all off. Although a fan has kindly donated a wig, she says she does not plan on wearing it, unless her new job as a reporter for Comcast SportsNet demands it. "If my hair is distracting as it grows out, I'm grateful for the opportunity to wear it," she said.

Miss Virginia Shaves Her Head To Fight Kid's Cancer [Strollerderby]
There She Is... And Hair, It Goes [Washington Post]

This smattering of diary entries come from around the country — and from across the globe. The ages are as varied as the experiences: Some girls were happy-go-lucky TV-watchers; some were dealing with overwhelming emotions and desires. Dating, depression, disease, dilemmas — it's all here. Throw in celebrity crushes and Snoopy notebook paper, and you've got an amazing gallery, which begins below.

Year: 1998
Commenter: Skellatrix
I hardly wrote, so when I did, it was all "important" stuff. I love the fact that at the beginning of April vacation this little "crisis" is SUCH a big fucking deal, but by the end I was completely over it - and felt the need to include an addendum, so future Me wouldn't get the wrong idea. Hey! I was sixteen, so I had some self-awareness.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Year: 1998
Commenter: Skellatrix
Also, for your consideration: the three-and-a-half page analysis of an awkward, limp high-five that ultimately concludes with "I dunno, I don't give a fuck."
(Skellatrix cont.) And no, I never ended up dating this poor boy.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: Sandy
Year: 1984
Age:20

Commenter: Darbyoshea
Here is a CLASSIC two-page entry detailing my entire (very) early sexual history (i.e. first kisses, "his hands on my butt!!!" etc). Last names have been redacted and my dignity is officially squashed, even having revisited this old old diary. It's from about 1994, let's say, when I was in seventh grade in Indiana. There is an incident on a horse and another on a trampoline. Hooray, rural youth.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: Nita
A page from my third grade diary!

Name: C.
Here's a page from my old diary, or rather a typical excerpt. This was from my senior year in high school, 2004. Hope you gals like it!
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: N.
I'm attaching three pages of my old diary, written from ages 11-17 (ending on the day I graduated high school). 
The first two (journal1 and journal2) and one entry— written just before I turned 16 and just after I was diagnosed with cancer.  Whenever I look back at old entries, it really shocks me how un-self-aware I was, but these two pages seem to be the opposite and were surprisingly poignant. 

(N.'s journal, cont.)

(N., cont) 
I'm not really sure if that fits with the light-hearted feel of the diary idea, so I'm attaching one more page, written at age 12, an entry deliciously horrible.  I went a little 1985 on it and erased names because I had this lovely habit of writing everyone's first AND last names.  "Why are bitches ever born?"  Why, indeed.

Name: Cara
Date: May 05
Age: 16
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Commenter: Wooden_shoes
I distinctly remember watching the start of the Persian Gulf War on the television, I remember being pissed off because it was right around my birthday. 

Commenter: Etoiles
As sad as it is to say, this is one of the least embarrassing journal pages I could find. I wasn't the Gossip Diarist; I was the Pretentious Knowledge-Seeker going after Deep Truths and so on.

I started journaling heavily when I was 14, barely into my high school freshman year. I was full of that teenage sense that I WAS BRILLIANT AND THE WORLD WAS STUPID. I suppose, in a way, that we're all kind of right... the world, it turns out, is stupid. But alas, none of us is brilliant at 14.

Anyway, this page is from the summer I was 16, and would have been right around the time I was wrapping up my sophomore year of high school. (I started to transition into the me I think of myself as being now about two months after I wrote this page.) Usually my penmanship is impeccable, and has been since third grade; sloppy handwriting is always a sign that words were simply *bursting* forth and that I wanted my future self to remember how excited I was. Because yes, I was like that, too.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: Michele
Year: 1979
I was 12

Name: Michele
Year: 1984
I was 16.

Name: Candace
Year: 1997
I was 12

Name: Candace
Year: 1999
I was 14
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: Susan

OK, this is so embarrassing. It's a 1980 entry from my 1975 diary.

1. I'd been kissed twice; once as part of a play, and once by Greg.
2. Greg is not so nice. You would not like him.
3. "I've just begun to really understand how petty everything was"?
4. There is no second page anywhere. I just quit writing. The story ends like this: "and accidentally got on the High School bus, got laughed at, and was delivered to school crying by my harassed mother."

(click "full size" to enlarge)

Commenter: Spamanda
The is from 1993, I was about 15, and it was after my first "real" make-out session with my boyfriend. Good times. I especially like the pink ink. That's classy. Shows just how grown-up I really was.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Commenter: Spamanda
This is from 1997, when I was 19 and in a very serious relationship (that ended shortly after this journal entry). I wrote pages and pages about how worried I was about being pregnant, but this one sums it up quite well. Even now, looking back, this was such a turning point in my life.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Commenter: Thatgirlmay
This page comes from my diary I started in 4th grade. It was May of 1994 and was 11 when I wrote this entry. Oh, and Joey and I never made it to "Might Ducks 2" because he stood me up! Oh the 11 year old drama.

Commenter: bleedingmouths
Diary 1 - Age 14, 1998. worth looking at for my daily Top 5 lists. still a huge fan of black pens. Also good for the hearts at the bottom. KM's first love should be evident- BSB. Backstreet Boys, alright?

Commenter: bleedingmouths
Diary 2 - Age 15, 1998. Good teenage dream, contrasted with good punk lyrics... happy future thoughts!

Commenter: bleedingmouths
Diary 3 - Age 16, 2000. Hair experiments, lots of hearts, good fox

Commenter: bleedingmouths
Diary 4- Age 17, 2000. I think it's worth introducing people to the concept of Satan's Crown and its relationship-centric Underpants of Betrayal cousin.

Commenter: saintestella
This page was written in November of 1997, shortly before I turned 12 years old.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: Carolyn
This was written in 1995. I was 14 years old. I was writing about my first ever boyfriend. I was pretty much obsessed with him for a few years.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: Andrea
Hi! I've attached a page from my diary from January 16th, 1987 from my Hello Kitty diary. I was 11 years old and in 6th grade. What strikes me about this entry is this is right around the time I started puberty and was gaining miniscule amounts of weight due to puberty. I was by no means fat, but my 11 year old mind sure thought I was. You can see in somewhat different (I assume a couple years later?) I commented on the page, "I'm fat, okay?" Heart breaking. And obviously a little boy crazy :)
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Commenter: Lolita Hazed
This is from junior year finals! I was 17 when I wrote this and it was 2008.

Name: Luan
Year: 1993
Age at time: 7
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Commenter: ♥Anti-SocialSocialite♥
I wrote this rap in my diary when I was 15. Way back then, in 2002, I had elaborate aspirations of becoming a singing, rapping, dancing, writing, improving, acting dynamo. Of course, all that time spent independently training to become a dynamo affected my grades and my parents were none too pleased. In the most teenaged tantrum of all time, the most powerful of protests, I wrote "The Teenage Girl Rap" to vent my frustrations. Backed by a preset Casio keyboard hip hop beat, I rapped and sang my heart out to my mom and dad, sure that this song, the fruit of my frustrations would be the one the catapult me to stardom. AND BOY WOULD THEY BE SORRY THEY EVER DOUBTED ME. 7 years later, I'm a writer, still do improv, a college student, and a dynamo in my own way. I haven't rapped in 7 years - and from the crude self-made recordings I've since relived, I probably never should have.
(click "full size" to enlarge)

Name: Lauren
Here are two page scans from a diary I kept from age seven to age 15.  I wrote the entries when I was eight; they describe the same experience, only I crossed out/edited the first entry, I think because I was embarrassed (I recall having been embarrassed, but also a little pleased).

Name: Claire
This isn't exactly a journal entry, but I glued it into my journal, so I feel like it almost qualifies.  The story that inspired this page is a relatively common one- I fell in love with a boy who had a girlfriend. We dated our freshman year of high school, broke up terribly (as most 15 year old's relationships do), and hated each other for the rest of high school. But one night at a choir retreat second semester of senior year, we stayed up all night talking and fell in love. It was February of this year & I was 17. He wouldn't leave his girlfriend, so I moved on. This journal page is a doodle. I scribble song lyrics when I'm bored, and as he was on my mind all the time, this page is all about songs that remind me of him. He broke my heart, but it was worth it. I have this page to remind me how deep I can feel and how I deserve someone so much better.
 

Commenter: Bunnya69
Year: 1990
Age: 19 (at the time this was written; I turned 20 in October of that year)
I wish I could find my diaries from the early 80s, when I was a pre-teen/teenager, but all I could locate were ones from the 90s. I decided to scan an entry from 1990 because all of the other journals that year discuss my marriage to my first husband, and we don't want to go there.

I chose this entry as it demonstrates how yummy Christian Slater was when he hit the scene.

Name: Emily
These scans come from a diary I kept in Kindergarten and first grade in a red, 1-subject Mead notebook. This was the year before I received a "proper" diary.
 
Some history: I mostly wrote about what I watched on TV and what I ate. I was a big Jem and MTV fan. The second entry was written after a birthday party at a local Chuck E. Cheese style establishment, which later became the site of my first job in high school. I love how it captures the '80s zeitgeist so well, with the jelly bracelets and Solid Gold and Tiffany.

Name: Holly
I was 12 years old when i wrote this. The Gareth i am referring to was Gareth Gates from the TV programme 'Popstars'.  As my 12 year old self would say, *cringe*.  My eyebrows were a big concern in my early teenage years until my mum let me pluck them when i was 14.  When she looks at old pictures of me she tells me she wishes she let me do it earlier.

Name: Dodai
Year: 1987
I was almost 15 and extremely existential/pretentious. The next couple of pages go on and on about Prince, Howard Jones, David Bowie, being "phony" etc. etc. etc. Mentions of Bruce Willis and Moonlighting are included.

Name: Dodai
Year: 1987
I had a crush on this Colombian kid named Glen in my biology class. His eyes were a particular shade of green/blue I called "pastel aqua." Years later at my high school reunion, we made out.

Commenter: Haguenite
As you can see, this entry was written May 27th 1999 (I was 16) at 10:46 PM. During this period, I watched Heartbreak High (Australian high school series) religiously, and I was madly in love with Drazic. That's him on the page at right. And because I know most Jezebels don't speak Dutch, a translation:
Dear diary,
The weather is great and we only have class for 4 more weeks. Can't beat that, can you? I'm doing my homework on a bench in the sun or in the hammock in the shade.
Today we went on a family picnic, and there is my summer feeling! Now fingers crossed the weather stays this way. I think that'd be quite comfy, really.
I can't believe summer vacation is almost here! Delicious!
On top of all this, I've also finally gotten over my crush. His blue eyes are still beautiful though.
In short, I quite happy, but also quite tired so... Au Revoir!

I was not a very interesting teen.

Commenter: Mmmmkay (gellin and jezebellin)
Here are some select pages from my 4th grade diary, circa 1991; I was 9 years old. I think they are hilarious and I hope you do too! Some things to note -

- "Matt" was my childhood crush/obsession and the crush of every girl I grew up with, he is now married to one of my best friends

- "Candace" appears over and over again though I never thought of her a best friend, she was clearly more important to me than I thought she was or wanted to remember?! fun fact - my mom ran in to her mom recently and told her I'm with a girl now, Candace's mom said "ohh Candace did that lesbian thing in college, don't worry about it."

- "Peggy" was our live in housekeeper/nanny and I was very close to her but was also very self righteous about drugs etc at that age.. oh if I only knew what I'd get into as a big girl

- It was a Precious Moments diary, hence the bible verse at the beginning. I was pretty religious growing up, hence the semi-holier than thou tone (accusing the girl on my soccer team of being immodest??!!) and talk of the Christmas "pagent," I went to an Episcopal school from nursery school - 12th grade. the "first king" refers to the 1st one in the procession of The 3 Kings.. I even played the Virgin Mary the next year as a 5th grader!

- all this took place in South Orange County, CA

Born in Corpus Christi, Farrah Fawcett had a thriving career in commercials before shooting to stardom in 1976 as PI Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels. Although she's associated in the public mind with this role and with her influence as a 70's style icon, Fawcett went on to have an enduring acting career, appearing off-Broadway and in a number of television movies, as well as in several highly-regarded television appearances. Especially noteworthy was her role as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie The Burning Bed , for which she was nominated for an Emmy. The film was regarded as crucial in destimgatizing the victims of and drawing attention to issues of domestic abuse - as well as providing actual support information to viewers.

In the years since her diagnosis with anal cancer, Fawcett has come to be regarded, not merely as an iconic sex symbol or someone whose high-profile relationship we gawk at in the tabloids, but as a woman dealing bravely with her disease and talking openly about a form of cancer that doesn't get much press. Last month, she presented the documentary Farrah's Story, of which friend Kate Jackson said, Fawcett "didn't do this to show that she is unique, she did it to show that we are all unique... (T)his was...meant to be a gift to others to help and inspire them." As a culture, we tend to want to keep our "sex symbols" just that, and don't like to be confused with nuances. Farrah Fawcett's illness has forced us to regard someone with all the complexity due her, and maybe to think about the value of those "pop culture icons" we take so much for granted. Fawcett's legacy shouldn't be whitewashed of her pop-cultural influence - this was important to defining an era, not to mention fun - but she also forced us to look beyond that, and this was important. It has to be said: may flights of angels sing you, Farrah.

Farrah Fawcett, Sex Symbol And Actress, Dies [CNN]

Farrah Still Has Her Sense Of Humor, Costar Says [NBC]
9 Million Tune In For NBC Special On Fawcett's Cancer fight, 'Farrah's Story' [NYDN]

• According to advocacy group Immigration Equality, an estimated 36,000 same-sex couples are bi-national by necessity, as current immigration laws do not allow Americans to sponsor their foreign born same-sex partners for citizenship. • Scientists have found that babies exposed to more television may not learn as quickly as those who spend their time interacting with an adult. • A man suspecting of raping an 11-year-old girl was attacked and critically injured by a dozen residents of a Philadelphia neighborhood. The victim's mother said that she was happy they beat the suspect: "I mean, he deserves worse than what he did to my daughter." •  Several Vietnamese coffee shops in Southern California have created a kind of "Starbucks meets Hooters" vibe with their scantily clad baristas. •  A similar business (same idea, only waitresses are topless) in Maine has been destroyed by a fast-moving fire, which officials believe was deliberately set. • Good news for Fido: The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first ever cancer drug designed specifically for dogs. • One week ago, Memphis resident and reported trans-person Kelvin Denton was shot in the nose and throat. The alleged shooter claims he attacked Denton because he believed Denton was misrepresenting his gender. Denton is currently in critical condition. • If Denton's story didn't make you depressed enough: Two radio show hosts in Sacramento held a half hour show last week in which they encouraged violence against transgender children, who they referred to as "idiots" and "freaks." • A Florida attorney defending a man accused of killing his wife has attempted to shift the blame from his client to the victim's spray tan, which she got the day before she died. • Norwegian researchers have cleared Kegel exercises for pregnant women. Many doctors previously believed that Kegels—often performed by pregnant women to prevent incontinence—could cause complications during birth, but new research proves this fear unfounded. • Bobbi Davis, owner of Shady Lady Ranch in Nevada, said she may hire some male prostitutes at her brothel in order to boost business. At least four other brothels are also considering adding some sausage to their menus. • A curious 7-month-old kitten got stuck up a tree, where she spent the night fending off the vicious attacks of crows. The kitten was eventually rescued by the fire department. • By the year 2017, the majority of practicing doctors in Britain may be female, a recent report "warns." •  The Rhode Island senate has passed a bill that would allow same-sex couples funeral rights, however, the state is still one of the only two in New England that has not yet legalized same-sex marriage (New Hampshire being the other). • It's hard to know what to say: A young Arizona man raped his unconscious girlfriend with webcam directed at him, thereby broadcasting the assault all over the world via Stickcam.com. Apparently the assailant, Jonathan Hock, "is very popular on this site and known for his sex related behaviors."

His cancer is considered highly curable with chemotherapy and radiation, but Daniel quit after only one treatment. Daniel's doctor, James Joyce, says that at his last checkup, his tumor had grown to the size it was months ago when he was first diagnosed. "He had basically gotten back all the trouble he had in January," Joyce said.

The Hauser family decided, with Daniel's consent, to ignore the doctor's advice and continue with an alternative treatment plan. Daniel's mother says she has chosen to treat her son with holistic medicine based upon Native American healing practices. USA Today reports that Colleen Hauser opted to treat her son's cancer with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water and other natural alternatives. Daniel's family is Roman Catholic, and has cited their religious beliefs as the reason they chose not to continue with the doctor's approved treatment plan.

Last week, Judge John R. Rodenberg ruled that it was in Daniel's best interest to continue chemotherapy. He wrote that he would not order treatment if the prognosis was poor, but since Daniel has a good chance of surviving with proper medical care, he believes chemotherapy to be necessary. Current state statutes say alternative health care methods aren't enough, and that parents are required by law to provide any necessary medical care for their children.

On Tuesday, Colleen Hauser failed to show up for a court appearance, CNN reports. Rodenberg issued an order to "apprehend and detain" Colleen Hauser. He also ordered that Daniel be placed in protective custody so he can receive medical treatment. Daniel and his mother remain missing.

Mother, Son Missing In Forced Chemotherapy Case [CNN]
Boy's Mother Faces Arrest Over Chemo Refusal [USATODAY]
Warrant For Mom Of Boy Refusing Chemo [CBS News]

Natasha Sajé's's essay deals with the struggles of interracial marriage, the tragedy of losing a partner to cancer, the realities of living in Baltimore - all seen through the lens of The Wire. Plenty of people love the show - many describe it as the best TV they've ever seen, life-changing, even. But to this couple, it's a lot more than that - it becomes a cathartic means of dealing with their life's struggles - and, more immediately, his dying - writ large on the small screen.

Sitting together on our couch in Salt Lake City during those months, Tyrone and I couldn't help reveling in "The Wire." There was so much that we recognized as true. Tyrone was black - born in Jamaica, raised in London. And I am white - born in Germany and raised mostly in New Jersey. As an interracial couple from such different backgrounds, we loved the show's painfully accurate take on race and class.

The essay charts the the couple's meeting, and her family's prejudice, as well as the myriad indignities he and they suffer through on a daily basis. The Wire's gritty setting reminds them of the time they spent living in Baltimore, and the show's realism, funnily enough, becomes an escape from the reality of Tyrone's death.

Every morning and every night - up until the last 36 hours, when he couldn't speak - Tyrone would say to me: "Another day. I'm glad to see it." We celebrated his ability to read the newspaper, to eat the flan I made, to sit with me in the den and watch yet another episode of The Wire.

There's a lot going on in the essay, and the story's a specific and personal one. if there's a thesis, maybe it's this:

I once read an article about interracial marriage that told me what I already knew: interracial couples are more likely to stay together. After you've faced the wrath of family, the stares, the cold shoulders, the stupid comments, you create a bond and other people become irrelevant.

But, without trivializing this, the essay's also an eloquent testament to the power of entertainment. The Wire, as the author points out, addresses issues of race and class and flat-out humanity with unprecedented honesty. That the show can move and support people at this basic a level is more than mere escapism, it's art in the true sense. And it's encouraging and moving; this is the point. The culture still has good things in it and the capacity to make amazing work out of pain. Can more people take the example and run with it, and see that people can handle intelligence and depth? If it did nothing else, this essay should show that they can. And the point of this feature, at its best.

Down To 'The Wire' [NY Times]

This isn't the first time we've heard that pap smears may be on their way out, but the results of the study of 130,000 women in India have put "another nail in the coffin" for Pap smears, as Stanford professor of gynecology Dr. Paul D. Blumenthal puts it in The New York Times. Scientists say that the new test could replace cruder screening methods in poor countries and allow women over 30 in wealthy countries to drop annual Pap smears and have a DNA test once every 3, 5, or 10 years.

The new study divided healthy Indian women between the ages of 30 and 59 into four groups. One group got the usual rural care, which is just advice to go to a hospital if they wanted screening. Another group got a "visualization" test, typical in poorer countries, in which a health worker looks at the cervix with a flashlight and swabs it with vinegar. Any white spots that develop may be precancerous lesions, so they are frozen off. A third group got pap smears and the fourth got a DNA test. For both tests cells are scraped from the cervix, but for the Pap test the cells are examined by a pathologist in lab and the results take days, while the DNA test can be read by a machine within hours.

After eight years, the control group and the visualization group had the same rates of cervical cancer and death, while the Pap-smear group had three-fourths the rates. Women who had the DNA test had half the rates of cancer and death, but none of the women who were negative on their DNA test died of cervical cancer.

Qiagen, the company that makes the DNA test, has developed a $5 version for use in poor countries that runs on batteries and doesn't require water or refrigeration. If a woman was tested just once every ten years and her results were negative, the chances that she would develop cancer would be low. In countries where women are hesitant to get pelvic exams, doctors say they test would still work if the women took the vaginal swab themselves.

Currently in poorer countries cervical cancer kills more than 250,000 woman a year. In the U.S. the cancer was a leading cause of death in the 1950s, but now it kills fewer than 4,000 women a year. In Europe most women don't start having Pap smears until 30, but the American Cancer society currently recommends that woman start yearly testing three years after they have sex, or no later than 21. After several normal results they may start testing only every three years. There are 150 strains of the human papillomavirus and cervical cancer is caused by only a few. Women pick up strains when they start having sex but most cases clear up on their own in about two years, and it's rare that the cancer would develop in under 15 years.

In 2002, the cancer society and the American College of Obstretricians and Gynocologists began recommending the HPV test as well and there is increasing evidence that the Pap smear is no longer necessary. "But we haven't been able to get doctors to go along," Dr. Debbie Salsow of the American Cancer Society said. "The average gynecologist, especially the older ones, says, ‘Women come in for their Pap smear, and that's how we get them in here to get other care.' We're totally overscreening, but when you've been telling everyone for 40 years to get an annual Pap smear, it's hard to change."

[Image via morgueFile.]

DNA Test Outperforms Pap Smear [The New York Times]
Cervical Cancer: Prevention And Early Detection [The American Cancer Society]

Earlier: New Study Suggests Pap Smears May Be Thing Of The Past

A study from the Karolinska Institute found that subjects with the human papillomavirus in their mouths are more likely to get tonsil cancer. It takes 20 to 30 years for an HPV infection to result in cancer, so those who are sick today were infected in the '70s and '80s. Of 120 patients in the city who got the cancer between 2003 and 2007, at least 83 were HPV-positive. Doctors hope that the new HPV vaccine will help reduce the rate of tonsil cancer, especially because the disease has almost no symptoms and often goes untreated until it spreads to the lymph nodes. Researcher Tina Dalianis says if people "have a lump in their throat, especially if it's on one side and it doesn't go away with antibiotics, they should see a doctor." [USA Today]

[Image via Flickr.]