Print Issue: CANCER CULTURE

The CANCER CULTURE Issue, Feb / Mar 2022, Vol 7, No 1, 105 pages

Message from the guest editor: “While the outside world may see us through a more singular rose-colored lens thanks to the media and marketing campaigns of breast cancer awareness, we know the truth: this experience is as nuanced and multifaceted as a kaleidoscope. There is no one way, no right way, and no wrong way to do breast cancer. Being diagnosed decades below the world average, we certainly know that’s true! Instead, our breast cancer culture is defined by the myriad ways we live, process, and share this experience. The culture is as varied as the number of people diagnosed.

We are creating and reclaiming our cancer culture. We have our own language, our own hashtags, our own inside jokes. We talk about thrivers, survivors, previvors, breast friends, breasties, baddies, flatties, unis, foobs, pink sisters, pinkwashing, cancer muggles, and #stageivneedsmore.

We tell each other’s stories along with our own in the hopes that we will be seen and heard for who we are as well as what we’ve been through. This issue runs the gamut of what we each see as today’s young(er) breast cancer culture. You will find humor, grief, reflection, hope, and anger. You will read beautiful poems and be called to advocate. You may be comforted by something that feels familiar or triggered by something that hits a little too close to home.

Whatever you find here I hope you stay open to all of the truths shared within. As a reader you are a part of the writer’s experiences and, whether you have your own breast cancer experience or are supporting someone through theirs, you are also a piece of our cancer culture and we are glad to share this with you. Enjoy the issue. Love, Amy”

Cover star: Amy Hartl

Contents:

For Us a poem by Grace Murphy | Let Me Hear Your Body Talk by Gretchen Stelter | Did You Hear About Betty Rothberg? by Erin Weiss | Connections by Ann Camden | Calling Out Tiffany by Denise Archer | Just For Today a poem by Tawny Rachelle | Frayed Jeans and Roses by Tina Conrad | The More Things Change, The Less They Stay The Same by Amy Hartl | Together We Are Thriving, Celebrating, and Reflecting by LaTonya Davis with Jayden Holmes | Transformation by Stephanie Kinkel | This Is Cancer. by Meghan Konkol | Pink Ribbon High by Tamara Zhilyaev | After Death Leaves Its Calling Card by Julie Stonefelt | Bonded By Strength a poem by Libby Riley | Paying Tolls by Jessica Fox | Returning to Work a poem by Miriam Janove | Stepping Out of the Shadow by Lauren M. Norman | Good Girl by Elizabeth McSpadden | Leavings a poem by Kay Newhouse | All I Knew Before Was Susan G. Komen by Erin Perkins | Trusting the Redirection by Brianna DeWitt | Time to Grieve by Lauren Lopriore

PLUS: Tell Your Story Writing Prompt by April Stearns

Cover image by Amy Hartl