Angelina Jolie reveals breast surgery
From the Associated Press, a story that not many women might want to share but Angelina Jolie did, with the hope of helping others. Lots of women can act and even win Academy Awards but not all demonstrate this level of courage.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.
The Oscar-winning actress and partner to Brad Pitt made the announcement in the form of an op-ed she authored for Tuesday’s New York Times (http://nyti.ms/17o4A0f ) under the headline, “My Medical Choice.” She writes that between early February and late April she completed three months of surgical procedures to remove both breasts.
Jolie, 37, writes that she made the choice with thoughts of her six children after watching her own mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, die too young from cancer.
“My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56,” Jolie writes. “She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.”
She writes that, “They have asked if the same could happen to me.”
Jolie said that after genetic testing she learned she carries the “faulty” BRCA1 gene and had an 87 percent chance of getting the disease herself.
She said she has kept the process private so far, but wrote about it with hopes of helping other women.
“I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made,” Jolie writes.
“My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”
She is anything but private in the details she provides, giving a description of the procedures.
“My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a ‘nipple delay,’” she writes, “which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area.”
She then describes the major surgery two weeks later where breast tissue was removed, saying it felt “like a scene out of a science-fiction film,” then writes that nine weeks later she had a third surgery to reconstruct the breasts and receive implants.”
Many women have chosen preventive mastectomy since genetic screening for breast cancer was developed, but the move and public announcement is unprecedented from a star so young and widely known as Jolie.
She briefly addresses the effects of the surgery on the idealized sexuality and iconic womanhood that have fueled her fame.
“I do not feel any less of a woman,” Jolie writes. “I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.”
She also wrote that Pitt, her partner of eight years, was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Southern California for “every minute of the surgeries.”
Bertrand, Jolie’s mother, died in January 2007. She had small roles in the movies “Lookin’ to Get Out” in 1982 and “The Man Who Loved Women” in 1983. She raised Jolie and her brother after divorcing their father, Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, when Jolie was a toddler.
Jolie has appeared in dozens of films including 2010’s “The Tourist” and “Salt,” the “Tomb Raider” films, and 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted,” for which she won an Academy Award.
But she has appeared more often in the news in recent years for her relationship with Pitt and her charitable work with refugees as a United Nations ambassador.
Don't Tread
It appears that the IRS was using key words like "patriot" and "Tea Party" to flag applications for non-profit status. This is totally offensive and unacceptable. Obama has denounced this kind of partisan targeting. Now, if only we could stop the GOP from their partisan targeting of everything from health care to Benghazi!
Conference semifinal schedule - 05-13-13
The Garage League NHL finally got around to releasing its schedule for the conference semifinal round before the 11 o'clock news in Hawaii.
The Penguins' series with the Senators will feature two separate two-day breaks between the first four games.
Here is the complete schedule for all four series with national television broadcasters.
| EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS |
|||
| SERIES I | TIME (ET) | #1  vs.  #7 |
Networks |
| Tuesday, May 14 | 7:30 p.m. | Senators at Penguins | NBCSN, CBC, RDS |
| Friday, May 17 | 7:30 p.m. | Senators at Penguins | NBCSN, CBC |
| Sunday, May 19 | 7:30 p.m. | Penguins at Senators | NBCSN, CBC, RDS |
| Wednesday, May 22 | 7:30 p.m. | Penguins at Senators | NBCSN, CBC, RDS |
| *-Friday, May 24 | 7:30 P.M. | Senators at Penguins | NBCSN, CBC, RDS |
| *-Sunday, May 26 | TBD | Penguins at Senators | CBC, RDS |
| *-Tuesday, May 28 | TBD | Senators at Penguins | CBC, RDS |
| SERIES J | TIME (ET) | #4  vs.  #6 |
Networks |
| Thursday, MAY 16 | 7:30 p.m. | Rangers at Bruins | NBCSN, TSN, RDS |
| Sunday, MAY 19 | 3:00 p.m. | Rangers at Bruins | NBC, TSN, RDS |
| Tuesday, MAY 21 | 7:30 p.m. | Bruins at Rangers | NBCSN, TSN, RDS |
| Thursday, MAY 23 | 7:30 p.m. | Bruins at Rangers | CNBC, TSN, RDS |
| *-Saturday, MAY 25 | TBD | Rangers at Bruins | TSN, RDS |
| *-Monday, MAY 27 | TBD | Bruins at Rangers | TSN, RDS |
| *-Wednesday, MAY 29 | TBD | Rangers at Bruins | TSN, RDS |
| WESTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS |
|||
| SERIES K | TIME (ET) | #1  vs.  #7 |
Networks |
| Wednesday, May 15 | 8 p.m. | Red Wings at Blackhawks | NBCSN, CBC |
| Saturday, May 18 | 1 p.m. | Red Wings at Blackhawks | NBC, CBC |
| Monday, May 20 | 7:30 p.m. | Blackhawks at Red Wings | NBCSN, CBC |
| Thursday, May 23 | 8 p.m. | Blackhawks at Red Wings | NBCSN, CBC |
| *-Saturday, May 25 | TBD | Red Wings at Blackhawks | CBC |
| *-Monday, May 27 | TBD | Blackhawks at Red Wings | CBC |
| *-Wednesday, May 29 | TBD | Red Wings at Blackhawks | CBC |
| SERIES L | TIME (ET) | #5  vs.  #6 |
Networks |
| Tuesday, May 14 | 10 p.m. | Sharks at Kings | NBCSN, TSN |
| Thursday, May 16 | 10 p.m. | Sharks at Kings | NBCSN, TSN |
| Saturday, May 18 | 9 p.m. | Kings at Sharks | NBCSN, TSN |
| Tuesday, May 21 | 10 p.m. | Kings at Sharks | NBCSN, TSN |
| *-Thursday, May 23 | 10:30 p.m. | Sharks at Kings | NBCSN, TSN |
| *-Sunday, May 26 | TBD | Kingsat Sharks | TSN |
| *-Tuesday, May 28 | TBD | Sharks at Kings | TSN |
*-If necessary
(Photo: Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)
Notes from day one of the ACC spring meetings
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — The ACC kicked off its annual spring meetings down here today with all of the league's athletic directors, football and men's and women's basketball coaches taking part in discussions on everything ranging from minor rule changes to major big-picture topics like a potential television network. Here are some news and notes from the first day.
- It was a fairly light day, with the athletic directors meeting in the early afternoon and football coaches joining this evening (Sort of. Louisville's contingent is here, Maryland's is not). The bulk of the meetings will take place tomorrow and Wednesday, with the ADs gathering again on Thursday. If there are any significant votes or action, it will come on Thursday.
- The biggest discussion in today's meetings was the possibility of an ACC Network in the future. Commissioner John Swofford said that nothing is imminent, but that the league is definitely moving in that direction. I'll have much more on the ACC's TV future in a story later this week, but given how basically every other league has its own network at this point (sorry, Big East) I would be shocked if it doesn't happen. Also, since pretty much every other league has one, there are plenty of blueprints in place for the ACC to follow and make this network a reality.
- Swofford did also discuss how the league's grant of rights deal, the best thing to happen to the ACC since sliced bread, came about. He said the conference initially began having discussions about a potential grant of rights two years ago, but raised the exit fee twice (to over $50 million) instead.
"At the time, I think there was a sense that with a strong exit fee, maybe [a grant of rights] was necessary, maybe it wasn't necessary."
When Maryland announced it was leaving the ACC for the Big Ten, that was when the wheels really got set in motion to make the grant of rights a reality. The ACC Council of Presidents released a statement in December affirming their commitment to the league, but Swafford knew something greater (a grant of rights) was needed.
"The words are great, I know you mean them, but this is the action that backs up the words," he said.
From there, some schools (I doubt Pitt was one of them) took a little convincing, but the deal got done, and that has, in Swofford's terms, totally "changed the ballgame" in terms of the ACC and its future.
- I was able to catch up with Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson briefly in between a couple of his meetings and asked him how the overall tone was different this year than it was last year, when he came for the first time and the league was in the midst of heavy expansion/realignment talk (and not in a good way).
"From the time that I went to the first meeting of this league, everybody was so gracious and really in a team approach to this," Pederson said. "I think back to how much I appreciated and enjoyed that. I feel like now with the grant of rights, it has gone to a whole new level. Everybody's on the same page, everybody's doing the same thing together. Everybody's fixated on making the conference better, and I really think that's how you make a conference great is everybody goes all in, everybody's committed to doing this together and what's in the best interest of everybody. That's how you make the conference better."
- Pederson also said that, while he was here last year, the meetings didn't provide the same sort of immediacy they do now. Last year, Pederson could be a part of big picture ACC discussions (bowl tie-ins, TV rights, realignment, etc.) but not really in terms of smaller stuff like officiating and rules changes (where Pitt still had one more year in the Big East). This year, it's all ACC everything for Pitt, which will officially join the conference July 1.
"Instead of sitting in there listening to everything about a year from now, everything is about this fall and who we're playing and what we're doing," he said. "That's the reality of it. We've been planning and so forth but all of a sudden instead of being on the edge of the discussion, you're in the discussion in terms of how everything affects you going forward, and that's important."
- At one point, Pederson walked past with Florida State athletic director Randy Spetman. I can only assume, of course, that they were planning their Labor Day pre-game cookout (Spetman brings the southern barbeque, Pederson brings the Ahrn City?). In all seriousness, Pederson said the two did discuss that game, which Swofford said he would attend on Labor Day.
"[Spetman] was talking about how excited the Florida State people are and I said of course everyone in Pittsburgh is as well," Pederson said. "What a great way to start the season. It's exciting for everybody."