It’s easy to blame John Edwards – AND WE SHOULD.
But what about Rielle Hunter?
(Love the name…it says it all — she’s REALLY, or should a say RIELLE a HUNTER!)

It’s bad enough to have to hear about a woman hitting on a married man, but to do it when the wife is going through a life threatening illness and brag about it, to put your friends up to talk about it on your behalf on national television, to accept payment of campaign funds, to get paid off (and we all know what that implies) is just about the lowest of the low in human behaviour, especially when you’ve been through what we’ve been though.

I should know, it happened to me one night while the hubster Silvano and I were having dinner outside at Da Silvano, in 2004. Apparently word had gotten out I had just been diagnosed. (In New York, good news always travels fast.)

“So, how’s your cancer?” A woman asked me, whom I’d never met.

She quickly handed Silvano her number and said“ Here’s my card, I’m not sick…”
And then…

Yes, Silvano took her card, which ironically was pink, and he fed it to a dog. (For the record, I have a photographic memory, and that’s exactly what she looked like.)

Even though my husband’s response was phenomenal, and humorous: her number as dogfood? Ha! I still shake with rage when I think about her. Not the kind of peaceful, healing emotions that you should have when you’re trying to heal yourself and survive. I can only imagine what Elizabeth Edwards is going through.

So, if anyone knows anyone who is engaging in this kind of behaviour, tell them to stop.
Be a sister to one of our sisters, even if the bitch ain’t.

Do I have to BEG?

My oncologist, Dr. Paula Klein, and Nurse Practioner Mary Ann Guiliano were really happy about the Free Mammograms screening.

I was so grateful to have the opportunity and the ability to start the CANCER VIXEN FUNd which benefits uninsured women, as you know, I was one of 47 million uninsured when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

BUT I WAS A LITTLE UPSET…

Maybe it was record-breaking heatwave here in Manhattan that kept everyone away. Besides, name a day anyone would want to get a their boob squished, especially on a summer day when everyone’s passing out from sunstroke.

(The Cancer Vixen FUNd now does two screenings a year - and the next one that isn’t on National Mammography Day will definitely take place in May and NOT July!)

Maybe our viral eblasts and gorilla campaign of blanketing the area with flyers didn’t reach enough people. (We didn’t hire an advertising agency to get the word out, we wanted the money we raised to the women we raised it for - the uninsured - so they can get screened.)

Maybe it’s because women just don’t want to get a mammogram at all, (duh!) despite the fact that early detection is the closest thing we have to a cure.

Whatever the reason for our turnout of only 33 women, I am grateful that we were able to do the screening, but we can definitely screen more.

So, October 17, this coming National Mammography Day, I’m asking all of you, if you know of any women, 35 or older with a family history of breast cancer, or 40 and older who are uninsured and underinsured, please send them to us.

We have the funds. We have the facility. We do it all for you.

By the way, that’s my Smother, aka the Sophia Loren of New Jersey, yelling “cut!”

Here’s what the New York Post Page Six wrote about it:

It was a bash for breasts, but all eyes were focused below the belt on the blue-polished big toenails (with hand-painted yellow scorpions) of Silvano Marchetto. At the Cancer Vixen Spalapalooza! benefit for the Breast Clinic at St. Vincent’s Hospital for uninsured women, the restaurateur showed off his toenails painted by the Cancer Vixen herself, cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto. Steve Schirripa auctioned off spa packages at the Cornelia Day Resort, helping raise $150,000. Guests included Federico Castelluccio, host Robert Verdi and swimsuit model Marisa Miller.

Below, the scene stealing pedicure:

This is my favorite piece, AND it got rejected.

But I wanted to show you guys anyway because I really love it.

The hat was designed by Philip Tracey for Alexander McQueen, who designed the suit.

Too fashion-forward for Plantronics, but just my style.

As yours truly was pulling all-nighters at the ol’ drawing board, The Hubster (aka Silvano) was working 15-hour days at the restaurant. Tired and stressed out in cold, grey New York, we decided to stretch out on a lounge chair in the sunny Caribbean.

After checking into the hotel, we made a necessary trip to the gift shop. We had nothing but the clothes on our backs and what we carried on the plane, which, by the way, isn’t how we started. Thank god I packed Silvano’s heart meds and my Tamoxifen in my handbag.

So much for our desperately needed R’n'R. In fact…

Enter Sheryl Crow, into the hotel gift shop…

For the ENTIRE POST, check out: mybreastcancernetwork.com and huffingtonpost.com

Hi all you young toonists, I am looking for an assistant. I need web-savvy and industrious. You need someone to show you the ropes. If you’re out there, please contact me ASAP! (That means, right now!)

THE 2008 ANGOULEME FESTIVAL has chosen CANCER VIXEN (under the title CANCER IN THE CITY, which is how it was released in France) as one of the 50 nominees for graphic novel of the year.

Ok, this is HUGE news.

According to Bart Beaty, www.comicsreporter.com “Angouleme produces, arguably, the most notable comics prize in the world.” He also writes that “the nominees are a veritable who’s who of Big Name Cartoonists: Chris Ware, Peter Bagge, Joe Matt, Robert Crumb, and Jules Feiffer among them. At the same time, newer voices are being singled out for praise, including Marisa Acocella Marchetto for Cancer and the City, Shaun Tan for The Arrival, Linda Medley for Castle Waiting, and Gene Yang for American Born Chinese. Throw in a few others, like Jason, Rutu Modan and Ralph Konig, all of whom have work that is well-known in English, and you can see for yourself that this is a very strong list of contenders.”

I am so honored to be in that excellent list of nominees. (I also love that at 47 and a career in cartooning that has spanned years, I am one of the “newer voices”! Hahaha!)

The Festival will chose the winner January 22-24.  Bonne Chance!

I originally posted my story December 31 about turning 47 and how ecstatic I was
about being alive… and the next day, this ran in New Year’s Day’s NEW YORK POST’S PAGE SIX:

Older’s Better For Beauties

FORTY-something stunners Laura Linney and Daryl Hannah are getting older - and it’s fine with them. “It’s really about being realistic. No one is going to be an A-list movie star and make millions of dollars forever, you’re just not,” Linney, 43, the star of “The Savages,” tells Britain’s Observer about actresses who worry about age. “It’s also about the fact that I think we’re lucky we got to be 40. There are so many people out there who die way too young, so [to] all of this ‘Boohoo, we’re getting older,’ I’m like, ‘Well, there is an alternative.’ ” Meanwhile, Hannah, who starred in “Attack of the 50-Foot Woman,” tells The Telegraph: “I hated being young. Everyone says how wonderful it is to be a young person. That is far from the case for many people, but they dare not say it at the time. Aging is great. Maturity has brought me peace of mind. When I look back, I could have saved myself so much anxiety.”

Me again.
There’s something special in the air, gals.

I think 2008 is going to kick ass.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!