The Rejuvenating Benefit of Cherries

I was reading rather perfunctorily the latest health newsletter I had just received, and it spent quite a bit of time on cherries. The catch line was, sick of blueberries? Try cherries.

The newsletter is Bottom Line Health, April 2011.

Research shows that tart cherry juice "eases post exercise muscle soreness," and points out that the New York Rangers hockey team drinks cherry juice regularly.

In a study reported by the Journal of Nutrition, "18 healthy men and women who supplemented their daily diets with just over two cups of Bing cherries daily for 28 days reduced their level of C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker in the blood that can signal plaque formation, by 25%."

I have been trying to work blueberries into a normal breakfast routine with my cereal. However, blueberries aren't all that tasteful to my mind. Cherries, on the other hand, seem like a wicked pleasure. I'll have to work cherries into my daily diet.

Writing Class for Cancer Survivors

Margo Rivera-Weiss from the Women's Cancer Resource Center (on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland) reports the following:

I’m happy to let you know that WCRC’s writing class will be meeting again. It will remain at the same time, 4th Sundays of each month (except for occasional changes – e.g. in June) from 2 -4 PM. I’m very excited to invite Leah be part of the wonderful panel of instructors offering their skills at WCRC. Information about the class and the instructor follow.

The class will meet the following dates in the next scheduling period: March 27, April 24, May 22, June 19 (note this is the 3d Sunday), July 24 and Aug. 28.

If you are interested in attending please register on the WCRC website.

Body Stories: a monthly writing workshop for women (and gender nonconforming folks) dancing with cancer and other health issues

Lead by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Come to this supportive space to write down the stories your body is holding: the good, the bad, the amazing, the resilient, the difficult and complicated of living with cancer or other illness. This writing workshop is open to all, and no experience is necessary. We'll build a community of trust where we can write our uncensored truths, experiment with new kinds of writing and share the stories only we know how to tell.

Facilitator bio: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer Sri Lankan writer, performer and teacher who lives with chronic illness. The author of Consensual Genocide, her writing has been widely anthologized, including in Colonize This!, Without a Net, We Don't Need Another Wave, and Persistence: Still Butch and Femme. She is a lead artist with Sins Invalid, the Bay Area's performance project on disability and sexuality and has taught writing at UC Berkeley's June Jordan's Poetry for the People Program, Toronto's Asian Arts Freedom School and many colleges and community-based arts spaces across North America. She believes that writing can be a tool to liberate and heal.