Simple Gifts

With the opening of the college football season just a week or so away, excitement levels are rising.  I’m a graduate of West Virginia University and we WVU fans are crazy about our football.  After all, we have no pro sport teams in our state, and while Marshall University fans are as enthusiastic (and they have their own movie), the Mountaineers carry the name of our state with them.  It’s not just a college-wide pride; it’s a state-wide pride.

What really sets the WVU anxiety blazing is what happens just before the game.  “Simple Gifts.”  It’s the soft and gentle popular section of Aaron Copeland’s score of “Appalachian Spring.”  You’d know it if you heard it.  The WVU Marching Band (also known as the Pride of West Virginia), like many other university bands, plays certain songs as part of their pre-game show:  the fight song, the alma-mater, the National Anthem, etc.  While the Pride adds John Denver’s “Country Roads” and the hillbilly anthem “Good Ol’ Mountain Dew” to the repertoire, the addition of “Simple Gifts” is what stirs the heart of many Mountaineers.

The band starts in a “WVU” formation and marches in complex patterns while playing the soft tune, ultimately marching into a tightly packed circle with all instruments facing in.  Then the band turns during a drum roll and a part of “Fanfare for the Common Man” kicks in and the crowd goes wild.  A louder more enthusiastic rendition of “Simple Gifts” starts back up again as the band members march out in expanding circles.  I can’t really say why, but this has always been a goose-bump inducing scene and always will be.  But this year, it’s even more stirring.

My brother was a manager for the football team when he attended school in the mid-70’s.  He loved working the practices and the sidelines during the games.  He made lifelong friends with many of the team (and he got me a great autographed football for my 15^th birthday that I still have today) and followed the team closely for the rest of his life.  A couple years ago, he shared with me that the pre-game show was on YouTube, and we both would watch “Simple Gifts” every day for the week or two prior to the new season.

It was about a year ago that he discovered that his melanoma had returned and knew that he had a very VERY difficult fight ahead.  He posted the news in Facebook on Friday, September 3, and attended a WVU game the next day.  Despite the devastating news…or perhaps because of it, he insisted on watching his Mountaineers play.

Two or three weeks later, he attended his last game.  The two hour drive to see a game got to be too much and I believe he knew it could be the last time he saw the blue and gold.  When I talked to Debbie (Jeff’s wife) months later, she told me that Jeff had the most incredible time, despite the fact that his body was failing him.  She said that during the pre-game show, he started to bawl.  Jeff admitted through his tears how much he truly loved the university that gave him his education, transformed him into a man, and introduced him to his life-long love, Debbie.

My cousin Steve Dunlap (yes…we have a lot of cousins in West Virginia) is a defensive coach for the Mountaineers.  He had heard of Jeff’s condition and invited my brother to the locker room after the game.  Steve gave him a true behind-the-scenes tour.  Jeff met players, saw facilities seen by only a select few, and was presented with an official coach’s shirt and hat.  He called me when he got back home and I had never heard such excitement from my brother.  This tour was truly a dream-come-true.  It was an incredible gesture from my cousin and the university that Jeff loved so well.  It meant so very much to him and gave him such great joy. 

One couldn’t ask for more from such a simple gift.

The Gorgeous Tan?

The other day, I was at the grocery store when the male teenaged check-out clerk looked past my shoulder and muttered, “Wow!”  I turned to follow his drooling gaze and saw an attractive young woman walking into the store.  She was wearing a light blue spaghetti-strap top, white summer shorts, and flip-flops; had short dark hair; and sported a gorgeous tan (with tell-tale tan lines near her neck).

Oops…I said a bad word there…didn’t I?  Put down the heavy objects and let me continue (this includes you Chelsea).

I admit that I always had a “thing” about tanned girls.  I also had an attraction to freckled girls as well.  I grew up in a “baby-oil as sun-block” environment, so I pretty much everyone of the opposite sex was either tanned or freckled in the summer.  Basically, I was programmed to appreciate sun-kissed skin.  And this was my initial impression of this lady walking into the grocery store.

But then the black wristband twisted my arm a bit and I reassessed my thoughts.  Did I really think she had a gorgeous tan, or was she a gorgeous girl with a tan?  As I think back now, I was as attracted to certain girls in high school and college in the sweater-bundled winter months in West Virginia as I was during the summer months.  It wasn’t the tan after all.

My point is that one doesn’t need a tan to look attractive.  Take a look at these two famous celebrities:

© http://www.mahgoud.blogspot.com/ and ©www.imbd.com

Can you imagine what Nicole Kidman or Anne Hathaway would look like with a tan?  Neither can I.  Their natural tone is so incredibly beautiful that anything other than “natural” would be a negative distraction.

But it’s not just about being pale.  Can you imagine these beautiful women with unnaturally lighter skin?

©www.billboard.com and ©www.unseensports.blogpot.com

No matter the shade, dark or light, it's the natrual look that's best.

I’m not the only one to think this.  I ran across a website asking which of Angelina Jolie’s “look” below was preferred:



© http://www.damnimcute.com/

A whopping 70.74% of the voters chose the “pale,” more natural look.

Again, it’s all about NATURAL tones.  One should embrace one’s natural skin tone.  Staying out of the sun, AND TANNING BEDS, helps keep your skin naturally beautiful.  It also reduces skin aging and inhibits the formation of wrinkles.  Keeping one’s skin naturally beautiful might even make this crew a little more attractive:



© http://www.fanpop.com/



Well…maybe.

Remember, getting a tan just makes you more tan…it’s doesn’t make you more beautiful.

An Awful "Legacy"



A potential legacy of cancer



If you recall from an earlier post, I get my hair cut at a local salon that also owns UV tanning equipment.  I returned again today (wearing my BITNP t-shirt) and decided to poke around a bit (with my camera) while the rest of my family was getting their locks trimmed.  I’ll have a more detailed post later, but I had to share this one discovery.

There’s one tanning system they have called “The Legacy.”  It’s a “tanning tube” in which one inserts their legs only as they sit in a raised chair at one end.  I suppose this is catered towards the female clients that want those glowing tanned legs as they wear summer shorts.

Legacy. 

Can you believe it?  The only legacy this machine will make is an increased risk and occurrence of skin cancer!  Considering that 38 percent of melanoma on women is discovered on the legs, this is an appalling apparatus.  I just couldn’t believe it!

Again, I’ll have more to share later on solariums, but I just wanted to share this ironic and shocking discovery.

Ugh.

Where the Boys Aren't

When I started this blog and my Facebook page some three or four months ago, I remember reading other pages to get ideas and inspiration.  I recall that one FB page (perhaps Melanoma Girl’s) had over 400 “Likes!”  I was so impressed…not by the numbers, but by the number of opportunities she had to spread her message.  Every time she’d mention a thought about using sunscreen, over 400 people might read it…and they might share it…and so on and so on.  At the time, I was struggling and hoping to reach 25 “Likes” by emailing and messaging friends on my personal Facebook.  (25 “Likes” allows one to create a shorter URL…mine being www.facebook.com/fightmelanoma) 

This week, I received my 400^th “like.”  I’m literally shocked…and thrilled.  Again, it’s not about the numbers, but about the opportunities for people to read the articles and links I share.  I’m sure nowhere near 400 follow my thoughts on a daily basis, but every person that does read helps to spread the word.

Since I’m a bit of a data geek, I decided to take a closer look at the numbers.  I discovered that the people that “like” my page live all across this country…and beyond.  I’m not sure how many states, but quite a few.  Many countries are represented as well, such as Canada, Australia (cursed leader of the melanoma world), England, Germany and the Netherlands.   However, one statistic stood out among other.  Over 93% of those that “Liked” my page are female!

So what does this mean?  Does it mean that men don’t surf Facebook?  Does it mean that men don’t research melanoma online?  Or do they simply not want to face it?  I have no idea…I’m a male that’s become a bit paranoid and tend to over-surf every ailment I have.  I think I’m the exception.

Men accounted for nearly two thirds of the deaths by melanoma in 2011 (one I knew personally).  Melanoma can be expected to affect one in every 39 men in their lifetime while women are affected at a rate of one in 58.  Men over 50 are twice as likely to develop and die from melanoma when compared with women.  By these stats, it seems that men should really being taking a greater interest in what’s being said…far more than only seven percent of the population.

Maybe that’s the connection.  Men are either not listening or they’re stubborn about seeing a doctor about “that spot.”  “Eh, I’ll see if it goes away.”  “Working in the sun is good for me...no way it’s gonna kill me.”  “It’s just a spot...the doc is just going to cut it out and leave a scar anyway…just leave it.”

Guys, as much as my ego loves the attention from over 370 women from all over the world, it’s time we start to wake up and take skin cancer and melanoma seriously.  You don’t have to “like” my Facebook page, or even read my blog, but please take notice and get educated somewhere.  And spread the word to your buddies.