Do Not Adjust Your Monitor


Yes, Mom-101 is pink.

The fabulous mod*mom has asked me to do so as part of the Pink for October effort to draw attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And so I obliged. Because she’s going through chemo and recovery right now as we speak, and who am I to say no to a strong survivor type with outstanding taste in home decor?

Of course I’m late to the party as always. And not fashionably late either–just late. But since we’ve still have like four seconds left in October, here I am, doing what I can.

Just changing the blog color and yapping about breast cancer, however, means squat, as both Gloria Steinem and Her Bad Mother will tell you. You gots ta do a little more than that for such a noble cause and shitty-ass disease.

And so I’d like to point you towards a really great site I recently discovered: Think Before You Pink.

Their premise is that there are plenty of companies doing good stuff this month in the name of BCA month–but also some doing not so good stuff the other 11 months out of the year. And so they help you navigate through the sea of pink ribbon marketing promotions, and even point out which companies–self-proclaimed “leaders in the fight against breast cancer”–happen to sell cosmetics containing potentially harmful chemicals. Yikes. If you have any intention of supporting a pink ribbon campaign from, say…Revlon?–it’s a good site to check out.

Another good site to check out? Cool Mom Picks. Uh-huh. Oh yes it is. We’ve been covering small independent companies all month that are donating proceeds to breast cancer research and prevention; everything from cool kids tees–ones you’d actually put your daughters in–to yummy chocolates we found on Mommytrack’d (the cool sites just keep coming today, don’t they). Just click on our October archives, scroll down, and look for the pink!

You know what pink looks like, don’t you?

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If you’d like to go pink for October, this techspaz says if I can do it, you can do it. (Although I’m not sure I’ll ever get it back to white again.) Just change the 6 digit code after “Background” in your template to a pink code – find one to your liking here. Then just point your readers towards some do-gooding sites or causes or links. Easy.

{27 Comments}

27 thoughts on “Do Not Adjust Your Monitor”

  1. Thanks for going pink, Mom-101! My blog started our pink, but I am going to keep it that way for my best friend Marjorie who lost her almost-ten-year battle with breast cancer in August. She would approve — it’s a lovely shade of pink.

  2. I like the pink. And I’m all for breast cancer awareness, no matter what month it is. Now if I’d come here and not read down though, I’d think you had girl baby on the brain or something. Hey, when are you due anyway????? 😉 I know, I know I’m sorry but I couldn’t help it.

  3. The pink suits you. Towards the end of the month the push towards cancer awareness tends to die down a bit. It should be something we all think about regularly (and I’m not just talking about women and breast cancer). Now I’m off to check out Mod Mom.

  4. You look good in pink. It’s a good idea.And….conbloomingratulaions, girl! I’ve been away and missed the announcement. I’m delighted for you, Liz. That’s lovely news. And your boobs <>are<> magnificent.

  5. Oooh, my favorite color. Thanks for the links. So very important, especially with all these companies just out for a buck.

  6. Good for you for spreading more awareness for Breast Cancer. My thoughts go out to mod*mom.Everytime I go to to CMP I want to buy more cool things!

  7. What a great idea! But when I first saw it I thought you were hinting that you are indeed carrying another princess around in your belly.

  8. And please do not forget to do your breast self exams EVERY month. And if you are over 40 GET YEARLY MAMMOGRAMS, earlier if you are a higher risk for the disease. We can beat this with awareness and early diagnosis and treatment. Thanks Mom 101 for doing your part to increase awareness.

  9. Oooh, pink. And A CAUSE – a great one. You know that I can’t resist either.Will have to see if I can get this to work chez moi.

  10. Thanks, Mom101. I’ve changed my blog border to pink (couldn’t figure out the whole thing, hmmm) and linked to your post here and to Pink for October.Better late to the party than miss it altogether.Hugs,mk

  11. The pink looks good on you! 🙂I was reading you in Bloglines, so I hadda click over and see the new blog dress.🙂

  12. When I read the first few lines of this post in my RSS reader, I groaned and thought, “oh no, not more PINK!” But I’m glad I came to read the whole entry and see that you pointed to < HREF="http://www.bcaction.org/" REL="nofollow">Breast Cancer Action<>‘s Think Before You Pink campaign. I worry that if all we do is shop for breast cancer, we’ll never find a cure. I worry that pink ribbon marketing is designed to keep our pretty little heads focused on perfume and lipstick and vacuum cleaners — in short, on anything that keeps us from thinking too hard about the chemicals in the stuff we’re buying. And most of all, I worry that I or yet another person close to me will *get* breast cancer, and that I won’t be able to cut through all the giddy awareness-raising to get the answers I need to save my life or the life of my loved ones.Thanks for not just jumping on the pink bandwagon, and actually encouraging women to think about how this disease affects their lives… and how their lives affect this disease.

  13. Think Before You Pink is a great organization and unfortunately sometimes they get flak for “not supporting” the cause. Thanks for sharing!

  14. Thanks so much for that Lori – I really appreciate it. I agree that “just pink” means squat. It’s the same issue I have with those stupid yellow ribbons on the back of pick up trucks; I think it keeps people from really supporting the troops in some tangible way. After all, they bought an ugly magnet for their Dodge Ram! Job done, right?

  15. Thanks for the link to Think Before You Pink. I’ve often wondered about the glut of fundraising promotions. I mean, how much am I helping the cause if I buy a pair of jeans that Eva Longoria happens to be wearing while she’s standing next to someone who’s wearing a pink ribbon?

  16. Pink. Such a gentle color assigned to represent a relentless and bastardly disease. I’ve lost too many friends to it. I’ve watched too many kids lose their mothers. There is no way to express how important the IMMEDIACY is for generations of women.

  17. I’m glad you linked to the Think Before You Pink site. I’ve always felt like companies use causes like breast cancer awareness to promote their products, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when those products might actually contribute to the epidemic they are “fighting”. I wrote about this < HREF="http://blog.imperfectparent.com/2006/10/05/help-fight-breast-cancer-buy-these-mms/" REL="nofollow">here.<> Though I must admit that I’m a little torn about it b/c I’m sure that those companies are getting the breast cancer awareness message out there in a way that non-profits and government couldn’t due to lack of funding.But personally, I’d rather just give directly to a foundation than buy some product I don’t need, especially when most of money is probably not going to the cause anyway. It’s like, before I’d buy the “Cartier LOVE Charity Bracelet” for $475 ($100 of which goes to BCRF), I’d definitely donate the whole $475 directly to the charity, kwim?Anyway, it’s a good cause and good that you’re highlighting it on your blog.

  18. I just read an article about “Think Before You Pink” this morning! It always seemed odd to me that the Yoplait people wanted us to mail our yogurt lids to them in order for them to donate the money. Seems like busy work to me.

  19. thank you mom-101!i get sick of insincere “pink” stuff too,like at safeway yesterday they had cupcakes arranged in the shape of a ribbon + a huge thick frosting ribbon linking them–gross. + they were raffling a pink ribbon stained glass window. at safeway?! i don’t care much for the ribbon logo, + profiteering from cancer makes me ill, but it’s very depressing to have cancer +/or lose people + pink is emotionally uplifting + it makes me feel like you care. i know there are lots of life threatening diseases that don’t have months, colors, ribbons or races, + i wish they all got as much attention, but maybe they will in the future.

  20. tried to comment on this on friday, but blogger was misbehavin’do you think pink and orange clash? i’ll put some pink on m’blog in the next day or so–you’ve sold me. i’ve been a bit cynical of the whole ribbon thing for all the reasons you mention, but i very much appreciate the “think pink” with a critical attitude. Yoplait should be ashamed of itself, and not just for those annoying “it’s massaaaage GOOOOD” wenches.thanks for the link and the means to arm ourselves a bit more.

  21. did a great half marathon power walk (sun walk) in the summer for breast cancer research with 11 mates – wearing decorated bras (for twas the rule – for both men and women). i was too lazy to sew the flowers on (we went for a hawaiian look – very fetching in bristol!), and used fabric glue instead. hmmm. when it started to rain, autumn came early … but i finished in bloody good time. nothing like walking around with yer tits hanging out to give you a burst of speed ….think pink!

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