Tag Archives: Art
Never surrender, never give up!
Posted on Jan 11, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Franny Armstrong, MCS, Susie Collins
Our very own Franny Armstrong, contributor at The Canary Report and author of steamy romance novels, is interviewed by Antonia Tiranth.
In the interview, Franny talks about what leads an author on the road to success when battling illness:
I have a chemical brain injury (called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or MCS) that causes my body to react violently to simple things like fragrances, body products, cleaning products, gas fumes and much more. Since leaving the safety of my chemical-free home wasn’t possible, I became addicted to the Internet and to reading, however this wasn’t always possible due to the “mushy-brain-fog” I suffered which made it difficult to concentrate.
At the same time I was diagnosed with MCS, I was also told I had BiPolar II Disorder. Though the doctor assured me I wasn’t “nuts,” I was devastated, feeling like I’d just been given a death sentence since neither of the two illnesses had a cure. For years I could barely speak a sentence or remember a simple word. “I want tea,” though only three words, was difficult to say. I also slept up to twenty hours a day!
After losing so much time, I decided to do something with my life because I refused to allow illness to beat me! My motto became, “NEVER SURRENDER! NEVER GIVE UP!” and believe me, it worked. To date I have become a published author [with] my first book SMALL PACKAGES–A CHRISTMAS STORY released from Red Rose Publishing in December and what a feeling that was! I’d finally climbed past the limits of illness and accomplished what I’d never thought possible until now.
Author’s Demise comes out in March. Brava, Franny!
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What is the value of a name?
Posted on Jan 04, 2010 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, MCS
Poem by guest blogger Amy Pratt.
What is the value of a name?
~1~
Just ask any survivor
with numbers tattooed on their arm
what it means to have their name remembered.
This entry is dedicated to Judy C. Miner,
one of the few who has bothered
to remember my name all these years
and who is still willing to at least make eye contact
and speak with me.
I am so tired of being a ghost in a community where I once belonged.
I had no idea I could lose more
than my health and my job of nine years.
I am unable to work,
labeled as “a liability.”
I have cognitive issues
and often rely on pre-written scripts.
Ironically,
I cannot read or write on a consistent and reliable basis.
I used to be a Library Technician for a community college.
Education you never lose,
but the ability to use it,
that’s a different story.
Acknowledgement is a basic need
for support and understanding.
“In order to communicate with
and show respect to others,
a name is a basic need.”
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Canary in a coal mine made it to the tree
Posted on Dec 27, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Susie Collins
Photo by Connie Rae.
Thanks, Connie!
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Franny Armstrong’s new e-book featured in local paper
Posted on Dec 17, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Franny Armstrong, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
Northumberland News reports on Canary Report contributor Franny Armstrong’s new e-book Small Packages.
Author Franny Armstrong hopes to bring some Christmas cheer to her readers with her new novel Small Packages.
The story, about a woman who becomes a recluse after the death of her husband, was an easy one for Ms. Armstrong to write. The author, who suffers from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Disorder (MCS) rarely leaves the house for fear of encountering fragrances and other chemicals, which cause severe reactions.
“Writing has been so healing for me because I have focus and drive now where I never had before,” she explained.
To read an excerpt from ‘Small Packages: A Christmas Story’, visit www.paranovelgirls.com. Complete e-books can be purchased for $3.99 online at www.redrosepublishing.com
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Video: The Naked Truth About Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Posted on Dec 14, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
The Canary Report produces a video where fifteen women bare all to tell the naked truth about life with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
This video contains nudity, strong language and a bunch of women telling the absolute Truth about living with MCS. Viewer discretion and an open mind is advised.
These images are also available as a 2010 calendar:
Link to Version 1 The Naked Truth About Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
And Version 2 The Naked Truth About Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Seeking Our Nature.
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Puzzles for cognitive health
Posted on Dec 06, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
Doing puzzles can improve your cognitive skills and even stave off some diseases.
We all know how Multiple Chemical Sensitivity can interfere with our cognitive abilities, especially during an exposure to toxic chemicals or phytotoxins such as toxic mold. In this TED Talk, famed puzzle designer Scott Kim takes us inside the puzzle-maker’s frame of mind. Sampling his career’s work, he introduces us to a few of the most popular types, and shares the fascinations that inspired some of his best.
Kim says electronic and online games are moving away from violent themes and trending toward games for a healthy lifestyle. He sees three distinct trends emerging: casual games, mental fitness, and social media. Kim talks about his website Shuffle Brain, which includes a game called Photograb that reminds me of those games I played as I kid where you had to find things like ladders, cats, and irons hidden in the picture– I loved those games! Photograb mixes puzzles with social photo-sharing, where you play your friends’ photos to sharpen your visual skills. It’s a very clever blend of puzzles and social networking.
Puzzles like this are an excellent way for those with MCS to exercise our brains: Use it or lose it, peeps!
Here is Scott Kim’s TED talk:
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The Twelve Days of Toxics
Posted on Nov 27, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, MCS, Media/Videos
Poem by guest blogger Susan M. Silver.
The Twelve Days of Toxics
In the first year of MCS
The toxins gave to me:
Twelve guts a-leaking
Eleven migraines peaking
Ten fibro achings
Nine bones a-breaking
Eight gluten-free shoppings
Seven brains a-popping
Six immune failings
Five molars ailing
Glutathone!…
Forty IV drips
Chinese herbalists
Thirty supplements
And a pesticiding in a pear tree
~~~
© 2009 Susan M. Silver
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Spanish blogger screams from the silence
Posted on Oct 20, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
Blogger Eva Caballé on the plight of people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: “It’s necessary that someone gives us a chance to leave this silence where they force us to live.”
In June, I shared with you the incredible photos of Spanish blogger Eva Caballé, who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and posed for the online magazine Delirio. Delirio’s editors had asked Eva to collaborate in that edition called “The Naked,” and she thought it was a great opportunity to show what it’s like living with MCS. Her husband did the photography, and she wrote an essay to accompany the photos, denouncing the situation in Spain for people with MCS. That essay has now been translated into nine languages by MCS bloggers throughout the world.
Well, Eva is at it again with another photo and essay in Delirio, this time for the edition on “Silence.” And here is Eva’s photo and essay on MCS, Screaming from the Silence:
SCREAMING FROM THE SILENCE
When you don’t like something, when something bothers you, if there is something that remembers your mistakes, it’s easy not to deal with it, let it for another day, put it in a corner, wrapped by a thick silence. This happens to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) sufferers. They want us that way, in silence, in order not to annoy, in order not to alert, so nobody realizes that the precipice it’s every day a little bit closer and we all will fall: we, our children, our grandchildren…
We feed international economy with our health, our future and the future of those who haven’t even born. It is the same society who lets us get sick, exposing us gratuitously to toxic products, then it abandons us to our fate and silences us to no one knows the truth.
Wherever can we break this spiral? It’s necessary that someone gives us a chance to leave this silence where they force us to live.
Delirio opened me a door whereby scream, with all my forces, that we are here, that we have MCS because the present way of living is getting us sick. It opened me a door whereby scream that they are not going to silence us and above all, that this is only the beginning and it’s necessary to act right now.
Delirio helped us to break the silence publishing “The Naked Truth about MCS” in the edition dedicated to nude. Delirio undressed me, both inside and out, in order to denounce our hard reality.
Unexpectedly this article has gotten so far that has been translated and published in 9 different languages, and has been published in several countries all around the world. And some of these countries have included forewords explaining their own situation, like Germany or Norway.
The one that was initially my shout from the silence, has turned into the patients’ unanimous shout of the whole world denouncing that the MCS exists, that we are left, but that nobody will manage to silence us.
Thanks Deliro for being our loudspeaker!
Brava, Eva!
Article translated into English by Eva Caballé.
Link to PDF of photo and essay.
Link to original Spanish essay at Eva’s blog NO FUN.
Link to English translation.
Link to magazine Delirio Nº4 Silencio.
Link to download this issue of Delirio Nº4 Silencio.
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In the news: Chemical regulation, pesticide ingredients, and healthy art
Posted on Oct 07, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Media/Videos, News, Susie Collins
JS Online reports the EPA director backs tougher regulation of chemicals. The summit where Lisa Jackson spoke was a highly unusual gathering, called by the American Chemistry Council, the lobby group for the chemical industry, and the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that frequently criticizes industry’s lack of disclosure. Those groups typically are at odds over how much information and testing needs to be done.
Beyond Pesticides reports EPA Seeks to Disclose Hazardous Pesticide Inert Ingredients. What the heck have they been waiting for? Let’s see how nuts people think we are now.
Green Train announces Hollywood charity and Inku Artist McKenzie, who was stricken with a devastating environmental illness thought by doctors to be triggered by years of exposure to toxic materials in the art creating process. This sickness inspired and propelled McKenzie life-changing mission to discover and create an innovative way to produce healthy, earth-sensitive fine art and prints, which she calls Inku Art.
Dr. Weil reports on a study in China conducted by Australian researchers showing that women who ate the most fresh button mushrooms, 10 grams or more per day, were about two-thirds less likely to develop breast cancer than women who ate no mushrooms.
Start-Up Nation is a website that housebound canaries might like to peruse for ideas about home-based businesses.
Two products came to my attention this week with raves from people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. One is the Healthmate air filter from Austen (at right), and the other an all metal utility heater fan from Honeywell. The person chirping about the heater said she had to run it for a few hours out in the garage first before it was safe, but once that was accomplished, she loves it! As with any product, remember that what works for one canary might not work for another, so be cautious whenever trying new consumer goods.
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Naming the canary
Posted on Jul 31, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Guest Bloggers, MCS, Media/Videos
Have you given your canary a name?
Post by guest blogger Amy Pratt.
I am a Human Canary – A Self-Poisoner – I am Chemically Sensitive.
One of my first steps in healing was to acknowledge I have an illness – So I named my canary. It was a step taken, a first step – of many – in reclaiming my life.
For me, a simple walk to the store down the street could make me ill for days, weeks or longer. Every day we are all exposed to THOUSANDS of chemicals. They are not as harmless as we are led to believe. How absurd is it to get violently ill from everyday products like “air fresheners,” soaps, cleaning chemicals, paints, glues, and carpet shampoo.
My canary is Lucy – aka – The Angry Canary.
Her name is Lucy, because sometimes I’m not all that lucid. I have cognitive limitations now.
I have empowered myself with Lucy. By giving her a name, I can then give her form.
The idea of her being a Tattoo is a way for me to deal with my denial issues. The brief pain of the drawing in blood, the tattooing – and its healing – is nothing to the pain I have endured – There is no escape – from the damage done by chemicals – the commitment I made to bearing Lucy is nothing to what she has given me back. Every day is a gamble. More like a crap shoot or Russian roulette for us canaries. So it is a very good thing that Lucy is also lucky.
Lucy can be very ironic. She was a risk, as is so much more than I could have ever imagined. It is ironic how tattoos can be healing, and yet they are toxic. It is a risk, as is life itself -
She has helped me to heal, to tell my story, to HELP PREVENT others from my fate. I am not proud of becoming a canary, I am too angry to let it happen to others – So Lucy speaks for me when I cannot.
She is angry, so I don’t need to be – she can deal with it better than I can.
Anger is not the same as being bitter, anger can empower change whereas bitterness poisons the soul and constricts hope.
Bitterness is the only poison we have any control of.
It is still hard to talk about Lucy to my family and friends – I don’t want to freak anyone out, they will when they know just how bad (ill) I can be.
I feel that I am a hypocrite – I am trying to fight denial of my own and of others, and I still cannot always talk about it.
It is easier to talk to strangers sometimes.
I had created Lucy to help me with my anger and denial issues. She has helped me to be more confident in discussing my disability of chemically induced asthma and other MCS related problems.
She starts conversations, I finish them. I am not a social butterfly – Lucy helps to start conversations. I know She and I have helped to speak for us Human Canaries – A classmate of mine even did our portrait.
I will try to honor Lucy by continuing this blog.
What is your canary’s name?
Photo by Amy Pratt.
Amy is a potter who developed the first signs of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in 1997. This post was originally published on Amy’s blog at The Canary Report’s social network. Read more about Amy and her pottery.
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Potter with chemical sensitivity goes through the fire
Posted on Jul 29, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Disability Rights, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins, Worker's Rights
Raku, a Japanese pottery technique, creates a thermal shock in the kiln that will either destroy the work or make it into something amazing.
Post by Susie Collins.
Amy Pratt was unable to throw pottery for close to a year due to injuries caused to her chest wall by coughing too hard and for too long from exposure to toxic chemicals. The chemical exposures she endured at work, coupled with myriad things they were doing to her body, stopped her from doing much of anything for a long time.
“My hiccups and vocal tics were getting worse with activity,” Amy says. “The hand and arm spasms make throwing very challenging.”
But it didn’t stop her completely. Like her pottery in the kiln, Amy burned through the worst of it and is back at her craft making balls and rattles.
“It started out as something to do to practice different texture, firing, and glaze techniques,” she says. “I wanted to try to do something repetitive, to see how I could improve my skills or see how long before I got really bored from it.
“I am now planning to make fountains or some kind of outdoor sculptures out of them.”
Amy is practicing her craft in the studio at the school where she used to work. She started throwing there last spring, before she was asked to leave her job of nine years.
Amy, in her early 40s, has been throwing since she was eight years old, during her first trip to summer camp. She says she didn’t have anyone show her how to do it, she just “went at it,” sometimes spinning art across the room.
“I was able to center, and make something close to a small bowl,” she says. “There is something magical, something primal about taking a lump of clay and creating something with it.”
Amy’s first clue she had Multiple Chemical Sensitivity came in 1997 when she had two isolated exposures from which she completely recovered.
But in 2001, she was leveled by an exposure to lacquer oil, and she almost lost her job because she was too down at work and too ill for close to a year. In 2005, she was again knocked out by paints, carpet and glues, and was out of work for five months. By late 2006, she was experiencing exposures almost daily, which, when coupled with a back injury, led to further complications. She filed a total of six worker compensation claims in three years. She’s now fighting for a disability claim.
“I am often asked, ‘Why do ceramics, why expose yourself to more chemicals and dust?’” Amy says. “Why? Because it keeps me sane.”
Amy says the studio where she throws is very proactive with keeping clay dust down to a minimum, and she avoids using the glaze room when the sprayer is being used.
“I wouldn’t be able to do anything there if I didn’t have the support of the people who run the place,” she says.
So far, the worst exposures at the studio have been fumes from glues, hand lotions and perfumes. There has only been a few times when she could not enter the kiln yard due to something bothering her.
“Throwing helps me cope by getting out and being with other people,” Amy says.
She describes Raku, the Japanese pottery technique she uses, as creating thermal shock that will either destroy the work or make it into something amazing. “You have to let go and see what happens, there is only a small amount of control,” she explains. “Clay can take a lot of abuse, as long as you don’t drop it.”
The analogy of Raku to life with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is unmistakable.
“When I finish my self portrait, I plan on raku-ing it, using all of the boxes of paperwork generated from my claims to be burned in the process,” she says. “Fire, good.”
Photos by Amy Pratt.
You can view more of Amy’s pottery on her photo page at The Canary Report’s social network.
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The naked truth about MCS goes global
Posted on Jul 08, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Disability Rights, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
Photos and essay on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is now translated into five languages, posted on MCS blogs throughout Europe and America.
On June 17, I blogged about Spanish blogger Eva Caballé, who posed nude for two stunning photographs to denounce the situation for people in her country with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. The photos were published in an online magazine along with an essay written by Eva describing the marginalization of people with MCS in Spain: no full recognition, no proper health care, no safety net.
By June 29, Eva had translated her essay into English, which I also posted on The Canary Report.
A few days later, German blogger Silvia K. Müller at Chemical Sensitivity Network published the English translation on her blog with an eloquent introduction explaining that even though MCS is recognized as a physical disease in Germany, people with MCS are still marginalized. “Like in other countries,” Silvia writes, “sickness from chemicals and modern living is not truly recognized but rather swept under the carpet even though we exist and suffer every day.” Silvia’s introduction was an eye opener. I thought for sure people with MCS in Germany had it better since their government just fully recognized MCS as a physical disease. It’s heartbreaking to learn they still struggle for the right to clean air and proper health care.
Silvia then translated the essay into German and published it on her German CSN Blog.
Eva recently announced that her essay is now also translated into Italian and French, and published along with the photos on MCS-related blogs in both those countries as well!
Please help spread the word about the plight of all people with MCS by sharing these links with family and friends around the world! What other language can you translate the essay into?
Link to PDF of English translation and photos.
Link to magazine Delirio Nº 3. Desnudo, which originally published the essay and photos.
Link to download the entire issue of Delirio Nº 3. Desnudo
Link to English translation.
Link Eva’s blog NO FUN.
Photo published with author’s permission. Thanks, Eva!
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The naked truth about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
Posted on Jun 17, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
Spanish blogger poses for camera naked to denounce the situation for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
Eva, who blogs at NO FUN, a Spanish blog about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, has joined The Flock, the forum at The Canary Report. The first thing she posted were these incredible photographs, from an article about MCS published in Delirio, an online culture and art magazine.
Eva says:
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MIT art students transform FEMA trailer into green machine
Posted on Jun 13, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Home & Garden, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
Students transform FEMA trailer into a permaculture model on wheels.
Faculty and students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Visual Arts Program transformed a surplus FEMA trailer into a “green” mobile composting center with vertical gardens, rainwater catchment system, permaculture library, and indoor multipurpose space. The trailer has been dubbed the “Armadillo” for its ribbed retractable shell.
This project is a marvelous political statement, following all the health problems reported by occupants of the trailers used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many occupants complained of developing myriad illnesses, including Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
On June 18, the Armadillo will embark on a national tour to its final destination in Pasadena, CA, where it will serve as a community digital lab, community garden, and composting center.
“The Armadillo is both a practical tool and a metaphor for how disaster can be transformed into a tool for environmental and community change.” – Jae Rhim Lee, Visiting Lecturer, MIT Visual Arts Program and Director of the MIT FEMA Trailer Project.
The FEMA trailers have been tied to a host of issues surrounding indoor air quality health concerns, mental health problems in trailer parks, lack of affordable housing, and disaster management. MIT students studied these issues and researched the environmental, political, and social history of the trailers under the direction of Jae Rhim Lee, an artist, permaculture designer and former consultant to the City of New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Development.
Students were then challenged to apply permaculture (a whole systems sustainable design approach) and environmental justice principles to the redesign and transformation of a single FEMA trailer into a model of urban sustainability and community change.
In Sept. last year, I wrote about a survey endorsed by Sierra Club Delta Chapter, The Chemical Sensitivity Foundation, and The National Coalition for the Homeless that found many Katrina survivors very ill, with children suffering the most. Toxic FEMA trailers were cited as a major cause.
In July, I wrote about FEMA formaldehyde: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Link to more info, photos and a video about the Armadillo Project.
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I am a homebody
Posted on May 20, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Media/Videos, Susie Collins
This visual means something different than the artist intended to those of us housebound with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, doesn’t it?
Christy Robinson is a jewelry artist who lives and works in Dallas, Texas. She apprenticed with contemporary jeweler Will Harjes and has taken jewelry intensives at The Craft Guild of Dallas in Lost wax casting and etching techniques. She is a 2003 GIA Gemology Diamonds Graduate. Her current body of work, which features jewelry designs that are both one of a kind and those that use earth friendly recycled metals such as aluminum and copper often deal with animal rights issues. A jeweler since 1993, Christy became an animal advocate in 1996 and enjoys having her work seen as something beautiful and seemingly material but on closer inspection having it be thought provoking with a slight edge of humor. She currently gives a portion of her proceeds to various animal charities, some of her favorites include: Farm Sanctuary, United Poultry Concerns, Release Chimps, Compassion Over Killing, and Vegan Outreach just to name a few.
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Welcome to The Canary Report!
The Canary Report is a blog and social network about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
We compassionately bring you unfiltered and uncensored news and information you can trust directly from the source: people who have MCS. Dedicated to sharing, supporting, and inspiring with the Aloha Spirit, The Canary Report gives all canaries a voice. Come join us!
Aloha,
Susie Collins
Founder and Contributing Editor
Hilo, Hawaii
Let’s Connect on the Social Web
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Why I boycott Breast Cancer Awareness Month
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The Canary Report releases its 2010 wall calendar
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The false promise of miracle cures for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
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Warning: Avoid ozone generating air machines
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The dangers of aroma technology
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A statement from Lourdes Salvador about recent ad hominem attacks on Facebook
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DIY: Skip the chemicals, get a buzz
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The naked truth about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
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Perfume blogger dismisses concerns from a member of our community
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International Multiple Chemical Sensitivity awareness project is launched
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Susie Collins: IH Man, I'll ignore the mean-spirited intentio...
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Lisa: Such great news! Thank you for posting this. Ano...
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Jeanne: Susie, This is such good news!! Coming off...
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Connie Rae: this is such good news! anyone with MCS knows the ...
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