JRE Buzz: Vacation Edition

Greetings BW readers! It's been awhile since I've penned a JRE Buzz post, but then again, there hasn't been as much news until the last couple of weeks. I'm certain the upcoming NC primary on Tuesday (May 6th) is some of the impetus.

Speaking of the primary, last night was NC's J-J dinner. I watched a little of it on Blue NC, but I didn't see the two candidates, other than Obama being introduced. But I read in both the News-Observer and the LAT blog that Clinton and Obama praised John and Elizabeth. From the LAT blog:

But whatever recreation he and his wife, Elizabeth, were engaged in Friday night, their ears must have been burning -- in a good way. At a state party dinner in Raleigh, N.C., Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sang the praises of the Tar Heel native son they vanquished earlier this year, as well his high-profile spouse.

And what did they say?

"Let me say what a great fighter North Carolina and working Americans everywhere had in John Edwards," Clinton said as the crowd cheered. "His courageous fight to end poverty is a fight I will see to the finish." "I want to thank Elizabeth Edwards for her passion."

Amid more applause, she lauded the erstwhile first lady contender as "a true champion for universal healthcare."

Then Obama had this to say, according to the News-Observer:

"I want to make sure that I say a special thanks to John and Elizabeth Edwards, because they really set the tone for this presidential race with their courage, with their ideas, with their passion and their commitment for working people, and making sure that we focus our attention on not just the haves, not even the have-a-littles-and-want-mores, but on the have-nots in America."

As the LAT blog entitled the event, John and Elizabeth are stars at an event they didn't attend. They were on vacation, well at least part of the time.

Otherwise, Elizabeth Edwards was in Atlanta speaking at a women's conference. Instead of talking about politics, she spoke about her own mortality. From the Atlanta Constitution-Journal's website:

“The only thing we are promised is the moment,” Edwards said, adding that women should always look for “do-overs” in life.

But then she poignantly added: “I may have run out of time for my own do-overs.”

Edwards also urged women attending the 11th annual Possible Woman Leadership Conference to not focus on material success. Instead, the real pleasure in life is reaching out to others.

And before taking questions, she told the crowd there was one she could answer right away: she was not endorsing anyone. Apparently, long time Edwards strategist Harrison Hickman verified that John and Elizabeth were not sharing their thoughts about the candidates in a CBS interview as well.

While Elizabeth Edwards was speaking at the Women's conference, another famous person met JRE, Cate, Emma Claire, and Jack: Miley Cyrus. According to People magazine (but posted at HuffPo),

On Thursday, Cyrus and her brother Braison rode the rides at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. While in line for the Test Track ride, Cyrus ran into Edwards and his three children. (The senator's youngest two children, Emma Claire and Jack, are Hannah Montana fans who were super eager to meet the star.)

"She chatted with them about all the rides and attractions they saw at Walt Disney World," a source close to the singer tells PEOPLE. "It was a sweet moment."

Lastly, Elizabeth Edwards wrote a poignant essay about Lance Armstrong, who was among Time Magazine's 100 Influential People List.

He inspired all of us who face a cancer diagnosis to search out the doctors who believe that we can live, to hold on to those friends and family who stand beside our bed—and then to fight to prove the faith of those friends and the beliefs of those doctors well founded. After Lance, no one of us could ever again say it was too hard, the odds stacked against us were too high, the fight already lost. The fight I fight is for me and my family, but the power to fight belongs in good measure to Lance.

Elizabeth was on that list last year. How fitting she was happy to honor Lance with her words.

More buzz l8tr...

Lance Armstrong's Foundation and ALA Team Up

via e-mail from the American Library Association this afternoon:

Lance Armstrong Foundation and ALA team up to deliver cancer survivorship notebooks to libraries

AUSTIN – The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) recently announced it is collaborating with the American Library Association (ALA) to provide libraries across the country with reference materials to better serve those seeking health-related information, specifically cancer. Recently, the LAF began shipping LIVESTRONG Survivorship Notebooks to more than 14,200 libraries across the United States.

"Libraries as places of opportunity that make information affordable, available and accessible to all people," said American Library Association President Loriene Roy. "We are pleased to work with the Lance Armstrong Foundation to bring this information to our libraries and to highlight our efforts in keeping our communities healthy and well-informed."

The LAF created the LIVESTRONG Survivorship Notebook to give cancer information access to everyone, especially low-income or uninsured citizens who don’t have access to a computer or are denied follow-up care after completing cancer treatment.

“As a cancer survivor and someone who grew up in a city where more than 95 percent of families use the public library, I recognize the importance of providing access to cancer resources through libraries,” said Doug Ulman, president of the LAF. “We created the Survivorship Notebook to help cancer survivors be inspired and empowered to live life on their own terms. I am proud that the LAF is partnering with the ALA on such a critical initiative.”

The LIVESTRONG Survivorship Notebooks are a free resource and are designed to help cancer survivors, their families and caregivers organize, keep and access important information related to their cancer experiences. The Notebooks are divided into four sections:

• Survivorship Tools – These tools help cancer survivors organize physical and emotional health concerns; maintain a list of medications; keep track of medical, financial and insurance records; and keep a record of medical history after treatment.
  
  
• Survivorship Stories – This section contains a booklet of stories told by real survivors about their experiences with cancer.
  
  
• Survivorship Topics – This section features information about the physical, emotional and practical challenges cancer survivors and their loved ones may face throughout their battle with cancer. Topics addressed in this section include: the aftereffects of cancer treatment, the emotional effects of cancer, planning your financial future and how to communicate with your health care team.
  
  
• Survivorship Updates – Cancer survivors can use the information in this section to request additional information about cancer survivorship to add to their notebooks. They can also add to this section information they receive from their own health care team, family members, support groups, caregivers and friends.

Individuals, groups and organizations can order the free LIVESTRONG Survivorship Notebook at LIVESTRONG.org.

This is fantastic. And I'm certain Elizabeth Edwards would approve.

To honor this initiative, here's the video of Lance and JRE from last summer riding together at RAGBRAI, and Lance said hello to EE.

John Edwards at the Livestrong Forum

John Edwards spoke at a forum in Cedar Rapids this morning sponsored by Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation, and MSNBC. Each candidate was given about 35 minutes to give an opening statement and answer questions by Lance and Chris Matthews. Edwards, the second candidate, got the loudest applause coming on and leaving the stage. It was clear that Edwards had command of his statistics and introduced the facts by asking a question of the audience: how many had been affected by cancer, either through family or loved ones? Most of the 1000 there raised their hand.

More JRE buzz l8tr...

pic courtesy of the Livestrong Foundation

Update: video of the woman JRE spoke of in the cancer forum. She had to take $50K out of her health care to survive 8 months of chemotherapy and being a single mom of 4 teenagers.

http://www.johnedwards.com/media/video/nh-tour-survivors-question/

John Edwards at RAGBRAI

Pork chop sounds good at the moment.