So Much to Be Done

A key figure in North American breast cancer history, Barbara Brenner was executive director of the nonprofit organization Breast Cancer Action, based in San Francisco. She died in 2013 at the age of sixty-one.Barbara Sjoholm is an author and translator. She was a cofounder of the feminist publisher Seal Press and an editor of many works of women’s studies. Rachel Morello-Frosch is professor of environmental science, policy, and management at University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the scientific advisory board of Breast Cancer Action.Anne Lamott is the author, most recently, of Small Victories, which includes an essay about Barbara Brenner.

"Barbara Brenner was anything but silent. She embodied the spirit of Audre Lorde, who believed that 'when I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less important whether or not I am afraid.' Barbara Brenner reminded us that sometimes it takes ruffling a few feathers to dislodge complacency."-Gayle A. Sulik, PhD, author of Pink Ribbon Blues"Barbara was the person who most influenced my own thinking and writing about breast cancer. Only now is the rest of the world catching up to where she was over a decade ago on critical issues: the limitations and harms of screening, the problem with pinkwashing, the conundrum of DCIS, the dearth of funds for metastatic disease, the need to merge breast cancer activism and environmentalism, the need to better track research. I owe so much to Barbara as a writer, as a thinker, as an activist, as someone living with breast cancer, and as a woman."-Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter"A visionary like Barbara Brenner comes along so rarely, and when such a person has left a wealth of insightful commentary filled with brilliant analyses and trenchant wit, we are doubly fortunate. Social justice activists, breast cancer and consumer advocates, academics, feminists, and anyone else interested in how breast cancer intersects with other key environmental and women's health concerns will find this edited collection of Barbara's writings a treasure trove of tools and ideas for making this world a better place for all."-Judy Norsigian, cofounder, Our Bodies Ourselves"Barbara transformed how health scholars and advocates think and act politically. Her pointed and often comical reflections on pink ribbon culture and her experience of living with ALS challenged her readers to ask difficult questions about well-intentioned generosity and compassion, both individual and corporate. A thinker and a doer, Barbara inspired us to move beyond passive skepticism and toward action to challenge the status quo of health funding, research, and care."-Samantha King, author of Pink Ribbons, Inc."Readers will learn to prize the activist as well as the woman behind the message."-Library Journal"Brenner is simultaneously heartfelt and acerbic, which makes this collection both engrossing and darkly humorous."-American Library Association’s GLBTRT Blog"Why should you read this book? Because this is not another pity-party book written by someone with a life-threatening illness. Not once does she mourn for her losses-instead Brenner always shows the world that she is still capable, still living, still loving, and still fighting."-Lambda Literary"Invaluable insight into...the most remarkable figure in the history of the political breast cancer movement."-Nursing Clio"Brenner’s writing is imbued with careful and precise language. It makes each article and blog posts both easy to read and dense with important information."-Beyond Chron"So Much to Be Done is a must read for anyone interested in learning more about breast cancer activism. In fact, health activists of any sort have much to learn from Barbara Brenner."-Nancy’s Point

• ContentsA Portrait of Barbara BrennerBarbara SjoholmIntroduction: Barbara Brenner, Breast Cancer Action, and the Birth of a Politicized Breast Cancer MovementRachel Morello-FroschPart I: Building a Movement, 1996–2010Hope, Politics, and Living with Breast Cancer (August 1995)Loss and Inspiration (April 1996)Let Them Lick Stamps (August-September 1996)Fiddling While Rome Burns: The Latest Mammogram Controversy (April–May 1997)Reflections on a Handmaid’s Tale (October–November 1997)Words Matter (February–March 1998)My Sister’s Keeper (June–July 1998)Educate, Agitate, Organize-Now! (August–September 1998)One Pill Makes You Smaller... (October–November 1998)Thinking Out Loud: Toward a New Research Strategy (December 1998–January 1999)Rolling the Dice (April–May 1999)Respecting the Past, Creating the Future (July–August 2000)Making Choices (March–April 2001)Living on the Edge (May–June 2001)Breast Cancer Treatment: Promise vs. Reality (September–October 2001)Exercise Your Mind (March–April 2002)The Crazy Days of Autumn (January 2003)Lessons from Long Island (November–December 2002)Waging War, Making Connections (September–October 2003)Solving the Breast Cancer Puzzle: Advancing the Research Revolution (March 2004)Forests and Trees: Reflections on Pink Bracelets and Narrow Visions (March–April 2005)Fifteen Years of Activism: Standing on Many Shoulders (June 2005)Era of Hope, Hype or Hoax: Is It Time for Change in the DOD Breast Cancer Research Program? (August–September 2005)Meaningful Results: Getting What We Need From Science (August–September 2006)BCA’s Survey on Aromatase Inhibitors: Meeting the Needs of Patients (December 2006)Moving beyond the Personal in Environmental Health (September–October 2007)Putting Patients First: The Need for Better Standards at the FDA (May 2008)The Organic Process of Activism: Think Before You Pink, Then and Now (September 2008)Breast Cancer Awareness Month: The Present Looks like the Past (Fall 2009)So Much to Celebrate, So Much to Be Done (Fall 2010)Part II: Thoughts on Dying and Living, 2011–2013Don’t Ask Me How I Am (March 4, 2011)Patient? Who’s Patient? (March 15, 2011)Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep-Especially in Health (March 23, 2011)Isn’t It Time to Change the Message? (March 28, 2011)Uncertainty, a Teaching for Rosh Hashana 5771 (March 31, 2011)A New Name (April 5, 2011)Passover (April 17–19, 2011)There’s That Person with... (April 26, 2011)The Obligation of Privilege (May 4, 2011)Can and Can’t List (May 15, 2011)That’s Why They Call Them “Trials” (May 19, 2011)People’s Lives as the Endpoints of Medical Research–Now There’s a Nifty Idea (June 3, 2011)Understanding Health Numbers: Not Easy, but Important (June 13, 2011)Having a Voice, Communicating, and Somewhere In Between (June 17, 2011)Walk for Your Health, but It Won’t Help Anyone Else’s, Much (July 1, 2011)Thoughts on Dying and Living (July 20, 2011)How Do You Spell Chutzpah: Komen (July 28, 2011)Drug Development and Access: Time to Act Like Lives Depend on It (August 18, 2011)Science by Press Release-Not Good News for Patients (August 26, 2011)Health Activism-Not for the Faint of Heart (September 8, 2011)Pink Ribbons and Lou Gehrig: Time to Bury Useless Symbols (September 18, 2011)Mi’She’Berach: Thoughts on Illness and Blessing (October 10, 2011)Is O