Photo Journey in Cancerworld, Pt. 1

I didn’t set out to create an album tracing the stops along the way of my experiences with ovarian cancer, but it seems I did document these first steps. One day I was the usual ebullient creature that I am. Then, BAM! I happened to notice in my bathroom mirror that something was amiss in

Once Upon a Once Upon Time

I was a goddess of love incarnate in full carnal mode (as you might have guessed from my most recent book review trio). Then I got slapped upside da face smartly and ended up in Urgent Care at 8 a.m. on 4/12 for what turned out to be an unrelated issue, albeit in the general

Our Bodies, Ourselves—Ours to (Re)Claim

Once upon a time in 1971 when many readers of The Muses’ Refugia were in college, a blockbuster book swept through society: Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective and Judy Norsigian, which The New York Times years later acknowledged as a “book [that] changed lives for decades. As a college freshman, it

Advice from a Molecular Biologist

I am a fortunate woman. I’ve said it many times and I’ll probably keep saying it. Today, I’m celebrating the good fortune of having a friend, one Craig Hordlow, who’s not only a molecular biologist, but one who specialize in the aging process. What a gift from the Universe to this woman of a certain