"Awareness" Scrapbooking

[FireRaven]

Hi Everyone!

The week of March 12th through 18th is National Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week. As one who lives with the disease -- and have lived through a sobering period of recent progression -- this week, and the broader month of March, holds mixed feelings for me.

I've scrapped various aspects of my life with M.S.; most recently the heart-rending news that my youngest brother has also been hit with it. I hope to share some of those LOs on a website associated with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society called "The Faces of MS" which will launch on Monday, 3/13/2006.

My question for those of you who have scrapped your way through illness, whether temporary or chronic, is this -- how do you share these very personal layouts, if you do at all? Is "Awareness Scrapbooking" whose purpose is to educate people about a specific physical or mental condition (as well as to chronicle one's own journey) a niche area of focus that's here to stay, or simply a trend that will disappear on it's own?

I'm curious as to your thoughts. Look for my "Face of MS" LO in the Gallery soon.

Blue skies,
-K

[Karen Bowers]

i don't have a chronic illness, but i do scrap through hard times and about sad moments. "awareness scrapping" is a new phrase for me, but i think using art to work through pain has and will always be around.

[Sandersmr]

I don't know that I would say my scrapping of my sister's fight against breast cancer was for "awareness", but more for healing for me. However, if what I'm doing makes someone else get checked, then that would make me feel that much better - that in her name, maybe I can make a difference.

[Sandersmr]

Oh, and K -

I had participated in the MS 150 here in TX the last 2 years, and if I wasn't recovering from shoulder surgery, I would be training to ride again next month.

[FireRaven]

Good point, Karen. Artists of all sorts (and I do consider scrappers to be highly artistic) have always used their chosen medium to work through both painful and joyful times in their lives. Scrapping both in my own life reminds me of how full it is, despite the challenges!

I used the term "awareness scrapping" to refer to pages that focus on a particular issue or illness that enters the public mindset through grassroots education and fund raising. Think of all the pink ribbons and other ephemera for breast cancer, the Lance Armstrong "Live Strong" yellow rubber bracelet, the MS Society "Hope" red rubber bracelet, the HIV/AIDS ribbons, etc. I sometimes wonder if people will begin to tune out all the "stuff" associated with personal causes, and in time, tune out the educational messages too. I hope not, but in our crazy multi-tasking world, I wonder.

-K (also a "Karen" :)

[Sandersmr]

I hope not, Karen. But yes, I think it's really possible. There is a shop in the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston called Appearances. They sell hats and stuff for cancer patients that will be losing their hair, and also sell t-shirts and other "ephemera" to signify the fight for cancer. I didn't know it, but just about every color under the rainbow signifies the fight against a particular cancer - from the pink for breast cancer to teal for ovarian cancer... I don't remember all the colors. And I wonder how many people even care that aren't directly involved.

And MS has an uphill battle because a lot of people, when they see red, associate it with AIDS.

I know that I support a lot of health causes because I have been impacted in one way or another by so many, but I also feel that I start diluting my efforts when I spread myself too far. So, I've primarily chosen breast cancer as my cause of choice since to me, it caused my biggest loss.