Deborah Chan

Recent stories by Deborah

• Surrounded by support – and sisters

  May 18, 2013 in Washington Voices on Page V1 I stood in a sea of pink and felt my eyes well up with tears. The breast cancer survivors surrounding me, as we posed for a photo on the INB …

• No longer a perfectionist, I was ready

  April 20, 2013 in Washington Voices on Page V1 A while back my husband, Richard, mentioned an advertisement he’d seen for a book on how to make sense of black holes. “Are we supposed to make sense of black …

• This star turn is treatment for my girl

  March 16, 2013 in Washington Voices on Page V1 When it comes to breast cancer, modesty freaks need not apply. My right breast (which had a surgical lumpectomy) has, during the course of treatment, experienced more exposure than “Harlem …

• Taking chemo dose with humor

  January 19, 2013 in Health, Washington Voices on Page V1 Going through cancer is certainly an interesting experience, if not a fun one. Chemo has been a five-month road trip through increasing debilitation, when I hoped to go through it … 1

• Tree helps elicit stories, memories

  December 22, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Although the Christmas season has deep spiritual meaning to me, I also enjoy the secular things that coexist with it – the lights, food, gifts, trees, special baking, music and …

• Find positives while fighting breast cancer

  November 10, 2012 in Health, Washington Voices on Page V1 In August I wrote about being diagnosed with breast cancer, and how disorienting and crazy that was. Deep into chemo treatments, I have to say that cancer is still disorienting …

• Some charms tougher than others to break

  September 29, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 I think of it as the peripatetic dresser. When I was little, my parents bought my sister and me a set of solid maple early American bedroom furniture, including a … 1

• Front Porch: Out of the blue, a journey begins

  August 25, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 I’m wigging out. Really. 1

• ‘Good friends’ key to library sales

  April 28, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 The first library book sale I went to was in the early 1990s, on a rainy spring morning. At the downtown Spokane Public Library Friends of the Library sale, I …

• Front Porch: Bottom line: Americans love sales

  February 25, 2012 in Washington Voices on Page V1 I love it when retail companies get real. In past year or so, a national chain has been using a lingerie model who is older than 30, and who has …

• Unsticking the things that bind us

  December 31, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page V1 In the Harry Potter books, a good Sticking Charm is like wizarding Superglue; what’s stuck stays stuck. Sticking Charms, however, aren’t restricted to the magical world.

• Scarce sun could be alien plot

  June 25, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page V1 On June 9, Stefanie Pettit wrote a column in this space, in which she touted her enjoyment of our continuing rainy weather. As I read it, while sullenly noting the … 1

• Angry Birds is a fowl pleasure

  May 28, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Sometimes I am the bird and sometimes I get the bird. Lately I’ve been playing Angry Birds on my iPod, having discovered this challenging physics game while examining the new …

• Theater of the absurd? We can hope

  April 16, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page V1 It’s been a tough week, but it’s finally Friday, and Richard and I are going to a movie. Maybe we’ll see “The King’s Speech” again. As I put a frozen …

• Love is a many-faceted experience

  February 12, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Love stinks. Once upon a time in the second grade I had a big crush on a classmate named Frank. When the teacher reassigned seating and placed us at the …

• Front Porch: Encounter with paramedics puts moms’ warning to the test

  February 5, 2011 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Mom didn’t tell us the truth. You don’t need to have on clean underwear when the paramedics come. They couldn’t care less about the state of your tighty whities. 1

• Time has revealed real holiday joy

  December 25, 2010 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Back in the day when perfectionism was a driving force in my life, I had great expectations for holidays, wanting them to somehow make up for unhappy ones in my …

• Love affair with region still growing

  October 23, 2010 in Washington Voices on Page V1 Autumn had some nerve showing up in early September. It gave my husband Richard and me a jolt of deja vu as we marked the silver anniversary of our moving …

• Young adult books beat downer lit

  October 9, 2010 in Washington Voices on Page V1 How did reading for pleasure become a test of endurance?

• Heroes for the put-upon do-nothings

  August 28, 2010 in Washington Voices on Page V1 I am a folk hero. I’m a folk hero because I hung up on every annoying, pestiferous, political candidate robo-call I received in this summer’s primary season. And, as I …