Tunes Benefit Survivors

Sun., Dec. 3, 2000

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

Singer Ani DiFranco and some of her performing friends have produced a new benefit album, just in time for the holiday gift-giving season.

DiFranco, the Indigo Girls and Me’Shell NdegeOcello, as well as others, will donate the profits from “Octaves Beyond Silence” to women survivors of violence and torture in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Rwanda.

The CD is $16.98, available from Ladyslipper Music on the Web at www.ladyslipper.org (order No. 0BS1). Album details are available at www.octavesbeyondsilence.com. (From October/November Ms.)

* A reminder to floss: Despite illustrations of pretty Colonial women with flawless teeth, America was pretty much toothless during the early years.

“American colonists were widely considered to have the worst oral health in the world,” says Eric Curtis, a spokesman for the Academy of General Dentistry.

In letters home from his travels in the New World, the Count de Rochambeau reported that the women, although beautiful, were nearly toothless by age 18. (From the Philadelphia Inquirer)

* What to do? Research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, based on a study of more than 250,000 women, found that women who consumed one or more drinks of alcohol a day had a 30 percent higher chance of dying from breast cancer than teetotalers.

However, other studies have also shown postmenopausal women have a greater risk of dying from heart disease or stroke than from breast cancer. And one drink a day (especially red wine) has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 40 percent.

Imbibe or not? You make the call after weighing the risks. (From December O)

* Give some time during the holidays: Even if you only have an hour or two to volunteer, there are places to do that. Editors at O magazine suggested volunteering at one of the Salvation Army’s holiday stores, donating gifts for the women and children at crisis shelters or visit a nursing home to offer holiday cheer. This is just a sampling of places that could use you. (From December O)

* Quote of the week: “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” — Bertrand Russell (From the wire services)

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