Spots and Star

My doctor looked at the spots on my leg and was dismissive: An insect bite, she said.
So I won't worry.
I put bleach on the spots yesterday, just in case they were non-itchy chigger bites. One of my commenters had suggested that. At any rate, the spots are fading.


I got a review today in the Chicago Jewish Star:
JUNE 5 - 18, 2009 CHICAGO JEWISH STAR
M A G A Z I N E S E C T I O N
By GILA WERTHEIMER
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
"The Adventures of Can -
cer Bitch by S.L. Wisen -
berg (University of Iowa
Press, 164 pp.,
$25), nothwithstanding
the sub -
ject matter, has
hu mor (often
dark, it’s true),
tenderness, pain,
questioning, matter-
of-fact narrative
and not a lot
of anger as she
chronicles her illness.
...Along the way, Wisen -
berg has been weepy, defiant,
cynical, impatient, ap -
preciative, giving, curious
— and a myriad other
descriptions that would
apply.
She riffs on Freud and
Susan Son tag, celebrates
Passover, mourns the
death of Grace Paley, goes
to services for Rosh Ha -
shanah and Yom Kippur
(but doesn’t believe in
God), attends yoga classes,
teaches writing and, of
course, writes.
Her ego shows, but so
does her vulnerability.
.... She’s not a bitch
but a woman who
has faced a lifethreatening
illness
with defiance and
courage, and who,
even when she’s
raging or struggling
against it can look
outside herself and
be a part of the world
around her."