We're just so gosh-darn proud of 'er!

check it

Our lovely co-founder/resident graphic designer, Michelle Cortese, just received the latest issue of Applied Arts Magazine and it just so happens that our Alt Med magazine—a guide to alternative medicine and a proactive lifestyle—has a full-page feature.

...no big...

...whatev...

At the bottom of the page there's a little blurb that reads something like this:

"This is a teen-geared introduction to alternative medicines made for the Toronto-based cancer charity Culture Can Cure. The book's intense colours and bizarre scribble graphics help to communicate issues that teens often view as complex or dull. The cover image is an altered version of a Shlag illustration. All other images are original, illustrated by Michelle Cortese and Natasha Gouveia."

I want to say thanks to Natasha Gouveia, who—with her beautifully twisted, kinky-ass drawings—helped make this all possible! *points aimlessly above head*

Anyways, the magazine was submitted to the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario's 2009 student awards and sure enough it won the Spread the Word Award for Design for Social Change—what a perfect fit.

You can check out a brief interview with Michelle on OCAD's website.

this is alt med ... & michelle

So, if any of you have not perused the pages of our magazine yet, this is as good a reason as any to give it a read. Hopefully, the content—with it's award-winning design—will resonate with you.

enjoy!

— pino.

Swine Flu — THE GAME!!!

Not enough epidemic crises in your life?

The Great Flu Game is a propaganda-infested online game sponsored by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (in case you're not familiar with GSK, they are the assholes that are currently testing their pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine on hapless and dim-witted human guinea pigs). In this game you get to assess and manage a global pandemic to which the only means of disease control is, naturally, a vaccine administered by GSK.


And in case you've got a taste for swine-smashing flash-powered entertainment, but you're not so much a fan of pharmaceutical propaganda machines, we'd like to offer you the humorous and propaganda-free Swinefighter.

enjoy!

— elle.

C'est Orange! Non, ce n'est pas magnifique!

"A new analysis by World Health Organization cancer experts concludes the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30."

ooomppaa loommppa doo pe dee dooee
to the light coffin weekly you go
ooommppaa loommppa doo pe dee deeeee
death in orange leather is what we see
:)

The researchers observed some disturbing mutations in mice at the hands of artificial ultraviolet light, and proved that the radiation is carcinogenic. I wanted to have something witty and wry to add here, but I got nothin. There's not much to say; tanning beds are gross death chambers, people who tan regularly are moronic, and now there are numbers to support it. That's all I got folks!

"We hope the prevailing culture will change
so teens don't think they need to use sunbeds to get a tan."
— Vincent Cogliano
(a contributor in the study), Lancet Oncology

And I hope the prevailing culture will change because tanorexics make me want to vom.

— elle.

SOURCE

FDA <3's Radiation for Your Fruits & Veggies

"Federal regulators are expected today to let processors for the
first time use radiation to kill bacteria in spinach and iceberg lettuce."
(august 21, 2008)

Yep, you read right, the FDA thinks its a good idea for people to eat radiation. Yes, that radiation ... the stuff that can cause cancer, among other ailments.

And the only thing more terrifying than the FDA's approval of irradiating produce is that many foods were already being sterilized in this manner. In defense of their ruling, the FDA argued that the radiation of meat and produce has been employed as an antibacterial agent since 2000, and has received little or no resistance from shoppers. What the FDA made sure to leave out is that the general consumer population is largely unaware of these practices.

Back in 2000, the Grocery Manufacturers Association actually presented a petition to the FDA to allow manufacturers to irradiate a wide variety of processed meats, fruits and vegetables and prepared foods. Robert Brackett, the chief scientist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association claimed that, "[irradiation of food] is probably one of the single most significant food safety actions done for fresh produce in many years."

So while we're here telling you that part of following an alt med lifestyle involves eating lots of delicious nutricious fruits and veggies, the GMA and the FDA are working together to ensure that those fruits and veggies are also all fucked up. And why? Because the FDA is bullshit ... and where there are chemicals (however dangerous) available that can make a job easier (read: cheaper), there is money to be made. And where there is money to be made, there is the FDA.

millions of peaches, peaches for me
peaches of cancer, with cancer for free

And theeennnn, in response to the all food safety claims made by the FDA and GMA, many health and wellness advocates—you know, the people that don't thrive on the economic gains created by the use of pesticides, radiation and other chemical food processes—have condemned the agency’s decision and asserted that "irradiation could lower nutritional value, create unsafe chemicals and ruin taste." And may I add that sterilizing food, via radiation or any other means, is real bad for your immune system.

So, I don't really know what the moral of this story is, I mean, it's pretty much impossible for us to know when our produce has or has not underwent radiation. And that's pretty fucking bleak. But we found this deeply disturbing and we just really wanted you guys to be informed. As your friendly neighborhood CCC, we hope that you take this information and spread it until shit like this is banned.

See the original article, posted in the New York Times, HERE.

— elle.

the other CCC

Okay, I'm going to go a bit off topic here for a second but don't worry, I'm coming back. I want you to look at this:

Stop H8

It's a photograph taken at the Sacramento Prop 8 Vigil last November. And okay, wtf? why is it here at culture can cure's blog?
1) Gender/sexual politics is my true passion (rethinking health and health care comes in a close second) so I've been trying to follow developments in the the Prop 8 situation. While tracking the protests, their growth and government reactions I've been thinking about them in relation to our mission/objective/cause/means;
2) November was forever ago, but these rallies are still going on;
3) A protest is a protest. We're very much about questioning dominant ideology; whether that may be questioning a state-run health care system or questioning a media-driven push toward compulsory heteronormativity.

protest = socially engaged people

I see these photos and I get really inspired, I hope you do too. These people are oppressed and they're marginalized but they're aware and they're doing something about it ... and in my opinion, that is fucking inspiring and totally applicable to our fight. Looking at these photos I imagine what it would feel like to experience the enclosure that is a part of every gay American's life, and I want to get out there change things. I get fucking inflamed and I just want to hit the streets to fix all the fucked up shit in the world.

Do you ever get like that? You see like a World Vision ad spot in TV and then get all stir-crazy and pissed off that there is so much fucked up shit in the world and nothing you can do?

I guess that's why it's so inspiring and exciting to see these images; those photos should make us feel like we all can band together and make a difference. And as the LGBT community in the United States is banding together and fighting for people to question accepted opinions on gay rights ... we want people get together and question accepted practices in medicine, specifically cancer.

And you know who else wants you to question accepted practices in medicine? The Campaign to Control Cancer (the other CCC). They are a another (bigger) Canadian organization devoted to thinking about cancer differently:

"Right now, Canada has enough knowledge to cut the rate of cancer deaths by half over the next generation. To save approximately one million Canadians from getting cancer, and half a million from dying from it. And to improve the quality of life of everyone touched by it. This is what we mean by controlling cancer.
The Campaign to Control Cancer is a national coalition of more than 70 cancer organizations dedicated to cutting cancer down to size through knowledge, change and action."

They are a fascinating organization that shares a goal with Culture Can Cure: to change the way people think about medicine; to concentrate on lifestyle, preventative measures and early detection.

But what do Prop 8 protests and The Campaign to Control Cancer have I common? Well, really, I just wanted to get you all jazzed up about protesting and being proactive and shit because The Campaign to Control Cancer will be presenting a rally to rethink cancer treatment in September and I want you to come.

Pino, Matt and I will be there, talking about our approaches to rethinking cancer treatments and we want to see as many people there as possible. Maybe we can all take one big communal roadtrip up there together. Live like dirty hippies and shit, we can rent a bus and live in it ... we could call it the Culture Can Love Machine, except there won't be any orgies and we'll shower, maybe.
How bout it?

1st Global Leadership Forum for Cancer Control
September 23-26, Ottawa, Ontario.

— michelle.

A New Take On Alcohol

alcohol + health = win (tea martinis)

On our most recent trip to DAVIDsTEA we discovered a very intriguing book of theirs that's dedicated to some new and tasty martini recipes.
Why would a martini recipe book be in a tea shop, you ask? Well, that's because tea is an integral part of each recipe. That's right...TEA martinis!!!
Here are only a few of the drinks that we feel need mention; Chai By Night, The Classic Earl Grey Martini, and Matcha Martini.


So, next time you decide to get together with some friends and have a couple drinks, why not class it up a bit and make some tea martinis.


We highly recommend going to check DAVIDsTEA out for yourself in the near future and talking to their staff, who are very friendly and know their shit. You can find them at 336 Queen Street West, Toronto.

If you would like some more information you can check them out online at www.davidstea.com

— pino.

re(DE)fining poison

Sug·ar (sh-oo-g'er)
n.

1. A sweet crystalline or powdered substance, white when pure, consisting of sucrose used in many foods, drinks, and medicines to improve their taste. Also called table sugar.

2. Slang Sweetheart. Used as a term of endearment.
3. A highly addictive poison consumed orally by humans on a regular basis. Obtained through the refinement of cane or beet juice by stripping away all its vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, water, and other synergists.

sugar's evil merchants of doom

Regular consumption of refined sugar, flour, rice, etc. is a really great way to slowly degenerate your health and ultimately kill yourself.

THE PROCESS OF REFINING NUTRIOUS CANE JUICE INTO POWDERY POISON GOES AS FOLLOWS:
the juice is heated up in chalk-milk (calcium and protein are removed). At this point it has become alkaloid, and therefore all vitamin content has been removed. Next it is mixed in with acid chalk, carbonic gas, sulfur dioxide, and later with natrium bicarbonate. After being cooked and cooled repeatedly it is centrifuged (separation of liquid and solid masses). Out put (dead mass) is administered strontium hydroxide. Then this mixture hits up the refinery (yeah it's not "refined" enough yet) where it gets passed over chalk carbon acid to "clean" it. sulfuric acid is added to bleach it sugar and then bone charcoal is used to filter it. And last but not least, the sugar is colored with Indathrenblue or Ultramarine (both toxic). Mmmmm.

Consuming sugar — or other refined goods such as white flour or polished rice — does the body more bad than good. These foods are "naked" (and not in the good, ready to fuck kind of way either) they've got nothing but pure energy to contribute to your body. Which is fine, right? Not really. The digestion process requires vitamins and minerals and since refined foods come with none, your body leaches vitamins and minerals from your it's own reserves in order to facilitate digestion. Refined sugar consumption is even worse. When refined sugar hits your intestine your body interprets it as pure glucose and sends it straight to your blood. This fucks up homeostasis in your entire body which can only be fixed through intense detoxification processes that expend large quantities of energy and nutrients.

NEED MORE REASONS TO DITCH THE WHITE STUFF?
Regular consumption of refined sugar can cause hypoglycaemia, hormonal imbalance, varicose veins, food allergies, hypertension, depression, gallstones, and a rapid rise of adrenaline causing anxiety, ADD and ADHD and subsequently fatigue. Sugar produces significant rises in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol. Additionally, it has been linked to loss of collagen resulting in the appearance of premature signs of aging. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach. Sugar can weaken eyesight over time as well as cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis. Sugar it a direct cause of acne and skin imperfections while also lowering vitamin E levels in the body, reducing the body’s ability to heal flesh wounds.

Refined sugar is in almost every product on the shelves, seriously, avoiding sugar is not as effortless as taking the white stuff out of view. But easy or not, it's beyond worth it.

– michelle.