Indie Music For Life non profit raising funds for cancer research and for educational awareness of music as therapy for cancer patients has launched a new entity of their non profit called Laughs For Life. Indie Music For Life works with independent singer songwriters in fund raising concert events and producing yearly compilation CDs. Laughs For Life will work with comedians and will produce comedy events and comedy CDs. Comedian Shelly Ryan in Atlanta Georgia was "MC" at a combination dinner and music fund raising event in Georgia last year and the idea was spawned to start including comedy into the shows and to also set up separate comedy events to bring in funds.

Indie Music For Life just finished the submission process for artists to send in songs to be considered for the 2007 compilation CD project and the selected artists will be announced soon. The CD will go up for sale at online music locations soon.

Shelly Ryan is heading up the comedy CD project and working on events for the Southeast region and can be reached at shellyryancomedy@yahoo.com if you are interested in becoming a part of this project. For more information on music happenings and getting involved with the music event fund raising you can contact indiemusicforlife@yahoo.com.

I'm Too Young For This! (i2y) is a recently launched portal for adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors. Featured i2y resources and support services include survivor spa retreats, online forums and blogs, social networking, camping excursions, fertility education, peer counseling, and financial scholarships.

"The i2y website is primed to become a premiere online resource for AYAs with cancer by eliminating the stress and hassle of navigating through thousands of search engine results," said Matthew Zachary, founder and executive director of Steps For Living and an 11-year young adult survivor of pediatric brain cancer. "Our goal to make I'm Too Young For This! the first place adolescents and young adults with cancer think of to go when in search of credible, targeted support programs, tools and services."

"This website is just what the doctor ordered. Now, with the click of a mouse, they can instantly connect with a universe of others just like them." Doug Ulman, Chief Mission Officer for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and a 10-year young adult survivor says, "We are pleased that Steps For Living is dedicated to making a difference in cancer advocacy for this community."

To raise awareness for the i2y organization, the AYA Steps For Living musician/cancer survivors have released a 21-track benefit CD featuring their original songs and music. You can listen to the playlist here. Included in the album is an i2y online resource guide.

The tagline of i2y reads: Got Cancer? Under 40? Sucks, huh? Get Busy Living. Indeed, if you are between the ages of 15-39, i2y is a destination meant just for you. If you are a caregiver or friend of a teen or young adult who is facing the challenges of cancer survivorship, let them know about i2y. This is a phenomenal group of artists, musicians, writers and photographers who, as young adult cancer survivors, got busy living. Visit I'm Too Young For This! to learn more.

Lord of the Rings Oscar award-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have donated over $300,000 dollars to the University of California for human embryonic stem cell research.

Jackson is quoted as saying, "We have lost close friends and relatives to cancer and Parkinson's disease, and the level of personal suffering inflicted on patients and their families by these diseases is horrific."

The Bill and Joan Jackson Scholars Fund, in honor of Jackson's parents, will be established through the university to award two scholarships to students specializing in stem cell research. Because the US government restricts research funding for the use of stem cells from human embryos -- which some religious groups have objected to as morally equivalent to abortion -- and others support as the path to cures for many diseases including cancer -- human embryonic stem cell research in this country requires private funding.

"Stem cell therapy has the potential to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses, which up until now have been labelled incurable. It has the capacity to exponentially improve the quality of life for those who currently suffer from spinal cord injury, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and many other debilitating medical conditions, " stated Jackson.

I have been reading the sports columnists snarky take on Brett Favre's press conference that was intended to include an announcement of Favre's plans on whether he will play football again -- or not -- in the coming season. However, during the press conference, he stated he was not sure of his future plans. This is where the columnists get snarky, and I am reasonable sure all the crankiness might have something to do with the fact they expected something Favre did not deliver. New information on the status of his football career. One columnist began with, "In one of the last improbable acts of his already storied career, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre upstaged SpongeBob, the Wiggles and Dora the Explorer. Favre became the must-see TV that early morning risers had to watch, the alternative to the kids favorite cartoons. A Super Bowl hero trumping superheroes." Another sports reporter finishes his column with a palm-reading prediction, that "Not making a decision is making a decision. He's already made one. He just doesn't know it." Yeah, right -- we'll see.

From the perspective of those living with cancer, or has a loved one who has fought for their life against the disease, this state of indecision is understandable, if not unavoidable. When faced with mortality, top priorities in life can slip away, and when faced with mortality, it can become a struggle to envision a future. Making plans and making decisions about tomorrow take time. The concept and course of tomorrow is irrevocably altered. In the last two years, Favre has faced mortality with the death of his father and brother-in-law, and the breast cancer diagnosis of Deanna, his wife. If Favre got the reporters up too early on a Saturday morning, to give them news there was no new news, they could have gone back to bed and taken a nap. Give the guy a break for now because, unless you have experienced the aftermath of cancer, you have no idea what Favre means when he says he does not know what he will do tomorrow. He still may not be sure there is one.

Beth Brophy is a mother, journalist, author and breast cancer survivor who blogs with humor, anger and intelligence about the issues of cancer. In The Blame Game, she features a health column written by Jane Brody, who wonders at the assumptions of blame some people make when they hear of a cancer diagnosis. Brody, a health expert who lives a healthy lifestyle based on the information she writes about, was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago. "It seems that many people believe that if you do everything right -- which is not to say that I did everything right, just most things -- bad things won't happen. But bad things can and do happen. And they happen to the best and the worst of us."

Brophy wonders about the same idea about disease. In her blog she writes, "Some people seem to want to blame you for your bad choices when you afflicted with a random illness. It seems to give other people, the unafflicted, the illusion that they have some control over fate. If someone has lung cancer, the first question is always: Did he or she smoke? If someone has breast cancer: Is that person overweight, or is there a family history of the disease? Yet countless studies have shown that in most cases, these factors may be entirely beside the point."

Brophy is being kind when she suggests the motivation for blaming others for their disease is a self-protective mechanism to comfort the healthy in giving them an illusionary sense of control over fate. I believe it is more arrogant and sinister that that, and reveals a profound lack of compassion. When my son was young, he asked me how people were able to do mean things to other people. I told him, like the Grinch of Dr. Seuss, there are hearts that grow bitterly dark and shrivel in size from a lack of love for themselves and others.