At the John Locke Foundation discussing Nuclear Literacy for Elementary Students

It was my pleasure to speak at the John Locke Foundation's Shaftesbury Society Luncheon.  I have to admit, I was nervous in front of this nonprofit think tank audience of esteemed movers and shakers.  

My presentation was titled,  Lighting up Minds and Radiating Brilliance: Nuclear Literacy for Elementary Students. 

       Click on the arrow above to view my presentation.

I had nothing to be nervous about as my audience, and the JLF staff, could not have been more charming or supportive when it comes to educating our children about nuclear power plants.

Published on Apr 15, 2013

Amelia Frahm, author of "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Plant Really Works," discusses the challenge of boosting nuclear literacy among elementary school students. Frahm offered these comments during an April 15, 2013, speech to the John Locke Foundation's Shaftesbury Society. Video courtesy of CarolinaJournal.tv. Watch full-length presentations of JLF presentations here: http://www.johnlocke.org/events/video...

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The Color of Advocacy

There is a  line in the movie Steel Magnolias where Shelby says "my colors are blush and bashful."  Whereas her mother says "her colors are pink and pink!"

Your colors are neither, you are not an expert

I understand Shelby's exasperation.  I feel it toward myself as I am often torn between the colorful topics of cancer and nuclear power. Two distinct topics that I have written children's picture books about.

With my writer's imagination I hear Shelby saying in her Southern accent,  "your colors are breast cancer awareness pink and nuclear advocacy green ."  To which her mother admonishes , "your colors are neither, you are a children's book writer not an expert."

Which is why I am always, amazed, mystified, and extremely honored when, bona fide advocates and experts  of breast cancer awareness and nuclear energy are appreciative of what I do and include me in their initiatives.  

Last September when my "baby" left for college. I left my empty nest in North Carolina to hide out in an apartment in Alabama where my husband works.  Life as I had known it was over, and I was feeling sorry for myself, when I received a call from Christine Andrade, a woman I had never met.  

Christine is the Corporate Sponsorship Manager for the NC Triangle Susan G. Komen Foundation. She called to tell me that she had nominated me for 2012 Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award.  

I was moved, flattered, and  astonished to discover someone had nominated me, and that someone was affiliated with the Susan G. Komen Foundation!  A foundation synonymous with breast cancer pink, but for me pink is synonymous with learning to embrace change. 

In  January I was contacted by John Shanahan, author of the Shanahan Energy Letter and  the founder of Go Nuclear! Inc., regarding my nuclear education programs and children's book about nuclear power.  He appreciated  that I had done both a children's book about cancer and one about nuclear power plants.  As he explained, anti-nuclear advocacy had  not just tarnished the clean green hue of nuclear power plants, but  also nuclear medicine and treatments that benefit cancer patients.

Go Nuclear! is a non-profit global initiative whose mission is to inform and educate our youth and young professionals about nuclear energy and nuclear medicine in the hopes they will pay it forward. John wanted two more advisers to represent the United States and asked if I was interested. 

He was asking me to consider having my name listed amongst the real world equivalent of the PhD-ed  IQ's featured on The Big Bang Theory. Not much for me to consider, of course I was interested!

Along with  flattered, I usually feel overwhelmed and out of my league most the time. It is humbling to be able to call these amazing, intelligent, courageous, colorful advocates my colleagues. 

Like Artist Suzanne Hobbs Baker, Executive Director of PopAtomic Studios which established The Nuclear Literacy Project. This February she  packed up her art supplies and headed across the ocean to explore the European nuclear industry.  Along the way she is blogging about her adventures in Diary of A Nuclear Tourist. 

The color of advocacy is as varied as Suzy's paints, but one thing is certain, coward yellow is not the signature color of any of my colleagues.

Tis the season, so don't get caught with coal in your stocking!   Santa lights his Christmas lights with Nuclear Power. 

Ho Ho Ho... 

Wishing you a Joyous Holiday Season
Nutcracker Publishing Company

Pink Pumpkins: How My Children Celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Once upon a time a long time ago, (my daughter used to insist all stories must begin like this) there was no Tickles Tabitha character.  Pumpkins were orange and talking to young children about cancer was more frightening then a Halloween without candy.

Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer and October has not been the same since. At our house it became Pink Pumpkin Month and I spent it promoting cancer awareness and marketing Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy, my children’s picture book about cancer.

My kids did not just pick out and carve up traditional orange pumpkins. We were purchasing cans of hot pink spray paint, dollar store trick or treat sacks we filled with a pink ribbon craft activity, and making scarecrow hats that looked like Tickles Tabitha.

One year our kitchen was the laboratory where a giant plastic pumpkin head was padded, molded, and turned into a larger than life-sized Tickles Tabitha’s head.  The top section of the Tickles Tabitha costume character my children volunteered to dress up as (I'm doing what my kids call my evil laugh here) and that helped introduced my cancer awareness school program.   

I was reflecting on all that has changed during my recent appearance at the Barnes & Noble Walk With Sally Book Fair.  When my own children were small, talking to them about my cancer raised eyebrows and talking to other peoples children about it was unimaginable. 

So much has changed and much of it due to October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Today cans of pink spray paint are not necessary, you can  purchase pink pumpkin jack-o lanterns at the local super market. 

It's a good thing, since the kids that helped me are now young adults and what I recall as fond memories of Octobers past are now reasons for my son Jordan to complain about his childhood, and affirmations as to why his sister, the "real" Tabitha, graduated summa cum laude with a psych degree. According to the two of them, it's going to come in handy! 

Happy Pink Pumpkin Month!

Here we are before Jordan left for college...

...and here's Jordan now.

 Probably due to inhaling that pink spray paint.

Celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Don't Get Too Comfortable!

Amelia Frahm, Author
Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous  Mommy

One thing about breast cancer is you can never get too comfortable. I kicked off October with a trip to the doctor's office. A bug had flown into my ear and I wanted to make sure it was out.  All of it!

My doctor assured me the bug was long gone and nothing to worry about, but when I asked her to take a look at a lump near a lymph node she immediately made me an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist.               

                                              

After the ENT guy examined my nodes, mentioned scheduling a full body cat scan, vaporized my perpetual hunger, and told me that he felt better about the one node because the one on the other side was about the same size,  I directed him to the node I was worried about.

As it turned out that node was not a lymph node, but an enlarged cyst.  If it gets infected or any larger it will need to be removed, he told me. Or he could go ahead and  remove it  "NOW"  and prevent me a possible return trip.  

I thought about it for a nano second.  What I thought was, unless he put me under and combined a cosmetic procedure with that needle and knife he would be wielding, I would take my chances. 

So far my odds have been pretty good, at least when it comes to breast cancer.  Eighteen years of remission  and counting...   Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  

Sharing my story with  young fans at the
B&N  Walk With Sally Book Fair in  Manhattan Beach, CA.

Walk with Sally's   

Barnes & Noble Bookfair

      The Literary Showcase, Sept. 1, 2012.

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 Helping Children Feel Smart!

Kieran 

"My daughter Kieran said reading your book made her feel smart!" The child within me wanted to simultaneously jump for joy and break into tears. 
However, since the adult me was sitting at a coffee shop in Victoria, Texas, meeting Kathleen Grones, a reporter for the Victoria Advocate, I squelched that notion and went on pretending to be the grown-up author she was supposed to be interviewing.


Kieran's comment resonated in me in a way that only an adult who was made to feel "not smart” as a child would understand. As a five year old first grade student I was made to feel dumb by a teacher.  Her opinion labeled me in my own mind, and in the minds of other children and teachers, and shaded my entire school experience. 

It was not until college that I realized I was not a dunce. My first clue came in the mail. It was an acceptance letter to the University of Florida, from which I graduated with a PR degree. Not bad for a girl whose first grade teacher assigned her a "D" in citizenship, and who was placed in the slow reading group.

  Suzy Hobbs Baker,Executive Director of
        PopAtomic Studios, the parent organization
for the Nuclear Literacy Project. 

Recently, I received an e-mail from Suzanne Hobbs Baker, Executive Director at PopAtomic Studios, informing me that Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant ReallyWorks! had been listed as recommended reading on the premier posting of the Nuclear Literacy Project's website. Needless to say, it felt good.

There was the so-called "dumb" girl's book right alongside books written by some really smart authors and nuclear experts, including Gwyneth Cravens' The Power to Save the World, and Terrestrial Energy by William Tucker.  

Although being victimized by education bullies did not make my life easy, it has made life interesting and infused a passion within me that might not otherwise exist.

This is why I have a deep appreciation for professionals and educators who provide information in a format that even us "dummies" will understand.

That is what the folks at the Nuclear Literacy Project are doing. This past year, the nuclear industry took the heat for the devastation and destruction caused by horrible natural events that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. 

After the incident, anything nuclear - including my children's book - became an easy target for anti-nuclear bullies predicting doom and assigning blame.

My Facebook page was bombarded with photos and comments intended to make me appear irresponsible for writing a children's book on nuclear power. Once again, I felt like that first grade child who had received a "D" in citizenship, until members of the Nuclear Literacy Project came to my rescue.

The organization is composed of a diverse group of thinkers from a variety of backgrounds who recognize the gaps in nuclear education and are striving to bridge them.

They shared accurate and factual information on my Facebook pages that helped distinguish fact from fiction and they did it in a way that my non-technical audience could understand. That is the genius of the Nuclear Literacy Project. It strives to provide education without humiliation or condemnation.  It is with much admiration and appreciation for the Nuclear Literacy Project that I say thank you for what you are doing and congratulations on your website:  Nuclearliteracy.org. 


May you continue to make children of all ages feel smart!

The Nutcracker Publishing Company is pleased to be associated with The Nuclear Literacy Project and would like to thank them for supporting our efforts to educate young children about nuclear power plants. To learn more about The Nuclear Literacy Project and their history of successful outreach please go to Nutcracker Publishing Company/The Nuclear Literacy Project.