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Clarksville Family Magazine — October 2009

The October 2009 issue of Clarksville Family Magazine runs a dual cover theme of Breast Cancer Awareness and Halloween, led by a Clarksville mother's diagnosis story and the season's fall fairs.

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Publisher Carla Lavergne opens by thanking everyone who visited the magazine's Toddler Town tent at the previous month's Riverfest — and apologizing that 2,000 bags weren't enough, with a promise of 5,000 next year. She then sets up the issue's two themes. On breast cancer she keeps to the positives: continued research and treatment driving earlier detection, better care and much better survivability, pointing readers to Kelly Blevins' story and thanking David Barbee for the cover photograph of the Blevins family, Eden Day Spa for Kelly's makeup, and Pamela Magrans for telling the story. On Halloween she is unreserved — her son has worn out a TiVo'd Martha Stewart Halloween special, and the family is ready to start carving pumpkins.

The cover feature, “Faith and Strength,” tells Kelly Blevins' story. At 32 she was too young for a recommended annual mammogram but faithful about check-ups; three months after a clean post-partum visit for the birth of her son, in January 2009, she felt led to do a self-exam and found the lump that would change everything. The issue pairs her account with a medical companion piece, “Knowledge is Power,” by Damon Brantley, MD, who notes that breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women after skin cancer, with more than 192,000 women expected to be diagnosed that year — and that lumps and bumps do not always mean cancer.

The health thread continues with practical H1N1 “swine flu” advice, timely for the fall of 2009, and a parenting feature on the benefits of early intervention services. Elsewhere the issue reaches across the community: “Remarkable Role Models,” a Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides Walk, a Homeschool 101 primer, and a Dollars & Sense look at the perks of FHA loans for buyers.

The season shows up throughout. Clint Patterson's nature feature, “Fall Leaves Provide Color, Fun, and Mulch More,” celebrates the color that turns autumn into a tourist draw while making the case for mulching what falls in the yard. The Haunting History of Dunbar Cave and the Trinity Craft Fair mark the run-up to Halloween, Brenda Hunley's Chester the Chipmunk saga continues with a costume party, and the recipe pages offer a “Guilt Free” sweet potato cheesecake.

Table of Contents

  • Faith and Strength (p. 6)
  • When it Comes to Breast Cancer, Knowledge is Power (p. 10)
  • Haunting History of Dunbar Cave (p. 19)
  • H1N1 Flu Advice (p. 20)
  • Benefits of Early Intervention Services (p. 22)
  • Trinity Craft Fair (p. 25)
  • Homeschool 101 (p. 26)
  • The Perks of Using FHA Loans (p. 30)
  • Remarkable Role Models (p. 32)
  • Fall Leaves (p. 34)

Regular departments

  • Chester and a Costume Party (p. 14)
  • Spectacular, Spectacular (p. 18)
  • “Guilt Free” Sweet Potato Cheesecake (p. 24)
  • Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides Walk (p. 33)

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