Commonwealth of Corruption

Aspen Highlands extends ski season by 1 weekend

First Posted: 5/29/2013 Wearing bright pink shirts and fashionable fuchsia hats, four friends waved feather boas and practiced their dance to the tune of &#8220;Puttin&#8217; on the Ritz.&#8221;
But as Mary Ann Meeker of Plymouth explained, they&#8217;d changed the words to reflect their situation.
&#8220;If you&#8217;re blue and don&#8217;t know what to do, why don&#8217;t you think, as smart girls do, puttin&#8217; on the pink?&#8221;
Meeker, 74, and her fellow dancers, Ginny Snyder-Ashman, 66, of Archbald, Mary Kovaleski, 55, of Richmondale and Laura Slocum, 49, of Shavertown, will perform early Sunday afternoon during a Cancer Suvivors Picnic at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.
The picnic is organized in conjuction with Wyoming Valley National Cancer Survivors Day.
And, yes, they are all cancer survivors. 
For Snyder-Ashman, it&#8217;s been 15 years; for Kovaleski, it&#8217;s been three, and for Slocum, who teaches yoga to other survivors at Candy&#8217;s Place in Forty Fort, it&#8217;s been four years.
&#8220;We want people to know there is life after cancer. There is fun after cancer,&#8221; said Meeker, who was hosting the practice session earlier this week in her basement.
&#8220;It&#8217;s an ugly disease, but something beautiful came out of it, our friendship,&#8221; Meeker said, explaining the women met at a camp for cancer survivors called Bravehearts.
&#8220;We&#8217;re sisters,&#8221; Kovaleski said. &#8220;And it makes you stronger.&#8221;
&#8220;It makes you realize the small stuff doesn&#8217;t matter,&#8221; Snyder-Ashman said. 
&#8220;I know people who are so upset if they come to work wearing one black shoe and one brown. But it really doesn&#8217;t matter.&#8221;
The celebration has been arranged by Roxanne Schulman and will include music by the band Windfall and the planting of a Survivors Tree.

Survivors put on the ‘Pink’ in honor of life after cancer