Comment on Gilda's Club name change seen as insult to Radner

Gilda's Club name change seen as insult to Radner

Gilda's Club name change seen as insult to Radner Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 3:02 p.m., Thursday, November 29, 2012 The move prompted outrage from some Radner fans, who see it as a slight to a woman who confronted cancer with dignity and humor, and led other chapters across the nation to hastily reaffirm they have absolutely no intention of changing their names. Lannia Syren Stenz, the Madison-area club's executive director, said her organization decided to change its name to Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin after it realized that most college students were born after Radner died in 1989. Stenz referred questions from The Associated Press to Linda House, executive vice president of the national group. Radner, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986, sought support from The Wellness Community in California and wrote about her experience in her book "It's Always Something," a reference to one of her characters' catch-phrases. The name was inspired by something Radner said after her diagnosis: "Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to." Julia Forth, the marketing director of what's now called the Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center, said people who get sick Google the word cancer, so it helps to have that word in the name. LauraJane Hyde, who runs the Chicago chapter, said her group has spent 15 years teaching people that Radner's name was synonymous with cancer support, in the same way people know what Starbucks sells even though "coffee" isn't in its name. The meeting rooms are named after her Saturday Night Live characters, including New York-street smart reporter Roseanne Roseannadana, out-of-sync editorialist Emily Litella and speech-impeded talk show host Baba Wawa, a parody of Barbara Walters.

 

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