HealthGrades.com: What happens to your body when you quit smoking...

Vanessa Caceres reports on the 
changes that happen to your 
body when you quit smoking...
Check out this link RTS found 
on CNN. My book discussed a 
number of aspects of this, though
not as succinctly. 
Totally worth the read... 

Thank you also to CVS for their

"what happens after..." chart.

HealthGrades.com: What happens to your body when you quit smoking...

Amazing art about Cigarettes...

Highly imaginative artwork 
by Cranbrook Academy of 
Art MFA candidate Alex 
Thomas...

Photos thanks to Michael Janis

CHALK4PEACE Indiegogo film Campaign...a project founded by the creator of Romancing The Smoke

For those who follow this blog 
and are used to the pithy, 
relevant sarcastic commentary 
in the anti-smoking vein, and 
are wondering why RTS has 
grown quiet as of late, there's 
a good reason... I'm working
on another cause at the moment.
It's an Indiegogo Crowdfunding
Campaign for my other project 
CHALK4PEACE, the global 
chalk art project.

CHALK4PEACE is headed to 
Ferguson, Missouri this fall to
participate in a major peace event.
We're making a documentary 
film called "CHALK4PEACE:
Drawing FergUSon Together"
Please take a moment to see
what we're up to.
Drawing FergUSon Together-an Indiegogo film

Telegraph: Has President Obama begun smoking again?

An Instagram photo taken at 
the G7 summit last weekend 
shows President Obama talking 
with Italian Prime Minister 
Matteo Renzi while holding
some little package that looks 
suspiciously like a pack of 
cigarettes. Either that, or a 
giant pack of breath mints...

Then again, with a job like that,
it's understandable that a habit
like that would rear its ugly head.
Talk about pressure...

Cut him some slack...the stress 
of that job is off the charts...

Telegraph.co.uk: Has President Obama begun smoking again?

Is smoking on its way to being stamped out?

This comprehensive overview 
of the global smoking trends by 
Ben Martin sites the various 
changes in countries' smoking 
percentages and the particular
smoking bans that have changed
the course of the habit worldwide. 
He also discusses the impact 
that the steady decrease of 
smoking, aided by legislation
and taxation, explaining the
effects of these actions and the
increasing mindset that smoking
is a habit best encouraged to
proceed towards extinction.
Good idea that will take another
hundred years. Centuries from
from now, the habit will be
viewed as a curiosity and 
practice of self-destruction... 
if we last that long and evolve that far...

Telegraph.co.uk: Is smoking finally on its way to being stamped out?

Photo: Alamy

The number 5 makes me nervous....

There are some days that a person 
never forgets because of the impact 
that day has on them. June 5 is one 
such day for me. I cannot help but 
remember its significance because 
it was life changing in 1972. It had 
to do with the number 5. 

I was living in L.A. when I received 
a call from my mother telling me 
that my father had been diagnosed
with lung cancer, and (ironically)
maybe worse. It was. I learned of
his illness on this day 43 years ago;
I immediately flew home to Michigan.
On July 5, he went into the hospital; 
he died there on August 5. He was
born December 5, 2015.  He was 
diagnosed with cancer of the lung, 
liver, pancreas, brain and kidney.
Think it started out as skin cancer.
Can't say as I'm a big fan of Five.

I remember the call and the day.
Like an assassination. He was
dying and there was nothing to 
be done. June 5 will always have 
an air of doom to it.  Even on a 
bright sunshiny day, it's a memory 
I wish I could forget. 

The good news is, it's almost been 
5 years since I quit. Five is good.
At least now it is....

RTS's "Smokefree is the way to be" is now a national anti-smoking motto...

When Romancing The Smoke: 
Reflections of a Nicotine Addict 
was released in 2012, the tagline 
for the book and all signed copies
was and is, "because smokefree
is the way to be!" It's in the book.
It is heartening to see that the 
Center for Disease Control, 
Tobacco free division has adopted
our tagline for its national 
campaign. Thank you CDC 
Tobaccofree...well you know how
hard catchy mottos are to come by...
Smokefree is the way to be!

CNN: Beijing Rolls Out China's Toughest Smoking Ban...

Katie Hunt reports on
Beijing's tough new 
smoking ban and 
whether it will work in 
a country with more 
than 250 million smokers....
Now THAT'S an
anti-smoking event...
CNN: Beijing's Smoking Ban Goes Into Effect Today