Word: pena
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...those people who are out of touch with their emotions. I tend to treat my emotions like unpleasant relatives--a long-distance call once or twice or year is more than enough. If I got in touch with them, they might come to stay. My friend Mercedes Pena made me get in touch with my emotions just before I had a breast cut off. Just as I suspected, they were awful. "How do you Latinas do this--all the time in touch with your emotions?" I asked her. "That's why we take siestas," she replied...
After losing her daughter to an auto accident caused by a driver using his cell phone, activist Patricia Pena launched a crusade to outlaw cell-phone use while driving. But regardless of how much sense it makes, I doubt we will ever see a ban on drivers' using cell phones. So instead of a campaign to eliminate their use, we should work with our elected officials to create legislation that would mandate severe punishment for anyone who causes an accident while driving and using a cell phone. No phone call is so important that a person must jeopardize the safety...
...next day, Nov. 3, 1999, Morgan died in the hospital; Pena watched her slip away. Poust received two minor traffic citations and later paid an undisclosed civil settlement. Pena went to bed and remained there for months. But her phone was within reach, and every time a reporter called, she wailed her story into it. That's how she launched a crusade to bar cell phone use while driving. In a debate complicated by high-powered lobbyists and murky data, Pena became the one clear voice. In 18 months she has testified before Congress and five state and local legislatures...
...Most evidence about cell-phone danger is, like Pena's story, anecdotal. While studies have shown that cell phones increase the risk of accidents, no hard data exist to prove how they compare to other driver distractions. But estimates do suggest that cell phones cause anywhere from 600 to 1,200 fatal crashes a year...
...Before the accident, Pena had never used the Internet. Now she maintains a website and fields about 30 e-mails a day. "I was not gonna let this cruel world take my baby and not hear from me," she says. There's a lovely innocence about Pena's exuberance, despite all she's lost. ("They've got these wonderful, brilliant researchers all around the country researching cell-phone safety," she says at one point. "And they call me back!") But she remains a woman obliterated by grief. When she looks at her new three-month-old daughter Olivia, she aches...