Genius? No.

Once again, the MacArthur Foundation has given out its annual Genius Grants -- $500,000, paid over 5 years, with no strings attached.

Once again, I didn't win one.

And once again, I don't understand why. I've done everything I could to let them know I'm a genius. Which has consisted mostly of putting "Super Genius" under "Occupation" on my Blogger profile. But still.

(According to Blogger, there are 26 people who list "Super Genius" as their occupation. I don't know if any of us has ever won a MacArthur Fellowship/Genius Grant. And that's not fair.)

I always find some comfort, though, in knowing that the MacArthur people are smart enough to recognize at least one brilliant cancer researcher every year, and this year is no different.

One of the winners is Melody Swartz, a researcher at a university in Switzerland whose name I cannot spell (because, you know, apparently I'm not a genius). Prof. Swartz studies the way fluids move through tissues, and her research has helped to explain the relationship between tumors and the immune system -- how tumors resist the immune system, and how the immune system responds. She brings to her research a background in biophysics, molecular genetics, and some other sciences. She has a PhD from MIT, and did a postdoctoral fellowship through Harvard, working at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. (She really kind of is a genius, even without the official approval from the MacArthur people.)

So, once again, I come away empty handed. I'll sulk until the Nobel Prizes are awarded, and then keep my fingers crossed.

(Optimism is a very attractive quality in a cancer patient....)