Life on the edge (Day #2)

Today was another uneventful day on the edge of Hurricane Florence. We have been following the news, and know that more than half a million people are without power in NC, and that they have already had to do some attic and rooftop rescues of people from New Bern, NC, but the Triangle remains relatively unscathed. We've heard a little thunder, felt a little wind, and noted some rain, but it feels more like an end-of-summer storm than a hurricane.

The sky is a bit grayer today, and there's more rain. Cyril is disinclined to go outside to pee, but otherwise we've had minimal ill effects of the storm. 

Weathering the storm...

Missing the hurricane (Day #1)

The path of Hurricane Florence was initially predicted to hit the Triangle region of North Carolina. It has since turned south and then will swing around such that much of the state will get much heavier exposure to the storm than we do. We've got all the requisite preparatory things, courtesy of Lynn, so for now all is well.

So far it's sprinkled lightly and there is a breeze that's gotten a bit stronger as the day has gone on. Doesn't much compare to the 105 mph winds that are happening on the Outer Banks right about now... More updates to come.

Next step, dream job...

The last few months have been more than a little crazy clinically, and I just haven't found the time for a big announcement post... Work continues to be crazy, but I'm traveling for a conference right now and have random moments in the airport, in between sessions, and have cobbled this together.

At the end of June 2017, we'll be heading to North Carolina! I'll be joining the University of North Carolina Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology as a fellow in their Training in Epidemiology and Clinical Trials program. Many people have pointed out that the most recent news featuring hurricanes, voter suppression, and bathroom policing are not exactly the most welcoming, but they seem not so terribly different in scope from earthquakes, rampant gentrification, and well, there is no parallel for the bathroom policing that I can come up with, but my point remains the same. We're tremendously excited at the prospect of seasons, having more than one closet in our home, some semblance of work-life balance, and a road trip across the country with two cats and a dog in the car.

Come visit us!

More voting!

That’s right folks, vote early, and vote often…

I wanted to share a few more links for those of  you looking for more information about local elections than I’d provided here. I did a lot of my own research during the primaries, and so didn’t have to do as much this time around, but here are a few organizations/news items that helped me out.

If you’re voting in person, print out a sample ballot to make notes to take with you! You’re allowed to take whatever notes you like into the polls with you, as long as they don’t look suspiciously like campaign materials – leave the buttons and yard signs in your car.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Michigan endorsements

AFT Michigan includes a link to local AFL-CIO endorsements

Ann Arbor News article about the school board candidates

Ann Arbor News article about the library bond proposal

Ann Arbor Journal article about the library board candidates

Have fun with your absentee ballot, or making notes to take with you in person on Tuesday, and remember to vote all the way to the end of your ballot!

To the polls!

I am often annoyed by the e-mails that the Michigan Democratic Party sends to me, as I have no money to give. None. At all. The last one contained a few useful links, however, and reminded me that around this time of year I usually post some election-related material (like this, and this).

October 9th is the deadline to register to vote in order to be eligible for the presidential election, so if you haven’t done so already, register now at the site the MDP sent, which seemed reputable and non-partisan when I clicked through some of it.

You can also confirm your Michigan registration or look at a sample ballot here, or get other voting related questions answered at the Michigan Voter Information Center Website.

As I’ve shared in the past, Michigan requires identification in order to vote, but if you don’t have ID you can simply sign an affidavit and vote anyway. Details from the Secretary of State about the law and how to get a state ID card if you’d like one can be found here.

ACLU Voting Rights Guide: This has information on what to do if you're told you can't vote at the polls, including the Election Protection Hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE and the Michigan Bureau of Elections 1-517-373-2540. You can also visit their Let Me Vote site to learn about state-by-state voting rights.

I’ve actually already got my absentee ballot since I’ll be in Seattle for a residency interview the day before election day, and likely flying home or getting ready to at the time when I’d need to be at the polls. If you’ve got yours too, check out the following websites to get information about the candidates. When I get to my ballot later in the month, I’ll try to post some updated links to information about the more obscure elections, which often don’t make it into national analyses.

League of Women Voters: They collect information about the candidates and line it up so you can compare their views on different questions.

Citizens Research Council of Michigan: Look here for nonpartisan analysis of the ballot initiatives that we'll be voting on here in Michigan.

Still have questions or didn’t find what you were looking for? If you don’t live in Michigan, visit www.publius.org to print out a ballot, find your polling place, and find contact information for local officials, or check your local Secretary of State website for details on how to vote near you.

Wonder Dog

The NYTimes posted a really beautiful piece about service animals for children with emotional and other mental health issues that I read this morning. It described how sensitive dogs are to people’s emotional needs, and how perceptive they can be to subtle disturbances in mood and behavior. I thought the article was a nice follow-up to my last post about how helpful Walter was in coping with the emotional ups and downs of medical school. Read the article here, and if you care to, leave a comment about it below.

Different way of making rural doctors:

This New York Times Article describes a new medical school opening in Salina, Kansas, with 8 students in their first class. In exchange for a debt-free medical education, these students will at least start their careers in rural areas. Although much has been made of an upcoming physician shortage in the US, it is only occasionally mentioned that there is already a grave shortage of physicians practicing in rural areas. Previous approaches to the problem are described in the article:

Some are using incentives like guaranteeing admission or forgiving loans to students who commit to practicing in small communities…Others are recruiting students from rural areas and giving their applications preference, in the hope that they will return after graduating. And a number of schools encourage students to spend one year or more training in rural areas.

I found the emphasis that the article made about being rooted in a community to be particularly insightful. They recognized that when students spend 4+ years training in a city, particularly during formative post-college years, they are likely to develop strong social ties (including finding spouses) to that area. I’ll be interested to follow how this small school in rural Kansas succeeds at training and retaining rural doctors.

Slow news day?

I find that on the slower news days, many of the things I’m actually interested in get covered. When there are no massive natural disasters, war is not declared (officially or unofficially), and celebrities are not making public their battles with substance use (officially or unofficially), questions about equity in terms of gender and sexuality are suddenly interesting fodder for discussion. It helps a bit that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in which Wal-Mart claims that the women suing it for employment discrimination do not have enough in common to warrant a class-action suit. Although Wal-Mart would have you believe that the case has nothing to do with the sex discrimination the formed the basis of the case at the beginning, and that it is only about standing in the court, but I think it will be interesting (and maybe scary) to hear the discussion about whether or not having one’s sex and (former-)employer in common is enough to join up into a class-action suit. Below are a few other links I found interesting and though I’d share. Some of them are restricted (through the Chronicle of Higher Education), but even the little tidbits are interesting.

For Women Seeking to Advance in Academe, Advice From 4 Who Made It to the Top

Taking the Gender Fight Worldwide

Leadership Spots Opening Up for Gay and Lesbian Academics

Gay Academics Find New Paths to the Top

Episode 13: An ‘All-American’ Student Leader’s Search for Identity

Meet Dr. Watson

From Dose of Reality:

Shortly after I heard about Watson the super computer’s debut on Jeopardy, I was talking on the bus with Abe and he asked what I thought about Watson’s next big challenge: medical diagnosis. I appreciated Abe’s assessment that I wouldn’t be upset at a question that cut directly to the issue of whether a human being is necessary in a typical medical visit, and had to admit that it was a disconcerting prospect. Adequate as I like to imagine my information processing capabilities are, I am not, at the risk of stating the obvious, a super computer. My constant connection to my BlackBerry doesn’t allow me the same level of internet search that Watson commands, and familiarity with statistical software and electronic medical records do not an instant meta-analyzer make. In spite of the nagging fears at the back of my mind that Watson would make a much more useful companion on rounds than I would, I couldn’t shake the sense that it had to be useful to have a human physician (or for that matter, a human nurse, physicians assistant, etc) for something. At that point I remembered a recent New York Times article by Abraham Verghese. Recently profiled in the NYTimes for his dedication to history taking skills and the physical exam, I knew that if anyone could justify a human presence in the consult room, he could. And he did. He pointed out that much of the value of a doctor’s visit is in the human interaction, noting:

I find that patients from almost any culture have deep expectations of a ritual when a doctor sees them, and they are quick to perceive when he or she gives those procedures short shrift by, say, placing the stethoscope on top of the gown instead of the skin, doing a cursory prod of the belly and wrapping up in 30 seconds.

He chastised the medical establishment for being “glued to [computer] like piglets at a sow’s teats.” He describes the creation of an “iPatient,” the collection of clinical records and test results that stand in for the patient, and emphasizes that “complaints…from patients, family and friends are never about the dearth of technology but about its excesses.”

We have yet to create appendages for Watson that function as well as the physician’s hands, ears, and eyes for assessing the physical state of the body, and it seems unlikely that he will develop the ability to empathize and connect with a human being anytime soon. Ultimately, it seems that although Watson may, in fact, make an excellent companion on the wards, he is unlikely to truly replace a skillful (human) history and physical exam.

A rose by any other name

Shortly after I hit submit on the post yesterday, I was made aware of a new study suggesting that choices, not discrimination, were currently causing the sex differential in the life sciences. The study is quite good, reanalyzing and summarizing much of the data on sex discrimination in manuscript review, interviewing processes, and hiring in the life sciences. It is heartening to see that many recent interventions in blinding reviews and mentoring female candidates, along with societal progress among other things, have reduced the discrimination that women have historically faced. What I take issue with, however, is the distinction the authors make between “discrimination,” which they seem to define as bias in some aspect of the peer review or hiring process, and “choices,” which encompasses every other element of a career trajectory, including decisions made in elementary and high school about the acceptableness of a career in math or science. While the authors acknowledge that many of the “choices” they identify are constrained by biology and society, I think that if they looked more closely this would more accurately be described as structural discrimination or bias. Although individuals may not be consciously holding women to a higher standard than men, or discounting female accomplishments, the fact that women cannot have children and meet tenure requirements, while men are able to do this because of the different societal expectations around child-rearing, to me represents an institutionalized level of discrimination that goes far beyond the personal biases that the authors of this study dismiss as noncontributory. The decision to leave, or not to seek out, a tenure-track position because it “demands that women having children make their greatest intellectual contributions contemporaneously with their greatest physical and emotional achievements, a feat not expected of men,” is in fact a choice, but the discrimination lies in the fact that it is a choice “that men are not required to make.”

Awesome news…

From Dose of Reality:

The New York Times reported this morning on a new study of physician pay. The conclusion was that the pay gap between new (just finishing residency or fellowship) male physicians and new female physicians is actually larger now (adjusted for inflation) than it was in 1999. This is not good. It is also not explained in their analyses by differences in hours worked, specialty choice, practice setting, or other observed characteristics. The authors suggest that this widening gap may be explained in part by a disproportionate number of female physicians taking jobs with practices that offer “greater flexibility and family-friendly attributes…that come at the price of commensurately lower pay.”

I can’t decide how to react. On the one hand, I appreciate the increasing flexibility I’ve observed in medical practice, and understand that these benefits are likely to come with trade-offs. On the other hand, I’m frustrated at the idea that only women are interested in these benefits, or even that disproportionate numbers of women are interested in these benefits, and maybe even a little angry that it’s still okay to expect that a physician forgo all aspects of non-work life in order to be at the top of the profession. While I know it’s unreasonable, there’s a part of me that wants everyone to HAVE to have a life, so that I don’t feel behind if I choose to have one. What’s a girl to do?

Sundance USA

This was the second year that the Michigan Theater participated in Sundance USA. Last year, the featured film was Cyrus, and one of the writer/directors (The Duplass Brothers) as well as Jonah Hill (one of the stars of the film) flew to Ann Arbor and answered questions about the film after the showing. This year, the theater was honored to not only show an official film selection from Sundance 2011 (Win Win) and a selection of shorts from 2010 as a part of Sundance USA, but was able to add an additional film (Cedar Rapids) that was filmed in Ann Arbor and the surrounding areas.

The 2010 shorts were in general quite entertaining. Some were better than others, but I think the night was carried by two short films in particular: Wisdom Teeth is an animated short about pulling a stitch out after a wisdom tooth extraction that is a bit disturbing, but really great; Drunk History is a live action film about what happens when Jen Kirkman drinks two bottles of wine and then talks about Abe Lincoln. You can watch Drunk History at the link above, and many of the other shorts have made it online at this point, so check them out!

Both the films from this years festival were great. Last night we saw Win Win for Alicia’s birthday. Paul Giamatti was fantastic, and although I found it to be kind of sad, it was really quite funny throughout the film. I forgot to bring my camera last night, but grab my fancy new camera bag tonight before the show. We saw Cedar Rapids, which was also a bit of a comedy-with-a-moral. Filmed in Ann Arbor and set in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, it was a premise that was immediately familiar to me. I enjoyed seeing shots of the Broadway Bridge and the old power station (both on my walk to the farmers’ market).

Before the show started, the mayors of Ann Arbor and Cedar Rapids, IA took the stage, with Mayor Hieftje presenting the Iowan mayor with a key to the city.

Following the show, the director answered questions (and thanked all of the extras who had shown up for the screening)...

I’m hoping both of these films will gain broader distribution, but look for them in a town near you, and watch for a Sundance USA event near you next January!

A troubling start

I had high hopes for Michigan’s new governor, Rick Snyder. Although I lean more than a little to the left, I understood the push I saw in the last election cycle for fiscal responsibility in our state government. What I had hoped, however, was the Gov. Synder would focus his energies on fixing the economic woes of our state, and leave behind the extreme social conservatism that Michigan Republicans seem to love. His first few weeks in office would suggest that this is not the case. As reported in Between The Lines, Synder’s appointment to head up the Michigan Department of Human Services is Maura Corrigan, currently a MI Supreme Court Justice. For those of you who have been around for a while, you may recognize her name as the justice who ended second parent adoptions for same-sex parents in 2002. As Jay Kaplan of the ACLU points out in the BTL article, in spite of not having a case before her, Corrigan encouraged another judge to stop the adoptions that were only taking place in Washtenaw County, which he did by ordering the circuit clerical staff to not accept any more adoption petitions from unmarried couples. Many would consider this (*cue scary music*) judicial activism. This does not bode well. If the state government is looking to stop the brain drain that is devastating our economy, I think making Michigan a favorable legal climate for all families (married parents or not) is a great start.

A year of ideas…

In preparation for the new year, a little reflection is (almost) always a good idea. In the case of the NYTimes Magazine, it definitely is. Their 10th Annual Year in Ideas is a great combination of inspiring, entertaining, and thought-provoking ideas. A few exciting ones include the youth condom, the long-life-span smartphone, and turbine-free wind power.

Read them all here!

Vote early and often

The midterm elections are just around the corner, so I thought I’d post my usual links to information about voting as well as the usual reminders about what you can and cannot do at the polls. Also, if you’re voting absentee, don’t forget to mail in your ballot!

First, some notes about voting in person in Michigan:

Remember that you are allowed to bring whatever you want with you to the polls, as long as there is no campaign material visible. This means it's perfectly legal to print out a ballot, mark all of your preferences and notes, and carry it in your pocket to the polls. If you have a button, t-shirt, etc with a candidate's name on it, you can still vote, you just have to cover the item when you get within 100 ft of the polling place.

Michigan requires identification in order to vote, but if you don’t have ID you can simply sign an affidavit and vote anyway. Details from the secretary of state about the law and how to get a state ID card if you’d like one can be found here.

Second, if you aren’t sure where to vote, how to do it, or who to vote for, check out these resources:

Michigan Voter Information Center: Find out where you are registered to vote, find your polling location, contact your local election official, learn to use your voting equipment, and view a sample ballot.

ACLU Voting Rights Guide: This has information on what to do if you're told you can't vote at the polls, including the Election Protection Hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE

Mlive.com: Get your whole ballot and use their nifty side-by-side comparison to see what the candidates said and their background information.

Ann Arbor Chronicle Article about candidates for the board of the Ann Arbor District Library.

League of Women Voters: They collect information about the candidates and line it up so you can compare their views on different questions.

Citizens Research Council of Michigan: Look here for nonpartisan analysis of the ballot initiatives that we'll be voting on here in Michigan.

Still have questions or didn’t find what you were looking for? If you don’t live in Michigan, visit www.publius.org to print out a ballot, find your polling place, and find contact information for local officials, or check your local Secretary of State website for details on how to vote near you.

Feeling crafty

I suppose everything ebbs and flows, but it seems like my desire to be crafty is particularly variable and highly correlated with my ability to focus on the rest of the things I’m supposed to be doing.  Take this week, for example: it’s been a really sad week in which I’ve attended 2 memorial services already, and will be heading to another tonight for my medical school friend who passed away on Wednesday.  All of this sadness has made it rather difficult to focus on my work.  I keep coming up against the inevitable connections between my work and that of my deceased friends and colleagues, and just feeling frustrated at the world for taking them away before they had a chance to keep getting more amazing.  Instead of thinking about my work, I find myself thinking about the knitting projects I’d like to make for myself, the ones I’m already working on for myself and for others, and the things I want to get done before particular deadlines (holidays, due dates, etc).  I suppose it’s not irrational to want to create something soft and warm in the face of all of this destruction, but it is a little frustrating overlaying the other deadlines in my life…  Hopefully things will look up soon, and until then, I’ll keep taking little breaks to dream about baby booties, sweater vests, and other crafty pursuits…

A friend in need…

Things have been a little crazy around here, what with my first math exam tomorrow afternoon (!) as well as the usual craziness of dissertation writing. In addition to all kinds of academic stresses, sad things seem to be happening all over. It started with the passing of Sam, Alicia’s mom’s miniature dachshund. Several friends have had relative pass on this week, and though some were expected, and even welcome as an end to a long period of suffering, it doesn’t make the loss any easier. Finally, tonight I learned that a friend from the medical school who has been abroad in Uganda was in a serious accident recently. His situation is tenuous, and it is an all too scary reminder of how dangerous travel can be. I’ll be keeping him and his family in my thoughts, and hoping that he will pull through against all odds.

Really a tragedy

The last few weeks have brought a great deal of sad news to the LGBT community. In listening to The Savage Love Podcast (Dan Savage’s amazing podcast) last week, I learned that 15 year-old Billy Lucas had taken his life after classmates called him a fag and told him to kill himself. Then, earlier this week, I read in the New York Times that 18 year-old Tyler Clementi had jumped from the GW Bridge in New York after having his romantic life broadcast online by a roommate. Just one day later I learned that Andrew Shirvell, an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan, had been stalking and harassing Chris Armstrong, the first openly gay president of the Michigan Student Assembly. Shirvell is also apparently the “concerned alum” who was up in arms about the appearance of a rainbow sticker at New York Pizza Depot a few years back. (Thanks for sending that link mom!)

At this point, you may be wondering, what can I do? How can I help? Here are some suggestions:

Both AnnArbor.com and the Detroit News have reported that Shirvell has been suspended or that he has taken a personal leave. This link will take you to a site organized by the Victory fund (a group that supports LGBT candidates) to send a message to Mike Cox, the Michigan Attorney General, asking him to dismiss Shirvell.

In response to Billy Lucas’ death, Dan Savage created the “It Gets Better Project,” YouTube channel, which features videos submitted by out LGBT individuals letting kids who may be going through a rough time that life gets better after you leave high school. His The first video, posted by Dan and his boyfriend Terry is inspiring and the outpouring of support (and thousands of videos) is incredible. Check out the site, and if appropriate, make a video yourself!

Finally, I hope that all of you will make sure to share an anti-bullying message whenever you get the chance. You can use this HRC Action Alert to contact Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to encourage anti-bullying programs across the country, or you can get involved in your own school district and ensure that the necessary policies are in place to protect vulnerable kids where you live.

Malawi gay couple get maximum sentence of 14 years

From the BBC :

A judge in Malawi has imposed a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison with hard labour on a gay couple convicted of gross indecency and unnatural acts.

The judge apparently wanted to make them an example after they were arrested for holding an engagement ceremony in their home.  This is terrifying, and falls closely on the heels of the proposed death sentence for homosexuality in Uganda.  

What I fail to see is how the two men were harming anyone by affirming their commitment to one another.  When I read these articles, I end up back in the same circle of logic and anger that the social conservatives in the US regularly provoke in me, wondering how a government (or anyone, really) who claims to have the best interest of it’s people at heart can truly believe that a) people will change their sexual orientation if they believe they will be harshly punished for it and b) that allowing people to live openly in consensual adult relationships will threaten the moral fabric of society. 

I also worry about the message this sends to LGBTQ youth around the world.  Thankfully, I’m not the only one worrying about this.  If you’re feeling a little down after reading this short post, check out this short PSA of Harry Potter telling queer kids to be proud of who they are. 

Spring Commencement 2010

I set the alarm for 5:45am this morning, even though it’s Saturday. I knew I would need to take care of the dog, take a quick shower, and get ready to bike down to the stadium this morning to hear the President of the United States give the commencement address I didn’t get when I actually graduated 5 years ago. Unfortunately, as I walked the dog, the lightening and thunder began, and biking seemed like an increasingly less tenable option. A quick text to Ashley, in whose apartment we were planning to leave our bikes, and I confirmed that we could also park the car there and put off braving the rain a bit longer. After some tea and banana bread at Ashley’s (you are amazing Ashley!), we headed out to stand in line to get into Michigan Stadium.

Though I was expecting a TSA-like security nightmare, the lines moved quickly and the Secret Service Police were nice – quick, efficient, and didn’t say much, but nice.

Once through security, we headed toward our seats. Our tickets were for Section 30, Rows 21-68, and we had no idea what to expect inside. Thankfully (as it was still a little before 8am, with commencement starting at 11am), we were able to get great seats in Row 23, which offered a nice view of everything that was going on. In order to entertain the early arrivers, there were a variety of musical acts (of varying quality), pop music over the loud speakers, and puppets making their way around the stadium.

Somehow it didn’t feel like 3 hours just sitting there. (I did get up once to go to the bathroom, which was also a surprisingly quick and easy endeavor.)

While we sat, we noticed the snipers. This gave me an opportunity to use, for what I think was the first time, the full capacity of the zoom lens I have on my camera. There were two teams of them, one on top of each side of the stadium. I couldn’t decide whether they made me feel safer or not.

Once the ceremony got started, it was pretty exciting. I adore Mary Sue Coleman, our esteemed president, and was excited that Jennifer Granholm would also speak. Unfortunately, I felt like she veered more toward the partisan and political, and spent most of her speech praising President Obama rather than inspiring the new graduates. I agreed with the things she said, but was hoping for more reflection than I heard. Then came President Obama…

When I was at the inauguration I could see a long series of jumbotrons, but not the president himself. (There were also jumbotrons in the stadium...)

I also found his speech to be an odd choice for a commencement address (text here), but his message to be kind to others, to seek information and learning rather than jumping to insult the other side, and to consider the middle ground was a good one. When all was said and done, I was glad to have attended, and am hoping that someone as interesting will speak at my graduation in a few years.

You can watch the full ceremony here.