Saturday, April 17, 2004
I'm such a bad blogger.
No photos. No posts.
Well, anyway here's a quick (because I should be studying the equine and bovine limbs) rundown of my excuses:
- The novelty of vet school has not worn off yet, it's just that I'm a little busier this semester. Classes aren't harder or anything, but I fell a little behind early in the semester so I'm trying to compensate now. This week I start my new job and I have to get preparations going for my summer research.
- My camera is really nice so I'm hesitant to take it near the larger, poopier animals. I don't know if I'm allowed to, anyway. And I always seem to forget to bring it to school functions these days. But the good news is I finally figured out how to upload photos without using the crappily complicated software that came with the camera, so new photos are on the way.
To compensate for the dry spell, here's an old photo of Dr. Oluouch doing his impression of a dog penis:
Anyway, here's some things that I
should have blogged about:
The Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association (ISVMA) conference in Arlington Heights. I got to annoy an official from the Illinois Department of Agriculture when I asked if said organization was working
with other agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources or Center for Disease Control to examine the BSE and West Nile problems. She answered "no." I guess it
was a stupid question. But of course I persited with more questions--like "why not?"
The ISCAVMA auction--the student organization raised thousands of dollars by auctioning off donated items such as handmade quilts, cases of wine, party packages, art work, massages and naked car washes (by 3rd and 4th year guys) and opportunities to pie professors in the face (photo of this coming soon). And most importantly, there was free pizza and beer.
The symposium trip to Tennessee that I did not attend but heard much about.
Vetscapades, the annual vet school variety show. Our very own Jim Park, Class of 2007, had (in my opinion the funniest impersonation) of the evening, of Dr. Zuckerman. There were skits about "Vets and the City;" I played a song about our cadaver; there was a ballet number ("The Waltz of the Parasites") with walting flies, tepeworms, turds and beer cans--based on a students' actual dream; and much much more. And, of course, there was pizza and beer.
And at this very moment the
Doodle for Wildlife Auction is being held at a local restaurant/bar, hosted by Animal Planet's Dr. Fitzgerald (whom I have a non-sexual crush on--he reminds me of a cute shaggy dog!).
Cutie Kevin Fitzgerald and patient
The Wildlife Medical Clinic is auctioning off autographed drawings by celebrities like Mel Gibson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alice Cooper, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, et cetera. I think they have wine and hors d'oeuvres instead of pizza and beer since it's a higher-brow event. I could have volunteered to work it, but I set tonight aside for studying. Which I have to get back to. . .
I promise more photos are coming soon!
*Illinois Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association
Monday, April 12, 2004
Stepping on your spiritual toes
I often talk about controversial things without even knowing they're controversial. The other day in anatomy lab I skillfully slipped my foot into my mouth when a professor came by and explained the origin of the ruminant toes. Being an anthropocentric human and knowing that all vertebrates have homologous skeletal structures, I asked him how the ox toes compared with human toes. He made a comment about embryonic development, which led to a comment about gills, to which I replied (here comes the yummy foot):
"We all have gills at some point. And can you believe that some people don't buy that we all come from the same place?"
Correctly interpreting my comment as one about evolution, he said "I'm not going to go there."
But I persisted: "Why? Do a lot of people here not buy into it? Well, I guess there are a few people in our class. . ."
Prof: "There are A LOT of people walking around this building who might get upset about that."
A few minutes later I realized that perhaps said professor may be upset by the theory of evolution, and then I looked over at my lab partner and realized I may have offended
her. So I asked her "Did I offend
you with my comment? Do you believe in Creationism?"
She said: "I guess I believe in a little of both."
Amen.
So, the reason for my faux pas is the same as usual: I don't realize that what I'm talking about is controversial. But after hearing the recent news that laws may soon require textbooks to have warning labels stating "Evolution is a theory, not a fact" and recent concern that teaching evolution may undermine (Judeo-Christian?) religious beliefs, I should have known better.
Thinking more about it, I realize now how difficult it must be to sit through lectures that always refer to evolutionary history, evolutionary origins, evolved mechanisms and the sort when you don't believe in one ounce of evolution theory. So now I wonder how many of my colleagues buy into evolution 100 percent, how many are on the fence, and how many think it's just garbage.
I guess I never saw a conflict of interests between Biblical religion and evolution, because I take for granted that all creatures, including humans, could have been
created through evolution. And if that just sounds like a cop-out, here's my reasoning:
(Keep in mind I never took the Bible too literally, especially the parts that say "an eye for an eye" and that men are accountable for their wives' sins, therefore wives should obey their husbands, etc.)
Ambiguous timeline
Genesis 1 states that God made everything—heaven, earth, seas, plants, animals and people—in six days. It also says that days were measured by the light in the sky. We measure days as being 24 hours long, but maybe the earth was not spinning yet, or was spinning at a slower pace. So back then one of God's "days" may have been equivalent to several of our millennia. Time itself was probably a pretty ambiguous thing to God back then (and still is)—I mean, according to the text, Abraham lived for hundreds of years!
Anyway, I know that much controversy exists about the age of the earth because some people feel that creationism theory clashes with the idea that the earth is billions of years old. But if we assume time is arbitrary, the order of things matches up very well:
The chronological order
Genesis states that the earth was covered in water, then water and land separated. Geologists agree. Genesis states that swimming creatures came first. Evolutionary and fossils record confirm this. Genesis say that on land, plants of all sorts and creepy-crawly creatures (invertebrates?) came next, followed by flying creatures. Evolutionary theory agrees. Then came "wild" creatures (maybe referring to wild mammals), then came livestock creatures (undulates?). Then, finally. . .people. Some scientists argue that humans are the most highly evolved of all creatures. So, if human beings were the "ultimate goal" of evolution, this process could have been an intricate method to "create" people.
This chronological order correlates with the geological record and the evolutionary tree, which is quite amazing, seeing that geological digs and Darwin didn't come about until thousands of years after Genesis was written. Now if God's "day" may have been 24 million years instead of 24 hours, the process we call "evolution" can just be a lame-ass human term for "The Almighty Creative Process."
Well, that's why I don’t see "evolution" as a dirty or controversial term. Still don't buy it? Here are some other possibilities:
- Our creator figured "hey, what works for one creature may as well work for another" and gave creatures homologous bones, organs and biochemical pathways. What is one creature's useless fingernail can serve as deadly weapons, digging tools, climbing/running shoes for others. It's efficient
and clever! (God must be female. . .)
- Everything was made in 144 of our "hours." God's just left a fossil record to mess with our brains.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Where's the pictures?
I know I haven't been posting many photos up lately, but I have a few good reasons:
1. My camera broke a few months ago, and when I took it to Best Buy, instead of fixing it they replaced it with an "upgrade." This new camera is supposedly better, but it's also more complicated to use, and uses up batteries much faster. The software is also more complicated, so posting photos online is more time-consuming.
2. I am running out of my university-granted webspace in which I store my photos. The universtiy is also switching accounts right now, so maybe I'll get a little more space over the summer. . .if not, I can buy extra space from Blogger.
3. I don't feel too comfotable bringing my camera into the large animal labs. First of all, I don't know if I'm even allowed to post photos from the large animal clinic, and besides, I'd rather not risk dropping the camera into a sloppy cow pie.
Friday, April 02, 2004
Yesterday after class we were asked to stay seated so some third-year officers of a student organization could "talk" with us. The three girls got in front of the class, and not knowing how to start, eventually told us that we do not participate enough in said organization, and that they understand school is hard and all, but we really need to step it up and get involved.
Funny, I think our class is plenty involved in said organization, as well as other student and professional organizations and vet school sporting and social events. The ladies clarified that they came to this conclusion based on the fact that nobody from our class is running for the three or four offices that will be vacated this semester. Their conclusion was also based on things they had heard from third year members of other organizations.
Here we go, back to seventh grade--where gossip is queen, people are labeled, and drama is created out of thin air.
So to clarify my own personal opinion on the matter, and to vent and rant (I didn't want to be
too rude to these ladies in front of the class, so I have to do it now) I've created a little list of the. . .
Top 9 myths relayed by the student representatives of a certain "professional" student organization:
9. No one in our class has run for class offices. When these same, or similar people came to our class last semester to help us elect a Clothing Rep, Speaker Rep, and Some Other Rep, no one ran, no one voted, and no one in our class currently holds those positions.
8. Telling us we are not as involved as we should be and subsequently calling us defensive and argumentative when we try to explain really helps us respect these ladies as professional individuals.
7. An hour-long slide show about Symposium depicting drinking on the bus, drinking in the hotel, drinking in bars and candid shots of the officers' close friends drinking, without any mention of the types of lectures and wetlabs and professional opportunities available to us, really gives the impression that we are dealing with a professionally-run student organization.
6. Mocking us and labeling us the "goody-two-shoes" class when a few people politely request a non-drinking bus for the 5-hour ride to Symposium demonstrates that our opinions are taken seriously. Having our whole class judged by one meeting and a few e-mails about said topic really makes us feel respected and ready to get involved.
5. We can't wait to become officers so we can spend our free time and energy whining and spreading rumors about the "personalities" of the other classes. (I've personally heard one of the three talk negatively about our class as a whole and about people in our class she doesn't even know-when asked to explain she said she "heard it form someone else.") We first years can't wait to have such a thrilling social life!
4. We're just a bunch of uptight kids obsessing about our grades; our "lack of involvement" has nothing to do with the fact that we may have hobbies (theatre productions, University athletics etc.) personal lives, jobs, other club memberships (complete with meetings, responsibilities, wetlabs), significant others, research projects, or real social lives outside of school.
3. We truly believe that the opinion of the officers accurately reflect the opinions of the members of their class and their organization, and not just their own personal gripes.
2. It was a worthwhile use of both our time and the officers' to tell us who we are and what we should be doing with our vet school careers and our lives. We wouldn't know what to do without their insightful guidance and advice.
1. One's level of involvement in extracurricular activities is NOT a matter of personal choice.
