Thursday, September 30, 2004
Ahhh. . .The Atrium
A warm sunny place in the building to study. . .
. . .or nap.
When the sciences building (for classrooms and research labs) was built back in the 80s, I guess administrators had a choice between a passageway connecting the animal hospital to the sciences building or putting in an atrium to bring in natural light. . . and the atrium won.
But now there's talk of buidling the connection, along with a bunch of other improvements to the vet med campus. Yay! I want to be in the focus group that talks about bringing ice cream machines to the school, and the mini-theater, and padded seats in the classrooms. . .
Monday, September 27, 2004
Beer Beer and Beer
St. Margaret Mary's Church had an Oktoberfest celebration complete with food, a Beatles Tribute band and beer.
There's always an indescribable expression on Gregg's face every time he gets a beer. Is it a smirk of self-satisfaction with his successful quest for beer? Is it anxiousness, quiet anticipation of that first cool sip?
"Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you'd step over your own mother just to get one! But you can't stop at one. You wanna drink another woman!"
--Homer Simpson
Religious Right? Wrong!
Does God take sides?
No.
Here's what
Sojourners says about evaluating a candidate:
We are not single-issue voters.
We believe that poverty - caring for the poor and vulnerable - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' budget and tax policies reward the rich or show compassion for poor families? Do their foreign policies include fair trade and debt cancellation for the poorest countries? (Matthew 25:35-40, Isaiah 10:1-2)
We believe that the environment - caring for God's earth - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' policies protect the creation or serve corporate interests that damage it? (Genesis 2:15, Psalm 24:1)
We believe that war - and our call to be peacemakers - is a religious issue. Do the candidates' policies pursue "wars of choice" or respect international law and cooperation in responding to real global threats? (Matthew 5:9)
We believe that truth-telling is a religious issue. Do the candidates tell the truth in justifying war and in other foreign and domestic policies? (John 8:32)
We believe that human rights - respecting the image of God in every person - is a religious issue. How do the candidates propose to change the attitudes and policies that led to the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners? (Genesis 1:27)
We believe that our response to terrorism is a religious issue. Do the candidates adopt the dangerous language of righteous empire in the war on terrorism and confuse the roles of God, church, and nation? Do the candidates see evil only in our enemies but never in our own policies? (Matthew 6:33, Proverbs 8:12-13 )
We believe that a consistent ethic of human life is a religious issue. Do the candidates' positions on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, weapons of mass destruction, HIV/AIDS-and other pandemics-and genocide around the world obey the biblical injunction to choose life? (Deuteronomy 30:19)
I can argue 'til I'm blue in the face with my English teacher beau about the literary "canon" and what defines a classic. Maybe we can both agree on this:
"When you read a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before."
--Clifton Fadiman
Gregg dogsits my parent's dog, Kia. She keeps his legs warm while he reads the Thomas Wolfe book recommended by Grandma.
My dad is a little jealous that Kia likes Gregg so much.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Dr. Wallig's Tie of the Week
"Hey baby, what's your name?"
Mike's Beard: Week 3
My classmate, Mike, started growing a beard a few weeks ago, and apparently I was the only one who thought it was cool. At first he said he wanted to see how long he could grow it, maybe even keep some extra food in it, but now he's saying it may not last much longer. (Complaints from the girlfriend, Mike?)
Well, I hope he sticks with it--maybe he can do the
Marty Stouffer thing.
There's something about strawberry blonde beards!
(Please pardon Mike's bedhead--we had a quiz and two tough exams this week--grooming wasn't a priority)
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
A Question of Faith
An acquaintance of mine, A born-again Christian who considers himself very spritual and godly, believes that the study of science inherently promotes
secular humanism. (I wonder where he read that--or maybe his non-scientist pastor told him this.) He worries that scientific study will corrupt my soul. He was surprised when I told him that many scientists are Christians, as he is, and that there are Christian associations of scientists.
How little faith must one have to assume that logic, reasoning and the pursuit of science will ultimately undermine his beliefs?
How much faith does someone
really have if she plugs her ears whenever a challenging question is asked?
Contrary to some assumptions, inquiry, exploration and discovery usually makes one's faith stronger.
It's called The Pursuit of
Truth. Only those of weak faith fear it.
Okay--now I'm really
going back to studying!
Two exams down, two to go.
The Bacteriology exam Friday was pretty straightforward. The whole class did pretty well! The Pathology exam today was hard, but in a good way--it was very problem-based and covered stuff any diligent vet student should have the hang of. I'll do better on the next one. . .
Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague
Pharmacology is tomorrow, with a bunch of somewhat abstract concepts and math, and Monday is Parasitology--so I'll be spending my weekend studying lists of flagellates, amebas (or amoebas--it looks better) and worms and all their life stages and diseases. Fun stuff.
Back to studying!
Saturday, September 18, 2004
I went to the farmer's market with zero cash in hand, just to see what I could walk out with after a couple hours of guitar strummin'.
There was a good turnout and a lot of children stopped to dance.
After an hour and half, I made enough tips to buy 7 small tomatoes, a large eggplant, 3 zuccini, 3 pickling cucumbers, a bunch of radishes, some kale, 2 chocolate pecan mini-pies (only one shown because I gave one to Alaina) and a fresh-squeezed lemonade. And I had 30 cents left over.
Not bad.
My favorite fellow performer! He's got tons of tricks up his sleeve and is popular with the kids.
This little piggy went to market. . .
This morning I'm heading to the local farmer's market for a tasting of local foods, and for some more canteloupe. I may even bring my guitar and get a few bucks to buy some baklava. Yum!
I was talking with our law professor this week about what it's like to be a vet student, and I was explaning that I think it's important to get out and about and maintain one's well roundedness by meeting new people, dabbling in hobbies, volunteering in the community, shopping at the farmer's market, and so on.
"You think shopping at the farmer's market make's one well-rounded?" she asked.
I guess I
do-- it gets you out in the fresh air, meeting your community neighbors, buying local produce, bakery and crafts, and stopping at the booths of community organizations. It at least reminds me that there is a world, right here in this community, outside of school. She concurred.
Linea finds a canteloupe the size of her head
Local musicians entertain passers-by
Linea and I also noticed that there is a local chapter of
Habitat for Humanity that works
locally. We may volunteer every other week just for a few hours. Some people may recall my "carpenter phase," when I considered a carpentry apprenticeship so I could travel around the world and build homes for underprivelidged/underdeveloped communities. Well, maybe now's my chance to get it out of my system.
A Question to Live By
"It's the perfect moment to ask you a question I've been thinking about posing for a long time, so here goes. I'd like to know if you're willing to push hard to get better, improve your attitude, grow your devotion to the truth, fuel your commitment to beauty, refine your emotions, hone your dreams, face your shadow, cure your ignorance, and soften your heart -- even as you pledge to always accept yourself for exactly who you are with all your so-called imperfections, never demeaning the present moment by comparing it to an idealized past or future. Well? Are you?"
--from
Free Will Astrology
Friday, September 17, 2004
Dr. Wallig's Tie of the Week
MOOOOO!
Do I worry too much about what others think?
this week, Sign Language says:Your dirty secret's out, probably to the person you're least comfortable with knowing it: It's embarrassing how subject you are, still, to the opinions of others. What they think shouldn't matter, you know, yet somehow it just does. Don't be too hard on yourself; to some extent, it's how you're wired. Because you're partially fueled by the faith of others, you can shine in ways that aren't available to other signs, but you're also subject to bouts with inner darkness when that belief fuel runs out. Sadly, as you've probably already discovered, this week is one of those times. Luckily, though, you're quite likely (with the help of whoever outed you) to discover a new source of inner self-confidence that's totally independent of outside influence.
Interesting, since this week I've been pondering the comments of some acquaintances who suggest I may be an overly sensitive, snooty, P.C. fanatic because I correct people when they call me --or other Korean, Japanese, or Vietnamese people-- "Chinese." I suggest using the term "
Asian," simply because "Chinese" is not the accurate way to describe someone who's
not Chinese. I also don't like suggestions that I
eat dog--another inaccuracy. Am I irrational for getting frustrated when people refer to me as something I'm not? Is it snooty to desire a bit of thoughtfulness and courtesy? I worried about this all week.
My horoscope was right.
I also worried that maybe I'm an arrogant snob because I like to talk about things like politics, current events, history, culture and literature--because I've heard some assertions this week that people who talk about this kind of stuff and use "big words" are just arrogant jerks trying to show off how much they know. (And the less
someone else knows about the topic at hand, the more arrogant they are considered.)
I actually worried that maybe
I had a problem--then it hit me-- I realized that the people who make these assertions
have no idea what it feels like to be called a "stupid chink" and have crab apples hurled at them (it
smarts!), or what it's like to be regularly told they look just like every other Asian girl on the planet.
I realized that these people would rather label others "snobs" than simply ask or listen when they don't know about something.
These people say it's impossible, pointless, or not worth their time to read literature and newspapers and keep up with current events (only boring snobs do
that!), yet they find time to do other things like watch TV and read fashion magazines, keep up with current gossip and go on for hours labeling people "losers" or "skanks" based on how they look or dress.
I've run into people with insecure and complacent attitudes like this my whole life--but maybe
now I'll finally realize that I shouldn't put too much stock in their opinions. My new attitude of the week is to let people with these kinds of
hangups think whatever the hell they want about me. If they think I'm a snob,
so be it.
I'd sure as hell rather be percieved as the P.C. kind of snob who tries to reject ethnic stereotypes and talks about "nerdy" things like the pros and cons of third party politics or the French colonization of Africa or the latest Nick Hornby book, rather than be the kind of snob who accepts my own prejudices with complacency and talks about petty things like other people's hairstyles and clothing choices.
And while I'm at it, if anyone out there thinks I'm a pagan heathen for reading horoscopes,
so be it.
Plllllt!
"
When choosing friends or investing yourself in any relationship, ask yourself: 'Does this person recognize beauty--in the world, and in others? Does this person bring out the better sides of me, encouraging me to be a better person through their example? Does having this person in my life make mine a better, more meaningful life?'"
--Me
Yes, I'm a stay-at-home-and-blog-on-a-Friday-night loser. I just lied to a classmate and said I couldn't go out partying tonight because I'm going to bed. Well, I
am going to bed soon, but the real reason I'm not going out is because I just need to sit at home alone and maybe get in a session of blog therapy. It's been an emotionally weird week.
Anyway, whenever I come across copies of the local entertainment weeklies, I check the horoscopes. This week's were disturbingly accurate, so I've decided to start posting the more accurate ones.
The keys to my future?
this week, Free Will Astrology says:In the coming week you will be prone to eruptions of intuition about exciting future events that you have not previously imagined. Lucid visions of challenging adventures may pop into your mind's eye out of nowhere. When you come into the presence of people who may one day figure prominently in your creative departures from routine, you might feel chills run up and down your spine. Be alert for these signals from the Great Beyond. It's time for you to become your own fortune-teller.
Wow! Right on! I had several discussions this week with Drs.
Val Beasley and
Ronald Smith about my career direction (which will hence influence my personal life, geographical location, lifestyle, adherence to my principles and so on) and came to some interesting conclusions--or rather, revelations.
I know I cannot read the future, and I know that my mind may change, but there are some ideas I've held fast for a long time.
Things I've known for a long time:I want to work outdoors
I want to travel internationally as part of my job
I want to serve the underserved
I enjoy teaching
I want to work hands-on practicing medicine and improving the health of individual animals
I also want to study the big-picture connections between animal health, the environment, and human health
I like aksing questions
I like discovering new questions to ask
I find bats absolutely fascinating (and thanks Mom and Dad for the bat book for my birthday!)
Revelations that came to me this week, via discussions with "people who may one day figure prominently in my creative departures from routine":Bats are ubiquitous
Bats carry diseases that affect humans (rabies)
Bats eliminate critters that carry other diseases that affect humans (mosquitoes/malaria/West Nile)
Bats are a central component of many ecosytems
Not a lot of veterinarians are currently studying bats
Bats exist all over the world, affecting underserved popuations of people and animals, and providing a bat vet with travel potential
Many questions about bats remain unanswered or un-asked
I now have experience researching the predator-vector relationship (a vector is a disease-carrier)
I can get my DVM, an internship in internal medicine, a few years clinical experience, and a Master's of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVH) by the time I'm 36
I can get a PhD in lieu of the MPVM (while studying bat health) by the time I'm 40, and then have opportunties for teaching at a vet school
I wonder how this revelation about bats and PhDs will pan out. I may look back in ten years and ask "What the hell was I thinking?!?!" or I may be sharing my love for bats with rest of the veterinary, agricultural, epidemiological and ecological communities. A revelation about leaving a bureaucratic job to come to vet school got me
here. . .so we'll see.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
The things I worry about when I should be studying. . .
For some reason, I can't get my lovely self-portait to link to my "About me" profile, even though I can get it to link here. Anyone out there have any technical advice?
Timeless beauty. . .
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
So I'm trying a new template. I think it's easier to read, but I had to sacrifice all the comments made via Squawkbox. Poo--some of them were pretty good. But I think this new Blogger comment box is easier to use. Feel free to leave more--
If the comment box asks you to sign in, just click "post anonymously."
Second Year, First Semester
DVM Curriculum
General Pathology:
It's all about what can wrong in the body. As the book puts it, most disease states are not caused by new, abnormal processes but by normal processes falling out of balance. Makes sense, and instead of learning a bunch of new stuff, we're reveiwing what we already know about normal physiology and looking at it from a new angle.
I think this is going to be my favorite class.
Except for the fact that much of pathology deals with necropsies (animal autopsies) so we have to look at a lot of dead, gross, gelatinous, gooey, pus-filled things. (note that the word
pus does not have an adjective form involving the letter "y"--although I've seen it written on medical records, and it just doesn't look right. I believe
purulent is the correct term.)
Professor: Dr. Matthew Wallig (see previous post)
Text:
Mechanisms of Disease: A Texbook of Comparative General Pathology by David Slauson and Barry Cooper
Pharmacology:
All about drugs and how the body uses them. A little bit of physics and math. The veterinary version is much more complicated than the human medicine version (when isn't it?) since there are so many differences between species--differences in how their bodies process and eliminate drugs--i.e. what can save a dog's life can kill a horse or a cat, etc.
Professor: Dr. Tomas Martin-Jimenez
Text: Class notes by Dr. Martin-Jimenez
Parasitology:
If you get grossed out easily, don't ask a vet student about parasitology. It involves a lot of bugs, worms, blood and poo. The first day of class we watch a delightful doumentary call "Eaten Alive."
Really fun stuff.
Professor: Dr. Allen J. Paul
Text: Class notes by Dr. Paul, and I use a handy parasitology reference book from the library. Nothing better than free books.
Bacteriology and Mycology:
Self-explanatory. Mycology pertains to fungi, especially infectious ones. A lot of lab time with this course--I coughed on a Petri dish last week and found four different bacterial colnies the next day!
Professor:Dr. Lois Hoyer and Dr. Mark S. Kuhlenschmidt
Text: Notes by the professors, and more reference books from the library.
Epidemiology:
Basically, applied statistics. Lots of 2 by 2 diagrams, graphs and tables. Epidemiology is defined a myriad of ways, but my favortie definition is succint: "the study of health and disease in populations."
Professor: Dr. Ronald Smith
Text:
Veterinary Clinical Epidemiology, the definitve text, of course, written by our very own Dr. Smith
Jurisprudence:
All the stuff we need to know in case we get sued. Or want to sue. Or have employer/employee problems, or other business disputes. Obviously very crucial and useful information. We read a lot of cases and memorize a lot of terms.
Professor: Margaret Grosso Rossman (from the law school)
Text: Notes by the professor and court cases
I'm slacking off and skipping out on electives this semester, since I accrued 5 hours of elective credit over the summer with a GIS course and my research, but some good ones are being offered:
Bereavement Issues: Taught by the new social worker, or "client couselor specialist,"
Cheryl Weber, from the small animals clinic. She has experience in human hospice, and this course adresses ways vets can talk to pet owners in times of grief or distress.
Environmental Toxicology: An information-dense (so I've heard from a classmate) course that focuses on the effects of bad chemicals in the environment, with a focus on animal health. Taught by my mentor, Dr. Val Beasley.
Urban and Shelter Medicine: I was going to register for this course, but when I heard it was mostly guest speakers I opted to forego the hour credit and just go to hear the speakers. That way, I don't feel guilty when I don't go.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Meet the Faculty: General Pathology
Dr. Matthew Wallig likes to study broccoli and wear whimsical ties (probably to complement his child-like countenance). I think he also teaches classes for med students, and does research with the nutrition and engineering departments. This guy's all over the place. He's also the inspiration for my new weekly feature:
Dr. Wallig's Tie of the Week
Smile!
Education does not eradicate ignorance
I was shocked the other day by the tremendously ignorant remark of a classmate, whom I assumed to be upper-middle class, hence educated, hence not stupid. Boy, I have to stop making these stereotypical assumptions.
Another classmate of ours, also Korean and quite Americanized, was talking about making
kimchee for another classmate. Overhearing this conversation, one of my lab partners asked the other, "
What is he making?"
"Who knows? Probably dog or something."
Mind you, this person said this with me standing right in her personal space--literally two feet from her.
Saying Asian people eat dog is like saying "educated" people are intelligent; it doesn't always correlate. Most Asian folks
don't eat dog. And I guess a lot of educated people
are ignorant. (At least in my experience, my friends and aquaintances without college degrees seem much more in-touch than some of those with "higher" education.)
I've always thought education was supposed to foster enlightenment, provide us insight into the world, impart compassion, and facilitate empathy and understanding towards people who are different than us. Apparently, I was wrong.
Reality Check
In all honesty, and as I'm sure most people understand, being Asian is not a bad deal, when you think of all the other skin colors one could be born into and all the hassles they come with.
Yes, Asian people have to deal with being labeled nerdy, meek, violin-playing, karate-chopping, slant-eyed, buck-toothed, dog-eating manicurists who own dry cleaning businesses, and yes, Asian women have to deal with phrases like "Asian porn" and "love-ya-long-time," and guys with creepy Asian fetishes, and off-color jokes about our reproductive anatomy-- but only rarely, if we choose our aquaintances wisely.
However, we
don't have to deal with the kind of racism that saturates one's life: we don't have to sit in job interviews wondering whether employers are actually looking at our qualifications or only at the color of our skin, nor do we have to face people who assume we are uneducated, inarticulate criminals, nor do we see a look of surprise on someone's face whenever we demonstrate our competence. We don't have to prove ourselves at every turn, and we don't carry the burden of representing our race well, so as not to be labeled "part of the problem."
Being Asian is not a bad deal. Being called a "chink" once every five years and hearing stupid comments about eating dog or having a horizontal koochie is
nothing compared to dealing with the hell that is the racism black, Hispanic and Middle-Eastern folks have to deal with
every day.
"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
--Oscar Wilde
This is my very first blog from home!
Yes, folks, I have crawled out from under my rock and have relunctantly "plugged in" to the web world. Since vet school curriculum is relying more heavily on the web these days, and there are web sites for each class, I feel much better having acces to my stuff at home. Not to mention the 50 million e-mails a day from classmates and professors. So woo-hoo!
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
I'm still here!
(*sorry about that non sequitur of a post last time--not meant to be political, per se--just an observation about The Man. I had just seen one too many cars with a Jesus fish next to a pro-war or pro-military bumper sticker with sentiments such as "the sound of a jet fighter is the sound of freedom" and what not. Freedom from what? The U.S. is the largest superpower in the world! Freedom from terrorism? We've had terrorist attacks from our own white male citizens long before 9/11. And tanks and missiles can only incite more hatred towards the U.S. "empire" rather than quell terrorism. But anyway--)
Okay, I've been a negligent blogger. Almost three months with no posts! That's a personal record.
Here are the reasons/lame excuses:
- I was working on this darn research project that was quite simple but very time-consuming and tedious. I spent several nights at the wonderful vet med basic science building from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. It was not fun.
- Said hours kept me from eating properly, getting fresh summer air, socializing and sleeping more than 4 hours at a pop, so I got sick and remained sick for several weeks.
- When I wasn't working on the research projects, I couldn't spend any time blogging because my writing energy needed to be directed at catching up on
pet columns, which I had fallen behind on.
- My free personal time was not spent anywhere in a computer; it was spent either sleeping, eating or bathing.
Here's some of what's happened in the the past three months:
- I went camping 4th of July weekend in southern Illinois and invested $4 in the nickel slots at the
Metropolis casino yielding $18, with a net profit of $14 that was subsequntley spent on beer. I also got approximtely 80 mosquito bites. (I stopped counting at 44, and estimated from there.
- I turned 30. Had a fun party, but the experience of actually turning 30 was very uneventful.
- I wasted a total of three visits and fours hours at the local DMV. People who fail their vision tests because they don't bring their glasses and then proceed to argue angrily with the DMV employees, and people who debate with DMV staff about a whole page of quesions on the written test they just failed for the second time, should not be allowed to drive. Same goes for deadbeats who've racked up 10 traffic violations and have failed to pay or appear in court for any of them, and decide to waste everybody's time giving lame excuses and arguing with DMV employees. I do not want these fools driving motorized vehicles anywhere near me or my loved ones. Bless the hearts of the staff at the Champaign DMV--they always show patience and courtesy, even to the incredibly rude and stupid.
- Started third semester of school, met my "little sib" and other members of the incoming class. Their class seems like a lot of fun and more diverse in race, age and experiences.
- This past weekend enjoyed a little food, beer and bumper-cars at the otherwise overrated, overpriced, overcrowded Schaumberg Septemberfest. Didn't stay for the Rick Springfield concert. Do I need to explain?
So that brings us up to date, minus the photos.
Oh, and I finally caved in and bought a computer (a Dell, which should be arriving sometime this week). So now I'll actually have high-speed internet acess at home and a USB port at my fingertips, so I'll have no excuse to neglet my blog anymore. I should still channel my word processing energies to my paid job, but with easy acces I hope to post brief entries more frequently. And yes, more photos since I have a bunch a web space now.
"On my honor, I will try to be a better blogger, keeping all five of my readers up to date on my goings-on and frustrations, and providing plenty of visual entertainment in the form of photos."
Friday, September 03, 2004
Didn't you know. . .
