Cryptic Elliptic
I feel a little bad about not updating, but, um, trying to pack. At some point, I may write about birth control (mostly in response to what
Alice has got on her journal, which bears looking at--though if you want a more amusing take on the subject, check out Tomato Nation's
Annals of Birth Control).
i hate people
Maybe it's a good thing that my roommate scarpered with the television, because I shouldn't watch the news anymore.
While visiting home in
Naperville this past weekend, I watched 60 Minutes with my parents--specifically, I watched
this story. There was a lot of shouting on our part. Though I'd never actually heard of "wrongful birth" lawsuits before, I can't say they surprise me; god forbid Americans be unable to sue whenever something goes wrong. If you're too lazy to read the story, it's about families of disabled children who are suing doctors for not informing them about their child's disability. The families testify that, had they known about their children's conditions, they would have aborted the children.
I object to wrongful birth lawsuits on so many levels. For one thing, they're contributing to the ridiculous glut of malpractice cases that are driving talented (but human and therefore imperfect) doctors out of their jobs. I believe that obstetricians have the highest malpractice premiums (followed, I think, by anesthesiologists). In some states, including Illinois, doctors are being driven away from specializing in obstetrics (or from practicing in-state) because of the excessive premiums. Who's going to deliver your baby then, your malpractice lawyer?
Furthermore, imagine how horrifying it must be for a child to hear that their parents are suing doctors because they weren't given the option to abort their child. To paraphrase Anita Allen-Castellito, a bioethicist who was quoted in the 60 Minutes story, the child isn't going to pick up on the complexities of his parent's choices; he'll hear, "You're disabled. I'm suing the doctor because she didn't tell me I should have gotten rid of you."
On a more personal note, these asinine lawsuits are a real slap in the face both to people who have had trouble conceiving and to families who are struggling to care for disabled children. It's so horrifying to see people who, given the option, would have kicked their kids to the curb when there are families who would (or have) given up so much to have children.
So there's reason #34635987425 that I'm in grad school, not med school.
we're such dorks:
Overheard at the Harry Potter event:
"Is that someone dressed up as a house-elf?"
"I don't know. Might just be a hippie."
I love Hyde Park.
a bit of catching up:
So I’m rotating in Eileen Dolan’s
lab for the summer. Basically, I’m conducting some experiments to determine the effect of O6-benzylguanine (and possibly other effectors) on the therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of ifosfamide and cyclophosphamide. My experiments, for which I’m using human lymphoma cell lines, will replicate several that were previously done in CHO cells. This data will be used for an upcoming clinical trial, which pleases me greatly--I'm becoming quite interested in doing translational work. I’ve had to learn a lot of new lab techniques, most notably flow cytometry, though cell culture in general is rather new to me. Oddly enough, the four months I spent as a micro TA are proving more useful than the three years I spent as a plant genetics tech. I’m enjoying rotating in this lab quite a lot … I may end up here. On the downside, someone I wanted very badly to work with is moving to Hopkins. Boo. I’ll need to look around for my next rotation.
Something I’ve vaguely wondered about for a little while, and should probably look up: can your insurance company use the results of genetic tests against you (higher premiums, no coverage, anything)?
I move into my new place in about two weeks. I’ll miss the lake view and Mr. Cat, but that’s about it. I certainly won’t miss the management (eviction notice! The neverending shower! Gaaahh!), and I am sort of excited about living alone (mostly because it means that I can follow my natural inclinations and sing to my appliances).
Currently listening to Idlewild’s
The Remote Part. While I enjoy it, especially since they finally learned how to make their arrangements interesting, I’m still a bit confused by all of the REM comparisons the critics throw around. I don’t hear it. Oh, well. Hurrah, Scottish accents!
eeeee!!!
Matt Sharp (of Weezer and The Rentals fame) will be playing at Gunther Murphy's on
Sunday. Doors open at eight, show starts at nine. Tickets are ten in advance and twelve at the door. I'm seriously considering going to this ... I wonder if I can drag anyone else along. I've never been to a show that required pillows and blankets before.
holly hox, forget me nots
Vive le blog abandonment. Many things have happened to me (most notably, I graduated and became a capitalist), many things have happened to fish (we saw them
and we ate them), and many things are yet to come (moving and learning to sing Irishly). I will return to writing on a somewhat more regular basis, but not right now.
A la Kathleen, sort of ....
reading:
Byzantium: The Decline and Fall by J.J. Norwich
Early Works of H.D.
Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie (for the eighty-four-millionth time)
listening:
Mass Romantic, The New Pornographers
Through Being Cool, Saves The Day
On A Wire, The Get Up Kids
If You're Feeling Sinister, Belle and Sebastian
susan thinks about discourse? or something?
So if you think back to your first couple of classes at the University of Chicago (or wherever you go, really), there was always a time early in the year where people would introduce themselves. And it would always go something like this:
boy: Hi. I'm Ed. I am concentrating in Russian studies because I want to be a rich historian.
girl: Hi? I'm Susan? And I'm concentrating in molecular biology because I want to create an evil clone army?
Nearly all of the men would talk like Ed; nearly all of the women would talk like Susan. It didn't matter if a woman didn't do that annoying Valley-girl upspeak business in her normal conversations; when she talked about her academic interests and her future plans, she couldn't speak in definite sentences.
What was she questioning? I find it hard to believe that it's just an issue of shyness; I don't see such a sharp gender division in that. Is she questioning her right to have specific interests? To make plans?
This indecisive quality is evident in women's discourse throughout academia--not only in the introduction situation I've mentioned. It's especially notable in discussions where women hold different opinions (I hesitate to call these discussions arguments). If you listen in on an academic discussion in which two women disagree, I can virtually guarantee that you'll hear more of them validating each others' opinions than of them actually disagreeing. All of the "I understand your point, and I think that you make an excellent argument ... " padding that a woman's "argumentative" statement is couched in robs it of rhetoric force, and, all too commonly, of meaning.*
All I'm trying to say here, really, is that I want everyone to speak plainly and with a descending cadence so that we can all sound smarter and more confident.
*Consider the sentence: "I know what you're saying, and I think that's great, but I was thinking that, you know, maybe you could look at this from another perspective .... "
also
Done with finals, and therefore done with undergraduate work. Strangely, I don't find that as thrilling as the fact that the Chicago Russian studies mailing list is called [Russianstud]. I think that rules.
my pharmacology talk as a sonnet
The concentration of serotonin
is increased by drugs called SSRIs.
This can affect the mood a patient's in,
and cause her doleful spirits then, to rise.
By contrasts, drugs that are inhibitors
of monoamine oxidase enzymes
can increase the brain's monoamine stores
and make the patient have some better times.
But MAOIs also can conserve
a monoamine that's called tyramine.
If you eat aged cheese that's been preserved,
your breathing will depend on a machine.
So if on cheese your appetites are set
then SSRIs will be your best bet.
