As the whole world seems to know, there were some really bad tornadoes in southern Indiana (and many other states) a few days ago. We were fortunate to get no more than some relatively mild thunderstorms. And we are thankful the tornadoes were not in our area. If there was a tornado spotted in our area, the siren would go off (we can hear it from our house), and we would head to out downstairs bathroom, which is the lowest, most interior room of the house. Since Indiana has clay soil, most houses don't have a basement, as they tend to flood.
The town they keep showing on the news, Henryville, is about 60 miles from where we live. That's not very far.
This article from an English paper has pictures of the devastating damage from all over the areas affected by the storm. It was written right after they found a toddler in the middle of a field, still alive at the time, but unfortunately her injuries were so bad they could not save her.
Our hearts go out to those affected by this disaster.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Cancer sucks. Bone marrow donation can help.
I've had several people close to me experience cancer in the past few years, from my grandmother in her 80s to two close friends around my age, and another friend's little girl (Millie) who was diagnosed at age 4. While the older ones are in remission, now 6-year-old Millie relapsed just as she finished up 2 years of chemo. She's currently in the hospital getting aggressive chemotherapy and waiting to find a bone marrow match.
Please consider signing up to be a bone marrow donor. All it takes is a cheek swab, and you could be Millie's match.
http://marrow.org/Join/Join_Now/Join_Now.aspx?promo_code=marrow4millie
Here's a picture of Millie with her brother and Santa from her mom's blog. You can read more about Millie and her family's journey with cancer here http://bradyandamanda.blogspot.com/
Please consider signing up to be a bone marrow donor. All it takes is a cheek swab, and you could be Millie's match.
http://marrow.org/Join/Join_Now/Join_Now.aspx?promo_code=marrow4millie
Here's a picture of Millie with her brother and Santa from her mom's blog. You can read more about Millie and her family's journey with cancer here http://bradyandamanda.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Done with Classes FOREVER! What now?
This semester is my first semester as a PhD student with no more classes to take. When I tell people that, they ask a seemingly straightforward question - "so now you just have your dissertation and that's it, right?" Nope. This is academia, so things that should be straightforward need to go through nine levels of hell more hurdles before starting the dissertation. I'm fortunate to have funding as a Research Assistant this semester so I don't have to teach a class to have funding.
Here's what I have left:
1. Qualifying Exam. This is an essay assignment where you are given a list of questions and have 72 hours to write up to 30 pages answering those questions using a personalized list of academic research material. The reading list consists of roughly 100 journal articles and 30 books that are the basis for your specialty in Sociology. Since I'm specializing in medical sociology, it tends to tip towards more articles and fewer books, so my list is about 120 articles and 20 books.
PhD students usually take about a semester to make the list (it involves multiple iterations with two advisors) and 3-6 months to do the reading, depending on their other workload (teaching, research, taking classes).
One would think that after roughly 6 semesters of graduate-level coursework and obtaining a master's degree in the process that there wouldn't be much reading left to do. Not true. This exam is supposed to show that you understand your area of expertise broadly and in depth, so you can't just focus on the few topics you find most interesting. For example, I think that structural changes in the social organization of medicine in the past 100 years is fascinating. I'm less interested in figuring out one more way you can show how life is unfair and that there are systematic patterns in who gets sick (also known as epidemiology). But I have to know all that literature because it is important in my field.
After passing the Qualifying Exam, and it is possible to get an "honors" distinction in this, the student is officially a "doctoral candidate" AKA "all but dissertation" or ABD. It also means you have to finish the dissertation within 7 years of that date, which is a challenge for some people.
The handbook says "The Qualifying Exam is designed to serve as a bridge between graduate course work and preparation of a dissertation proposal," which brings us to the next obstacle before the dissertation.
2. Dissertation Proposal. This is an oral "defense" of your research proposal for your dissertation. I'm still not sure exactly what the parameters are for this, but it takes some people a year or longer to put it together. In the "Real world" something like this should probably take about a month.
3. Dissertation research. Actually doing the work for the dissertation. Data cleaning, statistical analysis, text analysis or whatever else was proposed. All of this analysis needs to get done before you can write much of anything up. This could take anywhere from a week to several years if you are collecting your own data.
4. Writing the dissertation. 'nuff said.
5. Oral defense of dissertation. This is done in front of your committee, who you hope will ask nice easy questions!
So I just have 5 things left, I guess! Of course, this doesn't include any of the other research I'm working on nor publications I'm trying to put out nor grant proposals, fellowship applications, etc, all of which require lots of time-consuming writing and data analysis.
Here's what I have left:
1. Qualifying Exam. This is an essay assignment where you are given a list of questions and have 72 hours to write up to 30 pages answering those questions using a personalized list of academic research material. The reading list consists of roughly 100 journal articles and 30 books that are the basis for your specialty in Sociology. Since I'm specializing in medical sociology, it tends to tip towards more articles and fewer books, so my list is about 120 articles and 20 books.
PhD students usually take about a semester to make the list (it involves multiple iterations with two advisors) and 3-6 months to do the reading, depending on their other workload (teaching, research, taking classes).
One would think that after roughly 6 semesters of graduate-level coursework and obtaining a master's degree in the process that there wouldn't be much reading left to do. Not true. This exam is supposed to show that you understand your area of expertise broadly and in depth, so you can't just focus on the few topics you find most interesting. For example, I think that structural changes in the social organization of medicine in the past 100 years is fascinating. I'm less interested in figuring out one more way you can show how life is unfair and that there are systematic patterns in who gets sick (also known as epidemiology). But I have to know all that literature because it is important in my field.
After passing the Qualifying Exam, and it is possible to get an "honors" distinction in this, the student is officially a "doctoral candidate" AKA "all but dissertation" or ABD. It also means you have to finish the dissertation within 7 years of that date, which is a challenge for some people.
The handbook says "The Qualifying Exam is designed to serve as a bridge between graduate course work and preparation of a dissertation proposal," which brings us to the next obstacle before the dissertation.
2. Dissertation Proposal. This is an oral "defense" of your research proposal for your dissertation. I'm still not sure exactly what the parameters are for this, but it takes some people a year or longer to put it together. In the "Real world" something like this should probably take about a month.
3. Dissertation research. Actually doing the work for the dissertation. Data cleaning, statistical analysis, text analysis or whatever else was proposed. All of this analysis needs to get done before you can write much of anything up. This could take anywhere from a week to several years if you are collecting your own data.
4. Writing the dissertation. 'nuff said.
5. Oral defense of dissertation. This is done in front of your committee, who you hope will ask nice easy questions!
So I just have 5 things left, I guess! Of course, this doesn't include any of the other research I'm working on nor publications I'm trying to put out nor grant proposals, fellowship applications, etc, all of which require lots of time-consuming writing and data analysis.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
St Lucia and Traditions
Yesterday was St. Lucia Day, a Swedish holiday that celebrates the life of a saint who dedicated her life to feeding and caring for the poor until she was brutally executed for being a Christian. She's also the patron saint of the blind because she was blinded before her execution. There's a lot more to the story, but that's not what I want to get into on here. You can read more on wikipedia for that story. It's been a tradition in my family to attend the St Lucia Festival every year and sing along with the traditional Swedish Yuletide songs, and for me, to get dressed up in the white robe and sing with the other kids while I was growing up. I try to attend a St Lucia festival wherever I live. There was a nice one in Chicago at Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Andersonville, but I couldn't find one in Oxford, and there is definitely not on in Bloomington (the closest is a 4-5 hour drive away at the very northern tip of Indiana).
So this year I opted to watch the official Swedish Santa Lucia program on the internet. It doesn't quite have the charm of being there in person with the candlelight and glögg afterparty, but it's something.
What struck me this year as we are in Indiana, far from our families and from our ancestral homelands was that I could still in some small way be connected to my family. I imagined how different it would have been for my relatives who first came to the US in the early 1900s, not knowing if they would ever make it back to their homeland. I think part of what kept them going was being able to hold on to traditions. To this day, displaced Swedes (and I am sure other ethnic groups) continue with traditions that may have long been abandoned by the people in their homeland. Traditions are what makes any place feel like home, even when you are thousands of miles away.
In Sociology, there's a whole area dedicated to globalization, which is sort of the melting pot idea but on a global scale, and the concept of the diaspora. A diaspora is a group of people who have left their homeland all at once, but who have all relocated to a new country and live near each other (think of a Chinatown or Little Italy). They may or may not have known each other in the homeland, but they come together in the new country to celebrate their cultural festivals and create a sense of community. Eventually, but not always, the immigrants assimilate into the local community and the diaspora disperses as people move out of the neighborhood and/or intermarry with people from other backgrounds.
Sometimes these cultural festivals in immigrant neighborhoods go on long after the original group of immigrants leave the neighborhood. For example, in the Cicero neighborhood of Chicago, there is a Houby (Mushroom) Festival that was started by the Czech diaspora. The neighborhood is now primarily Mexican, yet the Czech mushroom parade continues, with Czechs coming in from elsewhere.
When my family moved to the US, they were in a Swedish diaspora. It may not have been as dense as some of the other ethnic neighborhoods, but there were enough Swedes to support their own church in downtown Providence. Like other immigrant groups without their extended families around, they came together at certain times of the year to have that sense of groundedness and community with people who shared a similar background. The St Lucia festival is one of those special events, made even more special because there are no gifts exchanged and no big feast to prepare. It's just some beautiful singing by candlelight followed by some light refreshments and spending time with people who have something in common.
So I take this special day wherever I live to remember my heritage and feel a sense of connectedness to the generations that came before me. Even though I live far from family and really far from my ancestral homeland, there is something nice about feeling connected, even if it is only through the internet.
So this year I opted to watch the official Swedish Santa Lucia program on the internet. It doesn't quite have the charm of being there in person with the candlelight and glögg afterparty, but it's something.
What struck me this year as we are in Indiana, far from our families and from our ancestral homelands was that I could still in some small way be connected to my family. I imagined how different it would have been for my relatives who first came to the US in the early 1900s, not knowing if they would ever make it back to their homeland. I think part of what kept them going was being able to hold on to traditions. To this day, displaced Swedes (and I am sure other ethnic groups) continue with traditions that may have long been abandoned by the people in their homeland. Traditions are what makes any place feel like home, even when you are thousands of miles away.
In Sociology, there's a whole area dedicated to globalization, which is sort of the melting pot idea but on a global scale, and the concept of the diaspora. A diaspora is a group of people who have left their homeland all at once, but who have all relocated to a new country and live near each other (think of a Chinatown or Little Italy). They may or may not have known each other in the homeland, but they come together in the new country to celebrate their cultural festivals and create a sense of community. Eventually, but not always, the immigrants assimilate into the local community and the diaspora disperses as people move out of the neighborhood and/or intermarry with people from other backgrounds.
Sometimes these cultural festivals in immigrant neighborhoods go on long after the original group of immigrants leave the neighborhood. For example, in the Cicero neighborhood of Chicago, there is a Houby (Mushroom) Festival that was started by the Czech diaspora. The neighborhood is now primarily Mexican, yet the Czech mushroom parade continues, with Czechs coming in from elsewhere.
When my family moved to the US, they were in a Swedish diaspora. It may not have been as dense as some of the other ethnic neighborhoods, but there were enough Swedes to support their own church in downtown Providence. Like other immigrant groups without their extended families around, they came together at certain times of the year to have that sense of groundedness and community with people who shared a similar background. The St Lucia festival is one of those special events, made even more special because there are no gifts exchanged and no big feast to prepare. It's just some beautiful singing by candlelight followed by some light refreshments and spending time with people who have something in common.
So I take this special day wherever I live to remember my heritage and feel a sense of connectedness to the generations that came before me. Even though I live far from family and really far from my ancestral homeland, there is something nice about feeling connected, even if it is only through the internet.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Summer Vacation - Paris
This summer we took a whirlwind trip, flying from Chicago to London, took a train to Pairs, flew to Prague, took a bus to Wroclaw, Poland, then a train to Rydultowy, Poland and finally flew from Poland to Chicago, connecting in London and Reykjavik. Got all that? haha, well we got a great deal on airfare and managed to visit family and friends en route. The reason for our trip was that our friends, Mikki and Brian got married in Prague! Yay! So we decided that while we were in Europe anyway, we'd pack in as much as we could.
Here are the highlights from Paris. We stayed in the Latin Quarter at the Hotel du College de France, which was perfect for us. I LOVE that neighborhood, and we had an awesome time exploring the various shops and restaurants in the maze of streets there and in the St Germain neighborhood (though St Germain has become a bit too built up compared to when I was there 10 years ago).
Eiffel Tower
Love locks on the bridge by Notre Dame
Rue Mouffetard in the morning before the cheese shop had even finished opening!
The original "Paul" bakery/cafe
The Louvre (spent a whole day there and still didn't see it all!)
Parisian version of fish and chips at Louis Vin Restaurant for lunch
Galleries Lafayette (reminded me of the dome at French Lick/West Baden, Indiana)
And this fun statue
Here are the highlights from Paris. We stayed in the Latin Quarter at the Hotel du College de France, which was perfect for us. I LOVE that neighborhood, and we had an awesome time exploring the various shops and restaurants in the maze of streets there and in the St Germain neighborhood (though St Germain has become a bit too built up compared to when I was there 10 years ago).
Eiffel Tower
Love locks on the bridge by Notre Dame
Rue Mouffetard in the morning before the cheese shop had even finished opening!
The original "Paul" bakery/cafe
The Louvre (spent a whole day there and still didn't see it all!)
Parisian version of fish and chips at Louis Vin Restaurant for lunch
Galleries Lafayette (reminded me of the dome at French Lick/West Baden, Indiana)
And this fun statue
Monday, August 8, 2011
Medicalization and highway births
So I rarely blog about anything related to my "work" since most of what I do is write anyway, and it is nice to take a break and write about something fun that I did or saw. But seeing this article in the news today, about a woman giving birth in the car on the way to the hospital, gives me an opportunity to relate what I study (broadly) to what goes on in the world.
It is pretty amazing for any woman to give birth to a child in a moving vehicle on a highway. I can't imagine how stressful that would be, for both mom and driver dad! The couple had clearly been planning for the birth, but not so quickly nor in such an awkward place. And like most births, this one was not complicated and the baby was totally fine.
But here's where the sociology comes in - the assumption, and even requirement, that a "physician" must "attend" a birth:
The history of having an "attending physician" is actually pretty interesting, and is a recent phenomenon. It wasn't until the 18th century that physicians began to take over the childbirth (or "catching") task from the ancient role of midwife (we're talking pre-biblical ancient), under the new assumption that women (midwives have been and still are primarily women) were too weak to handle this difficult job of assisting childbirth, and such work was cast as being more fit for men trained in allopathic (Western) medicine. In some places, like Iowa, it is actually illegal to practice midwifery today.
Medicalization is the process whereby an otherwise normal bodily function or human condition becomes redefined as something that can (or should) be diagnosed and treated, often only by a medical professional with specialized training. A good example of how a "medicalized" condition can change from being under the jurisdiction of medicine to being a normal social or biological function is that of homosexuality, which used to be officially diagnosable and considered treatable by a physician. In childbirth, planned c-sections are often thought of as medicalizing childbirth.
So while I understand on the one hand the involvement of modern medicine in childbirth as something that has the potential to prevent harm or death to infants or mothers, on the other hand as a modern woman I find it appalling that there is not more choice about one of the most fundamental things about being a woman. Even more irking is the amazement that a woman even has the capacity to give birth without a "professional" present. As though she "became" a doctor, rather than a mother, by giving birth.
Also interesting to note is that an uncomplicated delivery in a hospital costs on average $10,000, while on the extreme, a complicated C-section costs an average of $22,000 in the US (not including anesthesia charges). So at least for this couple, a bundle of cash was saved (though the insurance company is really the one who "wins" - but that's another story).
Well, there you have a bit of insight into what a PhD program in sociology does to one's mind when reading the news.
It is pretty amazing for any woman to give birth to a child in a moving vehicle on a highway. I can't imagine how stressful that would be, for both mom and driver dad! The couple had clearly been planning for the birth, but not so quickly nor in such an awkward place. And like most births, this one was not complicated and the baby was totally fine.
But here's where the sociology comes in - the assumption, and even requirement, that a "physician" must "attend" a birth:
"It happened so fast, they couldn't even pull over. Dad was still the driver.
But mom suddenly became 'doctor'.
"I just kind of reacted because I knew I couldn't let anything happen to him," Shawna said.
Shawna says it was maternal instinct that brought a healthy seven-pound, one-ounce baby boy into their world. She's listed as attending physician on Jackson James Clark's birth certificate. Next to his footprints, it says "delivered by mommy".
The history of having an "attending physician" is actually pretty interesting, and is a recent phenomenon. It wasn't until the 18th century that physicians began to take over the childbirth (or "catching") task from the ancient role of midwife (we're talking pre-biblical ancient), under the new assumption that women (midwives have been and still are primarily women) were too weak to handle this difficult job of assisting childbirth, and such work was cast as being more fit for men trained in allopathic (Western) medicine. In some places, like Iowa, it is actually illegal to practice midwifery today.
Medicalization is the process whereby an otherwise normal bodily function or human condition becomes redefined as something that can (or should) be diagnosed and treated, often only by a medical professional with specialized training. A good example of how a "medicalized" condition can change from being under the jurisdiction of medicine to being a normal social or biological function is that of homosexuality, which used to be officially diagnosable and considered treatable by a physician. In childbirth, planned c-sections are often thought of as medicalizing childbirth.
So while I understand on the one hand the involvement of modern medicine in childbirth as something that has the potential to prevent harm or death to infants or mothers, on the other hand as a modern woman I find it appalling that there is not more choice about one of the most fundamental things about being a woman. Even more irking is the amazement that a woman even has the capacity to give birth without a "professional" present. As though she "became" a doctor, rather than a mother, by giving birth.
Also interesting to note is that an uncomplicated delivery in a hospital costs on average $10,000, while on the extreme, a complicated C-section costs an average of $22,000 in the US (not including anesthesia charges). So at least for this couple, a bundle of cash was saved (though the insurance company is really the one who "wins" - but that's another story).
Well, there you have a bit of insight into what a PhD program in sociology does to one's mind when reading the news.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Smoky Mountain Adventure and Nashville Honky Tonks
After picking up Andrea & Mike at the airport in Knoxville, we started our grand adventure in Tennessee's Smokey Mountains. We stayed in a great cabin at the Oak Haven Resort in Sevierville, just outside of the more well-known Gatlinburg, TN. We had a gorgeous spot up in the hills, overlooking the countryside with a huge wrap-around porch.
Since we were all tired from traveling, we spent our first night checking out the local wineries and having a barbeque at the cabin. Tennessee is definitely not France or Napa Valley, nor is it trying to be. They like their wine sweet and fruity. All four of us generally like dry wines, so this was a challenge. Our first stop was at the Hillside Winery, where they are generous with the pour and completely up front about the style of wine they have. It is sweet and strong and seems like the kind of thing you'd get in the backwoods of Tennessee. Which is fine, because that's where we were!
Next we went to the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge. We actually didn't have the wine there because the woman serving it was rude. But we did buy some apple turnovers for breakfast (and they were delicious).
The next day we got up early for some ziplining, which I blogged about before. But after that, we made a quick stop for lunch before heading off for some whitewater rafting with Smoky Mountain Outdoors. After the ziplining experience, I was a little nervous even though I'd been rafting a bunch before in high school. But our trusty guide, Big Steve, kept us afloat even over class 4 rapids. It was awesome, and again, smelled so delicious out in the fresh mountain air! That night we went into Gatlinburg for dinner.
The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast, then headed off for Nashville. We mad a pit stop for lunch and to visit this pink elephant.
Since none of us had been to Nashville before, we decided going on a group tour would be a good idea. So we hopped on the camouflage bus and had a Redneck Tour of Nashville. It's definitely not a family-oriented tour, but we had some laughs and got a feel for the city and its history. Here we are with our guides, Tater and Merlene.
This was also most of our first time in the south, and we were curious to see what the plantations looked like. We went to Andrew Jackson's home, "the Hermitage" and to Belle Meade Plantation, where they bred racehorses (all Kentucky Derby racehorses can be traced to one horse at this plantation!). Both plantations had lots of slaves, and while it's nice in the old homes, walking through the pretty grounds is a little creepy, knowing that people were enslaved there. We were able to take a peek inside slave quarters, but none were set up with period furniture so it was a little hard to get a sense of what life was really like inside. Now they just look like rustic cabins.
One of my favorite sites was the Cheekwood gardens, which was the home of the Cheek Family, who built their fortune off their ownership of the Maxwell House coffee brand. Today the grounds are open to the public (for a fee). The house, at 33,000 square feet, has been partially converted to an art museum. There's even a Japanese garden, and several water features.
This little Italian style grotto is up by the house
Finally, at night, we enjoyed the Honky Tonks of Broadway. We had two favorites: The Stage and Layla's Bluegrass Inn. Layla's had some crazy rockabilly/bluegrass music and was a lot of fun! We saw Brandon Giles there, who was absolutely a phenomenal performer - like a Jerry Lee Lewis reincarnation. For more popular country and rock music, we enjoyed The Stage (recommended by my childhood friend's little sister). The best part is that it is free to go to any of these shows! If you like the music, you can tip the band however much you want - they'll have someone come around with a big tip jar. It's really a great way to see live music!
Here we are at the Stage. I was kind of surprised at how many country songs I know the lyrics to!
I am so glad we got to do this trip all together. It was just what we needed for a little getaway. We are really blessed to have such great friends!
Since we were all tired from traveling, we spent our first night checking out the local wineries and having a barbeque at the cabin. Tennessee is definitely not France or Napa Valley, nor is it trying to be. They like their wine sweet and fruity. All four of us generally like dry wines, so this was a challenge. Our first stop was at the Hillside Winery, where they are generous with the pour and completely up front about the style of wine they have. It is sweet and strong and seems like the kind of thing you'd get in the backwoods of Tennessee. Which is fine, because that's where we were!
Next we went to the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge. We actually didn't have the wine there because the woman serving it was rude. But we did buy some apple turnovers for breakfast (and they were delicious).
The next day we got up early for some ziplining, which I blogged about before. But after that, we made a quick stop for lunch before heading off for some whitewater rafting with Smoky Mountain Outdoors. After the ziplining experience, I was a little nervous even though I'd been rafting a bunch before in high school. But our trusty guide, Big Steve, kept us afloat even over class 4 rapids. It was awesome, and again, smelled so delicious out in the fresh mountain air! That night we went into Gatlinburg for dinner.
The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast, then headed off for Nashville. We mad a pit stop for lunch and to visit this pink elephant.
Since none of us had been to Nashville before, we decided going on a group tour would be a good idea. So we hopped on the camouflage bus and had a Redneck Tour of Nashville. It's definitely not a family-oriented tour, but we had some laughs and got a feel for the city and its history. Here we are with our guides, Tater and Merlene.
This was also most of our first time in the south, and we were curious to see what the plantations looked like. We went to Andrew Jackson's home, "the Hermitage" and to Belle Meade Plantation, where they bred racehorses (all Kentucky Derby racehorses can be traced to one horse at this plantation!). Both plantations had lots of slaves, and while it's nice in the old homes, walking through the pretty grounds is a little creepy, knowing that people were enslaved there. We were able to take a peek inside slave quarters, but none were set up with period furniture so it was a little hard to get a sense of what life was really like inside. Now they just look like rustic cabins.
One of my favorite sites was the Cheekwood gardens, which was the home of the Cheek Family, who built their fortune off their ownership of the Maxwell House coffee brand. Today the grounds are open to the public (for a fee). The house, at 33,000 square feet, has been partially converted to an art museum. There's even a Japanese garden, and several water features.
This little Italian style grotto is up by the house
Finally, at night, we enjoyed the Honky Tonks of Broadway. We had two favorites: The Stage and Layla's Bluegrass Inn. Layla's had some crazy rockabilly/bluegrass music and was a lot of fun! We saw Brandon Giles there, who was absolutely a phenomenal performer - like a Jerry Lee Lewis reincarnation. For more popular country and rock music, we enjoyed The Stage (recommended by my childhood friend's little sister). The best part is that it is free to go to any of these shows! If you like the music, you can tip the band however much you want - they'll have someone come around with a big tip jar. It's really a great way to see live music!
Here we are at the Stage. I was kind of surprised at how many country songs I know the lyrics to!
I am so glad we got to do this trip all together. It was just what we needed for a little getaway. We are really blessed to have such great friends!