Have a look at ICAN’s Mission statement in “wordle” format. Wordle is such a fun tool!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
ICAN Mission Statement in Wordle
August 15, 2008 at 2:16 pm (ICAN, Miscellaneous, Sites of Interest, VBAC, advocacy, awareness, cesarean, childbirth)
Shout Out for Creativity
June 29, 2008 at 2:28 pm (Miscellaneous)
I have to give a BRAVA! to Indexed. A fellow plurker posted a link to this site, and I nearly peed my pants (which by the way would have been a crime as I am on the most awesome couch ever put on this planet).
Many of my friends know that I’m doing a vocal science program this summer in Denver. It’s funny that I was directed to this site, because I drew something on my last exam that would probably resonate with Jessica Hagy, the talented author of Indexed.
I’ll have to redraw it and post it for you. Perhaps there is some way for me to combine line drawing with mind mapping to help make some of the concepts I am learning more digestible for the voice community. Hmm . . .
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tags: index, line drawing, vocology, vocal science, Jessica Hagy, plurk
The Unsavory Side of Sunblock
June 29, 2008 at 1:50 pm (Miscellaneous)
My husband and I honeymooned in Jamaica ten years ago. We had a fabulous time taking catamaran cruises, sunbathing, playing sand volleyball (and winning the international championship - woot!), learning how to wind surf, scuba diving. I also began to develop sun sensitivity.
The summer after our honeymoon I noticed that I would get these annoying itchy bumps on my arms, especially on my elbows and wrists, whenever I was out in the sun and got too hot. The student health center doctor didn’t think it looked like a sun allergy or a heat rash. Over the years it has gotten worse. It’s a horrible problem now but somewhat controlled through liberal and regular application of high-SPF sunscreen.
I was browsing twitter and friendfeed today, and a friendfeed friend posted a link to this post about the danger of sunscreen. Great - what do I do now?
Here are some of the strategies I’ve developed over time. This isn’t rocket science, people. But do consider that your long-term health (and that of your children, especially if you drench them in sunscreen as I do) may be at stake.
- Spend 10 minutes in the sun without sunscreen every day. We all need vitamin D, and we certainly aren’t getting the minimum amount from our diets!
- Try to find a sunscreen with the least amount of unnatural ingredients. Use it to build up a base tan.
- Wear a hat and sunglasses.
- Sit in the shade when you can.
- Wear long-sleeved shirts when you’re hiking or gardening.
- Avoid the sun between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.
The problem for me is that not only do I have this sun allergy, but also I have problems with melasma. Lucky me. So I ask again - what do I do now??
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tags: sunscreen, sun allergy, melasma
My brain on vocal science
June 10, 2008 at 11:40 pm (Miscellaneous, Uncategorized)
I am doing an intensive research study program this summer in Denver. I’m learning more than I ever thought I needed to know about how the voice works. Yesterday was an anatomy crash course which sent me to Amazon to purchase anatomy coloring books. Yes, I did say COLORING books. Today was a crash course on biomechanics - ya know, just enough to really scramble my noodle. Newton’s Laws and all that.
I know that eventually there will be some neat way to apply what I’m learning about the hard sciences even to my advocacy work. I’ll share my ruminations as they attack me in my dreams. Currently I’m still considering sending a pipe bomb to one of my old doctoral professors. (No, not really!) I’m disgusted that I have a terminal degree (a doctorate for chrissakes!) and don’t already know 1/8 of the material I’ve encountered in the last two days of class.
Tagging myself
June 6, 2008 at 10:07 pm (Miscellaneous, Uncategorized)
I read a FriendFeed “friend’s” tagged post, and thought I might add some random details about myself:
- I used to be a Republican, sort of - I worked for CNN during the 1992 RNC and interviewed for a job with Senator Phil Gramm whom I met through an assistantship I held with then Mayor (now Congresswoman) Kay Granger (whom I wrongly assumed was a Democrat)
- I still like mac & cheese and hot dogs (and yes I know that hot dogs are made of lips, asses, and worse)
- I pick the random wiry black hairs off of my blonde head; they grow back
- I can sing lower pitches than some men
- I carry around water and don’t drink it; I prefer coffee and alcoholic bevies
- I’m a social mediaphile - I FriendFeed, I Plurk, I Tweet, I blog, I post, and e-mail is becoming much less relevant to my on-line experiences
Anyone else want to share their gory details??
I love learning
June 1, 2008 at 4:50 pm (Miscellaneous, Uncategorized)
Tags: assessment, mothering, parenting style, quiz
From Motherstyles - my mothering style comes as no surprise! 
Your type is: intp —The “Love of Learning” Mother
“I keep the encyclopedia in the kitchen so we can look up things together while we eat.”
- Intellectually curious and patient, the INTP mother relishes those times with a child when they are learning something interesting together. Whether they’re at the zoo or computer terminal, she sparks to answering his or her “whys” with in-depth responses or new knowledge.
- The INTP mother is also objective and introspective. She listens to and discusses children’s ideas and questions as she would those of a peer, fostering self-esteem and confidence. Open and non-directive, she allows children the freedom to do for themselves and quietly encourages them to believe they can do it.
- Independence, autonomy, intellectual development, and self-reliance are probably the INTP’s highest priorities for her children. An avid reader, she naturally imparts an appreciation and love of reading as well.
- Drawn to all types of learning, the INTP may also value her mothering experience for all the new insights about life it provides her.
Lists of Five
April 4, 2008 at 10:28 am (Miscellaneous, Uncategorized)
Tags: 5 Things, Five Things, meme
I got this idea from Midnight in the Sun who says she “stole” it from Tipp (whom I do not know).
What I was doing ten years ago:
1. Planning my May wedding
2. Working for a computer consulting firm doing HR stuff
3. Auditioning for and deciding on schools for continued vocal study
4. Eating lots of Mexican food (boy how I miss TexMex!)
5. Learning music for a summer opera program
Five things on my To-do list today:
1. Course preparation before I teach at 9:10am
2. Change my deductions on my W4
3. Request my medical records from the OB’s office and the two hospitals in town
4. Finish my vocology application (eek!)
5. Do laundry tonight after DD goes to bed
Five Snacks I enjoy:
1. Anything chocolate, as long as it’s not unnaturally flavored with strawberry, orange, raspberry, etc.
2. Chips & salsa
3. Wheat thins
4. Yogurt
5. Scones from the Business School coffee stand
Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off my student debt, my husband’s student debt, and any other family member’s student debt, and buy my house
2. Travel for pleasure
3. Hire a maid/cook
4. Donate to important advocacy groups
5. Freelance
Five Bad Habits:
1. I procrastinate, oh do I procrastinate!!!
2. Spend too much time on the internet
3. Spread myself too thin - way over-committed to too many things (according to my husband and my mother)
4. Don’t always brush my teeth or wash my face before bed
5. Sabotage good habits like regular practice, exercise, and good eating
Five places I have lived:
1. California (born there)
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Alabama (shudder)
5. Indiana
Five Jobs I have Had:
1. PR assistant for CNN during a national political convention
2. Performed and waited tables at an Italian restaurant
3. Opera singer (still am)
4. Human resources manager for a computer consulting firm
5. Assistant to a Mayor (mostly scheduling and some liaison work with the PR folks)
I hope some of these things come as a surprise to those of you who know me!
Cutting the doctors “slack”
February 17, 2008 at 9:27 pm (Miscellaneous, awareness, news)
Tags: clinical practice, creative activity, David Rieff, New York Times, professional service, research, tenure demands
An ICAN list member posted a New York Times article, “Miracle Workers” by David Rieff. A lot of it made sense, and I sympathized with the author’s observance of his mother’s journey towards untimely death. However, I must point out something that at first struck me as odd (well, actually my first response was “tough $h!t”) and then began to eat at me a bit:
Ultimately, it is no doubt simply irrational to expect physicians to simultaneously be great clinicians, great scientists and great psychologists and humanists (as well as great accountants). Some are; but a medical system built on the assumption that such mastery can be normative would be an exercise in folly.
I am an University educator. The terms of my contract expect achievement in three areas: teaching, research, and service. In order to advance in my academic career, I must prove excellence in at least two of these areas every time I request an advance. Teaching can be equated to clinical work - as a teacher I work from my acquired knowledge base, extensive education in the field, and experience as a practitioner. Research and/or creative actitivity is often the most important facet of an academic’s portfolio, for better or worse. Service to the field is also expected, and certainly psychology and humanism plays into all three aspects. The demands are there - they extend to me as a “pedigreed” practitioner; they certainly apply to the “pedigreed” practitioners of medicine. Rieff did not need to cut them this kind of “slack”.
Zealotry
October 23, 2007 at 10:22 pm (Miscellaneous, advocacy, childbirth, data, empowerment, hooey)
According to the Meridiam-Webster Dictionary Online, a zealous person is defined as being a fanatical partisan. I am not completely satisfied with that definition, so I looked up the term “zealot” in the Oxford English Dictionary: “one who pursues his object with passionate ardour; usually in disparaging sense, one who is carried away by excess of zeal; an immoderate partisan, a fanatical enthusiast. “ Some may be proud to identify with that sort of definition, but I am not one of them.
“Passionate ardour” . . . good . . . check. “Disparaging” . . . not good . . . hazard. “Carried away” . . . not good . . . counter-productive when outside the zealous nest. “Immoderate partisan” . . . not good . . . hasn’t worked well in our own political system . . . “Fanatical” . . . not good . . . extremists are viewed suspiciously.
So how do we pursue our object with passionate ardor and not become engulfed by the potentially negative current of the zeal mire? Why is zealotry counter-productive? Why should I not behave like a radical? Well, you’ve heard the term “preaching to the choir” right? Now, I love the choir (I am a professional opera singer by trade). A good choir is melodious, has rhythmic integrity, is musical, has a wide range of skills, can sing high soft loud low, and so on and so forth. But when the choir does nothing but yell at the top of its lungs with little attention to melody, rhythm, tone quality, skill, and precision, then people stop listening.
I don’t ever want to be confused with being a zealot with regard to maternal-child awareness, advocacy, education, and support. I don’t know all of the facts. I don’t have all of the answers. Doling out advice only works so well. And I am a learner - a life-long learner. So I will always be learning, researching, analyzing, scrutinizing, and examining.
I promise you that.
