Just ignore the date at the bottom.  What time do you think the members of my lab arrived at the park?  Right as the front edge of yellow arrived.  We thought we could dash to the pavilion and get only minimally wet.  We were wrong.  As soon as we stepped out of the dry car we were instantly drenched.  We still tried to sprint to the pavilion.  My boss beat me.

Many other people from the department were already there huddled at the very center of the metal pavilion attempting to avoid getting wet  from the dripping ceiling and the blowing wind.  They were mildly successful.  Lightning was striking, thunder was clapping, someone was yelling “Here comes another one!! Get your ears ready!” every time she saw lightning. We all remained.  This is the dedication we have to having fun.

When the rain finally abated, someone suggested a wet t-shirt contest.  Since I was wearing a t-shirt, and was clearly the wettest, I was declared the winner.

Instead of the PIR and a letter packet like in ArtSci, the engineering school has….

The League of Legends!!!

With members like Dr. Frank Yin, the Dean of BME and head of the League, Dr. Robert Brand, the pre-health advisor for the Engineering School and other WashU Medical School Faculty, the League controls the destiny of all those that aspire to be future Champions of medicine!

Perhaps too dramatic…

However, as engineers, you will go through the Committee on Engineering and Premedicine, which will will receive all of your letter of recommendations and write ONE and only ONE committee letter based on the letter of recommendations they received and your interview with the committee.

If you are pre-med and an engineer, you should have at one point contacted Dr. Brand that you were interested in medicine. A letter is sent out to all pre-med engineers and has instructions both for you the student and the people writing your recommendation letters. I am mostly repeated what that letter says.

First is the letter to be given to each recommender. Attached to this letter is a student waiver of access and a pre-professional evaluation. You will need to fill this out and also give it to each recommender.

1) Hopefully you have requested letters of recommendation from 3-5 people. Even though you are only submitting a committee letter, you should make letters in AMCAS for each letter of recommendation so that you can give each letter an ID number. Compile the list of people writing recommendation letters for you and their ID number in AMCAS and send it to Karen. The recommenders should get their letters in by June 1, 2009. You can check with Karen Teasdale after June 1st to see if she have received any letters.

2) You will need to have the official MCAT scores sent to Karen. You may email hera screenshot or the scores, but the scores as listed on the AMCAS application cannot be accepted for some reason.

3) Send your completed AMCAS application to Karen in the information from your personal statement and postsecondary experiences. The committee will use it for your interview.

4) Complete the Excel spreadsheet for the schools requesting committee letters and email it to her.

Once all of the above items have been submitted, you’ll be added list of people ready for an interview.

The committee begins interviews sometime during the summer. You should expect something like a real medical school admissions interview. They will ask questions about your application, the classes you took, the activities you did and even some curveballs like your opinion on medical ethics issues and Obama’s health care plan for example. But don’t worry, the committee is there to help you and give you advice about your application and your interview skills after your mock interview. Doing the committee interview definitely helped when I went to actually interview since I already had one interview under my belt.

Once your interview is completed, your committee letter will be uploaded to AMCAS a couple of weeks after your interview. It will take excerpts from your recommendation letters to paint a complete portrait of you to the admissions committee that reads it. In my opinion, the committee letter will only help your application.

If a school has sent you a personal request for individual letters or you want to send your letters individually, you should let Karen know. A good example from someone that is going to be a MD/Ph.D. at University of Michigan is that he wanted to send his letters from his research PI’s individually so he had those letter sent along with the committee letter. However, that was personal preference. The committee letter is sufficient enough for most schools.

So there that’s the down and dirty about the League aka the Committee Interview and Letter. Though the process may be intimidating, I think the committee letter and interview give applicants a better chance to hone their application and interview skills. Just don’t wait, because you might end up in a long queue to interview with the Committee and might not get your letter out until late-August.

With that, may the odds be EVER in your favor.

—

Ah, the college of Arts and Sciences, better known as ArtSci.  As it may pertain to many other universities, we are part of the biggest college in the school, which means, we have the biggest logistical nightmare when it comes to getting anything out of our pre-health committee.  As it stands, our pre-health office sends out many e-mails and reminders of how to keep things in order and deadlines and whatnot.  You guys may best know it as Liz Drury, who sends out probably more e-mails and writes more in each them than any of us.  Inbox nostalgia aside, the process we need to go through is nothing short of circuitous.  There are many steps and each step can be bogged down if you’re on the back end of the ArtSci pre-med pack.

NOTE: From what I’ve seen from many of you already, the process has been slightly tweaked by our pre-health committee, so you guys may have an easier time than what I am describing here.  These are the steps that I had to take to get those letters finally into AMCAS.

Step 1: Personal Information Review, or not-so-affectionally known as the PIR.  This is really the beginning of our journey, as it describes more or less your intent, your qualifications and more importantly, it describes you.  The information you provide here  is how the pre-health committee, more importantly, the pre-health Deans will write your cover letter, on top of the recommendation letters you have requested from the various faculty or principle investigators.  This part is to be done during Junior Year, or the year before you’re going to apply (insert Seniors and gap year love here) which I know many of you have done already.  For my cycle, after we had a PIR meeting, it was really just up to you to update the PIR as you saw fit, and Dean Herman wrote everyone’s cover letter for…generic WashU kid #372.  Now, I have learned that you guys each have a specific pre-health advisor out of maybe 4 or 5, and the one that goes over the PIR with you, will be the one that writes your cover letter.  This will provide a much more personal feel to the cover letter, which is always a good thing.

Step 2: Inputting the Letters of Recommendation that you’ve requested from the specific faculty that know you the best.  This step is also to be done during the year, with the PIR.  The pre-health office has been vigilant to removing the silly ArtSci Letters page, which was not only slow, but also confusing.  You will now be operating from ur.wustl.edu/PIR.  Now, you guys will need to just input the name and title of your recommender, and print out the letter of recommendation request form.  This, along with an (unofficial) transcript, an updated resume, and perhaps your PIR or Personal Statement (most likely draft, at this point), so that your recommender has all the tools for writing you an outstanding letter.  Now, the recommender merely has to finish your letter, and mail it to the pre-health office, and they’ll have it on file.  You don’t get to see it, you don’t want to see it, you won’t need to see it.

Step 3: Inputting it all into the AMCAS Primary.  You’ll be telling AMCAS how your letters will be organized, and that will be in a committee letter.  The cover letter will be your pre-health Dean (in my case, Dean Carolyn Herman), followed by the names of all the other letter writers.  Here, you’ll also be inputting which university you hail from, so they know which pre-health office/address they’ll be receiving your packet from.

Step 4: Waiting.  This is probably the easiest one effort-wise, but also the hardest one mentally.  As it stands, after you’ve completed all of the previous steps, the most you can do is sit tight and pray for faster processing.  If it’s been a week or two and your letter writers haven’t gotten their letters in, perhaps send in a polite reminder, asking them how they’re doing, what’s the state of my recommendation letter, etc.  The sooner your letters come in, the sooner your pre-health Dean will be able to pump out your cover letter, and the sooner they can send it off to AMCAS, who will then forward it to all of the appropriate medical schools you’ve selected.  The golden rule here (in iambic tetrameter, no less)?

The more you’re late, you’ll have to wait!  So don’t delay, avoid the fray!

A few friends and I all participated in, and completed,  a sprint distance triathlon (400yd swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run).  We decided not to get a Vermonster after the race, but mom did take us to Maggiano’s.

II.  New Orleans

I took a little road trip down to Nawlins to see a good friend.  The weekend resulted in lots of sunshine, seeing Mumford and Sons at Jazz Fest, and a 40 mile bike ride around the city.

III.  Dallas

I took a quick (read 26 hours there and back) trip to Dallas for the wedding of a good friend.  I had a king size bed all to myself at the hotel so I slept on it long ways because I could.

IV.  Graduation

I got to be there as several of my dear friends finished their college careers.  And I got to listen to Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel speak.












V.  Home

Right after graduation I went home for the weekend. My brother was also making a brief stop in the land of southwest Missouri before heading out to Idaho for the summer.

VI.  Red Ribbon Ride

When I went home I took my bike because I really love riding on the back country roads.  As I was pedaling along I started following a route that had been marked on the pavement.  Soon enough I came upon some other people who were following the route as well.  Turns out it was a benefit ride to raise money for the AIDS project of the Ozarks.  What was intended to be a nice easy 20 mile ride turned into a less easy 40 mile ride requiring the assistance of my mother and a car to get back home.

VII.  Shakespeare in the Park

Some friends and I went to the opening night of “The Taming of the Shrew” that was put on as part of the Shakespeare Festival in St. Louis.  The mist falling dampened our clothing but not our spirits and it turned out to be a wonderful evening.

VIII.  Yet another Bike Ride

Sunday, after Mass, a buddy and I took our bikes out for a ride.  The intention was to ride the riverfront trail.  Too bad we forgot that St. Louis has been getting a lot of rain.  The trail was underwater.  Not to be deterred, we decided that one of the bridges looked friendly enough and so we continued over into Illinois, and East St. Louis, on our bikes.  35 miles round trip in 94°F heat left us both more than a little exhausted.

IX.  Johnson’s Shut Ins

Monday was Memorial Day and what better day to spend Memorial Day than on the water in a State Park?  Really I can’t think of anything better.

X.  Twilight Tuesday

Last night was Twilight Tuesday.  I joined some other people in sitting in the park, eating some cheese and crackers, sipping a beverage, and generally being merry.

Debt Reduction

• Quantitative easing to pay off interest: risks, benefits, uncertainties
• Closing tax loopholes:  corporate loopholes
• Pork and the dilemma of moral hazard
• Welfare and Medicaid: the unnecessary burdens

Spending Reduction

• Energy subsidies and wasteful programs
• Eliminating redundancy of government agencies (FDA, EPA, etc.)

Me: Oh, I am definitely winning.  I am kicking Science’s ass.  It is a good thing that I am taking a week off, because Science needs to regroup.

Coworker: Just wait.  When you come back Science is going to dominate you.  It’s like he knows your breaking point.  And he pushes you and pushes you and right before you snap, you have a good week and forget about the seven months of failing that came before that. 

Me: So, Science is a man?

Coworker: Of course, who else would be that douchebaggy?  Not women.

triskaidekaphobia

or fear of the number thirteen. 

Naturally, we have always been interested in locating the thirteenth floors in the medical complex where we work.  As it turns out, thirteen floors is a lot of floors and most of the buildings don’t go up that high.  And in the buildings where there are 13 floors, there isn’t any patient care (at least any that we have noticed). 

Today, after literally months of paperwork, I finally was approved for access to the animal facility.  Just in the nick of time too, since I have to do surgery again today.  The email I received said to pick up my access card in CSRB-NT 301. 

My coworker and I took the elevator to the second floor, where everything is linked together and followed the signs to the Northwest Tower.  (Note: there was not option for just a North Tower.) We arrived at the Northwest Tower and found the elevators.  I went to push the button to the third floor and found that two was situated right next to four. 

It wasn’t a short building either.  Because there was a thirteenth floor.  So the Northwest Tower apparently has a missing third floor.  Maybe if I find a way to get to the apparently off-limits third floor I will find a three-headed dog gaurding a trap door.  I know what I am doing on my next slow day. 

(Note: I did eventually end up finding room 301.  It was in the Pediatric Research Building. I don’t get it.)

The next thing I started working on were ELISAs of HEK cells.  In order for the cells to express the receptors that I wanted I had to transfect them with DNA.  I again was having extreme difficulties in getting the desired results.  It turns out that the tubes of DNA I had been using were mislabeled. Once that had been cleared up, I again was able to get the desired results.

This week I started ELISAs on a different type of cell, one that is a little more difficult to care for, but one that already has the desired DNA inside of it.  And I got results, good results two days in a row.  This week, I own science.  Sure I may be a little cocky, but you probably would be too if you were getting these colors.

In his first blog entry, Brooks talks about distinguishing between universities, specifically those ranked best and those not perhaps the best. He claims that on personal experience, he cannot tell the difference between undergrads from difference universities or colleges:

I spend a lot of time on college campuses, and I’m not sure these distinctions have any meaning. If you put me in a room with 25 students for an hour, I couldn’t tell if they were from Harvard or Arizona State. There are smart students all over.

No doubt there are smart students all over, but if David Brooks can’t tell the difference between students from different schools, he is asking the wrong questions. If you had Rice students and University of Houston students in a room, I could tell the difference with one question: What college do you belong to?

You see, some schools can be very different from others.

But Brooks claims there is little difference between schools, relying largely on a study that demonstrates that lifelong earning has little to do with undergraduate education:

Recently Stacy Dale and Alan Kreuger came out with a study suggesting that the college you attend makes little difference when it comes to how much money you’ll earn. A self-confident student who gets a 1400 on her SATs will have the same income whether she goes to a super top university or merely a good one.

First of all, I question the accuracy and long-range meaning of the study Brooks references. Perhaps long term earning may be different, but ending up at a top school may result in a more enjoyable or prestigious job, even if the pay is the same. But to Brooks, pay seems to be what matters.

Either way, judging by what Brooks says, students and parents really shouldn’t split hairs about school rankings, because of what studies say. How ironic that David Brooks relies upon a study to make his point, when he goes on the next day to criticize not just policymaking based on studies, but ignoring more subtle life qualities that cannot be measured by income:

But when it comes to the most important things like character and how to build relationships, we often have nothing to say. Many of our public policies are proposed by experts who are comfortable only with correlations that can be measured, appropriated and quantified, and ignore everything else.

Indeed, let’s look at the study in his blog and ignore everything else. Except for when we shouldn’t. And let’s use income to determine that all schools have equal value, except for when we should use less tangible qualities. Which one is it?

But perhaps if Brooks were actually listening to university students (he does spend so much time on campuses) he would learn that location really does matter. The experience at Rice’s college system is different than living at the huge University of Texas.

I am reminded of a friend who planned on attending Rice, with an intent of focusing on arts. I warned her that Rice’s arts program, while impressive in its own way, was not a grand program and is basically based out of a trailer. She dismissed my claims. However, two years and one Playboy appearance later (Rice has a long history of involvement with that magazine), she transferred to the Rhode Island School of Design. Rice was not the right place for her. Location matters.

Or, for a more subtle difference, another friend was deciding between Rice and University of Washington at St. Louis. WashU had offered him more money than Rice, and thus chose that school. Given the close rankings between the two schools, certainly Brooks would support going for more money. But comparing notes, he expressed a certain regret not having gone to Rice. After all, students attended Rice because they wanted to: they wanted the small classes, college system, and general sense of unique community that didn’t exist at WashU.

Location matters.

My anecdotes are not scientific study, but according to Brooks we should not rely on merely quantifiable characteristics, so let’s just roll from here.

After all, there is a difference between Harvard and Arizona State, and if Brooks actually talked to students he would be able to discern it. Schools have their own focused agendas, specified academic focuses, and general personalities. A student’s sense of self and attitude towards the world can be shaped by going to one school over another.

Generally, students choose their own schools to a certain extent. This ensures, somewhat, that students end up where they want to be. They find schools that are perfect fits for them. But if we go by Brooks’ standard that it doesn’t matter, schools may find students who don’t fit well on campus, and may be harmed in the long run.

As Brooks himself says:

Colleges are distinguished most importantly by their cultures and personalities, not by anything that can be ranked by neat status rules.

I agree. But what is the point if people like Brooks cannot tell the difference between students?

Anyways, I’m rambling now. But in the end, location is important, and personalities are important. For undergrad. But people aren’t getting their long-term out of undergrad, they’re getting them from graduate schools. Brooks should take another look there and then claim how much ranking doesn’t matter.

The main problem lies in a University alcohol policy that is utterly incapable of dealing with the exigent realities of student underage drinking. No matter how valorous the obliteration of underage drinking at Northwestern might seem, the harsh truth is that underage students who want to drink in college will drink in college. Considering the extraordinary amount of resources it would take for the University to annihilate underage drinking on campus, it stands to reason that Northwestern should alter its alcohol policy to focus on preventing and protecting students from the dangers of excessive drinking, instead of promoting a policy that fosters increasingly dangerous underage drinking practices and mistrustful student-CA relations.

As the policy stands, no student under the age of 21 can even be in the presence of alcohol on campus. Such an inflexible and intolerant policy forces students to either drink copious amounts in their locked rooms to hide from their CAs, or else head north to the Frats, where hedonism and free alcohol reign supreme. Both results pose exceedingly dangerous risks to student health. The policy promotes binge drinking by forcing students to hole up in their rooms with a handle of Smirnoff instead of moderately sipping on less-potent alcohol in the open, or else driving students to the Frats, where the only control on how much you drink is how long the line stretches.

Besides promoting binge drinking, the current NU alcohol policy also leaves students unprotected from the harmful effects of excessive drinking brought on by the policy in the first place. How can CAs monitor the health of the students they are supposed to be protecting if underage students are forced to lock their doors from CAs in order to drink? It is impossible for a CA to communicate with students in order to promote responsible drinking or provide necessary medical attention if the students are hidden from view or lost in the sweaty mass of human bodies in the basement of a Frat. Without a medical amnesty policy in place, students are at an even greater risk from excessive drinking.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the current policy is how little uniformity there is among how CAs choose to enforce the rules, considering the extent to which Northwestern relies on CAs to enforce its alcohol policy. Most CAs at NU do a fantastic job balancing their duties as enforcers, protectors, and positive role models. But so many different CAs have so many different ways of dealing with the alcohol policy that it is almost impossible to discern any sort of comprehensive campus-wide philosophy. On top of that, certain CAs, instead of upholding the Division of Student Affairs‘ requirement that CAs “exhibit a positive attitude and high level of personal integrity in order to serve as positive role models for their residents,” display exactly the base and dangerous behavior that they are supposed to guard against.

Underage drinking is the reality of life at Northwestern. Instead of promoting an ignorant policy that creates more problems than it corrects, the University must take steps to address the problems raised by underage drinking in a relevant and meaningful way. In order to promote responsible and healthy drinking, and diminish the destructive effects of binge-drinking, Northwestern should adopt a policy akin to Washington University’s “Open Door” policy, which allows for responsible drinking so long as a student’s door is open for a WashU RA. An “Open Door” concept allows for increased scrutiny for CAs, improved relations between CAs and students, and an overarching sense that, if you act like an adult, you should be treated like an adult. Another potential improvement to Northwestern’s drinking culture would be an on-campus bar, which would allow for the University to promote responsible drinking in a controlled area, a move that would also decrease the risk of evoking the ire of Evanston residents with loud conversations about bl**jobs.

According to President Schapiro, in an interview with North by Northwestern, “We all know prohibition doesn’t work… but I do think our campuses would be safer if we had an 18-year-old drinking age.” It is useless, not to mention dangerous, to continue adhering to the current policy. If, to quote the Northwestern University student handbook, “Rules are an organized set of principles designed and written for the common good, put forth by those who care for the community,” why hasn’t Northwestern University instituted a new alcohol policy written for the common good in order to benefit the common good?

Toss a handful of college students and a few community members into a National Coal Council Coal Policy Committee gathering and what do you get? A canceled meeting and an early lunch.

The National Coal Council would be reviewing a final draft of a study on deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies and would present their findings to the Secretary of the Department of Energy Steven Chu.

So what’s so bad about carbon capture and storage technologies? In itself, absolutely nothing. In fact, I strongly encourage it. However, when it’s used as an excuse for America to CONTINUE using coal it is simply unacceptable. The label “Clean Coal” is false advertising and purposefully misleading.

According to a study by Dr. Paul Epstein, Director of Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment called, “Full Cost Accounting for the Life Cycle of Coal,” published in 2011 in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,

Each stage in the life cycle of coal-extraction, transport, processing, and combustion-generates a waste stream and carries multiple hazards for health and the environment. These costs are external to the coal industry and thus are often considered as “externalities.” We estimate that the life cycle effects of coal and the waste stream generated are costing the U.S. public a third to over one-half of a trillion dollars annually.

Industries need to stop funding false solutions and tackle the real problem: the use of a dirty, inefficient resource that harms the climate through emissions, our country through its extraction, and our people through its presence. As conscious citizens, we have to draw attention to the use of coal propaganda and its detrimental affects to our country and our future.

On Tuesday at about 11:10 a.m., only ten minutes into the Coal Policy Committee’s meeting, students from Washington University’s Green Action group and activists from Climate Action St. Louis unfurled a banner declaring “Coal is Never Clean” and sang “Clean coal is a dirty lie.” As a member of Green Action, I took pictures to document the members of the St. Louis community standing up for what they believe in.

The National Coal Council meeting stalled as the police escorted us out of the building. The committee then canceled their meeting early, had lunch, and disbanded.

What does this mean for us? Success! We interjected our voice into their meeting of false solutions.

But this is only one small success in an incredibly large fight.

The coal industry is deeply entrenched in our society. The CEOs of both Peabody Energy and Arch Coal are even members of Washington University’s Board of Trustees. Their money and influence is everywhere. However, our action on Tuesday is a small glimmer of hope.

We need the leaders of our country to invest their time and effort into real solutions and renewable energy resources. Not in the future. Not next year. NOW.  We will stand strong at the next meeting of coal executives –and the meeting after that– until they understand that we won’t back down and we won’t be ignored. We know coal is dirty, and we’re building a future without it.

Less than fifteen students and community members delayed a meeting of some of the most powerful industries in the country. Think of the potential power of hundreds, even thousands of participants!

We have a responsibility to the environment and to the millions of people affected by the poor choices of the coal industry today. With events like Power Shift coming closer –where ten thousands participant unite for one common cause– CHANGE IS POSSIBLE!

So from one small student in the middle of St. Louis to every reader out there… Get up! Get organized! AND GET GOING!

1. Brown: I like to party most of the time, but there’s another side of me too.  When I wear my Brown sweatshirt everyone assumes that I keep up to date with boring shit like the genocide in Egypt and observers know that I like food from all over the world—there are so many great falafel vendors in NYC that just sell literally right out of a truck!

2. Michigan: I know enough about sports to pull this off.  I usually wear this sweatshirt a lot in the winter to remind my brothers that I will finish in the top four of our March madness bracket.  I’m not happy about Ole Miss getting our small forward, but it’ll be okay as long as I win the bracket.

This sweatshirt cost me less than my fantasy football insider app ($7.99!)

2. Middlebury: I wore this one a lot in high school when I played golf and LAX.  I also used to ski in it with my North Face over it.  Last January when I got back to St. Louis from vacation, I went to Hidden Valley and ran into a Middlebury kid, but we didn’t talk too much.  He seemed pretty awkward and anti-social.  He could have been angry that I ran into him on the ski slope, but if he was smart enough to go to Middlebury then I shouldn’t need to explain to him that the double-black diamonds can be tough.

3. WashU: Wash U is a good school that is highly respected for its academic and athletic programs.  I don’t always wear this around in New York because I don’t want to intimidate people, but I did send one to my friend at UCLA because I knew he is always looking to keep up with trends.

4. Brown: This is a good sweatshirt if you know someone who goes to Brown, even if you have never been there.  Most people around here don’t know about Brown except for their UPS Ground program which has gone international and no St. Louisans have never heard of Providence, so you can say pretty much anything about the parties you had there and all the sorority girls you hooked up with.

5. Boulder: I wear this sweatshirt when I want to score some dank nugs at AEPi or in the Loop.  For a while I used to just go in my Wesleyan sweatshirt, but I found that Mike put really good weed (and only really good weed) in the bag when I came in the Boulder sweatshirt and he didn’t soak it in water before he weighed it and then sell me wet oregano.  I don’t know why people think Wesleyan guys are a bunch of pushovers—I would have gone/transferred there too if I couldn’t get in to Vassar or got rejected by the good Wash U frats.

I was eating lunch today and noticed a couple of people fiddling around at the fridge.  They were playing with the ice maker.  Apparently they decided that the sign asking them to not use the crushed ice was something that they didn’t need to heed.  Either that or they are illiterate.  I guess they could have also been blind, the sign wasn’t written in braille.

They switched the ice maker to crushed ice mode and pushed their cups under the spout hoping to receive snow cones without the sugary goodness.  They could hear the motor running in the fridge (as could everyone else in the breakroom), they could hear the ice cubes rattling around inside the fridge (as could everyone else in the breakroom), but they weren’t getting any crushed ice.

Again and again they tried, causing quite the racket.  They tried sticking their hands up the ice spout to get things out.  They tried looking to find blockage, but they couldn’t see anything.  Finally, they decided to open the freezer door to fix the problem.  When they did an avalanche of crushed ice covered the floor and their feet.

Note to self: Always obey the signs posted on office kitchen appliences.

I am proud to be associated with a church community that puts on a retreat for any and everyone to attend.  A retreat focused on learning about the power of love.  Love is such a powerful emotion/action/choice.  It isn’t an easy thing to explain.  It isn’t an easy thing to model.  It isn’t an easy thing to live.  For four years I have been surrounded by many people who strive to do exactly that.  I am proud of them.

I am proud of my peers.  That they were totally vulnerable with each other, as well as complete strangers.  It is never easy to share your story, but it is always worth it.  Never have I ever listened to someone share of themselves and regretted it afterward.  I am proud of those people that shared themselves whether it was by talking in front of a large group, small group, or with one other person.  I am proud of them.

I am proud of the leadership.  They led by example.  They only asked others to do what they themselves were doing.  It is always far easier to do something when you know that your leader is walking alongside you, working as hard or harder than you.  I am proud of those leaders.

I am proud of those people who know how to balance serious and silliness.  It is alway a delicate balance, when to laugh and when to listen.  It is a delicate balance that not many can master.  But it is so important.  In the midst of exams, assignments, work, stress, life we don’t take the time we should to laugh.  We tend to focus on what hasn’t gotten done and pass by the small victories that we achieve every day.  We don’t take the time to laugh.  I am proud of the people that disregarded their personal image to bring laughter to everyone else.

I am proud of this group for putting faith at the forefront of their lives.  By attending this weekend, they proved that their faith is something that is important to them.  It is often easy to gloss over faith as one of our defining characteristics.  This group of individuals proved that they would stand up for what they believed.  I am proud of them.

I am proud of the people that worked behind the scenes.  It is easy to do a job when you are getting the proper credit for it.  It isn’t easy to do the work without anyone knowing.  There were so many individuals who chose to serve without being thanked.  I am proud of them.

I am proud of the accomplishments of this group of people.  I am proud of the beauty they brought about this weekend.  As I watched people hug each other during the sign of peace and take communion together, tears of joy were streaming down my face.  I was proud to be a part of such a beautiful experience and I am proud that I have helped make such experiences happen in the past.  I am proud of us.

Sadness crept into my heart as I realized that I am no longer at the center of this community.  I am getting older and moving on, but this group of amazing people has changed my life for the better.  They have left their mark on my heart, and it will remain there forever.  I cannot express the gratitude that I have for each individual that has been a part of this group.  I love each and every one with a love that ignites my soul with passion.  Thank you all.  I am proud of you.  I am proud of us.

I am proud.

I was supposed to be doing the surgery under the supervision of a more experienced frog surgeon.  I had measured out the anesthetics according to her direction and administered them to the frog.  For some reason though, the frog was just not going to sleep. 30 minutes passed, still kicking.  45 minutes, perhaps a bit lethargic.  Finally, after an hour we could turn the frog over without getting a response

I removed the from from its container and proceeded to begin with the surgery.  As soon as I stuck the scalpel into the frog, she started twitching.  My eyes got wide and I looked to my coworker for guidance.  “Is normal.” she said.  “Just get oocytes.”

I was digging around inside of the poor frog but just couldn’t seem to find the eggs to pull them out.  Finally, I managed to grab some with my tweezers and began to extract them.  I felt quite a bit of resistance as I was tugging.  The hole I was bringing them through wasn’t big enough, but I couldn’t enlarge it now.  

I set the tweezers down and stepped back.  “You take over.” I said to the other scientist as the frog began kicking more and more.  She expertly pulled out enough eggs for the experiments we were doing that week. 

As she prepared to close the frog back up, the frog began pusing against the benchtop with all four of her legs.  She was awake and trying to flip over.  I quickly put my hands over her to try and prevent her from hopping away with an open abdomen.  The other scientist began trying to sew her up.  Let me say this, trying to sew up a moving wound is no easy task.  My fingers were almost sewn to the frog on more than one occassion. 

In the end we finally got her back together minus a few hundred potential baby frogs.  I also think she survived, although I wouldn’t be surprised if she has frog PTSD.

• Snow days are for those to weak to go to work.
• Ice is pretty.  To bad it causes so many problems
• Things I am thankful for: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’“, YakTrax
• There was a guy on the metro who was wearing a ski helmet and ski goggles.  Totally unnecessary.
• The winter storm warning was revoked… to be replaced by a blizzard warning
• It is kind of nice when no one is here, my lunchbox fits into the fridge much more easily
• Line dancing in the lab.  EPIC
• I defeated Tealy and Orangy

Here are some pictures from the walk home today.

Brisdull’s “message” is simplistic and expensive.

Why not a single teen mom who actually had to struggle?

Rich and famous is not a typical result of unsafe sex.

Brisdull arrives and thinks the college students are mouthy elites who can’t appreciate her heartfelt and expensive message of don’t have babies as a teenager unless you think it might make you rich. Famous babies are easier than college. And more patriotic.

The students wonder why Brisdull doesn’t care enough about her message to spread the word without a big pricetag.

Do what I say, not what I do. Thank you, that will be $17,000 please, certified check.

Brisdull spreads a message of profit, not hope or information.

Nothing typical about Brisdull’s single teen mom situation.

What has Brisdull got to offer that a local teen mom doesn’t?

I don’t get it. You people want to stop me from exercising my free speech.

I have a right to be compensated for my free speech.

My lawyer will be suing you for censoring my free speech.

You are all H8Rs.

You can go to jail with that scary monster hacker we sent to prison. Bad behavior has consequences you know.

Most of January has been class, presentations, meets with firms, and more class. A typical day for us involves class from 9-12, lunch from 12-1, and then more class from 1-4, all at the fantastic Cass Business School. This occurs 2-3 times per week, with the other days being trips to have firms, influential business people, and government officials give presentations to us. We’ve heard from Citi Group, the Corporation of London, Oxford professors, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and a few others. These meets/presentations will also span an entire day. Needless to say, we are being WORKED.

Another component of our program is the “European Study Tour”. This requires pairs of us WUSTL Business students from all the programs in Europe to visit an EU country and set up meetings with EU officials, professors, and business people in that country to learn about their position on the EU and EU enlargement. Okechi and I are going to Latvia from Thursday-Sunday. I am actually really excited, as it seems like a great city, and also one that I probably wouldn’t visit on my own.

The second part of the “EST” is when all the Wustl Business students in Europe meet in Brussels the weekend after going to our assigned countries. There, we will be visiting EU parliament, the InBev (Anheuser Busch) brewery, and other places. We also have a “mock parliament” at the EU parliament, where we have to represent our respective countries. Exciting I think, but its going to be a crazy two weeks. I really can’t wait for the internship to start and for things to settle down. Speaking of that internship…

The meat of the program involves all of us being placed in a company to intern with for 3 months. I am VERY excited about my internship, as I am working at a company called Proximity London (www.proximitylondon.com). They are one of the digital advertising agencies of BBDO Worldwide, which is a top 3 advertising agency in the world. This is pretty much EXACTLY what I am looking to do for my future career, so this really is an incredible opportunity for me. I’m hoping to do a fantastic job there and try to get a placement for the summer, and maybe more!

Here’s where I am working for the next 3 months:

The inside is SICK. You can see all the way up to the roof, and there are offices all around the foyer going up. There is also a billiards table right in the lobby, complemented by a cafe that turns into a bar after 5:30pm. Drinks are subsidized too…:D.

Right down the street is the London BBDO Europe offices, where two of my friends will be working, helping to coordinate BBDO’s work amongst all its different offices. Although that is sure to be a great experience too, I am really happy i’m working at the actual agency instead, plus I”m alone so I might get to do more cool stuff.

Other students in the program are working for a variety of different firms, depending on their interests. Some examples are CitiGroup, Parliament, various banks, etc.

The final component of the program is those 40-60 page dissertations I was talking about. I currently don’t really have any idea what I’m doing, but I’m thinking of something within the automotive industry. Maybe something to do with hybrid/fuel efficient automobiles and the prevalence of energy efficiency in the industry? We’ll see. This is sure to take a ton of effort, energy, and research, but hopefully I’ll survive and get a good grade.

So thats the program, and I hope it makes sense to you all. Its sure to be an amazing, life changing experience. And don’t worry, a LONG post is coming very soon, detailing what I’ve ACTUALLY been doing the last 2 weeks.

My dad used to be a preacher. He was fired, along with 21 other people that year and 12 the next. Our denomination in our state had too many pastors and wanted to cut down on expenses and had swung towards an extremely conservative political viewpoint, so they informed the pastors who they thought were too liberal or who they could invent excuses against that “their calling lay elsewhere.”

The funny thing about that is that the congregations of my dad’s last parish shrank after he was replaced. They were furious with his unfair dismissal. A third of them left for other churches; another quarter simply stopped attending altogether, disillusioned by the hypocrisy the leadership of the denomination had displayed.
And my parents are still heartbroken about the whole thing. My dad doesn’t go to church anymore; my mother was devastated to see him forced to leave the ministry. On my part, I can’t trust organized religion anymore. Until the church is no longer run like a business, like a political organization, I have no place there.
The most ironic part about the whole thing was when my father’s former boss came up to me after the official meeting about my father’s dismissal and said “It’s not personal.” What the hell is religion, if not personal?

-Anonymous, 2010

My story is anonymous, but I shared it while I was a student at Washington University in St. Louis:

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