Today we were up early once again to meet with the other directors of the
program and get a better understanding of what we will be doing while
we are here. We also met the instructors of the classes we are taking,
had a tour of the area, and had our various IDs made for the buildings
we will be in. The largest and most substantive portion of the day was
spent at a Anti-Racism meeting to which we were invited.
The focus of the group was looking at social determinants of context that
influence disparities in health care that target specific racial or economic
status groups. I had always agreed that economic status influenced the
health care that you receive. I had never thought of racism as a influence,
especially in the various constructs to which they were referring. The
obvious context what that institutionalized racism strips health care from
individuals in a hospital or clinic. Beyond that, racism alone increases
the amounts of stress on an individual actually causing a lower level of
health for that individual. The concept of such social constructs creating
a diminished quality of life in the aspect of health is eye-opening. Such
obviously demands a solution and social reform. The argument that
correcting racism because of the cruelty of it no longer stands solely
- we are hurting people both emotionally and physically with racism.
The main idea that I formulated was that the social system that we have
developed in this country drives people to form into some sort of tiered
social status system made up of specific requirements and levels. This
attempts to squeeze the unique qualities and properties of each of our
individualism and fit them into some "cookie-cutter" social status tier that
just doesn't fit. It applies a stressor that is not satisfiable on a group
of people. Such a stressor diminishes the quality of life and therefore the
health of the individuals. Such examples are getting people to fit in or
get a specific job, achieve a certain credential, or have certain networking
or friends. Such unspoken social demands suggest that we all will go about
achieving our personal success into one of these tiers. This is unfeasible
and is a tough question and problem that has no direct solution.
After the Anti-Racism seminar, we had dinner with the group and then
returned back to the MCPHS. During the day we were also assigned our
research projects, I'll be working on the Genetic Determinants of
Alcoholism. We will use various methods to analyze a large data set of
family traits and diagnosis to track the possible existence of a DNA based
gene that dispositions one for Alcoholism. Tomorrow I'll know more about
the project and the course we will be taking to research it.
Don't Drink!
05 June 2006
5 June 2006: Getting Oriented
04 June 2006
4 June 2006: Boston Aids Walk
After living in a residence hall for three years now you would think I would have remembered that schools always used x-long sheets instead of typical twin sheets. However, I didn't remember! I brought these stupid sheets that used to be on my bed when I was 5 years old or something and they kept popping off the edges of the matress all night. I did however get to bed pretty early last night, around eleven o'clock and woke up about 7:30. After shower and shaving and was downstairs with everyone else to eat our quick breakfast and off to catch the T (the "T" is the Boston Subway/Trolley/Bus System).
We took the subway imto town and changed from the Green Line to the Red Line and went over to the Charles River. The Aids walk today was through a part of town called Back Bay, which evidently used to be a swamp, and then around the Charles River, it was five miles. The five miles of walking was not a problem, the problem was the checkpoints they had. Throughout the walk they had 3 checkpoints offering water, oranges, popsicles, snacks, etc. After walking for that amount of time and eating and drinking all of those water based products, you really have to pee! But there were thousands of people there, so the lines for the bathrooms (port-o-pottys) were forever long. I finally had to stop and wait. After a long wait, I relieved myself and was back in the walk. The theme this year was "from all walks of life" speaking to the indisrimination of AIDS. It was moving to see all the people their to support this cause.
After the walk we grabbed lunch at this really good sandwich shop on Charles Street and then were walking through the historical and ritzy neighborhood of Beacon Hill, supposedly it is where John Kerry lives. We made it through Beacon Hill and then into Boston Common, the first official park ever, and over to Downtown Crossing. Downtown crossing are several office buildings where there are retail stores on the first few levels of these tall buildings. One of the main buildings is Fileens, which has reduce cost clothes, rugs, and other houseware items. Even more reduced is Fileen's Basement, which is, guess what, in the basement of Fileens. Supposedly, they have this famous wedding dress sale a couple times a year where people go crazy over cheap dresses. Interesting.
Our visit to Fileen's Basement was to pick up a few more things that people had forgotten or didn't realize we would need. This seems to be a recurring theme over the past two days. I purchased bigger bottom sheet (a nautica sheet set for 8.00 mind you!) and that was it. The most popular forgotten item was a pillow. I remember mine!
Out of Fileens Basement, we traveled to TJ Max for pots and pans, which were too expensive, and then to CVS for some more bathroom supplies. After CVS, it was now about 3 something, and we were ready to cruise on back to the MCPHS Apartments. We caught the Green Line, E Track of the T at Park View station and were on our way back. A few still needed some items so we stopped at this Walgreens that is near the school (which is the one I went to the previous day) and I bought a notebook and some pots and pans for the group. Another student swung into the grocery store to buy some milk. Our idea thus far has been to buy large quantities of cheap supplies that we will all share. It seems to be working since there are only nine of us.
By this time I had quite a headache. I think it was because I haven't had any caffien in more than 2 days, I walked forever, and I've been eating kind of oddly. Back in the room I just crashed and woke up two hours later with an even worse, pounding, migraine. I took four ibuprofen but felt like I needed something more than that. Even though I'm staying in a Pharmacy School, there weren't any better remedies readily available (har har) so I took a hot shower to calm the muscles in my head. After the shower, my roommate had returned and he and I decided to head out for dinner.
We swung into this little pizza/italian place called IL MONDO. The food was very good and a pretty good price. A 12 inch italian sub, toasted, and a water was only 7 dollars. After dinner we decided to start walking the neighborhood and find out what was around. We walked in the direction of some stores we were told about and found a movie theatre. We've decided to go see Mission Impossible 3 sometime in the coming week. The threatre has great late showing times and is within walking distance.
We continued walking and found various shops, restaurants, Fenway Park (which we will go see a game at soon too!) and various churches and landmarks. Guiding us was the tall prudential center in the distance. Once to the Prudential Center, which is a tall building with a mall on the first floor, we went in to start looking around. We spent all of our time in Barnes and Nobel reading through books. On our way out we noticed the book, An Inconvienient Truth, by Al Gore. The Program Director, Dr. Ryan, has been talking about her desire to see the movie, and I believe we are going to see the movie this Friday Night. This however is the book version, but like the movie is about the traumatic effects the climate change is having on our earth. It has lots of pictures and graphns to support the claims that they have in the book.
While looking through the book, I noticed it was signed, I figured it was one of those stupid printed signatures. I grabbed another book to check. It was signed too, but it was different, so I grabbed another, it was also signed, and also different (slightly of course), and the fourth book, well, it wasn't signed, neither were the other ones. After speaking to the manager, he shared that it was a possibility that Al Gore signed the book at one of their off-site events, but he didn't know for sure. The books were signed in a manner, that suggest it was real. I bought the book for the content (and the signature!) and have it in my possession now. I just looked up Al Gore's signature on Google, and guess what, its a match!
After the prudential center, we grabbed the T and headed back for the School. Upon arrival, I grabbed a computer in their library to type this, and am currently doing so. I'll head up to the room in a minute, probably make my bed, clean up a little bit, and head to bed. Tomorrow is an even earlier morning as classes are starting.
I haven't been able to get my computer online yet, but will be able to on Monday. When that happens, I'll have photos loaded onto the blog!
AL GORE!
We took the subway imto town and changed from the Green Line to the Red Line and went over to the Charles River. The Aids walk today was through a part of town called Back Bay, which evidently used to be a swamp, and then around the Charles River, it was five miles. The five miles of walking was not a problem, the problem was the checkpoints they had. Throughout the walk they had 3 checkpoints offering water, oranges, popsicles, snacks, etc. After walking for that amount of time and eating and drinking all of those water based products, you really have to pee! But there were thousands of people there, so the lines for the bathrooms (port-o-pottys) were forever long. I finally had to stop and wait. After a long wait, I relieved myself and was back in the walk. The theme this year was "from all walks of life" speaking to the indisrimination of AIDS. It was moving to see all the people their to support this cause.
After the walk we grabbed lunch at this really good sandwich shop on Charles Street and then were walking through the historical and ritzy neighborhood of Beacon Hill, supposedly it is where John Kerry lives. We made it through Beacon Hill and then into Boston Common, the first official park ever, and over to Downtown Crossing. Downtown crossing are several office buildings where there are retail stores on the first few levels of these tall buildings. One of the main buildings is Fileens, which has reduce cost clothes, rugs, and other houseware items. Even more reduced is Fileen's Basement, which is, guess what, in the basement of Fileens. Supposedly, they have this famous wedding dress sale a couple times a year where people go crazy over cheap dresses. Interesting.
Our visit to Fileen's Basement was to pick up a few more things that people had forgotten or didn't realize we would need. This seems to be a recurring theme over the past two days. I purchased bigger bottom sheet (a nautica sheet set for 8.00 mind you!) and that was it. The most popular forgotten item was a pillow. I remember mine!
Out of Fileens Basement, we traveled to TJ Max for pots and pans, which were too expensive, and then to CVS for some more bathroom supplies. After CVS, it was now about 3 something, and we were ready to cruise on back to the MCPHS Apartments. We caught the Green Line, E Track of the T at Park View station and were on our way back. A few still needed some items so we stopped at this Walgreens that is near the school (which is the one I went to the previous day) and I bought a notebook and some pots and pans for the group. Another student swung into the grocery store to buy some milk. Our idea thus far has been to buy large quantities of cheap supplies that we will all share. It seems to be working since there are only nine of us.
By this time I had quite a headache. I think it was because I haven't had any caffien in more than 2 days, I walked forever, and I've been eating kind of oddly. Back in the room I just crashed and woke up two hours later with an even worse, pounding, migraine. I took four ibuprofen but felt like I needed something more than that. Even though I'm staying in a Pharmacy School, there weren't any better remedies readily available (har har) so I took a hot shower to calm the muscles in my head. After the shower, my roommate had returned and he and I decided to head out for dinner.
We swung into this little pizza/italian place called IL MONDO. The food was very good and a pretty good price. A 12 inch italian sub, toasted, and a water was only 7 dollars. After dinner we decided to start walking the neighborhood and find out what was around. We walked in the direction of some stores we were told about and found a movie theatre. We've decided to go see Mission Impossible 3 sometime in the coming week. The threatre has great late showing times and is within walking distance.
We continued walking and found various shops, restaurants, Fenway Park (which we will go see a game at soon too!) and various churches and landmarks. Guiding us was the tall prudential center in the distance. Once to the Prudential Center, which is a tall building with a mall on the first floor, we went in to start looking around. We spent all of our time in Barnes and Nobel reading through books. On our way out we noticed the book, An Inconvienient Truth, by Al Gore. The Program Director, Dr. Ryan, has been talking about her desire to see the movie, and I believe we are going to see the movie this Friday Night. This however is the book version, but like the movie is about the traumatic effects the climate change is having on our earth. It has lots of pictures and graphns to support the claims that they have in the book.
While looking through the book, I noticed it was signed, I figured it was one of those stupid printed signatures. I grabbed another book to check. It was signed too, but it was different, so I grabbed another, it was also signed, and also different (slightly of course), and the fourth book, well, it wasn't signed, neither were the other ones. After speaking to the manager, he shared that it was a possibility that Al Gore signed the book at one of their off-site events, but he didn't know for sure. The books were signed in a manner, that suggest it was real. I bought the book for the content (and the signature!) and have it in my possession now. I just looked up Al Gore's signature on Google, and guess what, its a match!
After the prudential center, we grabbed the T and headed back for the School. Upon arrival, I grabbed a computer in their library to type this, and am currently doing so. I'll head up to the room in a minute, probably make my bed, clean up a little bit, and head to bed. Tomorrow is an even earlier morning as classes are starting.
I haven't been able to get my computer online yet, but will be able to on Monday. When that happens, I'll have photos loaded onto the blog!
AL GORE!
03 June 2006
3 June 2006: Summer Internship Day One
This morning was a little rough. I didn't go to bed until probably 3 in the morning. Every time I would begin to doze off, I would jump to my feet to recount and review the items I had packed. It is hard packing for a month - well, it is hard to choose a week and a half worth of clothes that you can wash and reuse for 4 weeks. After finally going to sleep, I was up around 8:15 and in the shower. I loaded up the car and Jon took me to the airport, we left the house around 9:00 and go to the airport around 9:45. My plane didn't board until 10:45, but I figured it would be good to have enough time to make it through security. What I had not configured into my time estimation was the fact that I was departing from Asheville Regional. It took about 5 minutes to get through security, and I even had a nice conversation with the US Airways Agent about my 360 degree rolling luggage.
The plane didn't board until about 10:55 and we were in the air about 11:30. The stewardess left a little to be desired, she was just kind of bland and rude. I shared some time talking to the person across the aisle from me about where she was going and what she was doing to pass the time. The flight landed around 12:00, which gave me 15 minutes to get to my gate before the plane boarded. I swung into BK for a quick bite and was off to the gate (which was in a different terminal).
My second flight took off much later, but the captain was hopeful to make up the time, and he did! I tried to sleep a little bit, after downing some giger ale and honey roasted peanuts. Near the end of the 1.75 hour flight (shorter than predicted!) I began talking to the lady seated next to me. She was on her way to Paris (connecting in Boston) and was actually from Asheville. Turns out that her and I were on the earlier flight but had not seen each other. She and her grand daughter were supposed to have left the day earlier, but due to the monsoon of rains flushing the east coast, she wasn't able to get out of Asheville.
Futhermore, she was raised in Boston and had lots of great information to share about the city and what to expect. It was very neat to bump into her.
After arriving in Boston, I made it to the baggage claim. The one advantage to having your connection flight show up late is that your luggage is usually the last put on the plane, therefore, the first to come out at baggage claim. I grabbed my luggage and was off to catch a taxi.
The handy signs at the airport helped me find my way quickly (thank you!) and I was soon seated in the back seat of a somewhat rickety old ford taxi. My driver was Haitian and had lived in Boston for multiple years, he now has a wife and four daughters. His initial move to Boston had been to go to college, something that wasn't financially possible for him to accomplish. He was very interesting and took the time to point out various things as we made our way into the city. He made but one wrong turn, our language barrier, my southern draw and his remaining Haitian accent conflicted, he took me to Longwood Apartments instead of 174 Longwood Avenue. But, we made it there in the end.
Isabelle, the assistant program director was awaiting my arrival (as well as the other students) and helped me carry my now cumbersome luggage to my 6th floor room via the very fast elevators. She provided me with a subway pass good for the month of June, a lonely planet guide to boston, and a shirt for the Boston Aids Walk that will be occouring tomorrow. As her and I were setting off towards the room a second student arrived. We went up to the rooms and I began to settle in. The rooms are apartment style with two rooms (each doubles) sharing a common living room/kitchen and a bathroom off to the side.
After realizing a few things I had forgotten, my new space mate (he is not actually in my room, but in the apartment) headed off to CVS and Stop and Shop (a grocery store). It has been raining in Boston for some time, and packing as I usually do, I wasn't completely prepared for the wet rain outside. At CVS they were out of umbrellas but had the other things I needed. I grabbed a few snacks at the grocery store to have in the room, but the umbrellas there were way too overpriced, 14.99 for a cheap little umbrella. I think a chest X-ray for the possible pneumonia would be cheaper than that!
Once back at the apartment I continued unpacking and made my bed, in just a while the entire group got together and met the RA and the program director. There are 9 people in the summer program, five girls and four boys. They are from all over and in various phasese of their undergraduate carreers. Out of respect for their privacy, I'll take care from now on not to mention their names. After introducing ourselves to each other and learning about the rules of the residence hall, we were off on our tour of the building. We are actually lodginig in the Mass. College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. It is a neat builing and just down the road from the Harvard School of Public Health, where the majority of the classes for our program will take place.
After the tour we walked just down the street to this italian place for dinner. We dined and continued our ongoing conversations to get to know each person better. We spoke about our phobias, where we came from, what we thought college was all about, grad-school opportunities, just various topics from humorous to serious. After dinner we returned to the depressing freezing drizzle and walked back to the residence hall. Isabelle "borrowed" some toilet paper from one of the public bathrooms in the building because our apartments did not come stocked.
Once in our rooms, my roommate and I lowered my bed for fear of my falling in the middle of the night. It was a task, but worth it I'm sure. In opposition to the Chest X-Ray, I would mind falling off the bed in the middle of the night, like I used to with the trundle of my younger years. My spacemates and I rearranged the living space and contemplated purchasing a TV to use with one of the guy's playstations. We will probably wait for the verdict on that one after our first day of classes on Monday.
Tomorrow we will be up early to begin the Boston Aids Walk at 10:30 (thanks too all those who supported me!). It should be great to get a dryer view of this city that so many rave about.
Things are getting off to a great start, everyone is very nice and the people are very engagaing both intellectually and socially. I'm enjoying it very much!
To Bed!
The plane didn't board until about 10:55 and we were in the air about 11:30. The stewardess left a little to be desired, she was just kind of bland and rude. I shared some time talking to the person across the aisle from me about where she was going and what she was doing to pass the time. The flight landed around 12:00, which gave me 15 minutes to get to my gate before the plane boarded. I swung into BK for a quick bite and was off to the gate (which was in a different terminal).
My second flight took off much later, but the captain was hopeful to make up the time, and he did! I tried to sleep a little bit, after downing some giger ale and honey roasted peanuts. Near the end of the 1.75 hour flight (shorter than predicted!) I began talking to the lady seated next to me. She was on her way to Paris (connecting in Boston) and was actually from Asheville. Turns out that her and I were on the earlier flight but had not seen each other. She and her grand daughter were supposed to have left the day earlier, but due to the monsoon of rains flushing the east coast, she wasn't able to get out of Asheville.
Futhermore, she was raised in Boston and had lots of great information to share about the city and what to expect. It was very neat to bump into her.
After arriving in Boston, I made it to the baggage claim. The one advantage to having your connection flight show up late is that your luggage is usually the last put on the plane, therefore, the first to come out at baggage claim. I grabbed my luggage and was off to catch a taxi.
The handy signs at the airport helped me find my way quickly (thank you!) and I was soon seated in the back seat of a somewhat rickety old ford taxi. My driver was Haitian and had lived in Boston for multiple years, he now has a wife and four daughters. His initial move to Boston had been to go to college, something that wasn't financially possible for him to accomplish. He was very interesting and took the time to point out various things as we made our way into the city. He made but one wrong turn, our language barrier, my southern draw and his remaining Haitian accent conflicted, he took me to Longwood Apartments instead of 174 Longwood Avenue. But, we made it there in the end.
Isabelle, the assistant program director was awaiting my arrival (as well as the other students) and helped me carry my now cumbersome luggage to my 6th floor room via the very fast elevators. She provided me with a subway pass good for the month of June, a lonely planet guide to boston, and a shirt for the Boston Aids Walk that will be occouring tomorrow. As her and I were setting off towards the room a second student arrived. We went up to the rooms and I began to settle in. The rooms are apartment style with two rooms (each doubles) sharing a common living room/kitchen and a bathroom off to the side.
After realizing a few things I had forgotten, my new space mate (he is not actually in my room, but in the apartment) headed off to CVS and Stop and Shop (a grocery store). It has been raining in Boston for some time, and packing as I usually do, I wasn't completely prepared for the wet rain outside. At CVS they were out of umbrellas but had the other things I needed. I grabbed a few snacks at the grocery store to have in the room, but the umbrellas there were way too overpriced, 14.99 for a cheap little umbrella. I think a chest X-ray for the possible pneumonia would be cheaper than that!
Once back at the apartment I continued unpacking and made my bed, in just a while the entire group got together and met the RA and the program director. There are 9 people in the summer program, five girls and four boys. They are from all over and in various phasese of their undergraduate carreers. Out of respect for their privacy, I'll take care from now on not to mention their names. After introducing ourselves to each other and learning about the rules of the residence hall, we were off on our tour of the building. We are actually lodginig in the Mass. College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. It is a neat builing and just down the road from the Harvard School of Public Health, where the majority of the classes for our program will take place.
After the tour we walked just down the street to this italian place for dinner. We dined and continued our ongoing conversations to get to know each person better. We spoke about our phobias, where we came from, what we thought college was all about, grad-school opportunities, just various topics from humorous to serious. After dinner we returned to the depressing freezing drizzle and walked back to the residence hall. Isabelle "borrowed" some toilet paper from one of the public bathrooms in the building because our apartments did not come stocked.
Once in our rooms, my roommate and I lowered my bed for fear of my falling in the middle of the night. It was a task, but worth it I'm sure. In opposition to the Chest X-Ray, I would mind falling off the bed in the middle of the night, like I used to with the trundle of my younger years. My spacemates and I rearranged the living space and contemplated purchasing a TV to use with one of the guy's playstations. We will probably wait for the verdict on that one after our first day of classes on Monday.
Tomorrow we will be up early to begin the Boston Aids Walk at 10:30 (thanks too all those who supported me!). It should be great to get a dryer view of this city that so many rave about.
Things are getting off to a great start, everyone is very nice and the people are very engagaing both intellectually and socially. I'm enjoying it very much!
To Bed!
12 February 2006
Snow Day - February 9th, 2006
P. Porter Center and the Wetland that is in front of it on Brevard College's Most recent snow day. Of course class wasn't cancelled, but it was pretty all the same.
Be Cold...
Be Cold...
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