Note to Self: Seattle's KEXP 90.3 is an excellent station to listen on itunes radio while doing work.

Dictionary Confusion
Sometimes I looked up words in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online. For fun (it's the UofC in me coming out), and for papers. Just now I looked up the word nuanced, because I just used it in my paper that I'm writing. Even though I hear this word all the time, I use it occasionally, and can grasp it's general meaning, I don't think I would be able to pin down a good definition to it if someone asked me. So I looked it up. and here's what I got:

nuanced, a.

Possessing or exhibiting delicate gradations in tone, expression, meaning, etc.

1920 Chambers's Jrnl. 15 May 374/1 His carefully nuanced Bostonian accent. 1965 Listener 21 Oct. 613/1 Marxists often distinguish between ‘Marxism’ and ‘vulgar Marxism’... The former is subtle, profound, nuanced,..and dialectical. 1972 Language 48 457 In a study devoted to discriminations among adverbs, one would expect a nuanced feeling for them, and to a large extent this is borne out. 1990 Science 11 May 672/3 The media and the public may not be so sophisticatedwith the result that carefully nuanced positions disappear.


Does this seem strange to you? That the OED would define a word using etc.? I mean, the reason people use a dictionary is to comprehend the exact meaning...because you don't know what a word means in the first place. It doesn't seem right that they give you half a definition and then make you infer the rest. Very strange. I wonder if a lot of other definitions are similarly defined. What I do find very interesting is how young this word is; I would have guess that it's much older. But then again, I've never been great at knowing etymologies.

In other similarly-related dictionary news, today my roommate Sylvie pulled out her good old American Heritage to look up "Type-A personality" for me. Surprising, it's in there. Also, we agreed today that a dictionary is a great housewarming gift (Sylvie got hers when her family moved into a new house), and Sylvie warned Karin and I that we s houldn't be alarmed when that's what we'll recieve from her in the future once the time comes. :o)

Portland's Adult Co-Ed Dodgeball Team making news. hehe.

As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
’cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need
It’s another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto

People, don’t you understand
The child needs a helping hand
Or he’ll grow to be an angry young man some day
Take a look at you and me,
Are we too blind to see,
Do we simply turn our heads
And look the other way

Well the world turns
And a hungry little boy with a runny nose
Plays in the street as the cold wind blows
In the ghetto

And his hunger burns
So he starts to roam the streets at night
And he learns how to steal
And he learns how to fight
In the ghetto

Then one night in desperation
A young man breaks away
He buys a gun, steals a car,
Tries to run, but he don’t get far
And his mama cries

As a crowd gathers ’round an angry young man
Face down on the street with a gun in his hand
In the ghetto

As her young man dies,
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’,
Another little baby child is born
In the ghetto

(words & music by Scott Davis)
This song always gets to me, sung by Natalie Merchant & Tracy Chapman. It's so sad.

Type type type
25 pages in the next 48 hours. A bit intimidating, but at least I love what I'm writing about. Let's hope it all turns out ok. It's still strange to think that in less than a week I'll be done with college for good. No more finals ever again.

when will it all be over?
i need this to end soon.
i'm sick of this place and these people.

This morning I became a certified First Responder in Emergency Response (valid for three years), and I recertified myself in CPR/AED so I can have an extra two months to my certification (I initially took the test last quarter). So I'm also certified in CPR for the Professional Rescuer/AED (for one year). If you ever are poisoned, have injuries or cardiac emergencies, need emergency childbirth, CPR, or suffer from hypothermia, among a ton of other things, don't worry, from tourniquets to triage: I Can Help! ;o)

The Red Cross tests are really dumb. First of all they're grammaticly incorrect for certain questions, some of the questions are not clear and have two semi-right answers, and some of the questions are just plain stupid, like this one:

74. A woman is in labor and the baby is crowning. You tell her to stare at a fixed object in the room as she breathes. This helps:
A) decrease blood flow to both the mother and child
B) hmm don't remember what this choice was..some other stupid statement
C) take the fear away from childbirth
D) the mother concentrate on the pain

I hope you bubbled in C as I did, because duh, don't you know that staring at something takes away all fear from emergency childbirth? Whatever. What a ridiculous question. They really needed to put the answer as "aids in distraction or helps to focus the mother".

While I'm on the subject, you really should see page 351 of my Emergency Response textbook. It's so funny I burst out laughing last night: Figure 15-6 "A victim's posture, such as clenched fists or assuming a fighting stance, may indicate potential violence" And the picture is of this biker dude with a mean face and his fist drawn ready to punch you in the face. Really, it's nice that the Red Cross is so thorough, but at the same time if people really need some of this basic information and aren't smart already I really don't want them to be in charge of people's lives.

my professor used the phrase:
"none of us really care doodle about..."
in an email to me today.
and it made me laugh

Yah, so you can tell I'm trying to write a final paper by the number of posts I have today! It's very hard to concentrate on writing when listening to Hawa Mein Udati Jaaye -- Bombay Vikings. I just want to bop around to the music and put it on repeat. Hehe, this comment is for you Karin--you know what I'm talking about! ;o)

Very Interesting, and Exciting!
"For more than 100 years the U.S. struggled as a lopsided biracial society, with a white majority of nearly 90% in 1960. Today, the face of America is changing; the past few decades have seen rapid rates of immigration. We have been slow, however, to understand and accomodate immigration's impact on our social infrastructure, particularly in healthcare.
Median immigrant age is about 30, with high fertility rates (similar to those of the Baby Boomer era). By 2020, the US population will, for the first time, lack a majority in any particular ethnicity."
--Wietecha, Mark, et al. “Special Report: A View of the U.S. Health Care System and Implications for Providers Year 2020”, Kurt Salmon Associates, 2002.
(emphasis added)

A Special Hello
To mysterious/anonymous readers from BJ and the Shoreland (your IP addresses give you away)...you should really say hi sometime. ;o) Lizzy--this means you! hehe. Caught ya!

Busy Schedule
Only two more weeks and then college will be over! Craziness. I'll be the first college graduate ever on my mom's side of the family (and also in my immediate family). :o) Soon to have a BS in Geophysical Sciences. Hurray!
But there's lots and lots TO DO (you probably don't really care but I'm going to tell you anyways):

--Health & Healing Across Cultures: Final paper due 1 June. 12-15 pages, an anthropological study. For this I've interviewed a whole bunch of midwives about how medical expansion has impacted the role of midwives over time and how they have personally accepted, rejected, or compromised with the medical management of birthing processes. I'm excited to write this paper!
--Technologies/Ideologies of Sexual Reproduction: Final paper due 1 June. 8 pages. We have three choices, but I think I'm going to pick this one to write about: Motherhood: a changeless cultural narrative or an evolving construct? Analyzing the ideas of womanhood, motherhood and femininity underlying several reproductive technologies, make an argument about the role of women in reproduction. The successful essay will draw on course readings for both empirical and theoretical ideas about the motherhood. This is my favorite class, again, I'm so excited to write this paper. :o)
--Current Issues in Medical Economics: Final paper due
this Tuesday. 10-15 pages. I've decided to write about the economics of midwifery, specifically looking at managed care and the physicial supply shortage. My scariest class and paper. Ahhhhhh!
--The History of US Public Health: In class final exam, essay and definitions, 3 June. Final paper due Friday the 28th. 8-12 pages. I've decided to write about the history of midwifery in the United States and discussing midwives today as public health workers. This will be a fun paper, although I haven't done any reading for this yet.
--Emergency Response: This Tuesday is the big test: Certification! The Red Cross textbook is thick, and to be honest I haven't even opened it up once this quarter yet (so I have a LOT of reading to do in the next couple of days!), but luckly the test is multiple choice and a lot of it is common sense. Even so, I'm a bit nervous.

The good thing, obviously, is that since I could pick my paper topics for most of my classes they overlap a bit, although each paper is of course going to be seperately written and will be focusing on different aspects of midwifery. As you might have guessed I'm really interested in midwives/doulas and I'm seriously thinking about a nurse-midwife.
The bad thing is that, if you add all those pages up, it comes to FIFTY. My oh my. And I know that I'll be writing to the maximum page limit because I have a lot to say, but still. Two weeks to write 50 pages, I've never done that much in so little time before. This is when I regret taking "fun classes" this quarter...I should have just stuck with science and the good old lab reports that I'm used to. ;o)

Pedalpalooza!
Look at all those fun events!

It Made me Cry
For those of you who don't know, Neil Goldschmidt, Oregon's former governor 30 years ago who completely revitalized Portland and is someone who Oregonians highly respect for his decisions as an environmentally-concious and social acceptable governor, was found to have raped a 14 year old girl over a span of two years. This was 30 years ago, and until just recently, he has covered up the story. It just unfolded and he has finally confessed. It makes me so upset. So angry. So sad. SO MAD! That little girl was ruined, and her whole life has changed--everything has gone wrong because of him and what he did. It's SICK.
Read the full details here.

Henry, you've said it well: Letter to the Editor
Since this story broke, it has occurred to me that I would rather have the Mount Hood Freeway gashing through east Portland--rather have no downtown transit mall or SMART reading program--than have had Goldschmidt destroy that child's life.

I know the equation is not that simple. But unlike Meeker, I cannot see Goldschmidt as an "incredible shining light" or a "remarkable person." He raped a child, then covered it up so he could advance his own public agenda. In so doing, he betrayed her trust. And he betrayed all of us who have known him from a distance for so long. As far as I'm concerned, Neil Goldschmidt's "legacy" has been obliterated. His public accomplishments have been erased by the devastating choice he made when nobody was looking.
Henry Sessions
Southwest Boundary Street

I protest!
Badminton should not have that stupid silent n. Or else we should change how we say it. I say it should be spelled BADMITTON. That's a funny word. bad-mitton!
In related news, I played badminton for the first time (well, first real time, besides whacking a birdie around on the grass when I was little at picnics) on Monday night. Every Monday and Wednesday evening in the Auxilary Gym in Ratner the badminton club has informal practice. So I went with Kirsten and Paul.
In case you don't know, or didn't realize: badminton is a workout! I'm serious. Very serious. I'm still sore two days later. I had a lot of misconceptions before Monday evening because I thought that I wouldn't need gym clothes, or that I would be moving around much. But two hours later I was drenched in sweat and definitely sore.
Badminton is a lot like tennis (which I played for four years of high school), except the court is much smaller. You need the same skills of volleying, backhand, forehand, and powerful overhand shots. Unfortunately, it's illegal to use two hands on the raquet, so I had a lot of trouble with my backhand. Honestly though, I had a lot of trouble with everything. It takes a lot of practice to get better...which is why I'm going back tonight, this time with gym clothes and a waterbottle!

one week from tomorrow my first final paper is due. and the hardest, longest one to write. the economics of midwifery. scary scary.
monday a baby bird was sitting in the sill on the chalkboard in my history of US public health class. how does one tiny baby bird who can't fly get there? with it being monday and all and the classroom unused all weekend. poor little thing! it got all ruffled up and started chirping when we were all in the room, and was happy when one girl carefully lifted her up and rescued her to safety outside. good luck with the cats little one.
rj has whooping cough (well, not for sure), and if you want to know what that sounds like, check it out online for sound clips. it's horrible, like an asthma attack and cough combined. yuck.
who knew that states had official fossils? and fyi illinois' is the Tully Monster. coolio. i found out about this because one of my fellow geosci classmates actually authored a book about them. Stately Fossils. check it out.

Another BIG Announcement!
Another friend from high school (who also goes to the UofC too) just got engaged last night. Congratulations Megan & Ben!!

Oh oh!
I almost forgot two amazing things to announce:
1.) A friend from home is pregnant and due to have a baby boy in 2 months. Congratulations Anne!!
2.) Another friend, Spencer, is returning from Iraq (before he leaves to go back and stay until April 2005) to come home for some R&R for two weeks in August. During this time is his 21st birthday! I can't wait to see him again. :o)

The phrase of the week is: "Jumping Cats!"
I picked up a book from Powells today (it's so nice to live right next to the bookstore--they have boxes of free books outside each day) and it's so funny. It's called Jim Forest and Ranger Don. Written in 1959 as an elementary school primer book (with pictures), it tells a story of forest Ranger Don, his nephew Jim Forest and storekeeper Pete. They have some run-ins with a skunk (which sprays Jim) and a bear (which they trap and cage). In this ridiculous tale they say Jumping Cats! five times. I couldn't stop laughing. hehe. I just can't imagine reading this to any kid.

I just had one of the most stressful days ever, applying for this GIS Technician job by 5pm! And I only submitted part of the application by the deadline. I hope they will take the rest late. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
You don't even want to know how many hours it took me and the problems that came up.
All I can say is thank you thank you thank you Amy! You saved the day!

Ben's Game - fighting cancer.

Hyde Park Update: The Checkerboard Lounge

Alderman Preckwinkle and the Hyde Park TIF Advisory Council invite you a community meeting on Monday May 10, 2004, 7 PM @ the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, 5480 S. Kenwood.
Highlights of the meeting will include an announcement by Hank Webber of the University of Chicago regarding future tenants for the building that formerly housed Women's Workout World and Hyde Park Pet. The University of Chicago has a signed lease with the internationally renown Checkerboard Lounge! Live music in Hyde Park. Blues and Jazz...
And if you are not into music..there is always food. The other tenant in the building will be a new restaurant owned by Jerry Kleiner (owner of Vivo, Marche, Gioco, Opera and Saiki). As you may know, he has a reputation as a restaurant impresario. He seeks out new and cutting edge locales. Kleiner is proposing a new concept for the Hyde Park location.

Now is the time to protest! The University should not be taking over this historic place and moving it miles away from its original locale. This important Bronzeville establishment needs to be kept in Bronzeville, not Hyde Park.

For more information:
Checkerboard Lounge question and consequences for intercommunity and University-community relations
Friends of the Checkerboard Lounge

Hmm. I don't think I like this new blogger setup...but I guess I have to live with it. The biggest annoyance is that same problem that I have with Gmail. When composing an entry the text just keeps going and going on the same line and you can't view it all at once. There might be an easy way to get around this, but I don't know it...anyone want to help me out?
They now have a user profile that you can add, and the last question is: "If you were a pirate, how would you avoid laughing when saying "poop deck"? which I think was humorous.

Portland's Bike Culture: I LIKE BIKE

My First Protest/March

"VIOLENCE MUST CEASE! INCREASE THE PEACE!"
This evening I attended the Take Back the Night march to take action against violence against women.

The night started at 6pm with a rally in a neighborhood field house gym which involved a lot of groups speaking and performing (lots of awesome drumming women, a reverend speaking, Columbia College students speaking about their experiences making shirts, the CPD, mayor's office and attorney general representatives, the Chi-Town Cheerleaders [my oh my those kids are talented!], Hands Without Guns, and men who have overcome problems, ending with a powerful and talented keynote speaker/singer from Kenwood High School--a 9th grader!). Everyone received tshirts, and a book of poems with additional community resource contact information (housing, legal advice, domestic violence shelters, mental health, etc).

We got all pumped up to march through the neighborhood and grabbed protest signs that kids had made. Led by the police and the "Drum Divas", walking two by two we formed a line and marched a 3-mile route through the surrounding neighborhood. I'm really bad at estimating, but I'd guess that there were about 200 people?--we were at least a block in length! As we walked and held our signs we chanted:

"Violence must cease! Increase the Peace!"
"Women Unite, Take Back the Night"
"2-4-6-8, NO more violence, no more rape"
"Hey hey ho ho violence against women has got to go"

We also handed out little flyers to onlookers (and we got many people's attention!) which announced our protest and provided information on the back about how to get help if you are a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault. We stopped at four points along the route and over the loudspeaker we were read poems written by women about domestic violence.

All in all it was a great experience!

A BRIEF EXPLANATION:
"Take Back the Night is a march held in communities across the country to raise awareness about violence against women and children. Because women are not safe on the stree, tonight we take back the streets as a safe place for women by giving them and children to be after dark. We are empowering women by giving them a voice to protest injustice. We also gather strenght from one another tonight through the sharing of our collective stories about surviving violence."

Also, an article from the Portland Tribune: It's Time to Shatter Pattern of Abuse

Announcing Summer Breeze 2004:
Jurassic 5
Medeski,Martin, and Wood
Guided By Voices

Ok, so now someone needs to tell me who exactly these people are. I mean, I know I'm always out of the loop, but seriously, I have never heard of them.

NO WAY. just say no to the facebook!

Welcome to Gmail, you glutton.
Oh yes, yes I am.

Christ was made a man; yes, but perhaps for his greater humility.
--Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex

Midterms. ahhhhhhhh!
So I have this 6-8 page paper due tomorrow, for my favorite class, on a topic which I feel comfortable writing about (you know why?--cuz I've read everything!) ...the problem is that it just won't come together. I feel like I know exactly what I want to say, it's the organization part that's screwing me up. Every sentence I write I am not content with. They just sound so dull, so unreadable. That and that fact that I'm tired means that this evening hasn't been my idea of spectacular activity.

Photography
Check out these photographs (click on American 24/7)...they were so good I went through them three times! Favorites: the cradleboards, birth, dive, baseball in the street, dancing in the parade, seagulls, the painter, crew.

Red painful throat. Swollen lungs with desperate breathing. Hopefully this will be over soon. HEALTH. tonight: carne asada tacos in little village. tomorrow: chatting with the president and eating hors d'oeuvres and yummy desserts in the garden, chicago fire game at soldier field. prepare for more rain.