Summer has been SO much fun so far, I am loving every single second of work and things non-work and all the awesome people here.
I need to decide ASAP if I'm going to DC for a conference next week right before the Plains trip next weekend...and anyone who knows me knows how indecisive I am. Then the weekend after that is Hilton Head in South Carolina.
Which means...I need to work on apps like a madwoman this weekend and make sure I have things solid because I definitely do not right now. Time to freakin work my ass off, for real, even though all I wanna do is play. Ah well. Life is still pretty awesome.
Peace out.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Rejection from Dr. David Satcher, but otherwise a good day.
A while ago while I was in one of my crazy neurotic modes, I sent an email to the office of Dr. David Satcher, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Satcher, Surgeon General appointed by Bill Clinton, basically my hero), to see if he would be interested in speaking at UT for DLSC, and I got my sad rejection letter today. It was super sad. But CRAZY because HE'S currently in Atlanta at Morehouse and I'M in Atlanta and he's done stuff with The Carter Center in the past before, and I was like, whoa, mad coincidence, because I think I sent him that email BEFORE I even knew I was going to be here. But yeah this email titled "From the Office of David Satcher," popped into my mailbox, and you can tell I freaked out a lil.
The sad, sad, letter:
Anywho, today was a fabulous day. I spent the day in a session with my staff to pick the Rosalynn Carter Journalism Fellows in Mental Health. It was a blasty blast. I met a this very genial professor on staff at the Rollins School of public health at Emory, an MD/MPH, he practices clinically, teaches, AND specializes in health policy, and I was just like, dude. I want to be you in ten years please. He gave me his card, so IF I get into Emory Med/Rollins, he's the first guy I'm contacting. oh myjeezy.
I feel like I'm finally getting into the groove of things with work, I just really need to get my ass into gear with med school apps. Good.ness. It's really starting to stress/freak me out. And it's like my internship is a constant reminder of why I'm applying to med/grad school in the first place and then I get home after work every day and I'm like, crap I should be working on med school apps, but I am sooo freakin lazy and they are taking me forever and my personal statement is nowhere near what I want it to be. Ugh. I'll get it done if I keep hacking at it, is what I tell myself over and over. And I think it's kind of nice that I'm working on apps while I intern, because this internship is seriously ALL the motivation in the WORLD to do these applications really well. I think I actually enjoy filling them out once I get in one of my neurotic "fill-this-out-NOW-because-you-want-to-change-the-world" kind of moods, and knowing that these things are just the first step in the long process of getting me started on working on the kinds of things I want to work on for the rest of my life.
___________________________________
Quick EDIT:
I would like EVERYONE to know that according to my staff director at TCC, (who was an officer in Health and Human Services when Bill Clinton was president and Hillary Clinton tried to get universal healthcare in 1993), told me his expert opinion on her healthcare plan yesterday. He said that hers was one of the most well-thought out, well-formulated plans ever, and that it had some of the brightest minds in this country working on it. And the only reason it failed was not because of the plan itself, but rather because it did not get the political support or public support that it needed. Just like it is today where you have major health industry players like insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies lobbying SO HARD against getting these kinds of plans implemented, on top of conservatives who sadly love calling universal healthcare "socialized medicine" and giving it that kind of reputation. So in summary, its failure really had little to do with Clinton or her way of handling things, but more to do with a lack of support politically and from the public.
Just had to put that out there. Even though I totally support Obama for the good he's going to do in improving the image of the U.S. abroad, Clinton had some of her domestic policies straight.
The sad, sad, letter:
June 10, 2008
Ms. Richa Gupta
Junior, The
B.S. Biology Honors
B.A. Plan II Honors
Dear Ms. Gupta:
First, our sincere apology for the time it has taken for this office to reply to your request. Thank you for the invitation to Dr. Satcher to be the Speaker at your Dean’s Scholars Program. Dr. Satcher unfortunately regrets that he will not be able to honor this request.
Dr. Satcher is trying to finish a book and develop the Satcher Health Leadership Institute here at Morehouse School of Medicine requiring him to take a sabbatical from speaking except to raise funds for SHLI.
Thank you again for the invitation.
Sincerely,
C.C. Matthews
C.C. Matthews
Program Assistant II
The Satcher Health Leadership Institute
at
Email: ccmatthews@msm.edu
Anywho, today was a fabulous day. I spent the day in a session with my staff to pick the Rosalynn Carter Journalism Fellows in Mental Health. It was a blasty blast. I met a this very genial professor on staff at the Rollins School of public health at Emory, an MD/MPH, he practices clinically, teaches, AND specializes in health policy, and I was just like, dude. I want to be you in ten years please. He gave me his card, so IF I get into Emory Med/Rollins, he's the first guy I'm contacting. oh myjeezy.
I feel like I'm finally getting into the groove of things with work, I just really need to get my ass into gear with med school apps. Good.ness. It's really starting to stress/freak me out. And it's like my internship is a constant reminder of why I'm applying to med/grad school in the first place and then I get home after work every day and I'm like, crap I should be working on med school apps, but I am sooo freakin lazy and they are taking me forever and my personal statement is nowhere near what I want it to be. Ugh. I'll get it done if I keep hacking at it, is what I tell myself over and over. And I think it's kind of nice that I'm working on apps while I intern, because this internship is seriously ALL the motivation in the WORLD to do these applications really well. I think I actually enjoy filling them out once I get in one of my neurotic "fill-this-out-NOW-because-you-want-to-change-the-world" kind of moods, and knowing that these things are just the first step in the long process of getting me started on working on the kinds of things I want to work on for the rest of my life.
___________________________________
Quick EDIT:
I would like EVERYONE to know that according to my staff director at TCC, (who was an officer in Health and Human Services when Bill Clinton was president and Hillary Clinton tried to get universal healthcare in 1993), told me his expert opinion on her healthcare plan yesterday. He said that hers was one of the most well-thought out, well-formulated plans ever, and that it had some of the brightest minds in this country working on it. And the only reason it failed was not because of the plan itself, but rather because it did not get the political support or public support that it needed. Just like it is today where you have major health industry players like insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies lobbying SO HARD against getting these kinds of plans implemented, on top of conservatives who sadly love calling universal healthcare "socialized medicine" and giving it that kind of reputation. So in summary, its failure really had little to do with Clinton or her way of handling things, but more to do with a lack of support politically and from the public.
Just had to put that out there. Even though I totally support Obama for the good he's going to do in improving the image of the U.S. abroad, Clinton had some of her domestic policies straight.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Revelation/Life Goal #652
On top of everything else I want to do with my life in the years after my education (having a practice, doing global epidemiological/public health field research, working on policy, staffing for an NGO, and teaching/lecturing), it would be my dream to also go into medical journalism of some sort.
Friday, May 30, 2008
november nervousness
So every time I read a bio about John McCain, I have this crazy reaction to him. I get this new kind of respect for the guy and then all of a sudden get this rush of feelings and feel really sorry for him. He was such a tough guy, going through everything he went through in Vietnam. That's had to have left some sort of serious emotional trauma on him....
We were talking about wars and such in my office today when I had lunch with my staff (my director was drafted during Vietnam, served as a medic). But with this whole McCain thing, I mean you have a man who's seen what war is like, (especially as atrocious as it must have been in Vietnam. It has scarred the man both physically, and I'm sure, mentally/emotionally). And YET even though you have this guy who's been through all of this, you have to stop and ask yourself how the hell he's so committed to let Iraqfiasco continue! I can't understand it! And I think a big big big reason why people are buying into his argument that we should be in Iraq still, and why people are kind of legitimizing it in their head and supporting McCain for this, is because they've read this about McCain's background and about his OWN experiences with the war. And they think that if a man who's gone through so much suffering in a Nixon war says that we should continue with this Bush war, then he's the best person to say we should do it because he knows what it's like on front lines. He is John McCain, toughguy, macho, war hero extraordinaire.
And that is SO totally WRONG. I also get the feeling that he's doing this just to save face with the Republican party, because he does depart from Republican ideals in a few other areas, despite his generally rugged Conservatism.
I need the Democrats to win in November. I don't care if it's Hillary (it won't be). I don't care if it's Obama. I just want blue in the White House. Enough is enough. We have so many other priorities that this government is not addressing, including the disastrous state of healthcare, America's schools, this economy, and much more. Healthcare right now in the U.S. has gone to shit. And private insurance companies are eating people alive. EATING. And rolling disgustingly in a sick amount of profit.
Speaking of healthcare, the more and more I read about healthcare in America, the less and less optimistic I am about either Hillary or Obama's health plans. The more I read, I realize how unfeasible BOTH of them are in today's America. I think part of the reason the United States hasn't achieved universal health care is because it's so quirk-ily capitalistic, if that makes sense. But anyways, the important thing is that even though their plans are unrealistic, both of them are progressive steps in the right direction. The distinctions between them will ultimately not matter (because I'm sure both will fail), but both candidates will make it a point to give this country's healthcare system the kind of funding it means so more people are insured, health plans are more comprehensive, and quality of care doesn't suffer. And that is definitely what we need right now. Not a president who's willing to continue to minimally fund healthcare, and to continue to let insurance companies that have become so "corporate-ized" dictate who gets insurance, who doesn't, and who gets to pay an arm and a leg to get the care they need.
We were talking about wars and such in my office today when I had lunch with my staff (my director was drafted during Vietnam, served as a medic). But with this whole McCain thing, I mean you have a man who's seen what war is like, (especially as atrocious as it must have been in Vietnam. It has scarred the man both physically, and I'm sure, mentally/emotionally). And YET even though you have this guy who's been through all of this, you have to stop and ask yourself how the hell he's so committed to let Iraqfiasco continue! I can't understand it! And I think a big big big reason why people are buying into his argument that we should be in Iraq still, and why people are kind of legitimizing it in their head and supporting McCain for this, is because they've read this about McCain's background and about his OWN experiences with the war. And they think that if a man who's gone through so much suffering in a Nixon war says that we should continue with this Bush war, then he's the best person to say we should do it because he knows what it's like on front lines. He is John McCain, toughguy, macho, war hero extraordinaire.
And that is SO totally WRONG. I also get the feeling that he's doing this just to save face with the Republican party, because he does depart from Republican ideals in a few other areas, despite his generally rugged Conservatism.
I need the Democrats to win in November. I don't care if it's Hillary (it won't be). I don't care if it's Obama. I just want blue in the White House. Enough is enough. We have so many other priorities that this government is not addressing, including the disastrous state of healthcare, America's schools, this economy, and much more. Healthcare right now in the U.S. has gone to shit. And private insurance companies are eating people alive. EATING. And rolling disgustingly in a sick amount of profit.
Speaking of healthcare, the more and more I read about healthcare in America, the less and less optimistic I am about either Hillary or Obama's health plans. The more I read, I realize how unfeasible BOTH of them are in today's America. I think part of the reason the United States hasn't achieved universal health care is because it's so quirk-ily capitalistic, if that makes sense. But anyways, the important thing is that even though their plans are unrealistic, both of them are progressive steps in the right direction. The distinctions between them will ultimately not matter (because I'm sure both will fail), but both candidates will make it a point to give this country's healthcare system the kind of funding it means so more people are insured, health plans are more comprehensive, and quality of care doesn't suffer. And that is definitely what we need right now. Not a president who's willing to continue to minimally fund healthcare, and to continue to let insurance companies that have become so "corporate-ized" dictate who gets insurance, who doesn't, and who gets to pay an arm and a leg to get the care they need.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Day 1
The first day of my internship is over. It was both fabulous and overwhelming. It's weird to be living alone in a completely strange city, but I think this kind of experience will be a good thing for me, even if I do miss Austin and home and Texas and everyone there. I'll be plenty busy. And I'm going to try to make sure I keep this thing up while I'm here.
I'll have so much to work on at the office, from new global health initiatives in Africa, to helping fact-check/edit Rosalynn Carter's new book, to planning a mental health symposium for the Fall, to working on White House initiatives for mental health insurance (apparently Bush has promised to veto the bill that my office is trying to get passed that provides more equity in mental health care. Ted Kennedy's newly discovered glioma is a huge problem because he was originally the Democrat in the Senate spearheading the effort to get that bill passed, and now he's going to be MIA. And even though Rosalynn Carter got Pelosi to get the bill on the ground, it hasn't gotten very far....politics is always like that. I remember back when literally a majority of the bills I worked on in Shapleigh's office in Austin didn't even make it to the freakin floor...).
I spent most of the day after my orientation reading applications for a Journalism Fellowship/grant that the program provides to journalists and freelance writers to cover mental health issues and reduce stigma. It was interesting.
I feel like I've learned a ton in just one day.
The Carter Center and the Presidential Library/Museum that joins it are absolutely beautiful. The Carters' offices are stunning. The artwork is ridiculously awesome (President Carter was bff with Andy Warhol!) The gardens are magnificent. The foreign dignitary meeting room is probably my favorite room. The staff I work for is wonderful. The director of my program (former assistant surgeon general might I add) is my new hero, I met with him for something like an hour today and we just talked. The other interns seem amazing, so much more well-travelled and culturally literate than I am... seriously. I have a ton of respect of Rosalynn Carter. I learned today that Jimmy Carter won a Grammy (what!), which is on display in one of the halls, among a hodgepodge of numerous other random Carter memorabilia. Holla.
I'll have so much to work on at the office, from new global health initiatives in Africa, to helping fact-check/edit Rosalynn Carter's new book, to planning a mental health symposium for the Fall, to working on White House initiatives for mental health insurance (apparently Bush has promised to veto the bill that my office is trying to get passed that provides more equity in mental health care. Ted Kennedy's newly discovered glioma is a huge problem because he was originally the Democrat in the Senate spearheading the effort to get that bill passed, and now he's going to be MIA. And even though Rosalynn Carter got Pelosi to get the bill on the ground, it hasn't gotten very far....politics is always like that. I remember back when literally a majority of the bills I worked on in Shapleigh's office in Austin didn't even make it to the freakin floor...).
I spent most of the day after my orientation reading applications for a Journalism Fellowship/grant that the program provides to journalists and freelance writers to cover mental health issues and reduce stigma. It was interesting.
I feel like I've learned a ton in just one day.
The Carter Center and the Presidential Library/Museum that joins it are absolutely beautiful. The Carters' offices are stunning. The artwork is ridiculously awesome (President Carter was bff with Andy Warhol!) The gardens are magnificent. The foreign dignitary meeting room is probably my favorite room. The staff I work for is wonderful. The director of my program (former assistant surgeon general might I add) is my new hero, I met with him for something like an hour today and we just talked. The other interns seem amazing, so much more well-travelled and culturally literate than I am... seriously. I have a ton of respect of Rosalynn Carter. I learned today that Jimmy Carter won a Grammy (what!), which is on display in one of the halls, among a hodgepodge of numerous other random Carter memorabilia. Holla.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Also
I'm not sure why an administration that had no qualms about unilaterally invading another country can't seem to find it in itself to intervene in Burma to give it the kind of humanitarian aid it so badly needs. Isn't not helping them out kind of a human rights violation in itself, even if Burma's military dictatorship is acting idiotically incompetent?
Of course, it's probably dangerous to invade Burma with all its xenophobia and volatility....but then how many people have died in Iraq again?? Seriously.
Umm, oh well I guess? At least China's got good sense?
And what's up with Barack Obama shirking away from Hamas? Doesn't that sort of contradict everything he's stood for foreign-policy-wise throughout his entire campaign? Or is it possible that Obama's started regretting his statements about meeting with hostile nations without preconditions, and that he's seen how much crap Jimmy Carter's gotten for his Hamas dealings? Not that I'm sure we should even be talking to Hamas in the first place (I still need to do more research on that), but there's kind of a discrepancy there.....
Of course, it's probably dangerous to invade Burma with all its xenophobia and volatility....but then how many people have died in Iraq again?? Seriously.
Umm, oh well I guess? At least China's got good sense?
And what's up with Barack Obama shirking away from Hamas? Doesn't that sort of contradict everything he's stood for foreign-policy-wise throughout his entire campaign? Or is it possible that Obama's started regretting his statements about meeting with hostile nations without preconditions, and that he's seen how much crap Jimmy Carter's gotten for his Hamas dealings? Not that I'm sure we should even be talking to Hamas in the first place (I still need to do more research on that), but there's kind of a discrepancy there.....
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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