On "Sicko"

You'd be hard-pressed to find me tearing up during a romantic comedy. But show me happy, caring doctors and pharmacists in Canada, England, and France, and I have to struggle to keep from bawling. "But BOLDgirl," you might say, "the future of the healthcare systems in these countries looks grim." Perhaps. But with all this talk of the global economy, how much of that is due to American companies jacking up the prices of their products? I will spare you further discussion of the wonders of these other countries and shall instead, leave you with this, just one more reason I love my adopted state.

"Come Disconnect the Dots With Me, Poppet"*

Lately, I've seen a flurry of posts about the changing attitude of collegiate women towards feminism and sexuality. Feminism is a tricky thing. How to define equality when the value of a human being is constantly being re-evaluated? Born on the cusp of two generations (not to mention two zodiacs), I'm never quite sure whether I'm supposed to be a sexually uninhibited neo-feminist or an anti-feminist of the type recently paraded around the New York Times: a brilliant star at Harvard Law/Med who is willing to give it all up to make flaxseed and carob cupcakes for their children's lacrosse practice. That I am a female scientist/engineer in a post-Summersgate Era who regularly reads the NYT Fashion & Style section only adds to the confusion. While the current focus on sexual empowerment and individual academic/career achievement might be representative of our fascination with Paris Hilton and the seemingly pervasive Ivy dreams of upper-middle class White and Asian media darlings, I think it oversimplifies the basic exploration of male/female power dynamics. Why all this concern that young women are shunning sex and miniskirts (two things which I doubt are highly correlated)? I mean, is there really a dramatic shift in sexual mores? I doubt it. And I can't help but wonder if this recent shift of focus is indicative of a perceived inability to address more longstanding and basic problems such as the glass ceiling. So long live sexual freedom for all (certainly an important aspect of feminism), but why should the sexual habits of a few vocal individuals concern me any more than their toilet habits?

*Of Montreal, "Disconnect the Dots"

More on Donating

Some quick updates on blood donation:
-I'm in the process of finding out my blood type. If I'm a universal donor, then the whole apheresis vs. whole blood might be a bigger issue. My medical student friend thinks whole blood is more likely to be in high demand

-there is a blood drive a couple miles away from my apartment (and therefore, walkable) this Saturday. If I choose to donate whole blood, my goal is 4 times/year. Being an inherently flawed individual, I make no promises. But I shall try.


All this thinking about giving blood has me thinking about bone marrow as well. A family friend in Houston campaigns to get more South Asians to join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. It's relatively painless, consisting of a quick swab inside your cheek. And if you aren't South Asian, don't think there isn't a need to join the registry. According to the website, the following groups are under-represented: "American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black and African American, Hispanic and Latino, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and multiple-race patients". Finally, have you considered donating your baby's umbilical cord?

Lest you think I'm developing an eighteenth century nurse complex, stay tuned for my next "thing to do". It promises to be more lighthearted.

On Who I Am and Donating Blood

Inside my head, I'm incredibly hip. After a long week of analyzing power spectra in Matlab, I spent Saturday afternoon in the park reading Will Eisner's "A Life Force". I read it while wearing a smock dress I've owned for months and after listening to Asobi Seksu and Deerhoof. Then I came home and ate my organic orange and jicama salad and thought about neurons and sweatshops. But after several hours of playing cool and thinking in self-conscious similes, it was time to do something. As a graduate student, I pass a lot of time thinking about research or stressing about the future. In this blog, I hope to re-claim the present.

Thing to Do #1: Donate Blood
I always pass the blood drive signs on campus but weasel out of donating by rationalizing that skipping out on my research at the last minute would be irresponsible. This made me feel guilty, so I signed up for an email notification of upcoming on-campus blood drives. Always on weekdays, work-related excuses are readily available. But what if, one lazy Saturday, I could go on an afternoon walk, donate blood, eat a couple of Oreos, and then go back to putzing around? And what if I did this more than once a year? Could I still justify browsing youTube for countless hours instead?

My obvious first stop was the American Red Cross. They link to My Health Test Reminder, a useful site that emails you when you need to go into routine health screenings and when you are next eligible to give blood. Further reading on the sister site introduced me to apheresis, an alternative to the traditional 10 minute blood donation. Briefly, this process removes selective components from the blood and then returns the remaining components to the donor's bloodstream. It takes approximately 35 minutes and is done by appointment only. On the upside, it is possible to donate more often and donors are matched with individual patients. I have sent an email to a medical student friend to ask whether there is a greater need for whole blood donations or apheresis-extracted platelets and plasma. I have also asked whether the answer is dependent on the donor's blood type.

As a side note, I strongly disagree with the rules preventing homosexual males from donating blood. A google search on the topic led to this fairly recent msnbc news story. Can someone explain how the FDA can claim their policy is not discriminatory?