#i genuinely love doing educational work in biology and natural sciences it just takes so much motivation and energy that my adhd wont let me

[pubbykid]

i love being medicated bc every time i am i go "omg i actually would love being in an educator position ! i would love to work in a museum with exhibit design or teach i want to dedicate my life to academia and actually live"

[romanticchemacademic]

Dear future health professionals and stem professors,

We need a revolution of thought. Only through a renaissance of pure and genuine passion towards medicine and other sciences will we have competent doctors, nurses, other healthcare workers, and teachers. We live in a world where people pursue noble professions for the sake of social and economic advancement. However, we lack individuals who love the process of learning and their career.

I recollect quite a marvelous excerpt written by one of the world’s greatest scientific minds, Albert Einstein. In his book, The World As I see It he writes:

ACADEMIC CHAIRS ARE MANY, but wise and noble teachers are few; lecture rooms are numerous and large, but the number of young people who genuinely thirst for truth and justice is small. Nature scatters her common wares with a lavish hand, but the choice sort she produces but seldom.

We all know that, so why complain? Was it not ever thus and will it not ever thus remain? Certainly, and one must take what nature gives as one finds it. But there is also such a thing as a spirit of the times, an attitude of mind characteristic of a particular generation, which is passed on from individual to individual and gives a society its particular tone. Each of us has to do his little bit towards transforming this spirit of the times.

Compare the spirit which animated the youth in our universities a hundred years ago with that prevailing today. They had faith in the amelioration of human society, respect for every honest opinion, the tolerance for which our classics had lived and fought. 

  I believe that one of the faults lies within education institutions. Educators rely on testing, textbooks, and detached memorized lectures. Lectures lack passion and another essential factor: the real practice. The theory is important but the practice is necessary to understand the theory. But without passion, nobody will learn to love the material being taught. Ibn Sina is known for being one of the greatest physicians and teachers of Islamic medicine. I am not completely sure whether what I am about to mention is true. But I read that when he lectured theory to the medical students at the Madrassa (University) he would show them how it worked. Besides medical history and theory. He also taught physics, astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics. However, he is also famed for being an excellent teacher duly because he would take his students to test out the theories and practice what they have been taught. If they were learning medical theory, they were taken to the hospital to observe patients and their cases. If they were learning astronomy, they would all gather in the evening to look up at the heavens to look at the constellations. Lastly, his passion for his vocation was the final touch. Educators without the drive cannot teach. Learning is about understanding oneself, others, and the world. Learning evolves our minds and our spirits by making us get in harmony with the universe. I believe this ties in with Aristotle’s famous saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Though my interpretation may be a wee bit off, I translate it as thus; we can gather all textbook knowledge as possible but if we do not put into practice the knowledge learned, what is the point? I yearn and I pine to experience all that I have learned. I want to see why the theory makes sense in reality. I want to conduct experiments. So much potential is being wasted. Biology is the study of life. However, when I took the course, it was so cold to a point that it did not even feel like I was studying the human body but something alien instead. There is also such a rush to memorize material within a couple of weeks because of exams that the material ceases to be interesting and becomes more of an arduous chore instead. Our sense of time-shifted completely after the industrial revolution. Perhaps this is a reason why we feel the need to rush through everything and not take our time to study profoundly. 

We need another Scientific Revolution, curious minds thirsting for the acquisition of knowledge and unanswered questions. However, I believe that the leading force behind this is a necessity. I would like to mention an example to illustrate what I mean from a novel I read a while ago called, The Physician by Noah Gordon. A boy from Medieval Europe lost his mother from an unknown disease leaving him orphaned. He then grew up with the necessity to learn what the disease was and how to prevent other similar deaths, so that others do not suffer what he has suffered. He then worked with Barbers (people who performed medical procedures in Medieval Europe). But the medical knowledge these professionals had was not enough to answer his question. Thus, he traveled to Persia where there was a quite renowned and exclusive medical school. He did not have the economic means or previous schooling to attend but he impressed the headmaster with his passion and knowledge. Thus, the headmaster admitted him into the Madrassa. The European boy then invested all his time doing research, dissections and treating patients until he finally found out what ailment caused his mother’s death, side sickness (appendicitis). He figured out a way to treat this illness, removal of the appendix. From his initial necessity which was the driving force for him to pursue a medical career, he became a famous physician and felt that all his suffering and odyssey were worthwhile. The sense of necessity leads to the feeling of passion. It was his love for his mother that made him follow such a journey full of obstacles. I am beginning to apply that to my own life. I want to figure out my necessity which will be the driving force to power through university and medical school without ever feeling burnt out. I want to feel fulfilled. I believe this is what all pre-medical students and teachers should think about. What is your necessity? We are going to be dealing with human life, someone’s mother, father, friend, sister, uncle, lover, husband, or child...It is not something to be taken lightly. I know so many doctors lacking empathy because they went into the medical field with just the intention of being acknowledged as “Doctors” and getting rich. But I feel that even the most apathetic healthcare workers can become great empathetic professionals the moment they realize that something was triggered deep inside them, perhaps a loved one having an unknown disease. This would lead the apathetic doctor to do mass amounts of research to try to find a cure. This feeling becomes a necessity. A necessity to not lose the loved one. A necessity to save lives. Thus, finding passion, purpose, and becoming a better person. Though each person is different, we all share a selfish feeling. Most of the time we do not truly care about other peoples’ suffering until it happens to us. Once we are affected by something, we drive all our time and attention to find a solution or a way to deal with a problem. We become consumed and completely obsessed by it. I regard this as passion. I do not think passion subsides, it lingers on inside us. It is a fire that never burns out. I remember my high school teacher writing in my yearbook:

Remember a few things, BE PATIENT. You are eager and you will accomplish so much. But take your time, you are always rushing. Life is a journey, it is not about the destination. Be picky. You love everything with enthusiasm but enthusiasm can burn out. Find a fire inside yourself that burns for a long time.

-V

We cannot rush our personal legend. I believe it comes to us. It is Maktub (it’s written). But we also have to do something. Imagine you are on a stranded island but you have a machete, a fishing rod, coconuts, a cave for shelter, wood for a fire, an ocean full of fish. Everything required for survival is there, but you simply have to cut open the coconut with the machete, go fishing for food, fire to cook, and warmth. The fish isn’t going to swim right into your hands and the fire will not light itself. We must use our resources and do our bit. The Universe has a lot going on, we must help out a bit.

If you ever think about quitting, try to remember what made you start your odyssey in the first place. I do not know what my necessity is yet but that is okay. I believe it will come to me eventually. So for now, I simply love to romanticize academia. I like to imagine the: earthy tones of the universities archways, cobblestone paths, laboratories with clean Erlenmeyer flasks, beakers, pristine white lab coats, bunsen burner flames changing colors as different salts are added, Bromothymol Blue pen stains, elegant calculations inside a worn leather-bound notebook, formulas scrawled over the blackboard, forgotten cold Irish breakfast tea on the desk, academics discussing theories, applause from a successful experiment, gray rainy days spent inside the lab, Whitman, Hemingway, et Sir Arthur Conon Doyle being read during break, intellectual conversations with professors, chemistry reports being written, molecular models built, volumes of ancient words, fire slowly burning in the stone fireplace, trying to understand, looking at the constellations on a clear night in the astronomy tower, reciting poetry, Tchaikovsky playing whilst completing a long lab report on Lê Chatelier’s theory of Equilibrium, curious minds, sleepless evenings in the library, beautiful anatomical illustrations...Just imagining these things motivate and inspire me to continue my path. Though it may seem superficial, it awakens something inside me. I yearn and I pine to become a Chemistry Romantic. 

I want to conclude this letter by saying that pupils and educators keep ideals alive and can change them accordingly as well. We have the power to become excellent professionals or simply exist and do nothing for the human race. But if you plan on becoming a physician or educator, you must find the trigger which brings your passion to life, your necessity. Once you find that, you are guaranteed greatness and fulfillment. However, do not rush. Perfection takes time. A couple of obstacles should not hinder you from persevering. Many will tell you to give up but do not. That is the Universe testing you. Do your best until you master the topic. Once you know better, you are then able to do better. 

Regards,

Confessions from a Chemistry Academic

[cycat4077]

Reunited

Summary: You reconnect with an old college friend only to find that your past comes back to haunt you. Set during summer 2016 (S17). Pairing: Sonny x Reader Warnings: Mild cussing, some angst, some feelings and dialogue (sorry) Words: 3247 AO3 here

Part 8 of the Changes verse. Masterlist here if you're interested :) (Could probably read as a stand alone fic if you’re not into series.)

A/N: I really wanted to give my main character a friend and ‘Sydney’ popped into my brain. Also, do y'all remember back in 2015 when Sonny said he had an ex at the LAPD? Yeah, me too. So I took the liberty of using it :P Sorry this fic is kind of meh (On a separate note, the pic doesn’t necessarily mean the reader is blonde. I just thought a Sonny hug would be fitting!)

"Sydney?" you question, walking slowly up to the blonde who stands collecting her order at the campus coffee shop.

Immediately she spins on her heels and her face lights up with recognition. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaims, raising her arms to embrace you.

You and Sydney had graduated together from the master’s of education program; she, with a background in English lit and you, in biology. Despite being from different disciplines, you often worked on projects together and used your contrasting perspectives to bounce ideas between brains. As a result, Sydney became a close friend. But, as too often happens when people part ways, life whizzed by quicker than the two of you could stay in touch.

Now however, as you set foot on your new campus for a summer orientation workshop, you are thrilled to see a friendly and familiar face.

"What are you doin’ here, girl?!" she asks with the same enthusiastic energy you remember her for.

"New job!" you reply cheerfully.

"Ahh! That's awesome!" she squeals. "It'll be like old times! I've been in the English department for a few years now and I just love it."

You smile fondly. "I always knew you'd move back here.”

"Yup! You can take the girl outta the city…and all that stuff,” Sydney sweeps her silky locks behind her ear, “but I am surprised to see ‘little miss rural’ out this way!"

You raise your hands and shrug. "Me too! Though, opportunity knocked and I couldn't turn it down. Actually, this is my second teaching gig in Manhattan. I won't name names, but I got booted from my last one when a prof crawled out of retirement." You frown towards the ground, the wound still fresh.

"Bastards," Sydney mumbles under her breath. "That musta been rough, but I'm glad you're on the rebound." She offers you a hopeful smile. "You liking NYC then, since you ended up sticking around?" "It's alright. Different,” you admit. “I just moved in with my boyfriend though and he's slowly but surely converting me."

Sydney lets out another delighted squeal. During your college days she was always trying to get you to date. You told her about your past and she swore to avenge you. Unfortunately, her best efforts involved dragging you to parties and other social events where ultimately you ended up preventing her from making the bad decisions. Still, she cared about you and her genuine excitement over your relationship success makes you realize just how much you had missed her.

"I'm so happy for you! Is he cute? Is he smart? Does he work on campus?" She stretches her neck to look behind you as if Sonny is tucked away nearby.

You chuckle. "Nuh-no. He's an SVU detective. That's how we met actually." Her face falls with worry and you quickly elaborate. "I took a summer job there last year and we just clicked. He's really great." You smile proudly, stopping yourself from bragging Sonny too much.

"Aw, hon, I'm so excited for you!"

"Thanks! Hey, are you still with Geoff?"

"Hell no!" she fires quickly. "Caught that ess-oh-bee sneaking around behind my back so I kicked his ass to the curb. But it’s fine. I'm enjoying the single life and New York has just what I need!"

You smile. Same old Sydney. "Well, I'm glad you're all right and I'm thrilled we're here together! We have a lot of catching up to do! In fact, you should come by our place sometime."

"Absolutely! I'd love that!” she grins enthusiastically. “And that means I'd get to meet the man who swooped my shy science-nerdette off her feet!"

A blush creeps over your cheeks. "Did I mention he's an amazing cook?"

Sydney covers her heart like she's been shot. "You did now! So, I'll be holding you to a meal, you here me?" She glares playfully at you as she backs up towards the door.

You laugh and wave her goodbye. Sydney turns into her smiling self as she spins around and leaves.

-x-

"Wheh!" huffs the blonde standing in the doorway to your apartment. She’s just gotten her first glance at Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr. "Ya didn't tell me he was such a looker!”

You swat her arm playfully. "Down girl."

"Hey there," smiles Sonny as he lumbers towards the front door. He's dressed himself in a pressed shirt and slacks for the occasion and he looks absolutely gorgeous. "I'm Sonny, nice ta meet ya," he continues, extending a hand in greeting.

"Ooh, Staten Island," she remarks, accepting his gesture. "Nice to meet ya too. I'm Sydney."

Sonny chuckles and points out her accuracy with a raised finger. "That Brooklyn I hear?" he counters.

"Sure is!" Sydney releases a laugh that’s as smooth and as charming as she is.

"Come on in," Sonny gestures towards your cozy little apartment. She steps forward, making herself at home just as she would always do when the two of you would visit somewhere new.

The evening transpires with a lovely dinner followed by story swapping, playing catch-up and allowing Sonny and Sydney to get acquainted. As the evening wears on however, an uneasy feeling settles in your stomach.

Of course, it's wonderful to have Sydney back in your life – she’s one of the few people with whom you had allowed yourself to really open up. But as you listen to her and Sonny talk about growing up in the Boroughs, it's hard not to feel just a little out of place. There's so much you don't understand. So much that you don’t share in common with them. The best you can do is smile and nod along as the conversation flows.

Sydney is an extrovert through and through. She converses with others easily and can win them over with her natural charisma. Sonny too has the gift of the gab, and the pair seem to be hitting it off really well.

By now you’ve lost track of what they’re saying, instead listening to your inner voice. It's selfish and petty to be feeling this way, but there's a small part of you that is sad...jealous, you suppose. Maybe Sonny would prefer to have someone who knows what it’s like to grow up in the city surrounded by a bunch of siblings. Someone who is talkative and charming instead of quiet and shy. Not only that, but Sydney is gorgeous, with her luscious blonde hair and winsome smile. She always draws the eye of every person in a room. You don’t resent her for it by any means, it's just that you’ve never been in a relationship when she was around and so you’ve never had to worry about a significant other falling for her.

Were you that insecure about yourself that you could feel this way? That you had to worry your boyfriend, your Sonny, would be swept off his feet? It wasn't fair to either of them. Sydney has always been kind to you and you hate feeling any jealousy towards her. But worst of all, it’s not fair to Sonny. You know he loves you. He doesn't care that you’re not a supermodel and he is genuine when he tells you that you're beautiful. He loves you for who you are…No other guy has ever done that before. And that's why you're so torn up right now. You shouldn't be feeling jealous or worried, yet you are and it makes your stomach churn!

"Doll?" a soft voice startles you from your thoughts.

"Hmm?" you respond, trying to act casual.

Sydney jumps in. "We’re comparing notes on the best hidden gem restaurants around the city and Sonny says you love a little Italian spot in Tribeca.”

"Oh yeah,” you mutter. “Great alfredo."

Sonny’s brow knits, clearly sensing something is off. His blue eyes narrow and lips purse. "It's a bit pricey," he states, putting an arm around you. The action knocks you off balance as he draws you to him. "But I like ta spoil my girl from time ta time." Sonny unleashes one of his signature smiles, squeezing you ever so slightly in hopes of easing whatever seems to be on your mind.

"Aww, you two!" coos Sydney affectionately.

-x-

It's late evening by the time Sydney is thanking you for dinner and heading home. You and Sonny work in silence tidying up after your guest. And in that silence, your mind once again resorts to fabricating nagging thoughts of Sydney and Sonny. Moments are replayed with emphasis on how naturally they seemed to get along. But it’s that same silence which causes Sonny to speak up.

"What's wrong, doll?" he asks, pausing to lean up against the counter.

"Huh?" you reply with confusion.

"Somethin's up. I can tell. You were kinda distant earlier too." It’s not a question; he knows you too well.

"Nothing," you lie, trying to refocus on wiping down the table. How can you admit any of this to him?

"Tell me. Please," he begs, bending his head down to try and meet your gaze.

"I don't know,” you wring the dishtowel in your hands, “it's just…I kind of felt out of the loop sometimes tonight."

"Whaddya mean?" his eyebrows shoot up with concern.

"Well, you and Sydney hit it off so well..." Your voice trails off for a moment before you finally meet Sonny’s blue eyes. "Sydney's beautiful and charming and easy to get along with.”

“And you're not?”

The bluntness of his question hits you like a ton of bricks. “But…but she's from here,” you argue, tears starting to prickle at your eyes. “That's one thing I'll never have in common with you!”

Sonny stares at you in utter disbelief. “Doll,” his voice drops down to a soft note, “that means nothin’. I love that you're from outta town. You're more naive to the city ‘n I can see that there's still things about New York that excites ya. The lights on Broadway or the view of Lady Liberty in the harbor. Your pretty eyes absolutely light up! It’s so easy to get lost in the hustle ‘n bustle, but you remind me to stop ‘n appreciate all the little things too.”

Sonny’s now standing directly in front of you. He grabs your hands in his. “And don't even get me started about havin’ things in common.” A cheerful smile forms on his lips and his eyes crinkle at the corners. “You ‘n I share odd tastes in movies ‘n we're both suckas for nostalgia when it comes ta music. But that's just the tip of the iceberg! The most important thing we share is our values. Family is priority numba one, ‘n you have no idea how long I've waited to meet someone who believes that too. It…it hurts me knowin' that you would ever doubt my love for ya.”

Those words cause you to fall apart and the tears you’ve been holding back trickle down your cheek. You cram your eyes shut, heart aching over the thought of making Sonny feel any pain. At the same time however, he also deserves to know why you still have your doubts.

You open your eyes to a warm hand caressing your cheek. It’s a gentle nudge to have you look at him. You find Sonny searching your features, so you interlace your fingers with his and gently tug him towards the sofa.

Sitting down beside you, Sonny gathers your legs to place atop of his. The closeness makes you feel safe as you mentally prepare yourself to tell all. You take a deep breath and glance up to a loving, encouraging smile pasted across on your boyfriend's features. “Sometimes I get worried that I’ll scare you off,” you tell him.

Immediately he interjects, rubbing your knee soothingly. “That’s nonsense, doll.”

“I know,” you say half-heartedly, “but it’s more to do with my own self-doubt.” Sonny’s expression saddens and he reaches out for your hand. You take it, linking your pinky with his. “Back when I was a biology student, there was this guy taking the same classes as me. He was a year or two older and we got along really well. We shared a lot of common interests. You know, movies and sports and all that stuff. It led us to spend a lot of time together during our free periods. He started doing these little things that seemed so affectionate. For instance, trying to sit tight beside me or asking to hold my hand. He paid me all kinds of compliments and even told me I was beautiful. Needless to say, I fell for him hard.” You pause, fiddling with Sonny’s finger. You had forgotten how much this all hurt to talk about.

Rubbing a hand across your forehead you continue. “One day, I worked up the courage to ask him out. But that’s when things spiraled downhill. He got really defensive and flat out said that he didn’t feel anything for me. That all the little things which I thought meant flirting were actually meaningless and, that I was crazy for thinking otherwise. To add insult to injury, he also said I was too young for him.” Sonny’s shoulders drop and he squeezes your hand a little tighter. “All I could manage was a lame ‘okay’ and left. I cried for weeks and it really threw me through a loop. I’ve been insecure about my feelings ever since. I felt humiliated and embarrassed for being fooled by his charms and for allowing myself to love him. So, I just buckled down and focused on my education, never really trusting myself to openly fall in love again. I was scared of making the same mistake – that is, until I met you.”

With your soul bared, Sonny swiftly pulls you into a hug. He holds you tight, warmth surrounding you as if he hoped it would melt away your pain. You press your face into the crook of his neck, giving him a soft kiss.

Sonny leans back, trailing his hands down your arms. “None of that was your fault, sweetheart,” he reassures. “That guy was a prick who needed ta lead ya on ta make himself feel important. Guys like that enjoy havin’ a girl’s affection, but the moment ya had the balls to tell him how ya felt he was too insecure ‘n pushed ya away. But y’know what?” he pats your arms lightly. “That’s his loss because ya have the biggest heart of any person I’ve ever met. N’ I’m lucky to be the one who gets ta be on the receiving end.”

His compliment makes you smile sheepishly. “Thank you, Sonny.” You truly love this man with all your heart. “I’ve tried not to let it affect me – affect us – but it’s one of those things that festers in the back of your mind.”

“I know,” he agrees. “It’s normal.” You watch as he looks away for a moment and swallows thickly. “I neva told ya this before, but I went through somethin’ like that myself…”

With Sonny being a chatterbox and sometimes oversharing information, it comes as a surprise that he too is guarding a part of himself. You flash him a reassuring smile, once again linking your fingers as a silent offer of your support.

And so, he begins. “I spent a year in California when I got out of the academy. There was this rotation at the LAPD ‘n I was young ‘n thought it would be really cool to get outta New York. Turns out I immediately fell head over heels for one of their young detectives. One bat of her eyelashes ‘n I was a goner. We ended up askin’ each other out ‘n life seemed great. Fancy dinners ‘n presents I couldn’t really afford. But at the time, it all seemed worth it because we were happy.” Sonny turns shy as he speaks and you feel a twinge in your gut. It had never occurred to you that he had been in love before you came along.

He looks up to the ceiling as if he dreaded the next lines of his story. “Then my contract was up. I thought we were a strong enough couple to stick together, so I asked her to be move back to New York with me. I said that we could be closer to my family ‘n that they were dyin’ to meet ‘er. But…we didn’t see eye to eye on that.” Sonny releases a sigh. “Yeah, she told me that she moved to LA to get away from family n’ that she loved it too much out there to up and leave. I was dumb ‘n in love ‘n I just didn’t get it. I offered to stay with her instead but she gave me the ol' speech: Yourra nice guy, Sonny, but we have different paces to life. It would never work out.”

You whisper his name, heart shattering on his behalf. He looks to you with a furrowed brow and continues. “I gave her my whole heart ‘n she wasn’t even willin’ to make an effort to keep us togetha. I don’t like to admit it very often, but I was a mess. I flew back to New York ‘n not long after joined law school. Then I ended up bouncin’ around the Boroughs until I met you.” Sonny’s face warms. His eyes sparkle and he unleashes a smile. “Now the whole world seems right! We can be ourselves around each other. I know I have my flaws, but you’d never judge me for ‘em. Instead, ya love ‘em too ‘n I hope ya know that it’s a two-way street from me.”

Now it’s your turn to smile. You remove your legs from him to cuddle under his arm. Sonny wraps around you and kisses the top of your head. “I love you, Sonny,” you mouth into his chest.

“Love ya too, sweetheart.”

You lean back to caress his cheek with your palm. “I think we have another thing in common,” you offer and Sonny peers at you inquisitively. “We fall in love easily.”

Sonny chuckles. “Yeah, it’s like you’re divin’ into tha deep end head first, but ya only find out it’s too shallow once you’re already leapin’.”

You nod your head in agreement. “It’s funny how that stuff always lingers with you. Like a scar that keeps scabbing over. When you jump off the swings as a kid and scrape your knee, you’ll see that scar afterwards and your brain reminds you to never do that again! It’s a shame that the same thing happens when your heart gets hurt. I always felt like I was scared to put myself out there over the fear of being heartbroken again.”

Sonny hums understandingly. “But,” he says, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear, “when the right person comes along, all that hurt disappears. Because this time,” he smiles affectionately, “when you jump off the swing, there’ll be someone there to catch you.”

Your serious faces contort into goofy smiles. “See? What did I tell ya, doll? We’re so alike that we even share a knack for makin’ up dumb analogies.” Sonny’s eyes once again crinkle at the corners and he shifts to kiss your temple.

Leaning into his touch, you close your eyes and savor the moment. It feels good to clear the air like this and to be able to forge a connection that’s just that much deeper.

---

Hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you’re interested in being part of a tag-list. Any and all feedback is loved :)

Part 9, “Stuck-On Cheese” is up here

[addierose444]

How I Got Into Smith: Part II

In part I, I wrote about my high school extracurricular activities. In this post, I focus on the academic side of my application. I’ll be honest that these posts weren’t as well planned as I would have liked and that ideally, this part would have been first. It was initially going to be a single post, but I didn't have enough time to finalize this part before my unofficial deadline of Sunday at 11:59. It worked out in the end as splitting it into two parts created a new blog post out of thin air. Furthermore, it turns out I had a lot more to add to this part. 

My academics were definitely a strong aspect of my college applications. For some additional context, I applied to Smith regular decision and was admitted with a presidential scholarship. To learn more about merit aid at Smith, click here. Smith was my first choice throughout the application process and I actually submitted my application before the early decision deadline. To read more about why I chose Smith or more accurately why it became my first choice, click here. For additional context, I attended a public high school in Vermont with a graduating class size of 106 with 65% of the class attending two and four-year colleges. If this post is interesting to you, you may also enjoy reading about my academic journey to engineering and computer science. 

I’ve always loved school and education has been a top priority. Between middle and high school, I took six and a half years worth of high school science classes. In addition to the advanced track of our regular curriculum, I took a marine biology class that included a research trip to Bermuda and three APs (chemistry, biology, and physics C mechanics). You can read more about my AP experience here. Of the three main sciences, physics is my favorite. As a class though, I think AP biology was the best. I won departmental awards my first and last years. I was really proud of the first science award as it was a special award created just for me (as opposed to for a specific class year). The crazy thing about taking all these science classes is that I have taken very few science classes here at Smith. Thinking about this irony is part of why I thought to write this post in the first place. Technically I have only taken two science classes (PHY 118 and PHY 210) during my time at Smith. (And to be honest, PHY 210 hardly counts as it's really just an applied math class that’s offered by the physics department). You can check out all of my Smith courses here. The reality is that I fulfilled the introductory chemistry and physics requirements of my engineering major with AP credits.

In addition to lots of science classes, I doubled up on math classes in ninth and eleventh grades. Granted I didn’t take math my senior year and retook calculus at Smith. I think there were some clear flaws in my math education as many of the courses were too easy and had too much overlap year to year. At the same time, we didn’t cover enough trigonometry and had other gaps in our precalculus course. I did learn a lot in my AP statistics class and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the content. It makes total sense in retrospect as I now see math as an interesting and useful tool. Back in elementary and middle school, math was my favorite subject and I loved it in isolation of other subjects and real-life applications. In ninth grade, I got a math award, but unlike the other departmental awards, a lot of people got them. 

My favorite class of high school was AP computer science A. In that course, I learned Java and the basics of object-oriented programing. In ninth grade, I’d been introduced to computer science through a semester-long Python course. In my senior year, I took an online website development course from my state university. I learned HTML, CSS, and some PHP. I also took a semester-long engineering course. It didn’t have math or science prerequisites, lectures, or structured assignments. What it did provide was a fun self-directed opportunity to learn how to use our new CNC machine and work with (mostly fix) the 3D printers.  

Four years of English were required to graduate, so I took our required ninth and tenth-grade courses followed by an advanced expository writing course and an advanced literature course called world authors. I’ve always loved reading, but English classes and literary analysis aren’t really my thing. To read some of my reflections on writing, click here. I managed to win an English award my sophomore year which was cool as I’d never really seen English as a strong subject of mine. Granted, I didn’t like my sophomore English class as it only had seven other students who clearly didn’t want to be there and didn’t do assignments well or on time. I also took French all through high school and won awards my first and last years. I was generally more engaged with school than my peers, but French is where my peers’ lack of engagement had the most negative effect on my learning. I’m not trying to brag about any of my academic awards, but I do genuinely believe I did stand out on my own merit. When it came to French, it was more just that there wasn’t much competition. 

Social science classes were the ones I generally avoided. Knowing that I only needed three years of social science to graduate and having already doubled up on math and science, I skipped the ninth-grade social science class. As a sophomore, I took the advanced version of our sophomore social science class called democratic roots. As a junior, I took AP U.S. history as U.S. history was required to graduate. The other AP courses were of actual interest to me and this was the only one I took for the AP designation. It was one of my least favorite courses, but I defend my decision to take it as the regular version was sort of a joke at my school. Furthermore, the APUSH teacher was also the advisor for the school publication and was able to write what I presume to be a strong letter of recommendation. As a senior, I took a semester of AP art history and another semester of art history through my local community college. The AP course was entirely online through UC Scout. I didn’t finish the AP course as the community college version was free due to my state’s dual enrollment program. The community college course was also fully online and was much more limited in scope.  

I was in the jazz band from eighth through tenth grade. I played the electric bass, an instrument I picked up because they needed a bass player. Jazz isn’t my kind of music, so I never really got into it. To check out some of my favorite songs and musical history, click the respective links. I “quit” the jazz band as it conflicted with AP chemistry. The bass is an integral part of the rhythm section, but rhythm doesn’t come naturally to me and is challenging even with deliberate practice. I was used to being in all of the advanced courses but was in the intermediate jazz band with eighth and ninth graders. Additional required electives included health, financial literacy, and three semesters of physical education. The only class I did over the summer was an independent study for physical education credit. The running I did for the self-directed course probably helped earn me a spot on the varsity field hockey team. I also took a weight lifting class which I absolutely hated. 

I wasn’t planning on sharing my actual stats, as there is so much more to college admissions than raw scores or even academics. What really matters is (in terms of academics) is the rigor of your courses in the context of the high school you attend. However, if you’ve read this far, I don’t really mind sharing my actual grades and scores. I earned straight As throughout high school and had a GPA of 4.26 (unweighted on a 4.33 scale). My school didn’t officially do class rank, but I am almost positive I had the highest grade point average. I do know that at the end of my junior year I had attained the “highest level of academic achievement” which I presume takes into account courses and grades. A lot of schools have gone test-optional due to the pandemic, but it’s worth noting that Smith was already test-optional. I don’t know exactly how merit scholarships work, but I am guessing that a strong SAT/ACT score would be necessary to earn one. My SAT score was 1500 (780 math and 720 verbal). I did study a lot over the summer before senior year and improved by almost 150 points from my PSAT. I also submitted SAT subject test scores of 790 for chemistry and 770 for math level II. 

[tanadrin]

The Botanist

Rahal called on Yaru at midmorning, when the springtime Kayuban air was still fresh and sweet. The walk down to the Botanical Institute was unusually pleasant, and put her in mind of nothing so much as Opara in the autumn, and the exuberance--and folly--of her youth. The Institute's doorkeeper directed her to a shabby little building behind a row of small greenhouses that was unassuming enough that Rahal assumed she had the wrong door, even as she knocked. There was the sound of footsteps within, and then the door opened; a pair of spectacled eyes, peeking out from below a wild mass of graying, curly hair looked up at her.

"Yes?" the man said curtly.

"I'm looking for Yaru," Rahal said.

"Oh?" He seemed to want more than that.

"I'm from the Order," she said.

"Oh! The archivist!" The man stood aside and waved her in. "I'm Yaru. I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you until later. Come in, come in."

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Rahal said. The inside of the building was no more attractive than the outside. A stack of old boxes and a chair missing a leg took up most of the cramped vestibule. The windows were dusty and did not let in nearly enough light; a couple of cramped hallways led off to what looked like small offices, or large closets. Yaru himself was small, thin, and energetic, but it felt like Rahal that he, too, had been abandoned to this forgotten part of the Institute. But Sabir had been quite clear; she seemed to think Yaru's work was of the utmost importance.

"Not at all," Yaru said. "Only preparing tomorrow's lecture. They have me teaching students again. Ghastly business."

"You don't like teaching?"

"Oh, what's even the point? They're all blockheads. Waste of time, if you ask me. That door on the left there," Yaru said, pointing.

Yaru's office was in fact surprisingly well-kept, although not spacious, and full of the clear morning light. He had made an effort to dust, it seemed, and his stacks of books and papers were neatly organized, even as they seemed to occupy most of the available surfaces. His desk was only a small writing table in the corner; the only other chair was serving for the moment as an ersatz side table. He plucked up the books off it as he came in, and gestured for her to sit.

"Excuse the clutter," he said. "I don't get many visitors."

"Weren't you a student once?" Rahal asked.

"Oh, no," Yaru said, with a faint hint of disgust. "Well. Maybe yes, in a sense. But not like these ones. They're just here for an *education*. No love of learning at all."

Rahal was bemused. She genuinely could not tell whether his horror of the undergraduates was real, or just a very dry joke.

"Sabir said you'd joined the Institute a few years back?" Rahal said conversationally.

"Yes," Yaru said. "Well, I've been in this office since I came to Kayuba. A friend found it for me--it's nice and quiet and out of the way. But three years ago they were clearing out some old equipment and found me hiding back here, and told me I could only stay if I joined the Institute properly. And then last summer thy tracked me down and told me *all* faculty had to teach. Still, I've been managing to avoid it until recently. But I think I overreached by scheduling my last lecture for three in the morning in the rector's house."

Rahal smiled. "Did anyone turn up?"

"Goodness, I hope not. Tea?"

Yaru produced a small kettle from inside his desk and began hunting for a plug.

"Please."

"So what can I do for you, Walks-With-Dawn?"

"Rahal is fine," she said. Her name sounded ungainly to her in the southerners' tongue; she preferred to leave it untranslated. "Sabir sent me to you."

"And how is our mutual friend? I didn't see her when she was in Kayuba last. A pity"

"She's busy these days." Still trying to make up for my stupidity, she did not say. "Traveling a lot. Worried about the future. Though I suppose that describes most of the Order."

"But not you?"

Rahal bit down a dark thought. "No," she conceded. "Not me."

"You Archivists have always puzzled me," Yaru said. "More pessimistic a profession I have never seen. If the Holy Ones themselves showered gold upon the city and raised all our beloved grandmothers from the dead, you'd purse your lips and mutter."

"Someone's got to look to the future, I suppose."

"I always thought the future could take care of itself."

When the kettle finally boiled, Yaru poured two small cups of flower tea, the traditional Kayuban sign of hospitality. Rahal nestled her cup in her hand and enjoyed the warm, fragrant scent.

"So Sabir had some grim purpose in mind when she sent you to me, I suppose," Yaru said.

"Perhaps," Rahal conceded. "She said your work was important."

Yaru cocked his head. "Did she? She should tell the rectorate that! Very important, to be funded generously, and not to be disturbed for any reason! They might listen, coming from the Archive."

Rahal smiled. "I'll pass that along. She didn't offer me any details, though. What *are* you working on?"

Yaru scratched his head. "I never know how to talk about it to non-specialists. Well, not that anybody asks about it, besides my wife. Do you have a background in biology, Rahal?"

"I have the general Archivist's training in scientific matters," she said. "But my own specialty was always more... human systems."

"Economics?"

"More like, politics and diplomacy."

"Ah, the real black arts, if ever there was one," Yaru said with a nod. "No wonder that in darker days they called your kind the wielders of witchcraft."

Rahal laughed. "You understand us better than most."

"So what does the Archive generalist training cover? Cell biology? Ecology? Anatomy?"

Rahal leaned back in her chair and tried to remember her youth and the hours and hours of lectures she'd sat through. Natural philosophy, as they called it in the Archive, had not been her strongest subject. "Some of each," she said.

"Sabir tells me you learn all these things quite differently than we do in the outside world."

"That's true. You learn from principles. We learn texts."

"What do you mean?"

"For you, science is an inquiry into the world out there," she said, gesturing at the window. "For us, it is something that lives in books. And each book stands on its own."

This seemed to really puzzle Yaru.

"That seems like quite a strange approach to knowledge," he said.

"It depends on what you see as the ends of knowledge," Rahal replied.

"Understanding the world, improving human lives?"

"Well, yes, On that the Archive agrees. But... well, how do I explain this. You know the history of the Archive?"

"Vaguely, I suppose. It's old. Nearly as old as civilization."

"Older," Rahal said. "Maybe by a lot. And because it's old, and because its mission can only be fulfilled on the timescale of many lifetimes, every facet of its existence is oriented around long-term survival. That's a feature we don't talk about much for obvious reasons."

"It makes you sound like jealous, knowledge-hoarding, power-hungry tyrants. Which some say you are."

"And which we can be--if we have to. But mostly, we are preservers. We are advisors when we can be, but still librarians when we cannot be, and we are careful and slow, and we think everything to death, because too often we have seen the bitter consequences of recklessness--our own, or someone else's."

"But you're also only human."

"Yes," Rahal said. "These days, we're only human. The point is, we're not empiricists, although we do care about the work of empiricists. We preserve it, where we can, but this is the preservation of works. The masters teach Uranti's Six Mathematical Classics, not mathematics. We learn Furan's treatises on medicine, not medicine itself. The difference is drilled into us early in our education: the thing we learn is not the world outside, which is rapid and changing, but the world within the work we keep alive. It is for those to whom we make these texts available to judge their merits."

Yaru nodded. "I understand. You are only human, and no less a product of our fallen age than I am. And the Archive must preserve things it cannot possibly understand."

"Indeed," Rahal said. "We have preserved theological essays for centuries, thinking they were intended to communicate spiritual truths, only later to understand they were physics handbooks, and vice-versa. We preserve designs for machines that no civilization on Ogandraa can build, and maybe never could."

"Sabir herself told me she knew of a kind of mathematics that pertained only to an electric calculating machine that does not exist," Yaru said.

"Just so."

"So you would say your knowledge of biology is..."

"Scattershot."

"Very well. But you know the cell, and the genetic principle?"

Rahal nodded.

"We distinguish within the cell between the albuminous and non-albuminous materials; the latter are the secondary element of living tissue, while the former are considered primary. The albuminous materials are those that coagulate under heat, or condense within acid, and all are composed of the same ratio of elements: thirty one parts hydrogen, twenty parts carbon, six parts carbon, and five parts nitrogen, in large and diverse configurations. By hydrolysis, the albumins can be decomposed into their constituent parts, organic acids of the nitrogenic classification. By the careful separation of albumins, and by the measurement of their individual component acids, we can distinguish and name them, despite their common chemical formula."

"And this is what you work on?"

"It's the foundation of my work--the intersection of chemistry and botany. Before I came to Kayuba, I was primarily interested in separating and identifying the chemicals operative within plant cells. Albuminic and carbonic chain analysis was my specialty. Some of my work was directed at improving agriculture, while some of it was purely investigative."

"And now?"

"As you might expect, not every organism has the same albumins, or the same carbonics. The carbonic which forms the cell walls of plants, for instance--it's not found in animals at all, and it's totally indigestible by humans. We have already for a number of years used chemical distinctions, as well as physical ones, to distinguish the greater families of living organisms. Sessile, sunlight-capturing organisms, for instance, can be divided between the plants with a chemical environment similar to our own, the endoflora, and those with a chemical environment dissimilar to our own, the xenoflora. From the former come all food crops, and all plants which our livestock prefer. The latter are almost uniformly nutritionally useless."

"Native and non-native."

Yaru smiled. "Theology lies outside my competence, unfortunately."

"It's hardly a religious doctrine."

"I know in the north it is a view more universally held. We southerners tend to be a little more skeptical of folklore, I suppose. But I suppose it's no surprise the Archive tends to be conservative in these matters."

Rahal didn't press the point; it wasn't relevant to the conversation. She sometimes forgot that the descent from the stars was considered unverifiable mythology in the south, or downright superstition. She motioned for Yaru to continue."

"In any case, a similar division does exist within some, but not all, other domains of life. The funguses, for instance, are endochemical only. Land animals--motile, sensory--are endochemical and xenochemical, except in the sea, where they are mostly xenochemical. The disease-causing bacteria are uniformly endochemical, as are all viruses. I made a discovery a few years ago, which might be of some comfort to those of a more traditional turn of mind. You see, it had always been thought that one line of evidence against celestialism was that xenochemical and endochemical organisms still have certain albumins in common, albeit in small amounts."

"I've heard this," Rahal said.

"I discovered that this was not so."

Rahal raised an eyebrow. Yaru continued.

"If you take a sample of tissue from a human, a springgrass flower, or a mushroom, and separate its albumins and carbonic chain molecules, you *will* find small amounts of certain chemicals common across all three. More in the case of the two endochemical organisms, of course, many more, but even within the springgrass flower there is some similarity. Identicality, in fact--of the albumins found in humans and springgrass, the component acids exist in identical ratios."

"A common genetic inheritance? From an early split between the two domains of life."

"That's always been the anti-celestialist argument, of course," Yaru said. "But it's not true."

"What then?"

"A separate organism entirely. Actually, a whole group of them."

Rahal leaned forward in her chair, intrigued.

"They can be cultured separately, in small amounts: an intracellular symbiont that is chemically distinct from both of the other two major domains of life on Ogandraa. Microscopic only, and quite unlike either the endobiota or xenobiota. Indeed, based on some tantalizing clues, I predict this third domain may not form cellular structures at all. If humans are indeed not native to this world, these are probably the original inhabitants. And, I believe, they are the solution to a longstanding mystery in ecology. Do you know the remote signalling problem?"

"I think--something about wildfires?"

"That's the canonical example, yes. How does the springgrass know to hide its buds when the fire is hours away and upwind? But it goes deeper than that: if you isolate the springgrass bud entirely, seal it in its own jar with its own atmosphere and soil, insulate it from all outside heat, but burn a nearby patch of ground, it will still bury itself in the soil. There are similar phenomena elsewhere in nature, however. Raspflies will swarm if killed in large numbers, even up to half a mile away. The larvae of bloodfish begin to emerge in freshwater lakes when the mating frenzy happens at the river mouth, even if it's hundreds of miles away."

"Some kind of chemical signal?"

"The most current research on the subject indicates that such a signal would have to travel at about forty miles an hour, upstream. It's possible--but rather unlikely. My belief is rather that it is this acellular, symbiotic organism which plays a role in the remote signalling mechanisms that are omnipresent in nature. When supplied with the correct stimuli, it is capable of emitting energy, even visible light. Although as you might expect, the effect tends to be very weak. Yet it can propagate rapidly."

"How rapidly?"

"More than rapidly enough to let the bloodfish larvae know to emerge and make room for the next generation."

"That's fascinating. Genuinely. But I still don't understand why Sabir put us in touch. She seemed to think it was more than an ordinary scientific breakthrough that I should be aware of."

"Ah, well. I think I know," Yaru said. He shuffled some papers around on his desk, looking for a blank sheet, and picked up a pen. He scrawled a short mathematical equation on it.

"As I said, the effect is principally very weak in nature. A stronger effect, using purified chemicals or an electric current, can be obtained in the laboratory. An even stronger effect can be produced by the application of a specific modulated electromagnetic field, and the stronger the field--and the more accurate its modulation--the greater the release of energy, and the further its propagation. Two curious facts have emerged from my experiments.

"The first is this: these mysterious microorganisms contain an enormous quantity of chemical energy." He picked up the still-warm kettle and set it on his desk, between him and Rahal. "Our most vigorous organic explosives produce about enough energy that burning a few grains of them would raise the temperature of the water in this kettle by oh, let's say, a degree and a half. A small handful--enough to blow my office door off its hinges and make us both deaf for a few hours--would boil it."

"And these organisms are comparable?"

"No. They contain far *more* energy. I've attempted to exhaust small samples of all their energy available for signalling, and I can't do it. Based on the amount of energy they can output, they must be able of storing phenomenal amounts, far more than can be stored in an ordinary chemical bond. Enough that if the water in this kettle were frozen, and you could unlock the energy in an equivalent small weight of these microorganisms, you could vaporize the ice to steam--about eight hundred times the energy of a blasting explosive. At least."

"Goodness."

"This is the other curious fact." He slid the piece of paper over to Rahal, and tapped a variable circled in the middle. "Based on signal propagation experiments, an induced energy release by a very precisely modulated electromagnetic signal would release N units of energy from the activated sample, which would signal the release from nearby organisms reduced by a factor based on distance and the strength of the original activation signal. For any signal below a certain original activation efficiency--represented by this factor, k--the energy release falls off exponentially, and eventually disappears into the background noise of normal intercellular signalling. That behavior holds true up to a k of 1."

"And above that activation efficiency?"

"As you can see, k is part of an exponential term. In theory, at k the energy release propagates at full strength indefinitely. How far, I don't know. Maybe clear around the planet. Maybe you can make Ogandraa ring like a bell. *Above* k, the energy release increases, indefinitely, with each activation releasing more than the last."

"What are you saying?"

"That in the presence of the right electromagnetic signal, you could induce an energy release that would make our biggest bombs look like holy day sparklers. You could annihilate cities. Boil seas. Set the world aflame."

Rahal looked at the hastily-scrawled letter in the exponent position without saying anything. Then she folded up the piece of paper and slipped it into a pocket.

"There are practical difficulties, of course," Yaru said. "The richness of the sample matters. How much energy it actually contains--you *can* deplete the signalling mechanism, and it only replenishes very slowly. And the fact that the world is still here, and doesn't regularly blow itself up is indicative that if this phenomenon is possible, it's not at all trivial to unlock. It doesn't occur naturally."

"But such a signal wouldn't need to be natural."

"No. Just because it doesn't occur doesn't mean it *can't* occur."

"This is a weapon."

"Quite possibly. Quite possibly the most dangerous one ever conceived."

"Who knows about this?"

"Right now, very few people. But the possibility is latent in nature itself; and the remote signalling problem is being studied elsewhere. Even if I burned every scrap of my research and decided to become a house-painter, it would be a few years at best before someone working in Ptrar or Lareth stumbled across the same thing."

Rahal was feeling a little dizzy. She set her untouched tea down on the desk and folded her arms, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"You called the Archive conservative earlier."

"Hm? Oh yes, I suppose I did. Celestialists and such. No offense."

"None taken. Do you know what the difference between being conservative and being Conservative is?" She used the Kayuban emphatic particle to make the distinction clear.

"I imagine you have one in mind."

"The Archive is cautious, deliberate, and wary of change. We're not empiricists, it's true, but we're not hostile to empirical methods. We've seen both the good and the bad that can result from such methods, and we work to increase the former at the expense of the latter. But in times of crisis, in times of upheaval and war, I worry less about the conservative approach and more about the Conservative one."

"Are you speaking politically? Scientifically? Artistically?"

"All, and none. This is something that cuts across political factionalism and scientific squabbles, and runs to deeper attitudes, attitudes that in my experience are only loosely connected to specific beliefs or aesthetic choices. I'm talking about the...." She struggled for the right Kayuban word. "We call it the-turn-inward-and-reject-the-legible-world-impulse in the Archive. The urge to fall back on the oldest and worst parts of human nature. The parts that are still frightened and soaked in blood.

"There are histories in the Archive which--well, they're not secret. We'd tell you if you asked. But we don't usually volunteer them, because they are dark and frightening and usually not very applicable to novel situations. In Kfaris, when it fell, a madness consumed the people for ninety-nine days, and in their madness the people claimed the motions of the stars ruled their fates, that the world outside the walls of the city was a deceit of the devil, and they devoured every written word in the city, even if it meant smashing stone plaques to pieces and choking down the dust. In Chopakim, when it was beset by a festering plague, every fourth son was flayed alive in the city's plaza, and their skins were given to frightened mothers to wrap their babies in--this, it was said, would spare their infants from disease. In Lalai, on the eve of war, a beggar said that God had made him king; and when the enemy came, he ordered the gates opened, and the army to lay down its spears, and every living soul was slaughtered as a result.

"I walked here this morning, rather than take the streetcar, because it was a fine spring day. Peaceful, fragrant, with a shining sun. Kfaris, Chopakim, Lalai--each of these cities was, perhaps on some day not too long before disaster, sun-painted and happy. Each, like Kayuba today, was once part of a civilization that looked to make the world legible to them: through ethics or empiricism or philosophy, or some combination of the three, and very often succeeded. Each was once possessed of honest ignorance and superstition, and slowly worked to shrug these things off, and rise above them--until one day they proclaimed they wished to partake of that struggle no more, that to behold the-world-as-it-is was too frightful, and they would prefer to inhabit only the world of their hearts. Each was ruined; and each suffered terribly in the aftermath."

"And what lesson do you draw in this particular scenario, where I have shown you a novel path to ruin?"

"No lesson in particular. But I am afraid, Yaru. I am afraid some spirit wiser than both of us, than any soul in Kayuba right now, showed each of those cities the truth; I am afraid that, in their very instance on ignorance they might have been right."

"Do you really believe that? That there can be justice in ignorance, happiness in letting our fears govern us?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't be an Archivist if I did. And although I'm not a priest, it's not rare in my vocation to have a certain kind of faith. But I do have my doubts sometime."

Yaru sighed.

"So do I, my friend. So do I."

[laboratorium2d]

Children's Animated Series, As Graded by a Parent Who Has Watched Far Too Many of Them

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: The brony thing is legitimately weird, but this is legitimately a great show. The combination of epic-fantasy plots with a deep dive on friendship is a winner (and has also been deeply influential on kids' television). It also makes the obligatory pro-social messages feel earned, rather than an afterthought. The characters are charming, the writing sparkles, and the animation is still distinctive. Endlessly watchable, which is a good thing when your kid wants to watch endlessly. Fake holidays: Nightmare Night, Hearth's Warming Eve, Hearts and Hooves Day. Grade: A+

Avatar: I was fifteen years too old for this when it was on TV, so I didn't understand what the fuss was about. Now I do. It's epic but not grandiose, funny but not dumb, and morally deep without giving into plot gravity. The world-building, the writing, the animation, the voice-acting, the fight scenes, the side characters: everything works, and everything is pulling in the same direction. (The sequel series, The Legend of Korra, is more of the same, with an interestingly updated setting and better music.) If your kids are like mine, they'll want to talk about everything, and so will you. I guess binge-watching is a family thing now. Grade: A+

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: This show is so gay. However gay you expect it to be, it's ten times gayer. It's also pro-diversity along every axis you can imagine, including body-type. It's completely awesome. It captures the uncannily compelling techno-fantasy atmosphere of the original, and it has characters with the same names, but otherwise it's a total gut rehab. The character studies at its core are compelling, even as the overall plot and action hold a young child's interest. It takes lots of anime animation tropes and tones them down to the verge of naturalism, which I wouldn't have thought would work, but totally does. Grade: A-

Wild Kratts: The big kid was learning biology from this show almost from before she could talk. "Giraffe. Long neck. Eat leaves." The premise of the show is genius: animated versions of veteran kids' wildlife-show hosts Chris and Martin Kratt have suits that give them "creature powers," and they travel around the world having adventures with animals. The science is legit and it's presented entertainingly. And the characters are winners, especially the creature-suit inventor Aviva Corcovado and the colorful villains. The only thing consistently annoying about this show is that it can be shouty. Everyone is Just! So! Excited! About! Animals! Grade: A-.

Phineas and Ferb: The Arrested Development of kids' animation, Phineas and Ferb is impossibly dense with overlapping plots, brick jokes, and a large army of recurring minor characters. Every episode features an original song, some of which are genuinely brilliant ("Squirrels in My Pants" is a household favorite). It is also a wholly, completely sweet-hearted show. Even the antagonists -- Candace and Dr. Doofenshmirtz -- are sympathetic, charming, fully-realized, and allowed to grow and be happy in ways that a lesser version of this show would never even have realized was a possibility. The allegretto pacing and intricate writing keep the show consistently fresh. New Disney at its best. Grade: A-

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom: From the same team who brought you Peppa Pig, but even drier underneath its treacly trappings. The comedic timing is straight out of classic British sketch comedy. The voice actors are clearly in on the joke, which if anything makes the show more fun to listen to than to watch. B+

Dinosaur Train: Sometimes high concepts work. The show 100% owns its message: dinosaur physiology is a diversity metaphor, presented with just the right degree of insistence. The characters are sketched with grace and sympathy, and the science is pitched just right for its target audience. Over the years, the show (like all railfans) has gotten increasingly obsessed with its train equipment: the aquacar, the submarine, the ... zeppelin. The songs are surprisingly catchy, too: our favorite is probably the Dinosaur Train Zeppelin song, which, yes, is a Led Zeppelin pastiche. Grade: B+

Odd Squad: This one really grew on me. If all you've seen is short clips, it just seems like everyone is shouting about math all the time. But the show overall is delightfully goofy, with a real sense of how to string along a running gag, and some genuinely talented child actors. Grade: B+

Creative Galaxy: Despite being a total Daniel Tiger rip-off, down to the animation style, the obligatory song in every episode, and the live-action codas, this one is actually kind of nice. The art projects are well-chosen both to interest kids and also to actually be doable. Fake holidays: Heart Day. Grade: B

Peppa Pig: It took me a long time to appreciate this show's arch sense of humor. Everyone's pretensions and ambitions are punctured; embarrassing mistakes and small indignities await adults at every turn. Once you realize that the show is making fun of most of its characters but loves them anyway, it's much more bearable. Grade: B

Curious George: Entirely forgettable, with two mildly redeeming qualities. George himself is as charming as always, and the jazzy musical score is pleasant. Grade: B-

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir: It took me a while to understand what this show was doing. It's very, very French. Grade: C+

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: Even my kids recognize that Daniel Tiger is needy and whiny. The show inadvertently teaches kids what to be afraid of and how to misbehave. There is also something deeply wrong with the economy of the Neighborhood: everyone seems to have multiple jobs and the public transit system runs on magic. On the plus side, the potty song has come in handy as a reminder: when you have to go potty, stop and go right away. Fake holidays: Love Day, Snowflake Day, Dress Up Day. Grade: C+

Ready Jet Go: I suppose there's some science in here somewhere, I guess. Grade: C+

Tumble Leaf: Reviewers might call this one "gentle," by which they mean "boring." The animation is lovely and the music is calming. But what's the point? Grade: C+

PAW Patrol: Unbelievably, incredibly formulaic. For example: have you noticed that they get in their trucks at exactly the same point halfway through each episode? Just Canadian enough to be noticeably off, but also rah-rah in a George W. Bush-administration kind of way. Sometimes I imagine grown-up versions of the pups. Chase regularly engages in police brutality, Rubble has a drinking problem, and Marshall has joined the alt-right. Grade: C

Nature Cat: Nature Cat is annoying and his friends are worse. I'm not clear on what they're supposed to be learning. And the theme song manages to be both unmemorable and an earworm. Make it stop! Grade: C

Super Why: More like Super Why Does This Exist, amirite? The whole show is oddly paced: I find the story-within-a-story structure confusing and can only wonder how much of it kids actually get. Having each character deal with a different aspect of literacy leaves the show's educational content unfocused. And the Super Letters are like the world's lamest game of Wheel of Fortune. Plus the song is an earworm, and not in a good way. Grade: C

Sofia the First: Empty Disney calories, this show is the reductio ad absurdum of Disney's democratization of the idea of "princess." The plotting, the writing, and the music are technically proficient. The cel-shading effects that give 3D animation the luminosity of 2D hand drawn are lovely. The messages are perfectly innocuous. But the heart of the show is a giant gaping void. Fake holidays: Wassailia. Grade: C

Lion Guard: More empty Disney calories, like Sofia the First but with more obnoxious characters. Inexplicably real holiday: Christmas. Grade: C-

Peg + Cat: All I can remember is that the show is inexplicably drawn on graph paper, and they have a BIG BIG PROBLEM every few seconds. When people complain about STEM, and I remember that this show exists, I have to admit that they have a point. Grade: C-

Martha Speaks: The AV Club's term for this kind of show is "least essential." Even by the standards of kids' shows, the premise makes no sense. Nobody here, human or canine, is remotely sympathetic. And the plot comes to a screeching halt every time it's time for a new vocabulary word. Grade: C-

WordWorld: I have so many questions about this show. If everything is made out of words, what about the ground? The sky? Windows? And what are the letters in the words made of? What is going on with the accents? And who greenlit three seasons of this garbage? Grade: D+

The Adventures of Puss in Boots: This is a weird, weird show. And not in a good way. Grade: D+

Trolls: The Beat Goes On: Quite possibly the most misanthropic kids show currently streaming anywhere. The combination of grimdark setting and hackneyed uplifting plot tropes is somewhere between unsettling and child abuse. Poppy is a walking illustration of emotional labor; Branch has severe PTSD. The show treats both of these as laughable quirks. And I am never going to get used to the Auto-Tune. Grade: D+

Kung-Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny: Pretty much your standard DreamWorks animation. This is not a good thing. Grade: D

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: The animation and voice-acting are innocuous. But building an entire show around the "if X, then Y" formula led to some disastrous choices. The show taught my big kid how to say things like, "If I see a rock, I just have to bring it home with me." It takes a special kind of kids show to affirmatively instill bad habits. Grade: D-

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2018): An absolute travesty in every possible way. The remake is the direct opposite of everything the original represented: crude instead of clever, manic instead of playful, and mean instead of goofy. Grade: F-

[alexistudies]

hi everyone! this is a warning that this post may contain sensitive or triggering topics, so please read at your own discretion.

As you all may know (or some of you, depending on how far this travels), I am a Chemical Engineering student at a predominantly white institution! I have faced not only normal educational obstacles from being a STEM major, but I also have faced lots of racial and gender issues while being a woman of color, specifically Black, in STEM. I love my institution, GO BEACH! However, I just want to shed light on my experience in case other people are experiencing similar things to let them know that you’re not alone. First, lets start with some personal background info so you don’t think I’m some random person.

Back in my day...

It honestly all started when I was younger. Growing up, I’ve always been interested in science and it has always been something I’ve been passionate about. With that, came the usual snarky comments from other elementary/middle/high school students of being a nerd, a geek, the whole package of annoying name calling. My parents always reminded me that being interested in chemistry, biology, and the like wasn’t a bad thing! But your parents are SUPPOSED to tell you that, so it never really sank in or made me feel any more comfortable with my natural interests.

Later on in high school, I actually started realizing that being a nerd is really f***ing awesome because I finally got to take more interesting classes, like Intro to Engineering and Design, as well as AP Science courses. It was my dream come true! College apps came around and I decided to attend Cal State Long Beach as ChemE. One of the main things that attracted me to CSULB was the idea of how diverse they were and how much they talked about diversity and having “no barriers”; it was the only campus where I genuinely saw all races and ethnicities, and there were more than just the usual two Black people I saw on other campus: me and my reflection. It felt like the shoe was a perfect fit. I, Cinderella, had found her glass slipper.

Oh NO!

But, my first day of classes came. And it all came crumbling down. Because I realized, that’s all it was: just talk about diversity and “no barriers”.

Now, although I had been raised in predominantly white areas where I was the (literal) black sheep, coming to college really amplified my black sheep-ness. I could count how many woman were in my classes on my hands, and an even smaller amount were women of color.

But Alexi, you were in General Ed classes, there had to be more women. Actually, not really. The way things are designed here is that my Engineering pre-reqs count for almost all of my GE’s except English and art. So, there were literally no more than 10 woman of color in all of my classes.

I started experiencing doubts once guys in my lab sections would take over when I would be working on the experiment and some would even erase my all of my work even though it was right. That particular scenario happened in a coding lab that I had to do so you can only imagine how infuriated I was. When I would have discussions with other peers (mainly cis white men), I felt like I couldn’t express my issues and concerns, especially with their passive sexist comments. On a darker note, I have been called the N word with the hard r in the middle of a class discussion, I have been told I am only at my institution due to affirmative action, and I have also had PROFESSORS tell me that I can’t do this because of slight hiccups I’ve had along the way. 

And hearing those things my freshman year of college almost broke me. All this money I had spent to come and all the loans I had taken out to get this education I had been dreaming of, all the sacrifices I had made to do well on exams and make ends meet, all of the times my friends got to go home and see their family while I was stuck in the dorms basically by myself, were being discounted because of who I was. And I had never truly experienced that until college. Being Black already makes me stand out in a plethora of situations to say the least, and mixing that with being a woman IN STEM ?? That’s the icing on the cake, man. I get racist comments, I get sexist comments. I just get the beauty of it all.

The Happy Ending You All Want To See

But, I didn’t let all those things break me. I had to remember that I was accepted on merit from high school and the fact that I showed promise, motivation, and hard work. Yeah, I suck at math which is terrible for an engineering major because math is the base for lots of shit. Yeah, I need a little extra help with my Physics homework sometimes. But that doesn’t make me any less capable than the next guy. Due to this shock, I actually had to re-enter therapy at school because I was so close to quitting SO MANY TIMES during my freshman year. I needed that reassurance that I genuinely did belong because it sure as hell didn’t feel like it. I mean, my parents were telling me I belonged and that I was doing great, but how could my own peers not accept me when we’re all working towards the same goal?

Freshman year took a lot out of me, but it didn’t take me out. Here I am, going into my 3rd year of ChemE, in a nationally recognized Scholars program to help me get to my PhD, getting over $7k in scholarships, and working an internship with almost no upper division classes under my belt.

I just want to finish this post by saying: you belong where you’re at. Don’t listen to people’s doubts. Keep striving for greatness. And this goes for all majors, all women of color, all walks of life. Keep going. You belong and you are welcome here. And sometimes that “diversity” card will pay off when you apply for scholarships, internships, etc.

[kennedy-writes]

so fun update on my life: 

I just got an internship at my local nature center! I’ll be doing animal care and public presentations with the aquatic species (sharks, rays, sea turtles, etc.) and the reptiles and arachnids. This is like a childhood dream come true - not only did I love this place as a kid (and still now), but I always wanted to be the one talking to people about animals in this sort of setting. I grew up on Animal Planet, my first heroes were Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin, I was a huge reptile nerd, and my oldest dream was to work with animals and in wildlife education. Now I get to!

(under the cut is just me rambling about several revelations and thoughts I’ve had in the past two weeks)

This is kind of wild but I think that when I started watching Coyote Peterson’s show a couple weeks ago (which happened because I was doing research for my desert story) it reminded me of how genuinely happy I am when engaged with wildlife and nature. When I’m out in nature or when I’m imagining a future for myself in wildlife biology/conservation, I feel this pull to take care of myself alongside helping the environment, like to eat more and exercise and do things that make me feel good; whereas when I’m in academia for humanities, where my work is mostly writing essays and trying to come up with intelligent things to say in class, I tend towards neglecting myself mentally and physically, and worrying too much about what other people think of me, even in my free time. Not to say I don’t love the humanities (I do, a lot), but it’s the academic context that drains me. It’s difficult to convey properly. But when I was studying science stuff in school for one semester in 2016, I felt strong and good. That was my healthiest and happiest semester. It was a lot of work, but I got good grades and I wasn’t sad all the time. 

Also, when I’m learning about animals, it occurs to me that they’re all trying to look after themselves, and when caring for them I would make sure they’re engaged and exercised, well fed, hydrated - so why not myself? This might be a life-altering perspective. I lose all my little fears about stuff like getting dirty or looking ugly or falling down. 

For some reason, when I’m doing humanities work in school, my brain tells me it’s good to not eat, to deprive myself of sleep, that I need to keep neglecting myself either because I deserve it or because I have to use all my time thinking about whatever I’m learning. I need to look perfect and be perfect. This is a miserable way to live. 

I think I’d rather do humanities in a more low stakes and non-threatening environment. And try to pursue a graduate education and career in wildlife biology and conservation. I’m definitely going to do both with my life and try to mix them together, because I think that’s where I’ll be happiest and that’s also what our world desperately needs right now. 

I applied to the internship on a whim, not thinking I’d actually get it, but here I am, and it’s a step in a better direction. Someone once gave me the advice to look to my childhood dreams for ideas on what I’d really like to do, and maybe they were onto something. I keep coming back to wildlife. Maybe this is the moment I actually listen and go for it. 

[dopecherryblossomheart]

Made with help from Neia's Create-a-Career-tool - Multiple Tracks, Rabbit Hole, Patch UPDATE: 08/16/2018 - PC 1.46.18.1020 Before: I do have all packs and extansions and Rock'n roll; I think several of them might be useful for getting promoted; in fact it seems you do not real need more than Base Game (BG). I played it with only BG, and it worked out quite well.

The Career you DL is The Mental Therapist Career This is a Rabbit Hole Career (your Sim disappears when going to work and Comes back when finished, without carrots in mouth, nor dirt on clothes, but they call it a Rabbit Hole) I made by the help of Neia's Create-a-Career-Tool , similar to a therapist's Career, but as well as to psychologist, or mental Coach; it is a mixture of all of it, fitting to the dependings of Sims, not human beings. And, maybe, sometimes also built with a little twinkling eye. It has 6 main levels, after which you have the choice to join one of three further careers.

So let's go into detail, if you like: As The Theoretical Therapist "For the beginning, you study people before you treat real people. It is neccessary to learn how people can feel, how the brain works - roughly -, and how to teach patients without annoying or boring them. You read al lot, and you get to know all about the famous 'Mens sano in corpore sane.' You learn about speech, about your Body and the needs it has. You may make some hypotheses on human behaviour, but you are not allowed yet to prove them. So, be aware of headaches and long nights." You take care for and cure people by regarding their state of mind, their wellness and their physical fitness all together. Within 6 Levels, your Sim is led from a complete layman to a knowing student of all simlish behaviour, thoughts, intentions and needs. There's a lot to learn and not too much earning, and you need more than just one ability to get promoted. The single steps as Theoretical Therapist are: (1) Basic Empath: You are a beginner studying the theory. "How to be a Basic Empath: not too easy it seems. If you are no Vampire, you have to learn hard how to open a Sim's Heart and really understand what he or she means. You learn techniques of asking and interviewing, and you learn how to feel with somebody without regards or breaking down yourself." Stay confident! Even if it means from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gain in Charisma and Writing to get promoted. Learn about Sims, about manipulation, and earn 22 Simoleons per hour. Much work, not much payment, but keep staying confident: This is the challenge before you may become a (2) Memory-Trainer: "How can I train a brain? Tricky Thing, because a brain has no body on ist own, except for the Sim's body, of course. But you help Sims to use their brains as if it had muscles like a top star bodybuilder. So at first sight: Train your own brain, that might help." Here you need to focus! Still working from Monday to Friday, even harder from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.! Logic and Writing must be formed out to train a Sim's memory, and you earn 25 Bucks per hour until you are Ready to become a (3) Didactic Beginner: About Teaching and Learning "Here it comes to all about Teaching and Learning. You learn how to learn, afterwards how to teach, followed by forgetting about all you learned to get some exercise with other Didactic Beginners who in the same time give you friendly, but determined feedback. In the end you turn back to your studies and write a book about new methods that do not work." Energize yourself to manage even more work from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You need to expand Charisma, Logic and Parenting (yes, all of them!) for to be able to teach the right way. All for only 26 Simoleons per hour. You'll need coffee and a good bed! After all that you will be promoted to become a (4) Freudian Researcher: About psychology and why it does not always work "Psychology and why it sometimes might make you feel quite ashamed, is one of the greatest Secrets of Science. Sims feel ashamed relatively fast, but Einstein had his theory concerning this. And Sigmund, who started off with all that stuff, might have been the one to feel ashamed most of all - but did he? You will know soon when learning all about bad feelings and how to struggle them down." Being embarrassed or ashamed should be reasonable while studying Freud. (Good luck with that!) The gain is working from Monday till Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for now 35 Simoleons per hour, which you might regard as a compensation. Working hard on Charisma and Logic, you will, in case of success, develop to a (5) Linguistic Candidate: "Where does speech come from? And where does it go to in case of speechlessness? Can you hold a talk with empty hands? Is there a sense in all those confusing empty words? What are words anyway? Just about 800 books to read, and you can answer all these questions. Almost." So you focus again, this time on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. You'll need all time to get Level 6 on Charisma, logic and writing! You Analyse speech and talking Sims, you learn phonetics to articulate most properly. So don't rest too much - you should not for 50 Bucks per hour! Makes it a little bit easier to believe in reaching the aim of your Basic Studies, finally becoming a (6) Theoretical Therapist: "Prepare yourself for all essentials: You are not theoretically a Therapist, but you are a Theoretical Therapist now. Which seems to be nearly the same, but never mind. You earn good Money now and do not work too much - but do you want to stay here all life?" Focusing is what you need here most. From Monday till Thursday between 9 a.m. and 15 p.m., you take your Charisma, Logic and Writing up to Level 7, and all this you do to finally learn about the Simlish Psychology, earning 60 Simoleons per hour. You are a psychologist from now on and forever - you cannot get rid of what you have learned about this intensly and with such an amount of hard work. But most of all Theoretical Therapists want to go on, to learn more: they specialize in further careers. And they do have very interesting choices between the three branches Health Saviour, Mental Coach, and Master of Mental Health. a) The Health Saviour: Health as the Basis of all "As a Health Savior, you need to learn all about medicines and pills and suppositories. For the first time being. Being followed by a thorough training to a Herbalist. (Nature knows many answers.) And after your head burst, you will be driven through the hardest physical education training program ever. (We really mean!) And after all, if you chose this career branch, you will be a profound genuine mental and physical health therapist. You will earn more money than before and be a true role model for your patients. The Health Saviour does not only train the client's body, but also discusses all contextes between body and soul. They know why you bow or why you frown, and they teach you reading your own body. Which is very surprising sometimes!" So at first, you will be a (7) Pharmaceutical Slave: "Pills 'n drugs 'n diarrhea - your Job is getting to know pills, how they are made, how they work, what damages they cause and how to get enormously rich by ill Sims and keeping them sick. Followed by an ethics Course where you discover moral and really mad Sims." Focus still in need, you learn about pills and drugs and nerves and muscles from Monday till Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Improve your Logic, you will need it - and get your Fitness an update to at least level 5. Before teaching Sims to have a sane Body, you will have to do some self-exercise, earning 150 per hour. Not too bad, but not enough for you? Okay, become a (8) Herbal Witch: "So it's rather Pills 'n drugs 'n herbs & Co. making Sims feel better, that's why you leqarn how to brew and use herbals. Which is fun most of the time, especially when trying out the herbals yourself. You should never give anything to a Sim you do not know on your own!" You long for Inspiration from Monday till Friday, get to work at 7 a.m. (for most herbals are in best condition that time) to 3 a.m, (which is quite enough on Career Level 8). Logic, Herbalism and Gardening shall be driven to higher Levels, for you brew and cook a lot in this level. But you do it for 180 Simoleons per hour, so what? If you continue this way, you might soon develop into a (9) Physical Trainer: "Sweat and aching muscles - after such a Long time of theory and stuff, you might have forgotten how to move your body! Get yourself into shape, run around the clock, erm, block, drive your Body where your brain already is! And afterwards just do the same on your patients." Remember staying confident? It is much easier here on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday(there are games on Saturday, you know) from 13 p.m. to 18 p.m. Most physical training is done in the afternoon. But to reach the last step of this Career, you'll have to perfect three of your skills: Fitness, Herbalism, and, of Course, Charisma. You won't become anything without Charisma! But with it, you'll earn 350 bucks per hour - and this is not the end! (10) Mental Health Therapist: "You look like the flourishing life. You know all about chemistry and biology, you are empathic, but demanding. Your Clients love you and also to work on their own mind through their bodies. Sounds weird, but works out like a Workout. Early a potion and training when rise makes the Sim healthy, and you wealty and wise." This the end of this Career, and you automatically feel energized. You work on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and take rests from this really exciting and exhausting job all time around. 1200 Simoleons per hour are your fees, and you really deserve that. A Career you can plan a life with! b) The Mental Coach: Simply knowing about language, speech and the fine art of singing and vocal modulation "You use language like a sorcerer: you look through the outward appearance of people, as if you were looking through the air, discovering all their true intentions, their deepest desires and their darkest dreams. You know how to enchant with words, how to be entranced by the power of the voice. Like the mentalist, you instantly notice when somebody's lying to you, and you could drive people to anything - which of course you can keep! Because you use your power only for the bright side - right?" This Career differs totally from the one above: the Mental Coach teaches you all about your voice and articulation, what it expresses and how to use in a smart way. The voice as the audible mirror of the soul, shows all your feelings fast and precisely to an attentive listener: it trembles when you are sad, it is full of energy when you are angry, it creaks when you are tired. To be master of your voice and speech, means being master of the situation! Here you start with the following step: (7) Linguistic Assistent: Phonetics, Phonology, Gramma and Semantics "Phonetics, Phonology, Gramma and Semantics - nothing can make you stumble with speech. You know what speech sounds like and how actually it should sound like - which is enormously and different; you never lose the sense of your sentences, no matter how long these ever might be. You make Sims feel ashamed just by even only nodding to them. Speech is not only words - and you KNOW that." Focusing is of great importance here! From Monday till Friday, you work from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.especially on your skills, namely Logic, Charisma, and - Guitar playing. Yes! Voice training also means singing, and to stay professional, you should master at least one instrument to accompany the singing client with all power you got. And you might be inspired to do so because of the 180 Bucks per hour that you earn with it. You will gain in self ensurance. For sure. And after that, you may continue as a (8) Therapist in the Psychological Emergency Outpatient Clinic: "There is somebody in need - TALK to him. Your task is making Sims who are highly frustrated, depressive, exhausted, upset, or all together, stand up smiling again and leave the crowded ambulance, make them turn home and talk to their friends about their lifes and problems (and if they don't have any, than find some) (friends, not problems - this is why it is so important to have someone like you to make it all sure)." You exercised being confident - for the Sims coming here to you! Now you practize every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. till 1 p.m. as somewhat inbetween a clinical linguist, teaching brain stroke patients and children how to speak clearly again, and an emergency psychologist, mentally catching sad Sims who need First Aid on their soul. This is very, very exhausting! At the end of the day, sometimes you think, your head explodes; you still work on Charisma, perfect your Logic, and even gain in Comedy up to level 5: Sometimes laughing is the best medicine! At least for the Clients; you do this all for your good heart and the fee of 480 Simoleons per hour. After promotion, you'll be an (9) Articulation Acrobat (AA): "You juggle words and weave a net with your voice. Aliterations are your armours, rap is your music, no single letter will be missed in your accurately completed articulation. You seem a bit elven, and nobody can find out why. This - makes you mighty! You can barely hide your satisfaction after all the stress and the oral motor exercises you have been going through." Always intensly focused, you work every Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with Sims of all ages who stutter or talk too fast. You teach teachers how to save their voice, Football Players how not to get hoarse, Managers how to articulate precisely and news reporter how not to clear the throat all the time. Singing is the best Basic for it all! And therefore all this claims to improve Charisma (up to level 10), guitar playing and singing. Which leads to fees of 600 Simoleons per hour. Which is not too bad. But still you can climb one step further up your Career ladder: (10) Doctor of Rhetoric, Mental Coach: "If the Queen needs to hold a speech, she will count on YOU! You have written several books about speech and how to abuse it; Clients wait years for your help and pay good money for it. Well done!" As a studied Doctor, you feel confident rather automatically. You know all about speech, rhethoric, phonetics (how a Sim does speak out a word) and phonology (how a Sim should speak out that word). People come from all over the world to ask you Questions about how to hold their talks, and so on. You work on Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., teach at University or at School, and all in all are satisfied with your fees about 930 Bucks per hour - you are worth it, and everybpody knows! Finally you are c) Master of Mental Health:You are tha Alpha and the Omega of Mental Health and Psychology. "The Education to the Master of Mental Health (Dr.phil.rer.nat.psych.) was voted the most difficult but lucrative education of all time by Sim City Magazine in January 2018. There is almost nothing you can not learn there. And in the end, your neighbour with his sports car will be jealous on your yacht. You could work at universities or for an older millionaire. In short, you are very close to God. And yet, because you have been educated to empathy and wisdom, you remain humble and spend most of your reward. Not true? You just do not leave your armchair any more. Only if you want." Go through the following career steps: (7) Wellness Assistant: "Balance within Body and Mind is your Credo. You convince Sims that there is much more than money - or ist lack of it, food - or the lack of it, or love - or the lack of it. There is a world inside of you, as well as on the outside, and you take your clients to a journey through it. And by the way, you like Sauna, massages and yoga yourself." You feel fine. You do feel fine from Monday till Friday from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. At the same time, you work on Charisma and Logic, and in parallel get your Wellness up to the highest level, because you teach Sims all about Wellness now. Buy yourself a sauna - with fees of 590 Simoleons per hour this won't be too difficult. Yes, you feel fine, and your clients will profit from that. You probably will regret to be promoted to a (8) Heart Plumber: "Grab a couch, park your patient's hips on the seat and let him talk. All you do is listening and make some notes and smart comments. Yes, the answers already are within the Sim - just let them show up. Carefully with empathy!" You confidently work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., listening to the complicated problems Sims can have. Sometimes you give them pills for their hearts, sometimes you sing a song with them; you cook together with them, you eat together with them, improving your skills Baking, Gourmet Cooking, Charisma and Logic at the same time. "Savoir vivre" is what you try to teach them for 1100 Simoleons per hour. And they do pay it, because you are brilliant! Still, another challenge is waiting for you: become (9) Doctor of Neurology and Psychiatry: "Finally, learn the high art of nerve cell study and the analysis of human abysses. Now you can really draw all conclusions from body and mind on a microbiotical level. Your Clients are deeply impressed by all you say and do; which should remind you of your big responsability again." You have a doctorate now, and you start off confidently every Monday and Saturday from 11 a.m. till 2 p.m. You now teach young doctors and younger therapists all about nerve cells and psychiatric illnesses. People might think that you are lazy, but we know the cost of reaching this level. Still working to perfection on your Handiness, Gourmet Cooking, Charisma, and Parenting, you are dependant on all this free time. Concerning your fees, you earn 1500 Simoleons per hour, which is neccessary because you cannot work that much any more. And finally, if you got all over this, you might finish up your Career as a (10)Master of Mental Health: Dr.phil.rer.nat.psych. Master of Mental Health: "This is it. Your name and titles now are longer than the summary on a deodorant. Your fees look like other ones' social Security number. You yourself look decadently rich, happy and unrepentant. Maybe also unscrupulously dangerous - take care! The line between charity and corruption is incredibly narrow … What? Erm - I just wanted to congratulate!" Money and freetime as much as you have ever dreamed of, you will be very satisfied with going to work. Feeling fine on Monday, Wednesday , and Friday from 11 a.m. to noon, you hold talks in Universities, sometimes have a very Special Client ("special" here means "VIP"), and you earn 5400 Simoleons per hour for it. This is why you feel quite fine.

[janetvillanueva]

May Museum Hopping (+ a brief reflection on my life and education)

The end of May came with my cousin and I visiting the newly-opened National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Anthropology. This post is way overdue, I know, but bear with me - everybody knows I’m nothing if not lazy. (No hay nada nuevo.)

This trip of ours wasn’t planned at all. We decided on just winging it, hopping on a bus bound Lawton first thing in the morning. All we knew was that we were going to the new National Museum and making plans on the spot. It was a good thing that we arrived early, because even at ten o’clock in the morning there was already a line that extended all the way to the bottom of the museum’s exterior staircase.

We only got in after waiting in-line for around twenty minutes, but it was worth it.

We ended up spending three hours there. This museum made me long to pursue marine biology again - heck, it literally revived my passion for marine biology. The whole museum was beautiful. I loved that it looked so old-fashioned on the outside but so modern on the inside. I do wish that they had more exhibits, though, but if that were so I probably would have never left that place. The good part was that I was able to practice my Spanish reading skills at least a little. I also have to mention the fact na ang lakas ng air-con nila. So your make-up is likely gonna stay intact the whole time you’re there.

My cousin and I then went to the museum just across Natural History - Anthropology - after getting lunch. It turned out that it was actually the museum we should have gone to first. All the floors were filled with artifacts. The Anthropology museum actually felt more genuine, in a sense, and there was much more to be gained from the exhibits than those in Natural History. I also got to read part of an old book that was completely in Spanish and whose foreword was written by Jose Rizal himself. While I understood less than half of it, skimming through the pages trying to make sense of things made me realize that my problem when it comes to language-learning isn’t in grammar, but in vocabulary - had my vocabulary been much wider, I probably would have understood most of it without a cinch. There were also a couple of things in the museum that were in French, the simplest of which I understood through my basic-yet-mediocre French skills and some knowledge on grammar rules Neo-Latin languages usually share.

I recommend going to the National Museum of Anthropology first if you’re looking to feed your brain - like, really feed your brain. We were only there for about three hours and while we were able to get to all of the exhibits, I believe that if I were to go there a second time it’d probably take me the better part of the day just relishing each artifact and artwork one by one. There were things about the ivory trade between China and its neighboring countries, chicken bones and nut shells salvaged from the remains of a long-sunken ship, an astrolabe from another sunken ship, pottery, et cetera. There’s also a huge courtyard in the middle of the building located on the lowermost floor where you can just unwind and sit on the stone benches. NMA really is that museum.

I can only wish that others would appreciate these two museums just as much as I did and not just go there for the sake of taking pictures to look ‘cool’ and ‘in’ and ruin what should be a place that is both peaceful and conducive for learning new things. I got to contemplate about a lot of things during our day trip there - I got to think about my future and what I really want to be in life.

To be honest, as of late the future - my future - has been a touchy subject for me. Even though my getting into my top-choice local college was met with elation (not only by me, but by my parents, as well), a part of me still longs to pursue my tertiary education abroad instead. While I’m grateful that I got into my desired college and the disappointment of not having applied abroad early on and working on my credentials has eased with time, there are moments when things get pretty difficult for my psyche, especially when I’m still receiving e-mails out of the blue from various international colleges I planned on applying to. (Not to mention that I still get pretty distressed whenever I think of my qualifications and how poor of an applicant I most probably am compared to others.)

It’s not that I don’t like the education here. It’s a matter of preference, I guess - a part of me just feels like going to another country is something that I should do; kind of like a calling of sorts. I’ve always wanted to see the world and study in prestigious universities. When I was younger, I used to imagine myself during White Coat Day in my dream medical school all the time. (No, that school isn’t here.) It consumed my whole being so much that sometimes my imagination would get so close to reality, it was like I wasn’t just dreaming up the feel of the white coat against my skin anymore.

If you asked me, if I were rich I’d probably fly to Europe or the States to study Philosophy or some other social science. In fact, if I hadn’t ended up getting into my current college, I would have ended up actually studying Philosophy anyways (and then shifting/transferring, as per my mother’s wishes). Then I’d study marine biology, snatch an MA and a PhD, then become a marine scientist with a degree in Philosophy and a sidejob as an animal rights activist. (Yes, my dreams are this far-fetched.)

I don’t know. Even I’m confused when it comes to what I wanna do in the future. I like the natural sciences and medicine, but I also like the humanities and social sciences. I want to be a doctor - a surgeon -, but I want to be a marine scientist-slash-animal rights activist-slash-Philosophy degree holder too.

Things would be a lot easier if I could just make my mind up, but alas - I’m nothing if not indecisive. It sucks. I’m so indecisive, instead of just splitting this post into two I decided on just writing everything as a whole and cramming it into a single write-up.

Maybe I’ll just take things day-by-day. Even if I’m a person who doesn’t like leaving things to circumstance, I guess at this point I can do nothing but just let things be since I don’t know what to do myself and just decide later, when I feel the time is right. Either way, if something is meant to happen, it’s going to happen regardless.

[orbemnews]

'The ocean is our life-support system': Kerstin Forsberg on why we must protect our seas After finishing her degree, the Peruvian biologist began working on a sea turtle protection project in the north of the country. Two years later, in 2009, Forsberg founded “Planeta Océano,” an organization that aims to empower local communities to look after the ocean. Its work with giant manta rays led to Peru’s government granting the species legal protection. Through Call to Earth, CNN is reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Forsberg will be guest editor for Call to Earth as the series explores themes around the ocean, lending her expertise and commissioning features on the subject. CNN spoke to Forsberg about her passion for the ocean, its importance for humankind and the steps we must take to keep it healthy. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. CNN: Where does your passion for the ocean come from? Kerstin Forsberg: I have always lived close to the coast. I’m from Lima, Peru’s capital, which is just in front of the ocean. When I was three years old, my parents moved to Vancouver, in Canada, also on the coastline. It was my parents that cultivated that love for our surroundings and the environment. The passion that I had since I was a kid and that genuine interest and care for the environment has followed me throughout my studies and while I was growing up. CNN: You’ve worked in marine conservation your whole adult life. Why do you feel such a need to protect the ocean? Kerstin Forsberg: There are many reasons why we should protect the ocean. First of all, simply because the ocean is our planet’s main life-support system. None of us could be here on this planet today if we didn’t have the ocean. It provides us with over 70% of the oxygen that we breathe. It provides us with a habitable climate. It provides us with resources for subsistence, for livelihoods. Read: Blue Nature Alliance aims to restore 7 million square miles of ocean in five years When I was 22 years old, after finishing my undergraduate degree in biology, I started a very small community project conserving endangered sea turtles in northern Peru. In one month, we had over 100 local volunteers reporting sea turtle strandings and fishermen were reporting sea turtles that were entangled in their fishing nets. It really opened my eyes to how communities depend on a healthy ocean. CNN: Why did you set up Planeta Océano, and what is its mission? Kerstin Forsberg: For me, sea turtles became the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more to do. Even though my project was finishing, I felt this clear responsibility to do more, and that was how Planeta Océano started. What Planeta Océano does is it brings people together and empowers people to conserve the marine environment. We focus on research, we focus on education, and we focus on sustainable development. The work around education aims to increase ocean literacy and marine education in schools. We formed the Marine Educators Network that has, over the years, gained participation of over 50 local schools in Peru. It trains teachers to work together with youth, creating solutions to the environmental challenges they find within their coastal communities. But it’s not enough just to research or educate — you need to think about creative solutions that can support the livelihoods of these impoverished communities and can give alternatives to small-scale fishermen. For example, we’ve been working with fishermen to build manta ray ecotourism and community-based ecotourism, as this serves not just as a way for fishermen to contribute to conservation but also to develop additional income that is really benefiting them and their communities. CNN: Tell us about your work with giant manta rays. Why is the species vulnerable and why did you decide to focus your work on them? Kerstin Forsberg: In the past, manta rays were not a conservation priority in Peru. They were not legally protected, they weren’t a conservation priority for the government or scientists or the community, and they were being harvested. Read: How NASA technology can help save the world’s biggest shark We started a small research study together with local fishermen, local volunteers and local and international partners to understand the mortality that manta rays were facing, and we found over a dozen manta rays that had been caught by local fisheries in less than a year. This number, despite being small, was very worrying because manta rays typically have small population sizes and they reproduce very slowly — only having one pup every two to seven years. So we were talking about a species that could really be threatened and jeopardized by this continuous overexploitation. If we want to make sure that the ocean is healthy, we need to think about all the different species that live there. Working with these charismatic species and understanding them will lead us to wanting to care for the ocean as a whole. If you care for a giant manta ray, you want the manta to live in a healthy ocean, and you will want to share a healthy ocean with that manta as well. CNN: What are the critical issues facing the ocean right now, and what steps does the world need to take to protect it? Kerstin Forsberg: There are so many things challenging the ocean right now, but to put it in a very simple way, there’s everything we’re putting into the ocean. We’re putting in all our waste, including single-use plastic and microplastics. Apart from the pollution, there’s everything we’re getting out of the ocean — the unsustainable, illegal or underreported fisheries. There’s a limited awareness from consumers on what they are feeding on and the traceability of these products. Read: A marine biologist is using virtual reality to bring people closer to the ocean Then there’s the threats that are happening through climate change — for example, habitats changing and species having to migrate, or ocean acidification affecting coral reefs and mangroves. I think that people need to recognize that they can all take a part in whatever role they have. It’s not just about scientists, or government, or businesses, it’s about everybody talking to each other and moving forward. CNN: What do you believe is key to long-lasting conservation? Kerstin Forsberg: If you want to develop change for marine conservation, it really is all about local empowerment and creating ownership. It’s all about people. Of course, it’s critical to have policy, enforcement, regulation, and it’s critical to have sustainable business practices and science. But it’s about looking at all different sectors of society and identifying how each can contribute. Our environment has so many different challenges that it’s really important to look at solutions from a holistic point of view, to make sure that local people have a voice and that they have an opportunity to create change. If we’re talking about marine environments, it’s about the local fishermen that are out there looking at the water every single day, it’s about understanding and viewing things from their lens. It’s about listening. Source link Orbem News #Forsberg #Kerstin #lifesupport #ocean #protect #seas #system

[longwoodstudents]

Student Spotlight: Lauren Kope, Professional Gardener Student

Hello, my name is Lauren Kope and I am a recent transplant from Virginia. Prior to my enrollment in the Professional Gardener program, I worked in both agriculture and horticulture. In 2010, I graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Agricultural Science, concentrating in biology and entomology.  In the first few years out of college, I worked mainly within agriculture, farming both in rural and urban settings. While I loved both and learned an immense amount in those years (much outside the scope of agriculture), I was starting to notice how much I enjoyed plant aesthetics. I was ecstatic when I was offered the opportunity to work as a member of a four person team managing a 140 acre estate. I found immediate joy working in established landscapes and by the end of my first season my focus on horticulture as a career was steadfast. By the end of my second season, all ornamental plantings were maintained under my supervision. The entire estate was designed and managed to support ecosystem health and it was nothing short of magical to be immersed in that richness on a daily basis. That place and time will always be so special to me, but in an effort to lean further into the field, I knew applying for the PG program was the right choice.

What is your favorite plant?

Some of my favorites are Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota), Serviceberries (Amelanchier), and Smokebush (Cotinus coggygria). I’m also a sucker for orchards: functional and gorgeous, especially on a foggy morning.

What is your favorite Garden? What is your favorite part of Longwood?

Hmm that’s a tough one… Instead of picking one, I will say my favorite gardens are where the plants look at home. Maybe they are happily self-seeding, leisurely spilling over a wall, or popping out of nooks unexpectedly; the garden takes on a personality. It’s refreshing to see a well-conceived garden where the plants are comfortable and play well with each other. While I definitely enjoy the art of a good pruning and the contrast of hedging, I enjoy the quirks of naturalized plantings.

My favorite gardens to visit at Longwood are the Meadow, Hillside Garden, and Waterlily displays. But daily, I see little moments at Longwood that make it come to life: the shadow of a palm leaf behind a window, a tiny mushroom growing in the carnivorous plants, ferns and moss growing out of the brickwork.

What is the best part of being a student?

Working and learning alongside so many passionate and skilled horticulturists. I enjoy seeing the diversity of interest within the field. Rotations offer a unique perspective into the inner workings of a public garden; an opportunity I can’t imagine is often available elsewhere. Additionally, I love having personal space to create a garden and grow vegetables.

What is your background in horticulture (or whatever field you are in)?

I graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Agricultural Science. After working in agriculture for several years, I was interested in trying horticulture. I worked as an estate gardener for four years and enjoyed creating and working in naturally artful landscapes.

Why did you want to come to Longwood and what do you think helped you get the position?

I came to Longwood to meet people and learn not just how they do their work but why. I wanted to see their craft and passion and develop my own further. I think horticulturists are often dedicated beyond their job; they are often interested in environment, art, and context. I enjoy seeing how people interpret those values through plants.

I’ve been super lucky to work with and for people who genuinely cared about my growth and supported me in my decision to continue pursuing horticulture. They made themselves available to answer questions, told me I was being an idiot when I needed it, and gave me trust and the freedom to try and to fail. I hope to apply that knowledge here.

What do you do at work? Highlight your favorite project or what you do day-to-day.

The days vary a lot month to month and even week to week. The first three months I rotated in outdoor display, grounds, and conservatory. The rotations are a peek into “A Day in the Life Of…” and help chip away at what aspects of each position are most and least attractive to me. My favorite project so far at Longwood has been working the prescribed burn. I participated in burns at the estate and so I was eager to see how the burn would be organized at Longwood. There are so many sensory details associated with a spring burn and such a distinct transition at a time when spring often hasn’t shown itself yet. It is a catharsis from winter and a harbinger of spring. We are just finishing up our first semester of classes. I can’t believe it has been six months but I finally feel like I have my feet under me. It has been incredibly fulfilling to learn in an environment that keeps horticulture directly in focus. Sometimes you lose that in a large university setting even if you are learning a related subject.

What are your future plans or what is your intended career path?

I have my ideas of what I’d like to do, but that could definitely change over the next couple of years. I still think that I would like to work in public horticulture. I would love to restore a garden but ideally work in a space where people can simply enjoy being in the landscape. Education and outreach are vital to our field, but it’s also nice to go into a space and appreciate it and take from it what you will. I do plan to always keep learning and sharing what I can.

I love that horticulture is an appreciating skill. There is an astonishing amount to learn: Longwood has an entire library of books written on the subject. A person and their experience in this field become more valuable over time instead of obsolete with the times and veterans in the field have invaluable knowledge. In that way it is reassuring to see how far you’ve come, imagine where you could go, and wonder who you will meet along the way.

A prescribed burn at Longwood.

Digging out vegetable rows at The Row, our residential area.

Plant Walk for Continuing Education class.

Potting up Victoria's during Conservatory Rotation.

[myanime2go]

15 Anime Like Dr. Stone [Recommendations]

I am ten billion percent sure you have been compelled by the power of science and you’re looking for more anime like Dr. Stone. Well, you have come to the right place!

And for readers who have not watched Dr. Stone yet. Dr. Stone was one of the most popular anime of the Summer 2019 anime season, and for good reason. It was a fascinating show with a unique premise, interesting main cast, educational, insightful and fascinating to watch. Summary One fateful day, all of humanity was petrified by a blinding flash of light. After several millennia, high schooler Taiju awakens and finds himself lost in a world of statues. However, he's not alone! His science-loving friend Senku's been up and running for a few months and he's got a grand plan in mind—to kickstart civilization with the power of science! By resetting the world, animes like Dr. Stone really allow us to explore human nature and the future of society. Can we be better? Is it possible to restore technological advances to what it is now? It's definitely a fun topic to watch.

let's get started!

Anime Similar to Dr. Stone

15. Planetes

Studios: SunriseEpisodes: 26Aired: Fall 2003  If what you loved most about Dr. Stone was its commitment to scientific accuracy, you should give Planetes a try, it can be slow-paced but for your patience, it rewards you with amazing character development that sets Planetes apart from other anime. Summary Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife, Yuri finds himself six years later as part of a team of debris cleaners on a vessel called the Toy Box charged with clearing space junk from space flight paths. The team consists of Hachimaki, a hotshot debris-man with a sailor’s affinity for the orbital ocean; Fee, a chain-smoking tomboy beauty with an abrasive edge; and Pops, a veteran orbital mechanic whose avuncular presence soothes the stress of the job. https://youtu.be/IzfiI1jIGi8 Planetes features distinct realism in its storytelling, relatable characters, a genuine sense of humour and motivational dreams. 14. Are You Lost? (Sounan Desu ka?)

Studios: EzόlaEpisodes: 12Aired: Summer 2019 Dr. Stone and Are You Lost? both have characters that must survive the peril they are kept in and characters that know a lot and come up with ideas to help survive. Summary Four girls are stranded on a deserted island after surviving a plane crash. How can they survive? Because of a plane crash … starting today, we're spending the springtime of our lives on a desert island!! There's nothing here, so we have to make everything!! And eat everything!! (Ugh!) Check out our high-school-girl survival story of courage and knowledge. We're actually doing pretty well! https://youtu.be/wwP8TQE2P0c Are You Lost? doesn't take itself too seriously, it is a little more light-hearted, funny, fan service fueled and filled with cute girl anime. while with some of the same themes as Dr. Stone, Are You Lost? maybe a good choice.  13. Space Brothers

Studios: A-1 PicturesEpisodes: 99Aired: Spring 2012 Space Brothers and Dr. Stone are both animes about science and engineering. Both characters also dream of going to space and both plots are rooted in real science. Summary One night in 2006, when they were young, the two brothers Mutta (born 1993) and Hibito (born 1996) saw what appeared to be a UFO heading for the moon. They decided that night to both become astronauts and travel out into space. In 2025, Hibito has become an astronaut, and he’s going to go to the moon. Mutta ended up following a more traditional career path with an auto development company. However, Mutta just ruined his career through a violent altercation with his boss. Now, not only has he lost his job, he appears to be blacklisted in the entire industry. Maybe this is a rare opportunity for Mutta to once again chase his childhood dream and become an astronaut like his little brother! https://youtu.be/ciS3fDqT1Vw Space Brothers is a well-constructed anime that mixes a heartwarming story with delightful comedy and relatable characters to show the audience just how difficult it is to become an astronaut. 12. Moyashimon

Studios: Telecom Animation Film, ShirogumiEpisodes: 11Aired: Fall 2007 Moyashimon like Dr. Stone is very educational and entertaining. It may not be survival based like Dr. Stone but most of the skills learnt in it, will be needed by Senku and Taiju if they are going to survive and kick start civilisation. Summary Meet Sawaki Tadayasu, second son of yeast preparation suppliers, who is forced to go to an agricultural university and continue the family business. He has the unique ability to see and communicate with microbes, and so he and his friend, Kei, are taken as students to the fermentation-process obsessed Itsuki-sensei. This anime follows Sawaki as he tries to make his way through university as discreetly as possible…which is pretty impossible if you’re as talented as he is. https://youtu.be/CzKecuRFICw Every now and again an anime comes along that is quirky, odd, and oftentimes underrated, Moyashimon is just such an anime. 11. Steins;Gate

Studios: White FoxEpisodes: 24Aired: Spring 2011 Steins;Gate like Dr.Stone is a science fiction anime that anyone who loves this genre should be sure to give it a try. Summary The story of Steins;Gate takes place in Akihabara and is about a group of friends who have managed to customize their microwave into a device that can send text messages to the past. As they perform different experiments, an organization named SERN who has been doing their own research on time travel tracks them down and now the characters have to find a way to avoid being captured by them. https://youtu.be/27OZc-ku6is Steins;Gate was one of those animes that made me laugh, cry and really connect with our characters. It also made me think, and it rewarded my thoughts by having closure and clarity. 10. 7 Seeds

Studios: GonzoEpisodes: 12Aired: Spring 2019 After watching Dr. Stone you are probably now into series that depict people trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic future. Well, 7 Seeds is a much more realistic take on this narrative, with ordinary people trying to come to terms with the idea of everyone they knew and loved being dead while trying to survive in the wilderness. Summary Scientists had predicted this disaster, and in response, the leaders of every country met to develop a plan for human survival before the meteor hit. The Seven Seeds project was developed out of this meeting. Each country froze a number of young healthy people, which allowed them to survive the meteor. After the computer determined that Earth was once again safe for human life, it released them into the world. The Japanese government created five groups of survivors: Winter group, Spring group, Summer group A, Summer group B, and Fall group. Each group consisted of seven members and one guide. The guide carried small tubes of poison on their necks to allow them to end their lives if their situation became unbearable. The Japanese government prepared seven "Fuji" as refuges for the groups. In each Fuji, the group would find seeds and numerous books instructing them on survival in the wilderness. https://youtu.be/7iCWs2HigSw Much like Dr. Stone, 7 Seeds is all about learning to prevail in the wilderness without the benefits of modern technology. And it's definitely can be seen has a more realistic, less comedic take of Dr. Stone's end-of-humanity plot. 9. The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland)

Studios: CloverWorksEpisodes: 12Aired: Winter 2019 The Promised Neverland like Dr. Stone is a survival anime though not completely the same, but with its psychological thriller element it keeps us at the edge of our seats. Summary Emma, Norman and Ray are the brightest kids at the Grace Field House orphanage. And under the care of the woman they refer to as “Mom,” all the kids have enjoyed a comfortable life. Good food, clean clothes and the perfect environment to learn—what more could an orphan ask for? One day, though, Emma and Norman uncover the dark truth of the outside world they are forbidden from seeing. https://youtu.be/JIcjo7XVlOY The Promised Neverland starts off cute and harmless but it turns out there is more than meets the eye in this anime, with its cliffhangers, extremely suspenseful, tense and heart-rending moments. It's definitely a must-watch. 8. No Game, No Life

Studios: MadhouseEpisodes: 12Aired: Spring 2014 No Game, No Life is a beautifully colourful world, filled with wonder and brilliance. And like Dr. Stone, there is a lot of tactical thinking used by the characters which are very exciting to watch. Summary The internet is full of rumours about the Neet and Hikikomori genius gamer siblings Sora and Shiro. The two go as far as to refer to the world as a “shit game“, but then one day a young man calling himself “God“ summons them to a parallel universe. There, God has forbidden war, and “everything is to be settled with games“. Yes, even the national borders. Driven into a corner by other species, the ’human species’ is down to its last city. Can Sora and Shiro, these related failures of society, become the saviours of humankind in this parallel world? https://youtu.be/fV7nGIUuyzA No Game No Life is a brilliantly exciting masterpiece that challenges and excites viewers all at once. And just like Dr. Stone, you will find yourself needing to binge-watch the whole series if you decide to give it a try. 7. Cells at Work! (Hataraku Saibou)

Studios: David ProductionEpisodes: 13Aired: Summer 2018 After watching Dr. Stone, if you’re curious about science and biology, Cells at Work! Is definitely the show for you, it will satisfy and entertain you to no end, with its educational substance, comedic take and like Dr. Stone, it is an exciting take on the 'science is fun' trope. Summary Within the human body there is said to be approximately 60 million cells. White blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, macrophages, memory cells, killer T cells, natural killer cells, B cells, mast cells and many more! All these different cells work tirelessly within the body, never resting for a moment, at any time willing to resist invading foreign entities like germs and viruses to the bitter end! From Akane Shimizu, winner of Shounen Sirius’ Rookie Award, comes an informative tale about anthropomorthized cells! https://youtu.be/HMXWvvjAJek Cells at Work! is definitely different from a lot of anime shows, I mean how many shows are set inside the human body, humanizing all the cells and microscopic organisms within. It's definitely a must-watch if you liked Dr. Stone. 6. Astra Lost in Space (Kanata no Astra)

Studios: LercheEpisodes: 12Aired: Summer 2019 Kanata no Astra is definitely an underrated anime, looks can be deceiving and that's how this anime feels at first glance but it's a real gem and like Dr. Stone is a whole new breath of fresh air. Summary The year is 2061 when space travel is now possible and commercially viable, and the students of Caird High School embark on their Planet Camp. But soon after Group B5 arrived at their planetary campsite, a mysterious and unforeseen sentient light sphere warps its 9 members into outer space, stranding them 5012 light-years away from their home planet. With the discovery of an old, unmanned spaceship nearby, the students must stay strong, manage their limited resources and remain united in the darkness of space, so that all of them can survive their long and likely perilous trek back home aboard the Astra. https://youtu.be/wD9o_8UjOvg Kanata no Astra is a really decent anime, with a lot of mystery, logic and survival. Each element is done in a reasonable and accurate way like Dr. Stone, even the humour and drama aspects are well balanced and perfectly timed. 5. From the New World (Shinsekai Yori)

Studios: A-1 Pictures Episodes: 25Aired: Fall 2012 From the New World is like Dr. Stone just a lot darker and with a more serious tone, looking at how humanity has survived its destruction and rebuilt society. Asking the big questions what is yourself? society? and the importance of humanity? Summary The story is set in Japan a millennium from now. Five children — the protagonist Saki, Satoru, Maria, Mamoru, and Shun — have been born and raised in a tranquil town that can be described as a utopia, overflowing with water and green foliage. The world is ruled by people who have the “cursed power“ or the “gods’ power“ of telekinesis. After a certain incident, Saki and the others come to realize the true nature of their world. Before long, they learn everything, including the bloody history that brought humanity to this state. The five throw themselves into life-threatening adventure, fighting to protect friends and a world on the brink of collapse. https://youtu.be/hJn3FNPoY5A From the New World is a slow-paced anime but if you are patient with it, it's an amazing and thought-provoking anime that you will be glad you watched. 4. Silver Spoon (Gin no Saji)

Studios: A-1 PicturesEpisodes: 11Aired: Summer 2012 When I started watching Silver Spoon, like Dr. Stone I had my reservations thinking it would just be another fun little slice of life anime but it was much more. Summary Yugo Hachiken aspires to live separated from his family, so he takes the initiative by enrolling in an agriculture school. He thinks, with his talent in studying, no problems will arise no matter what kind of school he attends. He is quickly proven wrong. Raised as a city boy, he is forced to uncover the inconvenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy the story of Hachiken, as he tries to keep up with his new friends, farmers’ heirs, who are already accustomed to the harsh world of farming. The story of a sweat, tear, and mud-stained youth begins! https://youtu.be/b-yCzcYqH5E Silver Spoon like Dr. Stone is the perfect example of an anime that encourages us to believe in our abilities to set our own path and with hard work and teamwork, we can overcome hardship. 3. Death Note

Studios: MadhouseEpisodes: 37Aired: Fall 2006 When Tsukasa Shishiou reveals his intention to revive only the young, destroy the petrified adults and leave society in the Stone Age, Dr. Stone started to remind me a lot of Death Note. With the strong rivalry between our protagonist and rival, the way they used their intellect to get things done, outsmarting the rest of the cast or just the lengths they went to achieve their dreams. Summary An overachieving 12th grader, Yagami Light is an aspiring young man who seems destined for success. Unfortunately, his daily habits bore his incredible intelligence. So when a strange black notebook falls from the heavens during his class, it isn’t long before he takes it for himself. In his room, he finds, to his horror/fascination, that the Death Note is real, and owned by Ryuk, a Shinigami (Death God). Any person’s name written in the Death Note will die in 40 seconds.... without fail. With this supposed gift of God, Light swears upon his grave that he will ’cleanse’ the world of the evil and needless people that inhabit it, thus creating a utopia for all. With the world’s greatest detective, L, hot on his tail, will Light’s ideals prove too fantastic to realize, or will he succeed bringing justice? https://youtu.be/Vt_3c8BgxV4 Death Note is definitely one of the best anime series of all time. 2. Ascendance of a Bookworm

Studios: Ajia-DoEpisodes: 14Aired: Fall 2019 Ascendance of a Bookworm starts off like Dr. Stone the main character is removed from her world and brought back to a world that is primitive to her own. Using science and history knowledge from her time period to adapt and influence the new world and its native inhabitants. Summary Reino, a book-loving college student who just got her Librarian certification and was just hired to be the librarian of a large university library. Just before graduating and entering the job of her dreams, she was killed by a massive earthquake crushing her underneath a pile of her own books. Wishing for reincarnation in order to read evermore, where she got reincarnated to was a world with a low literacy rate and very few books, limited only to the nobility of the world. As she reincarnated as the daughter of a lowly soldier, no matter how much she wants to read there is no way there are any books around. If there are no books then what do you do? Why you make them yourself of course. What her goal is, to become the librarian of a library! In order to live a life surrounded by books, she starts with making books. https://youtu.be/KfPyxG-ZbFM Ascendance of a Bookworm is Dr. Stone for viewers who want a slow-paced plot, that explores more of the ordinary life of a bookworm. It's a beautiful isekai anime I recommend you give a try. Honourable Mentions Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Studios: Bones, Kinema CitrusEpisodes: 11Aired: Summer 2009 Uninhabited Planet Survive! (Mujin Wakusei Survive)

Studios: Madhouse, Telecom Animation FilmEpisodes: 52Aired: Fall 2003 Kemurikusa

Studios: YaoyorozuEpisodes: 12Aired: Winter 2019 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Studios: Studio Hibari, TopcraftEpisodes: 1Aired: Winter 1984 The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

Studios: J.C.Staff, Egg FirmEpisodes: 120Aired: Summer 2016 Jyu-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King

Studios: BonesEpisodes: 11Aired: Spring 2006 1. Girl’s Last Tour

Studios: White FoxEpisodes: 12Aired: Fall 2017 Girl’s Last Tour is quite similar to Dr. Stone in both plots happen in an apocalyptic world, where our characters survive the day-to-day hostilities of their environments. Summary Civilization is dead, but Chito and Yuuri are still alive. So they hop aboard their beloved Kettenkrad motorbike and aimlessly wander the ruins of the world they once knew. Day after hopeless day, they look for their next meal and fuel for their ride. But as long as the two are together, even an existence as bleak as theirs has a ray or two of sunshine in it, whether they're sucking down their fill of soup or hunting for machine parts to tinker with. For two girls in a world full of nothing, the experiences and feelings the two shares give them something to live for… https://youtu.be/SuVVs4giZrI Girls’ Last Tour is lighthearted and emotionally; it excels through simplicity and thoughtfulness. Making it one Of best shows of its year.

science!!!!! Well, that's my list. Do you think there is any anime I missed let me know in the comments section below? Till next time stay safe. Read the full article

[coweringenjoyment-blog]

Context Is King, or the Everlasting Problematic of Identity

4-15-18

          Once, during an intense and circuitous conversation with one of my favorite professors which had begun in class and continued through his office hours only to stretch late into the evening over cocktails and tapas, I came to what was, for me, a revelatory conclusion: in the best possible sense, I was drowning in a sea of context. The more I studied, the more I learned in various subjects as diverse as theoretical physics, literary theory, political science, U.S. history, continental philosophy, evolutionary biology, English literature, etc., the less I believed in the postmodern regimentation of knowledge and the more strongly I felt the deep interconnection of ideas, the inner oneness of human thought and endeavor. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that all of human history has been driven toward one goal, or even one set of goals or anything so grandiose and modernist as all that; rather, I’m asserting that certain ideas are so big as to shape others even as they are themselves being shaped by the ideas surrounding them. Let me give you all just a few examples, make the abstract, concrete, as it were.[1]

           We can all agree right here and now that Sir Isaac Newton revolutionized the realms of physics and mathematics, yes? Good. Now, allow me to take that commonsense statement a step further and say that Newton ushered into the Anglosphere a new paradigm for thinking centered around his mechanistic conceptual framework. Consider the way that, in his letters, John Adams describes his vision for the various independent states to work as closely as the cogs of a machine, or indeed the deism of Adams’s contemporaries, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson among them, whose vision of God was as a clockmaker who had designed the universe so as to fit perfectly together like the gears of a clock before stepping back to watch His masterful machine hum along, perfect, into eternity. Even as late as 1795, at the cusp of the Romantic Period’s rejection of Newton’s mechanistic classicism in favor of a strongly holistic understanding of the natural world as sublime in its approach of an oft pantheistic God, British author Samuel Johnson used mechanical imagery to drive the action in several key passages of his early picaresque novel The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, though by that point in our intellectual history, the cracks were, admittedly, beginning to show: the mechanist whom Rasselas visits early in his attempts to cross the impenetrable mountains surrounding his home and so leave the utopia of Happy Valley meets a sad fate, as his newly invented flying machine proves worthless in the air and Rasselas is forced to save the half-drowned inventor.

           A similar process can be seen time and again if one attends carefully to history’s broad strokes. After Alfred Russell Wallace and Charles Darwin published their early works on evolutionary biology, distinctly evolutionary ideas began soon to dominate philosophy under people like Alfred North Whitehead, political theory under Herbert Spencer, and medical science via phrenology. Later, Einstein’s work on relativity and the curvature of spacetime lead, in large measure, to ideas as diverse as cultural and moral relativism, the field of statistics, and John Dewey’s pragmatism; similarly, Freud’s psychoanalytic theories have manifested across cultural divisions within those societies familiar with his corpus. Today, the influences of neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and especially the various technologies and techniques I’ll simply lump together as computer science but which must be understood to include everything from social media platforms to entertainment streaming services to robotics in the manufacturing industry to self-driving cars to, if Stephen Hawking was to be believed, artificial intelligence, seem to have so captivated the Western imagination as to have propelled science fiction from the basement to the megaplex even as the entire branch of philosophy concerned with the human mind has become so mired in topics more suited for a laboratory or an internet café than a traditional seminar room or lecture hall as to have almost removed the humanity from the human mind entirely.

           What I’m getting at is this: everything is connected; ideas do not exist in a vacuum; context is king.

           This primacy of context, if you accept my argument to this point, leads to profound consequences not only metaphysical but also aesthetic and political, as philosophers as ideologically diverse as Martin Heidegger and John Dewey well recognized. In his classic essay “Time and Individuality” (1940) [2], Dewey asserts that each person exists in an ever-changing world defined by possibility, that no person remained constant throughout a lifetime but instead changed along with and according to the changes in their world, that each of us is always capable of growth, positive or negative or neutral, in as much as and to the extent that there remains for us other people, places, things, or ideas with which to interact; for Dewey this meant, in his words, “that genuine individuality exists; that individuality is pregnant with new developments; that time is real.” Even so profound an insight as this was for Dewey not enough, and so we are left with two further gemlike conclusions.

           First, Dewey reminds his readers that, while change is inevitable, progress is not, insisting that “change is going to occur anyway, and the problem is the control of change in a given direction.” Of course, how we go about directing change will vary depending on the context in which we are acting, but Dewey’s point is well taken; why write if not to change the world in some way, however minor? Indeed, this leads us to Dewey’s second conclusion, that “art is the complement of science” in so much that where science deals “wholly with relations, not with individuals,” art “is not only the disclosure of the individuality of the artist but is also a manifestation of individuality as creative of the future, in an unprecedented response to conditions as they were in the past.” That is, Dewey sees in art of all kinds humanity’s ability to express what he calls a vision of the “what might be but is not yet” such that “not just the few who are recognized writers, painters, musicians” but rather anyone capable of “authentic expression of any and all individuality” can direct change in real, meaningful ways. We’ll revisit this point momentarily, but first we should return briefly to the main thrust of this post, the supremacy of context.

            If, as Dewey says, our selves are always already in the process of being created as we interact with new people and new ideas, then our physical contexts matter profoundly to our ever-changing identities. Studies have shown that, placed into groups strongly identifying as either liberal or conservative, moderates will become more extreme ideologically in line with the beliefs of the people around them; I mention this not to warn of the dangers of groupthink, however real they are, but instead to emphasize the power of others to influence even our deepest beliefs and so to bring focus to the power of context in identity formation. A dialectic begins to form between sociality, that meaningful interaction that comes with knowing others, and reflexivity, that constant inner questioning that comes with knowing thyself, the synthesis of which is the self in its myriad complexity. Our identities, according to Dewey’s formulation, are in large part determined by those around us, such that to direct the inevitable change in our own lives into something resembling true growth is also to find our place in the world, to position ourselves around people who challenge us consistently but with love, people who see the best in us to so great an extent that we can see our better selves in their eyes, people with strong beliefs and deep passions – people, in short, who you won’t mind carrying around inside as you continue to accumulate further experiences.

           Because that’s how it works, really: the people around you will leave an imprint in your psyche, as you will in theirs, and this will happen as inevitably and as predictably as finishing this very sentence with a cliché about the sun rising in the east. This brings us back to Dewey’s twin conclusions, that we must work to control the direction of change and that art is the medium by which that work may be realized, and to my own: ethically speaking, who we know and where we live matter not just to what we can accomplish but to who and what we can become. As novelist David Foster Wallace suggested to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College in his now famous speech entitled “This Is Water,” being educated means possessing the ability to choose the things about which we think, to choose how we view the world; at this point, we might go one step beyond Wallace’s eloquent conception and suggest that being our best selves means these things and more. Finding our unique places in the world, finding our true selves, also means creating for ourselves an environment suitable to our own individual needs. Whatever else these needs may be, one among them must surely be love.

            So, yes, context is king because without it, nothing exists; without the social, the self is incomplete; and there is no true freedom from context when one takes seriously the notion that the world in which we live really does, in fact, exist, which just about everybody these days is likely to do. But more than that, it is up to us to control that context to the best of our abilities so that we all can flourish. After all, as Dewey would himself insist, it is only in a world wherein all have the equal ability to thrive that each of us has the optimal opportunity to find our truest selves.

[1] I’m inclined to draw my examples from science here, likely due to the influence of Jacob Bronowski’s excellent book The Common Sense of Science, wherein he nears, at times, an argument not too far from the one I’m making in this post, as well as Thomas Kuhn’s influential pronouncements about the evolution of scientific thinking within and through various paradigms in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and by the oft beautiful essays of Loren Eiseley; however, one could land at the same place if starting from theology, philosophy, politics, or any other galvanizing force behind humanity’s collectivized existence.

[2] https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0809314266

[ellielara]

Faculty Spotlight: Gary Gruenewald

Gary Gruenewald is the Associate Professor and Clinical Coordinator for Northwestern College’s Radiologic Technology program. Gary has been working at Northwestern College for nine years, with a total of 27 years in higher education overall. Gary actually began his own education at the University of Illinois for pre-dentistry. Unfortunately, during that time his father passed away. Not only was this an emotionally painful experience in and of itself, but relating to his education, Gary’s father was his support system both emotionally and financially. Because of this devastating experience, Gary was no longer able to afford a degree in pre-dentistry. He had to start thinking of a different career. It was at this time that Gary’s friend told him about the radiologic technology program at Ravenswood Hospital Medical Center. Gary had never considered this before, but it seemed to be a perfect fit – it was a two-year program, close to his house and reasonably priced. He did some additional research and found it would be a great profession. Gary graduated from Ravenswood’s program with a certificate in radiologic technology. Just a few years later, he completed his bachelor’s degree in health arts from the University of St. Francis, where he also eventually completed his master’s degree in health administration.

Gary is incredibly grateful for being accepted into Ravenswood’s program all those years ago. “It’s gotten me where I am today. I thoroughly enjoy the field.” Ravenswood is where Gary started his education but also where he began his career. He started working there as a Staff Technologist for a few years before moving up the ranks. He was promoted to Special Procedures Technologist and then to a didactic and clinical instructor. He later went on to become a program director in downstate Illinois for two years before returning to the Chicago area. The radiography program transferred from Ravenswood to Advocate Illinois Masonic School of Radiologic Technology and then to Northwestern College, which is how Gary ended up here as the Associate Professor and Clinical Coordinator.

Gary teaches a great amount of the curriculum in the radiography program, such as radiation physics, anatomy, radiation biology, law and ethics, and patient care. He went on to describe that the main goal of the program is to train students to be radiologic technologists. At the end of the two years, students will be properly prepared to pass their boards and become a Registered Technologist. Student success is incredibly important to Gary. “What we do in the program is didactic work in the classroom, and that didactic work is transferred to clinical skills.” The program at Northwestern College is incredibly hands-on. Students will be able to apply the knowledge they have learned in the classroom to real-life practice with supervision, such as taking patient X-rays.

Something Gary explained is that students really need commitment when starting the program He went further to say that the program requires time and dedication, as it is full time. In the first year, students go to the college for classes two days a week and then go to clinical two days a week. In the second year, students go to classes two days a week and clinical three days a week. Also, as a student, you have to learn as much as you can and do the work that is required of you. “I think it’s a transition from being a student, where you’re very closely supervised and someone is there to catch you if you make a mistake, and the next day you get registered and you’re on your own.” Gary described this process as a big leap into the field. You have to know that you can do it, knowing you are not going to be supervised. However, as Gary stated, “I think our school really prepares our students very well. They’ve gone through so much clinical education in our program. I’ve seen some really good transitions from the classroom to the working world. So our curriculum trains them very well.”

Specifically, there is currently a very large transition in the field, going from film to digital. “Just like photography, now it is all digital. The same thing is happening in the tech world. For so many years, I was teaching film and film processing, and now that’s been taken away from the curriculum. So teaching students digital radiology goes along with it.” Gary continued to say that Northwestern College is always big on introducing new concepts, especially in terms of imaging modalities. Many students can go on to get certified in specialized procedures, such as Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or ultrasound. “There are different career paths. We give them a taste of each of those to see which way they want to go.”

Gary is incredibly knowledgeable in the field. His education and work history is expansive. He also attends a number of seminars to keep up-to-date on best practices and is an active member of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists and the Association of Educators in Imaging and Radiologic Sciences. So how does he get this information across to students in the program? He explained the traditional challenges with teaching – students learn differently and understand things at different paces. Successful teachers have to find that happy medium to keep the entire class involved. He continued on to say, “I use a very Socratic method in the classroom. I’m constantly asking questions, making sure they understand the concepts. I want students to feel engaged. I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

Aside from Gary’s innate ability to connect with his students, there is something else he is incredibly proud of – the advancements he has made. He went from staff technologist to special procedures and now professor. “Having made those changes and kept going forward is really what I am very proud of.” His hard work has paid off because he is truly at a happy place in his career and life. “I just really, thoroughly enjoy working at Northwestern College. I love the diversity of the students that we have, the faculty is great, and the administration is great too. So, I’m just in a happy spot, a happy place.” All the while, he has continued to maintain his other passions of traveling and being with his family. “I do like to travel when I get the opportunity. I am very family oriented. I enjoy being out in nature. I do like to read as well.”

At the end of the day, what Gary has learned throughout his years in the field, and what he wants to advise students on most, is that “if this is something you really, really want to do, you have to make sure you are a compassionate person. You’re dealing with patients; you have to make sure you’re dedicated.” Specific to completing the program, Gary also stressed how important it is to be dedicated to the full curriculum and to be organized, since there is a great deal to take into account. Finally, if there is anything you take away to set yourself up for success, let it be Gary’s final words: “Just be genuine. Be an honest person because integrity is very, very important in our field as well.”

The post Faculty Spotlight: Gary Gruenewald appeared first on Northwestern College.

from https://www.nc.edu/facultyspotlight_garygrunewald/ from Northwestern College http://northwesterncollege1.blogspot.com/2017/07/faculty-spotlight-gary-gruenewald.html

[bettymya3]

Faculty Spotlight: Gary Gruenewald

Gary Gruenewald is the Associate Professor and Clinical Coordinator for Northwestern College’s Radiologic Technology program. Gary has been working at Northwestern College for nine years, with a total of 27 years in higher education overall. Gary actually began his own education at the University of Illinois for pre-dentistry. Unfortunately, during that time his father passed away. Not only was this an emotionally painful experience in and of itself, but relating to his education, Gary’s father was his support system both emotionally and financially. Because of this devastating experience, Gary was no longer able to afford a degree in pre-dentistry. He had to start thinking of a different career. It was at this time that Gary’s friend told him about the radiologic technology program at Ravenswood Hospital Medical Center. Gary had never considered this before, but it seemed to be a perfect fit – it was a two-year program, close to his house and reasonably priced. He did some additional research and found it would be a great profession. Gary graduated from Ravenswood’s program with a certificate in radiologic technology. Just a few years later, he completed his bachelor’s degree in health arts from the University of St. Francis, where he also eventually completed his master’s degree in health administration.

Gary is incredibly grateful for being accepted into Ravenswood’s program all those years ago. “It’s gotten me where I am today. I thoroughly enjoy the field.” Ravenswood is where Gary started his education but also where he began his career. He started working there as a Staff Technologist for a few years before moving up the ranks. He was promoted to Special Procedures Technologist and then to a didactic and clinical instructor. He later went on to become a program director in downstate Illinois for two years before returning to the Chicago area. The radiography program transferred from Ravenswood to Advocate Illinois Masonic School of Radiologic Technology and then to Northwestern College, which is how Gary ended up here as the Associate Professor and Clinical Coordinator.

Gary teaches a great amount of the curriculum in the radiography program, such as radiation physics, anatomy, radiation biology, law and ethics, and patient care. He went on to describe that the main goal of the program is to train students to be radiologic technologists. At the end of the two years, students will be properly prepared to pass their boards and become a Registered Technologist. Student success is incredibly important to Gary. “What we do in the program is didactic work in the classroom, and that didactic work is transferred to clinical skills.” The program at Northwestern College is incredibly hands-on. Students will be able to apply the knowledge they have learned in the classroom to real-life practice with supervision, such as taking patient X-rays.

Something Gary explained is that students really need commitment when starting the program He went further to say that the program requires time and dedication, as it is full time. In the first year, students go to the college for classes two days a week and then go to clinical two days a week. In the second year, students go to classes two days a week and clinical three days a week. Also, as a student, you have to learn as much as you can and do the work that is required of you. “I think it’s a transition from being a student, where you’re very closely supervised and someone is there to catch you if you make a mistake, and the next day you get registered and you’re on your own.” Gary described this process as a big leap into the field. You have to know that you can do it, knowing you are not going to be supervised. However, as Gary stated, “I think our school really prepares our students very well. They’ve gone through so much clinical education in our program. I’ve seen some really good transitions from the classroom to the working world. So our curriculum trains them very well.”

Specifically, there is currently a very large transition in the field, going from film to digital. “Just like photography, now it is all digital. The same thing is happening in the tech world. For so many years, I was teaching film and film processing, and now that’s been taken away from the curriculum. So teaching students digital radiology goes along with it.” Gary continued to say that Northwestern College is always big on introducing new concepts, especially in terms of imaging modalities. Many students can go on to get certified in specialized procedures, such as Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or ultrasound. “There are different career paths. We give them a taste of each of those to see which way they want to go.”

Gary is incredibly knowledgeable in the field. His education and work history is expansive. He also attends a number of seminars to keep up-to-date on best practices and is an active member of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists and the Association of Educators in Imaging and Radiologic Sciences. So how does he get this information across to students in the program? He explained the traditional challenges with teaching – students learn differently and understand things at different paces. Successful teachers have to find that happy medium to keep the entire class involved. He continued on to say, “I use a very Socratic method in the classroom. I’m constantly asking questions, making sure they understand the concepts. I want students to feel engaged. I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

Aside from Gary’s innate ability to connect with his students, there is something else he is incredibly proud of – the advancements he has made. He went from staff technologist to special procedures and now professor. “Having made those changes and kept going forward is really what I am very proud of.” His hard work has paid off because he is truly at a happy place in his career and life. “I just really, thoroughly enjoy working at Northwestern College. I love the diversity of the students that we have, the faculty is great, and the administration is great too. So, I’m just in a happy spot, a happy place.” All the while, he has continued to maintain his other passions of traveling and being with his family. “I do like to travel when I get the opportunity. I am very family oriented. I enjoy being out in nature. I do like to read as well.”

At the end of the day, what Gary has learned throughout his years in the field, and what he wants to advise students on most, is that “if this is something you really, really want to do, you have to make sure you are a compassionate person. You’re dealing with patients; you have to make sure you’re dedicated.” Specific to completing the program, Gary also stressed how important it is to be dedicated to the full curriculum and to be organized, since there is a great deal to take into account. Finally, if there is anything you take away to set yourself up for success, let it be Gary’s final words: “Just be genuine. Be an honest person because integrity is very, very important in our field as well.”

The post Faculty Spotlight: Gary Gruenewald appeared first on Northwestern College.

from Northwestern College https://www.nc.edu/facultyspotlight_garygrunewald/ from Northwestern College https://northwesterncollege1.tumblr.com/post/162916835566