The ability to wear a short skirt and to be a scientist are completely unrelated.

Usually I skip Maureen Dowd's articles, finding them too brassy and immoderate for me. However, her article on the modern working girl has a point (only until page 3 out of 7 pages). Dowd notes that:

----
"Feminists in the 70's went overboard," Anne Schroeder, a 26-year-old magazine editor in Washington, agrees. "Paying is like opening a car door. It's nice. I appreciate it. But he doesn't have to."

Unless he wants another date.

Women in their 20's think old-school feminists looked for equality in all the wrong places, that instead of fighting battles about whether women should pay for dinner or wear padded bras they should have focused only on big economic issues.

After Googling and Bikramming to get ready for a first dinner date, a modern girl will end the evening with the Offering, an insincere bid to help pay the check. "They make like they are heading into their bag after a meal, but it is a dodge," Marc Santora, a 30-year-old Metro reporter for The Times, says. "They know you will stop them before a credit card can be drawn. If you don't, they hold it against you."

One of my girlfriends, a TV producer in New York, told me much the same thing: "If you offer, and they accept, then it's over."
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Yes, most girls aren't the strident feminists of their mothers' generation. The question isn't always "Why not?" but "How is it different?" I admit that I've gotten accused of setting women back 50 years, by preferring to ask a guy to walk me home at night over a group of girls. I ask guys to lift heavy boxes or a fridge for me whenever possible. Making people feel important is classy and attractive. However, I wouldn't consider myself weaker in the process. I simply recognize my own limitations. Just because I would rather have a guy lift a heavy box for me doesn't mean that I expect him to make more money than me. Or even that I want him to do so.

Two years ago, at least two of my friends admitted that they want to stay at home and raise kids. I was awestruck at this since I've always been of the notion that one day I will morph into Superwoman, able to have a model family, a husband who can cook, clean, and have carpentry skills equal to that of my father, and a prolific career that at least requires a cell phone or a pager. I'm more realistic now. Two out of the three for both my husband and myself is still a passing grade. For my friends, I realize that this is probably a happier choice and at the very least, equally fulfilling.

if I can make it here,

then I can make it anywhere. It's up to you, New York, New York.

Yep, back from Manhattan. Not that I saw anything save for the area from 66th to 71st Avenue. Turned out to be a huge blur. Here is what I remember/learned:

1. The fact that I went to South Africa automatically means that I want to study HIV for my Ph.D. or conduct clinical research. Glad someone else knows my mind better than I do.

2. I met a girl who can quote people from Student Doctor Network. [Yes, Mai, if you are reading this, I found this amusing as well.]

3. Med school/grad school Halloween parties are similar to fraternity parties without the Greek letters and less cheap beer and more cheap vodka.

4. Best costume: person with geometric pyramid faces (without the point) surrounding his waist. Tiny spikes protuded from each of these faces with a stuffed chicken hanging in the front. [Note that the spikes were actually pipet tips.] We guessed chicken pox. Answer: avian flu virus H5N1.

(groan)

5. The Empire State Building looks pretty amazing at night.

the allstu

Highly amused at what comes across as an allstu. Someone (not me) accidentally sent out an email with the debate club's password listed. Goes without saying that the mistake was remedied within 5 minutes.

The British debate has already turned into a comedy of errors. Wish I could see the final product on Thursday night....

Care Bear Power

I now have a Care Bear blanket, thanks to Dawn and Kar. I also have a get-well card with the words Arabidopsos thaliana, Drosophila melanogaster, Manduca sexta, distillation, and cheese. Cheese, right next to the chemical structure of vitamin C.

Only the addition of the word "entropy" tops that.

Where you lead, I will follow

Since the school year has begun, I have done a lot of thinking about what I do and why I do it. Invariably, student government is inherently limited and I have less time than ever before to volunteer. Perhaps it is too cliche to say that I seek to make a difference in the world. This morning I found a couple of quotations that seem to resonate.

"A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, less good when they obey and acclaim him, worse when they fear and despise him. Fail to honor people and they fail to honor you. But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, We did this ourselves."
--Lao Tzu--

Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.

I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
Simple in actions and thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends an enemeies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
You reconcile all being in the world.
--Lao Tzu--

How would other philosophers answer? Plato? Machiavelli? Is one right or are there pieces that we can extract from their writings? Sometimes I regret that I do not have more of a background in these writers.

I cannot remember who was talking about being both idealistic and cynical these days. Perhaps I would characterize myself as idealistic and realistic. I do not seek recognition but yet I wish to be acknowledged for my hard work. While I believe that "Everyone can be great because everyone can serve" (Martin Luther King), is it possible that being "great" is the same for everyone? This idea was dicussed in my English class last year in reference to Dante. Lovely circles in Paradise. Everyone can serve, whether it is community or individual-driven. Yet is is a matter of perspective or opportunity? How can we ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their potential?

Lately I have also been drawn to classical music. Lab, writing, or relaxing in my room. Beethoven. Chopin. Mahler. Mozart. It is a solitary escape, I do admit.

Old-fashioned science

Although I usually enjoy serving as a molecular biology teaching assistant, a week of running around with phylogenetic trees and gene clean preps makes me whether I am cut out to teach science. A professor said today that graduate school (i.e. PhD track) teaches one to conduct research and then one enters teaching with little or no training. Sink or swim.

The topic of science education is hot right now. In today's NY Times, Thomas Friedman notes how the US, in an increasingly global society, lags behind Germany, China, and Japan in the number of undergraduate degrees award in science and engineering. His suggested initiatives include increased federal grant money to young researchers as well as merit scholarships to those who specifically enter science and math education at the high school level, pouring more money into basic science research (and especially for young researchers).

All of this comes from a global standpoint. Good in theory, hard in practice. What is likely more urgent is how science is taught in these high school classroom and not just who or how many teach science. The National Academies Press recently released a report to this effect. How undergraduates don't have the background to teach science and how the curricula isn't focused on gaining an appreciation of science as a discipline. The recommendations to link the scientific method/problem-based learning with textbook concepts reminded me of the stories that I heard from a Kenyon alumnus who taught science for Teach for America.

Medical ethics and third world countries

An interesting editorial in Science by a doctor in Mali.

news of the day

Who says chemistry can't be "sexy?" U of MN scientists believe that sex pheromes can be used as a migratory attractant and when artificially synthesized, can be used to trap lampreys in the Great Lakes.

Oh, and my nerdy interest in science resurfaces. The scientists who originally studied H. pylori just won this year's Nobel Prize. H. pylori contributes to stomach ulcers by inducing inflammation and attracting interleuking and other pro-inflammatory markers to the lumen of the stomach.

Back from Iowa

This weekend, I accompanied the Hunsen lab to a carbohydrate symposium held in Toledo. Somehow my mom heard about it third-hand and thought that we were driving to Iowa. We did end up whizzing past a "Welcome to Michigan" sign after I forgot to tell Kelly which freeway exit to take. Sometimes I forget how cheerful the state signs appear.

We arrived at the hotel unscathed. It's great that Kenyon students get to know their professors well, but I think that I would have little to say if I actually shared a hotel room with one of mine. Or I would remain relatively disconcerted for the trip.

The symposium was interesting. I know little about organic chemistry synthesis, but I enjoyed getting a taste of the field. It is cliche to say that you learn something new everyday. However, I did learn that I will not devote my life to worrying about ppm shifts on the NMR spectra.

Chris, Dave, Kelly, and I did exhibit our bias as liberal arts students as we read U of Toledo's student newspaper. A useless education:

"I'm a biology major, and to be honest, I absolutely love and adore my biology and science classes.... However, on top of those classes, I have to take literature courses, multicultural courses, foreign language courses, humanities and social science courses.... These classes can be interesting and fun, but when it all boils down, how much will they help me in my career?

The way I see it, every hour I spend studying Latin is one less hour I'll be studying for biology.... Some people argue we take these courses to be enriched or well-rounded individuals.

I'm under the impression that it's just a money making scheme...."

That and the yuppie-left article. Ah, student newspapers.

On the way home, I remembered why Kelly and I take crazy road trips across the Midwest. Imagine driving on country highways. Golden-colored cornfields line the road and the truck in front of you is going at a wholesome pace: 50 mph. The truck is also large enough to interfere with your radio signal, thereby allowing karoake to bad pop music (as that and country music get reception) to be interrupted. Of course Lee Greenwood's "I'm proud to be an American" comes on the radio.

Now, I'm back on campus and enjoying peace and quiet. Maybe a movie, Harry Potter, or sleep.