Equity

I feel very fortunate to have been born in the U.S. at a time when the country was finally starting to come to its senses and realize that issues like race and gender are not attributes that determine someone’s worth or qualifications.  The fact that there was ever a time when people weren’t able to vote because of their race or their gender is so foreign to me that I hardly believe it could have been true.  It is hard to understand what would have prompted people to think that way, to make laws that way.  I am glad that I don’t know that world first-hand.

Through my current schooling, I’m learning a lot about the remnants of the past and the degree to which funding for schools, for example, is determined by where you live and how wealthy your community is.  Children are guaranteed an education through 12th grade in the U.S., but they are in no way guaranteed the same quality of education as their peers in other states or districts.  Education is seen as the ticket out of poverty, but if a child lives in a high poverty area, they will likely attend a school that have fewer resources and less qualified teachers than most.  So the kids who need the best education that money can buy are the least likely to get it.  There are schools in the south where spending per pupil is about a third what it is in the northeast — how is that even possible?  And why is it allowed to persist?  We seem to have replaced all of our previous -isms with a whole new set, including the classism that seems to define the opportunities that people will have.

A year ago, if someone had said that equity would be high on my list of issues to think about in grad school, I would have been surprised.  But, there it is.  In one of my classes last week, we each had to pick from a list of topics that we’re willing to lead discussion on, and I was the only one who chose equity, so the topic is mine.  I am a big believer that everyone should have an equal opportunity to succeed, to learn, to pursue their dreams, to be listened to, to be cared for, to fail and try again.

Post-Election

Some random thoughts on this day after a big election day (from my deeply a-political little brain!)…

1)  My wait time at the polls:  0 minutes.  Yes, that’s right.  Zero!  No wait at all.  My parents had each been at the same polling place for an hour or more earlier in the day, so it seems everyone except me voted in the morning.

2)  Did you see the hologram people on CNN last night?  It reminded me SO much of Star Wars!  I was actually glad that the holograms had a weird glow around them because if they had looked any more like actual people standing there, it would have completely freaked me out!  Crazy, crazy technology.

3)  One of the nice benefits of having to change my phone number this year (and now having it unlisted) was that I did not receive any phone calls about the election.  So a belated thank you to the weird stranger who decided to distribute my old number all over the place online. 

4)  One of the nice benefits of being in grad school this fall is that my TV and radio are rarely on, so I didn’t hear or see many political ads.

5)  Did I mention that I hate politics?  Not government, just politics.

6)  I’m soooooooo glad that the election is over!!!  Congrats to all the victors — now let’s please get back to work!

Laugh. Dance. Vote!

The Ellen Show created a T-shirt for this election that simply said “Laugh. Dance. Vote.”  I love that!  If I created a list of things to do in life, those three things would most definitely be on the list.

Happy Voting Day!

S-p-e-l-l-i-n-g B-e-e

Did you see the National Spelling Bee finals on TV on Friday?  I would honestly watch a spelling bee on TV every week!  (Are you paying attention, ABC?!)  I find it inspiring, interesting, and often entertaining.  This year’s was especially so.  One kid was asked to spell numnah, and I swear to you that the way the pronouncer said it, it sounded like numb nut.  And the audience laughed so hard, and the kid said, “Numb nut?”  I think the pronouncer even laughed at that!

That kid, by the way, eventually won the Bee.

I remember watching the Bee finals last year and not being able to spell anything.  I’m a good speller and have enough background in a couple of foreign languages that that’s helpful too, but these words were out of this world!  This year, when I turned it on, I was able to spell the first two words, so I thought, “OK!  This is going be better than last year!”  (One of the words was tautological, which is a word we use in math.)  I don’t think I could confidently spell any of the words after that though!  A couple, I might have guessed correctly.  Maybe.  Those spelling bee kids are amazing!

The word that ended up being the losing word for the second place finisher (who is from nearby Detroit) was prosopopoeia.  Tom Bergeron (from “America’s Funniest Home Videos”) was co-hosting the broadcast of the Bee, and when the pronouncer said the word, Tom said, “Oh goodness gracious.”  My thoughts exactly!

GINA is law

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act is now law across the U.S.  A lot of states already had laws prohibiting employers from using genetic information against an employee for hiring/firing and for health insurance, but it’s now the law of the land.  Science has come so far, so fast in its ability to detect genetic markers of disease and these kinds of laws are trying to catch up with science.  GINA offers some reassurance to people who are at risk and choose to be tested for genetic diseases; they won’t lose their jobs or health insurance because of that choice.  That’s a good thing.  The law does not, however, apply to life and disability insurers, who can still deny coverage and set high premiums based on genetic factors.

Before my blood was sent off to Mayo earlier this month, I had to sign a consent form stating that I understand that genetic testing will be done and that I may need genetic counseling if I choose to get the results.  The forms acknowledged that deciding to get results may cause problems with insurers and may be a psychological burden for the patient.  In my case, because I already have symptoms of a polycystic kidney condition, finding out that I have the gene for PKD would be hard but would not be a shock.  (I’ve already begun to sort out the “what ifs”.)   But for many people, who get tested for things like breast cancer or Huntington’s disease long before they are symptomatic, the results can be especially challenging and heartbreaking.  Where is the hope if you know you’re going to get one of these diseases and there isn’t much you or medical science can do to stop it?  Would you want to know?  Is there benefit to knowing years ahead of time?  At least now, one of the obstacles to finding out (fear of discrimination) has been taken off the table, but the decisions and questions are still very personal and raise a lot of challenging issues that we are only beginning to answer.

Mr. Cooper

I have no interest at all in politics and won’t decide who to vote for until this fall.  But, this primary season has been so mathematically interesting, both because the polls were so wrong in some of the early primaries (what a great teaching tool in statistics!) and because of the mathematical impossibility of any Democratic candidate reaching the magic number on their side.  Gotta love the role of numbers in this whole process!  As a result of these phenomena in this primary season, I’ve paid more attention than usual and watched CNN sometimes lately.  And the end result of that?  I have a bit of a crush on Anderson Cooper.

Shutdown

Did you hear that the state of Michigan shut down yesterday for four hours?  Our legislators had 8 months to come up with a budget and couldn’t get the job done on time.  (In any other job, I’m thinking they would have been fired by that point!)  So the state shut down.  If the shutdown had lasted any longer, I was thinking that we shouldn’t have to pay state taxes for any days the state isn’t in operation.  After all, they planned to lay off 90 percent of our state troopers, and even the highway rest areas were going to close!  Now, the state is back open, and we have higher state income taxes and will have to pay tax on “luxury services”, which include bus fares (how is that a luxury?) and psychic readings!  And I heard from a state worker that we’ll be able to get a basic haircut without tax, but any other fancy things done with our hair will be taxed.  Sounds like splitting hairs to me!

Those amazing years

I saw a great interview yesterday with Kathrine Switzer, who was the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon.  Though there was no rule expressly forbidding women, there had never been a female runner and one of the race officials tried to knock her (very literally) out of the race about two miles into it because she was destroying the integrity of their fine race.  Her boyfriend basically tackled the official and she kept running, and she finished the race.  This was in July 1967.

When I think about things like that, like how women didn’t run marathons, or that until the early 70s, women couldn’t be ordained as pastors in the Lutheran church, I am amazed at how recently all of that was true and how quickly all of it changed.  I was born in the mid-70s, and I had no clue until two years ago that there was ever a time when women actually couldn’t be Lutheran pastors!  It just seems so absurd to me.  But it was only 40s years ago that things were very different, that women and people of different races faced almost insurmountable obstacles in many of their activities and dreams.  I don’t know where I would have fallen if my growing up years included all those obstacles — would I have been a front-runner in changing things or someone who accepted the way things were?  I don’t know.  But I think it must have been amazing to live through those few years when it seems as though absolutely everything was changing in fundamentally huge ways.

Va Tech

My heart goes out to all the folks at Virginia Tech who are dealing with a horrific and unexplainable tragedy on their campus this week.  There just aren’t any words…but many prayers for the campus community and family and friends of everyone involved.

Confused Geese

Some geese flew overhead while another woman and I waited for the bus this morning.  She said, “The geese are still here?”  I said, “Apparently, and look, they are flying north.”  I then flailed my arms at them, telling them they were going the wrong direction.  The other woman laughed and said, “Well, the weather in the south has been worse than here this winter, so…?”

Then I read Jenn’s blog entry about the snow in southern California.  And I understood their confusion.