I'm babysitting, it's 1:17am, and the kids' mom still isn't home. Yay getting payed to sit and watch TV . . . and, of course, blog. I'm a little bored, so I thought I'd share a random thought.
I'm watching You've Got Mail right now. I haven't seen it for years, and I'd forgotten how adorable it is, even though it's cheesy . . . it's like the cutest piece of cheese ever. It's making me think I want to do things that, in reality, I actually don't want to do . . . like open a children's bookstore and start an online romance. Plus I love seeing the computers in that movie, since it's at least 10 years old now . . . remember the days of dial-up, when it took forever to connect to the internet and the computer/phone line made weird static-y, crackly noises in the process?
. . . I will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Kid-Quotage
So as anyone who knows me is well aware, I love telling stories about the kids at my work. And today I have a great one:
So there's this little boy who's one of the cutest, funniest, smartest kids I know (he's four years old and can read and write pretty much anything), who also happens to be Mormon. Today he came into class talking about his new "body book" that he had at home, and I was asking him about it when suddenly he said: "Beatrice, smoking and drinking coffee is bad for your body."
Me: "Oh . . . was that in your body book?"
Little boy: "No. It's in the scriptures."
Me: "Uh . . . well, I only do one of those things. Drinking coffee, I mean."
Little boy: "Well, you shouldn't do that. It's in the Scriptures."
. . . little boy goes back to building with blocks . . .
Me (quietly, to Megan): "I think I'm going to hell."
So there's this little boy who's one of the cutest, funniest, smartest kids I know (he's four years old and can read and write pretty much anything), who also happens to be Mormon. Today he came into class talking about his new "body book" that he had at home, and I was asking him about it when suddenly he said: "Beatrice, smoking and drinking coffee is bad for your body."
Me: "Oh . . . was that in your body book?"
Little boy: "No. It's in the scriptures."
Me: "Uh . . . well, I only do one of those things. Drinking coffee, I mean."
Little boy: "Well, you shouldn't do that. It's in the Scriptures."
. . . little boy goes back to building with blocks . . .
Me (quietly, to Megan): "I think I'm going to hell."
Just a simple question . . .
I've always been very cautious about HAVING AN OPINION. Let me clarify that this is different from simply having an opinion, or even having a strong opinion. If you have an opinion, or a strong opinion, that means you are at least reasonably well-informed about a certain issue, that you take a definite stand on it, and you enjoy learning about it, talking about it, even a good heated-but-civil debate about it. If you HAVE AN OPINION about something, that means that your interest in an issue is so strong that it's emotional as well intellectual, that you will respect someone less if they disagree with you about it because you are so sure that one way of looking at it is right and the other is wrong, and that you may actually try to avoid talking about the issue in a casual setting because you feel so strongly about it that you're afraid you might get upset and make people uncomfortable. For example, I have opinions, some stronger than others, about foreign policy, the environment, the economy, vegetarian/veganism, and raising/educating young children. I HAVE OPINIONS about civil liberties and gay rights. I've also always thought that people who have too many OPINIONS are annoying and hard to talk to, so I try to make sure I know a lot about an issue before forming an OPINION.
Anyway, yesterday, I went to my aunt's writing center at UW to work on my application for Health Care Alternative Spring Break. HCASB is a program that sends college students to rural areas to shadow doctors and learn about rural medicine, so the application asked about why I was interested in rural medicine. I wrote about how underserved rural communities are (not-so-fun fact: one-fourth of the population lives in rural areas but less than ten perecent of doctors practice there. What?!), and how, while I'm not certain rural medicine is what I want to do (I'm leaning more towards Doctors Without Borders), it would certainly be an opportunity to help people who need it desperately, and to rectify a little bit of unfairness, both of which are reasons I want to be a doctor. Anna, the tutor I was working with, commented, "I really like how you talk about the human aspect of medicine in this part . . . maybe you could expand on that a little . . . like, how do you feel about health care in America right now?"
I was pretty surprised about what came out of my mouth: "I think it's absolutely ridiculous! I think that health care is a basic human right and it shouldn't depend on who you work for or how much money you make. I think the idea that someone who's sick has to worry about paying for it rather than about just getting better is insanely unfair!" I wasn't so surprised about the words themselves, just about how firmly and fast I was talking, and at the sense of outrage that welled up in me just at the thought of what health care in America is like today. It's certainly something I'd thought about, especially since I chose my future profession. But it took that simple question from the tutor to make me realize that I HAD AN OPIONION that I didn't even know about.
The upshot is that I think this is something I want to get more involved in. I did a little googling last night about organizations that work for improvements in the healthcare system, and I'm seriously considering volunteering with one of them (just have to do a little more resarch so I can pick one). I think that now, as it's becoming increasingly more evident that America's health care system is failing it's people, doctors (or 19-year-old students who desperately hope they have what it takes to become doctors, as the case may be) have a responsibility to argue and work and fight for something better.
Also, as a diversion from this very serious/wordy post, I will share that I came into work this morning and cheerfully greeted my boss, only to have her respond with, "Good morning, Beatrice . . . you don't work Thursday mornings, remember?" Um, OF COURSE I remember that . . . that's why I dragged my exhausted ass out of bed two hours earlier than necessary this morning. However, on the bright side, forgetting I didn't have to come to work and doing it anyway gave me time to go up to school early, sit in Suzzallo Espresso, and write this, so I guess it's okay.
Anyway, yesterday, I went to my aunt's writing center at UW to work on my application for Health Care Alternative Spring Break. HCASB is a program that sends college students to rural areas to shadow doctors and learn about rural medicine, so the application asked about why I was interested in rural medicine. I wrote about how underserved rural communities are (not-so-fun fact: one-fourth of the population lives in rural areas but less than ten perecent of doctors practice there. What?!), and how, while I'm not certain rural medicine is what I want to do (I'm leaning more towards Doctors Without Borders), it would certainly be an opportunity to help people who need it desperately, and to rectify a little bit of unfairness, both of which are reasons I want to be a doctor. Anna, the tutor I was working with, commented, "I really like how you talk about the human aspect of medicine in this part . . . maybe you could expand on that a little . . . like, how do you feel about health care in America right now?"
I was pretty surprised about what came out of my mouth: "I think it's absolutely ridiculous! I think that health care is a basic human right and it shouldn't depend on who you work for or how much money you make. I think the idea that someone who's sick has to worry about paying for it rather than about just getting better is insanely unfair!" I wasn't so surprised about the words themselves, just about how firmly and fast I was talking, and at the sense of outrage that welled up in me just at the thought of what health care in America is like today. It's certainly something I'd thought about, especially since I chose my future profession. But it took that simple question from the tutor to make me realize that I HAD AN OPIONION that I didn't even know about.
The upshot is that I think this is something I want to get more involved in. I did a little googling last night about organizations that work for improvements in the healthcare system, and I'm seriously considering volunteering with one of them (just have to do a little more resarch so I can pick one). I think that now, as it's becoming increasingly more evident that America's health care system is failing it's people, doctors (or 19-year-old students who desperately hope they have what it takes to become doctors, as the case may be) have a responsibility to argue and work and fight for something better.
Also, as a diversion from this very serious/wordy post, I will share that I came into work this morning and cheerfully greeted my boss, only to have her respond with, "Good morning, Beatrice . . . you don't work Thursday mornings, remember?" Um, OF COURSE I remember that . . . that's why I dragged my exhausted ass out of bed two hours earlier than necessary this morning. However, on the bright side, forgetting I didn't have to come to work and doing it anyway gave me time to go up to school early, sit in Suzzallo Espresso, and write this, so I guess it's okay.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obamania
Hi guys,
We lived history today. Just saying. I was at work when the inaugural address was playing, and I turned on the radio in the preschool classroom where I was working hoping I could catch a little of it. Three-year-olds, of course, don't miss a trick, so when I turned it on, a few of them asked "Is this a book on tape?!" "No," I said, "This is Barack Obama! Who loves Barack Obama?!" Almost all of them chorused, "Meeeeee!!!" Haha, gotta love Seattle children. What was cool was that they actually listened to the speech, to the best of their ability. I started thinking about how, decades from now, when they're grown up and understand what an epic day this was, they may have some vague memory of hearing the speech in their preschool class. After all, I remember being about their age and standing in line with my mom and dad waiting to go into the polls for the 1992 election. I was cold, and I pointed this out in a somewhat whiny tone, and my mom told me that the soldiers in the Revolutionary War who had marched in the snow so that we could all have the right to vote for a president had been a lot colder. A pretty heavy-duty speech to give your three-year-old, but hey, maybe that's why I'm politically aware now. :)
Anyway, here are my two favorite quotes from the address today:
"They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction."
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."
YEAH, OBAMA!!!
We lived history today. Just saying. I was at work when the inaugural address was playing, and I turned on the radio in the preschool classroom where I was working hoping I could catch a little of it. Three-year-olds, of course, don't miss a trick, so when I turned it on, a few of them asked "Is this a book on tape?!" "No," I said, "This is Barack Obama! Who loves Barack Obama?!" Almost all of them chorused, "Meeeeee!!!" Haha, gotta love Seattle children. What was cool was that they actually listened to the speech, to the best of their ability. I started thinking about how, decades from now, when they're grown up and understand what an epic day this was, they may have some vague memory of hearing the speech in their preschool class. After all, I remember being about their age and standing in line with my mom and dad waiting to go into the polls for the 1992 election. I was cold, and I pointed this out in a somewhat whiny tone, and my mom told me that the soldiers in the Revolutionary War who had marched in the snow so that we could all have the right to vote for a president had been a lot colder. A pretty heavy-duty speech to give your three-year-old, but hey, maybe that's why I'm politically aware now. :)
Anyway, here are my two favorite quotes from the address today:
"They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction."
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."
YEAH, OBAMA!!!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Photos from the Virginia Trip
So I know I haven't written in approximately forever, but I finally, FINALLY uploaded all of the pictures off my camera, and I thought I'd return to the wonderful world of blogging with a photo update. On Christmas Day, I went to Virginia to visit my family and friends. I stayed a week and had a wonderful time. Hands down, the biggest event of the trip was meeting my half-brother, Matthew Graham Leverett. He was born on September 24th, but before this most recent trip I hadn't been to Virginia since July, so I hadn't seen him. He's absolutely precious, three months old and just learning to smile. He's a very calm, mellow baby, and such a nice bundle to hold. It was great to see my Dad, my friends (Glen, Linn, Helen and Claire pictured here as well as a few more), my grandmother Betty, my brother Damian (13 years old), and my other half-brother Daniel (four years old), too.
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