I kind of fail at being articulate right now, so I’ll just update in bullet points.  Much more accesible that way.

• I just started a Share Site on Shutterfly: http://cindysthousandwords.shutterfly.com
• In May, I graduated.  Twice!
• I decided to go to Ohio State…excuse me, The Ohio State University…in the fall for a graduate program in Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology.

There are quite a few things on the to-do list, including the continuance of the travel journal entries (which exist…just not in electronic form!), Steve Chu stories, and of course, my paper on rum.  The last one probably doesn’t belong on this blog.  Unfortunately, I’ll be holding off on these goodies a little bit longer because this weekend, I’m visiting The Ohio State University and Miami University.

I’ll keep you posted.

I know, I know.  I’m a bad blogger.  I haven’t updated in awhile; nor have I shared my winter break stories.  First, though, I have to show you this ridiculous survey I’m answering.  The career center at school sent out an email asking us to participate, but I don’t think they’re the ones who wrote it; it is probably some sort of company that does recruitment.  So, here’s a question I was asked (screenshot):

Why yes, I do have an age.  Is it a diverse age?  HOW CAN ANY AGE BE DIVERSE!?  If a workplace has a wide range of workers, then there exists a diverse age range in that workplace.  So, these are the ones that I find problematic (in that everyone has one; it’s just a matter of whether your personal ___ is different from everyone else’s ___):

• age
• education
• ethnicity
• gender
• life experience
• nationality
• personality (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
• sexual orientation (GLBT?  Who calls it GLBT?  I’ve always seen it LGBT; I guess that’s just an example of the diversity of my experience in this matter.  Moreover, since when is heterosexual–but hopefully not overly heteronormative–not a sexual orientation?)
• socioeconomic background
• work function
• work style

I have a love/hate relationship with, “What makes you MORE DIVERSE THAN EVERYONE ELSE?” type questions.  Because, really?  More diverse?  Diversity comes from a collective.  I am only diverse if I have a variety of things within myself *that’s what she said*.  It reminds me of the “diversity workshop” portion of RA training when I worked for CTD.  We spent a couple hours listening to someone teach us about diversity.  What did we learn?  That the presenter was from Brazil, but she was Italian. In addition, “Hispanic is offensive, because not everyone speaks Spanish.  Latino or Latina is preferred.”  Really productive, wouldn’t you say?  The whole experience was offensive!  I ought to have stood up and had a diversity competition with her.  “You’re of Italian descent?  Well, I’m of Taiwanese descent.  You’re from Brazil?  Well, I’m from Cleveland.  You live in Chicago?  Well, I live in the Bay Area.”  Does it make me more diverse that I grew up in an area where most people didn’t share my skin color?  Does it make me more diverse that I now live in an area where there are a lot of people with different skin colors?  Maybe; maybe not.  It’s more how those (and other) experiences have shaped me.  I’ve led diversity workshops, and let me tell you, they can be a lot more effective than the drivel to which Northwestern employees are apparently subjected.  (Sorry for the convoluted prepositions.)

Speaking of Northwestern, let me show you my “diversity statement” for their application.

***

I am gratified to be asked about diversity because exposure to and interaction with a wide variety of people and ideas have so strongly shaped the person that I am today. There are, of course, the checkboxes I fill in on demographics forms. My parents are immigrants, and I grew up in a Midwestern town that did not abound in Asian faces. We later moved to a San Francisco Bay Area suburb whose ethnic and religious composition differed greatly from my hometown. It’s a little fun to defy expectations; Californians marvel at “the Taiwanese girl from Ohio,” and my Midwestern friends are often shocked by the number of Mormons now in my social circle. Neither my ethnicity nor their religion will be the first characteristics listed for our respective regions, but the reality of modern America is that this isn’t completely preposterous.

Tonight, I joined my friend’s family for a Hanukkah dinner. I haven’t been able to share in this tradition since leaving Cleveland, so it was delightful (and delicious) to partake of the latkes. Less ephemeral than the latkes, however, were our cultural revelations. We discussed how, when a friend is from a different background, it can be hard to parse whether our habits are due to personality quirks or cultural influences. I realized that my personal culture is shaped by all the people I’ve met, not just based on my parents’ nation of origin or my predilection for Black Forest Cake. My cognition is enhanced by my experiences, which will in turn contribute to the diversity at Northwestern.

My undergraduate experience has been at a public university, and we pride ourselves on tolerance and bringing together a wide range of backgrounds, but we still lag in representing California’s statewide population. I’ve met people who have not had as straightforward a path in science as I have had. I’ve been able to develop a passion for research because people encouraged me and my high school had the resources for advanced lab activities. Others were shoveled through under-funded programs or shied away from research because of media portrayals. People have every right to mistrust biotechnology, but it should not be due to inaccessibility or bizarre depictions of Frankenfood.

I bring a linguist’s perspective to solving problems; I bring a culturally-aware background to a diverse working environment; I bring passion for scientific research and equity in education. These are all qualities that I’ll encounter at Northwestern, so it is vital that I be able to learn and grow from the diversity that the campus has fostered.

***

So, here are my questions for you.  Which checkboxes from above would you mark?  (You can pick the problematic ones if you want; but explain!)  Which criteria do you think are important for a diverse workplace, academic setting, or life?

Hello, my loves! It’s been awhile, has it not? Quick re-cap of the goings-on that have made my life quite hectic, albeit rather boring:

• Finals.  Yeah, it happened.  I studied hard for the microbiology class that had so discouraged me and actually walked out of the exam smiling!  It was great!  Then, I wrote the first paper of my college career.  That’s not completely true; I’ve written two-page French lit analysis assignments, but nothing serious like this.  Twenty-two pages on message boards.  Wow.
• Laura’s holiday party.  My linguistics professor has now had a holiday party three years in a row, and there’s always something fun.  This year, I think the Steven Chu stories will hold the most memorable spot, and I will surely share…sometime soon.
• Lounging around.  I may have lied.  It might not have been completely hectic.  But, I had to plan things.  You see, I’m dashing off to France!  I’ll (not) do the New Year’s countdown on the plane, after a small layover in Detroit.  I hear tell there’s a brand-new (ish) Northwest terminal.  Exciting!  (But, they lack Dunkin Donuts.)

In the spirit of planning, I offer here a blogging to-do list:

• Steven Chu stories
• latkes with Stephen (my friend from high school)’s family, and revelations thereof
• Emerald Bowl
• cookies
• France!  Activities!

That about does it.  I need to sleep now, because I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to do two things to become Super Cindy: get enough sleep and only focus on the things for which I have some sort of talent.  Ha.  Right.  We’ll see how that goes.

4:15 PM me: hi
Cindy: hi.
4:17 PM this is what i see…
Punal is busy. You may be interrupting.
me: lol
oooo
oops
4:18 PM there
Cindy: hahahaha
who doesn’t?
4:19 PM me: exactly
wssup
Cindy: not too much
just getting ready to get ready to go out
haha
4:20 PM me: ohhhh
where u goingg
Cindy: what about you?
dinner with thursday plan, and then maybe a cookie party, and maybe a cocktail party
4:22 PM what are you up to?
me: im packing

4:23 PM Cindy: ohhh
you’re leaving…the 26th?
4:24 PM me: 25th!!!
4:25 PM Cindy: OH
4:26 PM me: yeah!!!!
4:27 PM Cindy: um
should we hang out?
haha
4:28 PM me: haha
4:29 PM if you wanan come over tonight
after you come back
from whereever you going to
varsha si coming over
Cindy: ok!
i’ll give you a call to make sure it’s ok
4:31 PM me: haha
k coo
4:32 PM Cindy: yay
4:33 PM me: when r u going
Cindy: i’m not sure
my friend’s going to call me
4:34 PM me: haha
okok
4:35 PM Cindy: interested?
4:36 PM me: in ur firend?
who is he/she
Cindy: hahahaha no, interested in dinner
4:37 PM it’s thursday plan
zach
me: oh
naw i gotta hit the gym
wth my friend mohammad
at 7
lol
4:38 PM Cindy: seriously?
4:39 PM also, is mohammad muslim? do your parents know!?
me: haha
my parents know
and mohammad is muslim
are hardcore
*and
Cindy: uh oh!
4:44 PM me: haha
why
Cindy: trouble trouble
4:45 PM religious strife
me: haha
Cindy: so i think i need to try to seduce my genetics gsi
4:46 PM me: how?!
4:47 PM Cindy: idk…i mean, i’m not very seductive
maybe he likes small asian girls…?!
we can always keep our fingers crossed
4:48 PM me: hmm
why dont you try
Cindy: i’ll TRY
but i’m not seductive
4:49 PM me: yes you can be
purr
purr cindy purr
Cindy: wow
that’s quite possibly the most disturbing thing you’ve said to me!
5 minutes
4:55 PM me: lol
sorry
he he he
4:56 PM Cindy: haha
but yeah
i’ll have to talk strategy with you
when next semester commences
and i start working my…lack-of-game
4:57 PM me: oh
no worries
we will talk
and stategize
Cindy: he’s pretty nerdy
me: and etc etc
easy
Cindy: maybe it’ll work in my favor
4:58 PM hahahahaha
but what if i’m not smart enough?
5:00 PM *sigh *
too difficult
me: ur smart neough
cuz u will use MY brains
5:01 PM Cindy: hahahahahahhaa
punal
you basically just said that my brains aren’t enough
5:03 PM me: hahahahha
oops
i didnt mean that
Cindy:
you so did
5:04 PM me: hahaha
NOOO
Cindy: which is fine
it just means that we’d BOTH have to date rich
5:05 PM me: i mean
i am
lol
Cindy: wait?
what?
5:07 PM me: i do date rich
5:08 PM Cindy: his name is richard
me: richard!?
oh
RICH
OH
Cindy: => rich
me: i get it
haha
Cindy: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
me: i thot u emant
like
5:09 PM date wealthy
hahah
Cindy: ppbt!

me: please put that on ur blog
lol
Cindy: HAHAHAHA you should
tonight
me: hahahahah
Cindy: i’ll come over
5:10 PM me: alrite fine
Cindy: and log you in
me: haha
kk
5:12 PM Cindy:
5:13 PM me: its pris happy birthday !
5:14 PM Cindy: aw yay!
are you guys celebrating?
5:15 PM me: she is in london
lol
so no
haha
Cindy: oh!
study abroad? pleasure?
5:16 PM me: i think pleaseure
before she goes to india
Cindy: oh! cool. how long will she be in india?
5:18 PM me: til
foroever
until school starts
haha
5:19 PM Cindy: aww
5:20 PM me: lol
Cindy: so my mom heard me on the phone with thursday plan just now
we were figuring out what to do for dinner
5:21 PM so she starts going, “we can all go to sweet tomatoes together!”
hahahahahahaha
me: LOL
oh wow
Cindy: that would be random as hell
5:22 PM me: haha
that would be awesome
Cindy: dude
i should bring him over to your house
duh
5:26 PM me: LOL
oh
wow
5:27 PM Cindy: so punal
you like to date rich, hm?
me: yes
i do
have a problem!?
5:28 PM Cindy: um yeah. because i want to date rich
hahahahahahaha
5:29 PM me: no
u want to date Rich
i just want to date rich
difference
thank you
come again
Cindy: hahahahahaha
come again? i sure hope so
5:30 PM ok i gotta go get ready
byyyye

First, my apologies for dashing to the 100 mark, only to fall prey to midterms.  Some neglect their blogs because of Real Life.  Unfortunately, it seems like exams are my Real Life.  But, I’m temporarily back to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for:

• a loving family
• my health (despite being an old lady who’s sore and lacking an appetite, I seem to be doing ok)
• friendship, farflung and near
• academic support from faculty and instructors
• options

No, that last one isn’t a reference to football strategery.  Firefox is telling me that isn’t a word.  I KNOW, ok?  It’s the realization that I have a lot more going for me, academically and socially, than I realized.  So, I’m going to apply to schools this year.  I might end up applying to schools next year, too.  That’s ok.  I’ll keep you posted.

Today, I was in lab from 9AM to 11:00PM.  No joke.  I did a big transformation experiment; details will come.  Since I’ve been home, I’ve been able to eat a small dinner, check my Facebook messages (ha…how college is that?  There’s always time to check Facebook!  Although, that might be a more “Facebook” characteristic than a “college” characteristic nowadays…), edit my student’s speech, and check out a blog by the Berkeley Language Center.  And now, I must rush to get my work and research done so that I can go to class and meet with professors tomorrow.  First, though, let me do some publicity…

• Check out Found in Translation.  A regular poster (the originator of the blog, in fact) is competing for a Blogging scholarship, so you can help out by voting for him!
• So, more specifically, go here, click on the “Vote” button, and select David Malinowski!  This seems like a cool contest…maybe, if I’m fortunate enough to be in school next year, I’ll enter, too

As if this didn’t sound like enough of a campaign, let me offer some promises.  I will blog more soon, and these are the upcoming topics:

• Halloween 2008.  I was a GFP bunny, and there are pictures.  They’ll come.  I promise.
• Prop 8.  All of you who are flicking off the camera with a ring.  Don’t worry; I found some friends to participate.  If you’re lucky, they’ll guest post.  If you’re not, you’ll be stuck with me, but you’ll get the picture (ha!) either way.  I promise.
• Acronyms.  You might wonder why GFP is important, or what GFP even is.  Well, never fear.  I’ll explain.  I promise.
• Actually, I gave you two links that will explain GFP and its significance much better than I can, so it would be better for me to tell you how I use it in lab.  Hurray!  We’re not making Franken-foods, I promise.

And with that, I will commence my To Do list.  Holy crap.  It’s a To Do list, but it’s more like Cindy-in-a-pile-of-Do-Do.  *sigh*

So, last Tuesday, Varsh and I hit the big 100…and one-year for our blog.  Unfortunately, I was thereafter taken over by exam demons: genetics midterm on Thursday, microbiology midterm on Friday, Biology GRE on Saturday.  I promise I’ll be back soon and corresponding.  Really!  Let me just get my pre-lab done for this afternoon.

I am so nervous about Proposition 8.  This is a proposed amendment to the California Constitution that defeats equality and basic human rights.  Again, banning same-sex marriage has nothing to do with religious freedom or health education in schools.  It has to do with human dignity, a linguistic differentiation between “civil union” and “marriage,” and an intolerance that would be ominous to our future as a tolerant, humane people.  As of 11:50 PM, 44% of votes have been reported, and Yes on 8 is leading 53% to 47%.  AHH!

Now, the good news.

THIS IS POST 100!  Also, GOBAMA!  It’s a good night in Berkeley.  (Details and pictorials to come.)

Happy Blogiversary, Varsha

Ok, this is post number 98.  I didn’t mean for such a spate of posts to go up in one morning, but as I’m sitting here on my duffer, a lot of thoughts are coming to me!  Anyway, I’ve been sitting on the couch in my living room this whole time.  When I was calling the professor earlier, I smelled soap.  When I clicked “New Post,” I smelled coffee.  (I love the smell of coffee…just not the taste.)  But now, I’m smelling scrambled eggs.

Huh?  The only thing I can think of is pregnancy, but pregnant women have very sensitive olfactory glands, not schizophrenic, right?  Besides, Mik and I crack too many jokes about pregnancy as it is.  NB: It’s not that we make fun of pregnant women (or man, as the case may be).  We just have to pee a lot, that’s all.  Incidentally, if you click on that YouTube link, please disregard all the hateful comments.  It saddens me that all these people are devaluing a married couple’s relationship and their love of their child simply because one of them underwent a sex-change operation.

I don’t pretend to know much about “transgendered culture,” and I put it in quotation marks because I doubt that a bunch of people can all be lumped together that way.  Someone queried why any woman would want to marry a man who was once a woman.  Well, whenever you enter a new relationship, do you sort through all their baggage?  Or do you accept that you have a past, the other person has a past, and that together, you’ll create a future?

Perhaps more infertile women should consider marrying men who were born with female anatomy.  Sorry, that was flippant.  Incidentally, in my genetics class, we’ve been learning about the different permutations of sex chromosomes as well as the phenotypes that arise when you have an XX male (the paternal X carries SRY, or sex-determining region of Y) or XY female (the Y is SRY-).  There is so much biochemistry that already guides what we are that I don’t begrudge people their socio-anthropological differences, either.  I’m not sure if that last sentence made sense.  I’ll have to think on this.

At any rate, I just turned on “Regis and Kelly,” so I promise I’ll stop posting this morning!

Dang it…soapy smell again!