Well it's finally here! The semi-final draft of my thesis is due for distribution to my committee this Friday. I'm a little nervous, but as a whole I'm just ready to get it over with! The sickness fairy visited me this weekend, and it seems as though I've got the onset of a rather nasty case of strep, so I hope I'm still able to speak come late this week (practice run with my lab on Friday).

I've still got a small amount of data collection I'm finishing up today, and believe I contracted my current illness from some jack-ass who insisted on hacking all over the only computer with a software program I need to analyze my data. This is the same person who eats in the room where they sacrifice mice, and were we all process bone samples. Gross, I know.

Okay, I just got back from the Halloween store and have realized multiple things in the past few years. 1.) Halloween is an excuse for college age girls to wear the equivalent of lingerie in public and it's totally acceptable, 2.) Kids still get to dress in fun costumes and have a great time begging for candy from strangers. What I didn't realize is that many of the generation from item number one have now reproduced, and found it appropriate to dress their small child up as the equivalent of a pedophiles prayers being answered, then parade the underdressed child around in public.

The Halloween store in my area keeps the makeup and costume accessories with the children's and pre-teen costumes. While browsing the isles waiting on the people I was with to finish shopping I noticed the following: a geisha wrap showing both underwear and LOTS of cleavage, a "Naughty Alice" outfit, a "Naughty Schoolgirl" outfit and several others along the same trend. At first I thought someone must have stocked the costumes from the adult section into the "youth" costumes, but alas, I was mistaken and they were marketed for the 12+ age bracket.

To me, an adult who decides to run around in angel wings and a skirt short enough to leave nothing to the imagination is completely fine, because they are technically old enough to make their own decisions. When did parents become okay with their pre-teen daughter running around town in the same outfit??

I guess I'm just getting old. . . [sigh]

I wrote recently of a problem my friend SmartGrad is having with a new PostDoc in her lab (nicknamed Dr AssHat). I finally managed to catch up with my fellow student of science and was shocked to hear of several more recent incidences with Dr AH. It seems as though things progressively got worse and ended in a verbal assault the likes of which SmartGrad had never experienced by a supervisor. According to my friend, he not only yelled at things that happened while she was away from lab, but also included personal attacks on her character and physical appearance. For those that are not aware, my friend is barely over 5 feet tall and very petite in nature and from what she told me, I believe he ridiculed her stature, something she is already incredibly sensitive about and in no way can change. She collected herself for a moment after the ranting of Dr AH, then left the room. Upon returning later he started in right where he left off and my friend finally retaliated before stating she felt it best they not be around each other right now and left the lab.

SmartGrad then went to her [female] PI and told her the things AssHat said. The PI's response, "Women live by a double standard in this industry, and this is something you're going to have to get used to. A man can have a bad day and go off on you and it's because he's having a bad day, you shouldn't have retaliated at all because to everyone else, it looks like you can't separate your emotions from your work and handle things in a professional way." SmartGrad asked her, "Am I not allowed a bad day, or even to defend myself from unjustified criticism if done in a tactful non-personal way?" Her advisors response: No, you're not and you can't.

My friend said the worse part wasn't that her advisor didn't want to do anything for fear of seeming to favor her female employee (an example she gave SmartGrad), but that Dr AssHat now KNOWS he can get away with behavior life this and she has no doubt it will occur again. She seemed defeated when I spoke to her, and no matter my attempt at comfort, she said it's just something she has to live with until she graduates. SmartGrad said she understood that it is sometimes more difficult for a female scientist in the world of basic science, but thought the rules of personal courteousness applied to everyone, regardless of gender.

I have TAd and guest lectured for multiple classes throughout my time in academia, but only recently have I realized all the work that goes into a single course. For those that are not aware, I'm taking a course on university teaching this semester, and as a result had to prepare a block of material for a course using only the accreditation requirements set by our governing body. I then worked with the instructor to make sure my slides covered the material appropriately, included a number of outside sources and the level was adequate for an introductory course.

It took FOREVER to go through all the material and I FINALLY had a good number of lectures prepared. The action of teaching on a more than "single serving" of material was quite different from preparing a presentation on a topic you already know a lot about. Granted, I knew a lot about the section of material I presented, but knowing what was important or sufficient for a freshman/sophomore level class was very challenging. Since I am somewhat of a glutton for punishment, I agreed to teach two different sections of the same level course.

The students in one of the smaller sections (125 students, referred to as class A) really were interactive, and obviously seemed to enjoy my lectures, while the students in the second larger section (225 students, referred to as class B) were nearly comatose. The students in class A liked to be involved and I was even approached by many of them after class. Class B was the complete and utter opposite. The students didn't participate unless forced and those that did were slightly confrontational (not a touchy subject I was lecturing over, while Class A was introduced to eating disorders??!?). Class B seemed as though they only wanted to passively hear the material and then leave, and they had anonymity on their side. In a class that large, there is no way for me to tell the professor who participated or not, though she asked me to update her when I'm through. I have a strong feeling those who participated with me are the same ones who do so with her and the teacher is irrelevant of their desire to interact.

Is it a difference in the way the class was structured until I stepped in, halfway through the semester? There are aspects from each instructors' take on teaching this material that I would really like to incorporate into my own classroom, but they are both, in and of themselves, not close to my teaching style. I'd love to talk to a Doc who is currently teaching and find out their take on the matter, granting you of course have the time to be harassed by a bear for a few minutes.

This was a learning experience, and I am definitely going to modify a few items before I start teaching this summer.

Things I learned:

1. I am not the normal student. Complex thought questions seem to be above a lot of the students in these classes (a freshman level general health requirement). If not specifically stated that A results in B, only about 10-20% of the class understand this intuitively when given all the pieces they need to put the picture together.


2. Students really enjoy engaging, interactive professors, regardless of the course material. I found this out from a survey I gave to Class A (more info on this later).


3. Only a small number of intro students understand how to study, and how to pick out the important information from a lecture. MANY of the students were so concerned with filling in the very few blanks on their notes, or writing EVERYTHING down that they missed the big picture.


4. What works with one group of students, might not work in the same course with another group of students (either due to the background of the students, or a fluctuation in the number of students). I saw this to a small degree in the different sections I've been teaching (but think that is more dependent on the actual instructors teaching style and what they are used to). A PI in my department teaches an advanced metabolism course required by all of our majors, and actually had one semester of students who where just NOT GETTING what she wanted. She modified her teaching technique to some extent, but they complained constantly about the level of the material, even though previous groups were fine.


5. Teaching is something I enjoy, but underestimated the time needed to truly be prepared for a class.

I recently learned of a large study done by the university on how students at different levels in their academic career process information and what they tend to enjoy about classes. When I track it down, I'l share the information with those who frequent my humble little cave.

Science Bear has an interesting question for all of the doctoral holding individuals who frequent the cave. I'm currently winding down my life in graduate school, and have stumbled upon an interesting ideology held by several other people I know. Since most of my current work involves finishing a few more experiments (typically on weekends due to demand for equipment) and fleshing out my thesis, I've chosen to stay home and write. My PI is okay with this, so long as she sees progress. When I mentioned my recent work to a few individuals, they act as though this shouldn't be allowed?!?

What is your opinion on "working from home" both for graduate students and for faculty?

This seems to work quite well for me. I can't stand the constant noise of a language I don't understand, or people chatting loudly from across the room at each other (once again, in a language I don't understand). This is incredibly distracting for me and as all of you have probably noticed, writing is not exactly my strong-suite so I need to concentrate to be effective. While I am not physically sitting at my desk, I ration out what needs to be done, and how long each task should take. I allow myself short breaks every hour and tend to be very productive on my days outside of lab.

I do sometimes walk my dog in the middle of the day or write a post on here (if I'm ahead of schedule) but I decrease my lunch time in order to do this, or I work while eating. This bear is completely aware that not everyone would actually work when they say they are going to, but why does this have such a bad stigma attached? I can't be the only graduate student who has ever worked on their thesis outside of their bench in lab, right? I would think this is especially true when already working every weekend, or am I mistaken?

I have mentioned numerous times the challenges I face on a daily basis by working in a predominately Chinese laboratory. Things are marginally better in my own little lab-o-sphere, but alas, all is not well for most of my friends. It seems as though my discontent has spread like a highly virulent virus through most of the labs of those I know.

The problem seems to be varied and range from a PI with unclear goals who is never around until they want something ten days ago (i.e. in a real hurry, though they never even told you to do it in the first place), to abuse of lab funds for stupid reasons (I know funding is running out but I HAVE to have the ultra-tip-top-special product from VWR, and can't possibly make a substitution for a slightly lower grade product. . . the product in question was totally sub-able by the way). The most serious of all of my friends' issues comes from the lab in which SmartGrad works.

Let me set the scene:
SmartGrad's advisor is the chair of her small department, and due to lots of other commitments, and being around for a while, she maintains a rather small lab. From what I have been told, most of this lab graduated one year after SmartGrad came to PSU and she has been relatively on her own since then (other than one brilliant MS student who remained for one additional year). There were days when my friend would kid that the lack of social contact is reducing her already miniscule human interaction skills to absolutely nothing. As you can imagine, when her advisor told her they were hiring a postdoc, she was elated. He was well liked when he was a student in the department, and was already familiar with all of the procedures and techniques. She was actually nearly giddy about the ordeal to be honest. It had been over a year since she worked with anyone in the lab, and since both of us are friends with several Docs we both held a bit of a skewed vision of what this person would be like. Little did we know this Canadian born intruder would have the personality of a doormat and be a complete ass-hat to my friend. With this, I introduce a new character into the saga that is a bear's life: Dr AssHat (he insists on the Doctor part even in informal settings, so I saw it fit to include it here as well).

Exhibit A: What I feel it would be like to work for Dr AssHat

I believe he is struggling to find an identity at the university from which he graduated, and is therefore switching back and forth between nice guy with dry sense of humor and doctor trying to assert he is no longer a student by demeaning all those around him. For lack of words, let me give an example:

SmartGrad came into work and set up an experiment to run later in the day. For 8 hours of that day she was ridiculed for having a Pittsburgh accent. Dr AssHat teased her relentlessly, poking fun at the way she says certain things and some of the words she used to describe a social event he asked about. One thing can be said about my friend, she normally doesn't hold back and did so for that long because at first she was unsure if that was the kind of relationship they were going to have (one where joking was permitted), but after him continuing the act for the entire day she retorted with "Is that right, Eh" and he completely lost his mind!! She said she was nearly in tears by the time his ranting was done (a state she does not laps into easily), but has learned from her mistake and now realized HE is able to joke and kid but SHE is not.

To make matters worse, SmartGrad has a problem with a staff member of another lab. Her actual title is obscure since she graduated from the lab in which she works, but has a VERY odd relationship with her married male boss. This girl spread some very nasty, and untrue rumors about my friend. She is backstabbing and gossips constantly about EVERYONE in the building. I personally think it's to make up for the nearly 24/7 relationship she has with her mentor, kind of deflecting the attention away from herself. THIS is the person Dr AssHat is now spending the majority of his time with, much to SmartGrad's dismay.

My friend is now miserable and I have no idea how to help her situation. Her PI said to talk to her if Dr AssHat's ego gets out of check, but she knows this was more out of obligation than a real invitation. The situation would have to be much worse than it is currently for her to actually say something (he's already demanding he do work the PI assigned him AND that she do the undergrad's work too). He is already blurring the line between lab boss and lab dictator, and it seems as though this is only getting worse with time.

I don't want this to come across as something that it isn't. Both SmartGrad and myself agree that a person who has a doctorate and chooses to be called Doctor deserves that title, but he is taking advantage of the situation and completely out of control. It won't be long before she's picking up his dry cleaning and washing his car.

I thought we were beyond things like this but evidently I was mistaken.

The JP who is the subject of this article was quoted as saying:

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way. I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Dr Isis has a new post with updates on her "Donors Choose" project. In this post there is a letter from a potential recipient who directs us to the website associated with the video above. Coming from a small southern town, this bear is inclined to help, even though her list of followers is nothing compared to that of the Goddess Isis. To do this, I've decided to include stories of myself as a little cub growing up in a poorer part of the country.

My elementary school did not have air conditioning, though temperatures were regularly above 90 degrees in the fall and spring before school would be let out. The school did not have funds to install a cooling system, so we were instructed to bring water bottles to school with us (with instructions to freeze some of the water and then fill the rest of the container before you leave in the morning). While this helped, if it was 90˚F outdoors, it was at least 5-10 degrees warmer indoors. School was actually dismissed if temperatures were to be above 90 degrees, resulting in many partial school days. Unlike many schools in the north, where a cooling system isn't really a necessity, when you live in an area where the temperatures can creep above 110˚F, there really shouldn't be an option NOT to have it.

The other thing that made learning difficult at times, was the heating system in the winter. Were I grew up in Arkansas, the summers are hot and humid, but the winters still get around freezing. Part of the school had working heating, but because of the age of the wood furnace used to heat all of the 4-6th grade classrooms, only those rooms directly over the furnace were warm. My 6th grade room was at the end of a long hallway, and the furthest from the source of heat. Because of this, we were allowed to wear our winter coats during class and would sometimes do activities inside to try and keep us warm (a few times this involved walking in circles around the class for 5 or so minutes).

When I was in 4th grade, my classroom was a converted room in the basement, so every time it would rain the hall before the room and the entrance to the room would be wet and mildewed. Our gymnasium, which was also our cafeteria was found to have asbestos and wasn't replaced until I was in 5th grade (so around 1992-93).

Even with all of these hurdles, I had a few outstanding teachers while in that school. One of my favorite projects was in social studies while studying the Egyptians. The teacher got donations from parents and we actually constructed a pyramid out of bricks we made from straw, dirt and water. There are still aspects that could have been improved (grammar being one that is obvious), but watching the video above made me wonder where are the parents of those children? My school was very rural, and while the majority of my graduating class of 45 students did not attend college, we were still able to read and write because of the lobbying and support of the parents in the area (even though some of them had very little to give).

Many of you might not be aware, but I used to be the coordinator for a county based adult basic education program. The students we helped had a mean age of 42 and a mean reading level of the 2nd grade. Having actually taught the alphabet to several of my students, I can't understand how this could happen today. I used to rationalize the need for the program I worked for with the age of those who participated, it is so hard for me to fathom the reality that there are still schools who are allowing students to advance to other grade level without basic reading skills.

I'm long over the realization that children today rarely read for pleasure, but the idea of allowing someone to transition from the 4th to the 5th grade and them not even know the alphabet is completely foreign to me! Part of this post is outrage at the schools, because I have seen what the lives of these students will be like and the obstacles they will face 20 or 30 years from now, but mostly it is just disappointment. I recently spoke to my friend LitTeach, who is a 9th grade literature teacher at a very impoverished school in central Arkansas, and she shared that it isn't uncommon for her to get a student that only has basic reading skills on par with that of a normal 2nd grader, but they keep slipping through the system.

Help support the cause by clicking here several times a day!! The proceeds go to help get science back in the classroom and help fund interactive projects for schools that do not have the funds to pay for class activities.

I am lecturing over a few different topics in one of our basic nutrition classes, the topic for today was eating disorders, and I'm left feeling a little depressed. Having known so many people whose lives have been touched by disordered eating's malignant hand, made it hard when a particular student asked "why don't they just stop?" It was also hard not to get emotional when I recounted my short working experience at a newly developed adult eating disorder clinic in my home-state. I left after four weeks due to a patient being hospitalized and then finally losing to the disease that held her life hostage for nearly two decades.

I'm left wondering how faculty hold it together when they have to lecture over a topic that has somehow touched their life?

I guess this post is both fabulous and horrible since part of the reason I'm loosing my job is that I'm graduating in December!

The not so wonderful part is my advisor wanted to keep me on as a technician, but no longer has the funds to do so. She is hiring me from January to May, and then we are hoping I can teach a summer session or two in order to make ends meet (yes I'm qualified, but there is a hiring freeze at PSU). The bad part is we won't find out if the project I am supposed to run is funded until August and won't receive funds until around January (estimation, but it will be after the turn of the new year).

I have no idea what I'm going to do, or even what the options are. The job market is crap right now and I'm under contract with my rental agency until June. *uggh*