Something very interesting happened on
by fiona
Something very interesting happened on my way back to Portland, as SPRING BREAK 2004 slowly shuddered to a halt. I had the great misfortune to miss a connecting flight and get stranded in the San Jose airport for a couple of hours, desperately hoping that I would get on the next totally full flight and not have to spend a night in some crappy motel by the airport. Forunately, I made it on. But one of the good things about this little delay was that I got to be flown by a female pilot.
Here's how I found out that there was a woman "manning" the plane: I was getting settled into my 1st row aisle seat (not only did I get onto the flight, I got first class), when a guy walks onto the plane and asks the head flight attendent a question. He says, "So, is this lady any good?" And the flight attendent, also a guy, responds, "Yeah, she's alright. This is her first flight."
My first thought is, awesome! Its great to see women breaking into this field. But my second thought is, what a weird interaction I just witnessed. I can maybe understand why someone who has lived with the all-male pilot standard for decades might involuntarily question whether a woman could have all the technical and leadership skills required to properly head that craft. But to walk in and openly question it loudly, while standing directly in front of the open cockpit? Its just rude.
But what really gets to me is the flight attendant's response. He was not in any way supportive of his crew member (and superior), nor did he set the passenger at ease about the flight. "She's allright?" Come on. How hard would it have been to say "Yes." Or make some comment about how Alaskan only hires qualified pilots. Something. And to add in purposefully that it was her first flight seemed quite unprofessional to me. I have never heard of anyone anouncing to passengers that it was a pilot's first flight, even though it must happen all the time. It has to be their first sometime. Not that it should be a secret, but the context in which that information was shared seemed pretty inappropriate to me.
I don't think this is a huge deal, nor am I that suprised that a female pilot should suffer some doubt and resistance. But it did strike me that that conversation would probably have gone a lot differently if it been a male pilot. Well, it probably wouldn't have occured at all. But if someone had made an offhand statement to a flight attendant about Captain John Smith, the answer would probably not leave the passenger feeling like their life was in the hands of an inexperienced, incompetent person who was neither liked nor respected.
Needless to say, the flight was like any other: long, boring, and uneventful. Except that this time, when the captain spoke, I could understand what she said.
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Posted on March 29, 2004 | Comments (0)
Phoenix, Arizona. Its like a
by fiona
Phoenix, Arizona. Its like a whole different country down there - cacti and deserts and mountains and palm trees and hot. Not to mention the fact that its a weird, expansive city megalopolis where everyone drives everywhere and no-one recycles and 10 minutes on the freeway is considered "close by" and everyone either speaks spanish or is dressed like a hoochie sorority girl or both.
I had a really good time with my friend Kirsten, and managed to get some studying done (if studying while sunning myself by a pool under some palm trees counts as studying). I even got to spend a day at her junior high, and had the honor of attending the Mountain Sky Junior High Pep Rally (in honor of the upcoming Spirit Week). I got to lean against the gym wall with all the teachers. Go Eagles!
I also got to eat a lot of burritos, dog sit a pair of pugs, and visit Kirsten's favorite Irish bar hangout, The Dubliner, which is in a strip mall. Literally. It is an Irish pub in a strip mall. That is so Phoenix.
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Posted on March 29, 2004 | Comments (0)
SPRING BREAK! SPRING BREAK! I
by fiona
SPRING BREAK! SPRING BREAK!
I woke up slightly hung over this morning, only to be inundated with Mike's carefully constructed plan for the day: get up, eat oatmeal, make tea and coffee, scoot over to Jona's newly lofted warehouse apartment, go downtown, come home, work in the garden, and on and on. As I was trying to fit this schedule into my sluggish consiousness, I couldn't help but feel a sense of panic. So many things... so much time... no... time... left... for... studying.
But then I realized... I don't have to study! I'm on SPRING BREAK! I have a whole week to do whatever I want. I can sleep in, stay out late, heck- I couItld even get drunk on a beach in Cancun with a group of belligerent frat boys, or take part in a hormonally charged pool-side dance party hosted by Ryan Seacrest and the members of O-Town. If I so desired.
Or, I could pay too much money to fly down to Phoenix to stay with my college friend Kirsten. And then, while she is out teaching choir to 8th graders, I could spend the day attempting to study for the boards, which I have to take in mid June. SPRING BREAK! PARTY! It will be awesome.
The only reason I feel the need to study over SPRING BREAK is the fact that I am deathly afraid of the swiftly approaching board exam. The "boards" is an affectionate term for the U.S. Medical Liscensing Exam (USMLE). To get liscensed to practice medicine in this country you must past three exams, the first of which (Step 1) is to be taken after your second year. That's what I'm taking in June. It is a basic science type exam that encompasses everything you learned (or should have learned) in the first two years of medical school. It is very hard. You take Step 2 after your 4th year - its more of a clinical test, regarding treatments and complications of diseases. As part of that, I will have to go to LA to take an observed clinical exam with real patients. Step 3 is taken at the end of your residency, and is all about the specialty that you are going into. Then you will be "boarded" in a certain field, like pediatrics, or emergency medicine.
So its basically just a whole heap of fun. I wasn't all that worried about it until I took a "mock" board test a couple weeks ago. I knew nothing. There was literally not a single question that I was sure about. My strategy was to just put B for anything that I knew so little about as to make an educated guess impossible. I ended up putting B a lot. So that was a bit worrisome. I decided that in order to overcome this minor obstacle to my medical career, I must start studying over SPRING BREAK. I have decided to focus on immunogogy and pharmacology. It won't be too bad. I will be in a warm place, with good friends.
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Posted on March 20, 2004 | Comments (0)
Today, as part of my
by fiona
Today, as part of my official Ides of March birthday celebration plan, I rewarded myself for making it through 26 years of toil and hardhip by really pampering myself. I went to class. One of the best birthday presents I can give myself right now is to not fall behind (seeing as I have my second "Blood" exam coming up on Friday).
As a reward for this good behavior, the birthday gods bestowed upon me the opportunity to be lectured by one of the great minds of modern science, Dr. Brian Druker, inventor of Gleevec. Though this drug sounds like the inspiration for the Kids in the Hall movie "Brain Candy," in reality Gleevec made headlines a couple years ago when it proved to be a near miracle drug in the treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia. It kind of put OHSU on the map in a lot of ways, and forced all of its med students to learn A LOT about these specific cell receptors called receptor tyrosine kinases, which are mutated in CML.
Dr. Druker's lecture was great, not because he's a famous and very wealthy guy (and hence the idol of future hematologists everywhere), but because he used a variety of movie clips to introduce some points about CML and Gleevec (whose real name is Imatinib). He started out his lecture by showing the entire intro to the movie Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks. Lesson#1: CML is caused by a mutation that is known as the "Philadelphia chromosome." This happens when chromosome 9 and chromosome 22 are sitting next together, and they swap parts of their chromosomes. This weird move, called a translocation, puts 2 genes right next to eachother that shouldn't be anywhere near eachother. When transcribed, they form a mutant fusion protein that causes the cell to keep dividing repeatedly, leading to the leukemia.
The next movie was another Tom Hanks gem, Apollo 13. He showed the take off scene, saying "Apollo 13 blasts off to disaster." Lesson #2: CML, if not treated, can progress to a what's called a blast crisis, where immature cells or "blasts" basically take over your body and kill you. Its a very bad scene - almost completely untreatable, and virtually totally avoidable with Gleevec. I actually think I can remember that (thanks Tom Hanks!)
He used the last clip to end his lecture. That famous scene from Rocky (shot entirely in Philadelphia, of course), where he jogs around to that awesome theme music and shadow boxes on the steps of the capital and raises his hands in victory. Lesson 3#: Either patients who would have died now have a new lease on life! Or, you should go into pharmaceuticals because this drug costs $25,000 a year and you could be rich! Or See, hematology is truly inspirational! I had a hard time figuring out that last message. But it was a good lecture, one worthy to be scheduled for March 15th.
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Posted on March 15, 2004 | Comments (0)