Term 4

I wish I had more time to write about the characters running around Hopkins.

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Funny e-mail correspondence of the day:
I received a one-line message from a Hopkins friend and loyal reader of this blog.
E-mail headline: Dr. Diarrhea
E-mail text: First slide in Sack's Class THINK DIARRHEA

My response: oh my god. it actually said that? in bold?i think im going to fall off my chair

Her response: and then he showed a picture of someone running to the bathroom

Ah, Dr. Diarrhea!

***
Also today, my (new) biostatistics professor made a particularly funny joke. Let me preface this by saying that while I am taking biostatistics this term, I am not masochistic; this stats class is much easier and it includes a new professor. The professor's motto: "Pay the fee, get the B." I'll take it.

So the prof (who took many opportunities to make fun of our previous stats professors) informed us that we would not need to complete "problem sets" and we would not be doing "extra self-evaluations" as we have in past terms.

"The last few terms they had you doing, what was it, 'self-evaluation problems?" the professor said, with a fair dose of mockery. "I'm not into 'self-evaluation' of this kind. Here, we 'self-evaluate' by looking in the mirror and saying How you doin'? "

Today, I'm doing just fine.

My open letter to Baltimore Mayor, Sheila Dixon

Dear Mayor Dixon,

I want to begin by saying that I believe Baltimore is a beautiful, vibrant city. I have enjoyed my time in Baltimore - the music festivals, the world-class museums, the parades - and I feel fortunate to be a member of the Hopkins community and the broader Baltimore community.

Unfortunately, though, I am writing to say that I have never felt as unsafe, anywhere, in any city, as I feel in Baltimore (and I am a Chicago native who has spent the past few years working in the Middle East).

When I first came to Baltimore in June 2008, I planned to move to Charles Village. The day my real estate broker was showing me the neighborhood, we witnessed a shooting. As two men lay bleeding on the sidewalk outside a dry cleaners (less than a block from a college campus), I decided to apartment hunt elsewhere. I ended up in Mt. Vernon. Here in Mt. Vernon, we have a serial rapist who has been preying on women like me since last Fall. In December, a man was shot in the face three blocks south of my apartment. Over the weekend, someone took a sawzall to my 1998 truck and sold pieces of my car for scrap. Now- on top of feeling unsafe- I have lost roughly $1,000 in the form of a catalytic converter.

I want to love Baltimore. I want to feel safe. I want to be a part of what makes this city great. I am an optimist.

But I'm embarrassed to bring my mother here. Embarrassed because she is convinced Baltimore is unsafe and every time I tell her - "Really, Mom it's a great place"- another Hopkins student gets mugged at gunpoint ... another alcoholic is passed out on my stoop ... another drug addict is urinating on a tree on my street ... another man has decided to "expose" himself to my fellow female colleagues on a bus. These are real incidents that have occurred since August.

I don't know if you personally read your e-mails Mayor Dixon, but if you do, please know that this Balitmore resident believes that crime is the most pressing issue in your city. The lack of officers on foot patrol, the lack of oversight of criminal activity and the lack of legislation blocking thieves from re-selling ripped off car parts.

I am saddened to be writing this letter.

Sincerely,

Shannon McMahon
Mt. Vernon Resident

Hopkins Cade

Collegiate Cade:

Cade's baptism was a few weeks ago. Before leaving for Illinois, I grabbed coffee with my friends Laura, Vanessa and Maria. There was a present on the table.

"Here you go," Laura said, smiling. "It's for Cade!"

"For Cade?" I said. "What did he do?"

"He's getting baptized so we got him a present," she said.

"Oh that's so nice of you guys!" I said, looking at the blue and yellow gift wrap. "Do you mind if I open it when I'm with him?"

(insert look of dismay from friends)

"Uh, it's not for you. It's for Cade," Laura said, with a hint of how-many-times-do-I-have-explain-this in her voice.

"Oh, um, right," I said, waiting for them to smile and say But we realize he is three months old and cant actually open things.

"And he may want to just eat it, FYI," Vanessa said.

Cade loved the gift. He kicked itthe gift, played with the crinkling paper and then we dressed him in his newest Hopkins outfit.

Thanks to Laura, Maria and Vanessa. xo from Cade

Music blends

I nearly never recommend music, but this CD is incredible. Remixed Neil Young, Paul Simon, Nick Drake, Feist. I can't stop listening. I'm finally on Spring Break. Between that and the end of biostats ... I'm in heaven.

Newsosaursus Ex

The other day, my dear friend Ramona asked me about my dream job. Usually this sparks a lively conversation. Instead I got teary.

"I have lots of dream jobs, " I said to Ramona, "but my real dream job - the one I actually feel in my dreams - doesn't exist, or at least it won't for very long. (pause, insert dramatic tears here) I wanted to be a great reporter. To spend my life at a newspaper. To cover great stories, meet great people, see the world."

Ramona got nervous and asked, "So why don't you do that?"

Because today being in the news biz is akin to being in the buggy biz when cars came along. It just doesn't work.

I read this article in the New York Times today and couldn't help but feel like a great, beautiful thing - newspaper journalism - is dying.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/12/business/20090312-papers-graphic.html

Thankfully, this public health gig- the thing Hopkins calls "saving lives millions at a time" - is also a beautiful thing. But sometimes I wish I was born a few generations ago to enjoy the heyday of papers.

Computer Condoms Burst Again

You know you're at a school of public health when they talk about quarantining flash drives.

"The computer labs are infected with a USB Key virus. If you have used a USB key for data storage in one of the computer lab computers, please take that key to W3014 for quarantine and scanning. If you have shared a key that was in the computer lab with someone today in their laptop or desktop, please take the laptop toW3014 for a scan or open a helpc all to have your desktop scanned."