Routine Achieved... at least I hope

t seems that I have finally achieved the delicate balance of routine over my summer break. I just completed my second day at my internship at the Charlotte Coalition for Social Justice, as an Intern for a special Health Disparities Project. I am working 9-5 (at least for the most part) 3 days a week, while the remaining two days of the week are used for my other research project, the one that I am blogging about.

I realized that I am supposed to blog about both my internship AND my research. So I’ve decided to kill two birds with one stone, and blog about them both. Now I have no reason to repeat what I did earlier this week…. That is… not maintain my daily journal as I am supposed to. Hopefully now the sands are beginning to settle on this summer vacation, and I will have time to dedicate to my studies…as opposed to dedicating it all to hanging out with friends!

As I said earlier, I have an internship. I am working on a comparative neighborhood study, analyzing adequate access to health care, and how that has a role in perpetuating health care disparities in my hometown. If you can’t already tell, I’m becoming a nut for race and health, and I’m looking at different aspects of that relationship over the summer. I love what I am doing. The only thing is, I’m getting a taste of corporate life, and I don’t understand how people do it. I mean, sitting on my butt for 8 hours a day, looking at a computer screen? I have always known, that is exactly what I DON’T want to do. I want to have flexibility, move around, talk to different people, and do different things….hopefully I can find a job like that once I complete school.

On to my academic research project. I have had SEVERAL breakthroughs/epiphanies over the last week. I have been reading Under the Knife by Hugh Pearson. I almost finished it over the weekend, but due to work, and an unsettled schedule, it took me almost the entirety of this week to finish the last 30 pages, as well as type up my notes, but I AM DONE with my second book. I think I will move on to Medical Apartheid next, a book about medical experimentation on black people from colonial to present times. It’s very controversial, and looks very interesting, so I can’t wait to read it.

Reading Under the Knife however, I’ve realized several things. One of them being, I had a romanticized notion as to who the African-American physician was in the Jim Crow era, and how he was a Saving Grace Angel sent to save the black community. This book was a candid examination of the life of Joseph Griffin, the first black surgeon in the state of Georgia. The argument of the book, as I take it, is that there are two sides to every story… every legend. Hugh Pearson looked at how family and local legends of Dr. Griffin were romanticized, and often played up his benevolence, however under further inspection Dr. Griffin appears to be one who does not fit into the “good doctor” mold—he was ruthless and seized homes and land from many of his patients who were unable to pay the bills, he broke the law several times, and he performed illegal back-door abortions. This lead me to believe that the literature that I will be looking at could be either two things (or something in between): It could feature a physician/ or physicians who are VERY romanticized in what they provide for the community or those who are not romanticized at all, and provide a more candid look at what it is like to be a physician in the Jim Crow Era. That might be a potential driving question of my research.
Another thing that I have also realized is that I may have been employing the wrong search queries when looking for books and articles. What I failed to realize, is that in the Jim Crow era, and even before then, the black population has gone through several “name changes.” As I have searched for African-American and Black Physicians, I have failed to search for “Colored” or even “Negro” physicians. I feel that employing these terms, which are more connected to the time period in which I am studying will lead me to more books and articles that pertain directly to my research.

I think that is everything for right now. I am beginning my third book for the summer (in the end of my second full week back home). I should pick up the pace, especially sense I have a better understanding of how my time can be organized.

Well, Hopefully I’ll blog tomorrow, and every day after that!
- Until then

Road humps...already

So.. I'm going with this metaphor of driving, I guess because in my conscience, that is something that I want to do, heck I NEED to do...taking public transportation is SUCH a hassle. Anyway so yes, I have begun this journey of research, jumped on the highway of knowledge, and I've already hit the bumps. I haven't been in the car for more than 5 minutess, before I am forced to slow down and re-evaluate.

I have checked out 3 books from the library that I really should read. Two of them are nonfiction and describe the history of race and medicine from its "beginnings" (whatever that means, I havent even read the first chapter) to the present (It was finished during the Clinton Administration). Let me tell you. I tried to read the forward and Introduction, and almost fell asleep. The subject matter interests me to death, but the writing is so.. formalized and academic, it would bore anyone. I find this very ironic because in the text the authros allude to "easy readability" for dissemination of the information to the masses...that's funny. It just goes to show how disconnected the world of academia CAN be (I'm not saying it's always like that).

On top of that, I've hung out with my friends twice within a 7 day period, spending, a LOT of time with them. I hung out with m grandad too. And I know there will be more and more people wanting to see me during my time back home...BUT I NEED TO RESEARCH.

Here's what I have decided to do. My time at the library will be RESEARCH time (except for right now, when I'm blogging, when I should be doing some reading). I think I'll start the heavy duty stuff next week, but while i'm still just chilling out/ breaking from school, I'lll do more of the light reading.

hopefully by next week, when I start my internship, things will be a little more scheduled and regulated. I need a schedule, consistency, to keep me on my p's and q's and to really get stuff done.

Well anyway, I will stop ranting, but hopefully by next week I can get it together.

- Until Then

Confusion and Commencement

Okay,

So it's been a while since I have last posted anything to this blog (if you can even call it that, there is only one post up thus far)... however several things have transpired since my last posting, which I would like to share with anyone who is reading, or at least for my own benefit of personal reflection.

I have started receiving word of the day emails from dictionary.com, starting today with the word majuscule. It must be a very obscure word, because it is showing up as a spelling error in this text box. It is basically a fancy way of describing the capital form of a letter. For instance A is the majuscule form of a... I don't know, it seems like a useless word to me, but i want to augment my vocabulary if I am to take this scholarship thing forward, so I begin.

I am at home now, and I took a very quick trip to the main public library branch downtown, and immediately I was reminded of why I am doing the project that I am doing, and why I am interested in the things that I am. My eyes have been further opened to structural injustices , or as Paul Farmer would call "Structural Violence," and how structural inequalities lead to social inequalities. I was looking at how one road: East/West Boulevard signifies the barrier between rich and poor, and more often than not between black and white, where West Boulevard is the road that leads to the poorer side of town, and East Boulevard to the other. Why is that so? It can not be because all poor people migrated to one area of town...but I digress. I was riding public transportation (to be green, and because I have yet to obtain my license), and I overheard a man in his early forties speak about how he was diagnosed with diabetes at 35. Imagine. You are in the height of being middle aged, and you are diagnosed with diabetes, not even reaching the midpoint of average life-expectancy. And I saw how most of the people in my neighborhood are overweight, and I even witness, to my dismay, the eating habits of my family which I try so hard to elucidate. We constantly speak about loosing weight, however we don't even make the simplest, slightest changes that could make A WORLD of difference... But anyway.

So, from the beginning, I have been engaged in an internal conflict (do you like the literary term?) with myself. I have these big ideas about my project, and how I want to attack it, and I want to read everything under the sun that comes even remotely close to what I want to study (In general I want to study the biological and social relationships between race and health, but more particularly, I will be looking at the figure of the African-American doctor in African-American literature). Although I would love to take a broad interdisciplinary approach, I have had conflicting advice on what exactly to do. On the one hand, a fellowship advisor gently urges me to follow my original project (based in English lit) so that I have a clear cut goal in mind as to what I will accomplish over the summer. On the other hand my mentor brought up the very good point-- Why English? I could accomplish my research goals through other methods, especially those more related to my academic and career goals of Anthropology and Public Health. Both make very valid points, and whenever that happens, I always get stuck in the middle. I have, however, come up with a remedy to solve those problems. I think for the time being, I will remain with the literary focus of my project, because it is the most focused that I could possibly get when doing a project of this caliber. I will save the anthropological/public health approach to my topic with a senior honors thesis, which allows me more writing room to further delve into methodology and research.

Other than that. I have checked out three books from the library...The Street by Ann Petry (my relief book, yet still may be related to my research), an also the two volumes of An American health dilemma. All three amount to over 1850 pages! It is Monday, and I hope to complete those books by the end of the week, at least most of them. I don't start my internship until hopefully next week, so I have all the time in the world right now.

Well, It officially begins today. Hopefully everything will go according to plan!

- Until Next Time