R.I.P. Michael Jackson

This is going to be one of those days, where you look back and think “When I heard Michael Jackson died, I was doing…”

Well, I had just hurriedly rushed out of the C train at Penn, and was making my way to the LIRR track. I checked my Blackberry quickly, and happened to go to Twitterberry, when I saw the string of Michael Jackson-related tweets. My first instinct was to dismiss it as a hoax, though I could feel a lump slowly rising in my throat. This was Michael Jackson they were talking about, had they no shame? How could you suggest such a thing? Yet I decided to confirm it with the New York Times, hoping that it wasn’t true. When I saw that the first article was “Michael Jackson dead at 50″ I wanted to cry. I guess perhaps it’s an odd response to the death of someone who wasn’t exactly close to me. However, he defined my understanding of pop music from the first day I even knew anything about pop music.

Being raised in an Indian household meant there was Indian music most of the time. Michael Jackson represented my first glimpse of Western music. Yet my reaction was more of fear, since the first thing I heard by him was “Thriller” and happened to be watching the music video (keep in mind, I was maybe five or six). Fear, though, gave way quickly to admiration. He was the pinnacle of pop music, and no one has even come close to his skill and success (and no one ever will).

Perhaps I’m more sad because a few friends and I danced to “Thriller” for our senior dance at our Diwali program two years ago. It was a fantastic bonding experience for us, and a great learning experience (Michael’s moves are not easy, unsurprisingly). Michael Jackson is inextricably tied with that experience, and maybe that’s why his death elicited such an emotional response in me.

May he rest in peace, he was the best thing to ever grace the world of pop music. I hope the media is kind to his children, and to his memory.

El Rap Enfermo

El Rap Enfermo

This is not a typical post, usually mine are geared towards issues and events, but I figured I’d throw in one or two slightly pointless/mildly amusing posts too.

My brother and his friends had to do an extra-credit project for Spanish, where they had to make use of a passage (or something of the sort) about being sick (remember this is still high school Spanish). So they decided to make a Spanish rap video, and it is hysterical. Even if you don’t understand Spanish, it is still very funny.

Enjoy.

Shout out to Project Remix

I first heard about Project Remix last year–or at least the collection of nascent ideas that would eventually become Remix–from one of the creators, who is also a good friend of mine. I was immediately sold on the idea, which was to create a site that provided resources and information to Desi (South-Asian) youth. A site created by the Indian youth for the Indian youth.

The official site launched recently, though it had already started generating buzz among our peers when it had made its first foray into the collective consciousness. Currently there are sections for cuts, cultural media, and articles. The cuts feature mixes used by various student groups and collegiate dance teams (bhangra, raas, Indian fusion, etc.) from across the country. Cultural media highlights video performances from various collegiate groups. The articles on Project Remix have been broken down into smaller categories and initiatives, devoted to everything from the arts to sports (currently I’m contributing to Team Innovate’s Neurobio series so be sure to check that out!). Examples of articles currently up on the website include my neurobio piece (an overview of neuroscience), a two-part series on biofuels, a review of Slumdog Millionaire, and a piece recounting a trip to Chennai to volunteer.

Project Remix is seeking new, fresh voices that can contribute to the site in any capacity. If you are a writer or blogger who is interested in appearing on the website, you can email projectremixny at gmail dot com. For any other questions, you can also send an email to the aforementioned address. The website is http://www.projectremix.org.

In addition, you can follow Project Remix on Twitter @ProjectRemix for updates.

Caught Between Worlds

I am Indian.

I am American.

Am I one? Am I the other? Am I both?

I think I started seriously thinking about it a few months ago, when the marriage talk took on a new level of urgency. I’m supposed to marry a Malayalee Nair guy. They prefer I marry someone from India. I prefer I marry someone from here. Does it make a difference? What do I want for my children?

I am of two minds. On one hand, I am in love with Malayalee culture, its uniqueness, its richness, and its resilience through millennia. I have learned both Carnatic music and two forms of classical dance. I am Hindu, and Hindu with a decidedly South Indian flair (and yes there are regional differences). I want to make sure my children are raised in that culture.

Yet on the other hand, I am in love with aspects of American culture, because it really is a portal to other cultures due to the proverbial melting pot of American society. I love baseball and football (no, not soccer), have decidedly multicultural culinary tastes, and have a doggedly American sense of independence and individuality. I’m a registered Democrat and have little to no idea about Indian politics. I know Shashi Tharoor won in Kerala, Kerala is no longer communist, and the Congress Party is still in power. Beyond that, I’m stumped. I understood cricket for a grand total of 2 weeks following watching “Lagaan” after which I returned to my original opinion (originally Robin Williams’) that “cricket is basically baseball on valium.” My music tastes are varied, but if I go to Pandora to pick a station, it is ultimately a rock station. Even as far as marriage goes, I’ve come to accept (heck, embrace) the idea that you really do need to get to know the person you’re going to marry, even if it is arranged. Perhaps it comes from living in a culture so devoted to dating.

Yet there are days where saying “our” with regard to India-related things feels right, and others where it feels awkward and foreign. Likewise for American. So what is the deciding factor that puts a person squarely in one world or another?

For me, I think I’m more comfortable being identified as an American of Indian origin, rather than an Indian. Yes, my skin is brown, my hair is black, I “look” Indian, but when I speak, I’m American. On most counts, I don’t feel comfortable when I go back to India. Culturally, I can hold my own in certain things. Yet there is one glaring exception: language. Perhaps that is the one thing that will keep me from really feeling…Indian. Yes, I can manage some conversation, but most is grammatically abysmal, and is done more for comic effect or satisfying my grandmother, whose English is about as good as my Malayalam. I can’t find linguistic common ground with my relatives when I go back. Most of them speak English very well, but there’s a certain level of cultural intimacy that only comes with speaking in one’s mother tongue. Maybe that’s what keeps me from being “fully Indian.”

I suppose I walk the line between Indian and American, though I’d like to think that perhaps, I’ve created my own cultural identity that happens to be squarely between both worlds. It is not set in stone, but fluid, sopping up whatever I find that is both rich and profound.

To those among you who are first-generation Americans, or were raised in a multicultural household, do you identify with your birth country’s culture, your parents’ culture(s), or do you fashion your own?

Miss California

I almost want to feel bad for this girl. The operative word here is “almost.”

Two weeks ago, Carrie Prejean emerged onto the scene as the winner of the Miss California pageant. She strutted and sashayed her way through the competition, until one question, the proverbial shot heard ’round the world. In response to a question by Perez Hilton regarding her views on gay marriage, she responded as follows:

Well I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman.

I guess if it were any other question where she was the underdog as far as prevailing (and accepted) viewpoints go, I would have applauded her for having the guts to go ahead and possibly piss off a whole legion of people by sticking to her guns. Except this question was about gay marriage…and her answer, though her own honest opinion, was not appropriate in that forum, on that national stage. I think even if she stood by her views but accepted the possibility of gay marriages being a legitimate possibility in this country, it would have been ok. Yet her awkward phrasing of gay marriage as “opposite marriage” and the addition of the every-popular (but never effective) “no offense” made clear that her views on gay marriage are absolute, and negative. She ultimately lost the crown, but gained a whole new legion of fans, mostly the same people who brought us Proposition 8, and are threatening to halt progress in its tracks. She has stuck by her views on marriage, claiming she is a Christian, and those are her beliefs and felt that she was unfairly discriminated against due to her answer at the competition.

Then came the revelation that she had breast implants funded by the pageant prior to the national competition. Talk about role model, and a proponent of natural beauty (as opposed to plastic and silicone-enhanced beauty). Great person for girls to look up to.

Then came the pictures.

The topless pictures that are very much against pageant rules in the state of California (and possibly everywhere?). Prejean claims this is just a ploy on the part of those who oppose her views and her Christianity. She says that being a model and being a Christian is possible, that they are not mutually exclusive titles. While I’m tempted to outright deny it, I’m not a Christian, so I’m not going to touch that issue with a ten-foot pole. I’ll leave that for the Christians to debate.

Miss USA competitors are supposed to be role models for girls across the country. In an age where progress is gathering momentum, where love–straight or gay–is being acknowledged in public circles and in the context of state governments, trying to say that one kind of love trumps another is just wrong. Not even being open to the possibility is just wrong. Progress is about opening yourself up to change, not rigidly holding on to the past at the cost of hindering society’s movement upward.

While (apparently) implants are not taboo in pageants, getting breast implants right before the Miss USA pageant doesn’t sit well with me. Whatever happened to the idea of natural beauty? What will the thousands of girls think when they realize that her breasts are fake. Will they think that beauty only comes with surgical intervention? That beauty, ultimately, has a price tag? Really, implants shouldn’t be allowed in beauty pageants, it just defeats the purpose in my eyes…where the purpose is identifying role models for girls everywhere.

The pictures, though, are a clear violation of pageant rules, no matter how you spin it. If, as she says, it was just lingerie, then the pageant should be flooded with more girls who have modeling experience in that area. Whether or not the rules should change (since after all, pageant participants do model in two-piece bathing suits) should be decided for next year’s competitors. Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is with partial nudity, but when you’re dealing with hard and fast rules and you flagrantly go against them, you should relinquish your title.

On a side note, poor Miss North Carolina i.e. Miss USA 2009, the limelight was unfairly stolen from her and cast on Miss California because of the controversy she has generated. I hope she fares well in the Miss Universe pageant.

Swine Flu

I think my usual course of action would be to outline why we should all be worried or cautious. But I’m not going to do that.

Why?

I think as far as government competence in dealing with crisis situations is concerned, my confidence is at an all-time low. Yet, being me, I tend to give each administration a chance, just in case I’m wrong, and just in case they are actually competent. So far, we haven’t jumped to any ridiculous conclusions, nor have we neglected the issue entirely. I think we’re in a good place…so far.

One of my professors in my infectious diseases class did touch on the swine flu today, for our benefit, since the majority of us (like most others) are being bombarded with mostly useless news stories on the subject. This professor is an authority in the field of virology, so I’ve taken the liberty of summarizing a few points she brought up here, and added a few relevant points of my own where appropriate:

1. It’s the flu. It’s H1N1, not H5N1 (i.e. avian). It’s not terribly dissimilar from the influenza viruses we have all had at some point, though just different enough that our immune system may be a little befuddled at first.

2. When flu symptoms become apparent, more than likely, most of the virus is already gone from the body. Why? Our immune systems are pokey slow, and so when the immune response is in full swing, the virus has exited stage left.

3. Why is this hitting more young people? More than likely, it’s because young people tend to go to tropical places for spring break! Whether or not this is a true pandemic and is selectively infecting younger, healthier people is left to be seen.

4. Masks are only so helpful. Consider this: when you sneeze, you sneeze out several hundreds of droplets. If someone sneezes on you and you have a mask on, great, you should be ok. The problem arises when there are viral particles in the air that are not suspended in large, blobs of mucus. Viruses are very very small, small enough that they can be well-suspended in air, and slip through the fabric of the mask.

5. Your best bet? Wash your hands, and perhaps limit conventional social greetings (shaking hands, kissing on the cheek, etc.). If you want to buy an alcohol-based gel, that’s cool too. Just don’t go crazy with it (the Duane Reade at Penn Station had no Purell when I went to buy one…there was only one spray alcohol hand cleanser left, which was fine by me).

6. If you feel sick, don’t assume it’s swine flu. Most of the cases in the U.S. have been mild thus far, so do what you normally do for a flu. Rest, drink plenty of fluids, hold off on the Tamiflu unless things are getting very bad. Tamiflu is effective against this strain, but you want to make sure that this is the strain you’re dealing with. The usual flu strains are starting to develop resistance to Tamiflu, and we really don’t want to have a pesky swine flu+Tamiflu-resistant seasonal flu. Surprisingly, you can get over the flu without meds (shocking!!). The problem arises when you start developing more ominous symptoms (especially respiratory) or bacterial coinfections. Then a doctor’s visit is an absolute must.

Keep in mind, once again, I’m not a doctor…so take what I say with a grain of salt. I just felt this needed to be posted, especially after I noticed that everyone around me is freaking out unnecessarily. Yes, we should be on guard, but no, we shouldn’t give in to the panic. Seeing the constant stream of news stories relating to the swine flu, it’s easy to get caught up in it. Just try to keep things in perspective, that’s all that can be asked at this time.

The CDC’s website is a good one to keep on hand:

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

For Long Islanders, I have been using Newsday as my source to track the outbreaks in Queens and (apparently now) Nassau County (for your information, it is a student from Great Neck who was somehow associated with St. Francis Prep). Please use carefully, it’s easy to get caught up in the panic, but this is just to have an idea how the cases are appearing and how they are faring:

http://www.newsday.com

To doctors, epidemiologists, and other healthcare professionals, please feel free to provide your own input or correct what I have above.

Celebrity Worship

We really are a bunch of celebrity-worshippers.

Don’t deny it, you know it’s true.

Our society is structured around which celebrity is marrying whom, who has children, who (heaven forbid) had a sordid affair, or an even more sordid divorce battle. Brangelina’s on Long Island, Lindsay’s between relationships, Britney’s being Britney, A-Rod’s being pretentious, etc. etc. Even political pundits and others who wouldn’t normally have (willingly) joined the fray have been dragged in. Everyone who has had a few seconds of fame in front of a camera or on a bestseller list is worthy of worship, as far as our society is concerned. Sometimes this brings out the more unsavory elements among us, i.e. the stalkers who can range from the harmless fans to the ones who would literally kill for attention (i.e. Reagan’s almost assassin/Jodie Foster stalker John Hinckley Jr.).

This is not limited to the United States or the Western World, each society has its own, worshipable elite. Shahrukh Khan is a veritable deity in India, and unsurprisingly, Amitabh Bachchan has actually been worshipped as one.

It is just a hair ridiculous, how much we may devote our time to checking the tabloids for the latest, juicy piece of gossip, and how we idolize people who aren’t that different from us (give or take a few million dollars of course). Some aren’t even that worthy of being idolized, like Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, and others who only have a hefty inheritance and a few sex tapes to their name.

With social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, accessing these celebrities is a much easier task. Twitter, especially, eliminates that wall of privacy between celebrities and their devoted throng of followers (for better or worse). Sometimes that means seeing a more human side of a celebrity that makes them feel a bit more real to us, sometimes it means revealing things about the inner workings of their mind that may turn us off to them.

I’m not one to celebrity-worship, and yet I still get just a tad excited when someone “famous” follows me on Twitter. Even though I’m not a fan of celebrity-worship, I idolize a few, although a select few. I think it’s in our nature to have idols, more as something to work towards. I still can’t wrap my head around people who idol worship just because “they’re hot.” That being said, here are my top 10 celebrities (and I use the term very loosely) I would LOVE to meet, and my reasons (in no particular order):

1. Keith Olbermann: My favorite Cornell alum, and possibly one of the most erudite people in the news business today. He has a knack for wearing his heart on his sleeve and showing his feelings about the state of affairs without foaming at the mouth like other similar figures (*cough* Bill O’Reilly *cough*).

2. Rachel Maddow: Takes news to a whole new level of awesome with her laid-back style. She’s also incredibly intelligent, obviously evidenced by her holding a Ph.D and being a Rhodes Scholar.

3. Robin Williams: Genius. I have not seen any actor who can be as wildly funny as he is, while also managing to nail serious roles just as well. Just watching his stand-up routines makes one realize just how ridiculously smart he must be to be able to string together so many (somehow relevant) thoughts together, reaching across disciplines and cultures within the course of maybe a few seconds.

4. Benjamin Carson: To put it simply, I want to be him, but I know I have a long road ahead if I even want to be half of what he is. He is unbelievably humble despite being so skilled at his job, as one of the world’s best pediatric neurosurgeons, and he only reached that position after a lifetime of hardship and discrimination. To fare so well in a field that is so risky speaks volumes about his abilities as a surgeon.

5. Vilayanur Ramachandran: If he doesn’t get a Nobel Prize, I will be thoroughly disappointed. His research on phantom limbs lead to a greater understanding of so-called “mirror neurons.” I highly recommend his book Phantoms in the Brain.

6. Hugh Laurie: Not just because he plays the best doctor on TV, but he also seems like a genuinely nice (and very smart) guy. I vaguely knew of him from a few episodes of Blackadder, but he has been brilliant as House M.D. There’s something about self-deprecating, pathologically understated, and sometimes borderline-inappropriate British humor that I love. He’s also a great pianist.

7. Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna: Undoubtedly one of the best Carnatic vocalists alive today, he has a sense of humility that serves to ground not only himself, but everyone around him. Humility is always a wonderful quality for anyone to possess, let alone people in the limelight. Extra cool fact: he’s very interested in music therapy. Anyone who recognizes the therapeutic significance of music is cool in my book.

8. Kal Penn: I’ll admit, I didn’t think he was that big of a deal, but I guess my prior opinion was colored by his less-than-cerebral character choices (though I LOVED Harold and Kumar). I saw him on Rachel Maddow’s show, and it goes without saying that he is an incredibly smart guy. He definitely has his head in the right place, opting for public service over acting when the opportunity presented itself. It’s great that the Asian-American community has such a famous face as the liaison between them and the White House. I’m not sure if Asian-American health issues are quite his domain, but it would be something well worth addressing (did a paper on it myself for a class).

9. Anthony Bourdain: Undoubtedly the one who gave the culinary experience its spine back after the Food Network lost it, perhaps in a pool of “e.v.o.o” (cannot stand Rachel Ray). Rough, rugged, well-read, and open to all possibilities (except vegetarian fare…something that I think he’s coming around to), he is the everyman’s chef.

10. Norah Jones: One of the few people in the music industry to have not sold out. She has such a beautiful, earthy voice coupled with her great piano-playing abilities, and she’s also probably one of the few people who keeps her music simple, but classy. As much as I love Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey’s ability to add vocal flourishes and riffs with such ease (I’m guilty of trying to do that when I sing…and I’m even more guilty of failing when I try), sometimes it’s nice to just be straightforward.

And one more for good measure…

11. Russell Peters: Master of mimicry, accents, and general humor. A lot of comedians have a knack for nailing accents, but Russell Peters has a knack for integrating various cultural quirks into his act. No, he’s not a racist, he’s an equal-opportunist, picking on any and every group of people (including most notably, Indians). Why? We are all that diverse and sometimes when we look in with another pair of eyes, we can all be that bizarre. Sometimes we just need to laugh at ourselves.

Yes, noticeably absent are people from Bollywood/other Indian cinema. Why? Well I just don’t know what they’re like, they seem mostly full of fluff, and not much else. Maybe when I know more about them, I can make a better judgment call.

So I guess for me, I don’t care how much money a person makes, but a person’s intellectual worth is very important. I don’t mean just degrees and educational pedigree but a general understanding of the world around them. Equally important is one’s humility and devotion to the art or science that they are pursuing. If you can’t be humble, it doesn’t matter how much talent or knowledge you may have, you are not worth being idolized. Yet people will continue to idolize the most pointless people, because of their monetary worth, supposed good looks, and questionable talent.

I guess that’s just how society is, and will be.

Forgive me, classes have been crazy

This semester has been a little more intense than I had originally anticipated. I promise there will be many more new posts after May 7, when my finals are over. There are a couple that I have in mind, but if you have any you’d like to see covered, comment here and I’ll do the best I can!

To all of my readers, I hope that all is well, and that spring has found you wherever you are (or I guess for those of you south of the equator…that weather is still pleasant!).

Cultural Castration

At least that’s what I think Betty Brown’s request to the Asian-American community was. Shorten your names, she says, so it’s easier for the rest of us to pronounce. How about learn to pronounce their names, Betty? It’s not as though American names are necessarily easy to pronounce if the people trying to pronounce them weren’t raised among people with those names.

I was born and brought up in New York, and in every single year of schooling, had to deal with a handful of colorful attempts at pronouncing my name. I didn’t give myself a nickname, though most of my friends did (and many were longer than my real name), and I didn’t Anglicize any part of my name (even though going from Saroj to Sarah isn’t a huge jump in letters). I love my name, I love what it means, I love its distinctively Hindu flair, and I won’t change it for anything just like I won’t change anything else about myself to meet someone else’s inability to pronounce my name and/or compromise with my cultural background.

Changing one’s name, especially from say, something Chinese or Sanskrit to something European, may not be a big deal for some people. Some people choose names that aren’t necessarily “part” of their culture, because the name sounds pretty or the meaning of the name is deep. That’s fine, since it is after all, a voluntary decision. Yet for me, being forced to change one’s name is akin to cultural castration. For me, it’s more than a change in name, it’s a change in identity. How would I be viewed if my name was forcibly changed to Sarah, and how would I view myself?

Betty, how about I ask you to change your name to say…Bhagyalakshmi. It’s certainly easier for some Indians to pronounce, and I know Texas has a lot of Indians. Your district also has a fair percentage of Hispanic people, a name change to Beatriz would certainly be appreciated by them. Perhaps, Bao-Zhai or another East-Asian name, to appease the Asian-American population not just in Texas, but around the country, that you have so offended.

Do you see how a name change can change more than just a few letters on a driver’s license or another piece of ID? Try learning to pronounce the names of your constituents, diverse though they may be, and take another step towards fully appreciating the melting pot that is American society.

Has the Medical Profession Become Any Kinder to Women?

Women doctors have made amazing strides in the field, where only half a century earlier, it was almost exclusively dominated by men. Yet while the doors have opened to women doctors in most aspects, there is one notable exception: motherhood.

My favorite story of women breaking into this, male-dominated field is the one of Agnodice, who disguised herself as a man so that she could study medicine in ancient Greece. Many girls want to grow up to be both well-regarded doctors and wonderful mothers, but it seems that for the most part, they can’t have their cake and eat it too. Men can enter whatever field they want with little consequence, women must make sacrifices. I acknowledge that this seems to be changing, but the pace is still painfully slow.

To paraphrase a professor of mine, the world is still cruel to women. They are encouraged to pursue their career and focus on it with razor sharp focus, while their biological clocks tick away, independent of any aspirations they may develop down the road to start a family. Once the residency and fellowship parade is over (as the case were for aspiring doctors), and a woman is ready to start a family, it may already be too late. I’m all for women being driven and seizing life by the horns, but sometimes the cost is pretty great.

And then, there is me and those like me, who are from immigrant families who insist upon marriage and having at least the first child before age 30. If I am lucky, I will enter medical school at 24, take four years, and enter whatever specialty I can. Depending on what specialty that is, the years devoted to residencies and fellowships may be as low as 3 or as high as 6-7. People can say “Rebel! Blaze your own trail, do what you need to do to get what you want.” Yet in cultures where filial piety is prized and expected, it is far harder to go against the grain, even when your own wishes may be at stake. How does one reconcile cultural and societal obligations with the rigors of medical school/further training?

From what I can gather (and please correct me if I’m wrong) but several residencies tend to not look kindly on women who are pregnant or who have very young children. Each specialty requires a certain number of years of training. It makes sense, of course, that the more high-stakes residencies (for example neurosurgery) would probably require more time to train physicians in that field. Obviously I’d want my neurosurgeon (heaven forbid that I need one) to have had rigorous training. Yet there are 194 certified women neurosurgeons, out of something like 3000 neurosurgeons in total in the U.S. The difference between those numbers is alarming. It’s enough to discourage most women from even entertaining the idea of going down that road, but I’m not like most women. Many women seem to end up vying for the more “family-friendly” positions like family physician or pediatrician, or at least ones that finish up training quickly.

I am not one of those people, I’m aiming for one of the neuro residencies (neurosurgery if I can help it).* I love the complicated nature of the field, and yes, I love the potentially maddening level of stress that’s involved. It’s a field I greatly respect and I want to be a part of, but could potentially be turned away because I want to devote the same kind of attention to my family.

I went to a seminar being conducted at SUNY Downstate, giving advice for medical students as to when they should get married and start families. Literally, the window of opportunity was a few months at best for both, where the birth of a child could potentially set students back a year. Clearly under these restrictions, days-long, traditional Indian weddings are out the window. If I were to get pregnant year 3 or 4, that could be potentially problematic, whereas the first two years were a bit better (but by no means ideal). Heaven forbid you wanted to take care of your child until they were at least more communicative or mobile, and when their fear of strangers was under control (Piagetian child psychology sets this at around 2 years of age). Then perhaps the babysitter could be introduced, if you don’t mind having a babysitter or nanny (I do mind). Children are for many people, a vital part of their lives, and they have the right to get as much time early on with their parents as they can. Yet as far as I can tell, the policy seems to be to leave everything to after you start practicing. That’s great for some people, but others are (still) bound by age-old traditions and (sometimes antiquated though biologically sound) cultural expectations regarding marriage and childbirth.

Hopefully, the domination by men that still seems to be inherent will continue to be addressed, and will encourage more women to live their lives a bit more easily while pursuing their dreams. If any women doctors come across this, I’d love to hear your perspective, given that mine is pretty limited.

*This is all contingent on my getting into medical school. I’m not going to crow about medicine without putting in that little point in there, I’m not in medical school yet. Hopefully I will be soon, gotta take it one step at a time. Even contemplating residencies is a long way off, but it can’t hurt to start contemplating a little now!