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JEFF SCIORTINO: Knight-Ridder Tribune
Former Friends star crosses the Big Pond to direct his first film
AUSTIN — David Schwimmer is best known for playing Ross Geller on Friends, the beloved situation comedy that ended a 10-year run in 2004. But in a career that spans more than two decades, Schwimmer has had a wide range of roles, both comedic and dramatic, both in front of and behind the camera.None of that quite prepared him, though, for directing his first movie. Run Fatboy Run, a romantic comedy starring Simon Pegg and Thandie Newton, opened Friday in the U.S. after a hugely successful run in Great Britain, where it was filmed.Pegg plays an underachiever who dumped his pregnant girlfriend on their wedding day. Years later, after she gets seriously involved with a successful and athletically inclined American, he tries to win her affections by running in a marathon.
The movie originally was to be set in New York, with the New York Marathon as its centerpiece. The location changed when the rights shifted to a London film company.
“I didn’t set out to direct a British comedy,” says Schwimmer, in Austin recently for the South by Southwest Film Festival. In fact, he considered dropping out after the change.
“As eager as I was to direct my first film, I had just spent six months in London,” says Schwimmer, who had co-starred with Pegg in Big Nothing, a 2006 comedy that wasn’t released theatrically in the United States. “I was kind of homesick and dreaded the idea of spending another year there.”
When Pegg agreed to star, it cinched it. “We had really good chemistry,” Schwimmer says of Big Nothing. “We had a great time, and it was just so easy working together.”
The ethnically diverse cast reflects the London Schwimmer knows from visiting. “It is the most ethnically diverse city I’ve ever been in and most international city I’ve ever been in,” he says.
South Asian actors portray the landlords of Pegg’s character. Other nonwhites play small roles. And Newton, who is of mixed race, has mixed-race parents in the film.
The issue of casting was one of Schwimmer’s biggest eye-openers as a director.
When he proposed black actors, executives would tell him, “That’s harder to sell,” Schwimmer says. ” ‘There are certain markets’ — and of course they’re using code — ‘certain foreign territories, that don’t traditionally go to see movies with African-Americans as the leads or as characters in them.’
“So I’m like, ‘What are you saying? Are we just basing our decisions on these markets? What if it’s best for the movie?’ “
And it wasn’t only race.
“What’s really depressing to me is that one of the first actors I pitched out to play Simon’s part when it was set in the states was Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the greatest actors of my generation, and he’s hysterical, as well as being able to handle all the real emotion of the film.
“This was before Capote,” Schwimmer says. “I was met with, ‘Well, we can’t make a movie for this amount of money with Philip because of this, this and this.’
“They were showing me all the computer readouts of what he’s worth in this territory and that territory,” Schwimmer says. “They did not realize just how depressing that was to me, not only as a director but as an actor, to know that you actually have a dollar amount that you’re worth in every country of the world and that decisions are made by people like that on whether to go ahead on casting you, based not on whether you’re right for the role but based on what you’re worth. There’s something fundamentally wrong about that system.”
Nevertheless, Schwimmer says he enjoyed directing overall and wants to do it again.
He has directed for television sporadically since 1998, including 10 episodes of Friends. Before that, he directed for the stage in Chicago, where he co-founded a well-regarded theater company after graduating from Northwestern University.
That all was preparation, in a way, but Schwimmer says he still found a “huge, huge difference” between directing for film and other media.
“In theater, if you have a bad day in rehearsal, then it’s like, ‘Let’s call it quits for today. We’ll reconvene tomorrow.’ You can kind of regroup that night and think about how you want to handle it the next day.
“But every day of a movie shoot costs, what, $75,000 or something. And you’ve only secured that location for that day. So you better damn well get that scene.”
And, unlike the controlled environment of a theater or soundstage, “doing film, I’m suddenly on location — 50 locations in like 35 days, in the most expensive city in the world to shoot in, on a budget, and with no control over sound, no control over the weather, especially in London, which is crazy, and you have no control over the quality of light, the ever-changing quality of light. And then, of course, extras, backgrounds, looky-loos.
“So it was a lot. And because we were on a budget each day, the pressure of making your day is unlike anything in theater or television.”
Still, he says, he loved the experience — pressure and all. It helped that he had a top-notch cast and a crew that included Richard Greatrex, a well-regarded British cinematographer who was nominated for an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love.
Fatboy “was No. 1 for a month in the U.K.,” Schwimmer says, but he’s keeping realistic expectations for the movie in the United States. Pegg is a big star in England, but his Hot Fuzz was only a modest hit on these shores last year.
“We’re going up against big movies,” Schwimmer says of Fatboy, “and we’re only on, like, 700 screens or something.”
It was a foregone conclusion that it wouldn’t be one of the top-grossing movies on its opening weekend. It grossed an estimated $2.4 million Friday-Sunday. “People keep telling me to look at the per-screen average,” Schwimmer says.
If Hoffman had been cast in the role, the movie’s title would’ve made more sense. Pegg, who wears a prosthetic beer belly in the movie, was a lot less fit when Schwimmer first cast him. In the interim, Pegg shot Hot Fuzz, in which he plays a policeman. He showed up to shoot Fatboy in the best physical shape of his life.
But Schwimmer says he never intended the movie to be a one-joke film about a huge guy running the marathon.
“It’s about him being lazy more than anything,” he says, “not having any kind of belief in himself. The marathon is a metaphor for just finishing one thing he started.”
Saturday, March 29, 2008. Sally works today. I dropped dad off at Home Depot then picked up Phoebe and Becka at the Lins’s house. Hannah had Houston READ (website’s not really working lately) training that morning so she came by herself around noon. Our Beacon shift is from 11 am to 2 pm. Other people who came today were Linton, Brian Lee, Chi-Chi, Greg from Access, and six Rice students that Peter Ou invited. Hannah helped with the laundry, and as expected (this is her first time) she was very impressed with the efficiency. (They didn’t pass out clothes today, like I did last time, which was my first time.) Becka and I volunteered to help with the salad, not knowing (or at least not me, but probably her as well since this is her first time) we’d have the hardest lunch lady jobs. It’s the hardest because while the entrees just need to be scooped (which I’m guessing can be difficult as well since you need strength to scoop), we had to assemble ours on the spot (and you know how they can be picky). It was basically nonstop for the full three hours. Becka handled the fruit salad but helped me out when there was a stream of garden salad requests (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and dressing). I abandoned the utensils and just used my latex-gloved hand to put the lettuce in the bowl, but later on one of the staff whispered in my ear that I had to use the tongs, so I returned to that method. I didn’t ask about this method, but sometimes I would just use the bowl and scoop the lettuce that way. Turns out Thousand Island is the most popular, with a close second from Ranch (one guy asked me to pour it on literally everything on his tray), with Italian dressing being the third pick (and it’s also probably the healthiest, because it’s the clearest). We were sometimes good-naturedly hit on, and one woman commented on my “Cindy Crawford beauty” mole.
For lunch we went to This Is It. It was cleaner than the last place we visited (The Breakfast Klub). They also had two fish tanks: the one close to the restroom is saltwater while the one with the turtles is freshwater (reminds me of Andrew Eng and I don’t know which environment is harder to maintain, I think he had said saltwater because of the salt concentration?). Phoebe and I shared a combo, and good thing. Becka and Hannah shared a combo, too. Peter and Linton of course got their own plates. Haha, Linton likes this place (probably due to quantity). I do think The Breakfast Klub is slightly overpriced due to the hype they build up (I felt they were a bit arrogant, if we had contested). During the meal, Phoebe shared that she had talked with the staff. Though it’s only been a year since the Beacon opened, there was a lot of planning behind it. The main guy at first worked with the church staff as a consultant since he used to work at CiCi’s (thus knows how to stretch a dollar), and as a hotel manager (thus the laundry system). When it was concluded, the church staff asked this church member to join their committee (paid of course), so he agreed. Amazing how God works; reminds me of “you have come to [this] position for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14 - hey I’m not a Bible scholar in the least, so I may have totally taken that out of context).
How would you rate the job you have right now? Linton says he’d rate it a 4-6 on a 10 scale. Someone mentioned that the better scale would be a 7 scale because 10 is too many and there’s not a significant difference between the hash marks. Haha, so he calculated what his 10-scale answer would be on the 7 scale. Hannah asked me how I would rate occupational therapy. I couldn’t really give her a real answer (or maybe I gave a better answer?) and she was understanding. I think all settings of occupational therapy are amazing, especially working with children (I feel if you get that job you would have the most variety of exposure, especially working at Ben Taub), whereas in physical dysfunction you’ll probably have more depth than breadth (e.g. my CI at St. Luke’s really liked neuro, and Shanae ended up getting a job at TIRR in I think Brain Injury). With my personality, I probably have to go with depth because breadth would probably overwhelm me. I think what would work for me is to get my handle on something, and then as I learn more and more about it, and research more on my own when I’ve leveled out, I can get better at my little part of the world. I never really had much of a “vision” either. That’s just my thinking right now. But there’s nothing that pops out for me, so vareity and breadth is also attractive….
Everyone left afterwards. I went to R.E.I. around 4 pm because I saw it from the road (off Westheimer) and figured I’d check it out. Jessie Tan had mentioned she got a sweet deal on a sleeping bag (that’s awesomely soft, insulated, and easy to pack into a small bag), but the sale was over when I went over and checked. Michael’s was nearby so I went inside and browsed (bad idea - my time killer). I finally bought from the clearance rack, about $10 worth of dollar and half-dollar items: glow sticks, candle tins, big bubble-blower, rolls of yarn, photo mat so I can trace, two decks of magic cards (for Wilson, haha), and brushes for my activity analysis. I finally arrived home at 6:30, read the comics, ate dinner, played the piano, then went to bed at 8:30. They went on a night on the town for Kenneth See’s going-away party (since he’s going to California), but that’s not my thing.
Sunday, March 30, 2008. I left the house pretty early this Sunday, around noon. I was trying to find free wi-fi hotspot havens (houston.about.com/od/diningoutgoingout/f/wifi.htm) but all the ones I checked out turned out to be nonexistent (Doochie E-Cafe, Cakeland Cafe on Wilcrest, and of course I can’t be in the Holiday Inn parking lot using their internet, which seemed secure anyway). I gave up and decided to drive to football but keep my eye out for any signs. United Sisters Restaurant caught my eye, but when I opened the door there were a lot of African-American men watching a game on the television, and I didn’t want to feel like I’m getting on their territory or suspicious (plus my bravery sort of left me) and no one noticed I was at the door so I changed my mind. I was really hungry so I walked to the Subway on Bellaire instead (it’s not part of the strip, but in the middle of the parking lot). It’s a one-man show (only one guy is there serving and taking the money). They didn’t have Seafood Sensation, or Tuna (which is alright with me, since they probably have the most calories), or ____. I asked him what they DID have, and then he started saying that the previous shift before him didn’t prepare anything for him, so in the morning he was only able to cut the cheese, etc. He seemed pretty frustrated, I wasn’t picky this afternoon so I wasn’t miff, but the lady behind me was a bit surprised that it was THAT narrow of a selection (she wasn’t demanding or anything). I think she frequents here more than I do (well, this is my first time haha). I finally asked for Meatball, which they finally had. I then worked on school stuff from 2:30-5:30 pm at the Schlotzsky’s next to Randall’s a few minutes away from Willow Park. I know, I kind of stumbled upon it, so I would’ve bought something to eat there plus use their facility (and their wi-fi, which is for customers only). I watched them play football from 6 until they left at 7:30. Tiffany said they were eating someplace close to where she lives, which is far from here, so I said I’ll go home to eat instead. I went home and did so, talking with Vickie on the phone for an hour about Guatemala. I washed my clothes, showered, chatted online with Nathan Wang and Jonathan, then went to bed at 11 pm.
This week is a bit different from most. On Monday and Tuesday, Tiffani wasn’t here (she’s usually not here on Tuesdays for her classes). Sally wasn’t here on Monday, either, since she was coming back from New Orleans (her home town). She was also unavailable on Friday due to a meeting, I think. On Wednesday, I wasn’t here (see this entry). Then on Thursday and Friday, Tiffani had to help on second floor so she wasn’t really available upstairs, although she still had to do some of the duties on fourth floor.
Monday, March 24, 2008. We had a fire alarm. We played ring toss. One patient at first didn’t want to come, then she figured she’d be the cheerleader, and then she ended up playing and winning! She reminds me of me, saying no at first but then ending up with yes by the end (Matthew 21:28-32). Rick left at 2:45 to go buy self-care supplies. Jennifer had offered a ride, but I wasn’t sure/was vague, so she left like a few minutes before I was ready, hehe.
Thursday, March 27, 2008. I miss one day for Magnificat House and I feel like I miss a lot. Rick reported in rounds for me since he was there yesterday and I wasn’t. I realize how hard it must be for Saturday therapists who aren’t the regular therapists during the week, because the don’t know their admission state and then cannot report progress that well. Someone left yesterday that I hadn’t anticipated so I had to finish his evaluation (I had worked on the evaluations on Tuesday of two guys who I thought would leave earlier, but I guess wrong). We had a family meeting and then it was appreciation day for a department so we grabbed some food and good thing because I didn’t have time to warm up the lunch I brought. Instead, I had to go and pick up the chili dog foodstuffs (Tiffani had gone before to get it but they weren’t ready - miscommunications). After the Cooking Group (whew!), I tried to convince a patient (he speaks English and Spanish) he had a mental illness, but he was withdrawn and just said, “Oh really, that’s what it is?” I finally left around 5:20 but I stopped when I saw two psych techs bringing one patient back because she had tried to elope. She was still squabbling and was the most animated I had seen her. I barely missed the bus (oh well). I was sure glad I drove home safely, because my eye was irritated and I really needed to use the restroom. Support Tina Huang as she’s trying to win the chance to sing with Rascal Flattson stage. She’s entered “Bless the Broken Road” into the “Be A Milk Rock Star with Rascal Flatts” contest:
- Click: http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/VideosSeries/VideoView.aspx?vid=5047_48865241&=PBB_RascalFlatts_240_PPIMEMAIL&isep=1&pbapi=524970&pbvi=13323410
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Friday, March 28, 2008. There’s this guy who, after the first time I met him, hasn’t spoken a word since. Well, it’s been two weeks, and today he was finally talking again! We had a new patient but they were planning to discharge him today so I didn’t even bother going up to meet him. The guy I talked with yesterday about having a mental illness–he left today, too. I made some little final corrections on the patient education brochure, got some feedback from the OT staff, then emailed it out to the committee. I evaluated this guy who had gout, and at first I thought he was malingering/had delusions. Oops, me being jaded again (because he’d walk, and then not walk, so I was confused). At home I worked on a Sudoku for two hours. I was also early with my weekly feedback to Professor Capshaw (but the sacrifice was less organization). Then I added money to my Q card, prepared for tomorrow (perhaps I need to use my laptop, papers, and books) and went to bed at 9:45 (not too late, for a Friday night).
That’s the “measurement, calculation, or location used as a basis for comparison” that I don’t really recall much learning about in school but I’m finding out is at the underpinning of all we can do in occupational therapy, or at least in this acute setting. It’s a bit heart-wrenching, but then again, we can’t keep you forever and give false hope either. Basically, if someone comes in only at a level of functioning of living at home with supervision, we’re not going to expect or sometimes even believe that person will leave being able to do more than that. Our efforts are to try as much as possible to get the person to how they came in, right before the incident that brought them into the hospital occurred.
So in essence, there’s this one guy who used to be very smart. Reading his history, part of it reminded me of Andrew Eng, and that’s all I can say I think without compromising his confidential information. He used to be so smart, but in the past years he has decompensated immensely. His demeanor and motivation level reminds me of myself, hit very close to home for me. His “baseline” now is thus not when he was working a few years earlier but as he is now, having to live at home with his parents (like me!). So in the privacy of the small interview room, yesterday I shared that as a matter of fact I was diagnosed recently with MDD and social phobia. That I knew it was hard (although I don’t and won’t ever know or understand his personal ramifications), and I was here to help if he would just give me something, anything. “That’s the thing! I don’t have any plans when I get home.” I hear ya, brother, I hear ya. His dad (an atheist) believes that when you die, you die, the end. His mother is Catholic. I wanted to ask if he personally knew Jesus, but then I chickened out. I wasn’t sure what my boundaries were and where I personally stood. I feel I am only a smidgen less lost than he is right now. I reverted to the safer route, asking him about community resources. A step towards getting better. Made a list. Maybe seeing what his church offered….
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”
(”Mary’s Song” from Luke 1:46-55)
I had a work field trip today (honor code). First, since they’re only open in the mornings on Wednesdays, I had my eye appointment with Dr. Tou at 9:30 am. With a couple of hours to kill, I went to Home Depot. My dad had originally asked me to get them for him but he changed his mind because he figured I wouldn’t have time. Well, since I passed it while driving, I thought, why not. Turns out they don’t have any toilet flappers at that specific Home Depot store. Seems like the guy who helped me, “Chris,” and I had a little guy-girl thing going on because usually these guys who help don’t usually have such a huge smile on their face (unless he’s always like that, of course). But both of us were all professional about it, and nothing was exchanged in concrete. I guess things like that, it’s more for, making your day. I stopped at Panera Bread to use a little bit of their wi-fi before heading off to my “field trip.”
You can find the history and background for Magnificat House in the links below. They have a rule to be home by 9 pm. They have enough staff to provide guidance but not enough for it to run without the consistent multiple input from members. The house they are in is quite an old house–it even has servants steps from upstairs down to the kitchen for back in the day when they are to stay out of sight as much as possible and to be readily available to quickly bring refreshments. They have a sand volleyball court in the back, but it doesn’t seem to really be used. They gave me a video to watch (about how this clubhouse model started, playing “Against Me” by Godspeed in the background), and a guy who had slight tongue thrust came in, sat in a chair, and started rocking back and forth. It really is a clubhouse because you just come in and do whatever you want, hang and chill or do work, etc.
I met an African-American called Charles, a Hispanic called Steve, Father ? (at the end of the day, who led the evening Mass), Sister Agnes (an Asian Indian nun) and Sister Mary Jude (a Korean nun), and Ernie, to name a few. Ernie, an HCC professor of transportation law, comes Tuesday nights from 4 to 5 pm to teach Bible study. Sometimes he tries to solicit for donations to support the work of Magnificat House. I was paired up for about an hour? with an ex-prisoner (this is his second time) for him to tell me about what they do out in the yard (horticulture’s quite a big factor here - I helped with flower arranging earlier). However, he just came to Magnificat House a few weeks ago, so he couldn’t tell me much compared to sharing his own life journey. He was born in New York City but moved to Philadelphia, then went into the Navy. He has lived in El Paso before, but his heart is really in Philadelphia. When I said I was born in Pottstown, he reacted as if he found a kindred spirit :-) He mentioned Reggie Theus, but I’m not sure what he was saying about him. He showed me a picture of his girlfriend who broke up with him due to the incident that involved him in prison; she’s the daughter of an Austin minister and is 62 years old. I was told one of the Sisters is actually an OTR (pediatrics), but she’s not here today.
“Work is a regenerative force.” They have a sense of together helping the house run well. It gives them a sense of success and companionship. In fact, they don’t only have the opportunity to contribute but the expectation to do so. They are members for life, because it’s okay to not be strong 100% of the time. They utilize horticulture duties as I mentioned earlier, hospitality and kitchen (I ate lunch with them, which was prepared and served by the members), chapel, household/newspaper (they have their own newsletter that they work on together and print), admissions, and education/employment (learning skills, helping each other out, etc.). Actually, the girl who served my lunch is a Filipino who I think is actually younger than me and I initially thought she was staff but she’s actually a member. They work and reach out to help get student loans forgiven. They make and edit videos to give to sponsors as to what their money is going towards. I only asked a few questions, which was answered like they all have a Gold Card for health care, although a few have private insurance.
After Magnificat House, I had planned to go to Panera Bread to eat dinner and use their internet, but all those U-turns took a toll. Instead, I took the wrong way and saw Chipotle so I ate there and used next door Which ‘Wich’s free wi-fi. I played basketball (James called a few more times than I think is normal) with James, Linton, Jonathan, and Michael, who left and was replaced by Chris. Afterwards we went to eat at the Kona Grill in the Galleria, where Peter Lee met up with us. They warned us to be careful of flashing headlights, that it’s gang initiation and everyone needs to just not react tonight if that happens, because they will hunt you down and murder you. I got home by 11:30, showered, then went to bed.
- Four Guaranteed Rights of Membership:
1.) A right to a place to come
2.) A right to meaningful relationships
3.) A right to meaningful work
4.) A right to a place to return. - Magnificat Houses Inc, is a nonprofit charitable organization chartered by the State of Texas in 1968. The agency has been providing the poor and homeless of Houston not only with the basic needs of food and shelter, but with hope and the belief that every human being has dignity. The Magnificat House, Inc. was founded by RoseMary Badami with the intention to help those in Houston who are most in need. Magnificat Houses, Inc. now includes nine residential houses for the homeless, the recovering mentally ill, ex-offenders, women and children, and anyone who might need a place to stay. In addition to the nine residential houses, Magnificat also runs multiple programs including a house for those with HIV/AIDS, St. Joseph ClubHouse, a psychosocial program for residents recovering from mental illness, a soup kitchen located on Houston’s “skid row”, an overnight emergency shelter for street women, and a thrift store that offers discounted furniture, clothing, etc. For more information on the organization, see: http://home.surfree.com/~magnificat/houses/index.html (Aurora Seminara, GSBS).
- Eli Lilly and Company announced today the winners of the 2004 Helping Move Lives Forward Reintegration Awards. The annual awards honor individuals or groups who help and support people living with severe mental illness; the achievements of people living with severe mental illness who offer hope to others facing similar challenges; and local and national efforts to raise awareness for mental illness: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=916306&TICK=LLY&STORY=/www/story/11-11-2004/0002403814&EDATE=Nov+11,+2004
- The Artistic Contribution Award honors accomplishments in self-expression, in areas such as painting, video, dance performance, music, design or fashion. The Fountain House Audio Visual Department (New York, NY) won first place with ”Opening the Door,” a thoughtful, well-crafted feature length documentary that tells the story of Fountain House, the first clubhouse program for individuals suffering from severe and persistent mental illness. The film was created by the Fountain House Audio-Visual Department, which is comprised of ten Fountain House members and a staff member. Founded in 1948, Fountain House offers a rich array of social, residential, educational, vocational, and advocacy opportunities. Membership is lifetime, voluntary and fee-free. Upon visiting the clubhouse, located in a Georgian colonial-style building complex in mid-town Manhattan, one is immediately aware of the commitment and teamwork of members and staff who are working together to enhance the program, while maximizing the ability for each member to achieve his or her greatest potential.
- “A model of the dissemination of self-help in public mental health systems” by Edward L. Knight, Ph.D. (DOI: 10.1002/yd.2330227406). Self-help in public mental health systems has been disseminated with five different strategies; these strategies sometimes overlap and complement one another: The four forms of self-help discussed are mutual support, advocacy, consumer/survivor-run services, and coping.
- Fountain House Sketch by Scott Martin (book)
- Prince Michael
More links:
-
St. Joseph’s Clubhouse - http://www.magnificathouse.com/Clubhouse.htm
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The Gathering Place - http://www.gplace.org/about_us.htm
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International Center for Clubhouse Development - http://www.iccd.org/article.asp?articleID=1
-
Fountain House: Linking Lives for Mental Health - http://www.fountainhouse.org/
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Fountain Gallery: More Than a Gallery. A Movement. - http://www.fountaingallerynyc.com/
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We Are Not Alone by Anderson (a book) - http://biblion.co.uk/books/8834180.html (Prince Mica
-
Project MEND: Medical Equipment Network for those with Disabilities - http://projectmend.org/
World: March 24, 2008, 11:08PM
Rising prices spur $500 million dearth at U.N. arm
By TRACY WILKINSON
Los Angeles Times
ROME — With food and fuel prices soaring, the United Nations agency charged with feeding the world’s hungry has launched what it calls an “extraordinary emergency appeal” to cover costs and avoid having to cut aid, a senior official said Monday.
The World Food Program called on donor nations for urgent help in closing a funding gap of more than $500 million by May 1. If money doesn’t arrive by then, Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a letter to donors, the WFP might be forced to cut food rations “for those who rely on the world to stand by them during times of abject need.”
People around the world are being “priced out of the food market,” Sheeran said Monday.
Citing food prices that have ballooned by 55 percent since June, the WFP disclosed a $500 million shortfall on Feb. 25, and the gap has continued to grow daily, Sheeran said. WFP officials declined to put a figure on the current shortfall, saying it is a moving target, but experts estimated it in the range of $650 million.
The Rome-based WFP feeds at least 73 million people in 80 nations with an annual operating budget of $2.9 billion.
“We’ve never quite had a situation where aggressive rises in food prices keep pricing operations out of our reach,” Sheeran said. The WFP has issued emergency appeals in the past for natural disasters or wars but never for a market-generated crisis, she said.
In addition to being hit by spiraling costs of grains and other staples, WFP operations have been hurt by record-high fuel prices and other transport costs. Food commodities are becoming more expensive because of rising demand in developing countries, natural disasters and climate change, and the shift of millions of tons of grains to the production of biofuels.
The United States is the largest single contributor to the WFP, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the agency’s food and money donations, followed by the European Union. U.S. officials have warned it was likely they would be cutting donations to global humanitarian organizations because of high costs.
BREAD SHORTAGE / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clashes have been breaking out among Egyptians waiting in long lines for subsidized bread, and President Hosni Mubarak has ordered the army to start baking more to contain a political crisis. At least seven people have died, according to police. Two were stabbed in fights between customers in line, and the rest died of exhaustion or other medical problems aggravated by waiting in the spring heat.Government bakeries sell subsidized versions of the flat, round bread that is a staple of people’s diets. Acute shortages of subsidized bread, which is sold at less than one U.S. cent a loaf, have caused hours-long lines and violence at some sites in poor neighborhoods in recent weeks.
Blood from umbilical cords can be transplanted in place of bone marrow to treat myriad diseases
It was spring 2006, and Houston teenager Jesus Santoyo was starting to get nervous about whether a suitable bone-marrow donor would be found to save him from the leukemia that had returned months before.
With no family member providing a good match, Santoyo’s doctors at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center had turned to the national and international registry of donors. But they weren’t having any luck, either.
“It was definitely feeling like a long wait,” says Santoyo, aware his chances of beating the potentially fatal blood cancer hinged on a timely transplant. “It got to the point where I was thinking, ‘What if they can’t find a match? What then?’ “
Santoyo got his transplant in June, but it wasn’t from bone marrow. Instead, the source was umbilical cord blood, fast emerging as an alternative to treat not only cancer patients in need of an entirely new blood supply, but also at least 50 diseases, including sickle cell anemia and Tay-Sachs disease.
At M.D. Anderson, home of one of the nation’s 25 public cord-blood banks, cord blood also helps make up for the shortage of transplant material for minority patients like Santoyo.
Even with 7 million donors registered with it, the National Marrow Donor Program reports more than 6,000 Americans a year are unable to find suitable bone-marrow donations, and the vast majority are minorities. Blacks, for instance, have a 10 percent chance of finding a match.
That’s partly because of differences in gene frequencies among certain ethnic and racial groups. Successful bone-marrow transplants typically require six particular genes to match perfectly in donor and patient. Those genes are more diverse in populations of blacks, Latinos and Asians, making those matches more difficult. Cord blood makes matches easier because only four of the six genes need to line up.
Jump in donations
The shortage is also because fewer minorities register to donate. To that end, founders of M.D. Anderson’s bank announced at its 2005 inception that they aim to collect more than 60 percent of cord-blood donations from such ethnic and racial groups.That target’s already been surpassed. After taking in about 50 percent of donations from minorities its first year, an aggressive recruiting campaign has helped improve that rate to more than 70 percent.
“It was a huge effort to turn it around, but that’s the beauty of cord blood,” says Dr. Elizabeth Shpall, a professor of stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy and the bank’s director. “It provides matches where previously there were none.”
M.D. Anderson’s greatest success has come with Hispanics, who initially refused about a third of the requests to donate their cord blood, for such reasons as religious concerns or fears it would be used for cloning. Now, the refusal rate is down to about 10 percent.
At Ben Taub, one of three hospitals with which M.D. Anderson partners (the others are The Woman’s Hospital of Texas and Memorial Hospital Southwest), 98 percent of cord-blood donors are now Hispanics.
Since 1988
Bone-marrow transplants are still more common than cord-blood transplants, which were first performed in 1988. But in the past few years, the total number of cord-blood transplants worldwide has more than tripled to 14,000, Shpall said. Some transplant centers now use only cord blood, given its advantages.Among those is convenience. Bone-marrow donors must arrange time off work, sometimes traveling from another city and often backing out at the last minute because donating is famously uncomfortable. Cord blood, on the other hand, is readily available, collected without harm to mother or child and stored frozen.
Cord blood also provides a more flexible option. Only four of six human leukocyte antigen genes need to match. That’s because cord blood cells are more docile than immune cells in bone marrow and, thus, less likely to attack the patient’s healthy tissues.
“Cord blood possibly could eventually replace bone marrow one day,” says Dr. Richard Champlin, chairman of M.D. Anderson’s department of stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy. “At M.D. Anderson, we still like a perfect match from the patient’s family member, but innovations could change that.”
Donated cords at M.D. Anderson that don’t pass rigorous testing before banking are used for research involving the central problem of cord-blood transplants — that they provide fewer stem cells than bone marrow. Stem cells in the bone marrow and cord blood are the building blocks that give rise to any blood or immune cell, the key to reconstituting a patient’s blood supply after chemotherapy or radiation has destroyed it.
Because cord blood provides fewer stem cells, it can take up to a month for those cells to establish themselves in the patient’s bone marrow and produce normal levels of blood cells, a process known as engraftment. During that time, patients are vulnerable to infection and bleeding, and there is uncertainty whether the process will work.
In bone-marrow transplants, the engraftment process typically takes about 2 1/2 weeks.
Working with stem cells
M.D. Anderson’s research involves trying to expand the number of stem cells per cord-blood unit. The goal is a tenfold to twentyfold increase in stem cells and an engraftment time of 10 days or less.
The research includes treating the cord-blood stem cells with growth factors, combining them with bone-marrow stem cells and implanting them after giving chemotherapy at a lower dose than usual. Results have been promising but are still at an early stage.
Regardless of how the research pans out, doctors urge expecting women to donate umbilical cord blood to public banks. They say it’s better than privately storing a newborn’s blood in the hope that it would protect the baby, should he or she develop a blood disease later in life. Doctors in most such cases would look for a donor anyway, they say, because the blood likely would carry the same genetic weakness.
There are now 52 public cord banks in the world. One of two in Texas — the other is in San Antonio — M.D. Anderson’s was launched with philanthropic funds, and last year got a three-year $9 million federal grant that allowed it to expand recruitment and storage.
Its value is not lost on Santoyo.
“When I get married and have a kid, I certainly plan to have my wife donate the cord blood,” said Santoyo, now a 17-year-old cancer-free senior at Jefferson Davis High School who hopes to study computer science in college. “Why not? It saved my life. And it’ll save plenty more.”
Mayor targets low-income areas and eyes citywide coverage in future
Houston is aiming to turn EarthLink’s lemons into the city’s lemonade.
The company had to pay the city $5 million after defaulting on a contract to build a citywide wireless Internet network last year. On Monday, Mayor Bill White announced the city will use about $3.5 million of that money to build 10 free wireless network “bubbles” in low-income parts of Houston to give residents access they otherwise might do without.
The long-term possibility, White said, is that the bubbles could be connected and the areas between them added to the network, providing WiFi access across the city.
“It’s a matter of connecting those bubbles,” White said.
Monday’s announcement launched the first bubble in the densely populated Gulfton area of southwest Houston. The city is establishing a committee to determine where future networks will be located. Build-out is expected to happen over the next two years.
Upload and download speeds on the network are about 3 megabits per second, said Nicole Robinson, director of the city’s Digital Inclusion Project. Comparable DSL service can cost $29 a month.
Several cities, including Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago, have struggled in the past few months to create municipal WiFi networks after EarthLink abandoned that part of its corporate strategy and paid millions in default fees, said Craig Settles, an independent municipal wireless consultant and author of two books on city WiFi.
Various financial and operational models are emerging. Settles said the new Houston model could be successful because it limits some cost by locating network transmitters on government-owned property. And by focusing on low-income areas, the plan is more politically acceptable and possibly open to future funding — either from government sources or private companies interested in boosting philanthropy, he said.
“I think where the city is going makes a lot of sense,” he said.
To expand the network beyond the first 10 bubbles will require partnerships with other private businesses, said Settles. He suggested deals with area hospitals, which tend to be spread throughout the city and might have interest in establishing a network to communicate with ambulances, clinics, doctors and patients citywide.
Last week, the city finished the formal process of requesting information from potential service providers about how it might build out the network, said Richard Lewis, director of the city’s information technology department. The city likely will ask for bids to build the remaining nine networks, maintain them, provide technical support for users and create a system for businesses to advertise on the network, potentially building revenue for operational costs, he said.
Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Verizon Wireless and Tropos Networks — which donated equipment for the Gulfton network — are pilot sponsors. HP will help develop an “affordable computer purchase plan,” according to a news release.
In addition to installing Internet service, the city is working with social service groups to provide computer access and training for users. Each bubble will include about 15 public access points at schools, city facilities and community organizations within the area.
The pilot network in the Gulfton area includes access points at Family Road Literacy Center, Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary School and Burnett Bayland Community Center.
Most city libraries already provide free wireless hot spots, and the new library branch location at Discovery Green downtown will provide wireless service throughout the new park when it opens in April.
With most new jobs requiring at least a familiarity with computers, White said it is critical the city helps people learn basic computer skills.
“Allowing somebody to have access to computers and to feel confident with them … you will open a whole horizon for that individual from which they can pull themselves up,” he said.
brad.hem@chron.com
Entire families trekked for days to cast their ballots
Washington Post
TOKTOKHA, BHUTAN — Without revolution or bloodshed, this tiny Himalayan kingdom became the world’s newest democracy Monday, as wildflower farmers, traditional healers, Buddhist folk artists and computer engineers voted in their country’s first parliamentary elections, ending a century of royal rule.
In a historic event for the country of 700,000, entire families took to winding mountainous roads, traveling sometimes for days in minivans, on horseback and on foot to cast their ballots, marking Bhutan’s transition to a constitutional monarchy.
King ordered them to vote
Despite concerns that Bhutanese would be turned off by the rough-and-tumble world of politics, more than 79 percent of the estimated 318,000 registered voters turned out at polling places.It was the king, as well as his father and predecessor, who ordered the subjects to vote, in the belief that democracy would foster stability in a geographically vulnerable country wedged between China and India and known as the Land of the Thunder Dragon.
By Monday evening, early tallies indicated that the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, or the DPT party, had won in a landslide, capturing 44 of the 47 seats in the national assembly.
“We are in total amazement,” said Palden Tshering, spokesman for the DPT. “I think what happened was that, they looked at the two parties and figured out that our party was one that could possibly give us a government that was envisioned by His Majesty.”
Before abdicating the throne to his son in 2006, the country’s fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, had taken methodical steps to give power to the people, saying that he believed no leader should be “chosen by birth instead of merit.”
As part of his Gross National Happiness plan, he reformed the country’s feudal system, giving land and jobs to the poorest farmers and launching a free health and education system. He and his Harvard- and Oxford-educated son, King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, remain immensely popular. Many Bhutanese still refer to both father and son as “His Majesty.”
Headed by party president
The country is now likely to be headed by the DPT president, Jigmi Thinley, one of the architects of the Gross National Happiness development philosophy of grass-roots health, education and environmental programs. Both parties said they would work to bridge the gaps between them.”We will set aside our differences and reconcile; that is what’s most important. His Majesty has given us a precious gift,” said Sangay Ngedup, president of the PDP, whose four sisters are married to the fourth king.
Ngedup lost his race for an assembly seat, a sign that many voters were unhappy with his political record, despite his family ties to the monarchy.
The fifth king, 28, will remain commander in chief of the army and will be able appoint five members in the upper house of parliament.
As one who professes to have died and now live for the resurrected Christ, this should perhaps be the most crucial celebration. However, I did not go to church this morning to join the fellowship of my community, nor did I reflect or rejoice on my own with Him. Instead, I followed suit in being the busiest person in the world (”When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else–we are the busiest people in the world.” -Eric Hoffer). That has been my habit lately. Nonetheless, by the end of the weekend, I couldn’t but help contemplate, if only briefly:
- Romantic tensions. “Hello.”
- Changing versus challenging another
- Growing old, side by side
- Guys will be guys, after all
- Meeting the Thumball: http://www.catch32ball.com/images/Thumball_PressRelease.doc
- What makes me mad?
“Easter” in Chinese literally means “Day of Resurrection.” I forgot where I got it, but here’s an interesting story:
Last April on a Sunday, we took one of our “nowhere” drives. My husband was quietly driving a back road and I was occupied in the front passenger seat watching the scenery. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my husband was straining to look out my window. This startled me, since his eyes should be on the road in front of him. I asked him what he was looking at, and he quietly replied, “Nothing.” His eyes returned to the road in front of him.
After a few minutes, I looked over at my husband and noticed a tear running down his cheek. I asked what was wrong. This time he opened up, “I was just thinking about Pop and a story he once told me.” Of course I wanted to know the story so I asked him to share it with me.
He said, “When I was about 8 years old, Pop and I were out fishing, and that’s when he told me the pine trees know when it’s Easter.”
I had no idea what he meant by that, so I pressed him for more information.
He continued, “The Pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter. If you look at the tops of the pine trees two weeks before, you will see the yellow shoots. As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross. By the time Easter Sunday comes around, you’ll see most of the pine trees have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots.”
I turned to look out the window and couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a week before Easter, and you could see all the trees with tall yellow shoots stretching towards Heaven.
The tallest ones shone in the sunlight like rows of tiny golden crosses.
Other amazingness of God’s natural sciences related to Easter:
- Martha Stewart Living has a recipe on how to dye Easter eggs naturally. Cold-dipping eggs typically makes for subtle and translucent, albeit uneven, shades. Boiling eggs in homemade dye usually leads to more intense, uniform colors. Add 1 quart of water and 2 tablespoons of vinegar to the pot. If you need more to cover the ingredients, increase the water and vinegar proportionally as needed. The boiled method works for blue (2 cups chopped red cabbage), yellow (3 tablespoons turmeric), or sienna (4 cups yellow onion skins from about 12 onions). To achieve blue, yellow, sienna, pink (4 cups chopped beets) and brown (1 quart strong black coffee instead of the 1 quart water), use the cold-dipping method.
- “10 best edible flowers for Houston” by Kathy Huber. We can grow a garden of easy-to-grow edible blooms to add color and flavor to a number of our foods. Daylilies (hemerocallis) have been included in Chinese cuisine for centuries, Mexicans use the buds, and they taste like lettuce. Nasturtiums (tropaeolum majus) have edible flowers and vitamin C-rich, peppery leaves that are good in salads. Johnny-jump-ups (violas, viola tricolor) have a mild, wintergreen flavor in their little flowers. Calendulas (calendula officinalis), named the 2008 Herb of the Year by the International Herb Association, may have a spicy or peppermint flavor. Rose (rosa spp.) petals can sweeten desserts and salads. Pineapple sage (salvia elegans), when using their cherry-red tubular blooms, add a sweet, fruity flavor to cookies and tea. Lavender (lavendula dentata) blooms can be used in cookies and ice cream, or to perk up a salad. Rosemary’s (rosmarinus officinalis) small blue blooms have a sweet, pinelike flavor. Fennel’s (foeniculum vulgare) yellow flowers taste like licorice. Dianthus (dianthus spp.) petals taste like clove or nutmeg.
LENT: Letting the skeletons out
Pastor asks congregation to post secrets on a postcard
By SUE NOWICKI
McClatchy Newspapers
Secrets.
We hide things from other people, including and sometimes especially from the people we love.Sometimes our secrets are rather tame, such as our true age or hair color, our penchant for hiding small purchases, the amount of snacking we do, the fact that we’re thinking about Sunday dinner instead of listening to the Sunday sermon. Sometimes we have big secrets, such as adultery, financial mismanagement, abuse.The Rev. Debra Brady of the First United Methodist Church in Modesto, Calif., decided to address the issue of secrets during the Lenten season after reading a book and visiting a Web site by Frank Warren. In 2004, Warren started a community art project called PostSecret — people anonymously sent in postcards bearing secrets. The rules were simple: The secrets had to be true and never before shared with anyone.Tens of thousands of people worldwide responded with secrets great and small, and Warren has used many of them in four books and on his Web site (www.postsecret.com). He’s used some of the proceeds to support a national suicide-prevention hot line.
Brady posed these thoughts to her congregation in the church’s Jan. 23 newsletter: “I could see how so many people are longing for a community in which they can feel safe being their authentic selves.” She said the church would use the theme of secrets during the season of Lent, which started with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 6 and runs through Easter. She added, “We will explore God’s response to our secrets and God’s power to accept us unconditionally, forgive, heal and redeem whatever we are willing to expose to God.”
As part of that, she invited the congregation to write cards with secrets or other things “that they will like to offer to God during this season.” More than 40 cards went up on the walls of FUMC’s sanctuary, with new ones added every Saturday. Ranging from childish and whimsical to shocking and serious, the cards were taken down on Palm Sunday and put at the foot of the cross until Easter, when they will be transformed in the theme of Christ’s death and resurrection — putting aside old thoughts and habits and putting on the new, forgiven life.
During Lent, the pastors — Brady and associate pastor Cynthia Hamilton — have used the theme of secrets as revealed in Scripture in their Sunday sermons. They’ve talked about Nicodemas, a member of the ruling religious party who used the cover of night to visit Jesus, and the Samaritan woman at the well who found out that Jesus knew all about her secret life.
“Secrets are the things we think we have to hide, when it’s the opposite — if we can get it out, God can deal with it,” Brady said. “People feel very isolated in their sufferings — ‘I’m the only one who has doubts; I’m the only one who feels suicidal; I’m the only one who is stuck in a bad marriage; I’m the only one who feels lonely.’
“The Christian community has practices and theology which address people’s yearning to be authentic, to be who they are and to work with others.”
Besides the sermon topics and posted “secret” cards, Brady said the congregation prayed each week for four or five of the people who wrote the cards.
“It’s really easy in church to play holier than thou or to put on a facade,” she said. “The path of discipleship is coming as we are to God, not having to pretend. If things need to change, it’s God who does that; it’s God who does the transformation.”
Although the cards are anonymous, Brady said people still feel exposed and vulnerable when they see them on the sanctuary walls.
But she said others read the cards and identify with them as they share their own fears, job woes, etc.
“We’re at least sending a signal to the church community saying we’re willing to deal with them; we’re ready to pray for them. There’s a postcard up there about adultery, and the walls didn’t fall down. The pastor didn’t screech a sermon. We prayed for the person. I wanted them to have a model of how we deal with these issues as disciples of Christ, a model of presenting it before God and inviting God into the process of transformation and healing.”
A SAMPLING OF SECRETS
The cards posted in the sanctuary of First United Methodist Church in Modesto, Calif., are part confession, part hope and part need. Not all are secrets. Here are some of them:
- “Sometimes I come to church just to see the people. Worship is second, visiting is first”
- “I’m afraid of Tigger at Disneyland because he punched someone”
- “After striving to follow Jesus, I’m lost”
- “My dad is always right, but I’ll never tell him”
- “I know where everyone thinks I will end up, and I am scared to death that they are right”
- “I want to quit my job, but I don’t know how to do that without hurting and disappointing people and making a big mess”
- “I’m a guy, and I like watching chick flicks”
- “The word LOVE has lost so much meaning over the years that I don’t know if I believe it anymore”
- “I love my spouse of many years. I love my lover of many years. One relationship is ‘blessed.’ One relationship would be scorned if revealed, as I would be scorned. I feel guilty that I don’t feel more guilt. I believe God has not given up on me as I figure out the reason this secret exists”
- “I’m jealous of my best friend. I want to be free of those feelings and just be able to love”
- “I have always felt inferior to almost everyone in almost all things”
- “I’m lonely”
- “When I was in the hospital after surgery, it felt like being on vacation. No one expected anything of me and other people took care of me. I felt free and relaxed (the pain medication helped). I wish I could go back to the hospital”
- “I have trouble saying ‘No’ and it’s killing me”
- “I will be so humiliated if anyone finds out I’m going bankrupt. I act like I have it all together, but I’m so over my head. I feel like an irresponsible cheat and loser. I hate it. What would people say or think about me if they found out? I don’t want to know”
- “I am afraid”
Sabbatum Sanctum is the “day of the entombed Christ,” the Lord’s day of rest, for on that day Christ’s body lay in His tomb. He descended unto the dead. It is a day of suspense between two worlds, that of darkness, sin and death, and that of the Resurrection and restoration of the Light of the World (http://www.wf-f.org/HolySaturday.html).
After work this morning I ate lunch at Panera Bread in the northwest. I was planning to get on the internet with my laptop but took a nap instead. I drove toward the back of the shopping parking lot under some tree shade, got my pillow out of my trunk (I’m spending the night at Jessica Ng’s), rolled down the windows, then conked out in the backseat from 1515-1600. Apparently this is illegal. I woke up to some beeping noises that had been going on for ten minutes.
It was a police officer and his po-po. He asked me for my identification. I got up and tried to snap on my bra since I had also unhooked that before dozing off. He was waiting and asking what was the holdup, so I gave up and stepped away from the car. I gave him my driver’s license, and then he told me to place my purse atop of the Corolla’s trunk. He commanded me to sit in the back of his police vehicle: “All the way in.” “Umm, are we leaving?!” He answered no. He punched in my address into his computer navigation and, upon discovering that I lived in the southwest, asked why I was in this part of town. “I’m meeting a friend but she’s stuck in traffic.” He asked why I was sleeping in these parts. “I worked in the morning and was really tired.” He asked where I worked; I hesitated because I didn’t want to reflect badly on the HCHD. “Ben Taub Mental Health Services.” He asked, “The NPC?” Close enough. Then he said, “You don’t have any drugs or alcohol, do you?” No. “Because I’m going to search your purse and car. I’m not going to find anything, am I?” No. I sat there, all heart-pounding nervous, thinking what in the world is he going to do with me, what would happen with my rotation, what would my parents do. He checked my purse, the trunk, and the backseat - or at least that’s what I think he did, since I couldn’t see since I had taken out my contacts (I was SO ready for that nap).
Finally he gave back my ID. He explained that what I was doing is illegal. He said that some people had seen me and called, thinking “you were intoxicated.” He said that what I did was extremely dangerous. He says, referring to where I work, that he finds many people who are homeless living out of their cars and he would have to run them off. He says many of them have mental illnesses. I just kept saying “sorry” and nodding to what he said. He drove off. I put on my glasses and drove down FM 1960 and turned into another parking lot.
So that was my first encounter with the law…. Reminds me of the first time Elliot Aguilar was detained by an authority of the criminal law system. He’s very much a laid-back spontaneous non-planning person. He felt like exercising at around 2 a.m. so he rode his bike on the sidewalk of the Fountains in front of the storefronts. A policeman stopped him and asked what he was doing. Elliot matter-of-factly replied that he was exercising. The policeman asked him multiple times if he was drunk or doing drugs. Not at all. Finally the policeman explained to Elliot that what he was doing looked pretty darn suspicious (e.g. burglary) and to not do it again. Elliot wasfrustrated since he likes to exercise whenever he feels like it. Haha, I guess now we have Meson to ask questions regarding these situations.
Well, the rest of the day I browsed Mardel and bought some knickknacks for little glees (”Raise the praise”!). Vickie finally arrived and she picked me up from Barnes & Noble to return to Panera Bread. The plan was to work on homework (i.e. activity analysis) but instead we ended up skimming photographs and watching video clips. The one with the latex gloves was so funny that Vickie knocked her head against the back of the booth, haha! Then we headed north to Rudy’s BBQ for the Match Party that Jessica and Derrick put together for Leon Chen and Chris Vu (Leon’s classmate and friend who hangs out with them). Leon is going into pediatrics of course (at TCH), and Chris is going into Emergency Medicine (which I found out this morning from work from James the medical student who got matched to Chicago; Adam isn’t matched yet since he’s the same year as Jesslyn - 3rd). We returned to B&N to pick up my car, I stopped by Vickie’s house, then I got home at 2300 hours.
This week is spring break for many people, including the social worker. That means the social worker on Team C has to look over both Team B and Team C patients (follow-up appointments, possible placement options, etc.). Obviously she can’t participate in both Teams’ rounds, so Rick reminded me to inform her of who’s being discharged and whatnot when I hear that information.
Monday, March 17, 2008. One patient was discharged on Friday and now he’s back! Man, that sucks. Another patient was “forced” to leave because he started saying (i.e. making up?) symptoms so he could stay here longer (he probably won’t do well if he leaves, functional-level wise). We finally met up with a patient’s significant other (family meeting) to get the other side of the story of one patient who’s quite a mystery to us all (psychosis? depression? schizophrenia? drugs?). One patient left pretty quickly today, so I had to catch him on the elevator. I was sort of on edge because when he came in he was on 2:1, but then I thought, but they’re just letting him go outside, so it should be safe :-) He’s a charmer, haha. Rick also encouraged me to teach another patient how to dress using just one limb. I don’t even think about physical dysfunction anymore wow. But I did remember the steps because we had to pretend to be a patient while I was taking the class in school, so I remember it clearly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything regarding pulling the hair back into a ponytail with one arm. For dinner, my parents and I ate at Old Place Cafe (although we parked in front of CoCo’s, haha - changed mind). We said hello to Grace Hsiau’s dad, who was there by himself.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008. Today’s Janet’s birthday! Boo, ANOTHER patient returns (yesterday’s guy has schizophrenia most likely, this girl has mania no doubt). I actually evaluated a patient with another patient’s help in translation, hehe. Well, as the patient translator could tell obviously, this new patient was too disorganized to really answer anything, even “do you have pain?”. In the afternoon I showed the patient (my translator haha) a book that Sally gave me to share: [I forgot and can't find if I had written it down, grrr, it's about living with one arm in a two-arm world]. I tried to engage a patient in a game because he’s very distracted, or even in looking through a magazine and tearing out pages he liked, but to no avail. I engaged another patient in a card game, and she was so surprisingly pleasant, even telling me to go eat lunch but also stating that if I had time later she would love to continue playing. I did, this time making a bigger effort to convince her that her delusions are just that, but of course she started getting agitated so I backed off. Afterwards, Tiffany Lin picked me up and we ate dinner at Van Loc with everyone else (excluding me) who was going to the Rockets game.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008. In the morning Rick bought me breakfast (I picked a croissant which actually wasn’t that good but of course I didn’t say anything) as we checked over the patient education materials that were going to be discussed this morning. We chatted a little: turns out intially all he wanted to do was rehab, and he got a job, but during that interval before his first day, he got this psych job, loved it, and stuck with it. The meeting itself was quite long-winded, especially doing all the corrections regarding the rules/regulations for the 3D and 3E nurseries (reminded me of my peds rotation). We just missed the shuttle so we had to wait half an hour for it to return; when it finally came around we hopped on before it made the U-turn because it was so windy cold. The two ladies talked about their weekend. Rick joined in, saying that he went to Kemah over the weekend with his family in town, and he paid $5 for a nasty-tasting hot dog. They were saying how everything is higher priced nowadays. Jokingly, that since Ben Taub has zoo passes that are given to patients for free admission, we could scalp them LOL.
We had lunch at Hungry’s since we could…. They “forced” Jennifer to come, even though she wanted to stay behind, all alone, eating her homemade lunch (she usually buys out) of cooked tilapia, steamed cauliflower, etc. When we came back we played bean bag, then I tried to play cards, dominoes, anything with one Spanish-speaking patient. She just kept saying, “No puedo” for some reason, even for simply pushing the first domino for the subsequent dominoes to fall. I spent downtime trying to call for next Wednesday (field trip). At home I stumbled upon All Over Coffee.
Thursday, March 20, 2008. As I got off 292 this morning in front of the log cabin, there was a couple of light honks, so I turned around to see Sally (with Rick in her passenger seat) shouting to me, “Did you wear red?” LOL. She and Rick did, and Elderine did as well, coincidentally. Basically yesterday afternoon Janet and Sally were saying how it’s nice to have new employees because they volunteer for everything and believe everything, so that if they were to say it was wear-red day, Jennifer would comply. I guess it’s an omen for a good day ;-) eh? Ping Lau came to check up on us, and of course he’s rooting for me to come fill some of their job openings since he’s seen me in peds AND psych. I pulled out the parachute and Rick and Sally found it would be a nice change from their usual games. It really brightened up one of our look-down-on-the-ground patients.
Rick’s car’s steering wheel pulley had problems. He had made a stop in the morning and fortunately a guy came and observed and commented that he could fix it up since it turned out he was a mechanic! So Rick left right before lunch to have it fixed. During lunch, they were talking about gambling (since Dr. Barber’s bachelor party is in Vegas) and timeshares. After lunch I asked a Spanish-speaking patient to point out the date on the calendar in the day area, and she pointed to April 15 (tax day) hehe. I played the football-on-a-string (the one we used in Guatemala) with a patient–a real arm workout for both of us. We were both sleepy afterwards lol. As I was leaving, one patient asked me to bring her information about Madagascar and quantum physics. Okay..sure…. I tried to catch Jennifer for a ride home, but I couldn’t find her. Still, it wasn’t bad, because the bus came at 5:05 so I was home by 5:40.
Friday, March 21, 2008. I tried to research a new leisure activity for our therapeutic activity group, but the system blocks “games” as a search term. We just played basketball again, and then extended bingo in the afternoon. Jocelyn came to visit! with her mom and daughter Ceriana. I showed one patient (who’s name reminds me of an old Stafford classmate) how to play Sudoku, but of course since I’m not exactly a pro myself, she didn’t really catch on that quickly - she returned to her word searches LOL (I don’t blame her). I talked with a patient about his CAH (command auditory hallucinations) and it’s possible link to his lack of social interaction, which he admits to isolating himself (What’s it like hearing voices others can’t hear by Ralph Hoffman). I also stumbled upon how to diffuse grandiose delusions ([had it open on monitor at work but distracted and went away and person using the computer after me closed the website, boo!]). Anyway, yes, I work tomorrow! (That was sarcasm.)
A sunday school teacher asked her class to draw pictures of their favorite Bible stories. She was puzzled by one child’s picture, which showed four people on an airplane, so she asked him which story it was meant to represent. “The flight to Egypt,” was his reply. Pointing at each figure, his teacher said, “That must be Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. But who’s the fourth perosn?” “Oh, that’s Pontius–the pilot!”
“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:27-31)
http://www.paulmadonna.com/aoc/
Houston Outreach Medicine, Education, and Social Services (or H.O.M.E.S.) is a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary student-run free clinic for the homeless of Houston. HOMES is an innovative and exciting new program in which the major higher educational institutions of Houston collaborate with community organizations to provide quality, accessible healthcare and social services to the homeless. Sunday was the day chosen for the clinic, because a situational needs assessment conducted that year showed that there was no medical care available to the homeless on Sundays other than the Emergency Room. In 2000, the clinic opened at its original location, the Lord of the Streets (L.O.T.S.), a facility for the homeless that included the Caritas Health Care Clinic. Then in 2007, the clinic officially completed a move to a new location, the Cathedral Clinic at Christ Church Cathedral. The unique three-part learning experience includes social, professional, and personal aspects. During the operation of the clinic, public health, medical, and pharmacy students work together to provide a wide breadth of care, support, and services to the patients. At the end of their stay, students are involved in a reflection period to discuss the experiences, impressions, and thoughts of how these have impacted their view of the homeless population, healthcare, and themselves as providers (http://homeless-healthcare.org/ –> http://homes-clinic.com/default.aspx).
mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos
Aw, the Rockets lost to the Celtics tonight, breaking our 22-game winning streak (so the streak is flanked on both sides by the Celtics).
After work, Tiffany Lin picked me up. I had planned to walk to the restaurant early (for tonight) and then take the bus home, but she was really concerned for me (waiting aimlessly at the restaurant, then taking the bus at night) so this was the plan that ensued. She had just finished exercising so when we got to her apartment she took a shower. She said that one time she messed up her lower limb from the stairs, and another time it was already messed up so she needed a friend to help her up the stairs all the time.
Her room was interesting because she has no desk! She said that she gave the bigger room to her roommate, and also because she doesn’t study at home so she doesn’t need a desk in her room. On her bed was her baby blanket, the same exact one that I have at home! She asked to make sure, but it also had a zipper on the edge (so he could be zipped into a mini sleeping back). Yeup. It’s the yellow one with the bears on it. She has a photo album with random photographs and recipes. She also has a recipe group from a school, where there were contributions from everyone. I liked to peruse her book titles. She has this gigantic Rice Univeristy graduation diploma framed on the wall. She says it was ridiculously priced due to the material (sheepskin?) and size.
When she came out, we chatted. She asked if I wanted to watch TV, which I didn’t. She says she rarely watches TV because she doesn’t want to get sucked into a series and she just isn’t home when a show is broadcasting. She shared about her past, which I was interested since I don’t know anything about her (and was piqued when she was Grace..Ou’s bridesmaid and she sent a picture of snow from Maryland). She got into Rice’s go-directly-into-med-school-without-the-MCAT program so she didn’t have to stress about that. She was commenting how anyone could know what they want to do when they grow up, that she was simply fortunate enough to have guessed it right. She says she misses the sports from the East Coast, like lacrosse.
Then it was time to meet at Wilson’s. We briefly chatted with Andrew, David, and Robert Hwang, whose car we four piled into (not Andrew or Wilson). Alison showed up at Wilson’s just as we were carpooling to Van Loc. Going around the table, it was Tiffany, Cynthia, Nathan Kim, Andrew, James Hsia, Wilson, Alison, David Zhao, and Robert. Aw, Alison is by herself with the guys. Later, Liang wedged in between Tiffany and me (they ordered for her). Since I had ended up next to Robert, I finally got to see the “normal” side of him. He was born in Houston but moved to Oklahoma when he was one year old. He became a teacher and accepted a job as a high school orchestra teacher (through connections since there’s not many openings for that). Well, his parents moved back to Houston since his younger brother’s here for medical school, which helped him meet BASIC. He decided to move here as well since his family was here and he had experienced this community. The only drawback was leaving where he grew up as well as his nice job. He is currently an elementary school music teacher (he prefers his old job, that’s what he really likes).
We ate quickly and paid because they had to get to the Toyota Center to watch the game. My fortune cookie said: “Your winsome smile will be your sure protection.” It better be. I waited in the restaurant’s oustide-but-covered/walled room (chairs were stacked up). When my parents picked me up, I let Tiffany know I was safe. I came home, read the comics, then tried to figure out next Wednesday’s schedule.
w00t! The Houston Rockets added another game (104-92) to their streak by beating the Los Angeles Lakers, who hold the longest-running streak in history with 33 games in a row. There was a newspaper heading with Catch-22 in its title. I’m not sure what context it conveys, but I hope that we’ll end up in the playoffs. The BASIC Titans are going to watch the Rockets play the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, and it would be such a letdown for them to see our team lose on home court. And the last time I really really watched basketball, it just so happened that those were the years Hakeem Olajuwon led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA Championships. I don’t know why I was watching basketball in fourth and fifth grade. All I remember them playing against is the Utah Jazz and the Orlando Magic. And I think I watched the first season of the birth of the Houston Comets.
Saturday, March 15, 2008. This is the first of two Saturdays I have to work (half day). It wasn’t too bad (no evaluations, surprisingly). I parked at the golf course and Rick picked me up (so that I wouldn’t have to pay the $10 parking garage fee). He’s doing this Saturday and next Saturday to make up for missing days to attend Dr. Barber’s bachelor party/wedding. I’m a big help because usually Saturdays are done by only one therapist (COTA or OTR) and the OT tech Tiffani. This way, I write half of the stack and he writes the other half of progress notes. He was going to drop me off at my car, but by the afternoon due to the tourists and visitors of the area, there was a traffic cement barricade to the road so he dropped me off (he had to meet his family) at the intersection and I walked to the car (earlier we had joked that if he wasn’t finished and I was, I could leave earlier but I couldn’t since he drove me but techincally I could walk but that would take forever). Good sunny exercise.
After work, I gave the FBCC girls’ a call. No one answered. I was really frustrated because FBCC Career Group went to Project C.U.R.E. this morning. In the evite I said I couldn’t make it but that I would be available for lunch. Then, maybe they don’t read the evite replies, I emailed the girls a few days before, specifically saying that if they were eating afterwards to give me a call. And I call them after work. I began to feel very left out and that they don’t really want me there, which makes me not want to be there (l