May 2009 Archives

Congratulations to all of the 2009 graduates! I'm so excited for everything that's coming your way. Though it was over 2 years ago that I put on my cap and gown, I remember it like yesterday. I was so optimistic about life as a young professional, and everything that comes with it. Well, it turns out, I didn't quite have a clue what was coming to me. The 2 years since graduation have been a firestorm of ups, downs, and all arounds. There are lots of things I wish I knew when I crossed that stage to grab my diploma that I had to learn the hard way.  So in typical Simmons College style, I have compiled an organized list of the 10 things I wish I knew when I graduated:

1.      Chances are, at some point you will hate your first job. Due to your low level in the workplace, you will sometimes be forced to do completely boring tasks like un-jamming the fax machine. Unfortunately, you have to do these things if you ever want to work your way up in the professional world. At least it will be a funny story when you become CEO.

 

2.      Do not argue with your boss. While it is absolutely fine to ask questions, be aware that you will not win a fight with the person who cuts you a paycheck. They will always come out on top, and you may come out unemployed.

 

3.      You money will disappear even faster than it did in college. While it is important to build credit, do not destroy it by camping out in the handbag department at Barney's after work every day.

 

4.   There is absolutely nothing wrong with being in your mid-twenties and still incredibly emotionally reliant on your parents. They have been through this struggle, and their support can mean the world in times of need. 

 

5.   As an undergrad, showing up to class after pulling all nighters is fine. However, showing up to work looking like a disheveled street person is not. Run a comb through that hair. Professionalism is considered to be a big deal, even if you don't think so. 

 

6.   It is definitely possible that you will be laid off/fired/quit your job unexpectedly. It will feel like the end of the world, and you will consider jumping off the Zakim Bridge. Don't. In a short time you will realize that everything happens for a reason, and blessings are often disguised.  

 

7.  Gossip can be dangerous in the workplace. Don't talk about your coworkers, because chances are there are eager little ears listening a few cubicles over who would love to get ahead.

 

8.   Do not, under any circumstance, cry in front of your boss. If you do, you will be forever labeled as "the girl who cries." Your superiors will feel awkward correcting you, in fear that you might break out in tears. Stifle your feelings for a few seconds, and ask to be excused. Bathroom stalls are the perfect venue to let out your anxieties. 

 

9.  Don't spend your work day cruising the internet. While it may be more exciting than that Excel spreadsheet, there's really no excuse when your computer freezes on a Craigslist ad that reads "Run away with the Big Apple Circus."  Trust me on that one.

10. There is no price that can be put on the confidence you earn after overcoming these personal and professional struggles. No matter how tumultuous your early post-grad years may be, it is always worth the journey.

By Shannon Brown

 

It takes a village to raise a child.

 

In the Bara Squatter Camp, an informal settlement in Soweto, a township outside of Johannesburg in South Africa, the age old African saying is alive and well.

 

The Bara residents, who do not have running water, electricity, or heat in their make-shift homes, have organized to ensure that ever child in the settlement is provided with the uniform and books needed to go to school.

 

"The only thing that can change this life we have is education," says a decade-long Bara resident, who goes by Kurt. He is one of the people of the squatter camp who gives tours of the area to raise funds for the community.

 

Kurt was born in the Eastern Cape and moved came to Johannesburg with his mother 10 years ago looking for work. When they discovered there were no jobs, they came to Bara and have been living there ever since.

 

The majority of Bara's inhabitants are not native to Soweto. Many of the other residents are originally from Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Altogether, Bara is made up of 20,000 people from 9 different tribes. They live in about 7,000 shacks that line the dirt roads around them for as far as the eye can see. Despite their differences, all of Bara's residents live together without separating themselves among their cultures.

 

"There is no segregation among us," Kurt says.

 

Kurt, in his red and white stripped polo, faded jeans, snake skin shoes, and oversized wool hat, does not fit the stereotypical shack dweller image. They only physical sign that shows he has lived a hard life is the way he limps slightly as he leads the tour.

 

One of the goals of these tours is to get visitors off the bus and into the communities. As part of Kurt's tour, he goes one step further and brings his group inside one of the residences' homes. This one belongs to Prim Rose. She tells the visitors about life in her shack, which she shares with five others, including her four daughters. Rose explains that her daily life consists of doing laundry, cooking for her family, and taking her children to school.

 

The inspirational dedication of the parents in the community along with the financial support brought in from the tours ensures this village can raise its children.

By Amanda Gross

Apartheid officially ended with the 1994 election of the African National Congress, but almost everyone we've talked to and everything we've seen has illustrated that the legacy of apartheid still lives on in peoples' minds, hearts, and backyards.

Nazli Howa, an education training employee at the Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg, gave us a first-person account of how apartheid still contains people in their minds.

Growing up in the Western Cape as the "colored," or mixed race, daughter of two uneducated parents who spoke an uncommon dialect of Afrikaans, Nazli had a distinct feeling of insecurity repeatedly playing through her mind throughout her childhood: "œIs there something wrong with me?"

Nazli told us she remembers how a child could be chased off a beach because of the National Party's Group Areas Act, which among other things banned anyone of color from the beaches the government deemed "whites-only."Such incidents, she says, perpetuated her constant feeling of inferiority.

"Your language, your color, the way you looked was never good enough," she says, adding that the ideology of inferiority is deeply entrenched, even now.

After the apartheid laws were repealed in the early 1990s, Nazli was walking along the beach one day and saw that a flat was for sale. Although "New South African" law stated that she could rent the house, Nazli said her continual self-consciousness around whites caused her to hesitate from inquiring about it.

Once she did build up the courage to ask about the flat, she says, "œit was a shock I was allowed to live there."

Nazli says she still sees people as inferior and superior based on race.

Apartheid was a psychological onslaught designed so that no South African could escape it," she says.

However, Nazli is slowly and thoughtfully planning her escape.

She asks herself, "œDo I want to remember my dysfunctional beliefs or do I want to recognize them and alter them?"

She says the main thing people can do to abolish this racist mindset is interact with all types of people. Through these interactions, she says, we can see that we are the same, we can see each other's humanity.

Through such communication among different groups of people, particularly the whites who have a collective guilt and the non-whites who feel that they need to be listened to and have their pain and suffering acknowledged, the whole society can begin to heal, Nazli says.

"Guilt affects interactions between people," Nazli says, and creates a wall. What she feels whites need to understand is not that apartheid and racism and all the hurt and discrimination that came with it was their fault, but that that that's "where I came from," she says. "That is when the barrier will be broken down."

Nazli says she believes all people are capable of good--that all people are capable of self-improvement. The ultimate question, she says, is "what can I do to improve myself, black or white, and make myself a better person?"

By Dan Connell

THE KING'S ROSE
Alisa M. Libby, Dutton, 2009, $17.99, hb, 304pp, 9780525479703

As The King's Rose opens, fifteen-year-old Catherine Howard has a new suitor--Henry VIII, who soon plans to make her his queen. It is a role Catherine's fiercely ambitious Howard relations have been grooming her to fill, her dubious past notwithstanding. Dutifully, Catherine follows their lead, despite her own misgivings and the haunting example of her doomed, glamorous cousin, Anne Boleyn.

In this novel, narrated by Catherine, Libby takes on several challenges, and succeeds admirably in all of them. First, she tells the story in the first-person present tense, a device which, in the hands of the wrong writer, can quickly become tedious or unintentionally comical. Here, however, it works, helping to build an atmosphere of tension and growing menace. Second, Libby presents the more salacious aspects of Catherine's story to young adult readers in a manner that is neither prurient nor unrealistic. Third, Libby tells an oft-told story in a way that makes it seem fresh to those who have heard it often; at the same time, she gives enough background detail so that those who are less familiar with Henry VIII's wives will not be at a loss. Finally, her Catherine is a sympathetic figure, yet Libby gives her a certain amount of edge and does not fall into the easy trap of making her wholly the victim of her scheming elders. As a result, this is a novel that will be staying on my crowded Tudor shelf. Ages 14 and up. Susan Higginbotham

On a jaunt to the Winchester Library, I wandered into a small room reserved for quiet meetings and, apparently, art exhibits. Photographs by Maggie Hsu (W.W. King) hung on the walls. The first one that struck me was of a White Peony (above), in part because peonies are among my very favorite flowers (they are so rich, highly scented, and "overdressed"), and because I drawn to the photograph's bold detail. Maggie Hsu rendered her flower as Georgia O'Keefe did hers: up close and massive. At the same time, the image has an abstract quality to it; it could almost have tricked me into believing it represented erupting ice floes in the Arctic.

I am laying on my stomach on my bed, typing. So many different views have run past my eyes in the past few days; so much information has passed from my fingertips through my pen to my lined flip notebook; so many songs have resonated in my head from radios and CD mixes in our tour van and the local restaurants. It is all very difficult to process. In the past three days I have taken pictures, audio and notes as we traveled around Johannesburg. We are staying in an upper-middle-class mixed-race neighborhood in the subdivision of Johannesburg, Mellville. high stucco and concrete walls topped with spikes or electric wiring protect the houses from the potentially dangerous passerby. Yet, a dog barked hysterically at a black man walking by, staying serene as a small group of my colleagues - all white students - coo at it from the other side of the fence. We visited the Johannesburg subdivision of Soweto - a place that contains both extremes of the standard of living. South Africa seems to contain - so far - a first world country and a third world country all in the same block. In Soweto we toured the Diepkloof Extreme Park, a community park built in 24 hours, complete with multiple jungle-gyms, fountains, a soccer sand-lot (sand to make the legs strong like in Brazil, said one of our guides), a multi-purpose court and an enclosed area with a giant community TV screen (cable channels paid for by the Extreme Park organization). After a lunch at the famous South African buffet-style Wandie's Place (I tried Tripe for the first time...ew), we walked through an informal settlement, rife with the most extreme poverty I have ever witnessed. There was one outside water tap for more than a hundred inhabitants, basically living on top of each other. Many have to carry heavy buckets of water yards from the tap to their home in order to drink, cook and wash. In a bittersweet moment, a young girl took me by the hand, marveling at her voice played back to her in my digital recorder. I laughed as her settlement sisters and brothers crowed around, theirs ears bent to listen. We then hopped in our Mercedes tour van and drove home to Mellville and the bustling hip 7th Street - only a few blocks walk away from the Guest House - to eat a rich dinner at The Loft. We are eating great food and spending so little (relatively, the Rand is about 8.45 to the USD). I had Mushroom Risotto and a Ginger Whiskey Cocktail for about 100R (about 12USD), something that would cost maybe upwards of 20USD. The children of the settlement barely had enough bread to keep the hunger away. And that was only in the first day. We have visited the Hector Pieterson Museum - a reminder of the June 16, 1976 shootings by African Police on a large group of youth protesting the instructional language in their schools: the language of the instigators of Apartheid, Afrikaans. We went to the Mandela House, which was a bit disappointing in its lack of original amenities. Yesterday we drove through the "Beverly Hills" area of Johannesburg: Houghton and saw lavish, even more heavily secured mansions and then walked through the intense exhibits at the Apartheid Museum. I went from seeing immense private tennis courts through heavily electric-wired gates to touching an original 'Hippo' - the armored vehicles used as an intimidating mode of transportation by South African Police forces, usually on their way to violently break up protest gatherings or arrest some human rights activist. I had the privilege of interviewing - during lunch with the group at the Wits Cafe - Professor Franz Kruger of Wits University (or the University of Witswatersrand) about the media and the U's developing radio program. Today, we sat in at a lecture and Q&A session led by South African AIDS Activist Zackie Achmat. He discussed how we need to identify as humans and only humans. How human rights issues in South Africa are not any more important that human rights issues throughout the world. Solidarity throughout the world. We are all sisters and brothers in the struggle against intolerance and racism, classism and hate crimes. We also listened to Dan expound on Eritrea and the ongoing struggle there. We then left all our belongings on the van, except our trusty notepads and pens, and took our passports to the U. S. Embassy to discuss the U. S. A. view on South African affairs. It is a lot to pack into a day. 17 more to go. Despite our heads so full of information, despite our exhaustion, we are coming together as a group.

Michelle Geoffroy, 2010

By Dan Connell

We took time out today during a visit to the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) to catch up on the latest news around campus--after a session with Franz Kruger, the head of the Journalism Department's new Radio Academy, where Beth Cortez-Neaval discussed hooking them up with Simmons College radio in the future. Stay tuned!

Today, we had a day-long tour of Soweto, South Africa's oldest black township, with a tour of Diepkloof's new Xtreme Park with Johannesburg City Park officials; lunch at the inestimable Wandi's with Lena Horne and other classics playing in the background; visits to the Nelson Mandela House and the Hector Pieterson Museum (commemorating the students who lost their lives in the anti-apartheid protests of 1976); and a guided walk through an informal squatter settlement.



Johannesburg City Parks Project Manager Buki Njingolo guides our group through the new Xtreme Park in Soweto's Diepklof neighborhood--built in 24 hours, after six months of planning and extensive community participation, it now serves a population of 10,000 and is a model for dozens more popping up in poor communities around the city.

  

My knee healed up quickly and in fact, I did play in the April bout....I stayed on the bench until the second period. We had a huge point differential that would ensure we would win, so it was far less risky to throw me into a few jams towards the end of the game. The Nutcrackers won 124 to the Pissahs' 42....which is interesting because we beat the Cosmonaughties 121 to 42 in March.

We'll square off against the Cosmos again on June 20^th in a double-header match with the Boston Massacre hosting the Texecutioners, the Texas Rollergirls' all-star travel team. The Texecutioners hail from Austin, TX and are one of the top US teams. They have remained one of the top 4 nationally ranked leagues since the start of WFTDA tournaments. Texas Rollergirls are also one of the two leagues who started the resurgence of roller derby, and the league who brought us flat track roller derby as we know it today. If you have never seen this sport played, I encourage you to come out for the June 20^th bout...it will be a great example of what professional roller derby looks like, not to mention just a really good time!

A quick recap of the May 16^th bout for you: the Boston Massacre hosted the 5280 Fight Club, the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls' travel team. Massacre won the bout with a final score of 125 to 87. This was a rematch from a tournament game played at the East Coast Derby Extravaganza in June 2008 where the Fight Club beat the Massacre 111 to 93. Last weekend was a satisfying win for the Massacre as they finally broke the 3 bout losing streak. Their teamwork and pack control was outstanding, and their jammers held lead jammer for most of the two periods. They fully deserved this win and it was a joy to watch them play such a cohesive game. I think they are fully prepared to take on the Texecutioners next month, and I for one, CAN'T WAIT to watch that game.

The weekend following the June 20^th bout, the Boston Derby Dames will be heading down to Feasterville, PA for the third annual East Coast Derby Extravaganza (ECE), hosted by the Philly Roller Girls. The Boston Massacre is playing two bouts during the tournament, the first bout against the Carolina Rollergirls (North Carolina) ranked number 4 in the East region, and the second bout against the Windy City Rollers (Chicago), ranked  number 1 in the North Central region. Both games will be exciting to watch. The Massacre lost to the Carolina Rollergirls by 2 points during the 2008 Eastern Regionals, narrowly missing a shot at Nationals for the second year in a row. Boston has never played Chicago before, but Windy City is one of the top leagues in the country, so it's sure to be an action-packed game.

Aside from WFTDA sanctioned bouts, the ECE tournament also hosts quick 30 minute bouts between teams made up of derby girls from across the US. The teams are created specifically for the tournament and they often have funny or tongue-in-cheek themes such as Thunder Thighs VS Chicken Legs, American Heroes VS Hippies, 80s Ladies (born 1980 or later) VS Golden Girls (born 1979 or earlier), or Brawlin' Brunettes VS Suicide Blondes. It's a great way for skaters from different states to get to know each other and to have an opportunity to skate with women they may only see a couple times a year.

 

I'm really looking forward to the ECE weekend...I'm not skating this year, just spectating, but it's always a great time! The venue where they host the tournament is a huge sportsplex where they can have three bouts going on simultaneously. There is plenty of outdoor lounging space (picnic tables, grassy fields), BBQ, beer, and a huge pool! Plus there is roller derby going on from dawn to dusk (not to mention the after parties at the local bars and late night hotel pool parties that often follow). It's a derby enthusiast's idea of a dream vacation.

 

Here are a few links to keep you busy:

 

Rocky Mountain Rollergirls: http://www.rockymountainrollergirls.com/mambots/editors/tinymce/index.php

 

Texas Rollergirls: http://www.txrollergirls.com/

(June 20^th Boston Massacre opponents)

 

Philly Roller Girls: http://www.phillyrollergirls.com/

hosts of the ECE: http://www.phillyrollergirls.com/ece

 

Carolina Rollergirls: http://www.carolinarollergirls.com/

(ECE Boston Massacre opponents)

 

Windy City Rollers: http://www.windycityrollers.com/

(ECE Boston Massacre opponents)

WFTDA: http://www.wftda.com/

(for information about Women's Flat Track Roller Derby or national rankings)

 

 

By Amanda Gross '11

For Alicia Lochard, traveling to South Africa is a chance to trace her buried African-American roots back to their source. The daughter of an African-American/Native American mother and a Haitian father, Lochard feels it is virtually impossible to complete her family tree, she said. She sees visiting Africa as an opportunity to see where she came from.

Lochard, 21, a junior at Simmons College, is a film and media studies major with a minor in political science. She is one of 10 students traveling to South Africa this May as a part of a three-week travel course led by professor Dan Connell. On the trip, the students will examine human rights in post-apartheid South Africa, traveling to four different areas of the country.

Social movements, revolutions, and change fascinate Lochard, so she is naturally excited about the content of the course, she said.  

"I am always interested in studying oppression," she said, adding that South Africa is "complex" and there will be a lot to learn.

Lochard plans to focus her studies on the forms of expression South Africans use to relay their life experiences, specifically spoken and written word, she said. She looks to explore the ways the culture is influenced and the way the culture is influencing, she said.

Ashley Haight, 22, another student going on the trip, said she is interested in gender issues, education, women's organizations, and student organizations in South Africa. Haight, a double major in PR/Marketing and Women's studies with a double minor in English and journalism, saw the course as the perfect fit for her interests in journalism and study abroad.

"I didn't know anything before now," she said of South Africa, but adds that she is very excited to learn more about the complex social issues she will encounter there.

Dot Manley, 20, a junior sociology major with a minor in psychology signed up for the course after taking a sociology class in which she studied apartheid and read Nelson Mandela's autobiography.

Manley said she is interested in gender equality and exploring how South Africans are or are not still oppressed by the former apartheid regime.

"It's very much also a sociology class," she said of the course, which is categorized under communications and political science.

Katie Poole, 20, is a seasoned traveler who preceded her trip to South Africa with a semester in London in fall of 2008, and travel course to China last spring.

Poole said she loves to travel, and this class fit well into her journalism major.

As a photography minor, Poole hopes to look at art in South Africa, as well as the similarities and differences between "our generation and theirs cross-culturally" she said.

The students embark on the trip May 17 to return June 8. They will each complete at least five pages of writing for the course, made up of interviews and experiences they have with various people across the country during their visit, focusing on the vastly varied issues of their choosing.

By Shannon Brown '09

Her passion is apparent. As soon as she begins to talk about South  Africa, Michelle Geoffroy's eyes brighten and her speech speeds up.

"Nelson Mandela is one of my personal heroes," she says.

An English major with a minor in leadership, Geoffroy says her  Simmons classes, where she studied the South African constitution and  read most of Mandela's autobiography, have inspired her to go see the  county for herself.

She is one of 10 students going to South Africa on the third Simmons study abroad trip to look at human rights.

Although a journalism class is not required for either her major or  minor, Geoffroy is going to South Africa for herself.

Beth Cortez-Neavel, is a communications, writing major who has a  passion for art and travel. She is excited to be able to add South  Africa to her already extensive list of travel experiences.

"Traveling everywhere interests me," says the Austin, TX native.

Although Cortez-Neavel will have already graduated by the time she  steps on the plane, she is continuing her education for her own  satisfaction.

Another student who loves to travel and is looking forward to taking  the trip is Liz Feskoe. The human rights major and communications,  writing minor says this short-term class encompasses everything she is  interested in.

The rising senior says she rarely goes home to New Jersey, opting to  live in an MIT fraternity house for the summer just to be able to stay  in Boston.

"It's such a charming place," she says. "I think I'm gonna stay for a  little while."

Cassandra Cacoq, is a Chemistry major with a minor in art and physics.  Her do-it-yourself attitude has guided her from everything to  designing her own t-shirts to taking a journalism class to South Africa.

"I have zero background in writing," says Cacoq. "I'm just looking  forward to being in a different country."

These four students, plus the six others, make up the eclectic group  who has chosen to embark on this journey for themselves. Their  collective passion for South Africa is sure to help them succeed in  this short-term course. 

She studied about it with her favorite professor and ever since South Africa has been calling Michelle Geoffroy to go.

And so, along with 10 other Simmons College undergrad students, she is off to South Africa on a three week Human Rights travel course.

Led by Distinguished Lecturer in Journalism and African Politics Dan Connell, these students will visit Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. They will stay in four-star hotels and in small B&Bs. They will visit both the affluent neighborhoods and some of the poorest urban communities in the world.

The course is offered through the College's Political Science and Journalism Departments, which is a slight deviation from the requirements of Geoffroy's Major of choice: English, with a Minor in Leadership.

In fact, the majority of the students taking the course are not trained journalists. This week, they are preparing for the work that is required in order to complete the course. Each student will write at least one three-to-five page feature-style articles on an issue regarding human rights in the current country of South Africa.

"It sums up everything I'm interested in," says Political Science Major Liz Feskoe. "Human rights, politics and writing."

The students are learning the basic structure of a feature story: the lede, the nut graf -- or theme of the piece -- and the different types of endings. But writing isn't the only way these students will learn how to communicate.

Apart from the mandatory feature, Connell encourages the students to explore different media as a way of sharing what they learn with a wider community.

Communications Major Katie Poole is excited about putting together a photo essay, though her topic is still undecided.

Other students are discussing film projects, radio segments and blogging.

Some of the students have already started brainstorming what issues they want to focus on.

"I don't know, but I'm very much into the environmental aspect. I'm excited to visit the toxic waste plants," says Chemistry Major Cassandra Cacoq. "I'm interested in how chemicals interact with our environment. I want to learn how these toxic waste sites affect the people around them."

Throughout the trip, weekends are mainly blocked off for writing workshops and interviews. Connell expects the majority of the projects to develop while in South Africa. On returning home students will spend three days in Boston tightening their stories and finishing up their projects.

The women will get field experience. Apart from talking to the locals, they will meet with local organizations such as groundWork, whose mission is to "improve the quality of life of vulnerable people in Southern Africa through assisting civil society to have a greater impact on environmental governance."

The students will also meet with female artists who attend the Funda Community College in Johannesburg, as well as many other students, government officials, fellow journalists, townspeople and human rights organizations.

Tourist highlights of the trip include visiting Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner from 1962 to 1990. Also included is an excursion to see the African Penguin colony at Boulders Beach.

With a full itinerary, these 10 Simmons women are about to embark on an adventure that will open their eyes to a culture entirely different from their own.

"I just want to have my jaw drop every time,"says Arts and Administrations and Communications Double Major Shannon Brown.

            Elizabeth Cortez-Neavel
            Journalist, Photographer
            Simmons College
            Communications '09
            ecortez.neavel@gmail.com

Well, Spring semester is over, but I am teaching the first session of summer school, and that means I get 2 weeks to frantically prepare.  As usual, I will be teaching Advanced Topics in Preventive Nutrition, a graduate level course.

Besides that, here is part of my academic-related to-do list for the summer:
- Write a grant to apply for money to run a one-year study to study the barriers of reducing salt intake for residents in a middle/low income neighborhood.
- Prepare two invited talks for conferences in Fall.
- Do some statistical analysis on diet and cancer risk (this is my main area of research)
- Write a review paper on Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular disease risk.
- Prepare for classes in Fall.

I can tell you right away that I won't be able to finish all of it, but such is the demands of my work.  I enjoy what I do, I just wish that I have 30 hours a day.

Sustainability is an oft-heard buzzword these days. Seems like I'm constantly hearing about businesses caring about or striving towards sustainability.

I find it ironic, however, that amidst all of the sustainability chatter, humans in business seem to be working less and less at sustainable levels. What do I mean by that? Well, think about it.

• We have a 24/7 society and the technology that enables people to never leave their virtual offices.
• American workers are working more and more hours as companies "do more with less [people]".
• There is a basic expectation that one will be able to work constantly and still completely fill every need of friends/family.
• Unhealthy fast food and the habit of skipping lunch (and/or dinner) or eating at one's desk is encouraged by many work environments.

I could go on, but you get the picture. The basic expectation of the business world is that any knowledge worker will work beyond her base of 40 hours/week, be available at all hours of the day or night, and almost never make a mistake.

What are we, robots?

I run a technology department, and any time someone complains about a tool (e.g., Microsoft Word) not being able to do the impossible (e.g., act like a database), I have to laugh. I mean, it's simply not designed that way. Well, think about it: how are humans designed?

We burn a basic number of calories, need a basic balance of nutrients and hydration, and need a basic amount of sleep. Our brains have concentration limitations, and our emotions are wired to need variety and prefer happiness. If we skip or short the basics, the brain's limitations become more restrictive, and the emotions go a but haywire.

There is a perception that human sustainability is too expensive, that we're needed to be "on" at all times for the good of our company or family. This is completely false. Why? Well, I call it "working stupid".  If I'm not giving my body and mind its basic needs, it will take me much longer to do any given task, and I'm much more likely to make a mistake and have to re-do the task later.

So I encourage you to think about it: how do you make yourself more sustainable? Your staff? The humans in your company?

This month, students in my introductory statistics course are co-blogging with me. A couple of weeks ago we hosted a special guest, Simmons alumna, Alison Timm, a statistician who spoke to the class on what life is like post-grad, and how what she learned in statistics has led her to find a fulfilling career. At the two-thirds point of the semester, I thought it was time for students to lift their eyes from their textbooks and meet an alumna, recently graduated, who is practicing the very theory they've been learning.

And it turns out, the timing was right! To quote one of my students: "Have you ever been sitting in a classroom ... and thinking to yourself, Although this is interesting, when on earth am I ever going to use this knowledge?" And another: "What struck me most while listening to Alison was the seemingly limitless options she has a statistician. ...This showed us that we can work in areas that we're interested in, all under the large umbrella of statistics."

The questions below were asked by students who were surprised to learn that even though the U.S. is currently in a recession, statisticians are in demand. Alison, who earned her M.A. in biostatistics last December, described the range of her work experiences in statistics since her senior year at Simmons, including a position at Boston Scientific for which she's just been hired.

 

Alison Timm (B.S., Math, 2006; M.A., Biostatistics, Boston University, December 2008)

            

 

How did you end up majoring in math and becoming a statistician, Alison?
I originally started off college as pre-med. But as time went on, I found I wanted to get out of the chemistry lab and into a different kind of research. When I transferred to Simmons at the end of my sophomore year, I was thinking that I would become a high school mathematics teacher. A major turning point for me was an internship in my senior year.

 

What was your internship like?

In spring semester of my senior year, my adviser, Professor Beers, contacted Simmons alumna, Sharon Sharnprapai (B.S. Mathematics, Class of 1987; M.S. Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UMass-Amherst) to see if she might have any internship openings. Sharon is Director of Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) - Division of Tuberculosis Prevention and Control. Over the past several years, she has generously supervised several Simmons math majors in internships at the Massachusetts DPH.

 

Under Sharon's supervision, I assisted with a study of patients who had been exposed to TB and who had undergone a nine month treatment plan, including medication. Tuberculosis is a persistent infection which requires long-term treatment. To monitor the use of the medication and its side effects during the treatment, each patient was required to visit a TB clinic once a month. Unfortunately, the completion rate for the treatment plan was around half. I tested the hypothesis that there is a correlation between how far a patient lives from the closest TB clinic and the extent to which they completed their program of treatment. Much to my disappointment, the results of the test were inconclusive. But when I look back at this experience now, I see that this was a valuable, real-life lesson: Not all scientific studies come up with conclusive results, which can be frustrating. In thinking about why this was so in my study, it may be that the sample size was too small. Or perhaps there other variables to pursue, such as patient age or number of children.

 

What benefits did you get from your internship?

The internship was invaluable in many ways. I became comfortable and confident with statistics. I was constantly immersed in experiments and surveys which the Clinic worked on daily. I worked with many different colleagues at the Clinic, never sitting next to the same person twice. This helped me continually to learn something new throughout the internship. Best of all, I learned that I enjoyed doing research in public health.

 

What did you do right after graduating from Simmons?

Coincidentally, at the same time I was doing my internship in spring, 2006, I also got a part-time, entry level position as research assistant at the Tufts Medical Center. I continued working at Tufts after graduation. I learned a lot about different statistics software such as SPSS, S-Plus, and SAS and gained experience in statistical modeling. I also had the opportunity to research particular topics in statistics in order to help members of the staff prepare their professional presentations. With the encouragement of my co-workers, I left Tufts after a year to pursue a Masters in Biostatistics at Boston University. At BU, I contributed to a wide variety of projects ranging from breast cancer and childhood obesity to analyzing data on children in Zambia who had suffered post-traumatic stress in order to learn how they are able to cope with stress and extreme situations. What I especially liked about all these projects was that they allowed me to combine my interests in mathematics and health care.

 

Now that you've earned your Masters, what do you plan to do next?

In a couple of weeks I'll be starting a new job at Boston Scientific in postmarketing surveillance. This means that I'll be helping to ensure that the company's medical tools and devices are safe. I'll be collecting data on people who use their devices and keeping track of malfunctions. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees postmarketing surveillance.

 

What are the job prospects for statisticians for the near future?

Even though the economy is weak right now, statisticians seem to be in high demand. A Masters degree in statistics opens the door to many job opportunities, e.g., pharmaceutical research, financial planning, and public health.  

 

What do you do for relaxation?
I'm very much an outdoor person - I love to run, ski, and bike!

 

Do you have any advice for undergraduates?

One suggestion is to work for a year before going to graduate school. This can help you to develop resources and to network. Also, knowledge of statistical packages like SPSS or SAS might be very helpful in landing an internship.

 

 

If you have any questions for Alison or about this blog, be sure to write!

 

 

            I am sure that we all have discussed the heck out of the housing slump, bank, and investment company failures and how the very institutions that caused the problem have inappropriately used bailout money. So, now that your 401k is substantially less than what it was a year ago, what are you gonna do? What can you do? Did/do you have a plan B? Plan C for plan B?  Alternatively, have you decided to work until you are 70yo not for the love and passion of what you do but because "I work therefore I eat."

            "Begin with the end in mind," says Stephen Covey in his book," The Seven Habits of Successful Living." Those who have created a successful business know it does not happen without planning, hard work, and a little luck. Yet most have no exit plan for leaving their business. The truth is that most business relationships do not have happy endings. To have a successful business, you must plan for all four D's of a business exit strategy.

The idea that your business will provide you with income after you are no longer there may not be a reality. You have to depend on yourself. Take the time to look at the four D's of a business exit strategy: death, disability, divorce, and departing. To have a successful business, you must plan for all four D's. [Taken from the World Wide Web; 05/02/09; http://sbinformation.about.com/od/buyingorselling/a/ucexitplan.htm] Another 'D' needs to be added to the list, downsizing.

 When downsizing happens to you or your position get shipped overseas, take the time to explore your passion and interest. Explore and reconsider if you were happy in that position or company? At the end of the day did you feel fulfilled and that you made a difference somehow, somewhere? If not consider a career change. Start out be "Who moved my cheese?" by Spencer Johnson, MD. There are also versions for kids and teens. If you want to see a summary of the book before you buy it, click on the link below. http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/mayank.sabharwal-143095-moved-cheese-864859-22196-education-ppt-powerpoint/

Explore and take those seminars and classes that you always said you wanted to take but never did because work, family, and life responsibilities got in the way. In other words, take time for yourself and give yourself time to heal, to rest, to dream and live again.

 "Free your mind and your a--will follow" (song title and words by George Clinton, Eddie Hazel, Ray Davis of the Funkadelics, from the album title of the same name, 1970, Bridgeport Music).

In Paris today, most business and shops are closed - except the flower shops!  Flower shops all over the city, as well as unauthorized sellers and boy scouts and bakeries and anybody else who owns a table and a pair of scissors is out on the streets selling small bouquets of lily of the valley flowers.  Today is a special day where "unauthorized" selling of lily of the valley is tolerated, therefore anybody can (and will) sell it.

May Day holds two traditions in France - it is firstly the true beginning of spring (it rains a lot in March and April so March 21st doesn't really count in the minds of Parisians.)  Lily of the valley is thought to bring good luck when offered to someone around the 1st of May, but for some people only those sprigs with 13 flowers are truly lucky.  According to Wikipedia, it was Charles the 9th who first offered lily of the valley (called muguet in French, pronounced moo-gay) in 1561 and the trend went on from there.

The second significance of May 1st in France is similar to America's labor day.  Called La fete du travail, it is a day for worker's rights, an official government holiday so most people don't have to work and many civil servants will demonstrate today to exercise their workers' rights.

I wonder if Simmons is celebrating it's traditional May Day today.  Is Bob White out on the quad giving his May Day speech for this year?  Will that be followed by a May Day brunch, complete with mimosas (only for the seniors!)  Enjoy your May Day and accept this virtual "porte-bonheur", or good luck charm.