Four Decades of Change

Even though my flights last Saturday night all came with first-class upgrades and early arrivals, snuggling under the covers still presented the most attractive option Sunday morning. My husband had other ideas – we were going to church on Palm Sunday.

I am truly grateful that he dragged my ample butt out of that bed.

When I was 11, the ordination of women caused much controversy within the national Episcopal church. The controversy divided my own church which had never allowed female acolytes (alter girls). Hours of coffee- and beer-fueled debate ensued. Ultimately, practicality won the day. The upcoming confirmation class included no male children, and the parish needed new acolytes. They trained two girls.

Lightening did not strike. The sanctuary walls remained upright.

Today it is difficult to remember that ordaining women was controversial, especially since the head of the American Episcopal church is a woman.

The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori presided at Palm Sunday services at Trinity Cathedral in Omaha. She delivered a beautiful sermon about helping others in the world as the route to peace.

In my lifetime we have advanced from ordination of women being “illegal” to a woman running the church. More than any passage in the bible, this gives me hope.

So thanks, honey. It’s retrospective, but sincere.

Sleeping woman photo courtesy of PhotoXpress.

Super Game, but What Dat Ad?

Who Dat winning the SuperBowl? In a really great game?

The Saints rocked Miami. The game entertained, and calling on onside kick to start the second half took gonads. Well done!

Was anyone else disappointed by the SuperBowl Ads?

My personal favorite was from Monster.com and involved a musically-inclined beaver.

Sorry I couldn’t get the video to embed correctly, so you will have to click the link above to see it.

Yes, the lucky little beaver gets a hot blonde in a hot tub as the ultimate success symbol. Sexist? Yes, but the whole ad was cute and funny and illustrative. This is one driven beaver, even though his career goals are different than those other rodents working on the dam. Monster.com is, after all, a career site, and this little guy got work, dam it. (Get it? Beaver, dam…)

Budweiser and Doritos both had some spots, and all were, well, OK. Nothing stellar, but… OK.

The ones that keep showing up that I just do not understand?

Those from GoDaddy.com. They have paid money for Danica Patrick as their spokesperson. The ads feature her and other hot “I wannabe the GoDaddy girl” women in various states of undress. Click the icon if you want to see the TV ads or the less censored internet versions.

What do these ads have to do with anything? GoDaddy deals with internet domains. I realize that sex sells almost anything, but I keep looking at these spots thinking WTF? Are they only trying to register porn domains?

I guess Danica Patrick and a hot blonde masseuse in the spa do have some parallels with the Monster.com beaver and a hot blonde in a hottub. But the latter felt cute; the first one skanky.

FAIL GoDaddy. You need new marketing. Someone who is not a 13 year-old boy.

Don’t Blame Estrogen

Over at Dr. Isis’ blog there has been much discussion about another blog on “civil argument” in the blogosphere. Isis took exception with some of the issues raised on another blog, and a commenter  to her blog suggested that the good goddess was on the rag (OTR). She went on to apologize for her judgment being clouded by blood flowing from her vagina. She goes on to say:

“Then, just when I thought I had cleared enough of the estrogen from my girl brain to understand…”

As a female and a scientist who deals with the onset of puberty, I feel obliged to point out that estrogen cannot be the bad guy during menstruation. As shown in the diagram (which accompanies an article on faqs.org – click on the diagram to link there) estrogen levels are at their lowest during menstruation!

Estrogen rises steadily and peaks just before ovulation, with a secondary rise around day 21 when the body is thinking it might need to sustain a pregnancy. Progesterone has its big peak at that time as well. If pregnant, these hormones remain elevated; if not, they drop off and menstruation ensues.

If people want to ascribe behavioral issues associated with menstruation (AKA OTR syndrome), they cannot really blame female hormones. Perhaps it is the lack of these hormones, their withdrawl, that explains things. Perhaps it is cramps and having to carry around “protection.” Perhaps the men around us are jerks when they know they won’t get any. It is not estrogen mucking up a girly brain!

Perhaps men only see us as “logical” when estrogen peaks at ovulation and we are most likely to have sex… I will leave that exploration to another time.

I would like to point out that estrogen is a really important hormone in the central nervous system. One of the lessons we have learned from knocking-out its receptors in mice is that male neuroendocrine feedback in the brain is estrogen mediated. Seems testosterone is converted to estrogen which then signals in the brain of the male organism.

So the Big E is just as likely to be screwing up his brain as hers.

Another Value to Scientific Meetings

So I have been in intense morning science sessions, followed by relaxing poolside, and then dinner and 1-2 hours of PM science. Most of what I have heard over the past 3 days has not been relevant to the current projects in my lab.

So what good does being here do me?

Well, my scientific creative juices are flowing. This morning I sketched out the general strategy to make one of my projects potentially fundable. We still have some technical kinks to work through, and we need to generate some key data points, but all in all I am ready to go back and research again.

Unfortunately, I will start covering the inpatient service Monday morning. It will slow me down… but I am ready to rock!

By the way, my impersonation of a neuroscience did not result in horrible amounts of embarrassment. Some of the real neuroscience people thought our work was really interesting. I hope my colleague has her family situation calmed and is ready to write!

On Meetings Large & Small

For the next few days I will be communicating from a conference on the role sex plays in the kidney and in cardiovascular disease in general.

I have commented at length on planning and packing for meetings, and on various aspects of larger meetings I have attended. These included Experimental Biology and the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

Smaller meetings are different (duh). For about 3 days I will be with a group of people with very similar interests. We will talk together, eat together, drink together, and sleep together (in the same hotel, not the same room). These meetings are a great “breeding ground” for new ideas and approaches. While big meetings should generally include a personal session of touristy behavior, smaller meetings are more intense. And, ultimately, more valuable, even though some may see them as less prestigious than their larger brethren.

When I get bored, I will twitter about random thoughts (@phlane), and I will try to update the blog once or twice. I just finished my last book, About Face, and I should post another What I’m Reading on Sunday. After all, I will have time to burn in airports!

Diversity Rules

A few years ago I was privileged to partake of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program for women. This course was a year-long, highly selective experience for women embarking on administrative careers in medical and dental schools in North America. It was one of the best professional experiences of my life. The content was not particularly novel; I had learned a lot of stuff in my earlier forays into leadership training. No, by far the best part was the network of like-minded women that I encountered. I have stayed in touch with many of them through the present time. When I have questions about something at work, I know I will be able to find an appropriate colleague to engage in discussion.

My husband asked one question about my experience: Why are men excluded? The short answer: there are lots and lots of white male chairs, deans, and chancellors, but far fewer females in these positions. While men could use this training (hubby wanted to nominate a few who could use some skills), they have other venues through which they can obtain it, and it doesn’t seem like they need the boost to get these positions.

I am reminded again today, as I listen to the senate judiciary hearings on the Sotomayor nomination, of how crazy our government can be. We all bring our own experiences and point of view to everything we do. The only way to eliminate our memories and emotions from decisions is to eliminate the human factor, to turn them over to a computer. After all, those white males do not all agree on everything! There is diversity within the white males of congress!

Being a Latina who grew up in the Bronx might color her judgment? But being an ivory league legacy who grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth doesn’t?

For years we had a paternalistic government and court we had to trust to look out for everyone’s needs. I am glad we have government and courts that look more like the US now. I hope that this continues, and that every sector of society can follow suit. I am not talking about promoting incompetent individuals just because of their sex or ethnicity. I just can’t believe that this country hasn’t produced enough competent individuals of every sex, color, and creed to provide truly representative government and industry.

OK, my rant is over. The bottom line is that we all should remember that our perceptions are colored by our experiences. We should value the perceptions and experiences of those who have followed a different path; we may learn something in the process.

Art courtesy of www.photoXpress.com

Double Standards

I just got my daily email from The Scientist.com with the top story about researchers and rockers. Seems GQ gussied up a bunch of scientists and posed them with rock stars for a spread in the current issue.

Now I am glad to see a magazine like GQ bringing the world of rock and roll

together with the world of science. It's the kind of mainstream media coverage that may help those of us doing research seem less like mad scientists in sci-fi or horror flicks, or those geeky ivory tower types in romantic movies. You know, the straight-laced guy with glasses who needs to be rescued by a madcap heiress, a la Bringing Up Baby. Who new Fauci and Varmus would clean up so well (photo at right from the story)?

My gripe? NO FEMALE SCIENTISTS! Now, the story explains this as a requirement of the sponsor, Geoffrey Beene Gives Back Alzheimer's Initiative, the philanthropic wing of the Beene clothing label. Since the company only makes men's clothing, only males scientists were chosen for this round. So why was a female musician chosen? Sheryl Crow, I suspect, is not wearing Geoffrey Beene in the photo.

Meryl Comer, president of the Initiative, said, "next round I'd love to do women." You can nominate Rock Stars of Science on the associated website, which is scheduled to launch June 1. The full GQ story can be seen here. Let's make sure that the face of science looks more like ALL the faces of science next time.

Or do we have to wait for a "women's magazine" to do this for us?

Movie poster for Bringing Up Baby from imdb.com