Top: Forever 21

Cardigan: borrowed

Pants: Forever 21

Shoes: Restricted

Suspenders: Hot Topic

FACT OF THE DAY!

There is a pill that can prevent HIV. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV consists of one pill, Truvada, that contains the medications tenofovir and emtricitabine and can prevent high-risk individuals from contracting HIV.

source: HIV specialists, also I'm helping run a PrEP clinic for my practicum,

Today’s post is a little rushed because I’m in a bit of a time crunch. Now is probably the time to mention that this blog is being merged with a class assignment. As part of my global maternal and child health class, I have to keep a blog. And, well, I already have a blog, so my professor has allowed me to merge my assignment posts with my extant blog. This shouldn’t be a huge change. After all, I already write about health. Basically, I’ll have to remember to make a post at least once a week, which will be good because I’m terrible about that.

Despite the weather earlier this week being nice, today it is unbearably hot. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) pretty much my entire day today has been spent indoors in either a classroom or an office. I’ve started mentally preparing for fall, and all I want to do is wear sweaters and heavy skirts and dresses, but I can’t because it’s 90 degrees outside. This outfit represents the color palette I started out the summer wanting to spread across my entire summer wardrobe, but didn’t have the dedication (or cash) to fully follow through with.

The first week of classes has officially ended, and I can already tell Tuesday and Thursday are going to be my favorite days. For one, Thursday is when the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the CDC) comes out, and I’m always excited about that. The main reason, though, is my schedule those days. It’s light on work for my job, but heavy in classes. I start out with biochemistry, then global maternal and child health (global MCH as I’ll abbreviate), and end the day with field epidemiology. Basically, the three topics I’m most excited about this semester I get to experience in one day.

On the first day of global MCH the class ventured outdoors to the nearby farmer’s market to listen to the local opera give a preview of their season. The professor intended this as a way to encourage us to think outside the box, and oh boy did I love it. The opera isn’t my number one favorite thing, but I’ve been trying to appreciate it more because I empathize with the struggle of getting an audience. (This particular opera used to have month-long runs, now shortened to two shows per production.) The fact that these performers were working outdoors in the heat at a farmer’s market in t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers, really represents the effort the arts community (at least the one in my city, where the orchestra performs at music festivals and has free outdoor concerts where they play film scores) has been putting forward trying to reach out to younger audiences.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me mention again that of all things my two greatest passions are health and theatre. If I didn’t think that becoming a doctor was the best way to offer up my talents, I’d be a professional actor. I love theatre SO. FREAKING. MUCH. If you know me in real life you’ve probably heard me rant about Shakespeare, or at least about whatever musical I’m currently obsessed with. (Hamilton. Still obsessed with Hamilton.) So when I say I empathize with the struggle to get an audience I really mean it. But more than that, I believe that the arts should be accessible.

What does accessibility mean? In the arts – and I also believe in other areas, especially healthcare – accessibility means that a service should be made available for all people to use, and if certain allowances need to be made in order to help people use that service, then the service provider should make attempts to make that service available. Because that was a long, wordy definition, let me give an example.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the initial training and orientation for caption theater, an accessibility service that provides captioning for theatrical productions so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing are able to appreciate plays. Think about it. How much of any play – or movie if you’re not a theatregoer – involves not just talking, but music and sound effects? How much would you be missing if you couldn’t hear that?

Accessibility is one of the biggest reasons I’m such a fan of Shakespeare. To me, Shakespeare is about the experiences of everyday people. One performance I saw of A Midsummer Night’s Dream really captured what I think Shakespeare should be. It was performed in the back of a bar, a venue where a band would normally play but where there’s a stage so small you can’t really fit an entire cast on it. People were milling about, walking in and out – and sometimes, even through – the production. Audience members were drinking and eating and interacting with the actors all on the same level. The best part? The actors had one rehearsal. Now, sure, they could’ve had a full 5-8 weeks of rehearsal and I’d probably appreciate that production just as much. I’m sure the actors chose to do one rehearsal for a lot of reasons (time, low cost, wanting the production to seem organic). Why did I love it so much, though? Because that Shakespeare performance was accessible. All too often I feel that people see Shakespeare as boring, ancient, and too difficult to understand. Not so in this production. Seeing people shout and cheer on the actors during fight scenes, and ooh and aw at the lovers during the romantic scenes just screams Shakespeare to me. The people watching this production might not have ever elected to pay money to sit in a theater and watch a Shakespeare production, but they were there that night and they were having a good time.

In healthcare, accessibility can look like a woman finally visiting a gynecologist after decades of being afraid to go because of a fear of being judged for her sexuality. It can look like an early and more easily treatable – rather than late stage with poorer prognosis – diagnosis of colon cancer because a screening truck visited a small mining town and helped residents understand the importance of early screening. It can mean a child not committing suicide because of cooperation between parents, child, and mental health professionals in helping that child.

I give individual examples because I feel that makes things easier to conceptualize. But think of it on a grander scale if you like. Would physician suicide rates be so high if mental health issues were destigmatized and counseling were made more readily available for physicians? Would we be still be seeing climbing HIV incidence rates if providers could connect with those most at-risk and develop prevention plans? Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn’t mean that accessibility – in healthcare and in the arts – isn’t something we should strive for.

FACT OF THE DAY!

RNA probably came first. Ribonucleic acid (not DNA, aka deoxyribonucleic acid) was probably the original form of genetic information, according to the RNA World hypothesis. Historically the argument was "Which came first, DNA or protein?" But RNA, the intermediate between the two, likely arose before either DNA or protein. It can be reverse transcribed to make DNA or translated to make protein. A ribozyme (an RNA with energetic properties) can be used in a way similar to an enzyme (a protein) to catalyze reactions that eventually lead to amino acid formation.

Monday was the start of a new semester (my last year of grad school!) so I figured this is the perfect time to start actually posting regularly. Speaking of starting things, I also started studying for the MCAT on Sunday. I started slow, with a diagnostic test, but combining MCAT studying with taking biochemistry for the first time gives me the feeling that this semester is going to be rough. This semester, in addition to biochem, I’m taking disease surveillance and health statistics, global maternal and child health, and field epidemiology. I’ll also be working on my practicum, which is the required practical public health experience for my program that we do instead of writing a thesis. Also, since my last post, at work I’ve been moved from a general research position to a position on the management team. This means I’ll be making a few minute changes to my work wardrobe to fit it a bit more closely to someone in a management position rather than a research assistant.

top: Tommy Hilfiger, pants: Betina Lou, shoes: Wanted

Summer seems to be ending, thankfully, which means I’ll be able to start wearing pants again! This day the high was in the mid-80s, but I spent most of that time indoors with a particularly aggressive air conditioning system, and when I was outside it was a rather breezy 70-something degrees. This outfit is the kind of outfit I’m the most comfortable in, and the kind I’ll start wearing more and more as the weather gets cooler. The shoes are my favorite. There’s just something about oxfords that I adore. I sent this to my brother and he told me it was an “Ellen Page look” which made me incredibly happy because I adore her style. This is a slightly more casual work look, which I indulged in because I wanted to be comfortable and because I recently finished shadowing in an infectious disease clinic and wanted to take a break from dressing uber-professional.

FACT OF THE DAY!

Corvids (crows and jays) are incredibly susceptible to West Nile Virus, and can die from it. However, other birds (like chickens) can have subclinical infection. Birds are the reservoir species for West Nile, which is spread by Culex mosquitoes.

source: my Field Epidemiology lecture for the day

I’m writing this post from an airport during a week of regular updates in my email inbox regarding Zika virus precautions and preparations. I’m the worst at actually starting things - if procrastination were a disease, I’d have been diagnosed with it - and after months of not posting I thought hey, what better time to actually start writing a fashion blog than during a time when mosquito protection is becoming increasingly relevant?

First, a little bit about me. I’m AC, a graduate student in public health with a concentration in epidemiology. I’m preparing to apply to medical school next year, and am currently making the transition from a Lookbook to a more classic blog style. Expect to see looks, fun health facts, and probably some gushing about theatre.

skirt: Uniqlo, leotard: Capezio, necklace: Forever 21

A lot of my clothing is thrifted, mostly because I’m 4’11” and a size whatever is the smallest available. This skirt is my first accordion skirt and my first maxi skirt, and I ADORE it. When there’s a slight breeze I feel like I’m from Tatooine. In another first, I’m wearing a bodysuit that’s actually a leotard. This decision was mostly made by the fact that I didn’t do laundry for a long time and ran out of shirts, and honestly I’ve become a big fan of bodysuits. They’re comfortable, and paired with the skirt it really feels like I’m not wearing anything at all.

I don’t have this cardigan on hand right now, so I don’t remember the brand, but it’s a children’s cardigan from Macy’s and one of my most-worn purchases. It goes with pretty much everything.

FACT OF THE DAY!

Well I’ve already mentioned Zika, might as well make today’s fact a Zika fact! For those that don’t know, Zika virus disease is spread by mosquitoes and can cause mild disease with about a week of symptoms of fever, rash, and joint pain. 

Zika virus was first discovered in Uganda in 1947.

The best way to avoid getting Zika is to avoid mosquitoes. Wear mosquito repellant, avoid areas with lots of mosquitoes (usually places with standing water, where mosquitoes can breed), and wear long sleeves and pants to avoid getting bitten. For example, this outfit would be okay for preventing mosquito bites, although pants would be a better option than the skirt.