"you from the suburbs!"

Today, I was with some friends of mine in the library when a discussion broke out about where people were from. Of course, I got singled out as the only one being from a cushy suburb and going to a cushy public high school (Naperville/Oak Brook, Hinsdale Central). Everyone else either fit at least one of the following criteria: 1) black 2) latino 3) from the city 4) from the "ghetto." At one point, someone exclaimed "Ya see, we got to go up against all these people from the suburbs!"

I suppose if I was from a part of town where most kids couldn't read past a third-grade reading level and people got killed every week, I'd view my current situation in medical school with more than a little self-satisfaction. That being said, this whole exchnage reminded me of how there exists a certain degree of segregation in our M1 class based on socio-economic status, which isn't to say that people aren't friendly to one another. This makes sense. Sharing a similar background breeds a degree of comfort...I'm going to skip the related discussion about race and culture that would normally follow.

I decided over break that I would commit to writing more this semester on this blog or in my own journals about what I am thinking and the things I see. I fantasize that perhaps one day, I'll produce a collection of writings that will be publish-worthy but of course, the only way I see that happening anytime soon is if I go on a serial-killing rampage which ends with my suicide. And even if that were to happen, I'm sure my diaries would make for some maddening reads considering that they're often devoid of punctuation, grammar, and, well, sense.

A warm way to usher in the new year

The following was reported by the BBC today:

Rajini Narayan, 44, is alleged to have doused her husband, Satish, with a flammable liquid while he was sleeping.

When she set him alight, Mr Narayan jumped out of bed and knocked over the substance, causing the fire to spread.

Mrs Narayan told the court she had not intended to kill her husband but to punish him for his alleged infidelity.

Prosecutor Lucy Boord said Mrs Narayan had confessed to her neighbours, telling them she was a "jealous wife" and believed her husband was having an affair.

"I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else, I didn't mean this to happen," Ms Boord quoted Mrs Narayan as saying.

The fire, on 8 December 2008, caused damage to the couple's house estimated at 1m Australian dollars ($715,000, £490,000).

Mrs Narayan was initially charged with arson and endangering life - including the lives of her three children who were in the house at the time.

The charge was upgraded to murder after Mr Narayan died from his injuries last week.

She has been held in police custody pending the results of a psychological assessment.



Stories like these make me feel better about being single. Stories like these also make me hope that should I eventually marry that significant other, she won't be crazy enough to do something like this. This isn't exactly an isolated incident by any means. Just last year the following article was reported in Reuters:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A woman set fire to her ex-husband's penis as he sat naked watching television and drinking vodka, Moscow police said Wednesday.

Asked if the man would make a full recovery, a police spokeswoman said it was "difficult to predict."

The attack climaxed three years of acrimonious enforced co-habitation. The couple divorced three years ago but continued to share a small flat, something common in Russia where property costs are very high.

"It was monstrously painful," the wounded ex-husband told Tvoi Den newspaper. "I was burning like a torch. I don't know what I did to deserve this."

Moral of the story: don't cheat, don't associate with crazy women, don't piss off your girlfriend/wife (no pun intended), and, for heavens sake, have some regard for human life.

Advent season

Basketball Jones

Thanksgiving break has afforded me the opportunity to watch some of the Chicago Bulls films from the championship years. What made those six championships to memorable was not simply Michael Jordan, but also cohesive the entire team was. Take the two stars, Scottie and Michael, for example. I can't recall a time where the two publicly feuded (at least to the extent that we see players today do so). This isn't necessarily meant to be a dig on Kobe and Shaq but I can't recall another modern basketball dynasty that involved two star players who were on the same page (though I was a big fan of the David Robinson/Tim Duncan duo for those couple years). Plus, I can't recall such a memorable set of role players. Take Dennis Rodman. Yeah, he had the colorful hair and tattoos and even kicked a cameraman in the groin but, dude, who else can say that they've crushed Bob Costas!



As for this season, when I haven't been gushing over Derrick Rose, I've been admiring the team effort of the San Antonio Spurs. I was able to watch a couple of their games when Ginobili and Parker were out and, though it was pretty vanilla in terms of offense, the team game was solid. Plus, they have managed to find another potential stud in guard George Hill (and Roger Mason) who could really be something special. Props to Coach Popovich for assembling what normally would seem to be a bunch of no-name players to surround the trio of stars. I've always been a fan of the Spurs brand of play, boring as it may seem to fans.

Some memorable Bulls moments:

Sharing the spotlight with the short, white, role-player. I was at a church retreat and there was a bunch of us huddled around the radio (since we had no TV) listening to this game.



The flu game 1997 Finals. Unforgettable image: Jordan collapsing into Pippen's arms after hitting a three-pointer to seal the Jazz's fate...serious brotherhood. This NBA 2k9 rendition is pretty much spot on.



The Last Shot/Shove/Game Winner

Whatever you want to call it, everything about this was pure art. Even the graceful shove of Bryan Russell (poor guy never had a chance!) simply becomes part of the final image along with Jordan holding and posing for the follow through. As far as I'm concerned, Jordan's career ends here and his stint with the Wizards never happened.



And who could forget this gem!

Following the news

They say that M1 year leaves little in terms of having a life, but I find that there is still time to do plenty of other things as well, even at the expense of studying. One of things that I find myself doing more than I ever did in undergrad is following the news. Ever since the election, pretty much every headline story concerns the economic situation both domestically and abroad. There's so much talk of people that are looking simply to survive, to make ends meet financially (and I would suppose emotionally as well too). It reminds me that most of humanity would be content to have a job and make a living doing it--and that's commendable. Whatever discussion of finding the "right" career seems to be secondary to the overriding need to have food to eat and a place to sleep. The hyper-practicality for which ABCs chide their parents bears some of this wisdom.

Having the opportunity to do what one wants is a privilege and the ability to make ends meet is a blessing. Furthermore, having the chance to safely wallow in uncertainty is just as much a gift that not everyone can enjoy.

The wonders of graduate school

I think of the best parts of medical school so far has been being able to see how so many things a related to each other. No longer are the days where one could view school as an assortment of individual, unrelated classes. For example, today in Immunology/Microbiology, the professor played this song to help us remember the sugar-loving nature of lectins (or sugar binding molecules/receptors) on cells.

The class before, we had just talked about glycolysis in Biochemistry, which also involves sugars. Later, as I was reviewing over the lecture from Biochem, this song came to mind:

Not to be outdone, our Histology professor tried to turn the auditorium into a dance floor by turning off the lights, demanding that the class come down to the front of the room while using the sound system to blare the following:

"There is only one salvation for you: take yourself up, and make yourself responsible for all the sins of men. For indeed it is so, my friend, and the moment you make yourself sincerely responsible for everything and everyone, you will see at once that it is really so, that it is you who are guilty on behalf of all and for all. Whereas by shifting your own laziness and powerlessness onto others, you will end by sharing in Satan's pride and murmuring against God." -- Zosima from The Brothers Karamazov

In school, if certain people were "jerks," you had the option of not being around them. You could just as easily spend your time with more preferable and edifying company. One thing that has struck me in medical school is that you realize that if such people do exist in your class (and most certainly there are people of questionable character in every setting!), there's a possibility that so and so may end up being a physician to someone you do care about, and God forbid that anything horrible come out of that predicament. So in ignoring a jerk, it is quite possible to harm a loved one.