Be Italian

DNP

Talks about the new Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree that replaces the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN). Not to be confused with the PhD in Nursing. More than a difference of semantics, but inextricably related. One is practice and the other is academic. But I don't know how you can practice without the academic base. No patient who is "alert and oriented x 3" is going to confuse a nurse for being a doctor at bedside. The difference is not in the uniform.

More importantly, how did Dr. Steven Knope (below) pass the GRE or MCAT with an analogy like below?

From NPR: New Degree Creates Doctor Nurses — And Confusion
by Sally Herships

No one wants to badmouth Florence Nightingale, but a new degree for nurses is causing bad blood between doctors and their longtime colleagues. The program confers the title of doctor on nurses, but some in the medical profession say only physicians should call themselves "doctor."

Dr. Steven Knope is a family practitioner in Tucson, Ariz. "If you're on an airline," he jokes, "and a poet with a Ph.D. is there and somebody has a heart attack, and they say 'Is there a doctor in the house?' — should the poet stand up?" Knope laughs. "Of course not."

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris (2008).

Waiting at the bus stop and reading this, a man with obvious psych issues - (He was also telling other people around him that the man holding a black Hefty bag a few yards away was a man who ratted out on him in prison) - approached me and asked what I was reading. I showed him the book cover. "What's it about?" he asked. "It's about skulls?"

"Yes."

"Skulls?" He laughed. "You're weird." And he left me alone.

There is a skull in the book. The essays in this collection seem to have mortality in mind in his musings about health, sickness, and bodily functions (poop joke!).

Old Faithful, published in the New Yorker, is an essay that appears in the book and fit for V-day perusal.

"Together"

Arts and crafts time. My mural contribution at work.

Lady Liberty

Playing tourist in the dead of winter in NYC. No crowds.

Ferried to Liberty Island where I went through no less than two security checks. More rigorous than going through the airport, more invasive than the Ellis Island immigrant checks a century ago. Surprised that they didn't ask me to take off my shoes. Before entering the pedestal, I had to stand in an air puffer - a "sniffer" as one woman said. It tickled and I tried so hard not to giggle in the one minute it takes to figure out I smell right.

Remembering how it was 15 years ago: going up to the crown on one set of spiral steps and going down on another set. Both sets are on top of each other. A firetrap by any fire safety standard. Oh, we were so innocent then.

Lady Liberty remains special to me in all her green glory. She still has the personal distinction of being the only lady I've ever been inside of.

Daumier

At the Barnes Foundation in wealthy suburban Merion, PA. The above painting grabbed my attention amid the sublime Matisses, Renoirs, and Cezannes in the main vestibule.
Some new names I discovered today: Soutine and Pippin (purple has never been so royal than in his Christ and woman of Samaria); and a new appreciation for Modigliani.
Googling for other works I found intriguing in the museum, but yielded little or no results. The Foundation keeps a tight leash on their collection it seems.

(In keeping with the Foundation's displays, no title will be given for the above.)

Independence Hall

In Philly today freezing my buns off and visited Independence Hall. Wish it were sweltering and boisterous like in "1776." I found myself humming this song all along.

World Cancer Day

PSA: In brief, the message is fat kids will get cancer. So tell them to eat right and play.

Wednesday, 4 February 2009, is World Cancer Day!

On World Cancer Day, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) will launch “I love my healthy active childhood”, the second full-year theme in our “Today’s children, tomorrow’s world” cancer prevention campaign.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is rising dramatically among adults and children around the world.

According to the World Health Organization, 1 billion adults are overweight, and at least 300 million of these are clinically obese.

The International Obesity Taskforce estimates that one out of every ten school-age children is overweight. Of these, around 30-45 million children, that is 2-3% of children aged 5-17, are obese.

Being overweight or obese has been shown to increase the risk of cancer among adults.

World Cancer Day 2009 marks the start of a year-long campaign, where UICC will work with parents, teachers and decision-makers around the world to encourage kids to eat a healthy diet, be physically active and maintain a healthy body weight.

For more information about World Cancer Day and the World Cancer Campaign, contact the UICC.

"Ladette to Lady"

Almost stayed home and ditched work to watch the marathon of this show.
Love seeing the girls get trashed so hilarity could ensue. It's like "Pygmalion" with eight Amy Winehouses.
Shamelessly classist and sexist. The courses taught to the ladettes are straight from a 1950s syllabus (flower arranging?!), which includes watching them them pluck feathers from a goose and stuff it with a freshly plucked pheasant (and another fowl). The coveted job after this boot camp is for chalet girl. I've never heard of a chalet girl before. I've been hanging out with poor people.

"Don't Eat Blood."

Fit for this post to be on Sunday. My mother told me that I should not eat blood anymore because the Bible tells us so.

"But flesh with the life thereof, the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." (Genesis 9:4)
"For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off." (Leviticus 17:14)

This after I've been eating dinuguan (blood stew) for nearly all of my life.
Guess I'll just have to add this to "things I do behind my mother's back."