The Burning Mustache

Today I went on a campus tour with my family (my sister is a prospective student) and this is what we found... a burning mustache... apparently this is awesome art. Not sure what it says about the sad state of art but still I thought it needed to be shared.

proof this was actually on byu campus, see the y

PS I am so excited to see the graduation pictures everyone took... hint hint...

Help Wanted

Dear Cohort,

First off, I am stoked to see you guys in a week (yes stoked). I hope the rest of you are just as excited as I am.

Second, I help with 2 things

1. I need some songs that "personify" our cohort, you know something cheesy that doesnt make you want to vomit (so no Taylor Swift)

2. I need some cohort "quotes", you know funny things people have said that are worth remembering.

THanks for you help, more inform on the graduation events to come, i think we are pretty much squared away on that.

I am so excited to see you guys!!!

Ash

PPACA

Yeah it's me again. Just thinking about you guys. Our supervisor just sent us this link to a list of all the things Obamacare does, including an array of the new public health measures to be implemented. If you haven't yet, take a look at this summary. It definitely helped me carry on a semi-intelligent conversation about the new health care plan.

I just wanted to direct your attention to the one that is supposed to happen in 2014 - no deductible for preventive services marked A or B grade by the USPSTF or in HRSA guidelines OR any immunizations or preventive care for children and women. I don't know about you, but this is one part of free health care that I am all in favor of. Lots of us have mixed feelings about whether general health care should be a right, but what do you think -- is preventive health care a right?

Speaking of free stuff, go to this website and just put in your address. Voila! You will receive a hard copy of all the recommended Clinical Preventive Services for 2009. It's great to see all this stuff we've learned about in print!

Cambodia and Law School

I thought I would follow suit a little and just let everyone in on a few updates in my life...I made it back from Cambodia and had a great time and it looks like I am going to be an attorney after all??? Crazy huh?

Cambodia was way fun and it looks like everything is going to work out as planned with my project. I did a photovoice survey among elementary students about hygiene and sanitation for the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. The kids took awesome pictures and it definitely shows that they feel there are problems to be solved in their communities regarding the topic. The area I was in was pretty cool too...it certainly has quite the background. The fighting from their 30 year civil war ended in this area just over 10 years ago in 1998. While I was there, there were a few little brush fires going on in the hills and at night you could hear ammunition and occasionally a land mine going off due to the heat of the fires. I had to be semi-careful too where I chose to wonder around as the area is not yet completely "de-mined." Everywhere that hasn't been de-mined is marked by fairly large, sometimes visible, red warning signs. All in all though, I learned a ton from the Jolie-Pitt people and they are doing an incredible job in their area.

As for law school...I put myself in a pretty difficult situation by applying so late in the game. I have been quite worried as a lot of schools have warned me that their acceptance lists are pretty much filled by this time, but things have turned out okay. I applied to 24 schools to increase my chances as much as I could, and I am still waiting with my fingers crossed to hear from 12 more. So far, I am in at Creighton, Texas Tech, and University of the Pacific in Sacramento...none of these are my top choices, but at least I am in somewhere as of now. A handful of the rest of the schools, including BYU, put me on their waitlist and will offer a spot if some open up as time goes on. It might be a long spring/summer waiting on all of these waitlists, but at least I know that I have somewhere to go currently if nothing else pans out. It's still a little new to me, thinking that I am actually going to be a lawyer, but I think I'll get used to it soon.

I can't wait to see everyone next week.

A Few Deep Fried Cockroaches for Dinner!

Some of the kids writing their responses to their pictures.

A "Beware of Land Mines" sign posted about 10 feet outside my bedroom window. Sleep walking could get dangerous here.

Graduation

Dear Cohort,

It is finally time for graduation- can you even believe it, I cant, and what does that mean? It means that it is finally time to discuss the party plans for next week.

We understand that these dates and times dont work for everyone but they work for the largest number of people so this is what we are going to work with.

Party #1

April, 22, 2010- 12-2pm

BBQ at Pete's parent's house with professors

families are invited so bring whoever is around

Party #2

April 22, 2010 dinner-whenever we decide we have had enough

this is the final "cohort bonding" activity. we are going to limit this to cohort members, their spouses, and "significant others", and children. our plan is to have some dinner (pizza), play pandemic, hang out, and "break up the fellowship"

Because food will be involved in each of these events we need to get an accurate head count as soon as possible. Email Ashley at ashleyadawisuker@gmail.com with the number of people you have attending each event. we have decided to split the cost of the food for each thing as well as soon as I get a head count we will get that figure out to you.

Have a wonderful evening and I am so excited to see everyone!

Ash

PS I got a job, yes a real paying job, more details to come.

Modern Revelation and Public Health

I especially enjoyed hearing some public health plugs within the messages from our church leaders last weekend. Here are two of my favorite quotes, both in very clear support of disease prevention and public health science! WOOOHOOOOOOO!

"I ask a question to you mothers: “Would you ever do something that would cause pain and bring tears to your children when they have done nothing wrong?” Of course you would! When mothers take young children to the doctor to receive immunizations, almost every child leaves the doctor’s office in tears. Why do you do that? Because you know that a small amount of pain now will protect them from possible pain and suffering in the future. Our Father in Heaven knows the end from the beginning. We need to follow the example of the Savior and trust in Him." - J. B. Martino

"Latter-day Saints believe in applying the best available scientific knowledge and techniques. We use nutrition, exercise, and other practices to preserve health, and we enlist the help of healing practitioners, such as physicians and surgeons, to restore health." - D. H. Oaks

Update

I have good news!

First, I scheduled my defense for the 19th of April.

Second, I was awarded a fellowship through the Cancer Research Center to do research over the summer. This means that I will be employed and can pay for food through the summer! Hooray!

Third, I decided on Boston University! I will move out to the Bean Town in August, after my fellowship is completed. I am really excited, and also very at peace with this decision. It feels right, and I am ready for a change. I really like the faculty there, I like the projects they are working on, and I also liked the city itself. The offer is also very generous - they committed to full tuition, health insurance, and a stipend for the entire duration of the program. And the stipend doesn't come with work hours attached, so I am getting paid to study. Weird! I have been working and going to school simultaneously for the past 5 years - I can't remember what life is like without having a job!

I hope things are going well for everyone. I am excited to see everyone at graduation!

Promised Pictures

The long awaited DC picture post! Some of you may have forgotten, but everyone likes to check out the cohort blog and always hopes there is something new. As I have fallen behind on my promised post of the graduation awards, I hope this post will hold me over and gain me some more time and forgiveness for not getting the other one up.  Here are some pictures in no particular order

 

Ahh, the Beautiful Capitol Building. The main reason for the trip out to our Nation's Capitol. We saw beautiful sights like this.

And did awesome things like this. Yes, Alisha and I are experts in advocacy and we rocked this visit!

And played with Camille and walked all over the city (or what it seemed after hunting for a nonexistent Moroccan restaurant for hours).

And saw more awesome exhibits like this. Isn't natural history fun!?!

All that touring made us hungry for some famous Eastern Market breakfast

Then onto the conference for some learning and presenting

And maybe some of this happened

And WAY too much of this

Not enough of this

Some of this (always time for picture taking in DC--and don't be fooled, it wasn't as cold as it looks)

A little of this. Alisha presented at PAHO her preliminary findings from her fieldwork/project she worked on last summer in Ecuador. I was there as a support and to make sure PAHO remembered me.

And there was a whole lot of this: Alisha and Brea time! You guys need to go on more trips with us, we're a blast!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the slide show. I think this was the last "cohort" trip we'll be taking. It was fun and we missed ALL of you!

Virginia or Vermont?

I have some news! I was rejected at the University of Colorado. No waitlist, no nothing. It was technically my "dream" school, but for some odd reason Sara and I both felt relieved at the news. It is a top-notch med school, ranked 21st or so in NIH funding, with year-round sun and family close by.

Actually I have some more news! Sara got return emails from two of the med school wives at the two schools I was accepted to: one from Vermont and one from Virginia. While she read the letter from Vermont she said there was an unmistakable feeling of relief, that that is where we were supposed to be.

When she told me over the phone what she had felt, the same feeling came over me, and I knew! We are moving to Vermont! The furthest and coldest, wettest, and cloudiest place I applied to, ha ha. But, it'll be great. Lots of Maple syrup and Ben and Jerry's and fruit loop hills in the fall time. We'll be moving to Burlington July 30th.

Anyway, just wanted to tell you all the good news. And it justifies this blog yet again. Lets keep in touch! Congrats to those of you who have finished projects/defenses recently - miracles are real!

A couple pics I took while interviewing there...

My Two Cents

First off I just want to say how much I love hearing about what everyone is doing and where everyone is heading! I love the blog! So although I don't have much going on, I thought I'd take my turn and post my update.

First off, married life is fantastic! Aaron and I are all settled into life here and enjoying every moment of Baltimroe before we uproot and move back to Utah at the end of June, and we are trying to make the most of living out East. Aaron had Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, so we took a road trip up through PA and on to Palmyra and then Kirtland. It was a lot of fun (I'll post more about that and pictures on our personal blog soon). I am so sad that a lof of you are getting ready to leave as we are getting ready to come back. :(

I am working at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control within the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. I really love working here, especially when I get to work on something substantial. it's hard only being here for 6 months. I feel like there's so much more I could contribute, but they don't really want me to delve deeply into something I'd just have to turn over to someone else in a few months. i totally understand, but I feel bad at the same time.

The last few days I have been working on a project in India. One of my coworkers is in India coordinating the collection of GPS and other data on tobacco sales around schools. I have created all of the maps for the field workers to use to know where to go to locate the vendors. I have also been plotting the GPS data they they have returned and creating maps showing different characteristics of the vendors. It's been fun to use GIS again - I know it's totally nerdy, but I forgot how much I really enjoy it!

What I'm not enjoying is looking for a new job! :( I know Ashley and Brea (and many more of you) can commiserate with me on this one. I'm sure it will all work out though. But if you hear of anything good in the Salt Lake/Utah County area let me know! :) I'm a little jealous of all of you heading back to school - just a little though.

I am so excited to see you all in a few short weeks! Hooray for graduation! And congrats to all who through much toil and stress have passed and/or scheduled their defense! Good luck to those still burning the midnight oil. YOU CAN DO IT!!

Miss you all!