Barf.

I'm from a small town, meaning there is a lot of 'sale parties.' It's as if they need a reason to get together by buying shitty things at very high prices. Yes, I've been invited to them all, and have refused to RSVP. Everything from candle, tupperware, jewelry, knickknack, pure-romance, and the newest one is called Uppercase Living, they sell decorative "expressions." But when I saw this invitation I died a little inside. WHY, oh why do suburban mom's think it's so stylish to have their living room say "live, laugh, love"? gross. gross.


This bush one is probably my favorite. WTF. HAHA. Oh get a real plant.
Sorry Cousin but there is absolutely no way I would go to this.

Spotted

My website has been posted on MNIMAL. Interesting. Wondering by who?

Perspective

My Uncle is currently in Haiti, contributing as a anesthesiologist. He has been emailing us (other doctors') blog excerpts to show a little perspective of what he and many others have been experiencing. It's very painful to read some of them, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be there witnessing some of these stories.


One group, including my uncle, before heading to Haiti.

Date: 01.30.2010 09.13 PM

At the General Hospital our cardiology and medicine residents went and worked in the ICU treating patients with wounds, heart failure and kidney failure. One was a 15 year old boy in heart failure who in the end was flown to the USS Comfort medical ship. Our vascular surgeons, Drs McCarthy and Lind performed surgery all day, mainly debridement of infected wounds.

Our anesthesia and ortho teams went to a former private hospital now treating earthquake victims. Drs Fernandez and Van Thiel rounded on wounded patients and performed 7 surgeries, including debridement of the leg wound of the 4 year old we saw yesterday. The boy did well and was discharged.

Our team went to a makeshift urgent care center and worked alongside physicians and nurses from around the world. A group from the Dominican Republic set up at the Main Police Station directly in front of the destroyed National Palace. Our group alone saw over 400 children today. We had some very sick children with respiratory infections, dehydration and malnutrition. We had to stabilize a basically unresponsive little 11 month old whose mother and 2 of 3 siblings died and who has likely developed sepsis (blood poisoning) from infected wounds. Luckily Dr Ansell was at the General Hospital - we transported the girl, he received her and took her to the pediatric tent.

Many sad stories today. A pregnant mother who lost her husband and two of her children in the quake. Her 2 year old was stuck under the rubble for 4 days - she ended up having to pay someone 1000 Haitian dollars to dig him out. She has nothing - not even a sheet to sleep on in the tent city. A 10 year old boy who lost both parents and his siblings when their house collapsed. Only he and his 8 year old brother survived, now living on the street. To add misery to the situation, he got separated from his brother yesterday. Now both are completely alone. It is so heartwrenching to see this and be able to do so little. Although I hope I am making at least a small contribution, the scope of all this is so immense it is overwhelming.

That is all for now - we are all exhausted and need to try and get some rest.

Jeff

Who?

Wow maybe I'm late in seeing this but it's real neat.

Hello::Form

I'll be graduating soon. What a big event. I don't even know what to think of it yet. I did realize one thing. I will cry. No more access to the beautiful printshop. I just learned how to letterpress and now I have to leave it. Hopefully to work with in the future but that won't be for many many years i'm afraid. I made these promotional dealies for fun. Thanks Erik for highlighting it on GEOTYPOGRAFIKA << Visit the link to see more fun Hello Form greatness.

found::photo

Hannah and I spent much of the day at Magers & Quinn book store researching for our senior projects. Hannah pulled out this awesome find! It was slipped into the pages of a book, perhaps the previous owner? This picture is the only thing settling my stomach from the large amount of acid that has been churning from the stress that is The Senior Project.

Left::Right

For my Geography of Identities class I am reading Space and Place by Yi-Fu Tuan. If you have ever been interested in the way we as humans react and experience space and the places we inhabit you should definitely pick up this book.

I just got to a section on right and left distinctions and found it oddly intriguing. It reads:

In nearly all the cultures of which information is available the right side is regarded as far superior to the left. Evidence for the bias is particularly rich in Europe, the middle East and Africa, but the bias is also well documented for India and Southeast Asia. In essence, the right is perceived to signify sacred power, the principle of all effective activity, and the source of everything that is good and legitimate. The left is it's antithesis; it signifies the profane, the impure ,the ambivalent and the feeble, which is maleficent and to be dreaded. In cosmological space the right represents what is high, the upperworld, the sky" while the left is connected with the underworld and the earth... The ancient Arabs equated the left with the north and Syria. The word šimâl indicates both north and the left side. The Araic word for Syria is Sam: its root meaning a "misfortune" or "ill augury" and "left." A related verb sa'ma, means both to bring bad luck and to turn left.

I begin to wonder weather my parents knew this when they decided to name me Samantha, or that I would later learn to write with my left hand.