Knock Knock

As many of you know, I decided to go to grad school as a way to act upon my commitment to eliminating the massive health disparities we face in this country. Over the past (almost) four years, I have found that it has been difficult to maintain my resolve. I go to a lecture like Tracy Kidder’s one day, and I am re-inspired. The next, I am obsessing over an upcoming midterm, how competitive I will be for internship, or whether I am liked/valued by my boss. Grad school—the very vehicle for my passion—has instead become a great source of self-doubt. And as a result, I am often stopped from doing what I came here to do in the first place. Not to mention the endless mental anguish I put my lovely husband and friends through. You know it’s true. :)

For the past week or so, I have been preparing a lecture on health disparities for the class I teach. This has been a very powerful exercise for me, as it has helped me to reinvent and recreate my approach to improving the health of those who have largely been let down by the system. I spent hours last weekend on youtube, looking for videos that would help illuminate the points I plan to make in my lecture. Perhaps the most invigorating thing I came across in my youtube adventures was an act from a play by Daniel Beaty, called “Emergence-See.” I can’t stop watching it. Not only does it highlight some of the major social injustices that are, at least in part, responsible for health disparities. But it is a call to action that brings me (and maybe you) to tears. Most importantly, it has helped me to step away from the self-consciousness and self-concern that stop me in my pursuits…and come away with some serious intentionality.

Enjoy.

a birthday treat

Tomorrow is my birthday. And tonight I celebrated! After wrapping up the class I teach (and stuffing a burrito into my mouth in .05 seconds), I attended a lecture by Tracy Kidder, the writer of "Mountains Beyond Mountains," a book that I absolutely loved. To write the book, Tracy Kidder followed Dr. Paul Farmer—a man who has essentially DEDICATED his life to helping resolve the pandemics of HIV and tuberculosis. And by dedicated I mean DEDICATED. While his work began in Haiti many years ago, he has taken the success of his organization (Partners In Health) to several other countries since, including Russia and Peru. He is now focusing his efforts on the continent of Africa. The lecture was inspiring (duh) but in a very unusual way. I didn’t leave the lecture feeling like my life was inadequate or that I should sell my possessions and move to another country to live (in a hot water-less home). Instead, I left feeling like I could really do something to make a dent in the world. Even if I can never live like Paul Farmer. Paul Farmer himself discourages the notion that anyone in their right mind should try to live the way he does. Instead, he suggests that we get together in groups, and use the talents that we have and love...for good. A simple request, really. So, on the eve of my birthday, I feel enlivened--ready to team up with my miraculous friends and family to make some serious change in this world. Any takers?

that trusty old kitchen sink

This night has finally come. While I attempt to prepare tomorrow’s lecture for the class I am teaching and do some work for my mentor, I find that my thoughts are constantly turning to tonight’s primaries. Results from the primaries continue to pour in, and all I can seem to do is watch. And wait. My goodness! I even feel like taking up a nail-biting habit! Given the anticipation of this evening's primaries, I thought I would post about the election. In a recent (and great) NYT Op-Ed piece, Maureen Dowd discusses the Clinton campaign approach of late. Her words summarize the problem with communicating a message that lacks unity and coherence. Dowd says:

“After saying she found her “voice” in New Hampshire, she has turned into Sybil. We’ve had Experienced Hillary, Soft Hillary, Hard Hillary, Misty Hillary, Sarcastic Hillary, Joined-at-the-Hip-to-Bill Hillary, Her-Own-Person-Who-Just-Happens-to-Be-Married-to-a-Former-President Hillary, It’s-My-Turn Hillary, Cuddly Hillary, Let’s-Get-Down-in-the-Dirt-and-Fight-Like-Dogs Hillary.

Just as in the White House, when her cascading images and hairstyles became dizzying and unsettling, suggesting that the first lady woke up every day struggling to create a persona, now she seems to think there is a political solution to her problem. If she can only change this or that about her persona, or tear down this or that about Obama’s. But the whirlwind of changes and charges gets wearing.

By threatening to throw the kitchen sink at Obama, the Clinton campaign simply confirmed the fact that they might be going down the drain.”

When I first read this article, it brought me comfort. Perhaps this did mean, as Dowd suggested, that the Clinton campaign would soon be ending. After all, as I have learned in my Health Communication course, having a clean, clear, tailored, and unified message is critical to any campaign’s success. Why would that not be the case for Hillary? Only time will tell what the impact of Hillary’s scattered message will be.

And with that, I’m off. With fingers crossed.

To read the article in its entirety: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/opinion/27dowd.html?ex=1361854800&en=e52cc0a1a83d5aed&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

just watch

Here I am, sticking to my word. It's time to have some fun. Check out the recent skit performed on Saturday Night Live, which pokes fun at advertisements for oral contraceptives that promise to reduce the frequency of visits from Aunt Flo. It is hilarious. The big picture? The skit sheds light on an industry gone overboard. And I love it.

girls just wanna have fun

I just left another great installment of Health Communication, the class for which I am keeping this blog. During the class, we stepped into our professor's office, which happens to be the sunny Mediterranean garden just off to the side of the building where class is held. As we basked in the tireless California sun, we engaged in an activity about audience segmentation, which is essentially the process of dividing the larger population into smaller groups--groups that are united by one or more characteristics. This is done in order to tailor message relevance, appeal, and in the end, effectiveness. Our professor illustrated this important health communication strategy by dividing the class by demographics, geographic characteristics, and various beliefs. A very informative exercise indeed! At one point, our professor segmented the class by asking the group whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement:

"Health is my greatest priority in life."

At first, I struggled a bit, wondering which side of the leaf (the object being used to delineate the groups) I would stand on. After all, I love talking about health. Heck, I even have a blog centered around the topic. And of course I want to maintain my health, as well as the health of my family and friends. But suddenly, a sort of irreverence came over me, and I joined the dissenters on the north side of the leaf. When my group was asked why health wasn't our number one priority, many answered that family and love trumped health. But even those things didn't fully resonate with me. Nothing did until the word "fun" came to mind. Of course its not as simple as that but right now that does seem to be the thing that's missing from my life and the one that could be more highly prioritized. And then it dawned on me. Perhaps a lack of fun-spiritedness is also what leads our health messages to fail. It must mean somethin' that even I, someone who has dedicated the last eight years of her life to improving people's health, is sick of the proselytizing. Perhaps our messages would have more relevance and effectiveness if we, in the field of public health, stopped taking ourselves so darn seriously.

So, here's to fun! Time to add a dash of it to both my life and to the health messages I know--deep down--are truly important.

appealing to the socially conscious smoker

I wanted to strongly suggest that you all hit up the following blog: http://www.sidewalkradio.net/. I know, I know. Clearly, I'm really starting to feel this whole blog thing. But this one is really worth checking out.

The writer of the blog gave a job talk last week for one of the SDSU Graduate School of Public Health faculty positions. He studies the history of tobacco campaigns and their use of film to paint a positive picture of their industry. Even more exciting is the fact that he creates documentaries that counter the messages being conveyed by Big Tobacco in their industry films. His films expose the environmental consequences, as well as labor injustices, that are part of the tobacco industry. I’m totally intrigued by this approach, because the health consequences of smoking don't always motivate people to quit. This might be just the right health campaign approach for the socially conscious smoker.

Check out his blog, Sidewalk Radio, where many of his videos are posted, as well as descriptions of his research. His approach to combating the tobacco problem is pretty darn unique and inspiring. Check it out.

truthiness

Inspired by the recent discussions of health campaigns and what makes one effective, I decided to check out one of the more famous (and successful?) campaigns of late--the Truth Campaign, which is aimed at reducing/preventing tobacco use among young folks. When I first arrived at the site, I thought I had gone to the wrong place. The site was filled with cartoon characters, games, and quips such as “tobacco will kill 1 in 3 youth smokers”, followed by “but at least two live!”. The site also compared death from tobacco and death from murder, saying that tobacco kills far more people but “murder’s a lot scarier, so it’s a tie.” At initial glance, the site seemed to be far too much fun to actually be aimed at reducing cigarette smoking. But then I realized—that’s the point.

Probably the coolest thing I saw on the site was the feature called “useful cigarette”. This interactive component to the website allows you to scan across an enormous cigarette and see a visual depiction of all of the *fun* ingredients found in cigarettes. Some of my favorites (in no particular order) include pesticides, embalming fluid, urea (yes, what’s found in urine), and mothballs. Yum!

This fun little feature can be found here: http://www.thetruth.com/facts/useFulCig/

So the question to ask, then, is whether this thing works. Well, according to the website called Protect the Truth (http://www.protectthetruth.org/truthcampaign.htm):

You bet it does.
0. Seventy-five percent of all 12 to 17 year-olds in the nation - 21 million - can accurately describe one or more of the truth® ads.
0. Nearly 90 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 - 25 million - said the ad they saw was convincing.
Eighty-five percent - 24 million - said the ad gave them good reasons not to smoke.

I have been hearing people talk about The Truth for some time now. And I thought I understood just how powerful it could be. I was wrong—after spending a little time on the website this morning, I got a FANTASTIC lesson in what works when trying to change health behavior. And this will be my gold standard until something better comes along.