#people are still out of the country! some people have work!!! some of the profs have other engagements!!!!! why did you cave on DAY ONE neph

[un-pearable]

.

#sry for the delay on the prompts the faculty union had us all ready for a week long strike for the first week of classes #THEN AT 10:30 ON MONDAY ANNOUNCED A TENATIVE AGREEMENT AND THAT THE STRIKE WAS OVER #meanwhile a) i’m STILL SICK and b) ITS 10;30 AT NIGHT c) the deal sucks!!!! it will inevitably not get voted for and we will be BACK ON STRI #KE and d) ITS 10:30 AT NIGHT AND NO ONE KNOWS IF THEY HAVE TO ATTEND CLASS TOMORORW #people are still out of the country! some people have work!!! some of the profs have other engagements!!!!! why did you cave on DAY ONE neph #tiations for a shit deal that will inevitably not pass when we had a WEEK planned for ??????????????? #and i’ve been scrambling to inform people and figure out if i have to go to campus for hours 👍 #i still feel like shit 👍 fun times #anyway doodles will be posted tomorrow

[xiaq]

Hi! I read an old post of yours from when you were teaching, where you said you earned 39k a year, and that it wasn't a lot of money. That would be 3k a month + 3k end-of-year bonus, especially if it's tax free (as in, all money already goes to you, with taxes already paid). In my country, that's a very good income. How much does life cost in the USA, for you to say that academia is not a career that makes you lots of money? I think I'd need context to understand, if you can explain, please :)

Hi there! So what it comes down to is cost of living coupled with an inability to put money away for retirement.

Also, that 39k is before taxes. So I was really making around 32k annually or 2,600 a month. No bonuses.

When I was making that, I was living in Dallas, TX and then Gunnison, CO. The average rent cost for a one bedroom apartment in Dallas was $1,500 base per month and in Gunnison, CO the average rent cost for a one bedroom apartment is $1,700. In both places I paid less than the average, but my total costs with paid parking, utilities, etc. were around $1,500. In addition to housing, I had to pay for health insurance which was around $2,000 a year, car insurance which was around $1,500 a year, and then general car maintenance which was $2-3,000 a year depending on if I needed new tires. I walked or rode my bike as much as possible, but was still spending at least $50 a month on gas (more when I'd go camping or drive home for the weekend 3 hrs away). I also had to pay for vet bills, food for me and my dog, and standard life stuff. Even with couponing and a strict budget, I was spending around $300 a month on food for me and my dog in Dallas and $400 per month in CO since food was more expensive in the mountains (like, a little box of strawberries was $8, a 2-serving bag of salad was $5). Also, even though I was paying for health insurance, I still had to pay copays and out of pocket for bloodwork and some specialists, which was a couple more thousand a year. I rarely went out to eat, I don't drink or smoke, and I bought all my clothes and books second-hand. Pretty much any time I traveled it was because my parents or friends were going somewhere and I could tag along, or I was car camping. So I was living a very frugal lifestyle and still had no money left at the end of the year to put toward retirement based on my teaching salary.

So, as a breakdown my approximate annual costs were (I just went and found an old budget spreadsheet from 2020)

Rent+utilities+wifi/phone $18,000 Health insurance $2,000 Car insurance $1,500 Car maintenance $2,000 Gas $1,000 Vet bills/dog food $1,000 Food $3,500 Medical copays and oop expenses: $2,000 Clothes $500 Books $500 Home-goods, laundry, cleaning products, misc $500 Skin, hair, hygiene products $500 Total cost: $33k You'll notice this is more than my teaching salary. I was doing a bit of tutoring and ghostwriting on the side and my parents were kind enough to pay for some of my car maintenance that year, which is the only reason I didn't end up in financial trouble.

Importantly, I had no money at all for emergencies or putting toward retirement. I was also working 60-70hrs a week, had very little opportunity for career/salary growth, and was constantly being asked to pick up additional unpaid labor for the benefit of students/the program. I loved teaching, but there was no way that lifestyle was sustainable and there wasn't any hope of retirement. AND I was one of the few people who had no student loans to pay off by the time I finished graduate school. Thanks to academic scholarships, living at home, and my parent's assistance, I had no debt. That is highly unusual for people in academia and I can't even imagine the stress it would have added to my life if I was trying to pay off student loans every month as well.

Also, I'd just like to point out that adjunct professors make even less than I was making as a lecturer, and even tenured profs don't make all that much more. The humanities in academia in the US is not the place to be if you're wanting to make a reasonable amount of money for the amount of work you're doing. :( By contrast, working in tech, I'm now making $100k a year (78k take home), I work 40-50 hrs a week, I'm putting money into my retirement every month, and my work/life balance is magnificent. I'm also up for a promotion in a few months and I have a lot of opportunities for career and salary growth in the future. For the first time in my adult life I don't feel like I have to count every penny, and I think I may actually be able to retire some day.

Anyway, I hope that helps give context!

#also the environment is so much healthier #love my boss and coworkers #don't feel like it's a constant competition #mylife #academia #professor things #sigh #money #maybe im jaded #but most of the current and former academics i know #say theres only money to be made at big name schools #if your field is humanities

[push-tet]

that post about Pucks

When i was researching the image of Puck in folklore. i noticed that the historians of the image of the Puck blurred and everyone is free to interpret Puck image. i really liked it and i have a desire to somehow realize it in my and Verona and at the same time to work out the lore of the fairies why not?

Clumsy (play), Oberon's Servant (play), real name Robbin Goodfellow (folklore), mischievous (play) prefers to live in the forest (folklore), prankster (folklore), suspicions of misanthropy (folklore), the fairy (play), cooperation with Obeoron (play), cunning (folklore\play)

next should be the suktchs so you can see what they look like but I'm too lazy to draw, so I'll just make some moodbords

moodboards

Puck Or Púca (don't call them that for your safety) Midasammerers Genderfluid i think? Knowledge Taurus 4\6\5\10\0 Hobbies: Science - Nature - Music. Obsession with substitutes (especially toads and frogs)

50% play, 50% folklore

Unlike the weirdos below. Puck is their real name, not a nickname

Remnant of the Midsummer Era. Puck is supposed to carry the knowledge and history of the ancient fairy people, but she's forgotten all about it

Puck used to have a passion for collecting and buying wet specimens. But because of her nomadic lifestyle, preserving them was impossible

In her spare time from scamming mortals for money and intimidating travellers in the forest. She likes to listen to classical or metal. Metal? Puck finds it fascinating that mortals were able to turn chaotic into harmony

The real body was destroyed for some unknown reason. So he exists as an intangible entity. Until he finds a new body huh. Priority is people over +185 and on the brink of death

Puck likes to wear makeup. But she doesn't know about waterproof makeup, so her makeup comes off right after her first swim at the bottom of the swamp

For friends and family, Shen; for students, Prof. Liang; for coworkers and subordinates, Puck III Gossamer He\Him Knowledge Gemini 5\6\7\3\4 Hobbies: Science - Nature Botanist

10% Play, 10% Falklore, 60% Chinese Legend

Smoking is not bad for fairies. So Shen can smoke two packs of cigarettes in a day. Surprisingly, he doesn't even stink…

Was a fashion icon in his department «Beauty doesn't interfere with intelligence. So your job as a scientist shouldn't stop you from dressing well»

He has a wife and a daughter. But because of the heavy workload, he constantly forgets about them.

A close BUSINESS relationship with Oberon

When Shen was on probation at Gossamer Corp. He and his students created the Money Tree that nearly brought the country's economy to a crashing halt

Missing in obscurity in 1966

Puck (Robin) Summerdream He/them Knowledge Pisces - 7\2\2\6\2\8 Hobbies: Science

Fascinated by astronomy, astrology

40% Play, 10% Folklore.

Although Robbin has already discovered his wizarding abilities, he is still firmly convinced that he is a fairy, it's just that their transformation has been delayed (spoiler: he's not a fairy)

Robin is talented at potions. HA! Now try saying Chemistry is a useless subject

Robbin doesn't even correct people when they are called Peck. Which is why half of Verona has forgotten their real name is Robbin

He can't say - No. Because he's afraid of offending someone. Because of this, he may have a lot of work to do

He wants peace in Verona and often thinks of putting a love potion in the drinks of the Monty and the Capps to stop this idiotic feud. But he fears the consequences of the potion's effects

In fact, he is not such a good astrologer and often says predictions at random. But by an incredible coincidence, their predictions come true

i tried to combine the traits of ONE person and at the same time, make them different. idk i did it or not anyway, choose your fighter

edit 19.01.24:

if these mfs meets

#my shitpost #vv:bs #puck summerdream #dude. puca looks like 2011 oc #veronaville

[terrainofheartfelt]

Sort of inspired by your discussion of Jenny needing to go to London alone to really grow into herself and mature as a person, in an ideal world in which none of the main characters were forcibly tethered to the UES or its more toxic inhabitants post-high school, how do you generally - like broad strokes - imagine them developing as people in college and throughout their twenties? I always wonder where everyone might have ended up had they not been constrained by the type of narrative they were living in, and I’d love to hear any headcanons you have on the subject!

I've been thinking about this on and off since i received it (an embarrassingly - for me - amount of time ago) and now finally feel like I can answer.

because, like, what if we weren't constrained by the harsh realities of making tv? what if the rules meant that they could leave new york?

well, first, let's dovetail off jen moving to london and blossoming, and send eric along with her. he can go to cambridge, or any of the other big name universities in the area, and he and jenny would be flatmates and live their own hilarious queer sitcom of being students in london.

I've already plugged nads' yale au in my answers this evening, but I still really like the idea of dan and blair attending yale, and outside of the maelstrom of manhattan drama, they settle into their own selves and learn they could actually...like each other? and then they fall in LOVE as far as careers, they are the most driven. and we've talked about novelist dan and editress blair and art historian blair and college prof dan.....but lately I've been thinking about blair working in costuming. It's not high fashion design, but I think it's a great synthesis of the things we know blair loves: literature, film, history, art history & fashion history, Evil Dictator of Good Taste, being a specialist and big boss on a niche subject...yeah...

i still enjoy the idea of vanessa being at nyu, or at another arts college in nyc, and making her own way and building her own story (without being boxed in to the secondary character of anyone else's story!) I like the idea of her attending Tisch too, and expanding her skill set into screenwriting in that way.

to plug another au by a friend, S's goodbye stranger introduced the concept of Serena attending Berkeley, and I LOVE it. I love that for her. Berserk-ley. I think that school in that part of the country would be where Serena would really thrive. She becomes a full glamorous SF queen. perhaps she opens a coffee shop. Blair is outwardly mortified but inwardly very proud.

As for Nate, I think he is the character who really should take a gap year. It's never questioned, but the way he is yanked around by the collar those first two seasons, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that nate would decide that he needs some time to figure out what it is he wants. sidebar: bc the serena gap year felt disingenuous in many ways, yk? serena was so eager to leave new york and go to school and study. she likes learning, we see it, and the opportunity to reinvent herself that college would provide....why would she walk away from it? except for TV Reasons. so, I like the thought of nate taking at least a year. traveling, volunteering, maybe he takes a community college course or two. he falls off the grid for a while and he realizes how healthy and how happy he feels without the constant eyes and pressure of his family & gossip girl. and after that time, he's found what he actually wants to do, and goes to school to do it. -- as always, I'm fond of nate working in health care, as a nurse or pt or something, but it could really be anything. teacher? chef? social worker? children's librarian? (actually culinary student nate has come up in convos with ivy & cherry before and I am into it.)

and uhhhhhh i guess chip wiskers can crash his inherited business and money into the ground bc lets be real that fucko would try to launch his own cryptocurrency and since he seems to hold such disdain for education and self-betterment, he stagnates and falls off the face of the earth byeeee

#gg hcs #asks #anon #gg au #wow I want this all to exist now ty #i am now feeling very passionate about nate taking a gap year #it's like the good version of what carter baizen did #and tbh it did kind of feel like nate would go that way #like in s1 when he was full out crushing on carter and the life he was living? #really thinkin bout it now. what if nate and vanessa went backpacking and nate decided not to come back?

[lino-nyangi]

You are such a rude writer. By teacher I meant professor. In my country, teacher and professor mean the same, so I wrote that with College (I apologize if this isnt the correct term in english.) being in mind I am not fluent in english, but I still thought I could get the point across. I also did not notice that requests are closed, I thought what I wrote would count as a "Hard Hour", but I was wrong, so I am sorry. But I would at least expect you to kindly correct me, but no, I get such a rude response. You are one of the reasons writers are looked down upon. Writer's like you do not deserve a platform.

okay. i think you're disregarding a lot of what you did to push me to say what i said here.

first of all, requests aren't closed, i just don't take requests. i never had them open. i mainly write to get my own ideas out of my head and things like requests stress me out tbh. still, i get asks like this all time, which is frustrating if you can imagine, having to say the same thing when it's literally in my pinned— the first post to appear on my blog. you could atleast take a few seconds to quickly go through the main things. every user has the right to have rules of interaction for their blog (minors dni with 18+ content, no blank blogs etc). idk i just think if you want to request something from a writer at least read through their pinned.

if you got it confused with a hard hour thought, i'll be happy to explain the difference. a hard thought is just something specific and short that comes to mind (ex: minho saying xyz or doing xyz) depending on whether or not i'm comfortable with the ask, i'll answer it or ignore it, and depending on how inspired am i by the idea, i'll write anything from a short answer to a fic. that's another reason why i don't take requests i'm just not that comfortable or inspired writing a lot of things. "teacher lee know and student reader " is a plot, not a hard thought. you're giving me a trope to work with and i have to figure everything out myself, and not just a specific scenario to think about.

i hope you can see where my frustration stemmed from for lashing out like that. this is not the first time writers get things like this in our inbox. a lot of the time we just ignore what we don't want to answer but if it keeps happening, it's better to just say it once and for all, don't you agree? also the format of your ask just came off rude and generic. i understand if english isn't your first language, it's not mine either. but a simple please would've been appreciated. it just sounds like you could send this to any writer (which some people do, they send the same copy paste ask to a lot of writers and it's just very rude)

lastly and about the teacher/student thing, i get now that it can mean the same thing in other countries. my mind went directly to the bad meaning which obviously no one would be comfortable writing. that being said, i already have a prompt about prof minho x student reader in my wip list. idk if i'm gonna write it but it's there, and the age gap is small, that's the only way i'm willing to write it.

to come here disregarding all of what was said above and say this is why writers are looked down upon is honestly ironic. you're the one not respecting the simple rules we set and then guilting us for speaking up. granted i did lash out a bit, but think about what led me to do that.

#idk if you'll see this or you have me blocked but here u go #i try to be nice and polite but some things get on my nerves #but next time if you want to send an ask at least add a hi #make it sound like you're talking to a human #cause sometimes it does feel like we're being treated like something else #we're just fans like you

[dawnthefluffyduck]

Just got out of class where we had our group critique; can finally post something I've had done for a couple days now 🎉🎉 project details/commentary/funny(?) story under cut because I don't know how to keep things brief

tl;dr: Made some stickers that show things that interest me in Japan for class :) might try to print them later on, if I do then I'll post that too

This was for Digital Art, it's another "draw concepts of a specific location," but I didn't like, draw where I live this time, so I can actually post this one online haha.

The actual instructions were: "Create six 3"x3" stickers that represent parts of a city, country, landmark, or attraction you would like to visit/have visited." I, a typical art student, chose to do Japan, but I didn't really wanna lean into the whole anime thing a lot, partly because I just don't watch it as often as I used to. I wanted to stick with architecture and major landmarks, but buildings are hard to draw repeatedly in a shorter time limit so I ended up drawing some food too. Also, I'm a percussionist, so I wanted to include a taiko drum just cause they're really cool

The lineart itself took the longest since I reeeaaaally wanted to emphasize a hand drawn feeling to the stickers. I felt this was the best way to make all of the stickers match stylistically, aside from general color matching. I couldnt entirely rely on colors to make them match because things like the ramen bowl had wayyy more colors than the buildings/mountains, and the onigiri was mostly one color. Matching the stickers was part of the grading criteria, so after a lot of brainstorming, I ended up deciding to put more attention to detail into the linework than to the color scheme (though I did try to weasel in that orangey red into as much as I could)

Illustrator did not like line style I used, 'cause apparently all those textured pens take a lot more to load than the normal ones (never had that problem in the program I normally use to draw, so it caught me off guard). Halfway into the project my laptop's fan would sound like a jet engine every time I opened the file; needless to say, progress was slowed a bit as the program started to get extremely laggy haha.

I wasn't able to start on the coloring until a few days before the project was due but I was still good on time . Ultimately ended up having to pull a near all nighter though, because Illustrator crashed in the middle of the coloring process (guessing bc of the lineart), which got rid of hours worth of work :D so cool, love that

Got it done, walked into class on Monday w/ three hours of sleep ready for critique, but five or so other people didn't finish theirs on time so prof ended up extending the due date anyway :D :D so cool very awesome

Can't really be mad though. I would've been happy if that courtesy was extended to me if I were in that spot, so I just went home and used the extra time to knock out some homework lol.

The extra time was worth it too cause everyone's turned out so cool :D wish I could share those too cause I loved looking at all of them during critique today

I said I just got out of class when I wrote this but I took so long to finish the post that two hours have passed since then,,

#they said the lettuce in the ramen was too green #i mean i totally agree but #they bullied my lettuce

[ausetkmt]

Medical News Today: Racism and discrimination are public health threats, experts warn

When acknowledging the impact racism can have on health, it is important to remember that less than a century ago racist ideas were given legitimacy by scientific and medical communities in Western countries.

While Charles Darwin is held up as a symbol of rationality and scientific progress, it is important to note that his theory of evolution by natural selection in the Origin of Species published in 1849, was appropriated by eugenicists.

Eugenicists arguedTrusted Source for the selective breeding of humans with the aim of improving the heritable traits in a population.

Originally, these ideas claimed that people on low incomes had lower mental capabilities and morals, and that preventing these people from being able to reproduce would prevent these traits from being passed on, allegedly improving the human gene pool.

These ideas were quickly applied to preexisting ideas of racial categories of humans, with impacts on the health of people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, which we are still seeing today.

This is just one of the topics highlighted in a recent series of papers published in The LancetTrusted Source, which explores the role racism has played in health outcomes globally.

Written by a group of scientists at University College London in the United Kingdom, the papers explore the different ways in which racist ideas and practices have infiltrated science and medicine and caused harm. Racism, they state, is a threat to public health.

To drive the point home, the authors explain that their own workplace, University College London, was once the home of “racist pioneers” Francis GaltonTrusted Source and Karl Pearson, whose work started to document human differences in an attempt to categorize certain traits.

Some scientists and theorists have applied these ideas to the concept of humans belonging to different races that had existed for over 100 years prior to that, which had been used to uphold first colonialism by Europe of other countries, and then neocolonialism.

The series of articles goes on to provide numerous examples of people being mistreated by doctors and scientists for racist and xenophobic reasons, from the Tuskegee Study of Untreated SyphilisTrusted Source in Black men, through to more recent COVID-19 vaccine inequity.

It also explores the reasons why scientists worldwide upheld the notion of “othering” some groups for so long, and why they were able to do so for so long.

When asked by Medical News Today why the series was being published now, lead author Prof. Delanjathan Devakumar, professor of global child health and honorary consultant in public health at University College London told us in an email that there was no particular reason to publish the series now, as the problem is long-existing and ongoing.

He said:

The COVID-19 pandemic both exacerbated and revealed much of the divisive politics that define our era, as well as the inequities racist politics can cause.

Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, and Pacific Islander people have been disproportionately more likely to become infected with SARS-CoV-2, or die from the infection in the United States to date. This trend continued globally.

These differences were picked up quickly, and research into their causes was initially inconclusive. While socioeconomic factors and comorbidities explained some of the differences in infection and death rates that were observed, they did not explain all of them, and theories abounded.

One of the most contentious theories that arose initially blamed skin color, claiming that vitamin D deficiencies were to blame for the higher infection and death rate in people of color living in areas where deficiency was prevalent among these groups. This notion has since been disproven.

One doctor who carried out research in the earlier days of the pandemic into these racial inequities was Prof. Ladan Golestah, a professor of nephrology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine working in the Bronx during the first surge of COVID-19, in the spring of 2020.

She told MNT in an interview: “I think we were kind of struck by how overwhelmingly it kind of […] took over all of our realities. And I think part of the problem was there was so much death, honestly […] So many bad outcomes [resulted] out of that initial COVID surge that we were, we felt, powerless.”

She, along with her colleagues decided to use the data they had available to try to “lay bare what was happening and what was behind it.”

Their research eventually appeared in eClinical Medicine, and showed that all-cause mortality rates were 60% higher for Black people than white people during the first COVID-19 surge, and this was “incompletely explained by age, multiple reported comorbidities and available metrics of sociodemographic disparity.”

Looking back, she says she realized what was “hidden in plain sight” was the scale of undiagnosed comorbidity which led to much worse health outcomes for Black people.

This was due to a lack of access to healthcare due to the financial barriers which were disproportionately experienced by this group.

COVID-19 had in turn resulted in more trauma, and physical damage to these groups of people, further exacerbating those inequities. The introduction of telemedicine also exacerbated some groups’ ability to access healthcare, she explained.

However, even where some financial barriers to healthcare access were removed, for example for National Health Service (NHS) patients in the U.K., the COVID-19 pandemic revealed other barriers.

In the U.K., People’s COVID Inquiry, run via the NHS campaign Keep Our NHS Public, heard back in March 2021 that the initial responses to COVID-19 infection in people of color were inadequate.

Lobby Anikola, of the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, told the People’s COVID Inquiry — 57 minutes into the video — that “there were many inequalities that people were already aware of, and now these inequalities are costing the lives of people of color.”

“There is also the concern of how appropriate [and] how able the medical service are to diagnose and treat medical conditions in Black bodies,” says Anikola.

In his statement, he points out that when calling emergency helplines during the first wave of COVID-19, people were asked if they had “blue lips,” a symptom of lack of oxygen in the blood in white people, but one that is less obvious in people with darker skin, meaning that many remained at home when they needed to seek urgent medical treatment.

Pulse oximeters had also been shown to fail to pick up hypoxia in people with darker skin, as they had been designed for use on white people, a study published in BMJ showed.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global issue, and the inequities have not just been felt by people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds who live in the U.S. or Europe, but also by individuals living in low- and middle-income countries.

While the health systems of wealthy countries had been overwhelmed by the first wave of COVID-19, their wealth meant they were much better placed to design, develop and make vaccines to target the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Large-scale vaccine campaigns took place in the U.S. and Europe, but low- and middle-income countries were left behind.

In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) set a target for 70% global vaccinationTrusted Source coverage by mid-2022. As of June 2022, only 58 of WHO’s 194 member states had achieved this, and just 37% of healthcare workers had received a complete course of primary vaccination in low-income countries.

“There was hoarding by the North American and Western European countries,” Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, told MNT.

“That was one issue. The second issue was there was an upstream science policy failure, providing too much emphasis on speed and innovation, and not enough downstream to be able to make vaccines locally in low and middle-income countries,” he noted.

The world had “paid heavily” for this mistake, as it opened the door for new virus variants to emerge, he argued.

“Delta arose out of an unvaccinated population [in] early 2021. And then Omicron — it emerged from an under-vaccinated population in Africa, later in 2021. And so it got into this mess that we’re in today. So, vaccine equity is not simply a question of equity, [it] is fundamental to pandemic control,” explained Dr. Hotez.

Not all was lost however, he said, as there is now an opportunity to ensure that vaccine equity is achieved for low- and middle-income countries for vaccines for emerging variants, he suggested.

He is not the only one to point to potential opportunities to improve the situation. While health inequities due to race, xenophobia, and colonialism are stark, some feel the recent focus on the issue has highlighted areas where improvements could be made.

Dr. Golestah said:

The Lancet series itself argues that if policy based on racist structures got us into the current situation, then appropriate, well-designed health policy could get us out of it, and eventually remove racial health inequities.

As Dr. Hotez added: “Remember, COVID-19 is our third major coronavirus pandemic of the 21st century, we’ve had SARS and MERS. And now COVID-19.” Other epidemics or pandemics may emerge soon, he believes.

In this context, “[w]hat we really need to address is equity, and not only to have equity but recognize that it’s essential to global public health preparedness,” said Dr. Hotez.

“I mean, often it’s framed purely as humanitarian grounds, which of course, is important in our motivations at our labs. But it’s not only a humanitarian gesture, it’s far more than that it’s front and center of pandemic preparedness.”

#Pulse Oxyometers #racist Tech #Health Tech #Racism and discrimination are public health threats #experts warn #Black Health Matters #Black Lives Matter #Global Health

[mariacallous]

Protesters across China have made one thing very clear: after three years of harsh restrictions, many people are tired of their government’s pursuit of an increasingly ineffective zero-Covid strategy. China once celebrated its success in containing outbreaks and keeping its economy running, but it has been slow to adapt to a world of more infective variants and mass vaccination. As life begins to feel increasingly normal in Britain and elsewhere, 49 cities – representing a third of China’s population and two-fifths of its economic output – are in partial or total lockdown.

The protests will put pressure on the regime to change its approach, but that may be easier said than done. China has been highly politically committed to its Covid policy, even as it has become less and less tenable. And the situation with its health system, population immunity and vaccine stocks is vastly different from ours, partly because of the choices it made earlier in the pandemic. China will have to face some form of living with Covid soon, and millions of lives – not to mention global economic stability – depend on how this happens.

China was an early adopter of overwhelming measures to contain Covid. This involved recurrent lockdowns affecting millions, but also building isolation centres and hospitals very quickly, mass PCR testing, intensive contact tracing and surveillance, and mandatory masking. Some of the measures were incredibly draconian. Yet, despite the cost to civil liberties, it worked in stopping Covid-19 initially.

But then in 2021, several safe and effective vaccines were approved, which meant that widespread protection could be delivered to western populations. Take-up was remarkably high, and country after country, including maximum suppression countries such as New Zealand, Australia and South Korea, pivoted from containment to mass vaccination, access to antiviral therapies and “living with Covid-19”.

China, though, stayed with its strategy of elimination within its borders. The Chinese government did roll out its homegrown vaccine but took a different approach than the west. Its vaccination priority list focused on healthy young adults, and instead noted the side-effects of the vaccine to elderly groups. It didn’t promote the vaccine to elderly groups until November 2021, but by this time considerable vaccine scepticism had built up. Rising concerns about the low effectiveness of the non-mRNA Chinese vaccines were also a concern: studies indicated that protection faded fast and was undetectable after six months.

Recent reports suggest that only about 40% of over-80s have received a booster shot, and millions still remain unvaccinated. To put this in perspective, the overall booster rate was more than 90% in Japan while only 68% in China. And the Chinese government’s efforts to push vaccination have been met by a population used to zero-Covid messaging and having a false sense of security that they won’t ever be exposed to the virus, so why get vaccinated at all?

And population exposure has been minimal in China. It has had just under 1.5m infections in a population of 1.4 billion, and the national death toll is 5229. Compare this with England where the Financial Times estimates that more than 90% of the population has had Covid at least once. This hybrid “wall of immunity” in Britain has come at a major cost: the UK death rate stands at 2,400 per million, compared with just three deaths in a million in China.

All of this means that China’s population has a lower vaccination rate, with vaccines that appear less effective, than in most other countries. And many people don’t have any immunity gained from a previous infection either. If China gives up on containment and allows a large wave of infections, the country will take a huge loss of life given current vaccination levels: they are just too low in the most at-risk groups. This would overwhelm the already fragile Chinese healthcare system with too many patients who need care.

And the 2020 playbook isn’t working in 2022 in China, with a much more infectious version of the virus – Omicron – and a population fed up and tired of restrictions and constantly changing rules. Millions of businesses have had to shut down and the country has taken a major economic hit: the World Bank forecasts GDP growth in China of just 2.8%, behind the rest of the region’s average of 5.3%. This is the first time China’s GDP growth is less than its neighbours since 1990. Yet there are few signs the government will change tack for political and health system reasons.

Politically, the president, Xi Jinping, has projected a clear narrative of protecting China’s population through a zero-Covid policy and sees it as one of his successes. He defended the strategy vigorously at the recent Communist party congress, and any sudden policy shift may be seen as an admission of failure. And while there are increasing protests against restrictions, other parts of the country are calling for authorities to do everything to protect them from Covid. They’ve heard about the death toll in the western world and don’t want to be exposed to the virus.

The other concern of Chinese scientists and politicians is long Covid, which some feel has been underestimated in western countries. And you can understand this concern. An estimated 2 million people are suffering from long Covid in Britain and it is cited as one of the major reasons for the rising number of “economically inactive” people.

No matter what approach China takes, it needs to improve its vaccines. But to do this it will need access to mRNA technology, and this has been stuck at an impasse. Moderna has refused to transfer its technology to Chinese firms for manufacturing, instead eager to sell directly to a large market. China has instead worked to develop a homegrown mRNA vaccine but this has caused delays in rollout.

The countries that dealt most successfully with the pandemic, such as New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Denmark and others, did it by successfully moving from containment in 2020 to mass vaccination and treatments in 2021 and 2022. This is the only sustainable exit from this pandemic and we’re likely to see China take this route eventually. It will need to get mRNA vaccines to the biggest priority groups quickly, and also bring an exhausted public along through what is likely to be a jarring shift in strategy – from no Covid at all, to Covid circulation with vaccine protection.

Let’s hope China makes this transition before it is forced, regardless of what the governments wants, to live with Covid before it is ready. China buckling under a wave of Covid would affect the entire world, not just disrupting economic stability but potentially creating new variants that could set progress back everywhere.

[ist-das-kunst-oder-kann-das-weg]

Crazy shit is happening! 

Recently, I got a mail from the other big art museum with a link to a selection of the sources they have concerning my topic. It was all JPG scans of mostly letters and books. They even scanned all sides of the wrapper of each piece. In total, there were nearly 400 pictures. Woah. Crazy. After sorting it out, there are now about 160 pages of scanned book pages (some of which I was really interested in, yay!) and about 50 pages of scanned letters (holy shit!!!! wow! no way! 50 pages of letters!). After the first museum found another few pages to their original 5, I was really happy. While it feels really good to get answers from such institutions, I feel really intimidated now. I might have bitten off more than I can chew... I told my supervisor after our seminar and she is fucking thrilled and really looking forward to our next meeting. The other students also heard of my successful quest for the sources because I didn’t wait long enough for them leaving. But they also congratulated me for my topic. I am King. (Yes, I can be anxious and megalomanic at the same time.)

This morning, I saw I got an email by the uni from Denkmark. After I figured out my password for their application platform and opening the pdf, I had to refrain from starting to chant and dance in the middle of the lecture. I got accepted! (This moment was nearly overshadowed by my joy of giving a super simple solution to something the prof made sound rather complicated, lol.) To think, I will start studying in a different country in less than three months makes me a bit sick. While I am really looking forward to it, I know how much work I still need to do. My bachelor’s thesis alone would be hard enough for me (see above, so much to read, and then, there’s the math part... aaaaaah). But there’s also the seminar presentation, which has to be roughly done in exactly a week, because then I’ll meet my supervisor. And then there’s the two big exams, I just want to cry thinking of them. Also, I need to look into affordable flats. Whatever, everything will turn out alright (perhaps if I tell my self often enough, I start believing it).

Now, I need to start treating myself a bit nicer again. When I don’t sleep and eat enough, I’ll get sick (yeah, apparently all those people saying that were right) and I really don’t have time for that.

This evening, we’ll see the Rocky Horror Picture Show (not last week, got my calendar messed up). It’s like a field trip for our little film club. Before leave, I will have educated them a tiny little bit. I also asked someone after a lecture and Prof. S heard and his eyes lit up and he asked us whether it’s with people participating like they did and told of a few things they did. I was like “probably not, people here are way to uptight for that” and he had to laugh again (he is from Australia, I think). I think he would have liked to come, too. (He is the best guy, definitely not the best prof, but who else would tell you “If the tree starts to stink, you really should start learning for your exams”?)

Also, I am currently really into some of the songs of Rudolf - Affaire Mayerling. Even though the musical truly is “brutally kitschy”, it has some good songs. For example, I think Du bleibst bei mir, in this video sung by Wietske van Tongeren, is the best song sung in a musical by a woman (yes, I have a lot of musicals still to explore).

#dear diary #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah #awesome

[vro0m-but-not-cars]

Remember how last year I was hesitant to apply for a job at a place that does ADHD and autism assessments because they'd been called out in the media 6 months prior for underpaying their employees and authoritarianism? And then they gave me an interview and the prof who's head of the place was super weird and asked me questions like we were in a therapy session rather than a job interview? (such as "do you feel like you hide behind your intelligence?")

Well they're hiring again. And I was thinking of applying again. And a couple of weeks ago I heard one of my friends was working in such an autism assessment center. So I reached out to her to ask for advice as to how she got hired in the first place. Turns out the center she works at is basically the only one under a different workplace management than this guy's in the area. And she proceeds to tell me that he has a horrible reputation in her own center. Apparently her colleagues, some of which worked for him before, told her he's behaving like a dictator, deciding for people what they can or cannot get specialised in without a care in the world for what they want, with the untold implicit threat that he can fire you if you disagree.

I told that to my mom a couple days ago, saying I don't know what to do because they still are one of the only places that hire people just out of uni like me in this country. And today she sends me a newspaper article that again calls him out for his behavior. On top of the whole underpayment scandal (that was judged in court and the past employees were retroactively paid sums that ranged from 5'000 to 50'000 !!!), families of patients are saying he asked them about their sexual lives in sessions about their kids neurodivergences. Like. "Are you guys still having sex? It's important to keep having sex because a lot of autistic children parents divorce." type of shit. He asked some moms if they were masturbating rather than sleeping with their husbands??? And one employee who came round to introduce her baby to her colleagues was asked if she's having sex again yet or not. Some other employees said they were asked whether they masturbated or not as well.

Anywayyy not applying anymore obviously 🤪

#the unemployment adventure

[martin-jordan]

End of year review 2023

It’s been over 2 years since the last note. That’s a while. In between, a few things have happened, including me moving to Berlin again and joining the German government’s Digital Service as the first Head of Design. I’ve managed to write notes about the work I do there almost every week. So do have a look there, if you’re interested in any of that.

Following a question format developed by Prof. Dr. Molly Steenson, which I discovered on Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino’s blog, I am answering her list of questions to reflect my 2023.

What did you do in 2023 that you’d never done before? I have never led such a big team. The design and user research team at Digital Service is now 20 people strong. By the end of this year, 2024, we might get closer to 30. I’m still getting used to that responsibility.

Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn’t bother to make any promises to myself for 2023. So there was nothing to keep. I intended to run, eat well – primarily vegan – and do public speaking and writing, though. I failed miserably at running. The rest was alright.

Did anyone close to you give birth? Some people I work with gave birth, but I don’t feel close to them.

Did anyone close to you die? Luckily not.

What countries did you visit? Only a few. I did not fly at all, which I am proud of. I visited the UK several times, including Scotland – a 19-hour non-stop train journey from Berlin. I visited France (Paris) once and Switzerland twice for leisure, including skiing in Saas-Fee, close to Zermatt. 2024 will be different. I will travel internationally again.

What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023? A better work-life balance. I worked seriously long hours in 2024 – at a level that even I don’t find sustainable.

What date from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory? My own and another birthday. I know that I did then. There is no other specific date that I remember – maybe that’s even a good thing.

What was your biggest achievement of the year? I find it difficult to name one. I am proud of what the team is doing; I wrote and delivered an all-new talk on the ‘long slog of public service design’ with Kara that was well-received at 2 conferences. I also co-ran a 24-hour remote conference, which was a success.

What was your biggest failure? I didn’t get anyone else in the German public sector to embrace the Service Standard or any senior person to embrace it publicly.

Did you suffer illness or injury? I fell in the first 5 minutes of skiing in December – straight on my skier's thumb from 2001. I am still recovering from that several weeks later. Apart from that, I was fine.

What was the best thing you bought? A Vitsœ 606 shelf for my living room. I installed it for my birthday, and it brings joy every day. It took me over 15 years to convert from a clueless design student to a customer. That’s when I worked for Thomas Manss & Company, which did all the design and branding for Vitsœ.

Whose behaviour merited celebration? Countless anti-racism, anti-sexism, and anti-fossil fuel activists. More closely, I admire and respect our CEO, Christina and how she is navigating the growing Digital Service through a tricky political and stakeholder landscape.

Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? The behaviour of a few German ministers that actively block the progress they set out in their party manifestos and coalition treaty from 2021.

Where did most of your money go? To food, in general. I visited some nice restaurants. It was still no outrageous amount, though.

What did you get really, really, really excited about? The Vitra Campus in Weill am Rhein was quite spectacular. I am not sure it was a 3x ‘really’ level of excitement, though.

What song/album will always remind you of 2023? I discovered Philip Glass’ ‘Dance Pieces’ and listened to them extensively. It was played as part of ‘Age of Content’ (LA)HORDE’s performance at the Berliner Festspiele in August. It was marvellous.

Compared to this time last year, are you: Unsure how I was or felt last year. I think I was less exhausted in mid-December 2022, though. 2023 was dense. I did a lot.

What do you wish you’d done more of? More exercise. More breaks and holidays.

What do you wish you’d done less of? Even though not everything was fruitful, I think everything I’ve done was worth it.

How will you be spending Christmas? As it’s already after Christmas, I answer this retrospectively. I went to my sister’s family place and celebrated there – right after the pre-holiday ski trip.

Who did you spend the most time on the phone with? My mother, even though she thinks I could call her more often.

Did you fall in love in 2023? No need. All good and stable.

What was your favourite TV programme? ‘The Last of Us’ on HBO stood out. Great drama, themes, storytelling, actors. While not the greatest show, ‘Extrapolations’ on Apple TV+ will be on my mind for the years to come as it shows snapshots of human existence dealing with a changing climate between 2037 and 2070.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Such a strong word, no. But I do have much less respect for certain people. That includes several men in charge of driving digitalisation in the German public sector. Their performance is weak and deeply disappointing.

What was the best book(s) you read? At the end of the year, I started reading ‘Baustellen der Nation’ (‘Construction Sites of the Nation’ in English) – an analytical and progressive book outlining what needs work in Germany and how to do it. I like it goes deep and broad and covers problems and potential solutions, enriched with a lot of data and strong narratives.

What was your greatest musical discovery? I discovered Oskar Sala at an architecture exhibition in the Berlinische Galerie. I watched a documentary about the construction of the ICC building from the early 70s and waited until the end titles to see who composed the music. I have been listening to Oskar Sala’s music for various hours since then.

What did you want and get? The mentioned Vitsœ 606 shelf.

What did you want and not get? Some upgraded camera equipment. I did not prioritise it enough in my budget.

What were your favourite films of this year? It was neither ‘Oppenheimer’ nor ‘Barbie’ – the blockbusters and most discussed movies of the year. I missed a few films I still like to watch when they are streaming. ‘Decision to Leave’ by Park Chan-wook stood out for me. And Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ was powerful in its message, especially when watching the documentary with director Peter Sohn telling about his family’s immigration story that inspired the movie.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 41 in April. We wanted to take a canoe trip to the Spreewald, but the weather wasn’t great. So my parents came around, we went to the ‘Futurium’ exhibition about science and democracy and had cake afterwards. In the evening, I got invited for dinner at the Korean fine dining restaurant ‘CHOI’. That was a very pleasant and intimate food experience.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More significant progress in driving user-centred design approaches in the German public sector. I didn’t get done what I wanted to get done. Too many actors are following their own agendas instead.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023? Adding a bright colour to my navy blue – beyond the colourful socks. I got two new RÆBURN jumpers in 2023. I like the brand’s regenerative design approach and some of their designs.

What kept you sane? Focussing on the things that I can influence and that give me a sense of progress.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? No idea. Not my thing.

What political issue stirred you the most? So many. It’s hard to pick a single one. The wars, the inequality, the rise of the far-right. It is remarkable how terrible communication from politicians around policies to prevent climate breakdown is – globally. So, global inaction regarding climate change is the one that stirs me the most – as too many democratic politicians don’t even address it regularly.

Who did you miss? My grandmother, especially around Christmas.

Who was the best new person you met? I built a good relationship with Stephanie, our Chief Product Officer. I first met her in 2022 when I started at Digital Service, but we only had a few overlaps and encounters last year. That changed in spring. She is smart and driven, and we share views, values and attitudes.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023. Take things step by step. There might still be countless steps missing from your goal, but you got a bit closer, at least.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year? I am bad with song lyrics – as I mostly listen to instrumental music. So, I need to pass on this one.

#2023 #reflection #end-of-year #goals #life

[colorado-spector]

3MT Critiques

Here I will document the main critiques (and hopefully also some praise) about my 3MT presentation. I will use these critiques going forward for my rough draft and five-minute opening presentation to introduce my topic.

All the critiques from classmates were mainly positive. They all felt that I was pretty clear with my topic and some liked that I opened with questions. They generally seemed to believe that I presented the topic with enthusiasm and felt its importance. Most expressed interest in the subject as well. Overall, these comments were very nice.

Professor's Comments:

This feedback is the most vital. Here are his main points:

Did the presentation provide an understanding of the background and significance to the research question being addressed while explaining terminology and avoiding jargon?

Prof's comments: Sounds like good questions, but too many to follow so quickly. In general though, good background...still there are many names of conflicts, unions, etc. and it would be easy to get lost...the essay will need to identify and keep these different historical backgrounds clear.

Me: I need to identify the main actors and establish a timeline (like J did). Make it easier to follow. Make sure to reduce or combine questions.

Did the presentation clearly describe the historical or historiographical significance of the research?

Prof's comments: Connected the memory of the violence to the recent desecration of the memorial, plus the defense of the memorial -- memory galvanizes == memorializing violence has the strength of connecting workers to the past, while it can also undercut support for the workers. I am not clear on who is doing the acting in your story…the argument has been well thought out…it is conceptually strong…but the narrative of change over time is still to be developed.

Me: Again, I need to define the main actors. Who is doing what? Why? Where? Etc. He likes the concept though and thinks it's strong. But the narrative of how these perceptions change over time does need to be developed --> this is probably the thing I need to work on the most = make a timeline identifying actors and themes ASAP.

Did the presentation make the audience want to know more?

Prof's comments: I am clear that I want to know more, but not precisely what I want to know. The questions could be clearer. Who specifically shaped the memory of violence over time and why? What are you saying that is different than other historians?

Me: Make sure to include what other historian's arguments have been over the perception of violence and death in relation to worker's rights movements --> more research, better historiography work. Make it clearer why the audience should be interested in this. Clean up the questions or combine them.

Was the presenter careful not to trivialize or generalize their research?

Prof's comments: Yes, she is clear about the stakes of this project of the memory of violence for herself and for the people in her history. I think it would help the audience to have a better sense of the specific actors, what they did, and what the consequences were -- those specifics would actually raise the stakes for the audience and make the importance of the project clearer.

Me: Again, define the actors and why they are important! This is probably his biggest critique --> need to define the actors ASAP.

Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their research?

Prof's comments: Yes, though there seems to be some doubt about why one would be enthusiastic…I hope you find the specific things you want to say and then make the argument with confidence.

Me: I'm just overall not a very confident presenter so that probably came through. I should highlight that one should be enthusiastic because worker's rights are on the move again in this country or something. Maybe go talk to him about this part to get more feedback.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS

Define the actors. Who were they? What did they do? What were the consequences of their actions? Why are they significant? Etc.

Establish a clear timeline with the actors in play.

Establish the main themes.

Simplify the amount of questions. Make the questions clearer.

Get straight to the point of your argument. Establish why it is important and why we should be enthusiastic.

Highlight previous scholar's argument's more. Give a better historiography.

#3MT #feedback #critques #gen research #professor comments

[hardynwa]

No one stole your mandate, pro-Tinubu protesters tell Atiku, Obi

Hundreds of Nigerians under the aegis of ‘The Natives’ on Monday took to the streets in Abuja, the nation’s capital, in defence of the outcome of the 2023 general election, warning opposition elements against canvassing for the imposition of an Interim National Government ING on the country. While the protesters specifically told the Presidential Candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and that of the Labour Party LP, Mr Peter Obi to drop such advocacy, they also hailed the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for conducting a free, fair and credible election, declaring that nobody’s mandate was stolen. The Natives therefore vowed to resist any attempt to institute am interim government, warning that the spirit of June 12 which saw the announcement of late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola mandate is upon the nation. Addressing journalists before they marching to the INEC headquarters, ‘Supreme Leader of the Natives’, Hon. Smart Edwards, appealed to the international community and Nigerians to allow democracy grow by declaring their support for the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He said; “No mandate was stolen. It was either you (opposition parties) did not network with your people and Nigerians well, or your people did anti-party against you. Today, we have witnessed PDP suspending its National Chairman, the man who campaigned for the party, that’s also democracy. “It is our turn, The Natives of Nigeria to see a better Nigeria. It is our turn to see a working Nigeria. It is our turn to see a democracy that works. It is our turn to advance the country as patriots. “Today, we are declaring absolutely that no mandate was stolen. INEC performed creditably and the election was free and fair. The election saw NNPP win in Kano state, APC though challenging the outcome but has decided to go to court, that’s democracy. PDP won election in Rivers, Enugu, Taraba, Delta, Plateau states and others, and an APC candidate in Plateau has congratulated the winner, his party may chose to proceed to court, that’s democracy. “In Benue, the APC has a Reverend Father who won election overwhelmingly against the incumbent, that’s democracy. We saw Peter Obi win election in Lagos state against the ‘landlord’, that’s democracy. “We saw Labour Party win election in FCT Abuja, that’s democracy. We saw an Okada man win election in Kaduna state, that’s democracy. We saw a woman almost winning an election in Adamawa, but was declared inconclusive, that’s democracy.” While responding to a call for an interim government by some protesters aligned with the opposition, Edwards said; “Those calling for interim government are jokers because when Shonekan was brought in, in the past the people rejected it. Africa’s base for democracy is Nigeria. We have Goodluck Jonathan who is a symbol of democracy, we had late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, he was a symbol of democracy, we have General Gowon who is also a symbol of democracy. Other nations in Africa are learning from Nigeria. So, what I am saying is that The Natives of Nigeria are of all tribes and colouration, it is impossible for anybody to attempt an interim government. President Muhammadu Buhari has spoken clearly and that is why we came out today in solidarity with what the President said that he will hand over to Asiwaju Tinubu. “So, please I appeal let us balance our emotions with progressivism. Let us barnish bigotry wherever it is found, whether in the East, West, South or North. Let us work together and I also call on all parties to sheath their swords and proceed to Court if they are still aggrieved or allow it to be. “We are telling the opposition parties and their supporters that in the National Assembly we are seeing six different parties who won elections and will form the 10th Assembly, that is democracy. I tell you, there are Senators who lost their seats, their are governors who lost election. “The people who were injured during these elections are Nigerian citizens. We are calling on the opposition, particularly we want to correct the erroneous views of Peter Obi’s running mate, Datti Ahmed that there is no President-elect. If he had said that in the days of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he would never appear in public again, but this is a government that supports democracy. “We call on everybody, whether the young people who are hurt or the APC who is also hurt, or PDP who is hurt, or LP, NNPP and others, to allow peace to reign and be patriotic. The elections are over, but the elections are still in Court, please give Nigeria a chance to grow.” On the call for the removal of the INEC chairman, Edwards said Prof. Mahmood Yakubu “is not going anywhere”. “This same man who conducted the election where NNPP won, Labour Party won, PDP also won in some states. “The spirit of June 12 is upon us. By June 12 this year, it will be 30 years. The same military that truncated democracy that time in ‘Agbada’ led by President Muhammadu Buhari has recognized this election. We believe that MKO Abiola’s soul will rest in peace on the day Bola Ahmed Tinubu takes over from President Muhammadu Buhari. “I am also appealing in the name of the Almighty God to all Nigerians to please give peace a chance. We cannot continue to be protesting on the streets every day. “We will be marching to INEC headquarters to tell the Commission that no mandate was stolen. Asiwaju won the election and it remains so. Only the tribunal and Supreme Court can change the decision of INEC.” Read the full article

[sageglobalresponse]

Forget the paparazzi’s show, Osinbajo’s achievements far-reaching

Maybe you have come across some comments that the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has the best media team, or goes around with an engaging visual team of photographers and videographers, there is more to that.

At times, some people can get carried away and begin to either misconstrue or deliberately twist the essence of the media publicity done for government officials, forgetting it is needful as a global standard practice to carry the general public along in their day-to-day activities.

For Osinbajo, most especially, perhaps for the finesses he has added to public relations, he has attracted a lot of admirers, among whom are those who love to drag him on social media like this Twitter user, who via her handle @Nkemchor_, though applauded Osinbajo’s social media pictures as being “really clear,” the commenter, however, slammed him, saying, “his photographer really did more work than him and his principal combined.”

Same for one Saliu Teslim tweeting via @tesloyaa, saying: “Be like say nah Netflix give Osinbajo him media team.. Cos!!!”

Or what can one say to this Twitter user? One A. Onafuye, who said in his post: “I feel like Yemi Osinbajo and his photographer do rehearsals. He always knows exactly how to pose without posing and where to stand.”

There are other soft comments like such tweets by @ManLikeIcey, saying: “Osinbajo has the best media team ever among government officials.”

Or a similar comment from another user identified as Femi Adebimpe, who way back in 2019 tweeted via @femiadebimpe, submitting that: “Professor Yemi Osinbajo has acquired a crack team for his media. I am really impressed with the choices of professionals brought on board.” It was another applause for the media team.

Even, a Facebook user, Ugo Egbujo, recently published a piece on his wall, where he applauded Osinbajo’s team, contending that the VP had taken things to a new level.

He said: “I think Osinbajo should lend his campaign team to Asiwaju. He took things to a new level. And I believe that even in small things country should pursue finesse. The Osinbajo team had class. Their expertise shouldn’t go redundant.”

That is the extent to which some throw punches or banters at VP Osinbajo, only for seeing the good photos and videos of his activities often promptly released by his efficient media team. Even, some critics have reacted by calling Osinbajo “best consoler in chief” and all such sorts, on occasions he goes out visiting troubled Nigerians. There are similar comments made via Instagram too, and other web communities.

Yet, no one has ever either given a substantial reason why the learned Professor’s media team shouldn’t churn out VP Osinbajo’s best photos, or mentioned why they shouldn’t showcase his activities and popularise his verifiable achievements in office, which is a normal thing to do for a public servant of his calibre all over the world.

Nevertheless, I think it is reasonable to say that the erudite Professor has a Grade A media team and all that. But that is because of what he represents in real terms.

It also appears that those attempts to reduce his place by focusing on the beautiful art of the photos or the efficiency of his publicists cannot stand nor withstand any serious inquiry into what the VP represents to Nigeria and Nigerians, because the VP’s contributions are far too impactful.

For instance, it is worthy of note to emphasise that Prof Osinbajo has redefined the Office of the Vice President such that people will no longer accept the excuse that a VP is only a spare, and while there are still fundamentals limitations to what a great VP can do, Osinbajo has shown that a VP can do better than warm the seats at the Presidential Villa.

Evidently, in Nigeria of today, Osinbajo’s profundity has proven defenders of mediocrity wrong as he has shown that leadership is all about taking up the initiative with the intellectual ability to penetrate deeply into ideas and to use the platform given for the general good of the populace. These, exactly, are what Osinbajo has done in government, turning his enterprise into creating a welfare state under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was for this sincerity of purpose and level-headedness, that Osinbajo quickly earned the respect of his boss, President Buhari, who at a time described him as “a reliable and dedicated deputy who is not only admirably competent but also exudes confidence and passion in the performance of his job; a cool-headed gentleman who puts the interest of Nigeria above other narrow considerations.”

Buhari went further to say that “Vice President Osinbajo is an incredibly patient politician who demonstrates remarkable intellectual and mental energy in the discharge of his duties. I’m proud to have selected him as my running mate, and he has given a good account of himself since our journey began in 2015.

The President showing great confidence in his deputy proudly applauded his “remarkable and mental energy” whose brain power has led to several achievements under the Buhari-led administration. He is a good team player. Let’s also salute Buhari who created a platform for his industrious VP to shine. This, on its own defined Buhari as a superman, since the stylemark of good leadership is when a leader is happy to raise a partner “greater than” him.

It is now not a surprise that Osinbajo is more relevant as a Vice President, that on three occasions, his boss was pleased to hand over power to him as the Acting President, a position which none of his predecessors in this 23-year-old democracy has ever occupied.

Every Nigerian VP is the head of the National Economic Council (NEC) as established by the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended; Section 153(1) and Paragraphs 18 & 19 of Part I of the Third Schedule, and in this delegated one too, he did very well. Let’s see.

How he combined this role with being an Acting President is still memorable to Nigerians who still refer to his three-month reign in power as the Acting President as part of their best days under the Buhari-led administration to date.

At that time, one significant thing he did presiding over a particular NEC meeting was to issue a directive to the CBN to review its foreign exchange policy that weakened the national currency, after which $500 million was released to the banks forcing dollars to crash, 24 hours after, stabilising the exchange rate at N450 from N525.

It was during this period that Osinbajo declared open the Agenda for Consultative Forum on Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, where he told the forum that the nation was in a very serious economic situation, but assured that the government remained committed to putting the economy on the path to sustainable growth, which was done.

Similarly, it was his love and passion for the poor and interest in giving them a better life that prompted him as the VP to initiate what is known today to be the largest social investment programme in Africa, the Economic Sustainability Programme (ESP) that cater to the need of the generality of Nigerians ravaged by the scourge of Covid-19 between 2019 and 2020.

With the ESP project, coordinating a Council comprising 36 state governors, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and other co-opted government officials, Osinbajo reshaped Nigeria’s economy in a way that, within a short period after the country’s economy entered into recession consequent upon the Covid-19 lockdown, among others reasons, it speedily came out of it in 2020. Besides, the MDAs report indicated that over two million jobs were either saved or created so far with the ESP.

So, beyond the paparazzi’s shows, his critics often refer to as if he likes to be in the news, he just can’t stay off because his works are showcasing him. No wonder, a former Zamfara State Governor and immediate Past Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Dr Abdulaziz Yari, in his recent applause for Osinbajo’s leadership said: “In the past, we know how NEC was handled, but the VP handled it professionally and not partisan, all governors were given equal rights. We thank you for that leadership.”

We also need to commend the VP’s A-list media handlers, led by a former newsman and world-class editor, who is cerebral as his principal. We can’t see less of what the VP does as a public servant having someone like that as his media manager.

This twosome is a winner any day, any time. So, it is a matter of naysaying or mere cyberbullying of a gentleman in power, relegating his works, when, even the sitting Vice President of the United States heard of his achievements as he recently had an audience with her in the White House, told Osinbajo: “You have been so terrific. Your seriousness, purpose and your knowledge, and you have really been trying to pull people together which is great and I admire that.

Truly, Osinbajo has been so terrific!

But come to think of it, fine photographs and videos refresh the soul, feel good looking at them, they are like therapeutic diets which can only do one good. Osinbajo is a cheerleader of every do-gooder, you too can be a social reformer, that is one message those artistic works portray.

Be positive in appreciating excellence, Osinbajo’s contributions to nation-building are crystal clear, let no one be misled about the place and person of our Star Boy so far. He is a good and great leader.

• Gesinde, an award-winning journalist, is a political scientist and public affairs analyst.

#nigeria #osinbajo #sage response #likesforlike #vp osinbajo #nigerian #lagos #youtube

[whentherewerebicycles]

A recent poll from YouGov, a polling firm and market research company, found that 30 percent of millennials say they feel lonely. This is the highest percentage of all the generations surveyed. Furthermore, 22 percent of millennials in the poll said they had zero friends. Twenty-seven percent said they had “no close friends,” 30 percent said they have “no best friends,” and 25 percent said they have no acquaintances. (I wonder if the poll respondents have differing thoughts on what “acquaintance” means; I take it to mean “people you interact with now and then.”)

#the actual article has more detail about the study #including some different possible interpretations (like the fact that loneliness might be something that ebbs and flows with age) #but i do think about this a lot #i had a long talk last year with one of our visiting profs from france #who has spent a lot of time in diff european countries studying student support systems in higher education #and she was talking about how in some scandinavian country (sweden maybe? i can't remember) #they have really structured support systems for college kids who are struggling for various reasons #like here if a kid is struggling there are some people you can contact and some support networks in place but #a lot of those kids just get missed until they start failing and then they get put on academic probation or are kicked out #anyway she was saying that in the particular university she was studying #the faculty and staff see it as a community issue #like if a kid fails an assignment or exam or something #they don't record the grade as failing but immediately begin working with the kid to identify what's going on #and they come up with a plan with the kid and their other teachers #(i might be getting these details wrong but that's how i remember her describing it) #anyway she was talking about how lonely and isolated some of her students seemed #and how easy it seemed to be for kids to just fall through the cracks at a big university #i use a learning community structure in my classes for that very reason #like tons and tons of stable group work with a heavy focus on interpersonal group dynamics and mutual responsibility for each other #i am still definitely learning how to adjust that structure & make it more effective #but in their end of term comments that's always the thing students comment on #just how different a class feels when you know everybody by name and everyone knows you #and you are talking to each other every single day and counting on each other to come prepared for the activities #in my own college experience i was very lucky to have a close-knit extracurricular group that became my primary social group #but i was so disengaged from classes and just had very few if any friends in class unless we'd known each other before #and i really think it made me more isolated and cynical about my college experience #just like... nobody cared... it literally did not feel like it mattered at all to anyone if i showed up or not #anyway. thoughts. #pedagogy #loneliness

[of-foolish-and-wise]

a uni survival guide: tips from a phd

if there's one thing i know about, it's college. i've done it, i've taught it, i've lived and breathed it. these tips are for first years in particular, but honestly for everybody. i think it's so important for people to have balanced lives in these years -- academics are not everything. you know what didn't help me in the real world when i was afraid i wouldn't live through it? my fancy college note-taking format. you know what did help me? the friends i made there who i knew would get on a plane and fly across the country in a matter of hours if i told them i needed them.

academic

- figure out where class is held ahead of time: don't be that kid who's late on day one, i beg of you

- use the writing center: especially for basic grammatical editing, which a lot of professors don't have time to mark on papers

- speak up in class: talking through ideas helps you work through them, and asking questions about something you don't understand can open up great lines of conversation

- find a regular schedule that works for you and stick to it: my college schedule was morning free time, class, lunch, class, practice, homework. that consistency was a life-saver

- keep a planner: it's so important to have a central place to track deadlines, assignments, and engagements

- annotate your reading: when you're stressing about a paper topic, being able to go back to what you've highlighted and written in the margins is a life-saver

- color-code your coursework: i use the same color highlighter, pen, and notebook for any given class. it's super helpful

- if you can't focus while studying with friends, don't: i reserved group studying for days when i didn't have important work because i can't be in a room with other people without talking to them. if your school has one, the quiet floor of the library is your best friend

- treat yourself to a "fun" class: art was always my place to just sit back and chill, a way to end the night all zen in the darkroom instead of conjugating russian verbs in a fluorescent-lit cinderblock prison. for you, it could be gym, it could be pottery, it could be some random course about, like, the history of cooking or something -- explore!

- profs are people too: don't be too nervous around them. also, know that if you're struggling -- even b/c of something in your personal life -- you can admit it, and they'll almost always understand why you missed a deadline or bombed a test

- go to office hours: it's the only way to get to know professors in big courses, and it's so helpful for both your grades and learning how to navigate relationships with authority figures

social

- don't let academia keep you from your friends: it's a case-by-case basis, but sometimes it's okay to let the reading slide and spend time with friends. i graduated seven years ago and my college group text still talks every day. that's so much more important to me than the fact that i never finished brideshead revisited

- joining a club is one of the best ways to make friends: i played ultimate frisbee through college and it was the source of so many lasting relationships, as well as the way i met all my local friends when i was abroad

- say yes to things you don't know if you'll like: you'll surprise yourself. me? turns out i love drinking games. and theme parties. and skinny dipping. and rock climbing

- don't be that person who looks down on their peers for partying: honestly? that person kind of sucks. you don't have to party if you don't want to, but actually, a lot of those people are super nice and also good at school -- don't just write them off!

- show up for your friends: go to their games, their concerts, their art shows, their standup nights. show them that what matters to them matters to you, too

- set aside a night to do a group activity with others: whether your vibe is wednesday night trivia, a weekly "terrible movie" showing, or a get-high-and-watch-nature-documentaries-type thing, these are great ways to liven up the week and de-stress

- this is a great time to figure out who from high school really matters to you: you don't have to force relationships that were built mostly on convenience if there are friends at uni with whom you click more. people you became friends with purely based on the coincidence of where your parents lived do not have to be your forever friends. they can be! but they don't have to be

personal

- don't expect too much of yourself: a 4.0 is not the end-all, be-all. if your family or somebody tells you it is, tell them to call me, and i will personally talk some sense into them

- take advantage of university support services: mental health counseling, free yoga classes, multi-cultural societies, etc

- drink water: please, please don't get kidney stones in the middle of the semester, says the girl who got kidney stones in the middle of the semester

- let yourself take breaks: if you need to lie to a professor and say you're sick when really you're just feeling down and you need to sit in bed and watch a movie, that's totally valid

- don't freak about individual assignments: my students come to me freaking over a B+ and i tell them, honey, no job interviewer is ever going to ask you about your second paper from communications 101. i wish i'd known that

- go see speakers if there's someone interesting coming to campus: these talks are always cooler than you expect. i'll never get over the fact that i didn't go see anita hill when she came to my undergrad

- do your laundry on the same night every week: i can't explain why this is so helpful but it really is

- keep up on the news and the memes: read the school paper, the school blog, the memes page -- college politics and inside jokes are fun and convoluted and fascinating

- set the groundwork for long-term self-care: all of the above is really just to say -- university isn't just for learning about the french revolution, it's also about learning how to balance, how to handle failure, how to ask for help, how to make a salad that doesn't totally suck, etc

#uni #university #university tips #fresher #freshers #freshman year #freshmen #first year #first year tips #uni tips #college tips #college #studyblr #studying #academia #of foolish and wise #fresher tips #college masterpost #study masterpost