February

In February Mardi Gras rules New Orleans, and several of us discovered that this event spans several weeks preceding Ash Wednesday.  A number of us live on the Parade route, and we were surprised to find our regular routes to school impassible, and throngs of people outside our doors.  My neighbors were nice enough to adopt me for the festivities, and introduce me to some of the local traditions.  One of their friends works for the local paper, so I was educated on some of the finer aspects of New Orleans culture and issues.  Several of my classmates volunteered as first aid responders, and while attempting to visit them I made the amateur mistake of thinking that it would be possible to cross the parade lines downtown.  While I was cut off from my friends that evening, I met a group from Florida, and had a very interesting discussion about the recent US-Cuba relation shift with an exile.  Perhaps I will make it to Florida to take them up on their generous invitation to visit.  I found the parades featuring political satire to be the most interesting, but I would be remiss for not being impressed by the Krewe of Orpheus (which my neighbor’s uncle rode in) who in addition to being one of the most sophisticated, were forced to endure a torrential downpour. 

 

January

New Orleans is a madhouse between preparations for the Super Bowl tomorrow, and the upcoming Mardi Gras.  For whatever reason it’s king cake season in New Orleans, but since there does not seem to be any particular seasonal ingredient I’m unsure as to why they’re not made year-round if people as crazy about them as they seem to be.  My neighbor’s birthday involved a tasting of a variety of admittedly nontraditional king cakes, he and I both preferred a version from breads on oak, though this was not unanimous as his girlfriend and others preferred others.  Given New Orleans’s French heritage I was under the impression that a king cake was going to be a galette de roi, but the given the humidity in general, laminated dough seem to be a relatively weak link in the city’s culinary repitoire.  A classmate and I made some sous vide (constant temperature water circulation to prevent relative hotspots and undesirable egg protein coagulation) crème brulee which was fun.  Several of us went to assist a classmate’s fiancé at a food bank sorting operation.  While this sounds wonderful, and throwing around boxes was tremendous fun, there was something awkward about packaging hundreds if not thousands of pounds of excess Halloween and Christmas candies for consumption in a “diabesity” prone demographic. 

December

We're finishing up our first semester.  I attended a science fair and observed a wide range of presentations with wide range of interest and effort.  Evidently these are an excellent networking opportunity that I was unable to completely capitalize on as my final exam was the next day. 

Community service hours 31 +6 =37

November

A large portion of our class went on a camping trip to the Fontainebleau State Park, and were treated to a variety of regional foods collected by [Nick Hahn’s friends] Clayton and prepared by Paul.  It was interesting to see the varied reactions in response to some cooler weather from some of the locals/Californians versus those of us from the northern states when we went camping (somebody brought a generator with heating blankets).   Nick and Chad C. also invited the “out of towners” to their respective family thanksgivings so that was very nice of them.  Several of us have been working on “leveling” donated books at a KIPP school, so that the students can select books of appropriate difficulties in order to further their literacy.  While I completely understand the progression-oriented reading programs, it is occasionally unfortunate when an otherwise interesting book might fall by the wayside for one that has been officially “classified.”  One of my neighbors works as a librarian for a different charter school group and it was interesting to get a “boots on the ground” assessment of how different libraries are utilized in different schools both within a charter group and relative to each other.  There was also a book fair going on one of the days that we were working in the library, and it was nice to see that today’s kids still get excited over books.

CS: 18.5

October

We have just finished the renal physiology block, and began our first elective: molecular and cellular pharmacology.  While examinations are the de facto method of evaluating one’s learning, the realization was most striking when listening to the departmental seminar series.  My knowledge of the relevant background material has substantially increased, and my comprehension of the presented material has increased exponentially.  The temperature has sufficiently dropped in order to facilitate some outdoor exploring, a nice change of pace for those of us from more temperate climates.  I’ve had some interesting conversations in the graduate lounge with BMS doctoral students and several masters students in the microbiology program.  We have two doctoral candidates in our program, and it’s been very enlightening to talk to them about their rotations, adviser selection, and how their research plans are developing. 

Dr. Katakam has graciously allowed us to observe the practice of the experimental techniques that we are learning about in our new elective course.  Chad and I have been developing some video editing skills in order to assemble a brief educational video with Nick and Ram about the “real world” applications of the material and has been invaluable in solidifying my understanding of the material.  Graham and I working on a hydrogen sulfide presentation with some in vivo data that Edward, Ryan, and Danny are generating in Dr. Kadowitz’s lab which has been an excellent learning opportunity. 

Community Service: 10 hours @ KIPP

September

It has been 75 days since our program began, and getting settled in New Orleans was an interesting experience.  After being immediately greeted by New Orleans’s entirely unpleasant summer weather, I was fortunate to meet several friendly natives that assisted me with both screening living arrangements and an introduction to the relaxed local ways of life.  I was fortunate to be invited to a retirement party where I was introduced to both the local cuisine and music.  Our program orientation was a wonderful experience, particularly due to the attendance of several program alumni – particularly Nick P., Danny, and Bailin – that were, and continue to serve as both great friends and invaluable resources.

New Orleans – in contrast to many other cities – seems to display its issues in a substantially more transparent fashion rather than sequestering them in specific areas.   Whether this “honesty” is a result of conscious decision-making or a simple lack of resources – if road maintenance can serve as a reasonable proxy – remains to be seen.  I spent the majority of my early childhood on the backside of a racetrack so the stark economic contrast is not new, but the sense of community integration that this can engender seems substantially more localized than I expected.  It will be interesting to see how my initial impressions evolve as my experiences continue to build.