Getting Inside My Head

Fun stuff:  About a week ago I participated in a rather lengthy and extensive personality test for a management training course I’m taking.  The current section of the course is teaching students to assess their management style, with the intention of helping us individually tailor our training. Part of the assessment is to determine which side of our brains we rely on most when we reason, form arguments and communicate our thoughts and feelings – the left or right.

Not knowing very much about how side-dominance affects personality, I just assumed that being a biogeek meant I was left-sided.  Also, I write with my right hand.  But, according to the tests, I overwhelmingly exhibited right-side dominance in most of the subject areas.  Huh.

When I asked questions to increase my understanding, the professor was quick to dismiss the myth that mental aptitude in science and math are strictly a left-sided thing.  “It’s a stereotype,” he said.  “Both sides are responsible for numerical analysis and scientific understanding.”  Oh, okay.  So, what things for me rang more true as a right-brainer, rather than left?  Well, this (admittedly rather unscientific) blurb from a quiz/article I found on the web summarizes several of the points my class discussed:

Right brain dominant individuals are more visual and intuitive. They are better at summarizing multiple points, picking up on what’s not said, visualizing things, and making things up. They can lack attention to detail, directness, organization, and the ability to explain their ideas verbally, leaving them unable to communicate effectively.

I can definitely say that I fall under this description more often than not.  This is in comparison to Left-brain dominant people, who tend to be:

…more orderly, literal, articulate, and to the point. They are good at understanding directions and anything that is explicit and logical. They can have trouble comprehending emotions and abstract concepts, they can feel lost when things are not clear, doubting anything that is not stated and proven.

Also, despite loving science and math, I’ve always been dubbed as being “atypical” by my peers: rather than pursue science for the logic of it, I am compelled by what I see as the art behind the science, and it’s expressed in a number of complex and abstract ways.  This view of the world has led to tremendous comfort moving in and out of several not-so-scientific hobbies and social circles.  I use science as an example because of my industry, but I guess the reverse can be said for those who work in the liberal arts.

So, does all this mean that I’m going to quit the engineering industry and run out to join an artist’s colony?  No.  My passions are still in tact and in order, and the brain uses both the right and left sides to perform the millions of tasks required of it on a daily basis.  However, it does mean that I have a clearer picture of how I think, feel and communicate as an individual, and working to better understanding oneself is the second-most noble of pursuits.  What Life requires is balance, and knowing my natural tendencies will help me be more effective while working in a leadership role and in acheiving my personal goals.

Dome Living is Hip

I’ve mentioned in this blog before my general interest in dome-styled dwellings.  Recently, I’ve come across a post from the Pink Tentacle about the newest dome rage in Japan.  I’m not sure how environmentally sound (or safe!) the use of styrofoam is in these structures, but the idea that dome living is catching on in one of the world’s trendiest nations is quite appealing.

Colorful

Cam and I went to Cave of the Winds in Manitou Springs last weekend.  It was awesome.  The photos I took while inside the caves turned out pretty awful, but the surrounding (above ground) landscape offered a few choice pics.

Cam really enjoys caving, and learning what he knew about cave geology was an added bonus to the experience.  Hopefully we will visit others sooner rather than later.

You might be a Perfectionist if…

…you read this recent article from the NY Times and suddenly feel a little exposed…

The Jane Austen Book Club

Yesterday, my friend Rose and I went to see the movie titled The Jane Austen Book Club. For any fan of fiction writing, literature and comedy I’d highly recommend this movie. My interest in it came mainly from the fact that I love book clubs (I belong to three), and, since I first began reading Austen when I was 12, I have most of her published works on my bookshelf at home. I wondered if the movie would bring to life some of the eccentricities one can experience while discussing writing styles and character development, forming many different opinions and conclusions from the same body of work, and it did. It also reminded me that sometimes, even books that are centuries old can remain extremely timely and relevant. I’ve always found that possibility intriguing, if not exhilarating, about literature.

After leaving the theater, Rose and I ran to the nearest bookstore to purchase what remaining copies of Austen’s work we didn’t have (for me, they were Persuasion and Northanger Abbey) and decided to read through them together.

As I rode on the bus commute into work yesterday morning I opened my fresh copy of Persuasion, our first pick, and I immediately felt like I had reconnected with an old, familiar friend.

There’s no getting lost like when you do so in a good book.

Accolades, again!

I was very pleased to read recently that Vanessa Northington Gamble, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed as University Professor of Medical Humanities at George Washington University, effective earlier this month. As a physician, historian, and activist, Dr. Gamble is an expert in the fields of medical history and humanities, bioethics and health care disparities, and is the first woman to hold this prestigious faculty position.

Early in my academic career I spent hours in the stacks of the local university’s library reading anything I could get my hands on that dealt with the history of race and ethnicity in medicine and public health in this country. Scholars such as Dr. Gamble fueled my passion, with writings and publications that vociferously addressed the state of health care as I observed it within my community, and presented to me a priceless body of knowledge from which I have drawn from over and over again.

Dr. Gamble directed the National Center for Bioethics and Research in Health Care at Tuskegee University and has served as head of the Division of Community and Minority Programs at the Association of American Medical Colleges. She is also an associate professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Many congratulations to her and to the faculty that will benefit tremendously from her wisdom.

Moving Forward in Science Policy

On August 13th, Dr. Nina Fedoroff, of Pennsylvania State University, was sworn in as the newest Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (Ms. Condoleezza Rice). While in this position, Dr. Fedoroff will have a key influence on the future of American science policy and international scientific cooperation–

“The position of Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary (STAS) was created in 2000, to serve as the Department’s chief scientist and principal liaison with the national and international scientific and engineering communities. Dr. Fedoroff is the third person to hold this position. The Adviser is responsible for enhancing the science and technology literacy and capacity at the State Department, increasing the number of scientists and engineers working in Washington and missions abroad, strengthening and building bridges to the scientific and engineering communities, and providing advice on current and emerging science and technology issues as they impact foreign policy.” (excerpted from the U.S. Department of State’s website)

Dr. Fedoroff has been a favorite researcher of mine for quite some time because of her work with genetics and molecular biology and her studies on the societal impacts of genetically modified crops. She brings to the position an impressive body of knowledge and a well-respected plethora of experience, which includes memberships to the National Science Board and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also served as founding Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State and is a National Medal of Science laureate.

I look forward to hearing the dialogue her office will bring to the public policy round table.

New Moon

The clouds rolled away just in time for a perfect view last night. As the sun set, the sky was filled with red, orange and blue, which was awesome because it cast a rosy glow over everything in Boulder. By the time I reached home, I could also see a few long, dark clouds “lining” the sky that reminded me of the Milky Way. Just after dark, I saw Jupiter shining brightly to the south, and Antares (the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius) not far below and next to Lupus, slightly to the west. By about 21:15ish, Cassiopeia (one of my favorites) had cleared the horizon to the north, and Saturn was visible to the west. The star of the show, of course, was Venus, which shone brilliantly above Cancer, visible also to the west. It was a lovely night.

Ursa Major

On Saturday night I had a wonderful time star gazing! I made my way up as far as I could into the mountains without getting too “lost” (yes, I am still a city girl…) and was just amazed at the canopy of stars I saw once I cut the head lights off. So beautiful… I’d brought my laptop along to use the SkyGazer software that came with my astronomy textbook, and I found it easy to navigate through after a few minutes of playing around. While observing the Milky Way through my binoculars, I saw a shooting star! Wow. My photography bug is itching again…I’ve been looking on the web at lenses for night shooting.

For my class, I have a project that requires me to map out five constellations, one of which had to be Ursa Major (The Great Bear, whose seven brightest stars form the “Big Dipper”). Given the horizon I faced and the time of night, it was directly over my head, upside (cup-side) down and very bright. If I can find a good picture of it I’ll post it here.  The nights are getting clear again, and I found a nice lookout point not too far from my house.  I should get out again before the moon gets too full.

Green Building Design…Day Three

Whew, what a weekend! Today ended what has been an extremely intense, but wonderful, 3-day course on Green Building Techniques, presented by environmental scientist and green builder Dan Chiras at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Our agenda today covered:

• Passive Cooling Design: Principles and Guidelines
• Residential Renewable Energy Technologies: Part 1 (Solar Hot Water – Solar Hot Air – Solar Electric – Wind Energy – Microhydro)
• Residential Renewable Energy Technologies: Part 2 (more in-depth discussion of Part 1 technologies)
• Green Remodeling (Guest Lecturer, Larry Kinney, Synertech Systems Corp., Boulder)
• Natural Building: Why Build with natural materials? (Guest Lecturer, Larua Bartels, GreenWeaver, Inc. , Carbondale) (Straw bale – Adobe – Rammed Earth – Wattle & Daub – Cob – Straw Clay – Natural Plasters)
• Creating Sustainable Communities: Rebuilding Existing Communities

I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this course–we met our goals as a group and enjoyed ourselves in the meantime. Now that the course is over, I’m one step closer to being Green Building Certified (a process I began about 2 years ago). More details on that as it happens later in the year. For photos on some of the other projects I’ve worked on, follow this link.

Perhaps, the most important point I walked away with was this:

“Truly appropriate technology doesn’t make people or their communities dependent on systems over which they have no control.” –David Eisenberg

Green Design (Building, and Technology) is really, for me, about being good to myself, empowering my community and ensuring the prosperity of future generations…all children of all species for all time. (William McDonough) How can I do this? By being mindful and intentional with what is within my control–little by little, today, tomorrow and every day.

Many thanks to Dan, Mark Shueneman (of the Colorado Straw Bale Association, Boulder), Laura Bartels and our guest speakers for an amazing weekend!