rebeccmeister | Happy birthday to me... [status]

I'm just glad that my birthday didn't fall on a lab teaching day this year. I still have a lot of work to do today, but lab days can be brutal to the point where at the end of the day all I want to do is burrow under the covers and refuse to come out again.

And yesterday's lab day was an extended one because we also had a visiting speaker come to campus in the evening to talk about health equity, as part of our institution's longstanding MLK (and Coretta Scott King) lecture series. It was really good to hear what this speaker had to say, because she was able to cover topics spanning from the clear evidence of ongoing health disparities among different groups of people, to frameworks and specific plans and projects to continue tackling those problems, all in the light of the current political and social climate in the U.S. And she was grateful for the chance to speak at our institution because it was clear to her that our institution is strongly invested in supporting this type of work. And indeed, since I teach many students who seek to pursue careers in the health professions, it is helpful to learn more about ongoing efforts in this area, so I can point those efforts out to students and encourage them to contribute.

Anyway, this morning I unwrapped a small package from my mom, and then got to enjoy my morning coffee in a super cute new mug!