tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:50:07 +0000FDAfield toolsmoroccopoliticsreligionsoftwarethe patchtranscriptionvaccinehttp://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)Blogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-4943077327470262026Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:26:00 +00002011-01-04T21:28:17.499-08:00I'm planning on cleaning this blog up, removing some of the more personal (and less charming) laments. I'm also planning on working primarily on a separate blog. The idea of blog-segregation seems silly, but at the same time, I'm not sure that the intention of this site is the same as the intention of the newer one. Maybe I'm just creating internet litter, but I think framing matters, and this ishttp://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2011/01/plans-for-new-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-1409227037339632477Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:29:00 +00002011-01-29T10:35:44.016-08:00I added this back in December, but I saved the draft since I had some reservations about so simplistically maligning physicians. My goal certainly isn't to denounce medicine, but rather I do think conversations like this one highlight some of the worst of medical practice. I've already written on my affection for Atul Gawande's perspectives on medicine, and I have immense respect for the practicehttp://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/12/physicians-conviction-of-perfection.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-7683499956889707892Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:52:00 +00002010-12-20T17:30:36.049-08:00Public Citizen notes that pharma is the biggest defrauder of the U.S. government. Worse than the defense industry, and well, we all know how ethical they are. Deeply unsurprised.I will write more about this later...but figured I wanted to remember to come back to it, and in the meantime, perhaps interest others in this topic.http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/12/in-other-news-of-confronting-my-own.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-8470500835717476328Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:21:00 +00002010-12-16T22:58:09.311-08:00As my previous post, a mere 12 hours or so ago, indicated, I don't really do anthropology lately. As much as one is ever "doing" it. Tonight, after a long day at work, I stopped at a nearby tiny sushi place (one of the best I think in SF). I'd done this once before, showing up alone, sitting at the bar, and just eating. Not reading, not looking at my phone, not worrying about work, not planning http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/12/something-about-anthropology.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-8493813389534385337Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:25:00 +00002010-12-16T07:42:11.965-08:00My new(ish) job has eaten up my life. I can't actually remember much about the last six and a half months, which I find disturbing. It seems to be a traumatic-coping mechanism. It's unfortunate, though, that I haven't been writing throughout the experience. Its challenges though probably not worth the "growth" that it's provided are still going to be rich and long-lasting material for http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/12/long-overdue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-1757123315851793336Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:23:00 +00002010-08-21T11:25:15.889-07:00I just responded to NPR's story about the HPV vaccine for boys. I'm re-posting here because I have to do other things, but I'll work on elaborating my argument a little better soon...I think it's unfortunate that nowhere in this story did Ms. Wilson mention how highly successful Pap smears have been in the U.S. in reducing cervical cancer rates. Since their institution as a standard of care inhttp://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/08/npr-covers-hpv-vaccine-debate-and-fails.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-2241346112969628357Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:59:00 +00002010-08-06T18:24:52.107-07:00The female condom initially received approval in the U.S. in the early 1990s, shortly after its approval in Europe. It's been tenacious, though not a wide-spread success. I remember the earlier advertisements with Drew Barrymore as one of its spokepeople, and I think she had a college tour through which my sexual health counselors' group tried to get her to come visit our campus. (Thank you, http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/08/conundrum-of-female-condom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-1794227404454869414Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:47:00 +00002010-07-22T10:08:30.034-07:00Under the new health plan, insurers are required to pay for government recommended Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) vaccines. As the Vaccine Ethics blog points out, this increases the influence of the ACIP even further. This also presents a couple of interesting problems. In 2008 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) incorporated the ACIP recommendations on the http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/07/government-requirement-for-vaccine.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-7971254518219085717Sat, 26 Jun 2010 19:09:00 +00002010-06-26T12:39:48.212-07:00I'm coming back. I miss writing. I miss thinking. I'm now misanthropic anthropologist, phd, and having grown weary of academia, I launched myself into the world of the private sector. It's been a month, and I mourn the loss of my old life all the time. I think I suffer from the grass-is-always-greener syndrome of being a malcontent. Paycheck=awesome. No free time and tedium=not awesome.Lest my http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2010/06/moments-of-chagrin-and-remorse.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-6085591230669895677Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:42:00 +00002009-02-09T19:44:17.822-08:00In spite of silence, I have in fact been working on my dissertation. Much more slowly than I would like or thought possible.I re-surface only to share this link, in which a well-known anthropologist, Jean Briggs, recounts her own ambivalences and challenges in becoming an "Anthropologist".http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2009/02/kicking-and-screaming-recalcitrant.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-2869184506032236215Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:08:00 +00002008-10-31T09:14:13.824-07:00I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating. I am finding the blog format totally counter-productive to the development of real thoughts or writing the dissertation. The pithy short blurbs, hardly developed simply don't fit with the attempt to work on more extensive arguments. Sure, I could write page-long posts, but no one wants to read lengthily on the internet. I get impatient http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/10/reflections-on-my-failure-to-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-2241575722263691132Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:47:00 +00002008-10-21T10:59:58.218-07:00I've been struggling, for the last few weeks, to re-frame my interpretation of my data. I am exceedingly comfortable being a critic. Why something is wrong or perverse, these are easy for me to point to, but explaining why something might have meaning or be positive, that's far more difficult. I need to integrate the positive into my own work, as the organizations I tried to work with were quite http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/10/re-framing-my-interpretations.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-2173018810743554248Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:31:00 +00002008-10-15T23:48:53.693-07:00I've been avoiding reading blogs, not checked my google reader, and sort of blissfully checked out of the internet as much as is humanly possible (while still being lured back by facebook, damn them). I found a personal essay on Plan B, aka the "morning after pill," and was eager to read the personal account. I'm not entirely sure if I should recommend it -- as the author ultimately seems http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/10/incredibly-bizarre.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-2370676185361944388Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:31:00 +00002008-10-11T19:36:42.822-07:00I've realized, as I write the grant proposals, re-hashing what I'm going to do, and as I start the outlining of the thesis itself, that I need to let go of the sense that I am having an impact on the world. A friend whom I haven't seen in a while told me about her research project. And while I found her work interesting and unusual, I wasn't sure...why it matters. I know there have been moments http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/10/letting-go-of-larger-aspirations.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-5019816749646618115Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:24:00 +00002008-10-10T20:30:02.586-07:00I have never catalogued how many versions of writing I have produced on my research topic. You would think that after writing grants and exams and half-assed papers on the subject, that I would have a clear and coherent way to convey my ideas. No. No, I continue to write in belabored circles. I know that there is a way into this that I can't quite find, yet. But time is pressing on me to figure http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-just-cant-stand-it-anymore.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-8927305882925332126Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:18:00 +00002008-10-08T23:44:30.087-07:00I have created a plausible outline for the monstrosity. Obviously, it's a first stab at the thing. But I'm sort of excited that I am exploring shapes of the future. After meeting with 5 professors a couple of weeks ago, I'm finally finding time to sit down to think about what they said. 5 different ideas, 5 different approaches to the behemoth, 5 different attitudes about the whole process. I http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/10/outlining.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-4325920955876929655Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:33:00 +00002008-09-25T14:43:51.113-07:00I haphazardly pulled together a syllabus yesterday during jury duty (after an intensive phase of napping while waiting for the judge to return to her courtroom...it's like I'm geriatric). My ex-advisor, whom I have no qualms about using when the moment suits to help me pull in grants, has been encouraging me to apply for a university teaching fellowship. While the money would be nice, being in http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/too-controversial.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-8737307933336761873Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:35:00 +00002008-09-16T12:02:59.463-07:00Really, I am going back to my work imminently. I thought this post-production reflection on the interpretation of "The Wire" in the US and the UK good to read. Simon acknowledges the limitations of the show (gender issues, immigration, etc), but he also points out why the stories they told were important to represent.I received an email from someone who has lived most of his life in the http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/david-simon-comments-further-on-wire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-4518527604420022271Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:14:00 +00002008-09-16T11:21:52.605-07:00I've cut back on my google reader reading. I've stopped keeping up with many of the academic blogs and the world of politics, etc, etc. But, I glanced at my feed for Savage Minds, which always explores critical topics in contemporary anthropology, and of course, they've provided a snippet of the same problem I discussed below, negotiating being a public anthropologist. I agree with the http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/proving-everything-worth-thinking-has.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-2503608997464118101Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:22:00 +00002008-09-15T15:09:13.590-07:00One of the organizations I tried to do fieldwork with asked me to write a little blurb for the powerpoint presentation I did for them. As I started to write the blurb, and as I realized I was going to attend their annual conference to present the powerpoint materials, I was reminded of why my fieldwork didn't work out with them.I wasn't able to do fieldwork with them because they kept wanting me http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/ethical-quandries.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-6786306567995533532Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:12:00 +00002008-09-10T17:03:14.992-07:00I'm working through my "rebuttal" to the IRB people, and it's kind of forcing me to confront some of my major methodological inadequacies. The easy solution is to blame my training -- for which I do believe some blame can be distributed. My department does not provide a particularly rigorous methods course, and when I try to work in the public health domain, I find that I have to constantly http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/watered-down-re-framed-and-re.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-311195846217455635Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:32:00 +00002008-09-08T21:45:03.951-07:00I realized today that since I've moved, I've been so much less attentive. Technically, I'm not living in the field anymore, and so I get to relax and just live. In spite of this, I realized that the logistics and organizing that come out of moving have consumed me for the last few months, such that I don't even have the energy to notice things. I'm used to being in the world and constantly http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/disengagement.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-6442124772287614268Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:52:00 +00002008-09-06T09:47:18.603-07:00It has seemed that my fieldwork has evolved into the LA-public health component more than my own fieldwork. I've constantly struggled with trying to ground myself in a community, a location, a relevant cultural group. And every time I attempt this, things fall apart. There seems to be no center and no connector. Ultimately, I suppose, this is because I'm more interested in knowledge and http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/is-there-such-thing-as-pure-empiricism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-6396705162628095755Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:44:00 +00002008-09-02T20:56:45.670-07:00Listed in order of importance:1. I have bad hair, and I blame this on my abject poverty. Also lack of hairstyle inspiration being directly related to the mind-numbing that I attribute to a life of the mind.2. I have boring clothes, many of which I have owned since college. Most of which fit badly and/or are being worn way past their fashion and functional life.3. I am tired of theorizing things. http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-i-currently-do-not-wish-to-be.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441932398602979266.post-8588179195110321957Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:40:00 +00002008-08-31T16:59:00.343-07:00I started this blog as a site to work through some of my initial ideas about my research, while in the middle of fieldwork. But as fieldwork became increasingly amorphous and unclear, it became harder to keep a blog on it, and as with everything, I increasingly became distracted by all the other worldly things that are tangentially related to my research. My problem, in my work, in my writing, http://themisanthropicanthropologist.blogspot.com/2008/08/re-thinking-medium.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (misanthropic anthropologist, phd)0