Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in annestar's LiveJournal:

Thursday, May 18th, 2006
3:35 pm	doctors and witch-doctors open question: what are the effects of treating doctors like all-knowing magicians, and of doctors being willing to play that role, in spite of their very limited knowledge? i'm fully convinced of the healing power of belief (or placebo effect, to y'all non-hippie scientists) - but how does anyone decide that the most helpful course of action is to *convince* your patient that she'll get better even though you have no idea if she will? even if it works, it ultimately takes away some of her autonomy and control over her own body and health... if she had any to begin with. from david hilfiker's "healing the wounds": Laurel Tilson, a close friend, was seeing an obstetrician in Minneapolis prior to the delivery of her first child, and during the last weeks of her pregnancy she developed moderately severe "pregnancy-induced hypertension," or toxemia, a dangerous complication of pregnancy threatening both mother and baby. She described to us how concerned and anxious she was until she asked her doctor if the toxemia could possibly hurt her baby. "Not with me as your doctor," he replied and went on to the next question. "I was so relieved," Laurel said to us later. "I could relax for the rest of the pregnancy knowing that nothing was going to happen to the baby." Everything did turn out all right with her baby, and her obstetrician's self-confidence probably was therapeutic in allowing Laurel to relax and get her needed rest during the last weeks of pregnancy, but the obstetrician certainly was being less than honest about the dangers and uncertainties involved. Perhaps my wife is right that my patients deserve that kind of reassurance to help them muster their own personal resources in the straggle to get well. For me, however, there is something fundamentally dishonest in such a distortion of the truth. Life is uncertain. The physician who conceals that uncertainty with false reassurances ultimately is robbing the patient of her responsibility for her own life. Although my frustration sometimes leads me to compromise, the moral and emotional consequences of such misrepresentation seem to me too far-reaching to make it a regular part in my practice of medicine. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, February 6th, 2006
11:37 am	traditional and alternative medicine http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/health/03patient.html?8hpib yet another article in the NYT about how much money Americans are spending on alternative medicine: ++++ Still, 48 percent of American adults used at least one alternative or complementary therapy in 2004, up from 42 percent a decade ago, a figure that includes students and retirees, soccer moms and truckers, New Age seekers and religious conservatives. The numbers continue to grow, experts say, for reasons that have as much to do with increasing distrust of mainstream medicine and the psychological appeal of nontraditional approaches as with the therapeutic properties of herbs or other supplements. "I think there is a powerful element of nostalgia at work for many people, for home remedies — for what healing is supposed to be — combined with an idealized vision of what is natural and whole and good, " said Dr. Linda Barnes, a medical anthropologist at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Barnes added, "People look around and feel that the conventional system does not measure up, and that something deeper about their well-being is not being addressed at all." ++++ i read these articles quite a bit because the crisis of health care in the US is very much on my mind lately. i can certainly relate to the feeling described here, a nostalgia for a time of less mass-marketing and more oral tradition and passed-down knowledge. i love the idea of taking more control of your health and using the remedies available to you rather than putting all your faith in a doctor who is, essentially, a stranger to your particular body and physiology. but I know that in many ways it's deceptive. "natural extracts" of plants are not necessarily any healthier than the chemically synthesized equivalents that have been in use for many years. are we actually dissatisfied by the conservatism of the scientific establishment, and its reluctance to accept the effectiveness of new drugs? but at the same time we trust the regulatory mechanisms to make sure our drugs are safe, and we raise hell when something isn't properly tested before going on the market. there's a lot of big-pharma money and corruption involved, for sure... but buying herbal remedies at whole foods just seems to me like switching brands of toothpaste - not a real solution to our feelings of alienation with our bodies and our health. ++++ "I do partly blame the drug companies and the money they make" for the breakdown in trust in the medical system, said Joyce Newman, 74, of Lynnwood Wash., who sees a natural medicine specialist as her primary doctor. "The time when you would listen to your doctor and do whatever he said — that time is long gone, in my opinion. You have to learn to use your own head." ... For all their suspicions and questions about conventional medicine, those who venture outside the mainstream tend to have one thing in abundance, experts say: hope. In a 1998 survey of more than 1,000 adults from around the country, researchers found that having an interest in "personal growth or spirituality" predicted alternative medicine use. Nontraditional healers know this, and they often offer some spiritual element in their practice, if they think it is appropriate. David Wood, a naturopath who with his wife, Cheryl, runs a large, Christian-oriented practice in Lynnwood, Wash., said he treated patients of all faiths. "We pray with patients, with their permission," said Mr. Wood, who also works with local medical doctors when necessary. "If patients would not like us to pray for them, we don't, but it's there if needed." He added, "Our goal here is to help people get really well, not merely free of symptoms." That is exactly the sentiment that many Americans say they feel is missing from conventional medicine. Whatever the benefits and risks of its many concoctions and methods, alternative medicine offers them at least the promise of affectionate care, unhurried service, freedom from prescription drug side effects and the potential for feeling not just better but also spiritually recharged. ++++ does this just signal the end of the hegemony of western medicine? is this a bad thing? why are we looking for doctors to be our spiritual guidance anyway? maybe it's just because we've driven all real discussion of death out of the polite mainstream... hm. is there an anthropologist in the house? (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 19th, 2006
12:29 pm	actual goals ok, i posted to the community journal about the big vague goals for this year, but here i'm going to toss out some random ideas of how to motivate myself to DO THINGS. full time work is very draining, even though i have a pretty low-stress job. so i need to 1) stop working so much so i have enough time for my projects, and 2) work enough to have money to support myself and my projects stuff that requires money: -eating -rent -gas -health insurance -workshops/training/classes -travel stuff that could potentially make money: -growing food to sell -making crafty stuff to sell -publishing articles (online, in print) -publishing fiction (......) -other ideas? (Comment on this)
Monday, July 4th, 2005
9:50 pm	first impressions of cairo cairo is the most densely populated city in the world. and it's also a city of men. women are nearly all wearing headscarves and full length clothes, and although they are on the streets at all hours it tends to be in groups or with men. i have not yet had a conversation with an egyptian women - not as many of them speak english, and they're obviously not as forthcoming as the men. and it's men working everywhere, in shops and cleaning hotel rooms and driving taxis. and police everywhere. so many men. my goal is to talk to as many egyptian women as possible, to get a sense of how they really feel about this incarnation of islam. this will be difficult as my arabic is limited to 4 words -- salaam (peace - used for hello and goodbye), shukran (thank you), la' (no) and na'am (yes). i use all four frequently, but that's where the conversations end. we just caved to the difficulties of the language barrier and male-dominated culture and booked an organized tour for the next 2 weeks - i feel a bit like i'm cheating but it does seem like the smoothest way of seeing everything. we're going to the pyramids at giza and sakkhara tomorrow, taking an overnight train to aswan, then cruising up the nile for a few days and seeing the ancient temples, etc, then to the red sea coast at hurghada. then a ferry to the sinai peninsula to sharm al-sheikh and dahab (beach resorts), then back to cairo by the 16th. all very tourist-friendly places with internet cafes, so will be in touch soon. all my love, anne (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 3rd, 2005
6:12 pm	egypt travelog hey everyone, i've just landed in egypt - still in a bit of a daze, it's pretty unbelievable. the pyramids at giza are right outside my window. i think this might be the best way of letting everyone know about my movements, so i'll be updating (maybe with photos?) as much as possible! love you all and i'll be in touch. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005
1:18 pm	slightly revised version It’s not easy being green: Bush, Kyoto, and what really separates US from UK environmental policies. By Anne Starling In a college dormitory in the United States, you can generally be assured of hot water available at any hour of the night. This was one of the many expectations that I had to adjust upon arriving upon arriving at Cambridge this fall. I live in a lovely old college building with non-insulated windows, and the heating (as well as the water heaters) are shut off during the hours of the night when any reasonable person should be asleep. And why shouldn’t they be? How much energy should be wasted so that I can avoid the risk of drowsily stepping into a cold gust of water after coming in late at night? Small observations like this have been occupying my mind this year, and to my inner environmentalist they beg the question: Do all of these minor differences – from the smaller cars to the ubiquitous reminders to switch off electrical outlets and appliances – add up to substantial differences in environmental attitudes and policy between my home country and the UK? And if so, what ideas can I bring back to the United States to bring about positive change, in my community and in my government? Everyone knows that the U.S. is not a model of moderation. My undergraduate university not only had unlimited hot water but also unlimited free computer printing. If these seem like excessive luxuries, consider the fact that Americans complained bitterly when gas prices topped $2.00 per gallon last year (that’s about the equivalent of 0.28p per liter, at the current exchange rate). Sport utility vehicles are getting slightly smaller but far from going out of style. Unfortunately there’s some truth to the stereotype: whether or not you really need something is not a question asked nearly as often in the U.S. as whether or not you can afford it. At an orientation for scientists at the beginning of last term, the University environmental safety representative gave the shocking statistic that if everyone in the world were to use resources as freely as do consumers in the UK, we would need three Earths to support that lifestyle. My jaw dropped, but not for the reason you would expect – in the U.S., the same calculation results in needing eight planets. So what’s going on here? Are people in the U.S. really less aware than Britons of the dangers of dwindling natural resources and excessive production of waste and greenhouse gases? As much as I would like to be able to plead ignorance on behalf of my country sometimes, it just doesn’t seem to be the case. Take the issue of global warming, something on everyone’s minds as the Kyoto treaty is scheduled to come into force on February 16th. A survey conducted last summer by Yale University found that 7 in 10 Americans believe that global warming is a serious problem.1 This may be hard to believe, given the skeptical attitudes expressed by Bush and reported in the international press, about how “more science” is needed to confirm that human activities are really linked to climate change. But does Bush’s attitude really reflect opposition on the part of Americans to the provisions of the Kyoto treaty? The Yale survey also found that 62% of Americans believed Bush was not doing enough for the environment. And yet a slim majority re-elected him a few months later. Of course, we all know now that issues like terrorism and “values” topped voters’ lists of priorities this November, not the Kyoto treaty. But did these same voters expect their votes to serve as a validation of every policy pursued by the Bush administration? Maybe they didn’t know that the election was the only chance they would have for four years to have any input into the political process. In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Bush declared, “Well, we had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 election.” It is clear from the numbers that many those who voted for Bush disagree with his environmental policies, but their voices are not being heard in the public debate. Deborah Tannen, a linguist at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, argues that a complete failure of public dialogue in the U.S. has allowed the administration to pursue policies that are not supported by the majority of the population.2 Instead of discussing issues, she argues, Bush has run a continuous campaign of mantra-like short messages, remaining safely on the emotional and rhetorical level of debate, where issues like terrorism and security trump the public’s other priorities. Tannen suggests that one way to prevent the reduction of public discourse to these “sound bites” is to prevent paid political advertising, a ban that several European countries have already implemented. But is the UK system truly more responsive to public attitudes as a result? Despite accusations by critics that Blair follows U.S. policies blindly, Blair has put public pressure on Bush to ratify the Kyoto treaty. However, Greenpeace UK presented leaked government documents last week which indicate that the Blair government is attempting to get out of their commitment to one of the strongest components of the treaty – the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50% by the year 2050, relative to 1990 levels. Is the environmental policy of the current Labour government just the same old story, “greenwashed” to be more acceptable to a concerned public? I think the broad lesson to be learned here is that consciousness of environmental issues must be present on all levels – from individual decisions about how much energy and materials to waste, to larger-scale government actions that accurately represent the values of their constituents. Certainly U.S. consumers need to learn something about how broad environmental ethics can permeate down to the details of conservation in everyday life. But Britons who do their bit for conservation every day need to be vigilant to make sure that their government isn’t undermining their efforts. The world will be watching closely to see how the Kyoto treaty is implemented. We know that it’s actions, not words, which will reveal each nation’s true level of commitment to the greater good. 1 Katz, Abram. “Poll: Nation Very Concerned about the Environment.” http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11880584&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10110&rfi=6 2 Tannen Deborah. “Time for Talk.” http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vptan304128906jan30,0,6224932,print.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines (Comment on this)