Bibliosphere

 I never know the right way to start a post. Hello? No intro, just go? Greetings to the 4 consistent readers that I'm probably mostly related to? Anyway, I'm here. I don't know if I'm back, but I'm here right now. My summer has been probably the toughest I've ever had. And that includes both 2020 and the summer I was camp director, both exceedingly difficult summers. But I truly think this one was worse. Everything has been a mess, personally, professionally, health... ally? I don't want to get into specifics for a number of reasons, but I'm going to be picking up pieces of my life for a while still. I've got a very difficult decision to make soon. Difficult indeed. And I'm hopeful for the future, but I'm not looking forward to pulling the trigger on this decision, because there are things that I will have to pay for in any way I go. And also because of a great deal of uncertainty surrounding it. In picking up my life again, I am trying some ...

 I'm going to do some posts that give readers a background on childhood cancer throughout the year. My goal is to do at least a few related posts every month, for sure the awareness days and months, and then some other information, news, etc.  First, let's dive in to what types of cancers occur in children. There are many types of childhood cancer, hundreds in fact, especially when you consider subtypes. But which are the most common? In order of most to least common, by percent of childhood cancers, they are: Leukemias - 31% Brain and spinal tumors - 26% Lymphomas - 10% Soft tissue sarcomas - 7% Neuroblastoma - 6% Kidney tumors - 5% Bone tumors - 4% Germ cell tumors - 3% Retinoblastoma - 3% Liver tumors - 2% Other cancers - 4% According to the Children's Cancer and Leukemia Society from the UK via MacMillan Cancer Support ( x ). All childhood cancer is considered rare, with only a few hundred per million diagnosed annually. But if you add that up over the span of a childho...

 Hello everyone and happy September! September is a very special month because it's Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The color is gold, for our children who are golden (according to my mom). Now that I've restarted the blog, I'm aiming to ramp up the posting for September 2023. I don't think I can commit to a post a day unfortunately, not wanting to set myself up for failure. I do think I can commit to three posts a week about childhood cancer, for a total of 13 (or more) posts throughout the month. The 13th post will be the very first week, which will only have 1 post since it's 2 days. Since this is about the total amount of posts I've been doing, I will most likely cut back on other topics and save them all up for October. Isn't October lucky? Thanks for being with me on this blog, and I hope that you learn something new this month.

  As we go into May, I thought I'd give a little update. First, my April got kind of hectic and I ran out of all the scheduled blog posts I had prepared. So not a lot of blogging this week. Second, I'm very much still trying to figure out the style, content, and frequency of blogging on this site. My blogging on my tumblr blog is much more frequent, but that's also the style of the blog and the content I write about. I'd like to stick with a semi-frequent posting about childhood cancer and related topics. I know that themes in blogging can be a challenge, so we'll see how far it goes. I will for sure aim for some September content, and whatever the awareness topic of the month is. There will probably be a greater variety of blog posts than before my hiatus, including some on queer stuff, mental health stuff, and just odds and ends. You'll notice a few new labels that I'll be used, some more full than others. As far as life goes, I'm chugging along, busy ...

So, it's been a while since I posted here. About eight years. Phew, that's a long time.  Things have changed a lot. I changed my career goals (several times) since then. It's been a wild time, but I've settled into my full-time role at Girl Scouts. Since I've been gone, I've moved to Tumblr for my blogging, running my personal page of hodge podge (similar to this page at times) and a niche, themed blog. However, I'm considering restarting this blog. I'm not sure what the theme would be, if any, or what kind of content there might be.

With the end of August, so comes the beginning of my Junior year of college.  It's amazing that it has been two and a half years since I started this blog, that it's my third year of not living at home for most of the year.  I want to reflect on what has changed since I started this blog on April 30th, 2012, and on what hasn't changed. What's changed: I live in Utah for most of the year I'm part of regional SWE - higher level than school or state, a position I was elected to I'm considering a PhD instead of a medical degree, despite below. I have an amazing new collection of friends What hasn't changed: I'm still majoring in Biomedical engineering I still want to be a pediatric oncologist I'm still a Girl Scout My room is always still messy, and I still don't like cleaning it So, all in all, I'm not all that different from when I started this adventure.  In blog tradition, Monday will mark the beginning of September - Chi...

Hello everybody!       Another semester has started here at the University of Utah, with all the fun and work college brings.  I'm delving into richer bioengineering coursework, including a physiology course with a focus on neural engineering.  I'm continuing with my involvement in SWE, working to bring STEM education to girls and women.        I also got a grant to work on a research project in the lab I worked in during the spring.  I will be studying a latent form of antithrombin that is proposed to have anti-angiogenic properties.  These properties could be exploited to treat many diseases, including tumors, which would definitely be a good thing!  I'll write a post specifically about my research a little later this month, which brings me to by next point:       As you all know (or at least I hope you do), September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month.  As I did last year, I will be 'celebrating' by r...

Hey everybody! I've moved my page here from Webs due to a lot of technical problems with the site.  I couldn't load it, and neither could a few others. So, the old site, http://bibliosphere.webs.com/, will be transferred here, and then I will be taking down the site due to the problems.  Bear with me while under construction.

So here are a few Childhood Cancer videos John's Hopkins Children's Oncology singing "You Don't Know Your Beautiful"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w75xWhtQ3Lk #! Seattle Children's Hospital, Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihGCj5mfCk8 I Back Jack Foundation  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5iIjAArhvM Taylor Swwift sings "Ronan", a song written with the mother of Ronan, who passed away at age 4 from childhood cancer. Buy the song, and proceeds benefit Stand Up to Cancer's Pediatric Cancer research.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS7JrI-JPOc

So, I've now been at the U for three weeks. So far, so good. My classes are going well, and I have my first test on Friday (Physics), so I'm hoping that goes well. This week is homecoming week, and to start it off, we had a huge service project. Over 800 people participated, and lots of things got accomplished: food at the food bank got sorted, over 2000 blankets were made, over 250 emergency/first aid kits were put together, and lots of yardwork, cleaning and home improvement got done around Salt Lake. Tonight is the homecoming carnival, which I'm pretty excited for. I have been super busy with homework, studying, and ddoing things around campus. 18 credits will do that:). Last weekend we had monday off for Labor day, so I had some time to relax and take pictures. Life is good in college world. In other news, I have added to the link section with some new blogs/ websites about childhood cancer and other topics. I have also added a new album of photos, which I took both...

Tomorrow, September 1, marks the beginning of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. So, for the month of September, I will be changing to color of my blog from green to gold. Some Childhood Cancer facts (courtesy of Candlelighters acco.org) Every year in the US 13,400 children (ages 0-19) are diagnosed with cancer. That equates to 46 children a day. Another way to approach this number: 1 in 330 children will get cancer. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of disease related death. About 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer will die as a result of their cancer. Over 60% of those who do survive suffer moderate to severe complications, including infertility, diabetes, heart disease, and secondary cancers. The most common childhood cancers are leukemias, followed by brain and CNS tumors. The average age for a childhood cancer diagnosis is 10 years old. 80% of children has a metastic cancer (meaning the disease has spread and is therefore harder to treat and survive), as compared ...

So, Saturday marked my last day at my job (swim teacher/lifegaurd) until I come home in December. That means that I had to bid all of my students farewell :(. So, in honor of all that I have learned from teaching, I have compiled Steffi's list of tricks to teach small children (in no particular order). Get down to their level: kneel, sit or crawl so that you can look them in the eye. Make them learn when they think it's only a game. This is the best learning. Kids love to play games. Get creative. Use their imaginations. Remember their names and things about them. This helps you bond with your students and gets them to trust you. Talk to them. Ask them about their favorite colors and things to do. Be happy. Laughter, fun and joy are all contagious. Don't be afraid. Be calm. Don't show fear. Be safe (duh). Listen. Mix it up. Repeat skills. Don't do the same exact thing weeek. But don't mix it up too much. Routines are good, and they help kids remembe...

In the Victorian era, photography was in it's infancy. Exposures took many minutes, the equipment was heavy and awkward, and developing took many harsh chemicals. But, it was a novelty, and often something that was treasured for many years. A single photo could be the pride of a family. And, with traveling photographers only coming around so often, families siezed the chance to take photos. So, out of this culture came postmortem photography. The dead were posed, either with or without living family members, to form a memento. This was often the only picture of the dead. Many were posed in lifelike positions, either propped up with pillows, "sleeping", or held in position with detailed stands. While to us, this seems kind of gruesome, this was simply a way of remembering the dead.

So, I'm creating this blog for all the people who want to follow me. In the fall, I will be moving from Wisconsin to Utah. I will be studying Biomedical Engineering, but learning so much more. I hope to become a Pediatric Oncologist (doctor of children's cancers) one day. Enjoy my stream of consiousness. I am a writer and scientist, a student and a teacher. I love photography, drawing, science expirements, the outdoors, teaching preschoolers how to swim (aka torturing them), puzzles and pretty much anything unique or entertaining. I adore medicine and the human body, which is why I'm going into medicine. I am from all over, and while I'm a natural American, I love all cultures, especially French. I'll add to the collection of stuff about me as time goes on, but for now, you'll just have to wonder.