Suona la chitarra

Three comments on the guitar.

1. My friend Boyan of the instrumental trio B11 sure does play it well. They recently released a self-titled 15-track album including both original songs (one including a mega-finale which wraps up the album with some B11 soul) and some seriously groovy covers (personal favorite: Peter Gunn Theme). Guitar-bass-drums makes for some good tune-age in the car when you are beating your head on the steering wheel in mind-numbing traffic (or maybe that’s just me). But driving in the car has always been my favorite time to listen to music (apart from perhaps doing the dishes, cooking dinner, at parties… ok, I rescind previous statement). In any case! If you are interested in the album, you can find out all the info here. Or just ping me.

2. Next month, my chorus (LJSC) is singing “Ode to Everyday Things,” the beautiful poems of Pablo Neruda put to music by Cary Ratcliff. One of my favorites is the poem “Oda a la Guitarra” – the chorus is made to sound like the rhythmic strumming of a guitar:

 
Delgada
línea pura
de corazón sonoro.
Eres la claridad cortada al vuelo:
cantando sobrevives,
todo se irá menos tu forma.

Another plug: an additional concert is this weekend, tomorrow (Saturday, May 3) and Sunday, May 4. The orchestra is playing two pieces (Villa-Lobos and Prokofiev—what’s not to love?) and we are singing Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with them. I believe it promises not to disappoint.

3. The guitar is a beautiful instrument. I took a few group lessons at the extension school at UCSD last quarter, but it wasn’t what I was looking for (I’ve got the music theory down, for these intents and purposes; I want to be able to walk into a party and play some tunes). However, I recently learned the rec program at UCSD (which has classes for yoga, dance, etc., several of which I’ve taken before) also offers some arts and music courses—including guitar. Capitalizing on my position as a graduate student, I jumped in halfway through the term and found an incredible instructor. This quarter, things are heating up at school, and it is certainly a welcome release. So far I’ve just got two-note power chords only a fraction  of the way under my belt, but things are looking up. Here’s to the guitar. And remember: I don’t always play the guitar, but when I do, I use a B11 pick! (See photograph above.)

Peas or carrots: Evidence-based education programs targeting stress and attention

Reblogged from my post on NeuWriteSD.org:

I’m always keen to hear how scientists are able to reach out to their communities, whether it is by talking to young students about research opportunities, by tutoring or teaching, or by taking steps outside the lab to make direct links between research and the community. At this year’s meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS), one of the invited symposia, entitled “The Broader Applicability of Insights from Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience”, focused on some of great links between developmental neuroscience and the community. One talk by John Gabrieli, professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT, addressed the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES), elementary schools, standardized tests, and cognitive measures like IQ and processing speed [moral of the story: the elementary school you attend affects your standardized test scores, but not your IQ]. Here, I’ll focus on a talk by professor Helen Neville focused on how to train attention and reduce at-home stressors for kids coming from lower-SES backgrounds in order to buffer attentional skills from a young age. The moral of this story? Do all you can to create a stress-free, positive home environment, and give kids plenty of structured time to focus on tasks that require selective attention and suppression of distractions.

Read more on NeuWriteSD.org.

The value of values affirmation in education and beyond

Reblogged from NeuWriteSD.org.

The fields of social and cognitive psychology constantly provide examples of how small changes in the environment can impact cognition which may seem shocking in their simplicity. Cleaning one’s hands may lead to an increased feeling of moral cleanliness [1], a patch of gray may appear as much darker or lighter in brightness depending on the context [2], and visual influences on speech perception, as when the mouth of someone speaking mismatches the sound, can drastically change the sounds that we hear [3]. Perhaps, then, it should not be so surprising that a subtle change in psychological mindset, induced by a relatively short task, should be able to dramatically influence academic performance.

Read more at NeuWriteSD.org.

Oxytocin, bonding, and breastfeeding

Reblogged from NeuWriteSD.org:

Valentine’s Day is a time for expressing love, and while its title may initially conjure up socially normative images of candle-lit dinners, long-stemmed roses, and canoodling with a romantic partner, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about the kind of love that prevents our species from dying out: that of a mother and infant. The bonding that takes place in the first six months of life is complex and still quite mystifying, but likely involves the touch, attention, and care of the mother, as well as a whole lot of hormones. And one aspect of an infant’s first few months that encompasses all of these factors is breastfeeding. Not only is breastfeeding important for nutrition, including brain and body development, but it is also an important factor in the earliest stages of human social development. Here we will touch on just some of the science behind why choosing to breastfeed may lead to benefits for babies and their bonds with their mothers.

Read more at NeuWriteSD.org.

Minimum wage in the United States

The last several months have seen continuous protests and reports of companies like Walmart and McDonald's treating their employees unfairly, including the ostensibly unfair rate of pay (and of benefits) doled out to employees. It's easy to imagine that raising minimum wages constitutes a simple answer, but some argue that there are economic disadvantages to doing so. I'm certainly no economist, but I thought I would do a small amount of digging around to see what I could see about the history of minimum wage in the US and its current implementation. I'm not sure about the best way to fix low pay rates for those working at megalo-companies like MacD's and Wally World. Is it a pay raise? (Maybe. Almost certainly, in the short-term.) Is a path up the corporate ladder? (Goodness no.) Is it the re-thinking of our entire society? (YES! in my dreams, that is.) Maybe it's more about conceptualization of what minimum wage is there for, how raises should be implemented, and incentives like time and money for employees to take part-time courses. In any case, here's what I learned.

A (small amount) of historical background

The minimum wage for labor in the United States was first put forth in 1938 in the Fair Labor Stands Act (FLSA [1]). To put this in perspective, the first country to enact such labor standards was New Zealand, in 1894 [3]. Although typically-cited reasons for minimum wage laws include providing a sum commensurate with a frugal lifestyle and protecting sweatshop workers, the institution of such wage laws in the United States has a darker history. In 1938, the first national minimum wage of 25¢ was so high that it must have wiped out many of the industries currently paying lower wages, at the time. David Bernstein and Thomas Leonard write that such laws were often “…designed to exclude immigrants, women, and African Americans... [and] demanded the exclusion of various so-called “defective” groups from the American labor market” (p. 177 [2]). More specifically, Bernstein and Leonard point to acts created during the Great Depression, such as the Davis-Bacon act of 1931, which had a disproportionate effect on African Americans’ ability to procure work in certain industries; and many state-specific minimum wage laws formed specifically for women, who were de jure considered to be unequally deserving of pay for men’s work.

The federal minimum wage is currently set at $7.25, and there is no overt discrimination based on gender or race in its terms (though I hesitate to even mention the current state of affairs of minimum wage and immigration). Even so: the current rate does not apply to all full-time or part-time employees across the United States. In some cases, a higher state minimum wage will apply. In others, the federal wage may supersede the state wage, if the state wage is lower. But when exactly must the federal rate be considered? From the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA): “The Act applies to enterprises with employees who engage in interstate commerce, produce goods for interstate commerce, or handle, sell, or work on goods or materials that have been moved in or produced for interstate commerce. For most firms, a test of not less than $500,000 in annual dollar volume of business applies (i.e., the Act does not cover enterprises with less than this amount of business). However, the Act does cover the following regardless of their dollar volume of business: hospitals; institutions primarily engaged in the care of the sick, aged, mentally ill, or disabled who reside on the premises; schools for children who are mentally or physically disabled or gifted; preschools, elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education; and federal, state, and local government agencies.” The FLSA goes on to list individuals who are not covered, including people working at telephone companies, newspapers, “recreational establishments”, teachers, computer professionals, amongst others. I am not a lawyer. I likely am missing some of the jargon in here. But the FLSA, from the start, makes it clear that not everyone is treated equally.

Minimum wage by state today

Let’s get a sense of the spread of minimum wage across states. As with federal wage laws, each state may impose its own laws on when these wages apply. A total of 22 states have imposed wages higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The top payers include Washington state ($9.32) and Oregon ($9.10). An additional five states also boast minimum wages above $8.00 (Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Vermont) along with Washington, D.C., currently clocking in at $8.25, but with a promise to increase its minimum wage to $11.50 by the year 2016 [2]. Another five states (California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island) have their minimum wages set at $8.00.

Which states have opted to impose set minimum wages, but below the federal rate? Only four. Arkansas and Minnesota have rates of $6.25 and $6.15, respectively, and Georgia and Wyoming are perhaps stuck in another decade with rates as low as $5.15. The remainder of the states who impose a minimum wage (a total of 20) sit right at the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

Before doing some background reading for this post, I had no idea that there are currently states which do not impose their own minimum wage at the state level. Geographically, these are all southern states east of the Mississippi River: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

One thing that seems immediately clear is the resistance of southern states to conform to the national standards of minimum wages. Considering the deep roots of the system, since its inception, discriminating against groups performing particular jobs in those regions (read: minority groups performing low-wage employment in the South [2]), perhaps this modern trend should not be surprising.

Interim summary

So, here’s what I’ve learned so far: States vary considerably in what they consider to be a fair minimum wage. Federal laws don’t include everyone, even today. Historically speaking, stamping on a minimum wage was a good way to quit paying people doing “lesser” jobs, and it likely had a hand in wiping out certain industries. But of course, there is a quite defensible side to enacting minimum wages, and that is to ensure that people make at least a living wage.

I’d be interested to hear about the parents, each making $15k (what the federal rate would put you at, roughly), raising two kids on that wage. Not to mention the single parent tasked with the same set of circumstances. Skilled labor markets are so nearly obsolete that I scarcely dare say they are “on the decline”. Folks who don’t have the resources and privileges (and sometimes, luck) to embark on a path (academic or otherwise) to a different lifestyle and/or career are without many options from the days of skilled labor and industry. And what are many left with? Jobs in the service industry that rely on the minimum wage. Maybe that’s enough of my ranting for now, but I think of this post as a “Part 1.”

Sources:

1. United States Department of Labor. Minimum Wage Laws in the States. Accessed 20 January 2014. Available online: http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm
2. David E. Bernstein & Thomas C. Leonard. 2009. Excluding unfit workers: Social control versus social justice in the age of economic reform. Law and Contemporary Politics, 72(3), 177-204. Accessed 20 January 2014. Available online: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1533570
3. Gerald Starr. 1993. Minimum Wage Fixing: An international review of practices and problems. Accessed 20 January 2014. Available online: http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1981/81B09_266_engl.pdf
4. Ned Resnikoff. “D.C. raises its minimum wage.” MSNBC. Accessed 20 January 2014. Available online: http://www.msnbc.com/all/washington-dc-minimum-wage-hike

When Men Tell Women to Smile

I'm not big on social media--I pretty much stick to Facebook, which mostly keeps me apprised of a) when friends are having parties; b) the latest batch of posts about “Why Grad School Sucks” / a feed of one-liners about “How You Know You’re in Your Thirties” from Buzzfeed; and c) the newest photos of my friends’ small ones—the latter of which is without doubt the best reason to use Facebook, in my humble opinion).

But recently, an acquaintance posted an article (“When ‘Life Hacking’ Is Really White Privilege”) by blogger Jen Dziura, host of the Williamsburg Spelling Bee. After enjoying the post, I poked around her feed for just a moment, long enough to find another article (apparently her top hit): “Benevolent Sexism and “That Guy” who Makes Everything Awkward.” I clicked, pretty certain of what I would read: an article about how sometimes people have expectations about women, like the fact that they should be nice, sweet, charming, etc., and how subtle behaviors (like opening doors for women or other seemingly unobtrusive/chivalrous gestures) may shape women’s behaviors and men’s attitudes simultaneously. You know, something similar to what she and countless others have said about subtle or implicit actions that guide behaviors leading to white privilege/racism.

But although the post explicitly did mention opening doors, and did contrast the notion of women who conform to stereotyped expectations (smiling, friendly, sweet, calm) with those who do not (<insert ostensibly any dissimilar set of adjectives>), I was surprised by its focus: men who apparently see women as goddess-like creatures with mystical powers from whom they can draw energy and replenishment. Ok, sure, the idea of “standing behind your man” is not old. And I would argue that the ability to provide some degree of energy and comfort to one’s partner—irrespective of sex or gender—is a quality worth seeking out in oneself and in potential dates/mates/lovers. The author, however, was decrying men in the workplace who expect women to fulfill this type of role.

I must be lucky to have never experienced this form of “benevolent sexism” in its extreme form. I do not have the statistics on it, but I would imagine that my line of work (which has resulted in my being a graduate student in science for 56 out of the 63 months since I graduated from college and a contractor at a science and engineering company for the other 7) is less prone to the more overt forms of this sexism. I have a few experiences which I will staunchly defend as being “on the line”—such as being redirected to a male colleague and not expected to understand how to do my own statistical analyses at one point, or being told that I looked like a prettier version of Lindsay Lohan by a male direct superior—but its difficult not to blame oneself for not communicating better that yes, I understand how to do this part of my work or no, I don’t really enjoy being compared to former Disney stars who later became sensationalized objects as they grew into adults under the harsh spotlight of the media. Were those a part of implicit sexism? Maybe not. Was I unsure how to cope with them, and did they strain my relationship with my superior? Yes. Could they have happened in the same way if I were a man? It’s hard to say.

The places where I have mostly encountered benevolent sexism are not at work, thank goodness. They are walking down the street, boarding an airplane, having a beer with a close friend at a local brewery, or waiting in line for refreshments after a choir performance. “Smile,” men will say.

I would like to meet the woman who, after hearing a command to change her physical appearance to a form that would please one of those men a bit more, feels more like smiling. I would like to meet the woman who, after being told that her reflection of her emotional state is not good enough, not meeting expectations, wants to thank the man who recently informed she shouldn’t feel free to have control over her own emotions. These aren’t the men who hate women—these are the men who think it is appropriate to enlighten strangers about the reflection of their emotions on their face.

I am not the only person who has written about men telling women to smile. There has got to be a better approach than turning and yelling, but I’m not sure what it is. Generally, it has been for me to ignore them. Sometimes, that is not possible. The stranger on the airplane who catcalled it to me from his seat was easy enough to ignore. Surely, he assumed I was simply annoyed by the process of traveling and that it would cheer me to hear his plaints. The fact that I was personally grieving for another reason was none of his business, and it sure as hell was not his business to tell me to smile, but really, what harm was he doing? The stranger at a bar approaching my roommate and me who was likely trying to strike up a conversation, however, was a bit more difficult. Lucky for me, my friend has more refined social graces, and the conversation moved on to a discussion about science and technology. People who I know and want to respect, however, make things a bit more difficult. Meaning well is one thing, but there comes a point where I feel it is my duty as a person, and as a female person, not to let it slide. That doesn’t mean turning to them, as I might to a guy on the street, and staunchly declaring, “Women are people too.” It doesn’t mean walking away and saying nothing. Usually, it means gritting my teeth, forcing myself utter something resembling a chuckle, and saying something like, “It’s been a long semester.” If I'm feeling particularly combative, I might even manage, "It's not necessary to smile all the time."

Thankfully, others are also thinking about how to get men to stop telling women to smile, including a Kickstarter project funded in October for an outdoor public art series and this slutty nifty sweater.

Antidepressants, plasticity, and language development

Reblogged from NeuWriteSD.org:

As an attendee at the 5th annual Society for Neurobiology (SNL) conference, four years had passed since my first exposure to the meeting–a discussion of the state-of-the-art research being done on the neuroscience of language processing. In those four years, things have happened! This meeting left me marveling at new advances and the number of presenters successfully using new technologies. Techniques of note included ECoG (electrocorticography) (1), TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) (2), and even pharmacological studies reaching down to the molecular level investigating speech perception of babies in utero (3).

Read more at NeuWriteSD.org.