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ysabetwordsmithFANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #6
In your own space, Create something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
This is all about unleashing your creative side. Work on that fan story/art/vid/meta/whatever else you can think of. Have something original you’ve wanted to noodle with? Go for it.
But it doesn’t have to just be the written word or a drawing. Creativity is much more inclusive. I enjoy making jewelry. Maybe you are into yarn/thread/fabric. Compose music? Create recipes? Planning your garden for this year?
"The Body Farm"
Joan hunted through the brownstone until she found Sherlock sprawled on the couch with an icepack over his head. Again.
"I believe I may have found a solution to your problems, or at least, something worth trying that will have benefits whether it solves everything or not," Joan said.
One eye squinched open. "You found a solution to my post-concussion syndrome that doctor has not?"
"I think so," said Joan. "I do have a medical degree ... and he doesn't work with the police."
Both eyes were now open. "You have my attention," said Sherlock. "What is this solution?"
"We're going to visit the body farm in North Carolina," said Joan.
"The Forensic Osteology Research Station?" Sherlock said, sitting up. The ice pack slid down to land in his lap, ignored. "It's quite difficult to gain access there."
"Well, an old friend of mine works on the faculty. I explained the situation, and she got us a three-month observation slot," said Joan. "Your brain needs time away from your usual work -- especially computer screens! -- to heal, but you need the mental stimulation to stay focused. This way, you'll be out in nature, benefitting from fresh air and natural light, but you'll also get slow input relevant to solving crimes."
"By observing corpses left outdoors," Sherlock said.
"Think of it like a mandala in meditation," said Joan. "It gives you a focus so your mind can relax."
"I've tried meditation. I despise it," said Sherlock. "Total waste of time, and also, not relaxing at all."
"That's because you tried the wrong focus," Joan argued. "I know from the things you've said that you have spent decades loading your mental database with useful facts. Don't try to tell me you've never done your own forensic studies, you know too much about it."
"Yes, but Mummy made it clear those were not acceptable," said Sherlock.
"You mother isn't in North Carolina," Joan pointed out.
"I'll go pack," said Sherlock.
* * *
The next day ...
The body farm was named FOReSt partly because it was located in a patch of woods near the small mountain university. Birdsong filled the air and insects hummed in the flowers. Sun and shadow made soft patterns on the ground.
"Here we are," Joan said, pointing to a pair of small patches marked out with low plastic tape. "This is our observation spot, so we can put the lawn chairs here. The body will go over there." She unfolded the chairs.
"Body?" said Sherlock.
"Currently they deploy a body once per week in different conditions," said Joan. "They didn't get a human donation this week, so they're using a pig as a substitute. During our three-month stay, we should get to see a wide variety of bodies laid out, but we get priority position for this one."
"Interesting," Sherlock said, then shook his head as if trying to clear water from his ears. "Motor sound. Not quite sure if it's real or not."
"It's real," Joan confirmed. "A grad student is scheduled to bring the pig. We get to help stage the crime scene."
Soon a small tractor pulled up, towing a wagon behind it. A young man climbed off. "Hi, I'm Chet Ellis," he said. "Dr. Joan Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I gather?"
"Yes, thank you sharing your facility," said Joan. "What do you have for us?"
"Oh, you're gonna love this," Chet said, flipping open the plastic wrap in the wagon. "Pig Doe got out of the pen and someone hit him with a truck. So we're taking advantage of the blunt-force trauma to stage a murder. The professor had the farmer conk the late Mr. Doe on the head with an old sledge hammer, so we've also got a weapon to lay out."
Quickly they put on gloves and arranged the pig carcass under a tree.
"Who wants to play the suspect?" Chet said, offering the sledgehammer.
"I shall," said Sherlock, taking hold of it. "I dispatch my victim --" He mimed swinging at Pig Doe. "-- but I still feel quite enraged, so I hurl the weapon and storm away." An expert throw bounced the sledgehammer off the nearest tree, leaving a conspicuous dent, and depositing it next to the pig. Stomping away left clear impressions in the undergrowth and soil below it.
"Okay, great," said Chet. "I'm going to snap a few photographs to start with, and then you two can examine the body for a couple of minutes. As soon as any insects appear, though, we have to stand back in the observation square to avoid disturbing them."
Sherlock and Joan both set their stopwatches. Then they crouched down to poke at the body. "Multiple rib fractures," said Joan. "Possible cause of death from crushing the thoracic cavity, affecting the heart and lungs."
"And here," Sherlock said, pointing. "Dual head trauma, fractured skull exposing part of the brain. You can see where the farmer cleverly struck the head with the sledgehammer in almost exactly the same place as the truck must have, thus deepening the wound. In a genuine crime we might see these in the opposite order, attempting to conceal a murderous blow with a vehicular strike."
"Oh hey, let me get a closeup of that," said Chet, leaning over with the camera. Sherlock helpfully pointed out the two different, overlapping injuries.
"Certainly a fatal wound," Joan said. "The temple is a vulnerable spot."
"First fly," Chet called. "Step back to the observation area now."
"Lucilia sericata, also called the green bottle fly," said Sherlock. "Note the slow, bumbling approach indicating a female heavy with eggs."
"Bets on where she lands?" Chet said.
"The head injury," said Joan at the same time Sherlock said, "Snout."
"I'll take eyes," said Chet.
The fly landed on the snout.
"How did you do that?" Chet said, eyeing Sherlock.
"While a fly attracted to a fresh corpse can land anywhere, and most often at a wound or a natural opening, the pig's snout tends to be the most odiferous part of the head due to rooting action, thus especially attractive to flies which identify their food source by smell," Sherlock explained.
"Yes, he's always like this," Joan said fondly.
They settled into the observation area and watched the scene slowly come alive as the necrobiome developed. The second arrival, a blowfly, landed on the head wound. More flies soon arrived, along with a few other insects. A brown-and-white bird swooped through the swarm of flies.
"Eastern phoebe," Chet whispered.
Something crept through a patch of old, brown leaves. Joan watched, but couldn't pin it down.
"Wolf spider," said Sherlock. "Drawn, no doubt, by the prevalence of prey."
Joan inched her lawn chair a little farther from Pig Doe. Wolf spiders were fast, active, aggressive hunters. She didn't care to tangle with one.
A blue jay swooped down, thrashed the wolf spider against a rock, and swallowed it.
"Surprisingly tame birds you have here," Sherlock murmured.
"Nah, they're wild, they're just used to people sitting still for a long time," said Chet. "Don't try to eat outdoors on campus, though. The sparrows will steal French fries right out of your hand. Cheeky buggers."
"Duly noted," said Sherlock.
They sat and watched the scene unfold. It was a perfect mix of creepy and peaceful.
* * *
Three months later ...
"I must admit, this was an excellent idea you had," said Sherlock. "I feel much improved."
"No more headaches, sensory spikes, or other symptoms?" Joan said.
"Not in the last month, and only a few in the month before," said Sherlock. "I'm quite ready to return to active work."
"I'm happy to hear that," said Joan. "I hope the rest wasn't too boring."
"Not at all," said Sherlock. "I enjoyed this ... working vacation. Perhaps I'll even try it again, should we find ourselves between cases for some time. Certainly I learned a great deal about forensics and entomology. That should be useful in pinning down suspects."
"I enjoyed the birdwatching myself," said Joan.
"Yes, I could see that being useful if they're attracted to a swarm of insects around a dead body," said Sherlock. "Thank you for accompanying me on this trip. I'm sure it would have been much less successful without you. Or bearable."
"You know, I think it helped me too," said Joan. "Dealing with my father's death hasn't been easy -- well, nothing about my father has ever been easy -- and sitting in the woods gave me some valuable time to think. And feel."
"Excellent." Sherlock snapped his suitcase shut. "Shall we be off, then? I'm sure we'll have cases waiting for us at home."
"Of course," Joan said, picking up her own bag. "The game is afoot."
* * *
Notes:
Elementary introduces post-concussion syndrome in Season 6, and I wrote this after I watched the episode "Pushing Buttons." This is a very rare instance of showing realistic consequences of a head injury in storytelling.
(Messy medical details ahead.)
Post-concussion syndrome or post-traumatic brain injury syndrome is a very useful if controversial description of a cluster of problems that often follow head trauma. Multiple treatments and natural remedies have been proposed, with varying degrees of success. Creative change, nutrition, and nature therapy all show promise and work quite well for some sufferers. Nothing works for everyone, and some people don't get better.
Nature therapy activates the many benefits of being in the great outdoors. Conversely, nature deficit disorder can have serious consequences. So if you have a problem that is exacerbated by stress and technology, like PCS, then time in nature is an excellent remedy to try.
Everyone has a mental database of things they have learned. Smart people purposely load it with material they expect to use often. Eclectic people shovel in everything that catches their interest. Mind mapping and other memorization methods are some ways that people do this. Here's an example of how to load a mental database for law school students, which is related to Sherlock's work.
Meditation uses a wide variety of techniques to develop mindfulness. One common approach uses a visual focus such as a mandala. However, it has to be something that you find engaging. For Sherlock, a decomposing body makes a much better focus than a mandala. YMMV.
(Some of the following links are gross.)
A body farm researches how dead animals decay, often using a combination of human and nonhuman corpses. The Forensic Osteology Research Station (FOReSt) and Western Carolina Human Identification Laboratory (WCHIL) at Western Carolina University use their experiments to help solve crimes.
Body farms often use pigs for things like studying how bodies of different sizes decay. Watch a video of time-lapse decomposition.
Students can use experiments to explore forensic entomology.
The Green Bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata) and Blowfly (Calliphoridae family) commonly lay eggs on corpses.
The necrobiome is a miniature ecosystem that forms in and around a dead organism. It includes animal scavengers, insects, and so on. Watch a documentary video about it.
Birds include many insect eaters such as the Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe). They often gravitate to areas of high insect activity.
Spiders of North Carolina include Wolf Spiders such as the Tiger Wolf Spider (Tigrosa aspersa). They are active hunters and often quite pugnacious.
* * *
Nonfiction written for Snowflake 2022:
Cultivating Kindness in Fandom
How to Make Fandom More Inclusive
Improving Community in Fandom
In your own space, Create something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
This is all about unleashing your creative side. Work on that fan story/art/vid/meta/whatever else you can think of. Have something original you’ve wanted to noodle with? Go for it.
But it doesn’t have to just be the written word or a drawing. Creativity is much more inclusive. I enjoy making jewelry. Maybe you are into yarn/thread/fabric. Compose music? Create recipes? Planning your garden for this year?
"The Body Farm"
Joan hunted through the brownstone until she found Sherlock sprawled on the couch with an icepack over his head. Again.
"I believe I may have found a solution to your problems, or at least, something worth trying that will have benefits whether it solves everything or not," Joan said.
One eye squinched open. "You found a solution to my post-concussion syndrome that doctor has not?"
"I think so," said Joan. "I do have a medical degree ... and he doesn't work with the police."
Both eyes were now open. "You have my attention," said Sherlock. "What is this solution?"
"We're going to visit the body farm in North Carolina," said Joan.
"The Forensic Osteology Research Station?" Sherlock said, sitting up. The ice pack slid down to land in his lap, ignored. "It's quite difficult to gain access there."
"Well, an old friend of mine works on the faculty. I explained the situation, and she got us a three-month observation slot," said Joan. "Your brain needs time away from your usual work -- especially computer screens! -- to heal, but you need the mental stimulation to stay focused. This way, you'll be out in nature, benefitting from fresh air and natural light, but you'll also get slow input relevant to solving crimes."
"By observing corpses left outdoors," Sherlock said.
"Think of it like a mandala in meditation," said Joan. "It gives you a focus so your mind can relax."
"I've tried meditation. I despise it," said Sherlock. "Total waste of time, and also, not relaxing at all."
"That's because you tried the wrong focus," Joan argued. "I know from the things you've said that you have spent decades loading your mental database with useful facts. Don't try to tell me you've never done your own forensic studies, you know too much about it."
"Yes, but Mummy made it clear those were not acceptable," said Sherlock.
"You mother isn't in North Carolina," Joan pointed out.
"I'll go pack," said Sherlock.
* * *
The next day ...
The body farm was named FOReSt partly because it was located in a patch of woods near the small mountain university. Birdsong filled the air and insects hummed in the flowers. Sun and shadow made soft patterns on the ground.
"Here we are," Joan said, pointing to a pair of small patches marked out with low plastic tape. "This is our observation spot, so we can put the lawn chairs here. The body will go over there." She unfolded the chairs.
"Body?" said Sherlock.
"Currently they deploy a body once per week in different conditions," said Joan. "They didn't get a human donation this week, so they're using a pig as a substitute. During our three-month stay, we should get to see a wide variety of bodies laid out, but we get priority position for this one."
"Interesting," Sherlock said, then shook his head as if trying to clear water from his ears. "Motor sound. Not quite sure if it's real or not."
"It's real," Joan confirmed. "A grad student is scheduled to bring the pig. We get to help stage the crime scene."
Soon a small tractor pulled up, towing a wagon behind it. A young man climbed off. "Hi, I'm Chet Ellis," he said. "Dr. Joan Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I gather?"
"Yes, thank you sharing your facility," said Joan. "What do you have for us?"
"Oh, you're gonna love this," Chet said, flipping open the plastic wrap in the wagon. "Pig Doe got out of the pen and someone hit him with a truck. So we're taking advantage of the blunt-force trauma to stage a murder. The professor had the farmer conk the late Mr. Doe on the head with an old sledge hammer, so we've also got a weapon to lay out."
Quickly they put on gloves and arranged the pig carcass under a tree.
"Who wants to play the suspect?" Chet said, offering the sledgehammer.
"I shall," said Sherlock, taking hold of it. "I dispatch my victim --" He mimed swinging at Pig Doe. "-- but I still feel quite enraged, so I hurl the weapon and storm away." An expert throw bounced the sledgehammer off the nearest tree, leaving a conspicuous dent, and depositing it next to the pig. Stomping away left clear impressions in the undergrowth and soil below it.
"Okay, great," said Chet. "I'm going to snap a few photographs to start with, and then you two can examine the body for a couple of minutes. As soon as any insects appear, though, we have to stand back in the observation square to avoid disturbing them."
Sherlock and Joan both set their stopwatches. Then they crouched down to poke at the body. "Multiple rib fractures," said Joan. "Possible cause of death from crushing the thoracic cavity, affecting the heart and lungs."
"And here," Sherlock said, pointing. "Dual head trauma, fractured skull exposing part of the brain. You can see where the farmer cleverly struck the head with the sledgehammer in almost exactly the same place as the truck must have, thus deepening the wound. In a genuine crime we might see these in the opposite order, attempting to conceal a murderous blow with a vehicular strike."
"Oh hey, let me get a closeup of that," said Chet, leaning over with the camera. Sherlock helpfully pointed out the two different, overlapping injuries.
"Certainly a fatal wound," Joan said. "The temple is a vulnerable spot."
"First fly," Chet called. "Step back to the observation area now."
"Lucilia sericata, also called the green bottle fly," said Sherlock. "Note the slow, bumbling approach indicating a female heavy with eggs."
"Bets on where she lands?" Chet said.
"The head injury," said Joan at the same time Sherlock said, "Snout."
"I'll take eyes," said Chet.
The fly landed on the snout.
"How did you do that?" Chet said, eyeing Sherlock.
"While a fly attracted to a fresh corpse can land anywhere, and most often at a wound or a natural opening, the pig's snout tends to be the most odiferous part of the head due to rooting action, thus especially attractive to flies which identify their food source by smell," Sherlock explained.
"Yes, he's always like this," Joan said fondly.
They settled into the observation area and watched the scene slowly come alive as the necrobiome developed. The second arrival, a blowfly, landed on the head wound. More flies soon arrived, along with a few other insects. A brown-and-white bird swooped through the swarm of flies.
"Eastern phoebe," Chet whispered.
Something crept through a patch of old, brown leaves. Joan watched, but couldn't pin it down.
"Wolf spider," said Sherlock. "Drawn, no doubt, by the prevalence of prey."
Joan inched her lawn chair a little farther from Pig Doe. Wolf spiders were fast, active, aggressive hunters. She didn't care to tangle with one.
A blue jay swooped down, thrashed the wolf spider against a rock, and swallowed it.
"Surprisingly tame birds you have here," Sherlock murmured.
"Nah, they're wild, they're just used to people sitting still for a long time," said Chet. "Don't try to eat outdoors on campus, though. The sparrows will steal French fries right out of your hand. Cheeky buggers."
"Duly noted," said Sherlock.
They sat and watched the scene unfold. It was a perfect mix of creepy and peaceful.
* * *
Three months later ...
"I must admit, this was an excellent idea you had," said Sherlock. "I feel much improved."
"No more headaches, sensory spikes, or other symptoms?" Joan said.
"Not in the last month, and only a few in the month before," said Sherlock. "I'm quite ready to return to active work."
"I'm happy to hear that," said Joan. "I hope the rest wasn't too boring."
"Not at all," said Sherlock. "I enjoyed this ... working vacation. Perhaps I'll even try it again, should we find ourselves between cases for some time. Certainly I learned a great deal about forensics and entomology. That should be useful in pinning down suspects."
"I enjoyed the birdwatching myself," said Joan.
"Yes, I could see that being useful if they're attracted to a swarm of insects around a dead body," said Sherlock. "Thank you for accompanying me on this trip. I'm sure it would have been much less successful without you. Or bearable."
"You know, I think it helped me too," said Joan. "Dealing with my father's death hasn't been easy -- well, nothing about my father has ever been easy -- and sitting in the woods gave me some valuable time to think. And feel."
"Excellent." Sherlock snapped his suitcase shut. "Shall we be off, then? I'm sure we'll have cases waiting for us at home."
"Of course," Joan said, picking up her own bag. "The game is afoot."
* * *
Notes:
Elementary introduces post-concussion syndrome in Season 6, and I wrote this after I watched the episode "Pushing Buttons." This is a very rare instance of showing realistic consequences of a head injury in storytelling.
(Messy medical details ahead.)
Post-concussion syndrome or post-traumatic brain injury syndrome is a very useful if controversial description of a cluster of problems that often follow head trauma. Multiple treatments and natural remedies have been proposed, with varying degrees of success. Creative change, nutrition, and nature therapy all show promise and work quite well for some sufferers. Nothing works for everyone, and some people don't get better.
Nature therapy activates the many benefits of being in the great outdoors. Conversely, nature deficit disorder can have serious consequences. So if you have a problem that is exacerbated by stress and technology, like PCS, then time in nature is an excellent remedy to try.
Everyone has a mental database of things they have learned. Smart people purposely load it with material they expect to use often. Eclectic people shovel in everything that catches their interest. Mind mapping and other memorization methods are some ways that people do this. Here's an example of how to load a mental database for law school students, which is related to Sherlock's work.
Meditation uses a wide variety of techniques to develop mindfulness. One common approach uses a visual focus such as a mandala. However, it has to be something that you find engaging. For Sherlock, a decomposing body makes a much better focus than a mandala. YMMV.
(Some of the following links are gross.)
A body farm researches how dead animals decay, often using a combination of human and nonhuman corpses. The Forensic Osteology Research Station (FOReSt) and Western Carolina Human Identification Laboratory (WCHIL) at Western Carolina University use their experiments to help solve crimes.
Body farms often use pigs for things like studying how bodies of different sizes decay. Watch a video of time-lapse decomposition.
Students can use experiments to explore forensic entomology.
The Green Bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata) and Blowfly (Calliphoridae family) commonly lay eggs on corpses.
The necrobiome is a miniature ecosystem that forms in and around a dead organism. It includes animal scavengers, insects, and so on. Watch a documentary video about it.
Birds include many insect eaters such as the Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe). They often gravitate to areas of high insect activity.
Spiders of North Carolina include Wolf Spiders such as the Tiger Wolf Spider (Tigrosa aspersa). They are active hunters and often quite pugnacious.
* * *
Nonfiction written for Snowflake 2022:
Cultivating Kindness in Fandom
How to Make Fandom More Inclusive
Improving Community in Fandom
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-11 08:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-11 08:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-11 09:24 pm (UTC)O_O
Date: 2022-01-11 10:14 pm (UTC)However, it does contribute to explaining why I frequently know more than the supposedly professional medics.
My insatiable curiosity has led me to things like, "If superpowers have a physiological basis, then how is that going to affect the way drugs work for them?" So for instance, speedsters tend to burn through things like painkillers really fast. Or if a winged person gets injured, how do you handle that? And then this happened:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/12541322.html
Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-12 12:54 am (UTC)One of my nursing students is afraid of blood but informed me she was okay with it in child birth and she was going to be in with the new moms. I said you have NO idea where you'll be put to work in a hospital. It's not like it was 40 years ago. You tend to float. She refuses to believe me (I doubt she'll make it through training)
I really enjoyed that story
Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-12 02:01 am (UTC)I'm not sure any of them do.
>> One of my nursing students is afraid of blood but informed me she was okay with it in child birth and she was going to be in with the new moms.<<
0_o I don't see that working out either.
>> I said you have NO idea where you'll be put to work in a hospital. It's not like it was 40 years ago. You tend to float. She refuses to believe me (I doubt she'll make it through training) <<
*sigh* And then they wonder why they have problems with burnout, nurses eating their young, suicide, patient abuse/neglect, and other mayhem. People need a chance to learn a specialty if they want to, they need to be able to swap out of a difficult position after a while, and they need a sane work schedule. Otherwise you don't get good outcomes.
Well, at least you tried to warn people.
>> I really enjoyed that story <<
Thank you!
Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-12 04:28 am (UTC)Trust me, most health care professionals wish hospitals were run by health care professionals and not business men/accountants because they don't understand what it needs
Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-12 05:34 am (UTC)By the time I got into college, I had already sold a few things. One of my writing teachers was delighted. Another threw an absolute tantrum because I brought in a published piece to share with classmates before class started.
I think, if someone wants to be a medic, that's one of those fields where they should probably do some hardcore volunteering before they invest tens of thousands of dollars in college/med school.
>> but that was over 30 years ago. It's completely different now. <<
Yyyyyeah. I know that "kids these days" is at least as old as writing -- there are 6,000 year old Sumerian graffiti inscriptions amounting to that -- but some time periods it's more concrete than others.
>>Trust me, most health care professionals wish hospitals were run by health care professionals and not business men/accountants because they don't understand what it needs <<
*sigh* The whole thing is a business now, aimed at making money rather than helping people. Consequently, we have the most expensive health care in the world, and not a very healthy population. >_< Among the more egregious examples I've seen:
* One article mentioned that surgeons no longer set their own schedules. That means every time something goes wrong -- which isn't uncommon -- it causes a domino pileup in the schedule. That one is pretty much guaranteed to kill some people.
* Psychiatrists have gone from being high-end mind fixers for the most serious problems to glorified pharmacists who only dispense pills. Unsurprisingly, job satisfaction has plummeted and now nobody wants to be a psychiatrist.
Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-13 02:28 am (UTC)And yes I do feel like the old woman rattling my cane talking about kids today but in this case it is true. I've only been teaching 16 years and recently as a sample test I gave one on the same material from my first five years here and the pass rate was less than 50%. We lost more than half the nursing students between last semester and this. It's a frightening time to be doing this job
Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-13 07:51 am (UTC)Yeah. There's a lot that I perceive clearly enough to act on, but it's nice to have more details when I find them in an article or someone like you shares observations. I can't fix the system, but I can point out flaws and suggest alternatives. I write fantasy, you know? And what people fantasize about are professionals who are actually competent and listen. So the examples are out there if anyone wants to use them. I've had people print off stuff to show their caregivers.
>> And yes I do feel like the old woman rattling my cane talking about kids today but in this case it is true. <<
Okay, here's the thing: "Kids these days" is at least 6,000 years old and probably older. What matters is distinguishing personal impressions from facts. If you can back it up with concrete examples of decline -- which has been true a bunch of times in history -- then it's not just senior grumbling. Some of the stuff from the decline of Rome is really depressing.
>> I've only been teaching 16 years and recently as a sample test I gave one on the same material from my first five years here and the pass rate was less than 50%. We lost more than half the nursing students between last semester and this.<<
Wow, that is bad. O_O That is like climate change statistics, you know it's bad, and then it turns out way worse than the initial estimates. What was the pass rate when you first gave that test, if you still have it? Subtract and you'll have the amount of change. I'd say discuss it with your department head, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I mean, you could work on washing out the unsuitables, but that only prevents them from hurting people. It doesn't fill the gap with competent students.
*ponder* Okay, I have one idea on that end: look where the hard workers still are, which is poor kids and immigrants / refugees. They're used to busting ass and less likely to be squeamish. You may have a lot of makeup to do for bad schooling, but as a teacher, I'd rather have a diligent student who knows less over a lazy one who knows more. You might look into scholarships for disadvantaged students. Hmm, or tribal colleges if you have any in your studentshed. Some of them are trying to generate their own medics because the government's medical care is ghastly.
>> It's a frightening time to be doing this job <<
Yeah, it is. At least you're there for the few competent students, though.
I know the feel. I've been pushing environmental awareness since I could talk, and it's done fuckall good. >_
Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-12 06:59 am (UTC)Re: O_O
Date: 2022-01-12 07:11 am (UTC)These are the locations:
1 United States
1.1 University of Tennessee
1.2 Western Carolina University
1.3 Texas State University
1.4 Sam Houston State University
1.5 Southern Illinois University
1.6 Colorado Mesa University
1.7 University of South Florida
At least some of them mentioned having a packet that they can send out to people interested in making a donation. They have a pickup range, but some accept bodies from farther away, you just have to arrange your own transport. I don't know if they'd bend the rules for a hard-to-find category, but they might.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-12 02:11 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-12 02:21 am (UTC)That sucks. :(
>> I find lack of scientific interest to be part of what's wrong with this country and it explains so much.<<
True. Then again, not many people were interested in it when I was in school either. I was so bored in science class that one teacher dragged me up front to help saw the shell off the turtle for dissection. That part was interesting.
>> Now I'm trying to figure ut how your medical students plan to be doctors if they skip anatomy.<<
Technically, they're not skipping the class, just its logical field trips. But I think you're right, they don't have a good perspective for medical work.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-12 04:15 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-12 04:40 am (UTC)Then again, most high schools have lowered their standards, and many colleges have shifted so that instead of just "getting into college," students have to qualify for a bunch of classes. If they don't, they get stuck in remedial classes that cost money but don't count toward a degree or seem to provide concrete improvements. That tends to make people drop out.
I wouldn't really call the education system functional at this point, which is sad. It doesn't help that students have a lot less life experience.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-12 04:52 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-12 07:15 am (UTC)I appreciate the important work you're doing, even if your students don't.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-12 02:51 pm (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-12 06:28 pm (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-13 02:18 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-12 07:16 am (UTC)By the way, I love your snowflake icon.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-01-12 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-12 12:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-12 02:38 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-11 08:30 pm (UTC)*glee*
>> (I want to take my students to the body farm. No one wants to go sadly) <<
What students? Hell, I'm intrigued and I'm not even in a related field. I grew up investigating roadkill to study anatomy and insects and stuff. I still sometimes take pictures of dead things -- and owl pellets, I found several of those last year.
>> Joan definitely found the right way for Sherlock to relax. <<
:D The idea popped into my head during that episode, and seemed perfect for a short story. You have to work with the brain you have, or in this case, the brain your partner has. Solutions designed for ordinary people aren't going to have a high rate of success for Sherlock.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-11 09:23 pm (UTC)I agree. Not every relaxation method is going to work for everyone. (this is the reason I don't vacation with my brother and his wife, they're into beaches and doing nothing and I'd be bored in 10 minutes)
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-11 10:19 pm (UTC)Fascinating. Hey, have you ever done the crossover Anatomy for Artists? Some schools offer that. I had an artist friend go through one who posted a lot about the discoveries and how illuminating it was.
>> so I get a mix of pre-meds, PTs and those interested in forensics (but not enough of those sadly) I thought they might enjoy the one in TN which isn't that far from us, easily a weekender.<<
Logical extrapolation.
>> I agree. Not every relaxation method is going to work for everyone. <<
That's why I like to keep lists of multiple techniques. There's at least a couple dozen major types of meditation, for instance, before getting into other methods like sunbathing or massage. It depends a lot on brain, personality, body wiring, so many variables.
>> (this is the reason I don't vacation with my brother and his wife, they're into beaches and doing nothing and I'd be bored in 10 minutes) <<
Put me on a beach and I'll splash in the water for a few minutes, then wind up studying the wildlife or hunting for beach glass. Catch is, I sunburn in about 5 minutes so it's not exactly a prudent destination. Ah well.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-12 12:43 am (UTC)You and I would be up the beach doing the same thing
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-12 01:55 am (UTC)0_o Riiiiight. Not a great impression of that department either.
>>You and I would be up the beach doing the same thing<<
:D It's all fun and games until someone finds a dead thing and the tourists start screaming.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-12 02:25 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-12 01:57 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-12 02:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-11 08:27 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-11 09:07 pm (UTC)Normally I don't; I think this is the only piece I've done for it. But it seemed perfect for Snowflake.
>> Very cool. I can't remember since I saw either an episode or read a fic. You did a great job, of course, but it made me nostalgic. :-)
I'm glad you liked it!
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-12 02:16 am (UTC)I need to finish editing and get my piece finished for Snowflake.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-12 02:22 am (UTC)Thank you!
>> I need to finish editing and get my piece finished for Snowflake. <<
Go for it.
Gosh, I haven't even looked at anyone else's yet. By the time I got mine up, it was lunchtime, and then we started baking -- which has eaten up the rest of the day.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-12 12:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-12 02:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-12 08:40 am (UTC)LOL, I have the same problem with meditation as your Sherlock. (Tried the guided meditation and mandalas too.) I wonder if watching corpses would be more relaxing :P but the stench, ugh...
Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-12 08:49 am (UTC)Thank you!
>> And the extensive notes add a whole new dimension.<<
It was actually Love Is For Children that got me into using notes more than occasionally. From there it spread. It tends to be quite popular.
>> I had no idea about body farms. I don't watch Elementary (tried a few times, but somehow it just doesn't click), but I know the setting, more-or-less.<<
That's okay.
>> LOL, I have the same problem with meditation as your Sherlock. (Tried the guided meditation and mandalas too.) <<
There are many different types of meditation. It's really about creating a "flow" state of mind. Some people feel that when walking, knitting, or some other activity rather than sitting still. Chanting is another option.
>> I wonder if watching corpses would be more relaxing :P but the stench, ugh... <<
Sit upwind.
Alternatively, there are other things to watch. Some people like bees or ants. Some like shadows or water.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-13 03:21 am (UTC)Also, I didn't know Elementary ended up dealing with PCS! I suppose I must have just missed it because iirc it was the network scheduling it at odd time-slots during the sixth season that shook me off the train. Maybe I'll finally revisit that wonderful show.
And lastly but not leastly, loved the fic. You really nailed the cadences of their speech patterns and I felt like I was indeed watching a coda or short episode. The information-density of what they were up to also contributed to the immersion. Delightful.
Thank you for writing and sharing!!
Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-13 04:55 am (UTC)Yay! I'm happy to hear that.
>> I'm going to check out those PCS more thoroughly links later too. I pretty much established my own protocol for recovery because (browsing for info was hard and) most info was just about rest. <<
Rest is important but often insufficient. Think about if you twist your ankle, there's RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Each of those things treats a different part of the problem. After the acute phase of healing, then you have to reintroduce motion, gently at first. A challenge is that humans don't know nearly as much about how the brain works as how other parts of the body works. That makes it hard to fix.
>> My protocol involved learning to play a musical instrument, and radically overcoming several lifelong patterns of thinking/behaving by assuming this was the perfect, and hopefully once-in-a-lifetime, chance to change my entire brain wholesale. <<
That sounds like you stumbled onto the "creative change" approach, so definitely look more into that one. Brains are plastic; nerves are stubborn; these two things are equally true. Also, music is often helpful because it has its own little corner of the brain and is good stimulation.
>> All of that got me through the rough year when I couldn't paint or write at all, but I do still have some speech, writing, and memory problems, so I'm really excited to see some of the stuff mentioned in the resources. <<
I did find some good things. I have also researched brain injuries for several other characters. There is a lot about it in Love Is For Children because of Bucky, starting with "No Winter Lasts Forever." (I'll warn you his is pretty bad at first, because HYDRA.) There is some scattered through Shiv's thread due to extensive child abuse, plus odds and ends elsewhere.
Speech issues -- If you haven't tried consulting a speech therapist, practical linguist, or voice coach yet then those are options to consider if it's enough to bother you. Knowing whether the problem is in the nerves/muscles of the mouth or in the brain might help figure out how to work around it. A quirk of brain damage is that sometimes it'll impair speech but not singing, which is one way to distinguish. If there are also eating difficulties, that's more often mechanical damage. Some of the solutions are pretty interesting; one option is to practice sounds while watching wave files of your voice compared to a target pattern. The visual feedback makes it easier to get the changes right. If it's a word-loss issue, that's often from damage to the filing system rather than the vocabulary itself, so focusing on recreating links can help.
* Writing -- Again, it's helpful to know whether the problem is mechanical (hand, arm, etc.) or neurological (either the transmission of the signal, or the brain just isn't processing "writing" information properly). Useful in general, some people have found practicing calligraphy to help. I'd consider a Zen board for practice because it's so reusable; you write with water.
* Memory -- Meditation changes the brain. It's one of the few direct access routes we have, and the least risky or invasive one. Depending on how much effort someone puts in, the effects range from modest to developing superpowers like monks drying wet sheets with body heat in the snow instead of dying from hypothermia like an ordinary person. Meditation is good for memory, but even better for focus and attention span. Another option is hypnosis, for people who are good at that type of trancework; think of it as a way to access your mind's operating system so you can adjust settings as desired. It's very popular for studying. If you like utterly ridiculous games, then I highly recommend We Didn't Playtest This at All. There's a feature where sometimes you have to remember to do something, like say "Aaaa! Zombies!" before your turn; it's harder than it sounds, but a very fun way to practice something that is a notoriously hated exercise in mindfulness (the traditional one is called the Doorway Exercise).
A general factor is whether the damage is widely distributed (e.g. from oxygen loss or high pressure) or concentrated in one or two places (e.g. from blunt trauma or a penetrating injury). With distributed damage it's little bits of loss everywhere, easier to patch but harder to route around. With concentrated damage, there may be areas of total loss and others untouched, so harder to patch but easier just to move the functions to an undamaged and not highly used area. Problems in specific functions, like language, tend to happen from damage to the part of the brain dedicated to those functions. If other things are fine then it's likely a more concentrated issue. Some people have used biofeedback in attempt to move functions mindfully -- I don't know how common that is -- and the brain's general plasticity shows evidence that it tends to rewire itself naturally, better in some cases than others.
Brains are complex and interesting. Brain researchers have come up with some really far-out ideas to try. So if you're exploring ways to fix your brain, that's a good idea; the stuff actually offered tends to be pretty conservative and not necessarily helpful, but the cutting-edge stuff offers all kinds of things you might like to try. Use common sense about what seems safe or promising to you.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-16 12:18 am (UTC)Thanks for all the additional info!
Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-13 05:01 am (UTC)They specifically referenced previous occasions in the show where Sherlock got hit in the head. That's very rare in storytelling, to show consequences and not handwave it away. I can't think of another television show that's done so, and it's not common even in fiction.
>> I suppose I must have just missed it because iirc it was the network scheduling it at odd time-slots during the sixth season that shook me off the train. Maybe I'll finally revisit that wonderful show.<<
I think it was well handled. Hell, they gave it more respect than doctors do -- people treated it as a real concern instead of telling Sherlock to quit faking. He had to deal with some serious limitations to his life for a while, and it really upset him.
>> And lastly but not leastly, loved the fic. You really nailed the cadences of their speech patterns and I felt like I was indeed watching a coda or short episode. <<
Thank you! :D They have such distinctive voices, I hear them every time I re-read this.
>> The information-density of what they were up to also contributed to the immersion. Delightful. <<
That's mostly just one gifted person writing another. I use my extrapolative engine to generate universes instead of solving crimes, but it's similar enough that I can handle the information density of Sherlock's perspective. I loved how BBC Sherlock used text overlay to show what Sherlock was thinking.
>> Thank you for writing and sharing!! <<
*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service.