Not much about anything

I'm slightly torn whether I should make this a blog, in the traditional internetty journal sense, or a photo-blog, as it has pretty much been up to now. I'm a terrible writer and have never been able to keep up an interesting journal for either myself or for others. Interesting... being the operative word. So in this post I have decided to experiment with a little bit of both, I will *blog* about my first week with my study abroad program in Boston and will also add some unrelated photos.

This past week's packed schedule has conjured up somewhat unpleasant memories of 8 hour days in high school. Regardless, I've thoroughly enjoyed this past week and have already learned a lot about many things I was previously uninformed about. I'd say that the most enlightening thing we covered was the complexity of insurance schemes, especially the mess that we've made out of health insurance here in the states. Most students seemed pretty convinced that Canada's single-payer system is the best alternative, where the government is responsible for EVERYONE's healthcare, yes, every1, and everyone receives the same care and service. Larry (see below, or as he would say, "See Last!") noted that while many Canadians complain about long waits and other small aspects of their healthcare system, Canadians by and large would not trade it for anything else. Certainly not ours.

You may be asking, what about Massachusett's new healthcare law, which is supposed to provide universal healthcare? Good question. Well, I'm pretty convinced too that the way it is being implemented is not going to work, if providing adequate healthcare and low cost is your goal. I'm not going to get into specifics, but the policy basically works by "filling in" the gaps in patient coverage, and fining those who don't have insurance. Yes, think about that last one.

We have three dedicated and admirable professors who juggle several jobs and literally commute between countries. There is Larry, the affable avuncular (token) MD/MPH who is a model human being. His powerpoint lectures always draw much laughter; during one lecture he made students walk around aimlessly while he talked instead of mindlessly scribbling down his slides. There is Janneli, a midwife/medical anthropologist who has spent a great deal of her life in the rural community of Raramuri in northern Mexico, and apparently has recently been teaching at the WashU college and med school. She has a warm and wonderful laugh and a sweet syrupy voice. Finally there is Ellen, the polemicist. She comes to class with so much energy and enthusiasm for her cause-- creating reasonable labor laws for the world's workers (she works at the UN's International Labor Office/Org.(?) in Geneva). This reminded me of Sebastiao Salgado's excellent photo book, "Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age."

This semester will definitely be challenging. It will force me into situations that I might otherwise avoid and confront realities I might normally conveniently ignore. And it will be difficult, too, for sure. But I am so excited and passionate and eager. Several students were asking on Friday, "will I still care about the problems in the U.S. after three months?" A very good question, indeed, but I feel proud to say that I feel like I've moved beyond that. The kind of 'structural violence' we've talked about is as rampant in India, China, and South Africa as in the U.S. This reminds me of Amartya Sen's graph about life expectancies in Kerala (the state we will be visiting in India, not-so-coincidentally), China, and the U.S., with the U.S. given in terms of Blacks and Whites. Somewhat to my surprise, Blacks in America had a lower life expectancy than both the Chinese and Keralans (?), for both sexes. A higher GDP and higher wages don't necessarily translate to better health outcomes. The point is, while conditions and quality of life in the U.S. may *seem* better for the poor, that isn't necessarily the case. I mean, infant mortality in Harlem is worse than in some "Third World" countries like Cuba. C'mon, U.S. We can do better than that. And as Americans, we have a both a political and moral responsibility to do something about it.

Perhaps the most important thing that I've gotten out of this first week is the reaffirmation that public health is not, in fact, a commodity. STOP PRIVATIZING HEALTHCARE!!! We need to stop treating it like it's something that can be traded and bought for the highest price. It seems like a truism to restate that healthcare is a public good, and for that matter, so is public health. The funny thing is, most people would answer "Yes" to the question of whether or not we should have universal healthcare. This is not to say private practices can't exist. But a comprehensive public one MUST exist.

It might also be worth noting that a single-payer system in which the gov't pays for universal healthcare would be more expensive. It won't be. We spend a lot of money already on healthcare, often on treatment that doesn't work. The money we spend for healthcare goes to private insurance companies that have responsibilities to their shareholders, and many insurance companies have essentially bribed doctors to NOT treat patients. Essentially, if a doctor can convince a patient to forego treatment, the insurance company won't have to pay the doctor as much, but pays the doctor enough so that the doctor makes money and saves time. And doesn't treat the patient. Go capitalism. A single-payer system would get rid of all those nasty insurance companies that make life so difficult when you get sick.

Don't get me wrong, I love capitalism, it has given me a computer, camera, and other wonderful technological wonders I hold dear to my heart. Without these gadgets I wouldn't be able to share with you the photos below. Perhaps you'd have wished capitalism didn't exist after you see these pictures, but I hope that's not the case. So here are the pictures, whether you wanted them or not:



My grandma's apartment on Liberty Ave in Queens, NYC.





Another attempt at a photo posted previously:



My grandma lives above Chopsticks, a restaurant my uncle opened ages ago. It is a Chinese fastfood restaurant in the heart of a predominately Indian neighborhood. Even though my uncle is gone and the restaurant is no longer run by my family, I still enjoy going back to that neighborhood. Returning to that neighborhood opens the door to memories that have been stored away, memories that are only retrieved when I return to Chopsticks or write posts like this.





Until next time,