Beeker2018

Ideally, one would step into their yard and pluck their kale from the vegetable bed. Or perhaps, bust out their sewing machine and work the cotton fabric woven on their spinning wheel when in need of a new outfit for next month's fete. Unfortunately, we do not live in that world. Urban sprawl has ruined us and the planet. We need items and we need them now. We drive distances to malls. We order online. We eat out. We take out. We are now forced to measure our carbon footprints. Mine is not great. I pride myself on not ordering many things online despite the appeal of convenience. Instead, I try to plot my errands and purchases along established routes of child pick ups/drop offs, work and school. Admittedly, this is because I detest driving-- which makes my carbon footprint look pretty good. But not great. I could stand to eat out less and to drink less coffee....out of tiny plastic holes fastened to paper cups.

After acing Discrete Mathematics, my senior year math class in high school, I was sure that I was a math genius. I even schooled my teacher on Pascal's triangle. Majoring in mathematics in college was a no-brainer; I had this. But the universe is a cruel teacher and I was quickly humbled. I knew nothing of mathematics. Chemists everywhere may be experiencing a similar humbling since Uspex came on the scene. Granted it was hubris to assume that we could have mastered chemistry. Our existence is so complex and so too is everything that contributes to it. The upside to these discoveries of compounds acting in "unexpected" ways, is that we can now develop more efficient technology and improve our understanding of medicine. Which could in turn provide a way to save our planet from the mess we have made.

Once upon a time when the world didn't experience as many erratic weather patterns and recycling was still something that only California hippies did, I lived in a giant metropolis bordered by fetid waters and dreamed of being a neuroscientist. The universe, however, stepped in and gave me a baby. Dashed were my hopes of long days spent staring at labyrinthine images held fixed with florescent light in the hopes of winning a Nobel for eradicating epilepsy. Fast forward and here I am at ACCHS studying TCM and acupuncture; still hoping to help people and ease what ails them.