We all know that to win the game of Monopoly, one must first be the banker so you can cheat and slip yourself some extra money from time to time and you must own the four railroads on the board and put houses and hotels on those suckers. Logistically a property on each side of the board increases your chances of an opponent landing on your land. Let's all recollect that the four railroads are Pennsylvania, Reading, Short Line, and B&O. So it just so happens that nestled in downtown Baltimore is none other than the B&O railroad museum which stands for Baltimore and Ohio. I had no idea!
Needless to say, I had a lot to learn that day. I ventured out to the museum with two other travel nurses Jeremy and Sylvia Cupp. They are nurses from Ohio as well, the Cleveland Clinic, but I shall not judge. We had a great time. The only thing that can make a train any cooler than it already is; to see a train at Christmas. They had the museum all decked out with lights, nutcrackers, elves, and little soldiers. It was awesome! Not that I don't think about my dad everyday, but I so wished he were here in Baltimore visiting me and he and Lu were at the museum with me. I know he would have loved it.
After reading up on the history of trains and how they have gone from using coal to now diesel and electric and how trains impacted slavery, we went out to a train yard to see dinner cars, passenger cars, and where the passenger cars were repaired. That was no small building. Actually not that long but quite tall. In the passenger car repair building we met the infamous Al Stominski. Al was quite knowledgeable of the trains here in Baltimore, but it is possible that we were his first customers available to share his knowledge with that day and it was an hour before closing time. He was a talker! We learned a lot about trains and once Al found out we were all nurses, yep you got it, we heard all about Al's colonoscopy, prostate exam, several orthopedic surgeries, and the unfortunate passing of his wife. Oh the curse of being a nurse!
What I did learn was that B&O stands for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. My question, why is Ohio so pivotal? It wasn't the state of Ohio that they were referring to, but the Ohio River. Access to the Ohio River gave access to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers which enabled the railroads to access more states. Well, somebody was smart. Another tidbit learned; passenger train cars were produced in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Lima, OH. My good friend Shannon is from Delphos, OH, which is near Lima, OH. If I recall correctly, Lima is not that big of a city. So the train museum that they just finished there must be a big attraction in that town.
Another great outing here in Baltimore! Pictures can be found in the photos section of the blog.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
International TurkeyDay!
What does Thanksgiving mean to you? Thanksgiving to me means a time to gather with friends and family and just enjoy each other's company while grazing on good food; of course. I have great memories of my Dad waking early to put the turkey in the oven. He always told me how early he got up, that is. He would also make these amazing homemade yeast rolls that he would set on the counter under a kitchen towel to let them rise. Of course, I always wanted to lift the towel to see them actively rising and he would quickly say, "SSsshhhhh! They are sleeping!" Then there was another Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's family. Also great memories of my grandpa making the most amazing stuffing ever! He made it every year. Even in his later years, he would sit in front of the stove and make the stuffing from a chair. My mom would turn out an amazing turkey and my aunt Annette would make the most amazing peanut butter pie I have ever tasted. The peanut butter pie became such a hit that I started insisting that she make two. As time relentlessly marches on and two of the most amazing men I have ever known, in my father and grandfather have passed on, traditions have changed.
This year, I spent Thanksgiving with my friends here in Baltimore, MD. It was very interesting in the weeks leading up to the big day. It was shaping up to be quite the international Thanksgiving gathering. Poland, Korea, China, Trinidad, Baltimorians, and Midwesterners were going to be in attendance. We were quite the eclectic group. The list of food to be brought to the table was shaping up to be quite interesting as well. Foods such as fried chicken, grilled salmon, collard greens and smoked bones, blueberry and cherry cobblers were mentioned dishes to be added to the traditional Thanksgiving treats. Initially, I was going on and on about how these items are not what Thanksgiving is about. Then I stepped back and evaluated all of the diversity that was going to be in attendance and had a stern talk with myself. "Who am I to tell others what the Thanksgiving tradition is to them?" So I began welcoming all of the different dishes.
We had an amazing spread of dishes. There were a few rookie mistakes made. It began with a 14# turkey for 18-20 people. I immediately called my family and asked if we should be panicking. So we added a spiral sliced ham last minute. The spiral ham was cooked with fresh pineapple wedged in between several of the slices, which for those that don't know, the acidity of the pineapple breaks down meat into paper mache'. So we also added some rotisserie chickens. One small important detail we failed to cover prior to the main event: who has ever cut a turkey? The beautiful turkey and it's sides were presented and then I asked "Who shall cut the turkey?" Nothing but silence filled the room. I turned to my good friend and fellow traveler's husband, Jeremy, and said "Well, you are the man here, show us what you got." His response, "Have you met my wife? She tells me how to put my pants on." I laughed out loud, though I know he was speaking the truth. So, I grabbed that knife and fork and tried to recollect how my mom, dad, or any character from any movie I had ever seen cut a turkey. I am pretty sure I failed on all fronts. The turkey was eaten, that is all that matters. :-)
After we sufficiently stuffed ourselves we engaged in quite a few fiercely competitive games of Catch Phrase. If you have never played this game, you should. It will bring anyone's competitive side to the surface.
All in all a very good Thanksgiving spent with very good friends. I hope all of you had a great day as well!
This year, I spent Thanksgiving with my friends here in Baltimore, MD. It was very interesting in the weeks leading up to the big day. It was shaping up to be quite the international Thanksgiving gathering. Poland, Korea, China, Trinidad, Baltimorians, and Midwesterners were going to be in attendance. We were quite the eclectic group. The list of food to be brought to the table was shaping up to be quite interesting as well. Foods such as fried chicken, grilled salmon, collard greens and smoked bones, blueberry and cherry cobblers were mentioned dishes to be added to the traditional Thanksgiving treats. Initially, I was going on and on about how these items are not what Thanksgiving is about. Then I stepped back and evaluated all of the diversity that was going to be in attendance and had a stern talk with myself. "Who am I to tell others what the Thanksgiving tradition is to them?" So I began welcoming all of the different dishes.
We had an amazing spread of dishes. There were a few rookie mistakes made. It began with a 14# turkey for 18-20 people. I immediately called my family and asked if we should be panicking. So we added a spiral sliced ham last minute. The spiral ham was cooked with fresh pineapple wedged in between several of the slices, which for those that don't know, the acidity of the pineapple breaks down meat into paper mache'. So we also added some rotisserie chickens. One small important detail we failed to cover prior to the main event: who has ever cut a turkey? The beautiful turkey and it's sides were presented and then I asked "Who shall cut the turkey?" Nothing but silence filled the room. I turned to my good friend and fellow traveler's husband, Jeremy, and said "Well, you are the man here, show us what you got." His response, "Have you met my wife? She tells me how to put my pants on." I laughed out loud, though I know he was speaking the truth. So, I grabbed that knife and fork and tried to recollect how my mom, dad, or any character from any movie I had ever seen cut a turkey. I am pretty sure I failed on all fronts. The turkey was eaten, that is all that matters. :-)
After we sufficiently stuffed ourselves we engaged in quite a few fiercely competitive games of Catch Phrase. If you have never played this game, you should. It will bring anyone's competitive side to the surface.
All in all a very good Thanksgiving spent with very good friends. I hope all of you had a great day as well!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Oh the things that nursing has taught me!
I think back to what I thought nurses did when I was in middle school. I thought it was getting people on and off bed pans and putting on band aids. When I was in high school, I unfortunately got an inside view of what it was like to have a loved one in the ICU, when my brother was involved in a serious car accident. Fortunately, I have repressed most of the memories of him being in the hospital, though I do remember thinking it would be cool to be one of those nurses. I vaguely remember seeing him on the ventilator and remember him having two chest tubes, as I vividly remember sitting on the chest tubes. Oops! He got really upset about that.
Now, I know that to be a nurse you get A LOT of people on and off bedpans; that is if you are lucky enough that they tell you in time, never put on band aids, and sterile gauze and lots of tape can really cover almost any wound. You must learn to have the patience of Job. You are a part time therapist and full time rule enforcer. "Don't use your arms to pull yourself up, they just cut your chest open. Please keep your arm down, that arm has an IV in it that is monitoring your blood pressure. Nope, sorry you can't sleep on your side like you normally would, because you have too many lines and tubes coming out of you."One must also understand the balance of wetting a patient's mouth enough that they don't feel as though they are in the Sahara Desert but not so much that you exceed your fluid restriction goal for the day in 12 hours. The fluid restriction goal if just post-op because cardiac patient's get a lot of fluid in the OR. It is not uncommon for them to come out of surgery 10-15 pounds heavier than they went into surgery. We remove most or all of that weight post-op with diuretics. You must also be persistent enough that when your patient says to leave them alone, you will return the next hour smiling and pretending that the prior rudeness never occurred.
I started thinking of all of this because the other night I took care of a gentleman that reminded me of an angry George Jefferson. I am not kidding this man looked just like him. I was walking around like George did and yelling "Weezy!' as this is what he called his wife Louise. Then my bubble was very quickly popped when a young lady said, "Who is George Jefferson?" My heart sank, as I can remember being her age and asking someone of my grand ole age a similar question. "Oh no! I am old to these 20 somethings." Where has the time gone? I am going to pick myself up now and continue on here.
Let me preface this conversation with, I believe this gentleman had some underlying dementia that the family has refused to admit for sometime. Then you put him in an ICU where the lights are always on, there is constantly someone in his room, strip him of all modesty that he ever thought he had, and give him a lot of different medications that are not usually in his medicinal regimen. This my friends is the perfect storm.
I walked into this gentleman's room smiled and introduced myself as I always do and then asked him if it would be okay if I listened to his chest and belly. His words "Nope, not today lady! Move on. I am very sick and tomorrow I am hoping to be better." This was a gentleman that had open heart surgery two days prior and was still in the ICU because he was on an IV medication to keep his blood pressure down. I explained to him that he was in the hospital because he had open heart surgery and that it was my job to take care of him for the night because he was still very sick. His words "Woman, I know I am sick. I am the one that told you! Now do me a favor and leave me alone!" Some people are a bit confused but you can act like you are doing one thing and actually perform most of your assessment. I pretended to be fixing an IV on his arm and tried to slip a thermometer under his arm. That went over like a lead balloon! Here came the fist flying at my head. Luckily, I spent a lot of years reenacting the karate kid wax on and wax off and I was able to deflect the left hook. I am persistent but not stupid. So I updated the charge nurse and provider for the evening and they said to just leave him alone as more stimulation would make him worse. Later he started pulling on his IV's and Foley catheter, so he bought himself some mittens. These are not restraints but look like Mickey Mouse gloves and just prevent him from pulling anything out. Those mittens took 3/4 of his fight out of him. He looked similar to a dog that has to wear "the cone" after surgery to keep them from licking
their incisions. It made my night go so much smoother. The second night, while he was more agreeable to what I needed to do, he was still quite grumpy. I ended my two nights with him with him yelling "Woman! Just leave me alone!" I told him the pleasure was mine. :-)
But it got me thinking of the time a patient fired me as his nurse. The time I was kicked. I have been spit on. That ended quickly as I just put a mask on him. That really made him mad. He was restrained so he couldn't get the mask off. Don't get me wrong the good patients far outnumber the bad. Patients like this gentleman really makes me appreciate the good ones.
Nursing has only honed the skills that I have mentioned above. I still love my job and am loving traveling. Patients like this gentleman just make for good conversation. It would just be boring to talk about the normal and nice people that I have met. I have a select number of patient's that I still keep in touch with and I really enjoy that they choose to keep me in their lives.
Now, I know that to be a nurse you get A LOT of people on and off bedpans; that is if you are lucky enough that they tell you in time, never put on band aids, and sterile gauze and lots of tape can really cover almost any wound. You must learn to have the patience of Job. You are a part time therapist and full time rule enforcer. "Don't use your arms to pull yourself up, they just cut your chest open. Please keep your arm down, that arm has an IV in it that is monitoring your blood pressure. Nope, sorry you can't sleep on your side like you normally would, because you have too many lines and tubes coming out of you."One must also understand the balance of wetting a patient's mouth enough that they don't feel as though they are in the Sahara Desert but not so much that you exceed your fluid restriction goal for the day in 12 hours. The fluid restriction goal if just post-op because cardiac patient's get a lot of fluid in the OR. It is not uncommon for them to come out of surgery 10-15 pounds heavier than they went into surgery. We remove most or all of that weight post-op with diuretics. You must also be persistent enough that when your patient says to leave them alone, you will return the next hour smiling and pretending that the prior rudeness never occurred.
I started thinking of all of this because the other night I took care of a gentleman that reminded me of an angry George Jefferson. I am not kidding this man looked just like him. I was walking around like George did and yelling "Weezy!' as this is what he called his wife Louise. Then my bubble was very quickly popped when a young lady said, "Who is George Jefferson?" My heart sank, as I can remember being her age and asking someone of my grand ole age a similar question. "Oh no! I am old to these 20 somethings." Where has the time gone? I am going to pick myself up now and continue on here.
Let me preface this conversation with, I believe this gentleman had some underlying dementia that the family has refused to admit for sometime. Then you put him in an ICU where the lights are always on, there is constantly someone in his room, strip him of all modesty that he ever thought he had, and give him a lot of different medications that are not usually in his medicinal regimen. This my friends is the perfect storm.
I walked into this gentleman's room smiled and introduced myself as I always do and then asked him if it would be okay if I listened to his chest and belly. His words "Nope, not today lady! Move on. I am very sick and tomorrow I am hoping to be better." This was a gentleman that had open heart surgery two days prior and was still in the ICU because he was on an IV medication to keep his blood pressure down. I explained to him that he was in the hospital because he had open heart surgery and that it was my job to take care of him for the night because he was still very sick. His words "Woman, I know I am sick. I am the one that told you! Now do me a favor and leave me alone!" Some people are a bit confused but you can act like you are doing one thing and actually perform most of your assessment. I pretended to be fixing an IV on his arm and tried to slip a thermometer under his arm. That went over like a lead balloon! Here came the fist flying at my head. Luckily, I spent a lot of years reenacting the karate kid wax on and wax off and I was able to deflect the left hook. I am persistent but not stupid. So I updated the charge nurse and provider for the evening and they said to just leave him alone as more stimulation would make him worse. Later he started pulling on his IV's and Foley catheter, so he bought himself some mittens. These are not restraints but look like Mickey Mouse gloves and just prevent him from pulling anything out. Those mittens took 3/4 of his fight out of him. He looked similar to a dog that has to wear "the cone" after surgery to keep them from licking
their incisions. It made my night go so much smoother. The second night, while he was more agreeable to what I needed to do, he was still quite grumpy. I ended my two nights with him with him yelling "Woman! Just leave me alone!" I told him the pleasure was mine. :-)
But it got me thinking of the time a patient fired me as his nurse. The time I was kicked. I have been spit on. That ended quickly as I just put a mask on him. That really made him mad. He was restrained so he couldn't get the mask off. Don't get me wrong the good patients far outnumber the bad. Patients like this gentleman really makes me appreciate the good ones.
Nursing has only honed the skills that I have mentioned above. I still love my job and am loving traveling. Patients like this gentleman just make for good conversation. It would just be boring to talk about the normal and nice people that I have met. I have a select number of patient's that I still keep in touch with and I really enjoy that they choose to keep me in their lives.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Home Sweet Bittersweet
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
~Maya Angelou
Oh, how sweet it was to be home again in Cincinnati to see friends and many that I consider family. I knew I missed everyone, but I had no idea how much. I am loving traveling, but it was good to be back where people know me. I love that quote because the people of NKY give me a warm fuzzy feeling and that is "home" to me.
I cannot thank my friends and family enough for giving me the courage to start traveling. That first step was a doozy, though the experiences I have had have greatly enriched my life and made me a better person. A friend said to me while home in Cincy, "had you not left you wouldn't have known this feeling of how good it feels to be home." How right she was! They say, you don't know what you have til it is gone. I knew how good I had it back home in NKY though. I had and still have rich friendships that I know will last a lifetime!
I underestimated how busy I would be during my two week stint there. First on my list was to dine at Skyline Chili. It took 24 hours to get there, but I was able to get my fix before the shakes set in. Skyline is not something that I ever thought I would crave, but it is true. I am an addict. I dabbled in a bit of culture and went to see the musical South Pacific. It was very well done; though only two of the songs rang a bell with me. I believe the friends I went with were lip synching all of the songs as they were performed. Culture is something that I can always use though.
My eyes were also opened to a few of the funny television shows that are airing right now. I had no idea. This time of year I have to limit my tv watching and make myself stay active, as it is easy to lie around and watch a lot of TV. That being said, the individuals that exposed me to these funny shows; they wake up and after finishing their morning exercise they then wake up the rooster to perform his morning crow. Half of their day was finished by the time I awoke at 8:30-9:00. Who really wants to see the sunrise that many times? :-)
In celebration of my birthday, several of my biking buddies gathered and we had a very nice ride in southern Kenton county. The weather was perfect in the mid 50's and the fall foliage was still in peak color. We did encounter a hearty headwind though. A great ride followed by homemade pizza and homemade apple pie. Can it get any better than that? Best quotes of the day: "It's just not fair when you have to pedal down a hill! That really goes against everything I learned in physics." Another good one was made by a woman new to bicycling but an awesome athlete, as she passes me about 3/4 the way up the hill as if I was sitting still, her words "Oh, is this where the climb starts?" As she is new to clipping in on a bike, I seriously contemplated nudging her just a bit to see if she would be quick enough to clip out to stay upright. I was the bigger person though and continued to focus on my heart rate of 170 and my goal of getting over the hill. :-)
I then moved onto my next gracious friend opening her house up to me. Wow, three kids keep you busy! Six, almost four, and almost two are so cute though! I had the pleasure of getting ready while playing hide and go seek, I got the hand snaking under the door of the bathroom while showering, and even was walked in on while dressing by a 3 1/2 yr old! I got the "full experience." I proudly or stupidly took all three kids and a dog to the park sans mom, while she showered. I was proud that we all survived and even made it back with no tears. I laughed because at one point I was carrying the toddler, holding the dog leash, two coats, had a pocket filled with pine cones, and was pushing a bike. It was then that I started delegating and putting those cute kids to work and I unloaded a few of the pine cones in my pocket. Haha! What a great time though.
Next I got to see some NKU basketball while in town, as well. I traveled to Purdue and watched our men put on a very nice show and almost beat Purdue University. What a nice arena. The next day was followed by a few more visits with good friends and then a basketball game at the Bank of Kentucky Center, watching our women play the University of Cincinnati. They played very well and won. I think we are going to see good things from those ladies this year. The atmosphere of the home basketball games was something that I was really looking forward to. I think watching basketball games from the sidelines brings back some of the good memories that I had watching the basketball games from the sideline when I got free tickets and even a free uniform. :-) When there is basketball on NKU's campus, the gym is filled with a portion of my favorite people that give me that feeling that Maya Angelou was referring to. While I loved the game and atmosphere it also made me a bit nostalgic because that is an atmosphere that for 18 years has been a large part of my life. This will be my first year out of that element. So, while I was very happy to see the Norse win, I was sad to see the game end. That was followed by a couple of almost teary goodbyes. I am hoping to get home for a couple more games this year.
So that is the abbreviated version of my awesome trip home. As I mentioned it was very bittersweet. It was so good to be home for two weeks, though this girl left almost kicking and screaming. My last stop was at my dear friend Rachel's because she has the knack to say, "I love you and we miss, but you have to get your behind back to Baltimore!" That was about the only way I was going to drive out of NKY. Til next time my friends!
I apologize it has been so long since my last entry. I have been playing very hard. Next on my agenda is a game tomorrow November 15th at the University of Maryland against the number 1 women's team Uconn. I am so excited!
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Blurring the Lines of Racism
One of the aspects of travel nursing that I have continued to say that I enjoy so much is meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures. The past couple of nights at work a couple of us tore down the walls of prejudice and really talked about some of the racism that still exists.
I have always said that movies such as The Help reinforce that I would have had a very tough time living during segregation. I grew up in a predominantly white area and really only had a couple of African American kids in my school. So it is safe to say that I never really had any AA friends growing up.
Then when I went to college, my sophomore year I had a roommate that was AA. That was a culture shock in a lot of ways, but I learned so much from LaNervia. First off, it took me a couple of weeks to even pronounce her name correctly. Secondly, I learned that AA's have extremely thin skin, so LaNervia said; as the reason that the thermostat was set at 80 degrees. Needless to say, I spent much of that year with my window open dropping the temperature out of sauna range. Just little old Northern Kentucky University opened this girl's eyes in 1995. Geez, that sounds forever ago.
The last couple of days I was working with a gentleman from the African country Malawi,and a young lady that grew up in the inner city streets of Baltimore, a young lady that grew up in Massachusetts and this gal whom grew up in a pretty rural area. The discussions that ensued were interesting.
A is a very dark black man with a huge heart of gold, that exudes nothing but generosity and goodwill. I just adore him. He calls me his work wife and we are always cutting up together and having a good time.
J is the young lady that grew up in inner city Baltimore. She is quite a bit younger than A and I, but definitely has street smarts that speak volumes of experience. She listens to my Baltimore tales and just shakes her head. She feels that Baltimore gets a bit more of a bad rap than it deserves at times. I don't how much creedence she holds as Baltimore consistently makes the top 10 list year after year.
For those of you that don't know much about where I grew up, it was a small town in Indiana that only had a blinking red light for the longest time. We had a mini mart, that somehow is still standing in the same building as it was when I was younger, a tiny post office, a couple of churches and a community of individuals that pretty much knew everyone. It was a very safe community that had lots of kids riding their bikes on country roads and playing football, baseball, and basketball outside until the sun went down. The good ole days, remember? When it was safe to stray from your parents for hours on end and kids actually did play outside. It was a farming area with horses, cows, guineas and peacocks wandering out in the road. I just have such fond memories of my time in Greenville. As I spent time with my mom, I also got to experience other small towns such as Georgetown and Corydon that also had that small community feel to them.
I set all this preface just to expose how we all came from very different backgrounds and we have come together here in Baltimore. I was really brought up not to see color. I can clearly see that A is much darker than I, but I am more interested in the culture that he brings to the table.
A told a story of when he was in nursing school and he had a white female that was adamant that he not care for her. Several other nurses accused this young lady of being very prejudiced and wrong in her actions. Albert said that he figured she had her reasons and chose to move on and not dwell on it. Later on the young lady asked to speak to A alone and he gladly went in to speak with her. She went on to explain that she really wasn't prejudice; but that she had been raped my a black man. A said that the 0.5% that was angry with her, yet he knew there had to be a better reason in this day and age, melted. He said he wanted so badly to rectify the wrongs that this gentleman had done and try to rebuild this girls image of an upstanding black man in her eyes; yet he knew he couldn't. She didn't want anyone to know that she had been raped and had come to terms with the fact that unless she was willing to go down that painful path each time, she unfortunately had to bear the cross of coming across as prejudice anytime a black male came in to be her nurse or aid. Wow! That made me think!
I have noticed that it really isn't whom the ethnic group is around me, but being anywhere that I am majorly the minority isn't really scary; it's just a feeling that is palpable. Not a feeling that I ever noticed in the midwest. Does that make sense? It is actually a very humbling experience. I have felt this feeling once when I was in a Target in SC in a predominantly AA neighborhood. I experienced it in California when I was in a grocery store and everyone but me was Asian or Middle Eastern. I noticed it again when I was bike riding a couple of weeks ago through a very Hacidic Jewish community and I rode through just as synagogue was letting out. I was like a needle in a haystack.
It was interesting to me though to hear what a scary situation would be for me versus A and J; just having different skin colors. A situation that would alarm me is if I found myself driving through or walking through a predominantly AA neighborhood, project area alone. I just feel like this Irish girl would stick out and just be asking for trouble. That is a situation that would put me on alert. J said that 9.9/10 times I would be just fine because I would probably be viewed as an undercover cop. I had never thought of it that way. Or, unless I was disturbing them for drugs or making a scene, why would I be bothered? I realize that bad things can happen anywhere. It is just best to be cautious and wary of your surroundings.
Their walk in my shoes would be a situation in which they were in an upper middle class white area and be the only black individual there. They state that they often feel that they are targeted that they are going to steal something or encounter an individual that still holds very prejudice views. It blows my mind that this would even still happen. But, I believe them that it does.
It was just so interesting to me the dichotomy of what we both feared in the same situations. I feared bodily harm or just being messed with, where A and J feared character assassination. Both are equally devastating and both exist everyday sadly. It is just sad that the preface for such actions can start skin deep.
I have always said that movies such as The Help reinforce that I would have had a very tough time living during segregation. I grew up in a predominantly white area and really only had a couple of African American kids in my school. So it is safe to say that I never really had any AA friends growing up.
Then when I went to college, my sophomore year I had a roommate that was AA. That was a culture shock in a lot of ways, but I learned so much from LaNervia. First off, it took me a couple of weeks to even pronounce her name correctly. Secondly, I learned that AA's have extremely thin skin, so LaNervia said; as the reason that the thermostat was set at 80 degrees. Needless to say, I spent much of that year with my window open dropping the temperature out of sauna range. Just little old Northern Kentucky University opened this girl's eyes in 1995. Geez, that sounds forever ago.
The last couple of days I was working with a gentleman from the African country Malawi,and a young lady that grew up in the inner city streets of Baltimore, a young lady that grew up in Massachusetts and this gal whom grew up in a pretty rural area. The discussions that ensued were interesting.
A is a very dark black man with a huge heart of gold, that exudes nothing but generosity and goodwill. I just adore him. He calls me his work wife and we are always cutting up together and having a good time.
J is the young lady that grew up in inner city Baltimore. She is quite a bit younger than A and I, but definitely has street smarts that speak volumes of experience. She listens to my Baltimore tales and just shakes her head. She feels that Baltimore gets a bit more of a bad rap than it deserves at times. I don't how much creedence she holds as Baltimore consistently makes the top 10 list year after year.
For those of you that don't know much about where I grew up, it was a small town in Indiana that only had a blinking red light for the longest time. We had a mini mart, that somehow is still standing in the same building as it was when I was younger, a tiny post office, a couple of churches and a community of individuals that pretty much knew everyone. It was a very safe community that had lots of kids riding their bikes on country roads and playing football, baseball, and basketball outside until the sun went down. The good ole days, remember? When it was safe to stray from your parents for hours on end and kids actually did play outside. It was a farming area with horses, cows, guineas and peacocks wandering out in the road. I just have such fond memories of my time in Greenville. As I spent time with my mom, I also got to experience other small towns such as Georgetown and Corydon that also had that small community feel to them.
I set all this preface just to expose how we all came from very different backgrounds and we have come together here in Baltimore. I was really brought up not to see color. I can clearly see that A is much darker than I, but I am more interested in the culture that he brings to the table.
A told a story of when he was in nursing school and he had a white female that was adamant that he not care for her. Several other nurses accused this young lady of being very prejudiced and wrong in her actions. Albert said that he figured she had her reasons and chose to move on and not dwell on it. Later on the young lady asked to speak to A alone and he gladly went in to speak with her. She went on to explain that she really wasn't prejudice; but that she had been raped my a black man. A said that the 0.5% that was angry with her, yet he knew there had to be a better reason in this day and age, melted. He said he wanted so badly to rectify the wrongs that this gentleman had done and try to rebuild this girls image of an upstanding black man in her eyes; yet he knew he couldn't. She didn't want anyone to know that she had been raped and had come to terms with the fact that unless she was willing to go down that painful path each time, she unfortunately had to bear the cross of coming across as prejudice anytime a black male came in to be her nurse or aid. Wow! That made me think!
I have noticed that it really isn't whom the ethnic group is around me, but being anywhere that I am majorly the minority isn't really scary; it's just a feeling that is palpable. Not a feeling that I ever noticed in the midwest. Does that make sense? It is actually a very humbling experience. I have felt this feeling once when I was in a Target in SC in a predominantly AA neighborhood. I experienced it in California when I was in a grocery store and everyone but me was Asian or Middle Eastern. I noticed it again when I was bike riding a couple of weeks ago through a very Hacidic Jewish community and I rode through just as synagogue was letting out. I was like a needle in a haystack.
It was interesting to me though to hear what a scary situation would be for me versus A and J; just having different skin colors. A situation that would alarm me is if I found myself driving through or walking through a predominantly AA neighborhood, project area alone. I just feel like this Irish girl would stick out and just be asking for trouble. That is a situation that would put me on alert. J said that 9.9/10 times I would be just fine because I would probably be viewed as an undercover cop. I had never thought of it that way. Or, unless I was disturbing them for drugs or making a scene, why would I be bothered? I realize that bad things can happen anywhere. It is just best to be cautious and wary of your surroundings.
Their walk in my shoes would be a situation in which they were in an upper middle class white area and be the only black individual there. They state that they often feel that they are targeted that they are going to steal something or encounter an individual that still holds very prejudice views. It blows my mind that this would even still happen. But, I believe them that it does.
It was just so interesting to me the dichotomy of what we both feared in the same situations. I feared bodily harm or just being messed with, where A and J feared character assassination. Both are equally devastating and both exist everyday sadly. It is just sad that the preface for such actions can start skin deep.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
The Big Apple
What does a five day weekend mean to a travel nurse? It means one must do something more than just a day trip. So, I booked a trip to New York City for the weekend. I walked a half mile from my apartment down to the Light Rail station and rode that downtown to Penn Station, where I picked up the Bolt bus to NYC. It was quite the public transportation weekend. Once there, I took the subway, rode a bike, and walked to get around town.
After my arrival on Friday, I promptly hit the ground running. I met with the kind lady that took me in for the weekend and she helped me find my way to the subway. I rode the subway uptown to Washington Park, where I was to meet a friend's son for lunch. While waiting for Gabe, in the park, I saw a very interesting lady holding a sign reading "Wanna Chat?" Suggested donation $1. I circled her like a hawk for a few minutes to see if anyone was going to take her up on her offer. So I decided if I had a dollar in my wallet I would take her up on it. My thought, "I'm in NY. Who is going to judge me? Nobody!" Once I was sitting next to Nancy, I can't tell you how many people wanted our photo. I am probably all over facebook. And yes, I am signing autographs! :-) I chatted with her about her craziest customer, her youngest customer, how profitable this job was for her, and if Washington Park is her go to spot. She has only been doing this since April, she usually mingles with people in Central Park, her youngest customer was 3, she tries to listen more than give advice, and yes this is her only source of income. How is that possible. She did mention that she lives in Harlem, though. She was a very nice lady and I found my calling post nursing.
After lunch and mingling with the locals, I jumped on the subway and went downtown to ride the ferry over to Staten Island to get as close as I could to the Statue of Liberty. It was a very nice 25-30 minute ride over on the ferry and I got a really nice view of Lady Liberty. Well worth the trip should you ever find yourself visiting NYC during another government shutdown and unable to actually visit Ellis Island.
Since there was still daylight after seeing the Statue of Liberty, I figured I better head uptown to see Time Square at dusk, as that is the best time to get pictures before the bright lights mess with your camera. I sat on the red steps of the TKTS pavilion where Broadway tickets are sold apparently, and just took in the sights and sounds of New York City. I found myself sitting next to a very nice lady named Julie from New Zealand and she of course had questions for me regarding the government shutdown and our healthcare system. I diverted her quickly referring to how beautiful New Zealand always is in photos. :-) I was yet again amazed at how very few of us were just sitting there absorbing the sights. So many people were on their phones. Couples sitting together weren't even speaking with each other. Julie pointed out the fact that we have made camera's so small anymore and now the phones are getting bigger and bigger. Funny how the trends come and go.
Saturday I spent much of my day in Central Park and walking around in Time Square. Central Park is a crazy busy park. People are running, walking, biking, there are carriage rides, fitness classes in the open fields, tag football, frisbee, Thai Chi and Yoga classes, rock climbing ........ You name it and it was probably going on there. That evening I went to Rockefeller Center and went up 69 stories to the top of the Observation Deck. What a magnificent view! It was a little bit cloudy, but it was still very cool. I would recommend this to anyone. This is recommended over the Empire State building because then the Empire State building is in your picture. Oh, I forgot, today I also went down to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked all the way across it and down to the waterfront on the other side. That was A L-O-T of walking. That is one cool bridge. Just a quick factoid for my Cincinnati friends, the Suspension bridge in Cincinnati was built by the same gentleman that built the Brooklyn Bridge. I did not know this. The Suspension bridge was built about 17 years prior to Brooklyn.
Sunday I did an NBC studio tour as well as a Rockefeller Center tour. Those Rockefeller's, they had some money! And they loved art. On the Rockefeller tour I learned that NEWS stands for none other than north, east, west, south. Really? I can't decide if that is clever or not. The Rockettes, yep you called it, named after the Rockefeller's. The Rockefeller's were big into gold, limestone, and very dark marble ( I forget the type of marble. It was black in color.), symmetrical clean lines, and neon lights; hence the lights on the Radio Center Music Hall. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree can be no more than 80 feet tall because one year it was 100 feet and when they were bringing it into the square they crashed it through the Today show studio window. Oops! There is a gentleman that flies all over the country looking for the perfect Rockefeller Christmas tree. People can submit pics of their tree but ultimately this gentleman will land his helicopter one day, knock on the owner's door and request the presence of their tree in Rockefeller Center. They always have the option to decline and his search begins again. The tree is 100% green as it is lit with LED lights that refuel during the daylight hours from solar panels. What a tradition! I was excited to see the Today show studio for some reason.
I also did an NBC studio tour, which was quite neat. I had the opportunity to see where Brian Williams does the NBC Nightly News. He is the most watched TV personality in America. And a good job he does too. His studio was very cold. They don't cool it with AC, as it is bad for the cameras. They pump in refrigerated air. I guess when you have 3*4 cameras worth $250,000 you want to take care of it. I also got to see the studio where Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is taped as well as SNL. The guests on SNL have a plaster mold made of their face that takes an hour to form while they breathe through straws, so that the makeup artists can master their makeup not in person. With each skit change on SNL they have 60-90 seconds between makeup and wardrobe changes; otherwise they have to go to commercial or skip the skit all together. It is so neat to learn the inner workings of all these shows.
So I had a great but exhausting weekend! I am excited to be back to my home away from home, here in Baltimore. Pics to follow soon. I have to work in the morning, so this girl is headed to bed.
After my arrival on Friday, I promptly hit the ground running. I met with the kind lady that took me in for the weekend and she helped me find my way to the subway. I rode the subway uptown to Washington Park, where I was to meet a friend's son for lunch. While waiting for Gabe, in the park, I saw a very interesting lady holding a sign reading "Wanna Chat?" Suggested donation $1. I circled her like a hawk for a few minutes to see if anyone was going to take her up on her offer. So I decided if I had a dollar in my wallet I would take her up on it. My thought, "I'm in NY. Who is going to judge me? Nobody!" Once I was sitting next to Nancy, I can't tell you how many people wanted our photo. I am probably all over facebook. And yes, I am signing autographs! :-) I chatted with her about her craziest customer, her youngest customer, how profitable this job was for her, and if Washington Park is her go to spot. She has only been doing this since April, she usually mingles with people in Central Park, her youngest customer was 3, she tries to listen more than give advice, and yes this is her only source of income. How is that possible. She did mention that she lives in Harlem, though. She was a very nice lady and I found my calling post nursing.
After lunch and mingling with the locals, I jumped on the subway and went downtown to ride the ferry over to Staten Island to get as close as I could to the Statue of Liberty. It was a very nice 25-30 minute ride over on the ferry and I got a really nice view of Lady Liberty. Well worth the trip should you ever find yourself visiting NYC during another government shutdown and unable to actually visit Ellis Island.
Since there was still daylight after seeing the Statue of Liberty, I figured I better head uptown to see Time Square at dusk, as that is the best time to get pictures before the bright lights mess with your camera. I sat on the red steps of the TKTS pavilion where Broadway tickets are sold apparently, and just took in the sights and sounds of New York City. I found myself sitting next to a very nice lady named Julie from New Zealand and she of course had questions for me regarding the government shutdown and our healthcare system. I diverted her quickly referring to how beautiful New Zealand always is in photos. :-) I was yet again amazed at how very few of us were just sitting there absorbing the sights. So many people were on their phones. Couples sitting together weren't even speaking with each other. Julie pointed out the fact that we have made camera's so small anymore and now the phones are getting bigger and bigger. Funny how the trends come and go.
Saturday I spent much of my day in Central Park and walking around in Time Square. Central Park is a crazy busy park. People are running, walking, biking, there are carriage rides, fitness classes in the open fields, tag football, frisbee, Thai Chi and Yoga classes, rock climbing ........ You name it and it was probably going on there. That evening I went to Rockefeller Center and went up 69 stories to the top of the Observation Deck. What a magnificent view! It was a little bit cloudy, but it was still very cool. I would recommend this to anyone. This is recommended over the Empire State building because then the Empire State building is in your picture. Oh, I forgot, today I also went down to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked all the way across it and down to the waterfront on the other side. That was A L-O-T of walking. That is one cool bridge. Just a quick factoid for my Cincinnati friends, the Suspension bridge in Cincinnati was built by the same gentleman that built the Brooklyn Bridge. I did not know this. The Suspension bridge was built about 17 years prior to Brooklyn.
Sunday I did an NBC studio tour as well as a Rockefeller Center tour. Those Rockefeller's, they had some money! And they loved art. On the Rockefeller tour I learned that NEWS stands for none other than north, east, west, south. Really? I can't decide if that is clever or not. The Rockettes, yep you called it, named after the Rockefeller's. The Rockefeller's were big into gold, limestone, and very dark marble ( I forget the type of marble. It was black in color.), symmetrical clean lines, and neon lights; hence the lights on the Radio Center Music Hall. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree can be no more than 80 feet tall because one year it was 100 feet and when they were bringing it into the square they crashed it through the Today show studio window. Oops! There is a gentleman that flies all over the country looking for the perfect Rockefeller Christmas tree. People can submit pics of their tree but ultimately this gentleman will land his helicopter one day, knock on the owner's door and request the presence of their tree in Rockefeller Center. They always have the option to decline and his search begins again. The tree is 100% green as it is lit with LED lights that refuel during the daylight hours from solar panels. What a tradition! I was excited to see the Today show studio for some reason.
I also did an NBC studio tour, which was quite neat. I had the opportunity to see where Brian Williams does the NBC Nightly News. He is the most watched TV personality in America. And a good job he does too. His studio was very cold. They don't cool it with AC, as it is bad for the cameras. They pump in refrigerated air. I guess when you have 3*4 cameras worth $250,000 you want to take care of it. I also got to see the studio where Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is taped as well as SNL. The guests on SNL have a plaster mold made of their face that takes an hour to form while they breathe through straws, so that the makeup artists can master their makeup not in person. With each skit change on SNL they have 60-90 seconds between makeup and wardrobe changes; otherwise they have to go to commercial or skip the skit all together. It is so neat to learn the inner workings of all these shows.
So I had a great but exhausting weekend! I am excited to be back to my home away from home, here in Baltimore. Pics to follow soon. I have to work in the morning, so this girl is headed to bed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)