So I will probably just start dumping some photos here without much story, but then again with pictures of such a cute kid who reads anyways? Here is Oliver Jeffrey Franzen. 8lbs 10 oz, 20 in long. Born at 10 pm last night.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Is being 'spiritual' enough?
This just became available online today. Pretty excited about it. It was a fun study to work on and it got placed in a really good journal. Always nice to move on from projects...
If you are in need of some self-flagellation, let me know and I can send you the article. (There was a page break on the abstract, so the screen shot wouldn't get it all...)
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Re-integrative medial interactions
The dream of reason did not take power into account. - Paul Starr
Something I have been thinking a lot about lately (besides the fact that we are about to have a kid) in working on the dissertation is the place that power and authority plays in our interactions with other people. We all have what Peter Berger call 'typification schemes' that allow us to quickly process, make sense of, and project our experiences of reality. We get used to understanding certain actions of others as meaning something always - hugs show affection, yelling communicates heightened emotions, etc. We use these cognitive tools to make sense of everything we experience and 'assign' meaning to it; we make sense of it. We then assume that other people generally assign the same meaning to shared experiences, and on this basis are we able to have generally predictable interactions with other people.
Sometimes, however, we are unable to make sense of some experiences. When this happens we seek the help of someone we think can help. This is what a physician is, essentially - a professional whose job it is to make sense of the experiences of others and ameliorate those experiences, assuming they are adverse ("so what do I have doc..."). Another dude, Talcott Parsons, once wrote about how illness is essentially the result of any given person shifting their self-perception to that of an 'ill' person. This makes sense if you think about it - two people could both have a cold, and one asserts that they are 'fine' and goes to work while the other asserts that they are 'sick' and stays home from work. One has shifted their identity while the other did not.
Parsons asserted that one of the jobs of a physician is to re-integrate 'ill' people back into society as 'normal' people.
What happens when a patient does not listen to their doctor though? For example, someone may have trouble breathing but refuse the advise of their physician to stop smoking. Starr, the dude who said the quote at the start, would say this is an instance where the physician has not successfully asserted their authority over the patient. He thinks that one of the jobs of the doctor is to asses the nature of reality, which in this instance is the patient's experiences and needs. The physician needs to interpret those experiences and the needs of the patient and literally create the conditions under which the patient thinks their advice is appropriate.
This is where the interaction between a patient and a physician gets interesting though. What if the patient is religious and makes sense of their world and experiences through a lens tinted by an engaged God? The patient has a 'broken' identity when they are ill, and they are in need of being brought back to a state of 'normalcy'. This requires that their physician successfully interprets and assigns meaning to their reality, but very often in a medical setting this meaning invoked by the physician does not include religious beliefs. So we have a professional whose job it is to bring a state of normalcy back to a religious patient, but that 'normalcy' and meaning introduced by the physician is devoid of religious beliefs and meaning.
Is it really possible for a religious person to be 're-integrated' with who they are in a setting that implicitly rejects religion? Often this just leaves a bit more work for the patient to do on their own time, but recent changes in medical practice have gravitated more towards understanding patients in a wider sense than just a broken machine that needs to be oiled. This is likely a good thing, but just as before, the interpretive work of the physician is a big challenge. Cheers to you doctors who fully dive into the work you do. Short cuts are easier, but they don't always get you to the same place or even where you wanted to go.
Something I have been thinking a lot about lately (besides the fact that we are about to have a kid) in working on the dissertation is the place that power and authority plays in our interactions with other people. We all have what Peter Berger call 'typification schemes' that allow us to quickly process, make sense of, and project our experiences of reality. We get used to understanding certain actions of others as meaning something always - hugs show affection, yelling communicates heightened emotions, etc. We use these cognitive tools to make sense of everything we experience and 'assign' meaning to it; we make sense of it. We then assume that other people generally assign the same meaning to shared experiences, and on this basis are we able to have generally predictable interactions with other people.
Sometimes, however, we are unable to make sense of some experiences. When this happens we seek the help of someone we think can help. This is what a physician is, essentially - a professional whose job it is to make sense of the experiences of others and ameliorate those experiences, assuming they are adverse ("so what do I have doc..."). Another dude, Talcott Parsons, once wrote about how illness is essentially the result of any given person shifting their self-perception to that of an 'ill' person. This makes sense if you think about it - two people could both have a cold, and one asserts that they are 'fine' and goes to work while the other asserts that they are 'sick' and stays home from work. One has shifted their identity while the other did not.
Parsons asserted that one of the jobs of a physician is to re-integrate 'ill' people back into society as 'normal' people.
What happens when a patient does not listen to their doctor though? For example, someone may have trouble breathing but refuse the advise of their physician to stop smoking. Starr, the dude who said the quote at the start, would say this is an instance where the physician has not successfully asserted their authority over the patient. He thinks that one of the jobs of the doctor is to asses the nature of reality, which in this instance is the patient's experiences and needs. The physician needs to interpret those experiences and the needs of the patient and literally create the conditions under which the patient thinks their advice is appropriate.
This is where the interaction between a patient and a physician gets interesting though. What if the patient is religious and makes sense of their world and experiences through a lens tinted by an engaged God? The patient has a 'broken' identity when they are ill, and they are in need of being brought back to a state of 'normalcy'. This requires that their physician successfully interprets and assigns meaning to their reality, but very often in a medical setting this meaning invoked by the physician does not include religious beliefs. So we have a professional whose job it is to bring a state of normalcy back to a religious patient, but that 'normalcy' and meaning introduced by the physician is devoid of religious beliefs and meaning.
Is it really possible for a religious person to be 're-integrated' with who they are in a setting that implicitly rejects religion? Often this just leaves a bit more work for the patient to do on their own time, but recent changes in medical practice have gravitated more towards understanding patients in a wider sense than just a broken machine that needs to be oiled. This is likely a good thing, but just as before, the interpretive work of the physician is a big challenge. Cheers to you doctors who fully dive into the work you do. Short cuts are easier, but they don't always get you to the same place or even where you wanted to go.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Who knows
We had another baby appointment yesterday and this was the first time that Franklin Maverick has shown any sign of getting ready to leave his current home. It was actually, according to the doctor, a pretty big change from last week. So who knows, maybe this kid will decide he doesn't actually need to be 10 lbs when he arrives.
This is a picture of him from a sono two or so weeks ago. Just forgot to put it up till now.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
on the move
Just hit 37 weeks. Had an appointment yesterday and he seems to still be pretty comfortable where he is and not feeling like gracing the world just yet. He is, however, an active little guy. The Dr also said he felt really long to her... so maybe he is a heavy one because he is a tall one. One can hope anyways.
Finally caught him moving around on video. Crazy.
Friday, May 17, 2013
36 weeks
So Sara is right at about 36 weeks now. The end is coming. Fast for me, not fast enough for her (probably). We just had an appointment today at which they did an ultrasound. Apparently the kid is huge. We knew that by the 'are you having twins' question from strangers, but he is currently about 7.25 lbs and the doctor was joking about how he will not be able to hold up his head it is so big, ha. Also he has tons of hair. That gift to him did not come from my side. Anyways, some pictures.
I was joking the other night about how pregnancy is probably more convenient than it is not convenient. Here is proof:
Sunday, May 12, 2013
All is well that ends well
So one small upside to catching part of our kitchen on fire (I find it is best to start stories with potentially startling information that people may not already know...) is that we were able to do a remodel we have been talking about for a long time but didn't think we would ever really do. Our kitchen was always kind of like a cave to the side of the house. Sara's dad and I already took out part of the wall where there is now that pillar/column, which made a big difference, but we always wanted to cut a hole in the wall over the stove.
We did so during the fixes from the fire. Here are some before/after pictures from both sides of the wall:
From inside the kitchen (there was a microwave above the stove before, but that had already been taken out by the cleaning people):
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Dang, she pregnant
On a walk earlier today, Sara was telling me about how people do weird stuff around pregnant women. They ask how far along you are, they ask if you are having twins and they refuse to let you take out your own groceries.
Just a bit ago the mail man dropped off some boxes of stuff we bought online. The window was open, and as he walked away I heard him say, "dang, she pregnant" and came back, picked up the boxes and rang the door bell again. It was really nice of him since earlier in the day he only saw Sara and not me (dropped off the mail before the boxes). Guess he just didn't want to make the pregnant lady bend over to pick up the boxes.
Just a bit ago the mail man dropped off some boxes of stuff we bought online. The window was open, and as he walked away I heard him say, "dang, she pregnant" and came back, picked up the boxes and rang the door bell again. It was really nice of him since earlier in the day he only saw Sara and not me (dropped off the mail before the boxes). Guess he just didn't want to make the pregnant lady bend over to pick up the boxes.
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