By bluerasberry on 2009-04-16
I took a class at Theo Chocolate on Wednesday, April 15. They have a proper chemist named Andy McShea as their head chocolatier and he gave a lecture on the fermentation of cacao beans. The way he explained it was that there were three processes – sugar to ethanol via yeast, ethanol to lactic acid […]
Posted in education | Tagged chocolate, classes, coffee, food
By bluerasberry on 2009-03-09
A dear fried of mine named Adam died last week. I had known him since I was about 12 and we were close until I moved away to go to school. I would even say that until that time, we had a lot in common. I still talked to and emailed him after I left […]
Posted in drug | Tagged civil rights, death, opium
By bluerasberry on 2009-02-23
In Hindi, “maha” means “big,” “Shiva” is the god, and “ratri” means night. February 23, 2009 was Shiva’s Big Night. I went to Traveler’s Chai Shop to celebrate, as Allen and Leon (the proprietors) often host Indian cultural events. This night they were also showing some locally-made ceramic shivlings. They were not particularly Indian but […]
Posted in art, festival, religion | Tagged Shivaratri, tea
By bluerasberry on 2009-02-22
Twice a year our HVTU CAB (HIV Vaccine Trials Unit Community Advisory Board) meets for fun and to review our mission as a CAB. Part of what we do as a CAB is review the development of HIV vaccine research protocols to the extent that they involve the general public. Whatever information the general public […]
Posted in education, HIV, research, rights | Tagged CAB, ethics
By bluerasberry on 2009-02-08
I had been thinking about applying for graduate school for a long time, but I decided I would not apply for admission in fall of 2009. I started questioning myself when I asked for a recommendation from a mentor of mine and he replied by asking me some hard questions about my goals. I’ve got […]
Posted in personal
By bluerasberry on 2009-01-27
Today is Rabbit Hole Day because of Lewis Carroll’s birthday. To celebrate this holiday one is supposed to write on a topic about which one does not usually write, thus jumping into a rabbit hole. The first time I read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass I was about 14. For whatever reason, […]
Posted in education | Tagged Rabbit Hole Day
By bluerasberry on 2009-01-25
Last night I went to Cocoon House in Everett and met with Marty Arellano, the director of youth operations there. Cocoon House is a non-profit organization that provides care – particularly housing – to homeless persons under age 18. I had met Marty a few months ago when the PI (Janet Walthew) for the study […]
Posted in education, non-profit | Tagged Americorps, homeless, youth, youth rights
By bluerasberry on 2009-01-13
I went to a meeting organized by the Washington Department of Health (DoH) to talk about proposed changes to the Washington Administrative Code (WAC). In Washington State (America) there is the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) which is a compilation of all the state laws in force. These laws were set in place at the […]
Posted in HIV, rights, Seattle | Tagged public health
By bluerasberry on 2009-01-01
In my previous post I showed a picture of the view of Seattle to the south of where I live. Immediately north of where I live is what used to be a house where a lot of kids met until about three months ago, when this house was closed by the landlord and all the […]
Posted in health, presentation, Seattle | Tagged homeless, police, protest, youth