Some recent activity on a "professional" (yes, those are Dr. Evil style quotation marks) listserv brought to my mind the early days of email. A few things were posted on the list that were obviously not meant to be shared with the entire group. Worse yet, several increasingly mean spirited replies followed and, not for the first time, I found myself weighing the costs and benefits of being affiliated with this group. Because it was obvious that some of the comments I am complaining about were sent through smart phones (I am letting that go without the quotation marks because I think the phones are plenty smart, it is the owners who fail), I think a few things, not necessarily good things, facilitate these negative exchanges.
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I was surprised to see an article titled: "In praise of Muswell Hillbillies" when I received the weekly online version of The Lancet last Friday. 'Certainly,' I thought, 'this cannot be about the 1970s album by the Kinks.' But it actually was (check the end of this post for the full reference). I have personally only owned this recording since sometime in the 1980s - and I found out after searching for more details last week that it was actually released in November of 1971. So, what was I doing at that time, I wondered? Below is a picture of me from December (25th) of 1971. Note the very groovy faux suede fringed vest over famous mouse t shirt, accessorized with beaded headband and jewelry. (I will also point out that this is proof that I really was a 'natural' blond, once upon a time.) I also had a decent overbite which was later 'corrected' with braces. I continue to wonder if I might not had been a better vocalist (thinking of the late, great Freddie Mercury here) had my teeth been left alone. So what does (or did) an English rock band who were at the peak of their popularity (in my estimation) between the late 1960s and middle 1980s, have to do with health? When you look at mental health, and, in particular, the link between mental and physical health, as Yawar did in the article, you just might find that songs about substance abuse, eating disorders, and schizophrenia are extremely relevant - at least as relevant now as in 1971. And also sort of strange subject matter for pop albums.
I berate myself a lot of the time for not working smarter. I usually know what I need to do, and frequently have ample time to work on projects. Unfortunately, like many other people (maybe most other people), I procrastinate.
I found that one advantage in working with research groups that meet or talk regularly is that this creates automatic pressure to have something to talk about. If a group is really organized, then people have designated tasks. Even if a group is less organized, conversations or meetings often flow such that each person, in turn, gets his or her time to provide an update. And I, for one, hate telling people that I have not done anything. I particularly hate telling people that more than once. This led me to develop the theory featured in this blog post - the "Thursday afternoon" theory. |
AuthorI am Sheryl L. Chatfield, Ph.D, C.T.R.S. I am a member of the faculty in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. I also Co-coordinate the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research and I am a member of the Design Innovation Team at Kent State. Archives
February 2024
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