polyurethanesmile:

Helplessness Blues | Fleet Foxes

If I know only one thing, it’s that everything that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak.
Yeah I’m tongue-tied and dizzy and I can’t keep it to myself.
What good is it to sing helplessness blues,
Why should I wait for anyone else?

yvanduque:

My second tribute to Pacific Rim, for the upcoming show at Gallery 1988: LA
>> http://nineteeneightyeight.com/

potatorooteverdeen:

agentrescue:

im-a-doctor-not-an-escalator:

this is one of my favorite episodes, you know why? Because Sokka’s moment of weakness is not trivialized, is not cast aside. Sokka feels like he doesn’t matter and his sister- a girl with enormous power, wants to reassure him that it is genuinely not the case and Sokka matters. She then proceeds to indulge Sokka in one of his interests that is not normally portrayed as something manly but that SHE KNOWS HE WILL LIKE, because she cares and she knows Sokka. Then the entire rest of the episode focuses on Sokka’s talents being unconventional but USEFUL while the Gaang feels acutely his lack of presence. Without Sokka they fall apart, no plans, no morale. He is more effective than he realizes and it is because of him being so much more than just a ‘regular’ guy.

And another thing - even though Katara reassures Sokka that he does matter, she also validates his feelings by saying “I’m sorry you’re feeling so down.” That is so important to me!! She doesn’t say “well you shouldn’t feel that way because your reasoning is false!” Nope - she acknowledges that his feelings are valid, and then tries her best to make him feel better by reminding him that they all care about it, and then helping him recover via distraction. Now that is a healthy sibling relationship, folks.

likelyhealthy:

How Racism Creeps Into Medicine

In 1864, the year before the Civil War ended, a massive study was launched to quantify the bodies of Union soldiers. One key finding in what would become a 613-page report was that soldiers classified as “White” had a higher lung capacity than those labeled “Full Blacks” or “Mulattoes.” The study relied on the spirometer—a medical instrument that measures lung capacity. This device was previously used by plantation physicians to show that black slaves had weaker lungs than white citizens. The Civil War study seemed to validate this view. As early as Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, in which he remarked on the dysfunction of the “pulmonary apparatus” of blacks, lungs were used as a marker of difference, a sign that black bodies were fit for the field and little else. (Forced labor was seen as a way to “vitalize the blood” of flawed black physiology. By this logic, slavery is what kept black bodies alive.)  

The notion that people of color have a racially defined deficiency isn’t new. The 19th century practice of measuring skulls, and equating them with morality and intelligence, is perhaps the most infamous example. But race-based measurements still persist. Today, doctors examine our lungs using spirometers that are “race corrected.” Normal values for lung health are reduced for patients that doctors identify as black. Not only might this practice mask economic or environmental explanations for lower lung capacity, but the logic of innate, racial difference is built into things like disability estimates, pre-employment physicals, and clinical diagnoses that rely on the spirometer. Race has become a biologically distinct, scientifically valid category despite the unnatural and social process of its creation.

In her recent book Breathing Race into the Machine, Lundy Braun, a professor of Africana studies and medical science at Brown University, reveals the political and social influences that constantly shape science and technology. She traces the history of the spirometer and explains its role in establishing a hierarchy of human health, and the belief that race is a kind of genetic essence. I spoke with her about the science of racial difference, its history, and its resurgence.

Such a fascinating read - and all the more reason to incorporate more social sciences within medical education.  Scientists and physicians must fully understand the social production of health disparities - these disparities are not innate but a product of the interplay between genes, the physical environment, and our social world.