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Author: Maya Mirsky
Berkeley Haas names 2021 Finance Fellows
November 2, 2021 | by Maya Mirsky
2021 Finance Fellows, from top left, clockwise: Anojan Palarajah, Mallory Bell, Ali Ware, Alex Rohrbach, Robyn Barrios, Jordan Bell, Alex Sborov, Nonso Nwagha, and Ricky Ghoshal. (Missing from photo: Elias Habbar-Baylac and Sunny Uppal) Photo: Jim Block
As a Black woman, Mallory Bell is on a mission to change the face of venture capital.
"My personal goal is to diversify what the venture capital world looks like," said Bell, MBA 23, one of 11 students recently named 2021 Finance Fellows at Berkeley Haas. "Money is fuel and if you are in venture capital you can be the one fueling the companies you want to succeed."
Haas Finance Fellowships are awarded annually to full-time MBA students based on their applications and interviews. Awardees receive a cash grant and priority enrollment for finance electives. They're also assigned a mentor who provides career advice and support in their chosen field.
In addition to Bell, this year's Finance Fellows, all first-year MBA students, include Bell, Elias Habbar-Baylac, Alison (Ali) Ware, Anojan Palarajah, Alex Rohrbach, in Entrepreneurial Finance; Jordan Bell, Sheetij (Ricky) Ghoshal, Chinonso Nwagha, and Praneet (Sunny) Uppal, in Investment Banking; Robyn Barrios in Investment Management; and Alexandra Sborov, who received the CJ White Fellowship earlier this year.
This group's career interests lean toward the global intersection of finance coupled with technology and social impact, said William Rindfuss, executive director of Strategic Programs with the Haas Finance Group.
"Some of our students will be providing strategic advice to high-growth tech or biotech companies from the Bay Area offices of major investment banks or joining a fintech startup or established firm using blockchain technology for financial inclusion," he said. "Others will be investing venture capital in startups in sectors with social impact."
The importance of mentoring
A critical part of the fellowship is mentoring. CJ White Fellow Sborov said her mentor, Allan Holt, a senior partner at private equity firm Carlyle, has shared insights about the industry and helped guide her inquiries about investing in different asset classes.
Jordan Bell, who worked as a financial institutions examiner for more than seven years at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco before coming to Haas, was connected to mentor Adam Levine, MBA 20, and a Goldman Sachs investment banking associate.
Levine "has taken a hands-on approach in helping me craft my unique story, prepare my technical analysis, and discuss trends and deals within the technology industry," Bell said.
"Adam tells it like it is and doesn't sugarcoat anything, and that is exactly what I was looking for in a mentor to ensure I am the most competitive and well prepared candidate possible," he said.
Posted in Student News, School NewsTagged Full-time MBA, Awards, Honors, Fellowships, Fellowships, finance
Five questions with Juan Alba, BS 21, "The Juan and Only"
May 11, 2021 | by Maya Mirsky
As commencement approaches, we're interviewing students from different Haas programs about their experiences at Berkeley Haas and where they plan to go next.
Undergraduate Juan Alba, BS 21, is the star of the YouTube channel The Juan and Only, where he dishes about everything from how he got into Berkeley to his experiences interning at Warner Brothers in LA. He'll start working at Google in July.
Tell us a bit about your background and your path to Berkeley?
I immigrated from Colombia to the United States when I was 10 years old with my mom. It was hard learning English and adjusting to this new culture since I didn't have a community or a network of people to fall back on. There are few Colombians in the Sacramento area and that was something that motivated me to go above and beyond to make a difference in my community. I turned to food as a way for me to feel in touch with my culture and I came to Cal with the mistaken understanding that I could only enter the food industry through nutrition. So I was in the pre-med track my first year.
What made you decide to switch to business?
I became interested in business after realizing in my organic chemistry laboratory that I longed for a more collaborative environment where I could help people on a greater scale.
You're a big supporter of mentorship, and you mentor students at Cal who are interested in Haas. You also launched your YouTube channel, where you talk about what it's like at UC Berkeley for Latinos. Why is mentorship so important to you?
There are so many underrepresented minorities who come to Cal with dreams like mine.
I started my channel because when you look on YouTube for videos about UC Berkeley, you don't see a lot of Latinos. I wanted to show a different face of diversity. I wanted to set an example that you can be successful, you can thrive, you can make friends, and that was the initial mission of my channel, The Juan and Only.
People mentored me when I was applying to Haas and I've helped over a dozen peers through the process since then. I am a teacher at heart and I find immense value in sharing my knowledge with peers, especially when they support others in the future. In the Becoming Business Leaders DeCal course that I co-teach at Haas, I make it my mission to get to know my students outside of lecture and share my insights to help propel their goals.
The question of identity is a struggle that a lot of people have, especially a lot of Latinos, and it's hard to understand if you're not from the culture. When I go to Colombia, I'm always a little different from everyone else because I do not live there. And here in the U.S., I'm from Colombia. But I've come to understand that I'm myself. I'm the Juan and Only, and I don't have to be either Colombian or American. I can be both. That's a lesson that I always share with my mentees—the importance of not comparing yourself with anyone else. And I really find that my work is valuable because I can connect with many people through my diverse perspectives.
What are some of the skills you learned at Haas that have made a difference in how you see the world?
For me, the most impactful classes were in leadership, personal development, and communications—the soft skills that really make you as a person stand out. My favorite class was Leadership and Personal Development with Cort Worthington. That class has been critical to my professional development. It really teaches you to dig deep into your past and understand yourself in order to move forward and be a better leader.
I want to emphasize how meaningful Haas has been for me. The ability to feel a personal connection with my professors is something that I could not have received anywhere else. I'm so incredibly thankful. I say I'm graduating from UC Berkeley Haas, not just UC Berkeley, because Haas has such a special place in my heart. I feel like Haas really helped empower me in finding my own voice.
What are your plans for after graduation?
I feel like I'm in a good place. I'm going to be working at Google as an associate account strategist. I want to learn more about the tech space in a big organization before I start my own social enterprise business in the future.
What I really love about this position at Google is that it's about doing my best to help small businesses grow. Like these restaurants in Berkeley that have faced difficulties with COVID-19—in doing my job, I can help them boost their sales and support them to stay open. Having ideas that create a positive impact is very important to me, and that's why I'm very excited for my future projects to come.
Posted in Student NewsTagged Undergraduate, Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI)
First M.E.T. student graduates, a year early
July 31, 2020 | by Maya Mirsky
Avanthika Ramesh is the first grad in the undergraduate M.E.T. program.
Avanthika Ramesh has more than one "first" under her belt. Not only is she the first student to finish UC Berkeley's Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology (M.E.T.) program, she's also the first to finish a year early.
A joint program launched in 2017 by Berkeley Haas and the College of Engineering, M.E.T. allows students to earn two undergraduate degrees in business and engineering in four years. Ramesh did it in three.
"It was an amazing experience," said the 20-year-old, who is now at home in Georgia, working remotely for Salesforce in its competitive two-year Associate Product Manager program.
"An amazing young woman"
Undergraduates admitted to M.E.T. combine business courses with one of six engineering tracks. They spend time in class at both schools throughout the four years.
Michael Grimes, EECS 87, the head of Global Technology Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley and the founder of the M.E.T. Program, said Avanthika took full advantage of the M.E.T. curriculum, which offers deep technology skills, along with management and leadership education. "As a rising star associate product manager at Salesforce she is putting those skills to use with her trademark poise, excellence, and empathy," he said. "The sky's the limit with Avanthika."
The sky's the limit with Avanthika.
"She's one of the most glorious students I've ever had the honor of working with," said Chris Dito, executive director of the M.E.T. program. "She's smart and humble and eager for information. She's an amazing young woman and her accolades speak for themselves."
A change in plan
It was almost by chance that Ramesh ended up in the M.E.T. program at all.
She planned to study electrical engineering and computer science (EECS). But when she was applying, she spied an option on the application to do EECS only, or EECS + Business. "I thought I'd give it a shot and picked the 'EECS + Business' option," she said.
Soon after, she was invited to submit a supplemental essay for the M.E.T. program. After learning more about the program, she got excited about it.
Ramesh (first row, third from right) at Berkeley's M.E.T. (Management, Entrepreneurship, & Technology Program) new student orientation. Photo: Noah Berger
A budding entrepreneur, Ramesh said she was drawn to taking integrated coursework from Berkeley Haas and the College of Engineering.
"M.E.T. offered what I wanted to do in the future, but I never knew there was a program out there," said Ramesh, who in high school founded her own tutoring business, HiFive Tutoring.
"What I learned from Haas was so useful for me," she added. "Haas courses like marketing, finance, business communication, and organizational behavior, which in particular was one of the most useful classes for me, taught me a lot."
She credits those courses in helping her to grow HiFive Tutoring from 15 to more than 500 clients. The dual major also allowed her to participate in hackathons and business competitions at Haas, as well as take on research and undergraduate student instructor opportunities.
While participating in case competition training workshops over the weekends, Ramesh said she received valuable mentorship from Dresden John, the undergraduate student experience manager, and Finance Lecturer Steve Etter.
An MBA in the future
Although she took on extra credits that enabled her to graduate early, Ramesh made time on the weekends to take morning hikes on the Berkeley fire trails, explored the city, and tried out restaurants in Berkeley and Oakland. She said her most memorable Haas moments were attending the Haas Gala and Haas Formal.
Avanthika Ramesh (left) at the Annual Haas Gala with friends.
Ramesh said she's planning to earn an MBA in the future. She's already been admitted to three MBA programs, including Berkeley Haas through the Accelerated Access program for UC Berkeley seniors, which lets students defer for several years to work. Ramesh will spend the next two years at Salesforce, training in product management at departments across the company.
"All of us in the Salesforce APM program are very strong in computer science but also have a lot of experience in business, leadership, and entrepreneurship" she said. "Salesforce wanted just that combination that M.E.T. prepared me for."
Posted in Student NewsTagged Management Entrepreneurship and Technology
Undergrads launch popular virtual summer camp for teens
Saumya Goyal and Danielle Egan, both BS 21, were texting late-night after the coronavirus pandemic started when Egan shared a startup idea: How about a new program that helps connect bored teenage students to some fun classes during the pandemic?
Goyal loved the idea and the pair worked out the details to co-found startup Connect-in-Place, a free online "summer camp" for middle- and high-school students packed with dozens of classes taught by more than 100 college students.
Danielle Egan, BS 21, co-founded Connect-in-Place
"During this time, kids are especially lonely and disconnected and they really need that social connection for their development and growth," Egan said. "Connect-in-Place is one way to find those connections."
The Connect-in-Place idea caught fire fast. The first session, which ran from June 22-July 17, enrolled 750 kids from around the world in more than 60 classes that reflected the passions of the teachers, many of them student-volunteers from across UC Berkeley and other UC schools. The second session, which starts today, is even more popular than the first, with around 1,400 students enrolling in 150 classes.
The classes range from pure fun (Intro to DJing and Bollywood Dance) to a bit more academic (Intro to Python and Game Theory) to pragmatic (Personal Finance 101 and a High School Survival Guide). There's even a class that explains the biology of COVID-19.
Classes, taught two to three times a week, are capped at 10 kids per class.
Relationships that continue after classes end
Saumya Goyal, BS 21, co-founded Connect-in-Place
The popularity of Connect-in-Place is a surprising success story for both its founders, who met during Haas undergraduate orientation. Both are working on Connect-in-Place while interning—Goyal is working for Deloitte this summer and Egan is at Salesforce.
But they're getting support for the new venture from a 10-person management team, comprised of UC Berkeley students, including Haas undergraduate Kevin Wu, BS 20, who manages corporate relations. They also reached out through their networks and social media to find students who wanted to teach.
Lauren Yang, a rising sophomore at UC Berkeley who said she plans to apply to Haas, agreed to teach algebra during Connect-In-Place's first session, and said it was a great experience.
"Even though I was teaching math, I tried to use fun games like Kahoot or Jeopardy, so the kids wouldn't feel like it was summer school, but more of a fun class that they were excited to attend," she said. Yang said she believes that the Connect-in-Place classes are designed to push students to form bonds. "We keep classes fun, interesting, and lighthearted so students wanted to come to every class to get to know their friends more."
Classes led by teachers who are not that much older than they are is a refreshing change for teens, Goyal said.
Goyal's sister, Deeksha, who taught a Bollywood dance class, said the kids were having so much fun during her one-hour class that they extended it to three hours. Even though the session has ended, she said the kids planned to meet for an hour every week for the rest of the summer on their own.
A "cool impact on kids"
Currently, Connect-in-Place is a bootstrapped operation. It has no funding—the founders cover any expenses they have out of pocket and they ask for a suggested donation of $10 per week per class from those who can afford it.
They're using all of the money they've raised through donations–around $9,000 so far–toward providing laptops or digital infrastructure to students with financial need.
Goyal said they're also researching potential nonprofit partners to work with as they consider the future and how to scale.
With schools in the Bay Area and beyond preparing for distance learning to continue into next year, the problems of isolation and boredom for teens isn't expected to go away any time soon, she said.
But both founders say they're willing to put in the extra time to help out.
"When I get tired I just realize we're having such a cool impact on kids," Goyal said. Egan agreed.
"That's all the motivation we need," she said. "We're so passionate about this that it doesn't feel like work."
Posted in Student NewsTagged Undergraduate Program
New Bear Cubs club offers support and fun to MBA student parents
The new Bear Cubs club at their kick off party
Jamil Bashir, MBA/MPH 19, got two pieces of very important news on the same day last year: He was accepted into UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and he found out that his wife, Farida, was pregnant.
At first, he was scared: the Bashirs were already the parents of a toddler.
Jamil thought that attending business school while parenting two kids would be too much. Still, he decided to accept.
Support and friendship
At Haas, the couple found support and friendship in a new club for parents that he and Farida helped launched in February called the Bear Cubs. The club, which now has 68 members, aims to help MBA students with children in a more organized way, by organizing fun events and providing a place where families can help each other navigate parenting with both emotional and resource support.
Farida and Jamil Bashir, MBA/MPH 19, with their children, Jabril and Murad
Parenting during an MBA program—the lack of sleep, the juggling of childcare, and the crazy schedules— can be daunting, but many do it. There are 25 parents in the Class of 2018, including four mothers (a fifth student has a baby on the way), and 13 in the Class of 2019.
The club launched with a picnic at University Village, where many of the families live. They've also held a Halloween party, more picnics, a Disneyland trip, a movie night, and a photo session and are planning a graduation reception. Organizers are also working to find ways that trips to Tahoe can be more family friendly.
Annie Li, MBA 19, said she enjoyed all of the activities her family attended.
"My kid had lots of fun interacting with the other little ones," she said.
Bear Cubs is a much-needed addition to the school, said Julia Rosof, associate director of Student Affairs at Haas.
"The students and partners have cultivated a strong community of support for student parents and helped raise awareness about the unique challenges student parents encounter," she said. "They've been excellent partners in making Haas a more friendly and supportive place for student parents."
Family time vs classmate time
Everybody knows that bonding with classmates is a huge part of the MBA experience, but when you have to rush home to a child, it can be hard, Farida Bashir said.
"If you've got to choose seeing your family or going out with your classmates, you're going to choose your family," she said.
It can be particularly difficult for international parents arriving at Haas.
Sabina Osponova and son, Alan
Rafael Amado, MBA 19, who is from Brazil, the father of an baby boy, and a Bear Cubs club co-president with Farida Bashir, said he had no idea about how things like health insurance, housing, and daycare worked in the U.S. until other parents helped him.
"We were helping each other in an informal way," he said.
Amado said that he and the other Bear Cub organizers want to make sure incoming families have all the same information, plus a ready-made network of friendly faces.
The club will be up and running for incoming students for the first time in the fall.
"Families make this decision together, it's not just the students," he said. "We're trying to make it an easier decision for families to come to Haas."
Posted in Student NewsTagged Full-time MBA
Women's 21st Century Leadership Course Attracts Global Students
June 5, 2017 | by Maya Mirsky
Students from eight business schools around the world are converging at Berkeley-Haas next week to tackle topics from kick-starting women's workplace negotiations to mastering the skills they require to lead. The intensive five-day program, Women's 21st Century Leadership, is the first offered at Berkeley-Haas through the Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM).
GNAM, a consortium of 29 business schools led by the Yale School of Management, oversees the Global Network Weeks, designed to give students from member schools a short, intense introduction to a subject and a chance to learn with peers from around the world.
Berkeley-Haas students can attend reciprocal courses offered on GNAM members' campuses around the world. Berkeley-Haas joined GNAM in 2015.
"In a global world, leaders who possess complex skills are critical, which is why I am passionate about GNAM and its potential," said Adj. Prof. Kristiana Raube, executive director of the International Business Development Program and the Institute for Business & Social Impact at Berkeley-Haas.
Laura Kray
Prof. Laura Kray, the Warren E. and Carol Spieker Chair in Leadership, will teach the course, offered by the Berkeley MBA for Executives program. The curriculum includes cutting-edge research, team exercises, feedback with guest lecturers, and company visits to Pandora and Salesforce for 33 students from the US, Ghana, Ireland, China, Germany, Spain, and Mexico.
"This is the right time and the right place to bring together a talented, motivated, and diverse set of rising-star leaders from across the globe," Kray said. "Our work together will center around clarifying their leadership vision and developing skills to support their leadership in making the world safer, fairer, and better for all. Our goal is to accomplish real change in their leadership capacity in a short time. By developing the group's collective intelligence through self-reflection, role play exercises, and peer coaching, the sky's the limit in terms of what we can achieve."
Thanh Cao, EMBA 17, who is taking the co-ed course, hopes to learn from students around the world. "It's easy to see what's in front of you, but having students from other schools and countries in the same class really gives you a new perspective," she said.
Guest speakers include Prof. Laura Tyson, faculty director of the Institute for Business & Social Impact, who will discuss her extensive gender research that speaks to the need for change. Carolyn Buck-Luce, managing partner at Hewlett Consulting Partners and co-founder/executive-in-residence at the Center for Talent Innovation, and Sally Thornton, founder & CEO of talent firm Forshay, will also speak.
Posted in Student News, School NewsTagged Gender, Leadership
[email protected] Celebrates 25 Years at Berkeley-Haas
[email protected] co-founders Ben Burbridge and Adrienne Torf, both MBA 92, with Co-president Lucas Vital, MBA 18, at the 25th anniversary reception.
When Ben Burbridge arrived at Berkeley-Haas in 1990, he was ready to start a new chapter in life as an out gay man. But until he met classmates Adrienne Torf and Garrett Hornsby, both MBA 92, he had a hard time finding a community.
"We were it, out of a class of 300," said Burbridge, MBA 92, describing how the three got together to form a small club. "I realized how alone we were when we arrived here, and we didn't want the subsequent classes to have the same experience that we did."
Little did they know how their club would take off: 25 years later, [email protected] is a dynamic community of 380 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students, as well as straight allies.
"I'd love to take the slightest amount of credit for it, but I can't," said Burbridge, speaking at a gathering to celebrate the group's 25th anniversary April 26. "The number of students involved today and their commitment is just amazing."
[email protected] Co-president Lucas Vital, who helped organize the panel discussion and reception, said learning about the founders' experiences was eye-opening for current students.
"Hearing their story and understanding how far we have come is a way to understand and value what we have today," said Vital, MBA 18.
[email protected] keeps its community involved with events like the popular personal storytelling nights held in conjunction with Coming Out week, as well as through hosting speakers, panels, film nights, and even a pajama party. The group also maintains close ties with other UC Berkeley and outside MBA program affinity groups.
"I was stunned to find myself in a place where there were no lesbians," she said.
When the small group—which also included Mike Brantjes, MBA 93—first started holding meetings, they had to take into account the concerns of closeted students who wanted to attend but were wary of getting leaflets for an LGBTQ club in their mailboxes. They instead let it be known they were posting notices on a particular bulletin board.
"If no one was looking, they could actually read it," Torf joked.
For some current MBAs, the stories seemed close to archaic.
"Being LGBT in the workplace is almost an asset now," said Jordan Pearson, MBA 17, and former co-president of [email protected]
Dan Sullivan, senior director for MBA academics, who helped the students establish the group back in 1992, says that makes the stories even more important.
"Some of these students here now were born in 1992," he said. "People need to know this history."
Attendees chose buttons indicating their personal pronoun preference.
Still work to do
Alongside the celebratory mood, with laughter at anecdotes involving shoulder pads and visits to the White Horse bar, there was serious discussion of how transgender issues are shaping the workplace today. There was also acknowledgement that the world has a long way to go in tackling not only homophobia, but racism and xenophobia.
Vital, who is from Brazil, pointed out that the rest of the world is still not as accepting as the Bay Area. "Now everything is much easier, but I'm trying to break the Berkeley bubble," he said.
But at least at Berkeley-Haas, the club has had real impact. Philip Chen, EWMBA 20, said in some ways [email protected] has changed the path of his life.
"This is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Haas," he said.
Posted in Student News, School NewsTagged Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI)
MBA Student Looks to Next Quest: Easter Island by Wheelchair
April 10, 2017 | by Maya Mirsky
Photo credit: Pedro Paredes-Haz
Álvaro Silberstein, MBA 17, was on top of a mountain in Patagonia in his wheelchair last December, and the cameras were rolling.
He was fulfilling his dream of making an arduous 50-kilometer trek through the landscape of granite towers and massive blue glaciers of the remote Torres del Paine National Park in his native Chile. Documentary filmmakers, part of his 12-member expedition, had captured dramatic footage along the way.
Yet the achievement was just the beginning of a new chapter for Silberstein, who is using the trip's success to fulfill an even greater goal: making more of the world's most remote places accessible to adventurous tourists who happen to have disabilities.
Through the Wheel the World nonprofit he formed with sponsor The North Face, Silberstein has now launched a crowdfunding campaign for a November trip to Easter Island. He aims to attract $20,000 to purchase two trekking wheelchairs and two hand bikes to leave behind for future visitors.
"Our main goal is not just me doing this adventure but making these adventures possible for more people," he said.
He's already accomplished that in Patagonia. Silberstein raised $8,000 to buy a specialized trekking chair, which helped his team prevail through drenching rain to become the first to complete the tough "W" route at Torres del Paine in a wheelchair in six days. (Read more about the challenges they faced—and see full-sized photos—on UC Berkeley News.)
"Álvaro is one of the strongest and optimistic people I have ever met," said Matan Sela, MBA 17, a classmate who accompanied Silberstein to Patagonia. "In his mind, there is nothing he cannot accomplish, no matter how challenging it seems."
The all-terrain chair they used has just one wheel for narrow trails and is meant to be both pulled and pushed with a harness and handles, making the trek a truly collaborative effort. It was that idea of collaboration that got Silberstein thinking that if he could figure out how to make the trip work for him, maybe he could help more than one person.
"We wanted all of that effort to be useful for other people too," he said.
He left the chair in Torres del Paine, along with a guide he and his team created for using it. Three people already have done so—including a 10-year-old boy. Another eight people have reserved it for next season.
A spinal cord injury from a car accident when he was 18 left Silberstein with full paralysis from the chest down, and partial paralysis in his arms and hands. It changed his life, he said, but in many ways, it didn't. Always a sports lover who enjoyed socializing and traveling, he still has the same goals and ambitions, from skiing in Tahoe to visiting national parks like Yosemite, where he was inspired by the easy access for disabled visitors.
After he graduates in May, Silberstein will work on scaling Wheel the World to open more adventures to all people.
The Patagonia trek has made Silberstein a bit of a folk hero in Chile, where 1,000 people turned out to see the premier of the documentary on his trip. The 15-minute film will be screened at Berkeley-Haas on Monday, April 17, in Andersen Auditorium.
For some teaser footage, check out this short video on the trip by UC Berkeley Public Affairs (with footage from Wheel the World).
https://youtu.be/U105RiriYDU
New Certificate Focuses on Multidisciplinary Design & Innovation
March 20, 2017 | by Maya Mirsky
A new certificate program launched this month provides undergraduates with a chance to learn how design and innovation are taught across the UC Berkeley campus.
The Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation (BCDI) program is a first-ever collaboration between Berkeley-Haas, the College of Engineering, the College of Environmental Design, and the College of Letters and Science's Arts & Humanities Division.
An open house for students to learn more about the program is planned for April 21 at noon at the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation.
With its focus on problem-solving, dialogue, and "non-linear creativity," the new certificate will connect design approaches to the disciplines within each school.
"The problems that need to be solved in the world are more complex than they used to be," said Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman, the Berkeley-Haas academic advisor for the program and co-instructor of the Collaborative Innovation course. "Design offers a toolkit for framing and solving those bigger kinds of problems."
Students who enroll in the BCDI program are required to take a total of four courses: one chosen from a set of foundation courses such as Needfinding in the Wild, taught by Michael Barry of Berkeley-Haas; two courses selected from a wide variety of designated design and innovation skills courses at the different schools—from theater design to solar power use in vehicles; and one course that requires applying design and innovation skills to a project, ideally in a cross-disciplinary setting. Beckman's Collaborative Innovation course, which is jointly taught across Business, Art Practice, and Theater and Dance Performance Studies, is an example of an applied project course.
The program will encourage students from different schools to work with and learn from one another about how design is applied within their own fields, said Berkeley-Haas lecturer Clark Kellogg, whose Innovation and Design Thinking in Business course is part of the certificate curriculum.
Joe Wilson, BS 17, who has taken design courses, said he regrets that he's graduating too soon to complete the new certificate. "The skills I've learned through design have really helped me to be a more big picture thinker," he said.
Students may apply to the program on the BCDI website by submitting an Intent to Complete the Certificate form. A certificate from all four BCDI sponsors will be issued to students who complete the requirements. The certificate will not appear on students' academic transcripts.
Posted in School News
From Herat to Haas, Afghan Student Finds a New Life
February 2, 2017 | by Maya Mirsky
Born in Afghanistan and raised during Taliban rule to a family without much education, Sal Parsa didn't have many options: by age 12, he was going to school half the day and working the other half sewing clothes.
"My destiny was to become a tailor, or a mechanic," he says.
But in 2001, something happened: American soldiers showed up in his hometown of Herat, seizing control from the Taliban regime. Sal was fascinated by the men, as they walked through the city with their guns handing out candy to children, and he wanted to find out more about them.
"I was a kid, so I wasn't seen as a threat and I could approach them and try to talk to them," says Parsa, MBA 18. "They looked scary at first but they were friendly and kind. Those first encounters were what began to change my life."
His outgoing curiosity, along with his drive to get an education beyond the severe limitations he had faced, soon sent him down a winding path that ultimately led him to Berkeley-Haas—where he is now an aspiring entrepreneur.
Books, not bombs
Growing up under the Taliban, Parsa's access to education was mostly limited to religious books. All he had ever known was poverty and war: his young life had spanned the Soviet occupation and withdrawal, the civil war that raged in its wake, and the Taliban's rigid control. But with the arrival of the Americans, things opened up. Now, there were new books in the library and classes to take. So he took full advantage, going to study English after he was done with work at night.
Parsa remembers when a group of American men visited his high school looking for top students to apply for an exchange program.
"I thought it was a hoax," he says. "My parents weren't wealthy and we had no power; usually this kind of opportunity was given to the sons of the warlords, ministers, or top top people."
But it all became real when—after an exhaustive series of exams and interviews—he and three others were selected from more than 1,000 students vetted by the State Department. They were invited to spend their junior year at American high schools through the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program in Afghanistan, offered for the first time in Afghanistan.
Cultural Immersion
And so, in 2004, Parsa found himself living with a host family in Plattsburgh, a small college town in Upstate New York. It was a different world, but Parsa—already a bit of an overachiever—was undaunted.
"I brought these huge dictionaries from Afghanistan—English to Farsi, Farsi to English," says Parsa, a native Persian speaker who was learning English as a 3rd language. "Those dictionaries were my buddies. I used to record my classes, then go home and listen to them, and use the books to translate."
Parsa immersed himself in American culture. His host mother was an Air Force Veteran who treated him like one of her own and his host brother was in the Navy—a great excuse for the family to travel around and watch Navy football games. His soccer prowess was an easy entree to the high school sports and social scenes.
As part of the exchange program, he served as a youth cultural ambassador, visiting and talking to high schools, colleges, and churches, and even traveling to the White House to meet high-level officials.
Tense times
That helped when, at age 17, he returned to Afghanistan and worked as a translator and cultural liaison for the US military—a period that Parsa describes tersely as "very intense times." By then, the war was in its 4th year, and the Taliban was attempting to regain control.
As a translator, Parsa risked his life. "There was a $5000 prize for the head of a translator or anyone working or helping the Americans. I couldn't trust anyone," he says.
Parsa recently opened up about those years for the first time at a Haas Story Salon—an event where MBA students share personal stories with classmates, with the understanding that everything said stays in the room.
"Sal connected with every person in the room that night by sharing his narrative," says classmate Greg Keiser, MBA 18.
It was hard to talk about some things, says Parsa, who is still careful about what he'll say publicly about the experience. But his trust in his Haas cohort made him willing to do it. "This would not have ever happened without these people," he says.
Return to the US
Parsa considers himself incredibly lucky. After two years working for the military in Afghanistan, he was invited to attend Walsh University in Ohio, where he was a new quantity for the small, Catholic school.
"I was the only Muslim student living on campus," he says. "During Ramadan, the cafeteria closed before I could break my fast, so I ate Ramen noodles or fast food. But by the second year, they made me a boxed dinner."
Parsa was chosen to give a speech at his 2014 naturalization ceremony.
After graduation, he worked for large manufacturing company in Canton, Ohio, and was considering a career in US intelligence when a mentor suggested he look into an MBA. While he got offers from several top schools, he says Haas offered a combination of first-rate faculty, connections to an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and a great location.
And when he got a call from Full-time MBA Admissions Director Morgan Bernstein, he hung up feeling like Haas really "got" him.
Bernstein recalls what stood out about Parsa: "It was clear that not only is Sal someone who embodies our four Haas Defining Principles, but that his life experience allows him to bring a truly unique, and valuable, perspective to our community."
Parsa's background and struggles have shaped his attitude and approach to life; he puts "problems" like a heavy course of study into perspective. "Why should I worry? Why should I complain?" he asks.
After a just a few months at Haas, Parsa says he knows he's in the right place: there's nothing about his life right now that stressed him out, even though he's combining the full-time MBA program with a leadership role as the president of the data science club, a deep-dive into data science, and a hard push with classmate Greg Keiser on a startup idea for a career guidance platform. That's on top of the fact he got married last summer.
But Parsa is ready for every opportunity he can find—at Haas, at UC Berkeley, or anywhere else.
"Sometimes I think, 'I shouldn't sleep,'" he says.
Posted in Student News, School News
EWMBA Student Nabs $1 Million for "Smart Mailbox" Startup
March 1, 2016 | by Maya Mirsky
Juggling work, business school, and a new baby, Shuai Jiang, EWMBA 16, and his wife relied heavily on online shopping. But the busy family quickly found the convenience of online shopping outweighed by the hassle of delivery slips.
"We were constantly worried about the packages and ended up wasting a lot of time waiting at home and driving to post offices," said Jiang, a former Hewlett Packard senior product manager.
Like many first-time entrepreneurs, Jiang found himself brainstorming to solve this real-world problem.
As a student in the Berkeley Evening & Weekend MBA Program he began exploring the concept of a worry- and hassle-free way to receive, track, return, and manage online purchases.
That idea led to the founding of startup Enchantin Inc., the maker of the uCella smart mailbox, an expandable, wirelessly-connected wall-mounted container that secures packages when they are delivered or returned.
Jiang asked a childhood friend, Donny Zhang, to help with uCella's prototyping. He assembled a small team at Haas to help him work on the project, including Kelly Han, EWMBA 14, Susy Schöneberg, MBA 17, Jinpei Li, EWMBA 16, and Chang Li EWMBA 16.
Both the cohort and the MBA curriculum helped guide Jiang, who also participated in UC Berkeley LAUNCH, a startup accelerator and competition designed to transform early stage startups into fundable companies.
"A lot of classes I took really opened my eyes," he said, including Strategic Brand Management with Lynn Upshaw and Entrepreneurship with David Charron. "To be honest, I don't really think I'd have started my own startup if I wasn't in the Berkeley MBA program."
Enchantin is already well-funded. The startup received $1 million in January from unnamed investors. The company has also received several hundred pre-orders through its Indiegogo campaign.
Here's how the uCella system works.Customers use a mobile application to track package deliveries.
The system synchs with popular email services to pull customer tracking numbers from order receipts. When a delivery person arrives, she scans the barcode that contains a tracking number required to unlock the customer's box. The package is stowed in the expandable box, which automatically locks. Then the system alerts the customer of the delivery.
The uCella box can also be used to coordinate package returns.
Enchantin now has a 12-person team and the company will roll out a seed program in several Bay Area neighborhoods this spring.
The company is in discussions with major couriers such as Fedex and UPS and e-retailers to form potential partnerships, Jiang says. Couriers and e-commerce companies from Canada, Korea, and Turkey have also told Jiang that they're interested in testing and rolling out the product.
He believes that going global is a real possibility.
"My vision is that uCella will be outside every house in the U.S and will become an essential package platform in the worldwide e-commerce ecosystem," he said.
Women in Leadership Conference Celebrates 20th Year, March 12
February 16, 2016 | by Maya Mirsky
Even as they celebrate the 20th year of the Berkeley-Haas Women in Leadership (WiL) Conference, organizers are looking two more decades ahead and asking: How can we empower each other to get further, faster by 2036?
This year's conference theme, "Leading Today, Building Tomorrow," recognizes how much has been accomplished and how much still needs to be tackled.
"It's a huge milestone for Haas and for us," said conference co-chair Sydney Thomas, MBA 16. "Through this conference, we hope to give our community the tools to support each other in our quest for gender equity in business."
The event is the longest-running student-organized conference at Haas, bringing more than 500 students and professionals to campus March 12 for a full day of high-profile speakers, workshops, and networking. It is once again expected to sell out (register here).
The 20th anniversary comes on the heels of a successful push for gender equity at Haas, and at what seems to be a turning point for gender equity in MBA programs. This year, women make up a record 43 percent of the full-time Berkeley MBA program overall. Nationwide, women for the first time are more than 40 percent of the student body at a dozen elite MBA programs, according to a recent report by the Forté Foundation.
The one-day WiL conference reaches beyond the school, bringing students and professionals from outside UC Berkeley together to hear inspiring stories and share their insights on issues that affect women.
"We want people to get involved, and we want to be connected with the Bay Area overall," said Erin Robinson, MBA 17, co-president of the Haas Women in Leadership club, which organizes the conference.
Kicking off the morning will be a keynote speech by Staci Slaughter, executive VP of communications and senior advisor to the CEO, San Francisco Giants.
The talk will be followed by a "Story Salon," where a half dozen women will share openly about times when they have been most vulnerable, followed by discussion. It's an unorthodox but deliberate way to help people break some of the invisible walls that can discourage networking, organizers say.
"It's really intimidating for people to walk up to someone they don't know and start a conversation," said conference content co-chair Stacey Chin, MBA 16.
It's not the kind of session all business conferences might have, but it's one of the things that makes the Women in Leadership conference special.
"It's an opportunity for our community to get closer together," Thomas said. "Relationships are really critical to getting to the next levels in business."
The afternoon keynote speech will be given by Robin Wolaner, COO of We Care Solar and founder of Parenting Magazine.
In addition to inspiration, there will be ample time for practical matters: afternoon workshops will tackle concrete skills like how to negotiate a salary, strategies for power and influence, and how to develop your personal brand.
The Haas Women in Leadership club holds events, hosts speakers, and does outreach throughout the year in order to help support women MBAs in network building. Club members have also taken a role in the Haas Gender Equity Initiative, an effort spearheaded by students in the Class of 2015 to increase the number of women in the full-time program. Their work with faculty, alumni and the admissions office helped fuel a 50 percent increase in the percentage of new women enrolling in fall 2014.
The group, which includes women and men, has continued to work on gender equity in admissions, academics, and school culture. Members also recruited "manbassadors" to encourage more men to get involved with WiL.


text:
Battle Blades #1--The Battle of Demon Canyon By: L. Craig Woods
Battle Blades #1--
The Battle of Demon Canyon
By: L. Craig Woods
Bekkar attempted to rally what was left of his command, but quickly saw the uselessness of that endeavor. Those of his men who had not yet fled the area of battle were quickly being overpowered and killed by the frenzied warriors who were supposed to have been the prey in this trap. Knowing that he still had several hundred soldiers waiting outside the canyon, Bekkar decided to retreat with what men he could and come back with reinforcements to finish off Lashki and his band of barbarians. He had not counted, however, on the full scale slaughter that was going on all around him.
Back at the barricade, Bekkar's men were trying to climb over the bodies of their own companions who had been impaled earlier in the trench. Those who were trying to flee were now being shot in the back with arrows from the hillsides. Many of those who attempted to run from the battle were being hacked down from behind as Lashki's howling warriors chased the retreating soldiers clear up to the earthen barricade. Scores of panicked soldiers died at this obstacle, stabbed or shot in the back as they frantically attempted to climb over the dead and dying that were quickly filling the long, deep trench. Bekkar himself fell at the edge of the barricade, a sword through his throat as he turned to meet the pursuing barbarians.
Those that did manage to escape the canyon alive kept running right through their own encampment, to the surprise and then fear of the other soldiers awaiting battle. Most of those men who ran through the camp were wounded and many had lost their weapons. All of them shouted something about demons attacking from the underworld and warriors made of dirt and stone who could not be killed. As more and more of the defeated troops swept past the camp and word came that Bekkar himself had been slain, those soldiers who had not yet been in the battle felt it was time to cut their losses and follow their comrades back to the safety of their own city. They had not been hired to fight deathless underworld demons and most decided that their own continued presence here would make little difference in the overall outcome of the battle. Not bothering to break camp, the reserve forces quickly followed their fleeing companions with only what they could carry on their backs.
Some time later, bleeding from numerous wounds and leaning heavily on his bloodied sword, Lashki stood at the entrance to the canyon and surveyed the now empty valley which stretched away before him. Only 56 of his followers remained to stand with him. The rest were now dead or lay near death within the canyon.
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text:
In the News - May 2012
Every month I compile a list of the stories I post on Down Wit Dat's Facebook page. They are stories of inclusion, of advocacy, of education, of hope and of love. These are from the month of May.
AUDIO indicates an audio clip
BLOG indicates a blog post
EVENT indicates a scheduled event
LINKS indicates links or resource materials
PHOTOS indicates photos
STUDY indicates a study
THREAD indicates an online discussion thread
VIDEO indicates a video
VIDEO I Have a Voice
LINKS Downs Designs
LINKS Teaching Ending Letter Sounds - Worksheets, Games and Activities
Scientists make stunning inner space observations
BLOG Foundation to expand: Hero to many helps kids with Down Syndrome
THREAD Just a question about Down Syndrome
Ahern: Beverly mother is 'fierce warrior' for Down Syndrome Awareness
Petra's Poem shares life of woman with Down Syndrome
PHOTOS Living well with Down Syndrome
Dancing brings new confidence to children with Down's Syndrome
BLOG Found: The mystery girl with Down Syndrome who's a cruel web joke
BLOG To the new mother of a baby with Down Syndrome
I'm going to cut off my hair and give it to the poorly girls who don't have any
Kent State Student Excels Despite Down Syndrome
Looking for Suffering in All the Wrong Places
Lauren Potter Plays Becky Jackson On Glee--Now Check Out the Amazing Work She is Doing Off Set, Too!
Passion for Fashion Drives self-taught Port St. Lucie artist with Down Syndrome
Cheerleader with Down Syndrome inspires classmates
'She Inspires Us All': How a cheerleader with Down's Syndrome became homecoming queen and touched a community
Church lift ban on Catholic boy, 8, taking Holy Communion because he has Down's Syndrome after outcry
Life and love with a Down Syndrome child
LINKS Risk of Heart Disease in Down Syndrome
VIDEO Emmanuel Bishop (Age: 15), Violin recital at Selçuk University
Hate crime victim is praised and admired
VIDEO Royal Oak Dancer with Down syndrome wins gold at regional competition
Mesquite High School Yearbooks Pulled after "Mentally Retarded" Used to Describe Some Students
R-Word - Spread the Word to End the Word
Tuscaloosa teen with Down Syndrome inspires a community
BLOG Surviving at Sea (send a boat please)
BLOG Why it Matters
What's Working: Service Station Hires Special Needs Employee
Brady Kanavel has been an ambassador at West Muskingum High
BLOG R-word. Do you cringe?
EVENT Olympic Torch Relay: My stage in honour of people with DS worldwide
NZ's first Scout leader with Down Syndrome
BLOG What is going on here?!? Autism, Uneven Development and Periods of Consolidation
Paul's Posting
Walgreen's Expands Disability Employment Effort Nationwide
EVENT Down Syndrome Dublin Events
VIDEO Peter Rosset's Music Channel
BLOG Beaches, Buddies and the Undercurrent of Down Syndrome
VIDEO Down Syndrome Research Foundation PSA
VIDEO Special Olympics Illinois PSA "Speechless"
Mum speaks up for children with Downs
Down Wit Dat hosted the third T-21 Blog Hop on May 21. Don't miss our next one on June 21!
We also started our own Facebook Group! Down Wit Dat - The Group is an all inclusive special needs discussion forum. Join the conversation!
...And that's the news. Keep the stories and information coming!
Posted by Psychojenic at 9:53 PM 0 comments
Labels: Down Syndrome , In the News , Trisomy 21
A Smooth Road
"A smooth road to London town
The road goes up
The road goes down
By and by we come to a dell
Where the roads are not so swell
A bumpy road, a bumpy road
A bumpy road to London town..."
--Smooth Road to London Town (Children's Song)
Our life right now probably won't seem very interesting to most outsiders. We're in one of the in-betweens; waiting for the results of the last set of the appointments as we wait for the start of the next round. It's an odd place to be, this in-between. We're not quite anywhere, but rather on the way somewhere. We're also not sure where this trip is taking us, but we are inside, out of the elements and content to let the sway of the carriage lull us to sleep. There may be brigands and cut-throats and all manner of wylde beasties lurking outside, but for now we are content to curl up and have a conversation. Occasionally one of us will look out a window and remark on one landmark or another, but for the most part we are pleased with passing the time together.
We've rumbled by a few milestones with Wyatt in the last little while. He got his first tooth the other day; after months of sore red cheeks and gums, it finally broke through. The one next to it should be arriving in a few days. In case you are following along: Quinn has two adult teeth and just lost another, Zoe has seven and Wyatt has one and is working on his second. He has been able to "chew" food for some time now; adding teeth to the mix just ensures I can increase the texture of things a little bit more. Thursday, for example, I made a whole batch of toddler meatballs for the twins. They are so very easy to make and all my kids have loved eating them. Zoe was a little hesitant at first, looking from the meatball on her tray to her father, back to the meatball and then to her father again, as if to say "WTF is this?!". Wy didn't hesitate and popped two into his mouth. One thing that we really have to be careful with him with is choking; not because his swallowing is sub-par, but because he is prone to stuffing too much food in his mouth at once. He also tends to get a stash going in his high palate and if we're not paying attention, can still be eating/possibly choking several minutes after we think he's finished.
There has also been the first (confirmed) "Dada" out of Wyatt. Both babies have been babbling "dadadada" and the like for months, but Zoe has been calling Sean "Dah-dih" for some time now. We're both pretty convinced that Wyatt's "Dada" was intentional as a) it came out singular (no repeating dadadada over and over like he usually does) and b) he reached for Sean as he said it. I'm not sure about Dada himself, but I was a little teary eyed. It will probably be a long time before either twin says "Mama" though... If they are anything like their older brother it will be next year some time. Quinn's first words, in order, were "Dada", "Kitty" and "Guitar". Shortly after that, he started calling me "Lady". It was months down the road before he finally called me "Mommy". Now I'm "Mom" (or "MaaaAAAWWWmmm") most of the time, which makes me a little wistful, actually.
Wyatt's reaching and overall movement has increased lately too. We sing with all the kids, but we have played a little game with Wyatt since he was able to sit up (supported) on our knee. One of the action songs from Mother Goose called "Smooth Road to London Town" is his favourite. Sean has modified it slightly to emphasize the part where "the road goes up", so he can make a point of lifting Wyatt's arms up in time. This is followed immediately by "and the road goes down" where Sean lowers his arms and leans him forward (he used to flop forward on our tummies before he could sit up). I hadn't sung it to him for a while and was pleasantly surprised by his progress recently. He was balancing himself nicely on my knee and was holding my two index fingers gently when we started. When we got to "the road goes up" part, he got a big smile on his face and lifted his arms and my fingers up by himself and then started to lower them for "the road goes down"... and patiently waited for me to continue with the more bouncier parts of the song. I was astounded. I remember him a few months ago anticipating "the road goes down" by nodding his head forward and tugging slightly on our hands (as they held his), but this was awesome! Zoe, by this point, was strutting around the room with her arms up over her head and shouting as if she was announcing a touchdown, but Wyatt was as pleased with himself as I was and we continued on with two more quick trips to London Town (well, in song, anyway).
Our OT visit was cancelled this week so we found ourselves with a morning off. By "off" I mean "slightly unscheduled", as we still had things to do. However, we were able to take it easy and sit around for a couple hours while the babies played and we talked. It was a rare treat, to be honest... to feel as if we didn't have to rush off or do something. We also got to complete a whole conversation (how long has it been since that has happened?). The time passed quickly, as all stolen time does, but it was refreshing. It gave us a nice little pause in what would turn out to be a very busy and draining week. Our appointment was rescheduled for Tuesday, so I am sure we will pick up there where we left off.
This little leg of our journey together may not be the most spectacular or the most in depth, but sometimes you need to just keep going and see where you end up. For now, we are content to count teeth and sing songs and marvel at our children as they grow and develop. It's not a trip for everyone, but it suits us just fine. I'm sure the scenery will eventually change and bumpier roads are indeed ahead. For now, however, no matter how up and down, it's still a pretty smooth road to London Town.
Posted by Psychojenic at 8:50 AM 2 comments
Labels: dental , Down Syndrome , teeth , Twins
A Brief History of Down Syndrome, Part 3: All In the Family
In the two previous "A Brief History..." posts, we've explored how Down syndrome came to be named, as well as looking at (pre)historical evidence of Down Syndrome. In a recent article, Washington Post reporter George Will published a photo essay about his son. It got me thinking... what other famous people have had a relative with Down Syndrome?
Mantegna's Madonna and Child, circa 1460
At this point in time, there are many people with Down syndrome that are cherished by their famous family members. Included are: actor Jaime Foxx's sister DeOndra, actor John C. McGinley's son Max, Barnes and Noble CEO Steve Riggio's late daughter Melissa, Football coach Gene Stallings late son Johnny, and baseball superstar Albert Pujols' daughter Isabella (just to name a few). These much beloved people are fully integrated members of the family.
Is this a product of this day and age however? Once again, being the most common genetic disorder and occurring in 1:700 live births, you would think there would be more information on those that had gone before. I went searching for historical figures and found quite a few.
Andrea Mantegna and Ludovico Gonzaga
As I have mentioned before, it is rumoured that 15th century painter Andrea Mantegna, the artist who painted Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and Louis of Toulouse and Madonna and Child had a child with Down syndrome, as did his sponsor Ludovico Gonzaga who employed him as his court painter. This has been suggested by numerous sources as playing a large role in Mantegna's appointment in Mantua. The Gonzaga child was described as having "an illness" and that Mantagna's child shared the same description.
Anselmus de Boodt
The Transfiguration Triptych, depicting the de Boodt family, including Anselmus and his sister with Down Syndrome
Anselmus, his father and six brothers
Anselmus de Boodt, mineralist, scholar and physician to Rudolf II of Prague had a sister with what was most likely Down Syndrome. Two panels of Gerard Davis' triptych Transfiguration depict the de Boodt family (the portraits themselves painted by Pieter Porbus in 1573) They can be found in the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) in Bruges, Belgium.
The panel on the left depicts his father (Anselmus de Boodt Sr.) with his seven sons. Anselmus de Boodt is depicted in the centre directly behind Anselmus Sr. The red crosses on the heads of some of the children (just above the forehead on three of the boys) denote that these particular individuals were no longer alive at the time the portraits were painted.
Anselmus de Boodt's Mother Jeanne and his three sisters
It is the panel on the right that is of interest here. It depicts Anselmas de Boodt's mother Jeanne and his three sisters (one of which had also passed on as her portrait bears a red cross). It is the sister directly behind Jeanne that reportedly had Down Syndrome.
Although little is known about her or her life, it cannot be denied that this portrait exhibits many of the hard markers of Trisomy 21, including a soft bridged, small upturned nose and epicanthal folds.
Emma Darwin and Charles Waring
Charles Waring Darwin was the 10th and final child of naturalist Charles Darwin and his wife Emma. It is suspected through description and the one surviving photograph that exists of him that he was born with Down Syndrome.
Henrietta, one of his daughters, had this to say about Charles Waring in her book "Emma Darwin, A century of family letters...":
"The poor little baby was born without its full share of intelligence. Both my father and mother were infinitely tender towards him..."
Charles Darwin himself had this to say about his youngest child:
"He was small for his age and backward in walking and talking.... He was of a remarkable sweet, placid and joyful disposition, but had not high spirits.... He often made strange grimaces and shivered, when excited.... He would lie for a long time placidly on my lap looking with a steady and pleased expression at my face... making nice little bubbling noises as I moved his chin."
Looking at the photograph of the then 45 year old Emma and her newborn son, it is not hard to see what appears to be a "weakened" bridge to the nose and quite possibly be epicanthal folds. However, the photo is extremely grainy and we will never know for sure. Charles Waring Darwin passed away from Scarlet fever at 19 months of age, never having learned to walk or talk. Darwin Sr. recorded in his journal that day: "Poor Dear Baby Died." He was unable to attend the first reading and publication of his theory of Natural Selection due to the illness and death of his youngest son.
John Langdon Down's grandson and namesake had DS
John Langdon Down
John Langdon Down, the "father" of Down syndrome never met his grandson (and namesake) who had what would eventually be named after him. It was John Sr's. son Reginald, whose first son John Langdon (born 1905) probably shaped his father's less than charitable view on those with "Mongoloid idiocy". John Sr., from all accounts a kindly man, would probably not have been fond of Reginald's theory that since some of the symptoms did not appear in actual Mongols, it;
"...must be a reversion to a type even further back than the Mongol stock, from which some ethnologists believe all the various races of men have sprung."
This of course was taken one step further by his contemporaries who felt that this condition was a regression to the level of an orangutan.
Despite his father's take on things (due, quite possibly to a degree of perceived grief), John Langdon Down the younger grew to be a much loved member of the family and died in the ancestral home at age 65.
Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Germany
Crown Prince Wilhelm and Alexandrine
Crown Prince Wilhelm, or William as he was know throughout Europe, was the last crown prince of the Kingdom of Prussia. His fifth child and first daughter, Alexandrine (or "Adini") had Down syndrome. It is said that she was very much a part of the family, despite the popularity of the Eugenics movement at the time.
Born in 1915, Princess Alexandrine was welcomed into the
family. There are numerous christening and family photos of her online, including some with her brothers and sisters. She was educated privately at a school for special needs students called Trüpersche Sonderschule in Jena, from 1932 to 1934. Rumors abound about her life after that. One version of the story states that she was institutionalized after the age of 20; proponents of this theory cite the lack of photographic evidence after that age.
With her siblings: Friedrich, Cecilie, Wilhelm and Louis Ferdinand
Another version has her living out the war in Niederpöcking in Bavaria and then retiring to a house near Lake Starnberg. Her death in 1980 indicates that she was spared Hitler's Aktion T4, quite possibly due to her royal heritage and her father's open support of Hitler through his rise to power. There is a distinct shortage of information on her adult life however, so it is unknown exactly how she spent the last 45 of her 65 years.
Charles De Gaulle and his daughter Anne
General Charles De Gaulle is well known throughout modern history as the leader of the Free French Forces. What is not as well known is that his youngest daughter Anne (January 1, 1928 - February 6, 1948) had Down syndrome.
Although public perception of the time was that children born with Down syndrome were a result of their parents alcoholism, venereal disease or overall degeneracy, the De Gaulles rejected this notion, choosing instead to raise Anne like their other two children. Their personal life became very private and Anne was raised at home, not in an institution (as was common practice at the time).
Charles and Anne on holiday in Brittany, 1933
It has been said often that Anne was Charles' favorite child. Described as a man who ranged from cocky to stoic by nature, he was a different person around Anne, reportedly describing her as "My joy". He is said to have read stories and sang songs to her and showed an affection that he rarely showed others, even those in his own household. Anne was raised to feel no less or different than anyone else.
After the war, Charles and his wife Yvonne founded the Fondation Anne de Gaulle, a home for disabled girls, many of which had intellectual impairments. In 1948, Anne succumbed to pneumonia, a month after her 20th birthday and died in her father's arms. Upon her death, he is said to have remarked "Maintenant, elle est comme les autres." ("Now, she is like the others."). He carried a portrait of Anne with him at all times; he claimed that her portrait saved his life by stopping a bullet in an assassination attempt in 1962. When Charles died, he was buried beside his beloved Anne.
In stark contrast to Charles De Gaulle is Arthur Miller.
Miller married his third wife, Inge Morath a year after divorcing Marilyn Monroe. Seven months later Inge gave birth to Rebecca, a child described as "stunningly beautiful". They doted on their child, her first and his third and took her everywhere. Four years later, their son Daniel was born. The following are excerpts from Suzanna Andrews article in Vanity Fair:
"The Broadway producer Robert Whitehead, who died in 2002, would tell Martin Gottfried that Miller called him on the day of the birth. Miller was "overjoyed," Whitehead said, and confided that he and Inge were planning to name the boy "Eugene"—possibly after Eugene O'Neill, whose play Long Day's Journey into Night, which had won the Pulitzer in 1957, had awed Miller. The next day, however, Miller called Whitehead again and told him the baby "isn't right." The doctors had diagnosed the infant with Down syndrome..."
"Arthur was terribly shaken—he used the term 'mongoloid,'" Whitehead recalled. He said, "'I'm going to have to put the baby away.'" A friend of Inge's recalls visiting her at home, in Roxbury, about a week later. "I was sitting at the bottom of the bed, and Inge was propped up, and my memory is that she was holding the baby and she was very, very unhappy," she says. "Inge wanted to keep the baby, but Arthur wasn't going to let her keep him." Inge, this friend recalls, "said that Arthur felt it would be very hard for Rebecca, and for the household," to raise Daniel at home. Another friend remembers that "it was a decision that had Rebecca at the center.
Within days, the child was gone, placed in a home for infants in New York City. When he was about two or three, one friend recalls, Inge tried to bring him home, but Arthur would not have it..."
At the age of four, Daniel was placed in the Southbury Training School, once the choice of care for the rich and wealthy, it had degenerated by the 1970's. Living conditions were overcrowded, understaffed and generally horrific. Unlike most of the other residents, Daniel's mother visited him almost every Sunday. Arthur, it was reported, never wanted to visit. Daniel lived at Southbury until age 17 when, with the permission of his parents, he was allowed to live in a group home setting and gain some independence.
By all accounts, Daniel blossomed after his release. A natural athlete, he became involved in the Special Olympics and competed in skiing, bowling, track and cycling. He became an active self-advocate and member of People First. It was through that organization that he finally met his father many years later. Both were attending an advocacy conference where Arthur was speaking; it was said that Miller was stunned when Danny ran over and gave him a large hug.
It was finally in the 1990's when Arthur got to know his son. From the Vanity Fair article:
"The following year, Rebecca Miller married Daniel Day-Lewis, whom she had met on the set of the movie adaptation of The Crucible. Day-Lewis, says Francine du Plessix Gray, "was the most compassionate about Daniel. He always visited him, with Inge and Rebecca." Some say he was "appalled" at Miller's attitude toward his son, and it is possible that Day-Lewis influenced Miller to make his first appearance, sometime in the late 1990s, at one of Daniel's annual "overall plan of service" reviews. The meeting was held in Daniel's apartment and lasted about two hours, Godbout recalls. As Arthur and Inge listened, the social workers who worked with Daniel discussed his progress—his job, his self-advocacy work, his huge network of friends. Miller "was just blown away," Godbout recalls. "He was absolutely amazed at Danny being able to live out on his own. He said it over and over again: 'I would never have dreamed this for my son. If you would have told me when he first started out that he would get to this point, I would never have believed it.' And you could see his sense of pride. Danny was right there, and he was just beaming."
Miller did not attend another of Danny's year end reviews, nor did he attempt a relationship with his son.
When Arthur Miller died, he did bequeath Danny a full quarter share of his estate. Unfortunately, this disqualified him from any government assistance and left him open for the state to attempt to reclaim monies from past care. Which happened, shortly thereafter. As of 2007, however, Danny still lived in a home with an elderly couple that take care of him and consider him part of the family.
Beyond Miller, de Gaulle, et al.
As it is the most common genetic disorder, there have probably been many famous people with a relative with Down syndrome. Due to public perception (and persistent misinformation), it is within the realm of reason to believe that there are many that we will never know of. There are probably thousands born to the cultural elite in the last two centuries that have been given away, institutionalized or simply killed outright. We will never know.
However, it is very heartening to see that in the face of doing "what is done", many people of note have chosen instead to raise their child as any other. With the exception of Arthur Miller, I have presented several families that have chosen to welcome and nurture, instead of discard. As a result they have been able to see for themselves the uniqueness and joy that having a family member with a little extra can bring.
It is a Charles de Gualle quote about his daughter that I think of most often in my own life with my son. Since Wyatt's birth I seem to be a changed person, to be more aware and more sensitive to the world around me. I have spoken many times how my son's smile or the smallest of accomplishments can lift my spirits and give me energy. De Gaulle too must have felt this way as he said once of Anne: "She helped me overcome the failures in all men, and to look beyond them.". It is my hope that pioneers like de Gaulle, Crown Prince Wilhelm, Darwin and even the de Boodt, Gonzaga and Mantegna families will help us, as a society, overcome the failings of those that have gone before, so that we may provide the brightest future possible for those with Down syndrome.
Andrews, Suzanna, Arthur Miller's Missing Act, Vanity Fair, September 2007.
Baker, Graeme, Arthur Miller had a secret Down's syndrome son, The Telegraph, August 21, 2007.
Baur, Patricia E, Public Man, Private Father, Patricia E Baur: News and Commentary on Disability Issues, June 4, 2007.
Darwin, Charles. R. 'Journal' (1809-1881). CUL-DAR158, p. 37 recto, 1858
Fenby, Johnathan, The little girl who conquered de Gaulle, The London Times, June 15, 2010
Litchfield, Henrietta E., "Chap. XII." Emma Darwin, A century of family letters, 1792-1896.
Lost Hospitals of London, Normansfield Hospital, date unknown.
Geiss, Herbert, The Perfect Jeweller - Anselmus de Boodt at the Court of Rudolf II, Friends of Jade, November 2006.
Nicol, Caitrin, At Home with Down Syndrome, The New Atlantis, Spring, 2008.
Starbuck, JM, On the Antiquity of Trisomy 21: Moving Towards a Quantitative Diagnosis of Down Syndrome in Historic Material Culture, Journal of Contemporary Anthropology, October 2011
Steensma, David P., Down Syndrome in Down House: Trisomy 21, GATA1 mutations, and Charles Darwin, Blood, vol 105, no. 6, pg. 2614-2616.
Timpson, Trevor, A Fame only in Name, BBC News, June 7, 2005
Ward OC. John Langdon Down: The Man and the Message. Down Syndrome Research and Practice. 1999;6(1);19-24.
A Brief History of Down Syndrome: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Posted by Psychojenic at 12:00 AM 26 comments
Labels: Ableism , advocacy , Blogs , discrimination , Down Syndrome , History of Down Syndrome , T-21 Blog Hop , Trisomy 21
On Motherhood
This Sunday is Mother's Day. Although it is celebrated on different days all around the world, most cultures set aside a day to appreciate our Mothers and all that they do for us. Sunday morning will probably see my news feed awash with photos of homemade cards, breakfasts in bed and flowers, some of which, undoubtedly picked by tiny fingers (and quite possibly from the neighbour's garden). It's a day of emotion for most, of remembrance for some and celebration for many.
It is such a powerful word, "Mother". It invokes many of its permutations, from the sacred to the profane, all of which is dictated by our life experiences. The word, this title, means so much to so many people. As a culture, we like adding little specialty titles too: "Working Mom", "Blogging Mom", "Stay-At-Home" Mom, even "Absentee Mom". There is also "Special Needs Mom", but we will get to that one later.
Becoming a "Mother", for me, was life changing. Gone was the egocentricity, the partying, the sense of entitlement. It wasn't just about me any more, it was about this little person. This new sense of "us". Instead of two people in orbit around each other, we were now three, a cohesive unit. It was wonderful and terrifying all at once. Previous to this, I had spent countless hours at the gym, the salon, the nail salon and the mall, shopping for new clothes and new ways to combat my 'age'. I needed to look better, was the thought, to look more like the ideal and inflate what I recognize now as an appalling lack of self-confidence. I spent countless dollars at the liquor store too, trying to soothe myself after the rest of it 'didn't work'. I am one of those people that motherhood changed for the better. I will admit that wholeheartedly and face any criticism that may generate.
After a rough entrance into this world, my son had a mother. Me. I was somebody's Mother. (Eek!)
I entered a second phase after my year of maternity leave as I returned to work. As a "Working Mom", I was supposed to have it all: a faboo job, a clean house, carefully scheduled play dates and homemade banana bread cooling on the counter. I did too... well, most of it. My house, like most, has stages of 'clean'. However, I still baked the banana bread, I still sat down every day with my son and went through his day and did activities together.
Flash a few years in the future as I have my twins. Becoming a mother this time meant a whole lot more things. There were more labels. Now I was a "Twin Mom" and most notably, a "Special Needs Mom". It can be a bit confusing at times as the first title usually makes people squeal with glee. The second one usually elicits a completely different reaction.
Stupid human tricks aside, it's the last one that has caused the most growth and simultaneous heartache/joy. To be clear, it's not my son that causes me heartache as my critics would contend; it's society as a whole. I'm not just talking thoughtless vocabulary choices as there are still a lot of people out there who don't have the foggiest idea what 'special needs' are. In my example, I have a son, a twin, who has Down Syndrome, the most common genetic disorder that occurs in 1:700 live births. You would think people would know a little more about it. Instead, I find myself railing against a public perception that is somewhere between 40 and 80 years out of date. There is a lot of ignorance out there, ranging from being told that my son will break apart my family or should have been aborted, to more milder forms, usually involving a "I didn't mean it that way" or "you're too sensitive".
I read an article the other day that certainly captured most of it. Called "7 Things You Don't Know About a Special Needs Parent", it hits the mark on a few points. Please understand, these are not things that we experience every day, or feel all the time. But, we will run into all 7 of these things at least once in our lives. It happens. I don't begrudge my friends with neurotypical children their pride at their children's accomplishments; I will admit an occasional pang when listening to a laundry list of some of the more inconvenient aspects of their child's behaviour. Again, it happens.
Becoming a "Special Needs Mom" can sometimes mean a whole new level of advocacy. I've joked in the past that this job came with a sword and magic helmet, along with the ass kicking boots that come standard issue with being a "Typical Mom". My thoughts right now are with my friend M who is fighting with an area school board to allow her son admission in the fall. She has been told that he is "too small", that they do not "encourage sign language", that they "don't have children with Down Syndrome". It is completely appalling as M lives in the next county, forty minutes up the street from me. My elder son has had a special needs child in his class both years of kindergarten; there are many integrated special needs children in his school. It is not a 'special' school or a trial school, just your average neighbourhood elementary. It is pathetic that a forty minute drive can mean the difference between acceptance and complete ignorance.
That is not to say that being a "Special Needs Mom" is any more important than any other type of Mom, because it isn't. That is one of the pitfalls of this job, to think that this particular journey is any more important or difficult than any other. I have no idea what it is like to be a "Single Mom" or a "Same Sex Mom", a "Step-Mom", an "Adoptive Mom" or any other title that we can apply to this job. Despite the content of this blog, it's not my "Special Needs Mom"-ness that defines me any more than my "Twin Mom"-ness or my plain ol' "Mom"-ness. I'm a Mother, just like the other millions out there. We all bring our uniqueness to this title, but in the end, we are all the same deep down. We want what is best for our children. We want a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. We want them to grow up to be happy, productive adults.
This Sunday we will enjoy the many flavours of Motherhood. Whether we biologically or adoptively assumed this role, we all have lots in common. We forget that sometimes. We all have our quirks, or specialties and even our weaknesses. We all have discovered strengths that we never thought possible. "Mother" is the most demanding and most rewarding job I know. It doesn't matter what prefix you put in front of it.
"Why do people say 'grow some balls'? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding." - Betty White
Posted by Psychojenic at 10:14 AM 4 comments
Labels: advocacy , Down Syndrome , Mother's Day , Trisomy 21 , Twins
What a Long, Strange Trip it's Been
The last little while has been a complete blur of appointments and late nights. Copious amounts of carbs have been consumed (and cheese, most often together). Much sleep has been lost or interrupted. Tempers have been a bit short on all accounts, including both of us, the kids and the people that we have had to interact with. At various points, this past week has seemed to never want to end.
It started the day after the birthday party (Monday, April 23rd). We had an OT visit where several things were looked at in detail. One, how well Wyatt's mobility has come along in the last few weeks. Since the last update, he can make his way across the floor, half dragging, half commando crawling. We have not seen him sit up (by himself) since the party, however he has come very close several times. It's probably like the rolling thing; we won't actually see him doing it for a while. We'll just look over and assume he just teleported, or in this case, was magically repositioned while we weren't looking. We are trying to get him to understand what his legs and feet are for (other than additional hands); we have a variety of sitting/kneeling/bent over positions for him to practice and to get used to putting some weight on his legs. So far, not much, but we are trying. Point of interest number two: how far his eating skills have come in the same amount of time. We talked about finding a good time for another speech-language assessment before the OT left. We should have an appointment by our next visit.
The following day (April 24th) meant an appointment with the pediatrician for both Wyatt and Zoe. I don't know about you, but a snotty receptionist can really set me on edge. This one in particular seems to have majored in Passive-Aggressive with a minor in Bitch. The day before, she had telephoned to confirm our appointment. During that call, no actual appointment time was mentioned when she spoke to my husband; I assumed I had the correct time listed in my phone. You will imagine my surprise as I blustered into the office, 15 minutes early (for a change!) only to be met with cold silence. Once I had dug out our health cards and settled my daughter (who had just had what could only be a harrowing stranger experience in the elevator with a kindly old man who told us all about his twins), I turned to face the receptionist. She barely made eye contact, quickly scooped up the cards and said quietly "I just called your house." "Oh?" I answered, confused. "What's wrong?" "You're half an hour LATE!" she informed me in clipped tones, barely containing her hostility. I whipped out my phone to check the times and surprise, there was no match. For some reason, our appointment had been moved to 9:45. My husband (to the receptionist's surprise) walked in a minute later and reminded her that she did not mention a time on the phone and therefore, did not confirm the appointment properly. Mistakes had been made all around. There was another period of awkward silence, where I prepared to get comfortable in the waiting room as I figured she would now make us wait. A few minutes later, she approached the babies with artificial sweetness and told us that it was time to come in. We maneuvered our beast of a stroller through the narrow hallways into the exam room and began to get them undressed for their weigh in.
Aside from that little bump, the rest of the appointment went well. There was no one else in the office at that time, so the doctor was able to see us. Zoe now weighs 9.14 kg (20.1 lbs) while her now little brother Wyatt weighs 7.95kg (17.49 lbs). They are both small for their age, at 70cm (27.6 inches) and 67cm (26.3 inches), respectfully. Their big brother Quinn was 25 inches at birth, just to offer up a little comparison. Both rank somewhere in the 5th percentile for height on their respective charts (although Zoe has crept up a bit in the weight department). Numbers aside, both are happy, healthy infants who are doing well in their own way. Wyatt attempted to sit up while we were there, which made the doc happy. Zoe wasn't too keen on walking barefoot on a cold floor, so she did not get to show off her running prowess. The doc made sure that we got an actual appointment card this time and we took our leave.
Wednesday (April 25th) was the ENT. Sean took Wyatt by himself, as it was an early morning appointment and it interfered with Quinn's schoolbus time. I was expecting the boys home shortly after 10 but they didn't arrive until 11:30 or so. I was a bit confused at first, but Sean explained that our bad doctor karma from the day before had spilled over into this appointment as well. Although they were on time, the ENT was not. After sitting for almost an hour, the doc wandered in the front door, ignored what was now a packed waiting room, went straight to the back and had the first patient sent in. It was apparent that he was in a shitty mood by the time Wyatt's name was called; he then proceeded to take it out on Sean. We haven't been exactly diligent with remembering to put drops of mineral oil in Wyatt's ears (to keep the wax loosened) and the doc let Sean know a little more brusquely than necessary that this wasn't cool. In fact, his tone suggested negligence. He even went so far as to accuse Sean of using Q tips on him which, if you don't know, are a no-no with ears as they are self cleaning (Q tips just impact the wax). Sean tried to explain how we never use Q tips and clean only the external ear and when that was completely ignored, he half-desperately threw in a "you know my wife is a nurse, right?" for good measure. This all had very little effect on Dr. Grumpypants who continued by demanding to know when Wyatt had a specific hearing test done. We do keep on top of all his hearing appointments, but lets face it, we have no idea what exact tests are taking place, just what the results are at the end. This was not an acceptable answer either and prompted him to place an angry call to the audiologist's office. After extracting the gunk from Wyatt's ears (which, wasn't too bad at all), the boys were then sent back to the waiting room to wait. During that stay, Sean overheard the secretary talking to the audiologist's office and learned that the specific test that the ENT was peaking about was not done at the last appointment... as it had been done at the one before. This fact would have been apparent if he had bothered to read Wyatt's chart. A more sheepish ENT called them both back in to let them know the results of the hearing test and that based on that information and the examination that he had just performed, Wy's ears are just fine, thanks. See you in 6 months.
Flash forward through a whirlwind of my 6 year old's actual birthday (April 26th), one twelve and one 16 hour night shift (April 28th and 29th). It was now Tuesday of the next week (May 1st) and time for Wyatt's sleep study at Sick Kids. Prior to this, we had to fill out a sleeping/eating log for 10 days; it was only through some miracle that I remembered to yell at someone at the last minute to grab it as we were going out the door. Even for overnight, I had to take a lot of stuff for me and one baby. Jammies, diapers, wipes, cream, pillows, emergency bottle, Tylenol, toys, 'whoosh whoosh bear', the stroller to push all our stuff around in... plus I brought the laptop "just in case". Although it turns out that there is a complementary TV in the room (and free WiFi!), I wanted the ability to play a movie or write/fool around on the internet if I couldn't sleep. I figured that, much like sex in the champagne room, there was no sleep in the sleep study. I had no idea how right I was going to be.
It was a good thing that we arrived early as it gave me a little extra time to get lost. It's a pretty straightforward hospital in most respects, but you have to trust me, getting lost is a specialty of mine. Sean claims that I have a compass in my head like everyone else, but unlike everyone else, mine is broken and just spins. I do make up for this with my map skills... To prove this point, seconds after I discovered a wall map, I found the Atrium and the elevators that I needed..
Sick Kids is a fabulous place... I have mentioned this before. The main elevators are a sunny yellow and the whole place looks like it was designed by a toymaker. However, if you have vertigo like me, it's a little unnerving getting from the central elevator hall to one of the quads.
You can see the yellow elevators on the left. Photo courtesy of skate_simmo
We were greeted by our Tech who assured me that they do sleep studies on babies all the time. In fact, last week he had three babies there at the same time (the lab has four beds). We were shown to our room and I set everything up while Wyatt got to play in his crib a bit and stretch out after the car ride. I realized somewhere during my exploration of the room that psychiatry has ruined me: the entire time I was setting up, all I could think of was how unsafe the room was. Including the closet, which was just the right depth and had a bar in there that someone (small) could hang themselves with.
Our room. My daybed is in the back there
My bed. I've slept on a lot worse, trust me. For my convenience, I'm right next to the hanging closet.
Baby logistics is another specialty of mine. Knowing that I had to feed him for him to go to sleep and assuming that there was a tangle of wires in his future, I had to work out how we were going to do this. Our Tech and I talked about it and he would come back to wire my son up when he started to look a little sleepy. I tried to make Wy feel as comfortable as possible; he had a few toys there, a few homey smells and I set up the laptop and streamed some music for him (they have a radio on all night for noise and company). He started to look a little droopy and I called our dude in to (literally!) hook us up.
For those that don't know, during a sleep study you are monitored for quite a few things. Your heart rate, your breathing and your oxygen/CO2 levels are important. They also monitor brain waves so that they know how asleep you really are. Finally, they monitor movement, to see how restless you are. Basically this translates to an ECG, an EEG and an oximeter. There was also a camera in the room and an observation window if needed.
In total, there were about 20 'leads' or wires about his little person. Two on each of his legs, four on his chest and the rest on his head. There was also a O2 sat (oximeter) on his toe an a CO2 monitor on his chest (that was relocated to his back in the middle of the night). He looked like a little Borg.
Resistince is futile. (He's not crying BTW, just mid-babble)
He got a little Teletubby hat made out of some Surgifix (stretchy tube mesh that they put over IV's and lines and things) to keep the wires on his head. The Tech put a towel over the lead box on the bed hoping that Wyatt would forget it was there and I was given the OK to feed him. I set up shop beside the bed, gingerly pulling on the wires all the while hoping there was enough slack.
He wouldn't sleep for love nor money.
Usually he falls asleep during his bedtime "snack". No dice. I whipped out a bottle of homogenized and heated it up for him. Nope. At one point I turned on the end of the hockey game, hoping he'd get tired (he watches a lot of hockey with Daddy if he can't sleep at night). We called Daddy, we sang songs, we rocked, we burped, we got Tylenol. Finally, about 10:30 he went to sleep in my arms. I carefully tucked the towel underneath him so that he would not immediately roll on the wires (or catch them in his sleep), put up the side rail and tiptoed to my cot. I didn't realize how tired I really was until my eyes closed while I was typing on the laptop. I shut everything down, pulled the blanket over me and drifted off.
At 2 am I woke to him stirring and was at his side a minute later when he started to cry. Once he is down, Wyatt does not wake up in the middle of the night unless he is sick. What I found when I got there was pretty much heart stopping: all the wires were wrapped around his neck. I sat my crying boy up and started to gently un-garrote him; he looked like a kitten tangled in a ball of yarn. At one point I had to go get the Tech for help as I was afraid of dislodging everything. It took a bit, but we were able to free him from his wire-y prison.
I am sooo tired! I also HATE this hat!
For his trouble, he also ended up with a nasal cannula, which he also hated.
This thing is 'teh suck'.
You can bet that he was wide awake after that, so I put the radio on over the phone and held and rocked him. He kept trying to pull out the cannula and that one purple wire in the photo above, so the only thing I could do was to put him on my left shoulder, tuck his one hand into my armpit, hold him (under the wires) under his bum and hold his other arm down with my right arm as it held him over the wires. And rock. Which I did... For a solid hour. I thought he was asleep at one point and tried to put him down but it didn't work as he was crying and rolling and threatening to get tangled up all over again. Finally, he was a sleeping rag doll again around 3:15 and I tiptoed back to my cot. I had a hard time settling as well; I think I got back to sleep around 4, although I woke up several times to unfamiliar hospital sounds.
My eyes opened again at 10 minutes to 6, so with a sigh, I started quietly packing up the room. The test ended at 6 and our Tech was there promptly to unhook Wyatt from his torment. We turned all the lights on and found my little lamb sound asleep. I hated to wake him up but it was time to go.
Wakey, wakey Wyatt.
The conductive jelly that was in his hair, despite the reassurance that it was water soluble, would NOT come out with warm water and a cloth. I got him dressed, packed up the room, stripped the beds and was out by 6:30. I managed to get lost a completely new way before (gratefully) finding the Whaaambulance and my family waiting for me outside the Elm St. entrance. We rocketed home in the fog and by afternoon, all 5 of us went down for a nap. After a nice bath, Wyatt also had 95% of the tape and goo out of his hair.
My week did not end there as I had a 12 hour night shift the next night (May 2nd). I also start a new 4 day tour tomorrow (May 5th) but the kids have settled back into their routine. I won't know the results of the study for a while. In fact, I'm not sure how I will find out exactly; we will probably hear from one of his doctors and/or get a phone call or a letter. I do know that while I worked the night away, everyone slept very well at home, in their own bed.
It's been a busy, crazy, cranky and tiring spell for Team Logan, but we have come out the other side of it. I know I will be happy to see Wednesday morning (May 9th), when I start my next run of 5 days off. One of the good things about blitzing through a bunch of appointments is getting them all over with... which we have, until the next go around in a few months time. In the meantime, we won't be idle waiting for results. Instead, life will go on as it does for my raucous household. Full of laughter, life and love.
Now that's worth the price of a few crappy nights sleep, isn't it?
Labels: advocacy , communication , Down Syndrome , ears , ENT , hearing , heart , Occupational Therapy , pediatrician , sleep study , speech , speech therapy , Trisomy 21 , Twins
A Brief History of Down Syndrome, Part 3: All In ...


text:
Hexisopus aureopilosus es una especie de arácnido  del orden Solifugae de la familia Hexisopodidae.

Distribución geográfica
Se encuentra en Namibia.

Referencias

Aureopilosus
Arácnidos de Namibia
Arácnidos descritos en 1968

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia