It's been way too long since I seriously posted on this blog, which is too bad because I've had a lot of fun doing it over the past 3 years. In my defense things have been pretty busy lately. The following is just a brief summary of some of the things I've been to in the last few months, in addition of course to all the wonderful adventures that come with having a one year old, which you can read about at http://www.sacutojones.blogspot.com/ :
1) Graduation
In May I officially graduated from the University of North Carolina with a Master's of Science in Public Health degree, meaning that until I finish my PhD in a half decade or so, my name will always have the letters MSPH after it. I really loved being at UNC and find it hard to believe we've left and won't be living there anymore (you never know, right?). Chapel Hill is such a fantastic city and it was a ton of fun to be living in the south for the first time. If you're ever there, you have to get BBQ from Allan and Son's; it's my personal favorite. The graduation festivities were a ton of fun, especially because my mom received her doctorate on the same day, coincidentally from the same department of the same school. For what it's worth, my classmates named me "most likely to become a professor." I'll take it.My actual program was wonderful, mostly because of the fantastic faculty who consistently went above and beyond to serve as mentors and friends to all of us. Maybe it's just because my undergraduate experience set a low bar, but I've found UNC to be such a supportive and user-friendly place without sacrifice any of the academic energy you'd want at a top-notch university.
Of course it was a blast to be there when the Tar Heels won the basketball national championship. There's nothing quite like the way UNC treats basketball and I'm glad I'll get to have this allegiance for the rest of my life.
I know it's cheesy, but here's a video someone made about the tar heels winning:
2) Michigan
Chapel Hill was wonderful and although it was hard to turn down their offer to stay for my doctorate, I decided it was time for a new experience. I was also privileged to have the choice to go to Berkeley, and although that was also extremely hard to turn down, it became clear to me that the University of Michigan will be the best fit for me academically, culturally, "weatherly," and provide the kind of lifestyle that my family is looking for at the moment. There is a great group of 2-3 other students who are studying political science and public health in a way that I didn't find at any other university in the nation and I'm very excited to be joining them. In a year I will formally apply to also be a part of the political science, one of the top two or three in many rankings, including the categories of most interest to me.
I am also very lucky to be receiving a nice financial package which will cover tuition, fees, health insurance for my entire family, as well as provide a monthly stiped just big enough for us to survive on. I've only been in Ann Arbor for about 30 hours and Sarah has never been, so in some ways it feels like a leap of faith, but we haven't heard anything that wasn't extremely positive. The same was true going into Chapel Hill, and the same process of studying, praying, visiting, and talking to others worked out well for us then, so we're confident now. Being out of the country is making it difficult to find an apartment, so we've decided to go with student family housing like we did at UNC. It won't be quite as new and nice, but will be very comfortable. We'll essentially be in a 3 story town house with bedrooms upstairs, living room and kitchen downstairs and a full basement. After a summer in a small studio apartment in France it will feel like total luxury!
3) Active Living by Design
Around midnight of their last meeting last June, the Chapel Hill Town Council officially appointed me to their advisory board charged with encouraging physical activity. Our decision to move to Ann Arbor cut what would have been a 4 year term to just 1, but I'm so glad I did this. I've worked to support a lot of people in advancing their ideas and opinions, it was fun to have a seat at the table and share mine. It was also a great experience to learn of the frustrations that come with trying to accomplish something within a local government context. Everybody I worked with was incredible and the committee is accomplishing some important goals, none of which I can take much credit for. The first picture is a few of us at Town Hall after receiving a proclamation ready by Mayor Foy proclaiming October 2008 to be Go! Chapel Hill Month. I wrote a series of articles in the local paper on the subject. During my time on the board there were 3 high profile pedestrian deaths in Chapel Hill and 1 in neighboring Carrboro. Two of these happened on roads I regularly jog and 1 on a street I regularly drive. I happened to be near one of the scenes shortly after it happened and watched with horror as the helicopter made the short trip to the hospital. It was the experience of serving on this board that really solidified my interesting in providing access to safe facilities for pedestrians, joggers, and cyclists. This topic developed into my master's paper which in turn is developing into a manuscript I'm working on for publication, as well as research I am currently doing in northwestern France.
4) NCIOM
During the final year of my master's degree, including the entire preceeding summer, I worked as the Jim Bernstein Health Policy Scholar at the North Carolina Institute of Medicine. In some ways this was a glorified title interns received for a few years, but I felt privileged to receive scholarship money in honor of a man dedicated to improving health in North Carolina. I was able to work on a number of important issues while at the NCIOM, including writing chapters on physical activity and the provider work force. I played a role in the publication of multiple reports, including the recent report of the task force on substance abuse, the task force on prevention, and the task force on transitions for people with developmental disabilities. I also wrote a number of pieces for the North Carolina Medical Journal, including this summary of resources on patient advocacy which came out in the latest issue. I must admit it's kind of cool to see 3 or 4 entries under my name "Jones DK" in pubmed. Even still, I will probably best remembered by the IOM staff for covering the IT issues during last years annual meeting in which Uwe Reinhardt spoke to hundreds of us in NC by videoconference. It was a somewhat stressful assignment but we pulled it off. I'm going to miss everyone I worked with there; thank you!
5) Visa for France
This story certainly deserves it's own post, but I'll try to succintly hit the main points. Last summer I met Antoine Flahault, director of L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sante Publique (the French School of Public Health) and over time he invited me to come to France for the summer. I've been working with the HR and International Relations department at L'EHESP since last fall to get all the paperwork straightened out for me to receive a visa and be able to come, etc. They have been absolutely wonderful, but of course it came down to the wire and threatened to not get done in time. Few things stress me out more than visa and immigration issues, but that's a whole other story.
To receive the necessary visa I would need to make an appointment and drive to the French consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, more than 6 hours away to hand them my application. Of course, I couldn't do that until I received a document from the city of Rennes saying there is a qualified position available for me to take. That couldn't happen until I had a contract from the school signed by me, UNC, and the French consulate. In other words, I had to receive a document from France, which I signed and sent to the consulate in Atlanta, had them send it to me, so it could be brought to an official in Rennes. Once approved, these documents were then sent back to me so I could present them in person in Atlanta. It is bureaucracy at its nuttiest.
I finally received the necessary papers, made my appointment and drove to Atlanta. It was actually a pretty nice trip in which I stopped for BBQ along the way in Greenville, SC. I got to ATL that monday evening and killed time by running and working on my papers. My appointment wasn't until Tue afternoon so I spent the morning touring the Jimmy Carter Library which was a lot of fun. I finally made it to my appointment only to be told that the consulate only processes my type of visas in the mornings. "Only in the mornings?!?!" Despite pleading my case and giving the whole sob story about leaving behind my daughter, etc, it turned out there really was no way to process my kind of visa in the afternoon. Of course I couldn't get an appointment for the next morning, but he said to come early and be willing to wait and he'd try to squeeze me in. I left feeling like crying, but had to buy a change of clothes instead! I showed up the next day well before anyone who works at the consulate and was grateful the same man was there and called me up to the window first. He took my papers, went to the back room to make photocopies and came back with a silly grin on his face. The wall of bureaucracy broke down and he said "You'll never believe this, but it turns out that France changed their law last night so that someone in your situation doesn't need a visa." WHAT!?!?!?! "Are you a student?" Yes. "Will you be there less than 90 days?" Yes. "Are you American?" Yes. Then you don't need a visa. Wow. So just like that, after months of paperwork, 3 days wasted in Atlanta, including 13 hours of driving, and it turns out I didn't need a visa! My brother in law's wise advice was to be sure they didn't change the law again before I left! Well, I'm here and everything went well. They didn't even ask me a single question at the border. The guy just took my passport and stamped it. Even still, I'm glad I did everything I was supposed to do, even if that happened to change while I was in the process of doing it!
6) Phish
Like I've posted before, I thoroughly enjoy the group Phish and am very excited they're touring again this summer. I'm sad I won't able to catch any of their upcoming shows but am so glad I spent the $ (yes it wasn't cheap) to see one of their shows in Hampton, Virginia last March. Here's a couple brief clips to give you a taste of how insanely fun that show was. Imagine being in about the 15th row during this madness. If you don't have the patience to watch the whole thing, fast forward the first clip to about the 2 minute mark. The second clip was not shot by me but was about where I was standing and gives you a feel for how intense it is to be on the floor of a Phish show, as well as the creative improvisational skills of the band and their lighting guy Chris Kuroda.
7) Running
I've decided to start training for another half marathon and am loving it. I am still not that fast but it feels great. I am targeting a race in eastern Michigan in late September and am already actively training, running 5-6 times per week. More on that some other time.
8) Traveling
During the last few weeks I have been to a number of incredible places, including Atlantic Beach NC, London UK, Paris, Rennes, and Toulouse. I'm a bit burnt out on traveling and look forward to being somewhat stable (although I am traveling to Toulouse again this weekend to pick up my wife and daughter and bring them back to Bretagne with me. While in London I toured Stamford Bridge, the stadium of the football (soccer) team Chelsea. I am not a Chelsea fan in particular (Liverpool!) but thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Here's my video of the route the players take from the locker rooms to the pitch (field).
9) L'EHESP
I am finally situated at L'Ecole des Hautes en Sante Publique in Rennes (in Bretagne in northwestern France). I am very happy to be here and am extremely grateful for everyone that has gone so far out of their way to make my visit pleasant. More about that and what I'm doing here in a later post.
