Writing

 
 

Panic! At the Ultrasound

Alone, I walk into one of the buildings in the conglomerate towering over me. Past the check-in desk, then left across the atrium. Pink ribbons dapple the windows looking into the waiting room I am heading toward. It isn’t long before a young woman in pink scrubs appears and calls my name. She seems remarkably unbothered, while I am bracing for the ground to drop out from under me. It could happen at any second.

 

In the mountains, I am free

The golden sun warmed the brown and gray mountains. Short alpine grasses leaned into the wind and reached for oxygen at the high elevation, always finding a way to bloom. I was sitting in the passenger seat of my mom’s car with the windows rolled down, so I could take in the sweet smell of pines and the crisp Colorado air.

We drove up to the top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, probably my favorite place on earth. We didn’t stop much, and when we did, it wasn’t for long. I had surgery less than a week before and couldn’t hike for miles like I usually would in this place.

 

Boston’s role at the center of vaccine history in the U.S.

Threads of both vaccine development and vaccine resistance can be found throughout the course of American history. Hesitancy over vaccine development was prominent before the first vaccine was created, and continues to grow today despite technological advancements and refined experimentation. Mandatory inoculation of soldiers of the Continental Army was critical to early American history and was defended a century later in a Supreme Court decision that shapes Covid-19 public health policies today.

 

Breaking down the episode graphics for DigEthix season 1

The first season of our podcast DigEthix, hosted by CMAC Doctoral Fellow Seth Villegas, has wrapped. The podcast breaks down issues of ethics and technology from both a technical and sociopolitical perspective. Our goal is to help the next generation of technologists to build better systems and to avoid potential ethical pitfalls. We take a look back at the first season by discussing the graphics used for each episode.