Jenny Quinn

January 27 Day 325: The Day After

I thought recovery would be a breeze. I slept most of yesterday with only slight cramping. Nothing remarkable. Not even a 2 on the pain scale. So I proceeded with a normal Wednesday’s worth of activity. After all, I’m just walking down the hallway and sitting at my desk. By three pm, I was exhaustedContinue reading “January 27 Day 325: The Day After”

January 26 Day 324: Women’s Health, Amirite?

Warning: This post contains TMI. Read at your own risk. I’ve been contemplating this post for a long time. But today two things happened that gave me strength to put it out there: A friend posted about her hot flashes pointing to the failure of healthcare to address our real experiences. I spent the morningContinue reading “January 26 Day 324: Women’s Health, Amirite?”

January 24 Day 322: In the Details

I am always surprised when students, even great students, neglect to read instructions. Is it from computer fatigue? The class is delivered online. The book is available online. The assignment is posted online. If they did well on previous assignments, why not just do the same thing and spend less time online? Is it fromContinue reading “January 24 Day 322: In the Details”

January 23 Day 321: Zoom Refresher

It’s been 321 days since remote teaching in Washington State began. We learned enough to get by and for some people that was sufficient. But as we continue teaching from a distance, I would like to propose there are better ways. And rather than rejecting suggestions out of hand, I ask that you open yourContinue reading “January 23 Day 321: Zoom Refresher”

January 22 Day 320: Portraiture

This has been a week with plenty of art—painting with bacterial culture and drawing on my iPad. My favorite caricature from illustrating a scientific conference was of bacteria playing volleyball with a streptomyces spore inspired by Alice Muok’s talk at #BLASTXVI and Haikyu!, the manga/anime series my youngest and I bonded over (and kindly referContinue reading “January 22 Day 320: Portraiture”

January 21 Day 319: Connection

Today was punctuated with many one-on-one interactions with people I care deeply about. Whether it was planned research time, a fortunate coincidence in Gather.town, a telephone call (gasp, how novel!), or the family meal, everything helped make this world a little smaller and a little more caring. Plus I got to work with my studentsContinue reading “January 21 Day 319: Connection”

January 20 Day 318: Grey Hairs

I needed a new “professional” photograph. I considered using a Zoom screenshot with appropriate background, but instead asked my husband to help out. He took more than 100 photos with various backgrounds. I don’t particularly like photos of myself. And COVID isolation weight gain hasn’t improved my self image. I see myself on Zoom daily.Continue reading “January 20 Day 318: Grey Hairs”

January 19 Day 317: A Conference Illustrated

My husband is attending the virtual Bacterial Locomotion and Signal Transduction (BLAST) 2021 conference this week (beginning at 6 am PST) . They have enlisted a biologist/artists to create artwork in response to the talks that they attend. Mark and I are collaborating on #LuxArt contributions. It’s all rather “meta” since it uses bacteria asContinue reading “January 19 Day 317: A Conference Illustrated”

January 18 Day 316: Beginner’s Mind

This quarter I am teaching the second course in the two quarter sequence of undergraduate abstract algebra. I use inquiry based learning and that means I need everyone to be able to present and share their work with others. I wish everyone could have an iPad (or any other touch screen tablet). But it isContinue reading “January 18 Day 316: Beginner’s Mind”

January 17 Day 315: Financial Aid

I spent the morning providing financial documentation above and beyond the FAFSA for my son’s college applications. It is unlikely we qualify for need-based aid even with two sons in college next year. But you never know about merit-based aid unless you apply. And the same forms are required. Those hallowed institutions of higher educationContinue reading “January 17 Day 315: Financial Aid”