Casa Rosada

On my way to San Telmo, I noticed that people were walking right inside Casa Rosada. What?! Ok me too. A free tour? Yes please! It was awesome!  There is a beautiful art room, the room celebrating the Women of Argentina in which the President gives important speeches. There is the Salon de Eva Peron.  The tour even includes the President's office! No photos allowed in there, but man, Christina has a LARGE pile of books on her desk, and very sweet photos in her office. Could you imagine visiting the Oval Office?! Apparently no one comes to work on the weekend, and the President lives elsewhere. I was so pleased with stumbling across this experience!

Evita's desk

Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo

This cartoon runs on the children's channel of the Argentine Ministry of Education, explains the reasons and history behind the "Rights of Identity" and exactly what the Abuelas are still working for.

I'm sorry it's only in Spanish...

Argentine Women

One of the most unexpectedly pleasant surprises of living in BA is seeing how many distinguished, well-dressed, older women they are. Women here do a wonderful job of taking care of themselves.

You might here that Argentina has a huge amount of plastic surgeries and its probably true, but of course that's not what I'm talking about at all. I'm talking about the two 70 year old women who sat next to me at the tea shop, with put together hair and make-up that celebrated their age, jewelry that added glamour, and sophisticated outfits like a button down shirt with a skirt and cute belt and nice sandals.

I LOVE the shoes in Argentina. So many flats, low heels, and wedges that women can actually walk in. (The current platform trend isn't my favorite, but that's why its a trend). As I was running I passed a woman walking down the street, about 60 years old, wearing skinny white pants with wedge sandals and a lovely colorful blue blouse with coordinated jewelry. Good fashion amongst older women here is just so plentiful!

Many seem very fit, that is likely due to where I'm staying, downtown, no need to drive, can walk and do all the errands.

Mostly, I love their sense of style. It's so classic. With most of the women I observe, you can tell the clothes aren't new, the shoes aren't spectacularly fashionable, the earrings aren't exorbitantly expensive.

I am in Recoleta, the most posh, ritzy and European part of the city. Shouldn't I expect this? But I think their sense of style is better than any US city or European city I've visited. Mostly I'm shocked by the shear number of women in their 60-80s I've seen that I've been impressed with. These women are not staying at home all day, they are getting out!

Ladies Night!

My local Tea Connection here in Recoleta has a Ladies Night, where they give you a 15% discount AND 5% of the proceeds goes towards women's groups via www.mujeres2000.org.ar.

This was made even sweeter by the fact that there was phad thai* on the menu!!! My first taste of asian food in South America, and while my photos didn't turn out well, the phad thai was delicious! Very unlike phad thai in the US though with corn, peas, and red onions. I also enjoyed a tasty berry iced tea. While ice is a rarity in other parts of BA, this place makes super icy iced tea. Perfect after a hot and humid run.

This might be the best addition to my UWorld QBank studying yet!

I love Argentinian food, but this phad thai was a real treat!

*spelled "phad" thai because that it how it was spelled on the menu :)

"91 degrees, feels like 110"

That was the weather report for this afternoon. Oh boy it's been a hot one today! And I take a long walk to Museo Evita. Haven't felt this close to passing out before.

Some photos of the day...

My fresh pasta with pesto and baguette with brie

Unnamed sculpture nearby Recoleta Mall

The best of the US

Museo Evita, the building previously housed one of Eva's shelters for Women and Children

Evita Peron

A collection of Evita's stylish outfits

BA street art

Hoy

I had a wonderful time in Recoleta this morning. Starting with te con leche y tres media lunas en La Biela. It was quite an affair!

 Afterwards I perused the Buenos Aires Design Center and the National Museum of Fine Arts

Just a few blocks from where I am staying, was Evita's home in the city. 

Ciao!

Sarah Préfère La Course

I attended my first film festival this Sunday. The Mill Valley Film Festival showed the American premiere of the Quebec Film "Sarah Préfère La Course", or in English, "Sarah Prefers to Run". The film is about a young woman who goes off to college and is disinterested in pretty much everything except running. My favorite part was the opening scene, starting with a track workout and then showing the competitors at the starting line of the race. It was in French with English subtitles, allowing me the opportunity to practice my French. I only wish they had taught the actress to run better. She kept swinging her arms too high in front of her and landing flat footed. Maybe next time recruit a runner?

After the film, we had the opportunity to meet the film's director, Chloé Robichaud, a demur 25 year old young woman with a strong French accent. I'm going to keep an eye out for the debut of her next film, "Country".  Looking forward to seeing Ben Stiller's premiere next Sunday. 

Sarah doing her thing

A grainy iphone selfie in the Sequoia Theater before the film began

Director Chloé Robichaud answering questions after the film. Photo © Jonathan Shensa

Weekly Goods

A good book...
Hilary Rodham Clinton's Living History
Finally finished it. My favorite part of the book was learning more about her younger days, at Wellesly College especially. It was also interesting to hear her opinions on the contrast between her image as First Lady when she tried to take on legislative roles vs advocate for women's rights internationally. Her China speech as Women's Rights being Human Rights is historic, a must watch, and an excellent call to arms. "If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all". I know that in the development world so many people are advocating for women's rights as a path towards development, and I think Hilary was the one who really set that agenda in action. I'd be proud to support her in 2016 if and when she decides to run. I couldn't think of a better candidate.

A good song...
Let Her Go
By Passenger, this is a beautiful song. I want to learn the guitar so I can play it myself.

A good film...
Miss Representation
A few facts I learned from this film... Cuba, Iraq, China, and Afghanistan have more women in politics than the U.S.... Did you know domestic abuse was acceptable denial of insurance as a "pre-existing condition?" (Thank goodness for Obamacare)...I also didn't know that the US is the only industrialized nation without paid family leave. Jennifer Newsom did a great job.

A good talk...
Stanford Population Health Symposium 
I attended Stanford's kick off conference debuting the new department of Population Health.  The best part was my lunch table conversation with Dr. Jack Rowe, former CEO of Aetna, and Dr. Mads Melbye, head of the Danish National BioBank -to say it was an interesting conversation is an understatement.

A good youtube..
Hitting the Wall
Paula Newby Frasier, one of the epic ironman triathletes in 1995 pushed herself beyond her limits. This is a heartbreaking and inspiring video illustrating her limits. "Totally surreal". It shows how dangerous athletics can be when we are strong enough to push ourselves beyond our limits. You get knocked down, but you get up again. That's the best 4th place finish I've ever seen.

Another good week in the books.

Who won tonight?

Women.

We voted an unprecedented number of women into the Senate (19 and counting).

We voted for all female representation in New Hampshire.

We voted for equal pay.

We voted for women's health to remain between women and doctors, not mandated by predominantly male legislators.

Most importantly, we moved one step closer to the tipping point.  Generally it's noted that 30% representation is the threshold at which women's issues (ie democratic issues like education, income equality, health care) to become front and center and truly championed and implemented. 19 is better than 17, but still short of 30...

Did you know?

A piece of women's history and medical history...

The first woman accepted into medical school, Elizabeth Blackwell, was only accepted because her admission was put to a vote by the class at Geneva College of Medicine. As a joke, the class unanimously voted for her acceptance.

Turns out the joke was on them, as she went on to graduate 1st in her class in 1849.

Really, 0/46?

This evening, after studying cardiac reflexes for a few hours, I decided to skim over all the lectures in my Cardiac Block. By the time I got to page 360 in the syllabus, I casually noted that there hadn't been a female professor yet. So I continued on, quickly turning  page after page, growing more dismayed...I made it to page 561, the last page, and was shocked to realize that I wouldn't have a single female lecturer in the Cardiac Block of HHD. I double checked the Table of Contents. Sure enough, it struck out, 0/46. Zero female professors.

I'm chagrined at this finding. I think its statistically highly improbable. I doubt that there are zero highly-qualified and capable female physician-educators at Stanford to teach the cardiovascular system to medical students. If there are zero, that's a whole other problem. I wonder how this could happen, how it could be unnoticed. I will make sure to raise this point with my peers, faculty mentors, and administration.

One of my favorite quotations is by Dr. Martin Luther King, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". I try my best to be alert and cognizant of the small, seemingly innocuous injustices that happen everyday around me. This is one that I'm speaking up about.

Got a New Book in the Mail!

My Amazon.com order came in, my new nighttime reading is Walking Out on the Boys, a true story written by Dr. Frances Conley about her days as a neurosurgeon at Stanford and what lead her to resign from her tenured faculty position.