So what will your legacy be?*

On the day before the presidential inauguration, I saved a quote from an article by Tony Rhodin, an editor for a local Pennsylvania newspaper (The Express-Times Daily). What he wrote was surprisingly simple, but true:

Obama's early legacy will be based on his actions, not his rhetoric. He has a huge majority in Congress and has huge public support. He is positioned to do great good. The real question is if he can.**

I think it was Gandhi who said that action expresses priorities. If the Senate is ultimately successful in passing the health care reform bill this week, then we'll not only have concrete proof of our government's political priorities, but also a poignant preview of the presidential legacy that Obama is poised to leave behind.***

*Lyrics from Wakey Wakey's "War Sweater".
**Rhodin, Tony. "Barack Obama's legacy will be one of action -- or lack thereof." LeHigh Valley Express-Times. 19 Jan 2009.
***Read more about the current developments & some of the basic reforms included in the health care bill here, on the NY Times: "Health Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate with 60 Votes".

H.R. 3962, in the House.

Recent weekend developments worth mentioning

In Atlanta:

Crystal Method

Via @ Buckhead

And in health care reform:
- Obama Calls Health Care Bill's Passage 'Courageous' (NY Times)
- Is the House Health Care Bill Better than Nothing? (Huffington Post)
- House health care bill has nowhere to go in Senate (Yahoo News)

Let the health care debates begin... again. Try to formulate your own opinions after actually reading the bill.

An island made of mud (and med students).

Better late than never: An Update from Fall Break

Memphis (a.k.a., my escape from the monotony that ATL has morphed into as of late) - was exactly what I needed: a chance to get away, relax, and recuperate with good food and an even better friend. Not to mention, I was unusually productive during the four days that I spent there.

UT Memphis Medical School

Aside from spending quality time on Mud Island with my friend on the week of her birthday, a few other highlights from my fall beak trip include visiting the UT Health Sciences Center and Medical School (and sitting in on a 2-hour anatomy GI lecture!), meeting some genuinely engaging UT med students, having an amazing meal at Papa Pia's downtown, and dining out at Pei Wei for my first time.

The "Cinderella" carriage

True, I didn't partake in the usual "tourist" activities, aside from my drive-by tour of St. Jude Children's Hospital, my brief encounters with the Memphis trolley line, and a couple glimpses of the Cinderella-like horse-drawn carriages downtown. But I'd trade the comfortable company of an old college friend for all that Memphis jazz any day.

(Techincally, Memphis is the birthplace of rock 'n roll and the "home of the Blues", but I was just using a euphemism to prove a slightly belabored point.)

Oh, and something cool to amaze your friends with your current political and pop knowledge: If you haven't heard, Kalpen Modi (a.k.a. the "Kal Penn" of Harold & Kumar, The Namesake, and the TV Show "House") recently started working at the White House as an associate director in the Office of Public Engagement, formerly known as the Office of Liaison.
And Penn Masala even performed at President Obama's Diwali celebration this week! If you've never heard them sing live or listened to a recording of them, prepare to be blown away by their unique synthesis of Eastern and Western musical elements.

"The time for games has passed."*

May God bless sushi, and God bless the United States of America.

"The time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now's the time to deliver on health care."

President Obama made a markedly dramatic speech on health care reform tonight, one that drew cheers of both praise and disapproval. He promised that any plan wouldn't add a dime to our budget deficit and that spending cuts would be made in other areas to counteract the costs of the health care bill*. He promised to reduce "the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid... [to] pay for most of this plan."* But, most of all, he promised to follow through.

Now the question remains, is Congress willing to do the same? Because all the speeches to constituents and all the promises in the world mean absolutely nothing if no one takes concrete steps towards action and change. For the health of each individual American and the health of America as a whole, let's hope for the best.

*Quotes taken from President Obama's Congressional Address on Health Care Reform, Sept. 9, 2009. Watch it here on MSNBC or read the transcript on CBS news.

Expect the unexpected.

Andrew Card, the former Bush White House chief of staff, said, "August is a challenging time to be president. I think you have to expect the unexpected."*

Hypothetically, if I were to intentionally spin that quote to better fit my own situation, say, in a blog entry, I'd note that August is also a pretty challenging time to be a recent college graduate, move into your own apartment with minimal help from others, and start an accelerated graduate program. Not only do you have to expect the unexpected, but you also have to learn to handle it reasonably well.

A rose from our garden at home (Mobile, AL)

Photograph taken by Dr. Sailen Barik

Today was definitely a case in point.

After spending about five days at home in Alabama, I departed for my five-hour drive back to Atlanta. One unexpected power outage, two four-way intersections without functional traffic lights, and over a dozen torrential downpours later, I arrived in Atlanta.

Unfortunately, more unexpectedness was still to come.

Granted, you can't really hope for the royal treatment when you're paying nearly nothing for an old, starter apartment within 5 minutes of an unbelievably expensive university - but after moving in loads of items in the summer heat and unpacking for an hour or two, there's a basal standard of living that you do expect: running water, functional air conditioning, and, perhaps, a general level of cleanliness (i.e., no mold, unfriendly rodents, or pesky pests with wings or antennae).

There's certainly running water and no mold, but so far, I've killed two small spiders, one creepy roach, and two unidentifiable six-legged (or maybe eight-legged?) arthropod-like creatures... and there are probably more that either got away or couldn't be caught in the sweltering 88 degree heat of my apartment interior - because the air conditioning, according to my "interesting" roommate (for lack of a better adjective), apparently "works sometimes if you don't keep it on for too long, but the temperature usually doesn't change".

For the time being, I've borrowed a sizeable floor fan from my roommate, but it's safe to say I'll be stopping by the leasing office first thing tomorrow morning. Paris might not have had central air, but at least the outdoor temperature was cool enough at nights to open the windows and breathe in chilly, fresh gusts of oxygen...

Andrew Card might have gotten it wrong in his TV interview last week - I'm pretty sure that every month is a challenging time to be president. And I'm pretty sure that September will also be a trying time to be a new graduate student in a starter apartment.

At least I know to "expect the unexpected" now.

*Quote from Frank Rich's August 8th Op-Ed article in the NY Times, "Is Obama Punking Us?"

The Joy of Less.*

Street painter outside of Centre Pompidou... The French love President Oh-bah-ma.

My weekends officially start on Thursday nights, since we don't have classes on Fridays. Last Friday, our study abroad group had a planned excursion to Versailles, preceded by an incredibly filling and delicious lunch (on Emory's dime) at the Bouillon Racine - salad, canard (duck), creamy mashed potatoes, amazing French bread, and a gigantic crème brûlée. I asked the waiter for chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), and he almost had a heart attack, because it's an extreme faux-pas to request hot chocolate during lunch time, especially at a fancy restaurant like the Racine. Then, he interrogated me to make absolutely sure that I knew what I was getting myself into - "Chocolat chaud? You are sure?!?! You want chocolat chaud now? At this time of day?!?!" When he finally brought me the deliciously sweet concoction, he emphasized how it was especially made for me and that I would have to enjoy every last sip of it. I drank it down to the very last drop. Janet Folger would have been proud.

I first learned about Versailles (and all the French royalty, the French Revolution, etc.) in my 8th grade French class, and was really looking forward to the trip to the estate... but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Perhaps it was because the tour guide (a nice old lady) took forever to explain every little thing down to each minute detail, or maybe because I came in with so much prior knowledge about French history that the castle itself didn't tell me any more than I already knew from class and the books I had read.

View from the escalator of the museum (President Obama and his wife went through this exact corridor the next day!)

On Saturday, I spent the day at Centre Pompidou, explored the area and the Paris Museum of Modern Art, and finally learned how to use a camera. My favorite pictures from the day are interspersed, somewhat arbitrarily, amongst the paragraphs of this entry. Centre Pompidou wasn't on the official itinerary for the trip, as my friend Sam and I decided to check it out on our own, but it was most definitely a great (and free) way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The side view of Centre Pompidou (The exposed colored pipes are not only decorative, but also functional, apparently.)

It turns out that tourist attractions aren't always exactly what they're cut out to be in guidebooks, especially when you're visiting a foreign place for something more than superficiality and sight-seeing, but moreso to actually experience the culture first-hand. More often than not, the best part of being abroad is truly spending time like a local - sitting on the crowded metro as your personal space is invaded by countless strangers, walking around the streets of Paris with a huge baguette sticking out of your purse, and spending entire weekend afternoons at small cafés, with a book in one hand and a steaming cup of chocolat chaud in the other, watching as city-goers pass by on the sidewalk. I don't have a cell phone, a car, or a TV here, but sometimes, less is so much more.

*Title deliberately taken from Pico Iyer's latest post in the NY Times' Happy Days blog - a definite must-read.

Hope for the future.

I just got the best phone call ever - it made my day, week, month, year. Today, I was accepted to my first choice for public health school.

In his inaugural address yesterday, President Obama said, "[G]reatness is never a given. It must be earned." Although I am in no way equating myself to be on the same platform as the forefathers of our democracy and the countless men and women who secured freedom for our nation, his words resonated in my mind; and I'm sure that power and sheer conviction with which he spoke inspired so many others, as well. As trite as it might sound, now, more than ever, I'm actually motivated to not take shortcuts, to not settle for less, to do more and to do better - all the concepts that our 44th so eloquently voiced in his speech, after taking his presidential oath. And, as if the former sentence weren't already cliché enough, to me, greatness isn't about status or power or fame, but moreso about being able to reach one's true potential - and academic pursuit, first and foremost, provides that opportunity.

The next time someone asks me, "So, what are your plans after graduation?" - I'll actually have an answer. I can tell them I'm finally on my own path to earning greatness.