Since this is one of my last entries I feel as though I should talk about my mentor Mr. Fitz. When I start to describe him a million positive adjectives dart through my brain, and when I settle on a few good ones I feel like I am leaving out some huge part of who he is and how he has helped me. I'll start with some background. I had Mr. Fitz sophomore year for AP European History. It was a very hard class, and I struggled. Even at that point, when I was doing worse than I ever had in a class (literally ever), I still had so much respect and gratitude for Mr. Fitz and the class. I learned so much, and the style of teaching was so different and effective(a lot of discussion, tying events in history to the present, drawing parallels), it became something I'd search for when selecting classes. I had Fitz again for APUSH, but didn't end up getting him for psych. When I found out Mr. Fitz was my mentor I was absolutely ecstatic. Throughout my second semester I met with Fitz pretty frequently and by the end of this semester met with him about once a week or more. A lot of times we would go off on tangents that stemmed from a specific situation at the vet, but every time I left Fitz's room I was wiser, happier, and more aware of myself and the situation I was in. A lot of times I would leave with one or more difficult questions to answer, not for Mr. Fitz, because he didn't usually follow up on them, but for myself. These questions proved crucial to my reflection process. Mr. Fitz was a mentor or role model to me long before my WISE journey. With Mr. Fitz I know I can be honest, and that's not something I would be able to say about another teacher. Mr. Fitz has seen my more radical side (you may have seen it a few times through out the blog) and that is a side I seldom show people. This paragraph does not begin to give Mr. Fitz justice for all that he's done for me and in his life. My WISE experience would not be the same if I had had any other person as my mentor.
This week was my final week at the vet. Since it was our final week, Madi and I decided to write a card and bring them some nice things. Friday is the day I usually go to the vet, and Madi stopped by towards the end of my time. I actually didn't want to leave. Everyone was so nice and thanked us for all the help we had been to them. This week I had been having a lot of deep talks with Edward, well not deep, but less forced. We talked a lot about Santa Cruz, as usual, and about this sandwich place he was going for his birthday. I actually got him to laugh with some sarcasm and sass! It's amazing that in such a short time you can become so close with people, especially when you only spend 5 hours a week with them. And now for some final thoughts on my time at Mt. Diablo Veterinary Clinic. At times through out the semester I really wanted to give up, or find a new third space. I thought I had made a mistake in choosing the vet. Even though a lot of the work I did was meaningless, I learned that I loved the people and that it is the people that make the experience. I have matured a lot from the beginning of the semester. One way I think I have matured is that I no longer think menial tasks are below me. Reading back on old journals I feel like at times I sounded bratty. I want to clarify that I am not opposed to tasks like taking out the trash, and understand that when starting out in positions, these tasks are necessary to earn your place and prove you belong. At first I was frustrated when assigned these jobs because I thought I should be doing more meaningful things with my time, and while I still believe this is true, I understand that doing things like cleaning up, taking out the trash, sweeping, etc, helped me belong and also led to me being treated as more of an equal (by most on the technicians at least). I have mixed feelings about my departure. On one hand I am relieved because I will have more time, and I won't be spending it taking out trash. On the other hand, I will really miss all the different personalities at the vet, and miss all their different beliefs. All in all I have made peace with my situation at the vet. Even though my WISE experience wasn't what I had hoped or had planned it to be, I am very thankful I was able to form the relationships I did with the people at the vet.
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A lot of animals come into the vet. These past two weeks probably had some of the strangest and surprising animals come in. First there was this beautiful black cat with bright orange eyes, brought in for a declaw. He had the most luscious coat, super thick and silky soft. I commented on how cool he was. Dr. Hagler responded by asking me if I knew what kind of cat it he was. It's always weird to me how there are different types of cats, for dogs it's normal, but cats I just don't think of being specific breeds. Anyway it turns out that this particular cat was a Scottish fold, and apparently, this cat cost $3,000. I mean seriously.. $3,000 for a cat. I'm such a cat person, but that just seems absolutely ludicrous. Going with the theme of cost, there was a very cute little Labradoodle girl puppy, these dogs are apparently very expensive. I am against breeding dogs, even though my family has a pure bread dog straight out of Italy, I personally would never go out of my way to contribute to the cruel industry of dog breeding. This little girl, still just a baby, could barely walk, when she moved she was in pain, and you could see that by looking at her mannerisms. Dr. Hagler said a while ago that the best way to tell if there's something wrong with a dog is just by looking at them. This puppy was dull and sad. Dog breeding, like many things, is run by money, the more dogs produced, the more money. This leads to inbreeding. When animals, of any kind, are inbred, the recessive traits of a "family" are brought to the surface. We recently covered this topic in AP Biology, so it is somewhat fresh in my mind. In zoos, cheetahs are being bred with horrible problems that shorten their life span, and would make it impossible to ever be released in the wild because they simply would not survive. The same is true for bulldogs, which have terrible hip and breathing problems, if you've ever heard a bulldog breath it sounds like an old man with emphysema and a terrible cold just finishing a marathon. Thanks to inbreeding practically all German Shepherd's suffer from hip dysplasia. And thanks to inbreeding, this poor baby girl would probably have to be put down, or live a life of pain and suffering.
Currently at the vet, my days consist of greeting the crew, waiting for them to finish declawing a cat or waking up a dog (the surgeries they do are almost always in the morning so I see the aftermath), and then being assigned a menial task. I don't want to sound bratty and entitled, but it seems that the newly earned responsibilities from the previous weeks have turned into tasks other technicians don't want to do. I am not opposed to taking out trash or sweeping up, but I didn't sign up for a janitor job. I would be very happy with taking out trash along with other things like drawing blood from animals, setting up slides to be looked at under microscopes, or running blood tests, but unfortunately taking out trash, sweeping, unloading boxes, and organizing products have been taking up all my hours. Recently I met with Mr. Fitz and talked about where I stand currently with my third space. I talked about how I felt like they may be taking advantage of the free labor and that I thought my time was kind of being wasted. Mr Fitz asked me if maybe it was me and not them, which is definitely a possibility. I guess I could ask for more opportunities, but it is difficult when I am constantly assigned other tasks. Here are some other questions Mr. Fitz asked me: Who am I to these people? Am I in any way an irritant? Am I in the way? Am I just there to do interesting work only when they are too busy to do it all themselves? After all, the rest of the time, it seems that they want me to do the boring stuff like clean up and trash collection while they are doing the interesting stuff. Have I done anything wrong socially or in my work or does the above really answer it? Obviously these are not questions I can answer, but I definitely need to consider these as my last few weeks come to an end. A couple of specific events stood out to me recently. The first was something that happened with a cat that had been brought in. I think the cat needed its teeth to be examined or cleaned so the veterinarians needed to nock him out. At the vet they frequently anesthetize animals but I had never seen one done like this. They basically cornered the cat into this tiny box and then put the lid on. the cat was terrified and was pressed up against the glass. I wanted to take a picture but was too afraid of getting in trouble. It was honestly shocking. The most frustrating part about all the things I've seen at the vet that I disagree with is, is that the animal never has a say and the animal is always at fault. I'm not saying that veterinarians are bad people, because what they do does usually help the animals, but humans in general just possess such a superiority over other animals we forget that we are animals ourselves. On a much happier note, a three legged dog came in. That kinda sounds bad.. I'm not happy that he has only three legs, but I am happy that he is doing so well. His leg had to be amputated because he had cancer in his femur (I believe). Missing a leg does not stop this dog at all. He wags his tail and runs around without a care in the world. He comes into the vet every now and again for check ups. They make sure his cancer isn't coming back and treat him like their own. It's definitely a more positive side to veterinary medicine that I easily forget happens. In a couple of weeks I have my presentation. I get absolutely terrible stage fright, so this presentation will be very difficult. I struggle doing 5 minute presentations with groups I don't know how I'm going to stand up in front of a group of people and talk for 40 minutes alone. Regardless of how prepared I am I know I will still be terrified. Recently I noticed, while I was giving feedback on another wise presentation, that I was talking very fast. Even in that situation I was pretty nervous, which is why I was talking so fast. Someone told me, after another wise presentation, that if you notice that you are talking to fast hold onto something and look around and you will slow down. That is definitely something I will do during my presentation. I need to do some research on how to be comfortable and confident, or at least seem like I am. This week at the vet some new things happened, that I wouldn't really have expected. The most important thing, and the thing that kind of shocked me, was that I was going to be given more responsibilities. Once Marilyn returned from lunch and after we greeted each other, she made an announcement to the vet that went something along the lines of "guys, Emily is going to be doing more around here. It's pointless for her to be here and not be able to do anything". I was so happy. It is true that at times the vet really did get boring, and when I was treated as a fly on the wall the hours barely trickled by. There were days where 5 minutes felt more like an hour, and those were usually the days when I wasn't mentally or physically engaged. Hearing that I was now allowed to help out and do some hands on/real life things made me excited. Not only was I going to be doing what I had hoped I would be able to do (run tests, help out with the animals, take blood, fill syringes with medication, but I was also now much more part of the vet. This new responsibility was their way of saying that they trusted me. At least that's how I interpreted it. The first task I was assigned was running "heart worm tests" basically, blood is taken from the animal (I did not do this), then put in these little tubes with a solution that keeps the blood from thickening (this is done whenever blood is drawn from an animal. Next the procedure is to take four drops of blood, add it to a small container thing with a pipet, and add 3 drops of another solution. Shake the mixture and pour it into to blood test chamber, and once the blood is properly soaked in, snap the container. It may sound either complicated or easy. Honestly it's a ridiculously simple task and basically busy work to everyone else at the vet. I don't see it that way because it's a lot closer to the type of hands on work I want to experience than standing and watching. For a while after Coachella I didn't have my car because my accidentally broke it by pouring water in the engine of something. Anyways, since I didn't have a car I had to rely solely on other people for rides, which I didn't actually mind too much. It was kinda fun. I didn't mind adapting my schedule to fit theirs and walking different places and getting picked up at different spots by whoever I could convince to pick me up haha. It felt like hitch hiking. One day my dad picked me up from the vet. I asked the people at the vet if they would like to meet him and they enthusiastically responded with yes. So I bring my dad into the vet and he starts chatting with Dr. Hagler who is just gushing about how wonderful Madi (Gibson, another miramonte student shadowing at the vet) and I are, and how great it is to have us in at the vet. Then he meets Marilyn who says that I remind her of her daughter. I don't see Marilyn too often, but was so nice hearing her say that. I really felt like part of the veterinary family. Research: I have read 3 research articles all pertaining to pure bread dogs. For a while I have had issues with the pure bread dogs I see. Not only at the vet. Prior to the vet I wasn't all too aware of the issues of pure breeding and as part of the pure breeding process, inbreeding. We had covered the harmful effects of a limited gene pool in bio, which is basically where there are not enough animals in one species in a given area, for them not to reproduce with those they are in close relation too. Basically recessive traits or illnesses specific to one "family", have almost no chance of being presented phenotypically (which is seen or apparent) without some level of inbreeding. The reason for this is that someone can be a carrier for a recessive trait, but unless they mate with another that is also a carrier, the trait will not be phenotypically presented in the offspring. (Not entirely sure how to explain this). This is exactly what happens with pure breeding. The gene pool is so limited, and the animals are forced to reproduced so frequently, that sometimes brother and sister mate and produce offspring with a lot of issues. If pure breeding were a thing for humans, it would 1. be illegal (which it basically already is) and 2. we would look like aliens. Jokes aside, it is a pretty serious issue and should be considered animal cruelty. Before I talk about the research I did from people that know a lot more than me, I'll say that I am sort of stereotyping all pure breeding dog breeders, and I'm sure there are a few that put the welfare of the animal first, however I also know people in general, and have come to realize that money and self-interest is almost always put before animal rights and safety. First article: 100 Years of Breed “Improvement”. This article was really cool because it had a lot of visuals. You can read a whole paragraph about inbreeding and the detrimental effects, but unless you actually have evidence, chances are you're not going to believe it. Here are two of the most shocking ones. The first was a bull terrier and what the bull terrier has become. In addition to its largely frightening features, the bull terrier has other issues like compulsive tail-chasing and extra teeth. The second photo is the English Bulldog. The article says that this dog has almost every possible disease and can now rarely mate or birth without medical help. My next article is called: The Purebred Paradox.
Here is an excerpt that backs up my prior beliefs: "Brachycephalic (or short-faced) breeds like bulldogs and pugs suffer from breathing problems; Great Danes and other large dogs from joint problems; long dogs like dachshunds and basset hounds from back problems; wrinkly-faced dogs like boxers and shar-peis from skin and eye problems. And due to prolific production to meet public demand, the most coveted dogs tend to have the most genetic disorders; Labrador retrievers, who’ve topped the AKC’s popularity list for 19 years, are prone to around 50 inherited conditions." It really is sad to see the destruction pure breeding has brought to these beautiful animals. Dogs are forced to suffer lives of pain and constant medical attention solely for selfish reasons on behalf of their owners and breeders. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad, I have pure bred dogs myself, it's just an issue people need to be educated on, in my opinion, so that this abuse can maybe come to an end. My third article is "Mixed or purebred puppy: which is better?" I was looking for an article to counter out all the negative things about pure breeding, if not simply to laugh at. I typed in "why is pure breeding good?' into google, and this was closest thing I got to an unbiased and somewhat factually correct article that gave both sides. Unfortunately however it mostly focuses on the human side of it, like costs/personality/expectations, instead of the welfare of the dog. It did mention that some breeders do genetic testing on the potential parents so that the chances of the puppies having genetic diseases is significantly reduced, which I think is a step in the right direction. |
AuthorMy name is Emily Burch. I am a student in the WISE program at Miramonte. This is my WISE journey (I think that's a good word for it). Archives
May 2015
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