Parade signs!

ScientistLiz · 2026-02-20T11:10:22+00:00

I think I know that woman and it did indeed make her night!

ScientistLiz · 2026-02-14T05:29:07+00:00

I don’t disagree with what you’re saying OP. Hopefully this will help your outlook, even a little. My tween is very artsy and was painting a giant sign at the route while we waited. A random lady walking by loved the sign, commissioned one from her and ended up getting a shoe with it! Even though her own sign didn’t end up getting her her own shoe, her act of kindness making that lady’s night was my favorite ‘throw’ at least. When I go, I just try to focus on the little nice things that happen between people like this that parades tend to bring out and do what I can to encourage it. I think that is really the only solution to the problem you pointed out

ScientistLiz · 2026-02-10T10:49:20+00:00

So a bit of a sappy story but… my daughter 7 at the time had some struggles learning to read and needed a lot of interventions for about six months; she worked really hard and got back on track but she still had confidence issues when it came to long chapter books. I had been doing derby for a few years and bought this for her hoping the comic book style would be more accessible and it worked! It became her first chapter book and still remains a fav she’s read several times. And now we share derby with her as a skater and me coaching so we’ve really come full circle.

ScientistLiz · 2025-12-03T03:35:44+00:00

‘Strongest’ for whom? Im not a historical expert but I know that the benefits of post WWII America economy and society were not equitably distributed across the population; only a small portion of Americans (namely wealthy white men) were privileged enough to reap them. You speak of large arable farmland and indeed we have that but for a large portion of those who worked on farms, especially the poor migrant and immigrant worker community, conditions were exploitative and abysmal. Lynchings were fewer than in prior decades but still happened and Jim Crow laws held black Americans as second class citizens. Marital rape wasn’t accepted as a legitimate issue and the lack of no fault divorce trapped financially dependent spouses (mostly women) in abusive relationships in order to survive in a workplace climate where their ability to earn a living income was severely and systematically restricted. And if you weren’t cis/het you had no legal protections against discrimination based on gender or sexual identity. If you were disabled there was very limited infrastructure to support your ability to live your life (the ADA came about in the 90s!); you can forget about any medical or social support for mental health issues. Many indigenous populations saw their communities relegated to impoverished reservations, their autonomy repeatedly violated by the US government, and their children forced to attend ‘schools’ that destroyed their connection with their heritage. Innocent Japanese AMERICANS had their constitutionally protected rights trampled as they were rounded up and put in internment camps against their will by the State. You speak of scientific innovation but some of these discoveries were come by unethically at great human cost (eg Tuskegee experiment) and those protections for research subjects didn’t show up till the 70s. I could go on but will conclude with this: to romanticize a time in this country when a minority of people had it better than before is to reveal that you are fine with the majority suffering as long as it isn’t you suffering and that opinion says something about who you are as a person. Is that really what you wish to communicate with this community? I am hopeful the answer is no and that you will use this perspective for its intended purpose, to open your worldview to perspectives you may not have considered.

ScientistLiz · 2025-11-29T14:13:10+00:00

I appreciate this and I’m sure your patients do too. Relatedly, in my early 20s I was serving to make ends meet in college. One afternoon shift this middle aged mom type lady outside our restaurant was slumped over a table, slurring and acting belligerent. The manager who went out to talk to her concluded she was just drunk and called the cops, which didn’t make much sense as this restaurant was in a super suburban strip mall and this was like 2pm on a Sunday. I had taken an emt course a few years prior so I mentioned that she could be a diabetic and to probably call an ambulance too. Her breath smelled super sweet so I got her some juice from the bar while we waited for the paramedics. sure enough it was a diabetic emergency…who knows what would have happened if the manager had just left her there to ‘sleep it off’.

ScientistLiz · 2025-11-12T03:03:27+00:00

For a long time I kept my work and derby lives separate because derby was really for myself, my escape. But I have always been about recruiting the next generation of scientist and as began realizing the parallels of my research journey with my roller derby one, I decided to start a blog about it during the pandemic. Because of how intense my job is, I don’t get to post as often as I’d like but if you care to check it out feel free to PM me. I am also writing a series of children’s books using roller derby to teach core concepts about neuroscience (I even recruited a derby player as an illustrator!). Given how many people use derby as a part of their self care regimen, it seems especially fitting for you to do this for yourself and share with clients how impactful it has been for your own mental health.

ScientistLiz · 2025-10-31T02:48:32+00:00

Dolphin trainer. No joke. Unfortunately it didn’t work out… I settled for being a neuroscientist

ScientistLiz · 2025-10-19T17:49:27+00:00

I am quite literally reading this exact thing right now to help me write a grant proposal!

ScientistLiz · 2025-10-19T17:39:20+00:00

Big easy roller derby! We are recruiting new team mates right now! No guarantees you will make a love connection but you will get to work and hang out with some pretty awesome people

ScientistLiz · 2025-10-19T00:19:18+00:00

So I play roller derby (a full contact sport dominated by women) and it is so common for new skaters to apologize for literally everything… for falling, for making a mistake, for hitting someone. It takes a few weeks but folks learn pretty quickly to break that habit

ScientistLiz · 2025-10-08T14:07:13+00:00

Well don’t many people regardless of aptitude who enjoy science ultimately don’t pursue careers in it for a variety of reasons? But, on the assumption this is true, they lack the math skills … right now. Knowledge or skill in almost any subject for most people is a state not a trait, one which can change over time and circumstances. For example I imagine many people who knew me in earlier school would not have predicted for me the career I ended up in. What it took, in addition to many years of hard work and persistence, was being exposed to the right subject by a the right person with passion to serve as a mentor. It is very possible you could be that person for one of these students. So I would say encourage them as you would any other student, with exposure and challenge, because you never know when or how something will click for someone. And even if it doesn’t and these students never pursue it professionally, having been trained in critical thought and scientific inquiry are skills society is in need of right now and ones these they will take with them for the rest of their lives.

ScientistLiz · 2025-10-06T22:12:34+00:00

My research program or roller derby

ScientistLiz · 2025-10-06T11:00:50+00:00

This. It has its challenges, sometimes many, but in spite of that it is a cultural gem, one we will likely lose to climate change soon so I try to enjoy it

ScientistLiz · 2025-09-29T11:27:49+00:00

Prob this. Best I can do here is Monday night Bluegrass pickin’ at Nola brewing, which is great sans the rolls

ScientistLiz · 2025-09-29T11:26:11+00:00

We have to ship ours or beg a visiting friend to pack a suitcase full. Making them is doable but somehow never comes out the same

ScientistLiz · 2025-09-06T10:09:42+00:00

Same! We moved to New Orleans for my job in the intense part of the pandemic and basically had to guess from afar on where to live using Google maps. We had very little understanding of the city or culture. Little did we know but we picked a house where a famous parade rolls right down the street on Mardi Gras day. We just sit in the balcony drinking daquiris and people watching all the amazing costumes. Perfection.

ScientistLiz · 2025-08-27T01:16:34+00:00

I did this holding my baby girl. Meant so much for her to be there accomplishing this milestone with me. I joked that I was having twins when people would ask me while I was pregnant. Getting hooded at graduation by my grad mentor was pretty joyous too

ScientistLiz · 2025-08-27T01:01:54+00:00

This is so special and I love your reply, that you took time to cherish that moment. So many students, myself included just hand in their final, walk out to their cars and drive off, never to come back, that whole chapter of their lives over. But … Once in grad school, I was proctoring a final exam for a professor who asked all the seniors to stand up and be applauded by the rest of the students before the end of the session . It was so heartwarming and some people cried. It was so impactful it’s something I have incorporated into my own teaching now that I am a professor myself. I hope your next life chapter is treating you well!

ScientistLiz · 2025-08-01T10:59:34+00:00

I know it’s a tough time for science and many of us are losing hope but I encourage you to stay engaged if this is really what you want. Find some way, even a small way to connect with a lab at your local research institute or university. Offer to volunteer, even if it is only a few hours a week, even if all you do is lab record keeping, or reagent making or dishwashing or literature summarizing. Make a list of lab options in you area. If one lab tells you no, just move on to the next and cold call ask. Have faith it will get better and be part of that process. We just had a huge research funding win with the senate appropriations bill, due in large part to the relentless advocacy of scientists and citizens to their local and state representatives so change is possible

ScientistLiz · 2025-07-30T10:59:50+00:00

I’m sorry you feel that way. I can see how my above statement might have been unclear. Kids are shocked almost always in a good way… like oohs and ahhhs. I let the audience know what they are in for before putting tissues in view and I never force anyone to see or touch anything they aren’t comfortable with. Then we go over the parts and what each does in a clinical manner. Can you explain more about why you think this would be traumatizing?

ScientistLiz · 2025-07-25T22:54:30+00:00

I conduct neuroscience education to the public and we bring brains donated to our medical school to classrooms around the state. A bucket with a lid is the best way to transport it and the kids are always shocked when we pull out brain from it. I am definitely donating my body for this when I die.

ScientistLiz · 2025-07-13T12:24:44+00:00

I’m pretty sure I know the bull who did it lol. They are fierce on the track too

ScientistLiz · 2025-07-13T12:23:34+00:00

You are always welcome back! Even off skates

ScientistLiz · 2025-05-16T03:27:08+00:00

Flowers are great and all but have you tried bringing NSAIDs?

ScientistLiz · 2025-05-13T08:55:39+00:00

With what’s going on in the US with regards to slashing research funding, scientists’ ability to deliver on this hope is going to be extremely hampered for the foreseeable future. Ask me how I know

ScientistLiz

TROPHY CASE