The Egyptian goddess Isis was celebrated as the ideal wife and mother. The blogger known as Dr. Isis has some fancy-sounding degrees and is a physiologist at a major research university working on some terribly impressive stuff. She blogs about balancing her research career with the demands of raising small children, how to succeed as a woman in academia, and anything else she finds interesting. Also, she blogs about shoes. In fact, she blogs a lot about shoes.
...And behold, he raised the motherfucking Jameson on high as Isis bedecked her feet in glory, and the masses were sated. -- The Holy Gospel According to PhysioProf
My blogroll has gotten too big for the regular sidebar! So, check out all of the delightful blogs that Dr. Isis reads regularly by clicking here. If you'd like to be added to the blogroll, shoot an email to isisthescientist at gmail dot com.
Have you seen the Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" video? I cannot get this song out of my head and thought I might suggest it to Your Hot Scientistness. I have a job interview coming up, and between planning my tastefully conservative ensembles and my clear, concise, and clever job talk, I am watching this video over and over. I wish instead that I could be standing there in the seminar room in a dress trailing a polar bear with the whiteboard behind me on fire. How can I channel some of that fierceness in a way that will result in a job offer and not an arrest record? As an expert in hot science, you must have ways to bring out the goddess while nervous and sleep-deprived.
Your humble admirer,
Sign me
"a biologist"
Oh, I have seen it and it is ferosh. Good luck with the interview!
For the record, I almost titled this blog post, "Ask Dr. Isis - How are You So Hot?" But, man, that would have taken hundreds of thousands of words. My amazing science aside, there are a bazillion reasons I am hot and I have not the time to list them all. Speaking of time to write, I have poured myself a glass of almond champagne and I am ready to answer this letter:
Dear Isis, Creator of Hot Science, Guardian of Fabulous Shoes (and scientists' right to wear them), and overall Light of the Universe,
How on Earth (or any other planet) do you make time to write?
I first stumbled upon your blog last year, just after your move to ScienceBlogs. I read as often as I can, but being a first year veterinary student doesn't leave me a lot of minutes to rub together. That being said, I keep a blog mainly for the benefit of family and friends who want to keep up with my adventures. I certainly have plenty I'd like to say, but find it challenging finding, or making, or protecting the time to do so. Is it about protecting a chunk of time every day (I'd even settle for every week!)? Do you write a little bit in all the little extra minutes you find, wherever you find them? Do you take notes throughout the day and then turn them into a post in the evening? I'd love to hear any tips you might have to share.
Most sincerely,
Jane Herriot*
*inspired by your psuedonym(ity?)
(janeherriot.blogspot.com, if you're curious). [I was curious, and I checked it out. Your blog is adorable and I'd encourage my readers to go give it a gander!]
I get this question a lot. I mean, a lot. Just the other day, one of my favorite Twitter followers @Glfadkt tweeted the following:
@drisis When do you find time for doing that hot research? Or sleeping?
It's not easy, and I really don't sleep enough. During the week, I'm a 5-6 hour a night kind of gal and we have begun a new study that frequently requires my attention overnight. While I don't recommend it, I seem to function alright this way.
But, here's the secret to my blogging: it's not quite my first day at the rodeo. Although I've only been Isis the Scientist for about 18 months, I started blogging about 8 years ago under circumstances much like Jane Herriot's. I was in school, away from home, missing the people I love, and was looking for an outlet to talk about the things that were going on. I didn't post every day, and I didn't always post anything profound. At one point when I was writing my dissertation, I posted this to my blog:
I just had this for lunch:
And let me tell you, I do NOT recommend it. It took at least 1/4 cup of salt
to make it not taste like licking my own ass.
This shit is not fit for human consumption.
Not exactly a triumph in blog journalism. I also posted this little gem:
In the time of my youth I really liked American Apparel. I would get t-shirts
there and I always thought they were really hip. Well, today while I was
looking at Perez Hilton (yes, I looked at Perez instead of running/biking), I
saw an ad for American Apparel advertising these:
And at first I thought that American Apparel had simply lost its nut thinking
that today's woman/girl would wear such craziness. But apparently American
Apparel does not think that today's woman/girl will wear such craziness because,
as soon as I clicked Perez's link I realized something....
Even though American Apparel advertises these as hot pants for women, they
are clearly being worn by a man.
And he looks better in them.
As a new blogger, that really worked for me. I had a happy little non-demanding audience of maybe 150 of my friends and family members, updating them on my life, my little family, and generally about my work. Heck, it worked for me for almost 7 years. It was an opportunity to share things about my life that I didn't have time to call and everyone personally and it let me maintain a little community of the people I loved that I couldn't maintain in real life. There was also zero pressure to regularly post because that audience was very forgiving.
Then when I moved to my current MRU, I found myself writing a lot more about science and my career. I think my happy little audience got bored with my science meanderings and I decided to start a new, more science-focused blog as Isis the Scientist. I don't know where I figured it all would go, but I became a part of a new community that I really value.
My move to ScienceBlogs has created a new community that I value, but also a new set of expectations. For example, I am under contract to post a particular number of posts per week. While I have never known them to be enforcers of this requirement, I generally try to meet it. I also am paid a modest, but generally competitive, stipend based on the amount of traffic I generate. So, that adds a little extra pressure. One of you once asked why I say I feel guilty when I don't blog. Well, I figure if I get paid because you show up here, I should probably put something up for you to read.
But, blogging as Isis the Scientist has been far from a personal money making endeavor. My blog revenues have allowed me to increase my personal philanthropy to science organizations and charity. Last year, including my donation to the David Bruce Award (which I intend to repeat this year), I was able to make about $2000 in pseudonymous donations to different organizations from your clicks. That's a lot of click-y power. I also get a lot of letters from my readers that I try to answer and I take that very seriously. In that sense, I look at my Science Blog as a service activity and devote as much time to it as I would any regular service activity.
Being Isis the Scientist is not without reward. The individuals above me at my MRU and some other important folks in my field know that I am Isis the Scientist and sometimes I get a professional bone thrown my way. Being involved in the blogosphere has been a way for me to gain professional insights I would not have had access to if I weren't Isis. For example, I once met another scienceblogger, more senior than me in her field, and we were driving in my car. I was complaining about something laboratory-related that I was dealing with and she said to me, "You make sure that when you move to be promoted that you include this in your documents. This is a huge obstacle and you've really overcome it. It shows character." I would never thought of it that way if it weren't for her, and I would have never known her if it weren't for this. So, there's value in this and when something has value, you make time to do it.
But, the question this reader asked specifically is, how do I actually blog. It's different than it used to be. When I had a personal blog, I wrote whenever I felt inspired. Sometimes it was daily. Sometimes it was once or twice a week. Now, I carry a notebook where I write down hilarious tidbits of things I come across in a day. For example, sometimes I am attending rounds, listening to whatever science-y, medicine-y stuff is going on and my mind will wander. I think something like, "you know what would be hilarious? A group of normally chill hippos revolting and attacking a crocodile." Then I write it down. Tonight I was eating French fries with Dr. Buttercup and our technician. I put a little huge pile on my napkin and covered them in enough ketchup that the fries were almost invisible. I really like ketchup. Dr. Buttercup said, "If I'd had $20, I'd make her tie her hands behind her back and eat it." It was so hilariously awkwardly funny, that I had to write it down so that I could some how use it in a post (check that one off the list). Then later, when I am ready to write, I go back to my notebook for material
Sometimes when my week is relaxed, I blog every day. Sometimes when my week is crazy, I write 3-4 posts over the weekend and schedule them to post throughout the week. Then the other days I post something small. That's actually where the Shoe of the Week came from. I was stressed to come up with a post and figured I'd just post a pair of shoes. Turns out, you women dig shoes. My blogging happens around my science and family. I look at my week, say "How am I going to meet the obligations for the week? Now, where does the blogging fit?"
But, while how I blog might interesting to learn from, it's not the only way to blog. What's most important is that you just write something when you can. It doesn't have to be brilliant prose. It just has to be honest. You've got to find what works for you and find your own voice. I still don't know that I've really found mine, but blogging is just like everything else.
You'll only get better if you practice.*
*This blog took me 45 minutes. Now I am going to watch and episode of Lost and go to sleep.
I have a lecture to write this morning, so I thought I would present something one of you sent me. Loyal worshiper Rula writes:
Hello goddess,
In the spirit of fall, I offer up a boot. I know they're flats but I think they're beautiful. And this has a really pretty classic look to it. I adore Via Spiga. Also Frye...if only I didn't already have a gazillion dollars in med school loans.
But anyways. The real reason I'm emailing is that I recently saw a presentation from Rick Guidotti, a former fashion photographer who now runs an organization called Positive Exposure. His presentation moved most of my classmates to tears, in a good way. Reading your blog today, I realized it might be something that would interest you, if you hadn't already heard of it. I think his website speaks for itself (http://www.positiveexposure.org/home.html), but essentially he takes pictures of people with various genetic conditions to show that difference is beautiful, rather than shameful. He's involved in activism in Tanzinia to prevent the murder of albinos, and is working to create a database for medical professionals with pictures and testimonials from people living with genetic diseases (to serve as a counterpoint to the dehumanizing images and descriptions available in most medical texts).
As the real message behind this project is one of anti-stigma, I thought you might be intrigued.
Rula
The shoes are lovely, but the pictures are truly rem,arkable. If you've got a few minutes to spare today, go check them out. They are a sobering and motivating reminder that the conditions that many of us study in the isolation of our laboratories have human faces.
I'm back to my list of Ask Dr. Isis email. Next up in the queue is this one:
Dr. Isis,
I'm a regular lurker at your blog who is writing on behalf of my mother - she's a fourth grade teacher in an inner-city district in Arizona, and she has one very gifted young Hispanic girl in her class this year. Unfortunately, this girl's trying to hide her talent for math because she seems to think it's incompatible with being part of the cool, girly group of girls. Since you're the best example I know of someone who does very hot science while still being cool and feminine: do you have any suggestions for role models my mother can tell this girl about or other strategies to encourage her to develop her aptitudes? I would love to show her the Goddess's blog, but it's not really school-appropriate for the fourth grade... awesome though it is.
A million thanks (from someone whose shoes are nowhere near worthy), [Awesome name redacted by Dr. Isis]
So, here's the situation. I've read this email a few times. I'm trying to come up with something. I really am, but everytime I read this letter (and, I won't lie, I received it a few weeks ago), I get fixated on this line:
...she's a fourth grade teacher in an inner-city district in Arizona, and she has one very gifted young Hispanic girl in her class this year...[math is] incompatible with being part of the cool, girly group of girls.
I have to admit, especially before people start losing their shit in here, that I am having a very hard time not projecting my own personal experiences in this situation. I mean, I wondered why this reader pointed out to me that the little girl in question is Hispanic. I can't seem to get my mind off of it. You see, when I was a girl in school in Eastern Los Angeles, this was the group of girls folks were afraid I would reject science and math for...
Earlier today I posted a letter from a smoking hot little muffin who sent me a picture of her gorgeous patterned tights. She then appeared in the comments section with a link to her own brand spanking new blog. I buzzed over there to check it out and I LOVE IT!
feMOMhist is a liberal arts professor who has apparently been "bringin' it since 1968, albeit with increasing levels of artifice." Her first post describes the inner dual identity turmoil many of us can relate to:
MOM sandwiched in the middle of my other identities
MOM pulled between the poles of my identity
MOM holding the two together (the greatest feminist challenge I have faced so far that surprisingly had made me a better historian)
In her second post, feMOMhist describes volunteering to help her son's teacher teach the "pilgrim and indian" story of Thanksgiving with a bit more historical accuracy. She writes hilariously:
When I joked to little feMOMhist-son's teacher that the sole memory of my kindergarten Thanksgiving lesson was making butter, she seized upon the idea, apparently missing my irony. Thus, we will be shaking cream until it becomes butter and slatering it on cornbread that will undoubtedly taste better than the Pilgrim's food (note thus far little feMOMhist-son has been most impressed by the Pilgrims' lack of sugar).
A fab book by my man Alexander McCall Smith, but also a truthful statement. feMOMhist is sitting in a meeting now where several "people" have been thanked, but not by name. WTF? feMOMhist toils in relative obscurity and definite penury, but gratitude is FREE. So MAN UP and offer recognition by NAME people.
Her fourth post is a "femmage" to me. How can I not love that!
I am going to be watching this little muffin. I think she may be destined for great things around these parts.
This email arrived in my inbox while I was away at a meeting:
Oh most FABU Dr. Isis
While I am but a mere humanities prof at a MLAC (minor liberal arts college) while in grad school I supported myself as a secretary in a MFRU (major f-ing ...) with many double '.Ds as I derisively refered to the vastly over educated.
I write today however to draw your attention to a major fashion trend that is an accompaniment to your shoe fetish. I refer of course to the patterned tight. Just think, were you to expand your focus to hosiery! The mind reels at the possibilities.
Just a suggestion of course. I know ass shaking jams and smoking hot research keep you well occupied.
feMOMhist
p.s. since I teach many science muffins, I have happily passed your blog on to my students. Many of them are now paralyzed by your awesomeness as well as my own.
This adorable little muffin included this picture for our viewing pleasure:
Figure 1: feMOMhist's smoking hot gams.And, those shoes are pretty ferosh.
I love, love, LOVE those tights. Personally, I have been secretly lusting for these ever since I saw them at Macy's: Figure 2: Tartan Plaid tights by DKNY. $20.00 at Bare Necessities.
I have dreams of how beautiful these tights would be with a black pencil skirt, a red sweater, pearls, and some adorable heeled loafers. Sadly, they have somehow not made it into my wardrobe. I've got no good reason why. Perhaps a trip to Macy's after work is warranted..
You're the totally FABU one, feMOMhist. Thanks for sharing me with your students and tell all of those lovely little chickens that Dr. Isis says "hello." XOXOXOX
This year the world famous Dr. Isis may be attending Experimental Biology, my very busy and very hot scientific schedule permiting. I am convinced, however, that as great a meeting as it is, it could always use a little improving.
This year, to improve the quality of the meeting, I suggest a flashmob:
After all, what is more amazing than a flashmob? That's an event that could make someone infamous....
Also, I have a suggestion for the official conference hotel:
Yesterday I picked Little Isis up from preschool. As I read that sentence, I realize that it is entirely uninteresting. I pick the kid up from preschool all the time. What a poorly crafted sentence..
But, I digress.
At Little Isis's preschool, outside of his classroom, there is a whiteboard where his teachers write about what the children did that day. Yesterday the message read, "We are teaching the children about germs and how to stay healthy. Please ask ask them what the Number One Rule is when you get home."
Well, if you've been reading the blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about rules. I couldn't help myself. The promise of a Number One Rule was simply to delicious. As soon as we walked out of the classroom I had to ask, "Little Isis, what is the Number One Rule?" To which he replied proudly:
Don't pick your nose.
You know, as far as rules go, that's a pretty good one. I think I'm alright with it.
Figure 1: The cure for world hunger, except that it is against The Rule.
I am sitting on a pile of Ask Dr. Isis letters that I swear are making me lose my faith in humanity. Why do none of you write to ask, "Why is my PI so awesome?"
So, in order to either confirm the forthcoming academic Apocalypse, or restore my faith in the world, I offer you this simple poll.
Enjoy.
