my turn to update

hey ladies! first, i apologize for not keeping up with this. frankly, i kind of forgot about it until i asked caitlin if she had heard from any cohorts and she mentioned our blog. oops! no reflection on how i feel about any and all of you, i promise :)

since turning in my thesis i have kind of been all over the place. i think you all know i took a solo 10 day camping trip to california (OH how i love cali!). i've also taken smaller trips- a weekend in victoria bc, another at baker lake, wine tasting in walla walla, LA and Vegas for a friend's birthday... and a 10 day silent meditation retreat in southern washington. can you even believe that i was able to keep silent for 10 days?? it was amazing, definitely life-changing.

but here's my biggest and most recent news: i applied for a job with public health as a family planner/health educator. i really thought their desired qualifications read pretty much like my resume (sexual health education experience- and they preferred, but didn't require, a master's) but i didn't even get an interview. but that's okay. i'm sweeping my ego up off the floor and taking this as a sign from the universe that i am not meant to do the 9 to 5 right now. instead i'm moving full steam ahead on planning my international travels starting in late january, early february.

in the meantime, however, i'll be leaving seattle in mid-december for the east coast... and i don't think i'll be returning to this lovely emerald city (other than frequent visits, of course). yep, i'm packing everything up and driving out to old virgnie, to spend time with my family and plan my trip (and save a few months of rent) and i'll be taking off from there. i'll probably try to come to seattle on my way out of the country, since my first stop is thailand and i'm sure to have a connecting flight on the west coast somewhere. we will see and i'll keep you updated. but in the meantime i have a month and a half left, i'll be taking no more trips, and plenty of time for going-away-type parties/lunches/dinners/cupcakes/drinks.

Mortality Rates, Part I

So, I am involved in a new project right now, part of which is going to require that I define some of the terms we have come to know and love for "lay" readers. By "lay," in this case, I mean reasonably well-educated people who have not studied epidemiology or biostatistics. Here is what I am working on for an overall description of rate. What do you think?

"Since we will be talking a great deal about death rates in this chapter, a description of the concept of rate and how it is applied to health data is in order. When used in population health, the word “rate” generally signifies the number of unique events, like deaths or injuries, occurring in a specific population over one year; rate is therefore a measurement of proportion or ratio. The mortality or crude death rate of a population is the number of people who died in one year divided by the total population. In 2003 , out of a population of 290 million, 2,448,288 people died in the United States. Dividing the number of deaths by the total U.S. population gives us the rate at which people died – about one per 87 people. Most frequently, we calculate mortality per 100,000 people – that is, for every 100,000 people in the United States, how many people died during that year? In 2003, the crude mortality rate was 841.9 per 100,000 people."

Even more challenging than describing the terms themselves is finding graceful ways to "talk" to the reader, introduce the concept, and convince them to go along for the ride. Terms like "is in order" (see sentence #1) can be distracting and a bit pompous as far as I am concerned, yet I know that when such descriptions are well-written, the reader barely notices that he/she is being led by the hand (or nose!) along the definitional pathway. Any suggestions?

Coming next....crude mortality!