Judy in New York Times Crossword

The New York Times Crossword puzzle today featured Judy Heumann.

How cool is that!!

All of Three Inches Wide

Picked up the Principles of Neural Science textbook for my cellular neuroscience course this semester. 3 inches thick, which I could barely lift.

Just 1 of 3 textbooks for this course. OMG!

And wrote a poem to go with it.

All of Three Inches Wide

A thick neuroscience textbook, oh my
It's all of three inches wide
I try to lift it, with all my might
I pull and tug, and give a yank
But mighty it holds, no matter my tries

I finally give up, and accept my fate
This thick neuroscience textbook, it's simply great

So thick and deep, I could dive in

Swim with neurotransmitters while dendrites wave at me
The brain and it's quirks so fascinate me

So bring on the textbooks, I'll read them all

Filled with facts, and sumptuous theories

I'll pull and tug, and give a yank as I read

Pull, tug and yank, apt analogies.

Knowledge essences in the textbook
Deciphering the autistic brain, an ultimate goal

Becoming a Reference

As a student you are used to asking your professors for references.

So it is a surprise, a turnabout when you are asked to be a reference.

The first time was as a junior in undergrad, where I taught a class on autism. One of the students from my autism class at Berkeley for a community position.

Jan 5: Today I got asked again - from a RA I supervised during my undergrad research.

Update: Jan 26: Glad to report she got the teaching position she applied for.

ACI Applications now open

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is now accepting applications for the 2023 Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) Leadership Academy! ACI helps autistic students learn to make their college campuses better for people with disabilities. ACI participants learn about making student groups, understanding disability policy, and talking to people in power. After ACI, students get help from ASAN to meet their advocacy goals at their college. ACI 2023 will be held from July 10th through 19th, 2023.

We hope to hold this year’s ACI program in-person. If it isn’t safe to do so, we will hold the program virtually. Due to the pandemic, we held ACI virtually in 2020, 2021, and 2022. If it is safe to hold ACI in-person, we will take numerous safety and health precautions.

To apply for Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI), you must:

Be autistic. You do not have to have an official autism diagnosis to apply.
Be a student at a college or university with at least one year left before you graduate. Students in TPSID programs (Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities), 2-year community colleges, 4-year colleges, and graduate school are eligible to apply.
Live in the United States or Canada. This includes all 50 states, all US territories, and all provinces and territories of Canada. (Please note: the policy sections of our program will focus on the United States) You do not have to be a citizen of either the US or Canada.

We especially encourage students of color, LGBT students, low-income students, students with intellectual disabilities, AAC users, and students from other marginalized communities to apply.

To apply, please submit a completed application by Sunday, March 5th, 2023 to Dean Strauss, dstrauss@autisticadvocacy.org.

If you need assistance or accommodations at any stage, or have any questions about ACI, please contact Dean Strauss, dstrauss@autisticadvocacy.org.

In a world full of hate, be the light that shines with kindness

Tornado and Thunderstorms

Today it's both in Nashville. Tornado Watch as well as Flood Advisory due to severe thunderstorms. We escaped the tornado but I still remember the last one.

The sky grows dark and ominous

As storm clouds gather near

The air is thick with tension

As we brace ourselves in fear

The lightning flashes brightly

As the thunder starts to roll

The wind begins to howl

As the rain starts to pour

But it's the tornado to fear most

A swirling, deadly force

That tears across the landscape

Leaving destruction in its course

We huddle in our shelters

As the winds rage outside

Praying for the storm to pass

As we try to hide

But when it's over and we emerge

We see the damage that's been done

The twisted metal and broken homes

Lives forever undone

Yet even as we mourn

And pick up the pieces of our lives

We know that we'll face the storm again

For it's a part of nature's strife.

Joy is the spark that ignites our soul

Contemplation, one line a day #Mental Health

Vaikunta Ekadasi.

What are Hindu festivals like all about and why are there so many - almost one a month. In this busy, maddening, materialistic-chasing lives of ours which often is the hallmark of our progress, they serve as a reminder for us to really pause, contemplate and take stock our of spiritual pulse and progress. You could think of them as a mindfulness monthly check in. Images, rituals and the sounds involved are tools that facilitate this mindset. Its multisensory integration and balance for the body. For instance just reciting our Sanskrit slokas generate innumerable beneficial vibrations in the body and activate the significant chakras in the body. Images help with visual focus. The practical advice of regular fasting on the bi-monthly Ekadasi day from ancient times, is rediscovered and now marketed as a healthcare gut-cleanse.

It's really amazing how Spirituality (the unexplained) of yesterday becomes the Science (the explained) of today. All the answers were always there, we just have to decode and understand them. In the modern era, we formulate explanations using the lens of science and evidence based research. Essentially, we are trying to reconstruct that old deciphering code, by asking the right questions, along with new technology; all of which kind of got lost/mangled over the centuries. Science is the process of "re-discovering" explanations.

Today is Vaikunta Ekadasi, celebrated on the eleventh day of the waxing moon in the Tamil month of Margazhi (December-January). It is also called Mukkoti Ekadashi. In our Puranas, it's the day the ocean (kshira sagara) was churned by both the devas and asuras for the nectar of immortality (amrit) during the Kurma Avatar era of Lord Vishnu; the spiritual significance being churning your own heart for goodness and purity and ridding it of falsehood, ego and conceit.

Vaikunta Ekadasi is also called Guruvar, the day our beloved Krishna imparted the knowledge of the Bhagawad Gita to Arjuna. The Gita is about inner spiritual practices in the form of the different types of Yogas, that not just help you in physical wellbeing and spiritual progress personally, but the resultant flow of unselfish thoughts results in service to society. After all, as Krishna tells us, the greatest seva (service) is service to society.

Vaikunta Ekadasi is a multiple-blessings day. It's the day the doors of Vaikunta, the abode of Vishnu open; the spiritual significance being an invitation for self-examination in our journey from the untruth to truth. On another note, it is believed that if you die on the day of Vaikunta Ekadasi, you bypass the rest of your karmic cycle of death-rebirths and attain Moksha, or liberation at the feet of God. Kind of like an escape card. Of course we don't get to choose when we die, but I sure hope that when my time comes, it's on Vaikunta Ekadasi day. The essence of Karma is action and equal reaction, cause and equal consequence, which Newton "re-discovered" with a lens of science. Your actions in the present (positive or negative) will have equal consequences in this lifetime or a future lifetime and our goal in every lifetime should be to cancel out all the negative accumulated karmic debt. Your atma (soul) has a much longer timespan that your mortal body in its journey to liberation. Rebirth makes total sense in modern lingo; we call it recycling now, instead of use-once and dispose off the old which just accumulates in polluting landfills.

The greatest gift of optimism is the belief that tomorrow can be better than today.

Hope for 2023

Hope for an awesome 2023

I wonder what 2023 will bring?
In the Possibility of Me.

Dare I hope from others
....Surrounded by folks who are patient, encouraging & empathic towards my disability
... Make kind friends outside the classroom

Slow purposeful strides, an elephant I want to be.
... Relish learning and knowledge coupled with endless curiosity
... Use Advocacy & Research to add more pebbles that widen ripples in the pond of change.
... Giant leaps on the journey to emotional equanimity (mood continues to be tough nut)
... Learn to better manage & cope with the vagaries of my unpredictable disability.

Neurotransmitters Flow in this Autism Mind