Maya, reflecting, poem of the day

First of all I'm reflecting on the recent passing of Mayo Angelo. Poet, author, dancer, feminist and activist. An all around amazing woman. This is one of her earlier poems... it says so much, so well.

Still I Rise

Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

--

And it also seems a bit apropos for the end of intern year. Intern year where is seems like many days/weeks/months I was burned out, tired, trampled on and shot with words.  And yes I realize that this is NOT what Maya was writing about but it is a beautiful poem and I think my analogy also works. 

Enjoying my day off surfing the internet, drinking coffee and daydreaming. The weather is rainy and its a nice day to be inside catching up on stuff. Happy Hump Day to you too!

NICU nights and cookies!

I'm on NICU and tonight will be my final night before switching back to days. So far it has been an okay month. It started off kind of slow and I was a wee bit bored but then I switched to nights and like all my other rotations on nights I kind of like it. The autonomy, the ability to talk to parents, the quiet, yada, yada.

I'm NOT loving the being woken to a sound of the pager and having approximately one minute to wake up from dead asleep and sprint to delivery to help with baby resuscitation. Jarring and scary and not fun. But otherwise, NICU is okay. Minus the math.

One more month of intern year. It was hard and not that bad and awful and great - depending upon the day, the moment, the month. But I've made it (well almost) I signed my contract for next year so I would have to really mess up now to NOT be a PGY-2 in just 45 short days. Woo hoo!

That is all I've got. Oh and it is national chocolate chip cookie day so I need to go bake. Recipe lifted from some blog way back in my med school days. I tried quite a few and think this one really is closest to the coveted Doubletree cookies. Enjoy!

1/2 cup rolled oats 
 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 
 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 
 3/4 cup granulated sugar 
 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 
 2 eggs 
 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 
 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts 

 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
 2. Grind oats in a food processor or blender until fine. Combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. 
 3. Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon juice in another medium bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. 
 4. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts to the dough and mix by hand until ingredients are well-incorporated. 
 5. Spoon rounded 1/4-cup portions onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Place the scoops about 2 inches apart. You don't need to press the dough flat. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until cookies are light brown and soft in the middle. Store in a sealed container when cool to keep soft. For the best results, chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking the cookies. Makes 20 cookies.