Take Action Tuesday

November is Trans Awareness and Native American Heritage month. For this week’s Take Action Tuesday, learn about the mistreatment and discrimination these communities face in our society and in our scientific communities, especially when those identities intersect.

Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash

Friday Wrap Up

Welcome to November and another Friday Wrap Up!

November is Native American Heritage month, an opportunity for us to not only celebrate the rich cultural traditions of Indigenous groups across the Americas, but also grapple the long history of subjugation and oppression that continues to this day. It is our responsibility to learn that history and ensure that our equity and inclusion work centers Native and Indigenous voices (something we at 500WS are still very much working towards). We must remember that most of us are all on Indigenous land, so if your institution does not have a land acknowledgement statement, you can encourage them and help create one.

November is also Trans Awareness month. The trans community is often the target of harassment, discrimination, and violence. The trans community is also on the frontlines of the fight for equity and justice. Remember, trans right are human rights and:

Trans people exist.

Non-binary people exist.

Trans women are women.

Trans men are men.

WHAT WE’VE DONE

  • Talked about what we know and what we don’t know

  • Held our biannual leadership board meeting in St. Louis MO

  • The San Francisco pod chatted with Dr. Kennan Salinero

  • Leadership member Dr. Jess Metcalf co-authored a new paper recommending policies and procedures to increase gender diversity in the STEM workforce

  • Leadership members Francesca Bernardi and Liz McCullagh in Elpha

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast and book suggestions

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hi folks - we have been busy prepping for our biannual leadership board meeting, this fall hosted by the St. Louis MO pod. We will keep the wrap-up short, but stay tuned for a more in-depth recap of our meeting and what we are excited to work on in the coming months.

WHAT WE’VE DONE

  • Shared our 1st member/supporter survey - help us get to know you and ensure our organization is meeting your needs

  • Our biannual leadership board meeting kicks off today, hosted by our stellar St. Louis MO pod!

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast and book suggestions

Photo by Logan Troxell on Unsplash

Take Action Tuesday

This week’s post by Jane Zelikova and Jewel Tomasula

This week, we are continuing to act on climate. Protests, marches, strikes, peaceful civil disobedience, and other organized actions are all important tactics for creating and sustaining bold climate actions and solutions. Beyond those tactics, stories hold power to help us imagine what is possible and inspire action. Stories connect us to each other, help invoke empathy, and bring curiosity and emotion into the often sterile climate space.

Here are some suggestions for building your climate storytelling capabilities #myclimatestory:

Photo by Mari Pa on Unsplash

Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy International Day of the Girl, y’all!

Its been a quiet week in the 500 Women Scientists world, which means its been a productive week for many of us in our work/science lives. To be honest, I wish there were more weeks like this one, a week full of “science” in the “woman in science.” So lets spend this weekend refueling our science mind body and soul!

WHAT WE’VE DONE

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast and book suggestions.

Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash

The Power of Joy, Excellence, Resistance, and Radical Authenticity

The Power of Joy, Excellence, Resistance, and Radical Authenticity

This week on #MeetAScientist, get to know Shawntel Okonkwo, a PhD candidate of Molecular Biology and Gene Regulation at UCLA and the founder of wokeSTEM, a unique entity that intersects social justice, STEM and science communication, while centering people of color. In this interview, she discusses the importance of embracing radical authenticity and truth-telling, which are at the core of wokeSTEM, as well as the transformative power of seeing yourself reflected in science.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday everyone!

We crane our necks to see the wreckage of powerful male careers without even bothering to wonder about the women whose lives and careers those men damaged.

- Rebecca Traister

WHAT WE’VE DONE

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast and book suggestions.

Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

Take Action Tuesday

Today’s Take Action Tuesday is brought to us by Danielle Schmitt and Sej Chung from the San Diego CA Pod.

As women-identifying people in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM), we are well aware of how stressful and anxiety-inducing balancing work, family, and volunteer work can be. Surveys have found a high rate of anxiety and depression amongst graduate students. Women are twice as likely to develop common mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, compared to men. As women in STEMM, it is critical to prioritize our mental and physical health. This week, we provide some ideas for how to better take care of ourselves and reach out to those in your community who might need help. 

Here are some tips:

  1. Start your day with five minutes of meditation (try apps like Headspace if you want something more structured); 

  2. Healthy gut makes for a healthy mind! Your gut can influence the way your brain functions and as a result can also affect your mental health. Some foods, like fatty fish, whole grains, lean protein, leafy greens, and yogurt, can help with mental health.

  3. Daily positive affirmations can help block out negative thoughts. These can be post-it notes on your desk, or notes on your phone as reminders to be kind to yourself and take breaks. 

  4. Exercise can reduce stress and anxiety, but doesn’t have to involve the gym or long work-outs. Even a short walk or run in the morning/evening is beneficial - the key is to do something active daily!

In addition to selfcare, we need to destigmatize discussion of mental health in science. Here are some easy ways to start:

  1. If you feel comfortable, talk about your own mental health when you have the opportunity. When speaking about mental health in graduate school, we found that many of our fellow students were experiencing similar issues, but no one talked about it. So lets make it okay to talk about mental health. 

  2. Be conscious of language - do not use a mental health disorder to describe a person’s action. 

  3. Remind yourself and others - mental health is just as important as physical health.

If you find that yourself or someone in your community in need of help, reach out for help. There are national helplines, resources for veterans, or find A Therapist. Finally, the American Psychological Association has some tips on how scientists can practice self-care. 

Take some time this week and every week to take care of you and your community. The work we do is hard and we need to find ways to take care of ourselves and each other. Self-care is going to look different for everyone based on your lifestyle, culture, and socioeconomic status. Find a way to give yourself what you need, and most of all, be kind to yourself.

Photo by Josh Withers on Unsplash

Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday everyone!

Its been a week, folks! Despite some serious lows, there is palpable change in the air! Young people across the world are leading a movement that is fundamentally shifting how we talk about and act on climate. They lead unapologetically, with moral clarity and conviction. As Dr. Ayana Johnson said in her speech at the NY climate strike last Friday:

But let’s be clear: youthful moral clarity is not the same thing as naïveté. Don’t let anyone tell you it is.

Young people are leading on climate, Indigenous groups are leading on climate, communities of color are leading on climate, women are leading on climate, and we should all pay attention, support them, and get out of their way!

WHAT WE’VE DONE

WHAT WE LIKE

  • Follow Friday: @JeromeFosterII @yeampierre @Jamie_Margolin @AlexandriaV2005

  • The moral clarity and conviction of demanding action on climate change

  • Medical professionals pushing back against abortion restrictions

  • Calling for women to lead in climate, but owning our own complacency

  • Props to Rhiana Gunn-Wright - Root 100 leading thinker, doer and change-maker in policies that affect our climate and communities!

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast and book suggestions.

Image credit: Gnangarra, commons.wikimedia.org (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/deed.en)

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