In the home stretch

Whew. It’s been a little crazy around here. I am at the tail end of school, with three weeks to go before graduation. Slowly, slowly, things are beginning to ease up a little.

As part of my degree, we spend an entire semester working with a real life client to address some issue they have identified. The equivalent of a Master’s thesis, this course, called the Capstone Workshop is both dreaded and celebrated for its intensity and rigor. With three weeks left we are closing in on the finish line. We presented some of our findings to our client, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, yesterday at a state-wide conference. In four days we submit our final report to the school. Our copy editor reviews it, and if all is well, begins the publication process. It will be printed and bound with the La Follette school seal on it. In two weeks we will present our full report to the Secretary of Health as well as DHS and can begin distributing the full report publicly. In three weeks I will walk across the stage in the Assemby Room of the state capitol and recieve my diploma. Then I will shake my booty and do the funky chicken as I exit stage left. Because BOO- YA.

I'm done.

Our report focuses on health disparities between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations and non-LGBT populations. There is mounting evidence that LGBT folks have higher rates of smoking and tobacco use, substance abuse, tend to be disproportionately overweight and obese and have increased rates of mental illness. It has been a fascinating topic and one in which I have become personally invested in. Our report will provide recommendations to DHS, as the agency charged with public health for the state of Wisconsin, for dealing with this disparity. With both the ears of the department and the Secretary of Health of Wisconsin, I hope some great changes can be made. We’ll see.

I usually don’t get long winded about my class work on my blog, but then I don’t usually get so completely consumed by it either. I’ll be back soon with my usual strange sense of humor and stories about the kids and the garden and self diagnoses of head cancer, but until then, at least you know what I’m up to.