Public Health

Blogs, voting, budget and walking

October 21, 2008

Kill my blog?

I read an article by Paul Boutin in WiredIn Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004,” Boutin argues that “cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns have drowned out authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. He went on to argue that it’s a better use of time to use much pithier vehicles like Flickr, Facebook or Twitter.  I thought about this and wondered if, by the time I joined the blogosphere (nearly a year ago), it was on its way to being passé.  I like writing, my voice is mine, I’m not a journalist, and this blog is definitely not sponsored.  So, I’m going to keep an open mind.  If at any point, it feels as though I’m a voice without an audience, well, there’s a big pile of work waiting.

I voted Friday

Friday, I walked over to Morehead and voted.  I don’t think I’ve been this excited to vote since the first time.  Early voting is a great thing, and for people who live in Orange County, it’s so convenient to be able to vote on the campus.

Start!Triangle Heart Walk

A member of UNC departments and our School helped out with this year’s American Heart Association Heart Walk which began at the Imperial Hotel.  A lot of people from our Gillings School of Global Public Health were there, including Julie MacMillan, MPH, who put in a lot of effort encouraging people to sign up, and Kathryn Johnson, Viktor Bovbjerg, PhD, MPH, Peggy Dean Glenn, Francesca Florey, MA,  Jerry Salak, Kathy Barboriak, PhD, Amy Hitlin, MEd, Dave Potenziani, PhD, and many more.  We walked with Linda Sanders, who works at IBM and is on our Acceleration Advisory Committee, and my husband Bernard. (In the picture are me (blocking Julie), Viktor and Linda.)

forblogedit.jpgJulie, Linda, Viktor, Bernard and I were quite a way towards the end of the line which included thousands of walkers, some with baby carriages, some with dogs of all sizes and one tiny dog and a toddler in a carriage.  We were going nowhere fast when Julie and I looked at each other and decided to reverse directions.

Now, before you think we cheated, we were no Rosie Ruiz’s trying to win the NYC marathon by taking the subway.  It definitely wasn’t a speed race. No, we just wanted to walk at a fast enough pace to get a heart walk.  So, we headed out in reverse direction so we could accelerateWe had even more fun than the people who were happily strolling along.  It was great fun when people along the way would say, “You’re going the wrong way.” And we’d say, “We know.”  Sometimes, you can go a lot faster by changing direction!

Budget woes

The global financial crisis is trickling down to universities.  In the last two weeks, we’ve gotten two consecutive 2% budget cuts (non-recurring).  There’s little fat in UNC budgets; this is really hard.

This week

Tuesday, I’m off to Atlanta where I’ll co-chair the CDC’s Task Force on Community Preventive Services.  Then it’s back to North Carolina and on to California for ASPH’s Annual Meeting, alumni receptions and meetings with some of our California alumni.

Happy Monday!


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The views expressed in this blog are Barbara Rimer’s alone and do not represent the views and policies of The University of North Carolina or the Gillings School.