Here is how the height of the summer – the month of JULY  – turned out for me during the Summer HIV/AIDS Research Program through the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

WEEK ONE

7/1 – Our seminar was on Good Participatory Practice in Community Based Research. I enjoyed hearing about a qualitative method called photo-voice, in which participants document their experiences and reality through photos and/or videos. Community members take an active role in the research. This is a method that is relatively new to me and I want to explore this further in my academics and career. Photo essays are something I have seen in journalism. They tell a story through photos and these can be powerful as well; they certainly catch attention more than a giant block of text. Photos help provide context and enhance understanding. Reading is one thing, but seeing for yourself aids comprehension of a topic even more. Later that day, I worked on writing more analytic memos.

7/2 – I continued my research. In the middle of the day, I spoke with my mentor about our progress and how I would prepare for writing an abstract to submit for a health disparities conference occurring at UCSF in October.
https://diversity.ucsf.edu/HDRS 

7/3 – I read articles and wrote memos.

7/4 – This was a national holiday so we had the day off, no pay. I stayed in Berkeley to explore a bit. I watched Toy Story 4 with  a fellow intern. The movie was bittersweet and marked the end of a wonderful series. Then I roamed around the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive with a friend. It’s a great resource with exhibits on Asian Buddhist art, Black and African diaspora art, and other pieces. There was political art and one section was black-and-white photos. Some pieces were very powerful. I appreciate the diverse art from diverse artists represented in this museum. It is very intriguing to see that the facility has red stairwells that contrast with the rest of the building in white and grays.

An art wall that stood out to me was created by Carlos Amorales, an artist who works with diverse media to explore image, sign, and cognition. In the installation I saw, “Amorales revisits [Berkeley’s] unique countercultural history of the late 1960s, specifically demonstrations linked to the civil rights, free speech, and antiwar movements. He then links this history to the present by combining slogans from protests that have occurred on the UC Berkeley campus over the last decade.” Over 20 phrases are positioned around the wall, spaced out on protest signs held by figures in smudgy black outline on a light gray background. Examples: Stop! The Arms Race (1962), White Silence = Violence (2014), Make Racists Afraid Again (2017). The wall looks eerie, like people are pressed against the other side of the wall, urging viewers to look at their messages and act upon them.
https://bampfa.org/

7/5 – I worked all day on writing drafts of papers to my mentor. In the evening, I went to the grocery store Safeway with the friend I made in the apartments. She calls me her Berkeley Buddy.

WEEKEND
It feels affirming to plan what I want to do on my weekends. I post in the intern group chat what interesting events I’ve seen on Facebook and elsewhere. An intern and I went to La Peña Cultural Center, which has promoted social justice, arts participation and intercultural understanding since 1975. This day was a Birthday Tianguis for Frida Kahlo, artist who “explored questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society.” At this event was food, crafts, arts and vendors in a dense space. People sold their own apparel, and I bought a shirt that said “No one is illegal on stolen land.” I tried an elote for the first time; an elote is corn on the cob, commonly sold on the streets of Mexico. Mine had some mayo brushed on top of it and something like parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, with a couple pinches of chili powder flecks to finish it off. It was very tasty! Overall I felt welcome in this cultural center and was glad to see what the facility looked like. I also got to see people in the community gather together for a good time.

https://lapena.org/

I worked on more memos and spent most of Sunday alone.

WEEK TWO

7/8 – After a nice session on Qualitative Methods with a staff member from the Substance Use Research Unit at Department of Public Health, I did more analytic memos!

7/9 – I looked at scholarly articles on acculturation to gain a sense on that process and if I could apply that to my current research, since participants often came from immigrant households and families. There are unique struggles of immigrating and assimilating and/or acculturating to a new environment and society. I know that for one participant, their mother came from Guam and did her best to assimilate and speak English and put her kids in the best schools she could think of.

7/10 – We had a seminar on Substance Use Part II with one of SHARP’s Principal Investigators. I then joined in on a meeting about one of my mentor’s many projects. This one is about Golden Compass, a program that helps older people living with HIV to take care of themselves as they are now aging.

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2017/02/405866/new-golden-compass-program-helps-older-hiv-patients-navigate-health-services 

Following that, I spent more time on the abstract. It helps to copy and paste the guidelines into the document I am working on so that I get to constantly refer to these guidelines. This particular abstract had to be all on one page, which includes any figures if I were to add them. I wrote what I could and revised on my own. Then I would send a link to my draft to my mentor so she could see and give edits and comments.

7/11 – This day entailed a few meetings. Fist I met with my mentor and her other intern Ian to discuss the research. After that I had a one-on-one with Judy.

7/12 – The group had a Qualitative Analysis session. This time, we did analysis and looked at an example interview transcript. We coded based on provided codes. I had on hand various highlighters and colored pens. Other scholars numbered codes and placed tiny numbers, similar to subscripts or superscripts, by the text. I prefer to code by highlighting the entire paragraph so I understand what the interviewee is talking about. Coding takes a significant time and requires constant revisions.

WEEKEND
I worked on schoolwork. I also spent time cleaning the apartment and restocking it with essentials. On Saturday, as per our routine, I went shopping with another intern. On Sunday, I spent most of my time at home working on research or watching TV. I find Stranger Things captivating, as it involves a good mix of humor, horror, and science fiction. The soundtrack is also worthy of praise.

WEEK THREE

7/15 – Interns submit time sheets for the previous pay period. We had the honor of hearing from about six professionals at a panel about AIDS research and practice. This was our CFAR Panel 1. I heard about careers working with trans black women, with the API population, and more. I asked the panelists about how they performed selfcare. This can be especially challenging for people from marginalized communities and if their work is emotionally intensive and very personal to them. I can say this is the case for me. Furthermore, due to being disadvantaged or oppressed in multiple areas, I find it hard to take a break and care for myself when I have to work harder to reap rewards. After this insightful panel, I was occupied with writing memos.

7/16 – More memos were written on this day.

7/17 – SHARP had a fun outing to the California Academy of Sciences! The group did more social bonding as we explored the aquariums containing fish and other marine species from all over the seas and oceans of the planet. We also experienced earthquake simulations from the 1906 and 1989 San Francisco earthquakes that set records and made remarkable impacts. The Skin exhibit exposed us to differences in skin textures from various animals. Scales, hair, feathers. Skin color and melanin were also discussed in laudable efforts to educate on human diversity.

In the afternoon, my research team held a meeting to discuss our progress.

7/18 – I had an informational interview during an office hours session with Dr. Edda Santiago-Rodriguez at UCSF. I also worked more on my abstract and my memos, all the while gathering more insights and refining them. The SHARPies had a group dinner at a seafood restaurant in Berkeley.

7/19 – During a meeting with Judy at UCSF, we again discussed how we were doing and what I found interesting from the research. We went over my abstract draft. Constant revisions are key!

WEEKEND

The apartment complex sent out a link earlier during the week to get free tickets to Alcatraz Island for an art exhibit – free ferry and admission! I quickly signed up for this opportunity. This was the Future IDs at Alcatraz Release Party, intended to reframe the narrative of reentry. Former and current incarcerated individuals designed identification cards for their future, such as a dream career ID.

The IDs represent aspects of who these people are, because they are more than just a number or face. They have stories and lived experiences that cannot be assumed or told just by looking at a piece of plastic. Dozens of IDs hung like giant larger-than-human-size posters along the walls of a room (former cellhouse or some sort). These artists and some family members stood by their artworks. At a table was a draft of a booklet explaining the exhibit and its process of coming to fruition. I read this and got to understand more about the project.

Although I could only attend a small portion of the day’s events, there was much going on. For example, parents and children with histories of incarceration shared moments of their experiences. Greetings and groundings with park rangers occurred. Pop-up stations let visitors explore the layered history of Alcatraz to look at the importance of self-determination and identity. I am also interested in the idea of reintegration and the arts. How can arts and justice be brought together and how valuable is arts programming in prisons and jails?

Additionally, over the weekend, I worked to polish my research abstract to keep it under a page and most importantly, cover the essence of what Dr. Tan’s research is about. I sent it to her via email for her to make comments and edits. Then I submitted it before the 5 PM deadline.

WEEK FOUR

7/22 – CFAR panel 2
This one was very interesting and it got personal. Individuals shared how they got involved in HIV work.  Topics brought up in the conversations included substance use, issues with family, acceptance for their identities, and advice for the future generation of leaders in public health and our collective fight for rights and equity. I really appreciated this session.

I worked more on my memos and filled in more of my PowerPoint to eventually present it for practice very soon. I also sent over to the SHARP director my latest CV so that it can be brought up for review at a future seminar.

7/23 – As usual, memos and PowerPoint were my priorities for the day.

7/24 – In our Career Pathways session, the program assistant Amaka explained CVs and resumes and their structure. We went through each scholar’s resume or CV as a group and made suggestions in real-time. She gave us handy resources for style and wording.

In the afternoon, I attended an Asian Community Challenging Racism seminar, with over 50 people in attendance! I am so glad that I went, accompanied by another intern and the SHARP director. On one wall was a timeline of Asian Pacific Islander American history. Visitors could place a specific color sticker along the timeline based on when their families came to the United States. So for example, since my father arrived to America in 1980, I put my dot above the 1980 tick mark. I wish I took a photo of this timeline. There were two clusters of dots; one cluster was from 1960s to 1990s. The other one was most likely around the late 1800s.

We engaged in conversations with one another about how our families got to America, what the pull and push factors were, and other topics that were guided by the session facilitators. I really felt affirmed from this session and was happy to see so many other Asians in the room and who were showing up to share their truths. I will be looking into the handouts and promoting this history in my life.

Later on, I polished my PowerPoint some more.

7/25 – I had meetings with my mentor and her other intern on the API SGM project. Then I focused on my PowerPoints and memos. I was wondering how I would effectively present all the points I wanted to get across to my audience without delving too deep into details.

7/26 – The Works-In-Progress session was incredibly helpful for me in the process of developing my PowerPoint. Overall, I felt overwhelmed with the data and not sure if I was answering my research question well enough. I was nearly done reading transcripts and writing the analytic memos for them. Another concern was finding the appropriate quotes that were pithy and drove my main messages home to the readers’ minds to hopefully resonate with them and plant a seed of information. I also wondered about my presentation layout, and am very thankful that SHARP emailed some example of stellar presentations from previous cohorts.

WEEKEND

I spent my time blogging, shopping, and attending a cookout.

I spent Sunday exploring San Francisco with a friend from high school. Meeting up with him was such a chance encounter. He happened to be in the city for a conference. We went to Chrissy’s Field, the Mission District, and eating at Carl’s Jr. We didn’t do a lot but it was pleasant to catch up with him after three years of virtually no contact with each other.

7/29 – More Practice Presentations were required to ensure that scholars stayed on track with the upcoming Symposium. Practice is certainly something to not be taken lightly. Last year, people thought that they could ‘wing it’ but this will be evident to the audience and SHARP leadership.
Back at the apartment complex, an intern and I attended a cooking class and the council meeting, which allows residents to stay up to date on the affairs of the complex and enjoy some free food.

7/30 – I went to UCSF to work more on my symposium PowerPoint and review it slide-by-slide with Dr. John Sauceda. It was a very helpful session. After eating free lunch provided by CAPS, I continued to refine the slides. I did this when I got home as well.

7/31 – Another time sheet was due on this day. Then the group practiced presentations some more. In the evening, we did a bonding activity by attending a baseball game in Oakland.

REFLECTION

June felt lukewarm in comparison to July, when things were ablaze (figuratively). July felt more stressful because I was well into my research and reading and writing basically daily, whether it was for my research project or for my own personal endeavors. I learned so much from my research and was developing not one, but TWO presentations of findings and implications that will hopefully spark interventions and actions. This month was filled with discovery, from museum visits, candid conversations, interview transcripts, and other adventures. Many times, I was unsure of where I was going and what the eventual outcomes would be. But as I would come to understand in August, I kept an open mind and communicated concerns. I met up with individuals to discuss with them how I was feeling. Utilizing resources is so important. I also got out of my comfort zone by practicing public speaking, a vital skill that is transferable for any field. Another important reflection is that I make time to have fun. I deserve it.