Musings from Aubrey (not to be confused with Audrey) 05/05/2009

We finally finished the eNewsletter on May 5th.

As the dubbed “designer” of the group I’ve busied myself with the more aesthetic persuasion of Operation HoHaF Website (and I love it). The team completed the flyer several days ago and (save for a few minor details) the professor thought it was great. We’re going for a very clean, simple, streamlined look for the design of the various HoHaF paraphernalia which includes both the flyer, eNewsletter, and blogsite. However, the book cover has been giving us a little bit of difficulty since the image itself is very busy and bright. With the flyer I managed to downplay the cover’s vivid presence, but as our professor warned, we won’t want to downplay it much more than that. She’s right.

I’m now pounding away at the eNewsletter project, which, though simple in design, is crazy complex when putting it into Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is like that ex-girlfriend who also your Residential Assistant in your dorm. Though you try to avoid her and work around her, eventually you lock yourself out of your room and have to apprehensively ask for help. She of course, will then make a trivial task a grueling problem that will leave you uncomfortable, naseaus, and frustrated as you endure every icy glare and biting comment so you can get back to your day. I’ve never had an ex-girlfriend, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s like.

However, I’m slowly winning Dreamweaver back and the eNewsletter is coming along quite nicely. Now all that’s left is the blog, but that ball is left more in Isaac, Corinne, and Erika’s court so I’ll leave that newsflash up to them.

Eat cake, not pie.

Aubrey

HoHaF 05/05/2009

We finished the flyer May 5th.

Hi, my name is Corinne and I am a senior at PLU. I am the pest on the project who nags everyone so we stay on schedule; I guess that makes me the project coordinator. Erika and I are also responsible for content development, but this is truly a team because we support even though we each have a specialty.

The flyer we designed started out as a white page with the book title, but we put our creative juices together and wholla! One by one, we took turns tweaking it and what you see here is the end-result; of course, Aubrey added the finishing touch. We had all these quirky ideas for the blog, but finally decided that each person should post a blog that was as diverse as we were.

We are now working on creating a website for The House of Hope and Fear.  So much behind-the-scenes work goes into creating a website and an e-newsletter that I have a new appreciation for the whole process.

As for the novel itself, reading HoHaF gave me a first-hand look at the life of doctors in the ER: the challenge of working with the public, the incredible workload, and the administrative gridlock they face. I always wondered what doctors thought about their patients, the pharmaceutical industry, and the healthcare system in general, and Audrey’s book was very eye-opening. I like the fact that she didn’t talk about the need for an alternative healthcare system, she showed it.

Find out for yourself and buy The House of Hope and Fear when it launches August 2009

Doors by Erika D. 05/05/2009

So last week I arrived at the Marriot Hotel with my 40L hiking backpack and no briefcase. I strode toward those revolving glass doors. Heavier than expected. No hiding what comes next. You guessed it. I pushed the handle, leaned it, and Whack—connected my forehead with the immaculate pane of glass.  Rubbing the sore spot furiously, I vowed to acquire a sense of depth perception before I ever ventured through those doors again. The pain was temporary. That is, until I saw the sliding automatic doors on either side, with people (no doubt inwardly snickering) gliding through unencumbered in and out of the building.  Two sets of doors? Why would anyone choose the glass hamster wheel?

In House of Hope and Fear, I learned that, at Harborview Medical Center, the doors stay open.  End of story. Doctors, administrators, ambulance drivers all work, and I mean work, to never turn anyone away that is in need, no matter their physical state or financial situation. Now, I did not need an emergency room for my head (they don’t treat bruised pride anyway) but I cannot help but imagine Seattle’s most vulnerable shuffling around and around through revolving doors at Harborview, trapped by invisible yet thick and solid glass.  And they never really make it in or out of the hospital. Instead, they go round and round. They spin and cycle through a healthcare system that doesn’t know quite what to do with them. No one wants their problems or costs.  And then there are the wide, carpeted, sliding automatic doors flanking the glass hamster cage. Mostly those with good insurance stream through these types of doors: they enter and exit hospitals no problem.  In Hope and Fear, Harborview claims the two-door model keeps it fiscally afloat. The expensive an insured surgeries fund the uninsured ER patients. Nevertheless, if healthcare is really going to change, we first need to realize that hospitals have two types of doors.  Reading House of Hope and Fear dirties the glass and makes these two doors visible. And really, why must they be glass? My forehead still tingles.