Smile

This blog is obviously defunct in all but name, so time to make it official. I have less and less to say here that isn’t better said elsewhere. Overall, I think there is some cause for optimism for addressing the ills of the US biomedical trainee system. On the other hand, other trends – the cluelessness among many at the top, exemplified by McKnight, and the push for more mechanisms to concentrate funding at the older end of the PI spectrum – are not good. We may look back only to have things like #forsymp and #fobgapt and the various RFIs used against GenX and Millenial scientists to retroactively claim there was “consultation” or “engagement” prior to those with power doing whatever the fuck they want. It’s a classic move!

Grad students and postdocs of 2015: you are, as a group, the best scientists who have ever been. That’s not a dig at past generations of scientists, that’s just how it goes. I hope we find a way to give you your due.

Common as the cold
Up for sale, never sold
Getting older and it shows
Your disappointment only grows
And no one seems to care
That you never got your share
Who said life was fair?
So smile – it’s not so bad

You lost your health
Never had no wealth
So tighten up your belt
As you gather dust upon some shelf
You lost by just a nose
But there’s no prize for place or show
Now, at least, you know
So smile – it’s not so bad

Tired out and broken down
You’ve played the field and made the rounds
Now you’re stuck in this one-horse town
Your only solace is the sound
Of melody and verse
Though your bag’s about to burst
Others have it worse
So smile – it’s not so bad

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