New Blogger Hits the Web

Hello my friends. Mark asked me to join once before and I did not respond. I didn't want to have to send out a second apology to him, so I am trying my hand at this blogging thing. I must admit that when I left PHS I was happy to go and really wasn't sure if I ever wanted to see anyone from high school again. It was really unfortunate that I let the hurtful things of a few overshadow all the good things that transpired during those years of my life. I owe a debt of gratitude to a lot of people at PHS, even those who in their stupidity and need to make themselves feel better hurt me through their actions and words, because it is the whole of my experience that has made me who I am today. I hope that through this website I can rekindle some friendships that have been lost to time.

My life today is filled mainly with my work. I am a research scientist at the University of Washington in the Department of Health Services. My area of research is quality of life. I mainly look at how having a chronic condition (such as a craniofacial anomaly or Tourette syndrome to name a couple) impact the lives of youth with these potentially stigmatizing conditions. On most days I absolutely love my work, although on those days when nothing seems to be going right and I am feeling completely overwhelmed I wonder why I am doing this work. My favorite project right now is one that I am in the process of planning with colleagues throughout the US. The project is a multimedia social skills training program to help youth with facial differences learn how to better utilize their social skills in situations where they feel they are being discriminated against. I am probably very passionate about this project, because it is one that I think can help these youth feel good about themselves when others are trying to put them down.

Tari