according to this study...

first: life in chicago
second: social work-speak

first:
the first week i was in chicago, the tornado sirens went off.  i was so affected by the transition and fearful of everything, i did nothing about it... i didn't know what to do.

today, a huge storm struck the city an sirens were raging throughout the city for about an hour.

and, though i am less fearful of life here, i still didn't know what to do!  in iowa, i would've immediately gathered some important items and headed down to the basement (or laid in our half-basement closet with sherami while the news was blaring from the television in the living room).

but, i didn't hear anybody heading towards the basement, lights were on in apartments much higher than mine and when i looked out the window, there were people walking around in torrential rains (including a ups man delivering packages).

i also figured that since our building has been around at least since the 1920's and presumably there have been tornados since then... and we are close to the lake... the likelihood of a tornado hitting our building would be slim.

but then i would imagine the tornado developing right over our building and i would be looking up into the vortex while the plaster and bricks swirled away from around me (very twister-influenced).

at this end of this terror was beauty, though, and now all is well (and much less humid - yay!):

second: social work-speak

...i'm tired of the powerful authority given to anything that has been validated by some research study.

(in learning about creating research studies, i've learned just how un-generalizable so much of the information from the majority of studies is... meaning, just because it's a study, doesn't mean it applies to the situation)

...but i'm also an information consumer who wants "truthful" "knowledge" (consequently unexamined... because if someone else has examined it, i don't have to exert the energy!) immediately.

(thus my laziness dulls my aforementioned learning about the un-generalizability of studies)

there is also this contradiction in social work where we value, above everything else, evidence-based practices (meaning methods of therapy/intervention that have been tested by scientific inquiry).  BUT so often, when working with humans, the response to their particular situation can't be dictated by a research-based study because each human (genetically, physiologically, socially, psychologically, emotionally, sexually, spiritually) is different and unique and responds in kind.

not to devalue evidence-based practice or research... but just to remind myself to question it and not make it law.