Vicki Meli

chemist, mother, educator, Twitter novice

[Canadian Journal of Chemistry @CanJChem]

We reached out to some of the authors in the #IWD2024 Curated Collection to ask for reflections on their careers and identifications of changes that still need to be made in Canadian chemistry. Read their thoughts (and hopes!) here:

https://t.co/kbGm6lPUKc

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

Still time to submit an abstract at CSC 2024 in the Surface division symposia “Nanostructured Interfaces” and “Soft Matter Interfaces”! We’d especially love to hear from any students working in these areas! Deadline is FEB 6!!

https://t.co/IujtIng1ZI

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

Still time to submit an abstract at CSC 2024 in the Surface division symposia “Nanostructured Interfaces” and “Soft Matter Interfaces”! We’d especially love to hear from any students working in these areas! Deadline is FEB 6!!

https://t.co/IujtIng1ZI

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

@jasonmasuda Thank you for sharing this Jason. It is good to know whom among us today has been affected by this dark part of Canadian history.

[MTA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry @MTA_ChemBiochem]

Today and Tomorrow! We are thrilled to host our 2nd speaker to give the Stephen A. Westcott Memorial Lecture - Dr. Lindsday Hounjet (NRC)!

[Crudden's Lab @cmc_lab]

Yes yes yes!

[Joseph Moran @MoranLabChem]

@cathleencrudden @prof_west @FP_Champagne @StanKutcher Fixing science in Canada is pretty easy. There aren't inherent structural problems (like in France). Double NSERC DG funding and increase scholarship values and numbers 50%. The government can fix this with a single budget - a drop in the bucket.

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

Dangers of dichloromethane “injection”— shocking!

[Sebastien Vidal @SebVidalChem]

Safety first !!!
So here is a simple question tweeps.
Which solvent could have caused such injury after poking one's finger with a syringe and injecting 1-2 drops of solvent. 15 minutes and 2 hrs pictures

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

This…

[WeRateDogs @dog_rates]

This is Ted. He met his new baby brother today. Trying his best to stay calm, but it's pretty hard to do on the best day of your life. 13/10 for both

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

@queensu @cathleencrudden @NSERC_CRSNG @FP_Champagne @ISED_CA @QUartsci @QueensChem Congrats Cathy!

[Unvirtuous Abbey @UnvirtuousAbbey]

We will remember, Matthew.

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

@CranstonLab @megangrobertss Congratulations to Megan and Fred!!

[The Nobel Prize @NobelPrize]

“Ten years ago I was kicked out and forced to retire.”

Our new medicine laureate Katalin Karikó (@kkariko) told us how much it means to be awarded the Nobel Prize after a scientific career that has been full of challenges.

Ten years ago, Karikó was still doing all her experiments by hand but today she has been awarded the medicine prize for her research on mRNA, which led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

Listen now:

[Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing]

It’s not just El Niño folks.

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

Great advice

[Deonandan @deonandan]

Excellent speech. Worth a listen.

[Mount Allison @MountAllison]

A number of Mount Allison students participated at @scienceatlantic Conferences this spring, with impressive results. Congratulations to all the winners!

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

@Joseph_Fasano_ This is her FIRST poem!? Talk about off to a great start!

[Dr. Bryan Pearlman #MaslowBeforeBloom @DrP_Principal]

When I was a building principal, we had a group of boys who were consistently getting office referrals during lunch for aggressive and disruptive behaviors. In the past, these behaviors had led to increasingly severe consequences that did not reduce the negative behaviors (and caused some students to be sent home and to miss instruction). I sat down with the group and we worked together to come up with a plan on what to do during lunch. One of the boys asked if we could start a knitting club, since his Auntie had recently taught him how to knit. Since he was a leader of the group, the other boys agreed. I asked them to come back tomorrow with some ideas of what to knit. The next day one of the boys said that he wanted to knit little hats for the preemies at the hospital, since his little cousin was there and that a nurse mentioned that they had run out of the little hats. The boys knitted daily and we delivered the hats to the hospital. We received many heartfelt thank you notes from families, nurses and doctors (and even an in-person visit with a personal thank you and cookies from a newborn's mom). This group continued to grow as did our ability to create knitted hats for preemies. This became a huge success for the participating students. There was significant improvement in the students’ behavior, attitude, achievement, and attendance. It is so important to think outside of the box for “win-win” solutions. It really isn’t the WHAT you do that is important, it is the WHY you are doing it! Our knitting group become a team, family, and community.

#maslowbeforebloom

[Mohamad Safa @mhdksafa]

This is a side by side of two women gracing the front covers of two well known magazines.

The one on the right we all know is Martha Stewart, age 81. The one on the left is Apo Whang-Od, age 106, a tribal tattooist in a remote province in the Philippines.

There seems to be an unwritten rule which equates beauty with youngness. In an interview, Martha Stewart told the reporter she credits her organic, home-grown, farm-to-table eating, yoga, and actively healthy lifestyle to her youthfulness. While that’s an admirable journey for her, let’s not forget the amount of privilege that kind of lifestyle requires.

On the left is Apo Whang-Od, who is a 106-year-old tribal tattooist in the Philippines. The wisdom she carries in every forehead wrinkle and frown line is stunning. Her eyes are glass, reflecting back all that she’s witnessed over a century of lived experiences. Her tattoos a reminder of the ancestors she seeks to honor.

Both women are beautiful in their own right. But I wish we as women didn’t play into this idea that we have to look younger—and thinner—in order to fit some unrealistic beauty standard which will grant us acceptance and relevance in the world around us.

I’m writing this for any woman who, like me, may have had a punched-gut reaction to seeing an octogenarian in a swimsuit on the cover of a magazine looking more like a woman in her forties or fifties: Anti-aging is not a beauty standard.

There IS beauty in wrinkles, and saggy skin, and drooping breasts. These are markers of a life hard fought for and well lived. It seems odd to try and erase these battle scars.

So while I applaud Martha for her fortunate body, carefully curated procedures, and pristinely styled makeup, I also applaud Whang-Od for what others may perceive as imperfections.

Anti-aging is not a beauty standard.
Authenticity is.

@ FeministNews

[Vicki Meli @MeliVicki]

Love that lady Lizzo!

[LIZZO @lizzo]

THATS ME WEARING @YITTY AND PLAYING SASHA FLUTE ON THEE SIMPSONS 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Thank you to @TheSimpsons for making this a dream come true!