I had finished running the BioProcess Lab event for the Illinois State Science Olympiad on April 26th and was all ready to write the final exam for my class the next day at the the Illini Union, when I had a chance meeting with Joey Pantoliano (all you nerds know him as Cypher, the "bad" guy in The Matrix).  Click on the link if you can't place his image in your head....once you see a picture, you will recognize him!  

Anyway, it turns out we decided to hang out together for the afternoon, which was great fun. I learned a lot about his new project, the establishment of an organization to help educate the public about mental illness in order to remove the stigma and make it ok for people to want to seek help for their depression or bipolar disorder, etc. It is such a worthwhile cause because even if you don't have mental illness, you probably have a family member or friend who does.  The organization is called "No Kidding, me, too!"

I also had a chance encounter with Ang Lee, and in my severe nerdiness could not help but comment to him on how great it is that his wife is a microbiologist, not about what a fantastic director he is. Sigh, it is a chronic issue, for sure!  The next day I saw Joey again and was introduced to Joe Greco, the director of the wonderful film, Canvas, who created the story based on his own experiences growing up with a mother with mental illness.  I saw it at Ebertfest, which is held in Champaign each April, and the reason all these talented people were here.  I was impressed by the talent of the movie's young star, Devon Gearhart, and learned that he is a huge fan of science and has even attained science accolades!

Hey, Devon, the world needs great young scientists. Keep up the good work!

I had to wrestle a bit with myself to title my site "Lovely Scientist Loves Science!", because I generally don't place emphasis on appearances. However, it seems I inadvertently acquired unsolicited celebrity permission to call myself "lovely". Or, it could be that JP's sample size of teachers he has met might need to expand a bit!

Have you ever seen that commercial with Peyton Manning for Mastercard where he gives pep talks to people who have just made some significant mistakes in daily activities?  I think particularly of the coffee shop guy who gets blasted in his face with a a shot of steam and Peyton says "Oooh! shake it off, Johnny. Rub some dirt on it!" 

This is my new motto for this time of my life. 

Everything in my life has been turned upside down! I never expected to have such challenges manifest in my life all at once!
Out of this turmoil, I have decided to produce my science website.  Since love for science has been my constant companion my entire life and I love to think about it and share it with anyone who will listen, this seems like a good place to focus on my strengths.

I have also decided to take the official plunge and move forward with breaking into science TV: reporting, hosting, corresponding. I think I do a good job at making science accessible to semitechnical and nontechnical audiences and that, along with my modeling experience, will help move me forward and allow me to reach larger audiences.  I plan on keeping the day job for a bit, though....

This means breaking my general rule of no pictures of me on the web, so if you are looking for some, I guess you'll find them here soon enough, and even a video or two.  Yikes!

Those of you who subscribe to the stem cell/tissue engineering newsletter will find that I plan to post this here, smaller bits at a time.

Until next post.....Kindly, Joanne