[extropy-chat] Famous author self destructs in public! Filmateleven.

[Amara Graps]

Stuart:
>Well I guess statistics are such that I would sooner
>or later meet someone like you.

Statistics? I think you have not met many women.

>With all the strong
>emotion flying back and forth about this most touchy
>of subjects, I am not sure whether I should give you
>my condolences or congratulations.

Neither.

>Aside from your simple
>narrative of what happened, I am somewhat curious how
>you felt about it?

Given that I was 17, and that I never had general anesthesia
before, being 'put to sleep' was a scary experience.

I remember that my boyfriend bought me a delicious milkshake
afterwards. (I had dry-heaved my empty stomach on the ketamine and
was dehydrated and very disoriented.) And because I was in the clinic
for longer than I expected, I was late for my appointment of
baby-sitting my  little sister that evening, and my parents were
angry at me when I arrived home. (I told them 10 years later why
I was late.)

>And do you feel differently about it now then you did then?

No. But there is a new issue, which is that I am 25 years older. When
I was in my 20s and 30s, egg-freezing was not a viable option like it
is now. Women of my age are basically screwed if they want to develop
their potential in all of the ways that Nature gives them.

I worked so hard during the last 25 years to make the best decisions
for my life, and to prepare myself for caring well for myself and for
a family, that it is probably too late now for a family. That makes
me upset. The last 2.5 years was not the best use of my time.

(sent to the Italian version of the Scientific American: "Le Scienze"
yesterday. I hope that they publish it.)

Amara

=====================================================================

  {Redazione di Le Scienze e Claudia Di Giorgio]

  Experiences of a Foreign Scientist in Italy


  As a foreigner (U.S, Latvia citizenships) living and working in the
  planetary sciences in Italy for the last 2.5 years, when I see
  advertisements for the recruitment of scientists for new institutes
  in Italy, I don't know if I want to laugh or cry. No sane person
  would go for a scientific job in Italy, if they knew what is
  embedded in the process of trying to make a scientific career in
  Italy. In addition, I don't think that Italian science employers are
  aware of the amount of attention that their foreign hiree needs in
  order to solve the issues involved in living and working in their
  country. I'm the first example in my Institute of a foreign /
  extracommunitari scientist choosing to make a career (more than a
  visit) there. When I moved, I was already living in Germany for five
  years, therefore, I had some previous experience living and
  performing scientific work in Europe.

  The procedure and paperwork for my entering Italy included visiting
  Italian embassies scattered in southern Germany (each embassy had a
  different function, no known opening hours), a visa procedure that
  was changing every month, translations of my 'documents' (but no
  one could say _which_ documents) by 'approved translators' only. At
  the end I received my three-month, one-entry-only visa, barely
  before I arrived in the country. The pre-move and moving expenses
  are the responsibility of the hiree.

  Once I arrived, a longer set of requirements and documents for my
  CNR job and then the permesso di soggiorno.

  According to the Questura's own rules, the permesso di sorggiorno
  processing will take three weeks, but I received mine in five
  months. During this time, I was not permitted to travel out. I
  renewed my permesso one month before it expired, and since November
  2003 (at the time of this writing in June 2005) I'm still waiting.
  Two letters from my institute saying my permesso is necessary for
  performing my job and my fifty visits (totalling about a week of my
  time) to the Questura accomplished nothing.

   For the job, the salary doesn't cover basic living costs in my area
  (Rome). I am alone, I don't own property, I don't have family
  living in the area, I pay rent like any normal newcomer, which
  absorbs 2/3 of my salary immediately. I took a second job teaching
  astronomy at night, in order to  pay for living expenses, but I
  learned too late that Italian taxes absorb so much, that the only
  the important aspect that I gained was the experience.

  For my business travel, I discovered that Italian scientists place
  their business travel on their personal credit cards and are
  reimbursed (sometimes many) months later by their Institutes. I
  didn't have European credit cards, I had only one U.S. bank credit
  card because I proudly paid off all my debt in the years before I
  moved to Italy. Since my Italian bank associated with my institute
  job did not know how to transfer money to U.S. banks, I needed to
  get a new Italian credit card for my business travel, which took
  one year: the first Italian banks rejected me because I was new in
  Italy and they automatically put black marks on my financial record
  because they rejected me.

  My business travel potentially put me in the same U.S. state as my
  family, yet I could not legally spend more than three days with
  them (travelling to them on my own vacation time and with my own
  money), due to CNR rules for business travel. Regardless, my
  institute has had little/no money to allow business travel in the
  last year.

  I used my own personal computer (6 years old) for most of my
  institute work and when it finally broke, my institute had no money
  for a replacement, therefore I bought a new-used computer from
  e-bay. However I didn't see my computer purchase until two months
  later because it was lost in US Postal mail, Poste Italiano mail,
  and in the Italian customs (the customs in Milano never notified me
  that they had my computer).

  I don't think that my situation is unusual for any foreign
  scientist beginning a career in Italy at this time. In my
  experiences living and working in Italy, I didn't face a culture
  shock, but instead, I faced (and I continue to face) a daily
  "how to live?" shock.

  Amara Graps, PhD

  amara.graps at ifsi.rm.cnr.it
  www.amara.com

  ***********************************************************
  Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR - ARTOV,
  Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, I-00133 Roma, ITALIA
  ***********************************************************