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Y'all, I just finished reading the kind of book where you stay up until 2 am reading it because it's sooooooo good, and then I got to the end of it and learned that it's based on a true story, and now I am SHOOK.

For a brief plot summary from GoodReads:
"Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption."

tl;dr: an "orphanage" operating in Tennessee was kidnapping kids and then selling them to wealthy families through high-priced adoptions.

The book is called When We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and holy cow. Go read it.
*puts in notes app*
 
Y'all, I just finished reading the kind of book where you stay up until 2 am reading it because it's sooooooo good, and then I got to the end of it and learned that it's based on a true story, and now I am SHOOK.

For a brief plot summary from GoodReads:
"Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption."

tl;dr: an "orphanage" operating in Tennessee was kidnapping kids and then selling them to wealthy families through high-priced adoptions.

The book is called When We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and holy cow. Go read it.
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I could only find this one, is this it?🙁
 
Y'all, I just finished reading the kind of book where you stay up until 2 am reading it because it's sooooooo good, and then I got to the end of it and learned that it's based on a true story, and now I am SHOOK.

For a brief plot summary from GoodReads:
"Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption."

tl;dr: an "orphanage" operating in Tennessee was kidnapping kids and then selling them to wealthy families through high-priced adoptions.

The book is called When We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and holy cow. Go read it.

If it's in audiobook form I'll put it on my list. I do so much driving it's a good time to get my 'reading' in.
 
Y'all, I just finished reading the kind of book where you stay up until 2 am reading it because it's sooooooo good, and then I got to the end of it and learned that it's based on a true story, and now I am SHOOK.

For a brief plot summary from GoodReads:
"Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption."

tl;dr: an "orphanage" operating in Tennessee was kidnapping kids and then selling them to wealthy families through high-priced adoptions.

The book is called When We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and holy cow. Go read it.
I listened to the audiobook last year! SO good
 
If it's in audiobook form I'll put it on my list. I do so much driving it's a good time to get my 'reading' in.
It is and it's very pleasant to listen to if you like southern accents
 
I have genuinely sadlaughed at the posts that are like "what if shorty is powerwolfing" and I'm like LOL I WISH I WERE ANYWHERE NEAR GOOD ENOUGH TO PULL THAT OFF

Instead I get to feel like I'm putting in a whole lot of work to accomplish a whole lot of suckitude 😢
but that's what PhD life feels like too so I'm used to it?
are you in a PhD program ?!?!?!!?!?
 
Even better. I went through an audiobook phase a few years ago where I listened to three books in a row that were narrated by people with british accents
haha my husband has his siri or phone directions or both or whatever on british female voice and its so annoying to me.
 
I haven't! I didn't know that was a thing
It's called Before & After, same author along with Judy Christie

@sunshinefl I'm in a dual DVM/PhD program and in the PhD part at the moment. I'm at the part of the program where I've been in school for a REALLY long time and yet somehow am still not any sort of doctor :laugh:
 
whats your thesis?
Lean In Tell Me GIF by Schitt's Creek's Creek
:heckyeah: Dangerous question

So, I primarily study alterations in the extracellular matrix of osteosarcoma metastases. We don't really understand why it is that when lung metastases are detectable, they don't respond to chemotherapy, and I study the interactions of our commonly used chemos with the ECM and how it prevents drug influx, both biochemically and physically. But on top of that, I'm also using forward genetic screening with the Sleeping Beauty transposon system and identified some novel genes that we think play a role in chemoresistance, which I was supposed to be validating now but since I've been sick, that's on hold.

My first 2 years of the thesis were just creating the mouse model and surgery/chemo protocols since we do our best approximation of human standard of care - amputation surgery + a 3-drug chemo regimen, and I have a minor spin-off pharmacokinetic project that resulted from that work too.
 
Also fun fact, Dubz and @PrincessButterCup voluntarily sat through me blabbing about my research for an hour when I was preparing for my qualifying exams (for the non-PhD peeps, quals are different by program but mine was writing 2 proposals and then a 3 hour oral exam). I fully intend to repay the favor!
 
:heckyeah: Dangerous question

So, I primarily study alterations in the extracellular matrix of osteosarcoma metastases. We don't really understand why it is that when lung metastases are detectable, they don't respond to chemotherapy, and I study the interactions of our commonly used chemos with the ECM and how it prevents drug influx, both biochemically and physically. But on top of that, I'm also using forward genetic screening with the Sleeping Beauty transposon system and identified some novel genes that we think play a role in chemoresistance, which I was supposed to be validating now but since I've been sick, that's on hold.

My first 2 years of the thesis were just creating the mouse model and surgery/chemo protocols since we do our best approximation of human standard of care - amputation surgery + a 3-drug chemo regimen, and I have a minor spin-off pharmacokinetic project that resulted from that work too.

Omg, I'm pretty sure I met you at my UMN interview a few years ago. I had a long conversation with (I'm assuming) you about your PhD research because I'm having some serious deja vu right now lol.
 
:heckyeah: Dangerous question

So, I primarily study alterations in the extracellular matrix of osteosarcoma metastases. We don't really understand why it is that when lung metastases are detectable, they don't respond to chemotherapy, and I study the interactions of our commonly used chemos with the ECM and how it prevents drug influx, both biochemically and physically. But on top of that, I'm also using forward genetic screening with the Sleeping Beauty transposon system and identified some novel genes that we think play a role in chemoresistance, which I was supposed to be validating now but since I've been sick, that's on hold.

My first 2 years of the thesis were just creating the mouse model and surgery/chemo protocols since we do our best approximation of human standard of care - amputation surgery + a 3-drug chemo regimen, and I have a minor spin-off pharmacokinetic project that resulted from that work too.
so i'm only in advanced cell bio for undergrads rn but I'm trying to wrap my brain around and understand a bit more. so is it that we suspect something on the surface/having to do with the chemistry of the cell membrane of cancer cells is resistant to chemo? it's a little out of my element since i study the metabolism of insecticides in arthropods
 
so i'm only in advanced cell bio for undergrads rn but I'm trying to wrap my brain around and understand a bit more. so is it that we suspect something on the surface/having to do with the chemistry of the cell membrane of cancer cells is resistant to chemo? it's a little out of my element since i study the metabolism of insecticides in arthropods
Well, we've noticed that when you treat with chemo, osteosarcomas produce a ton of matrix in response - so we looked at what's making up that matrix, and based on that, we're doing some deep dives on the genes responsible for producing that particular component to see if we can find any links. From what we can tell, its upregulation physically blocks chemo from getting into the tumor (we can show this with fluorescent microscopy), but we're still trying to tease out what signaling pathways are affected by it too.
 
Well, we've noticed that when you treat with chemo, osteosarcomas produce a ton of matrix in response - so we looked at what's making up that matrix, and based on that, we're doing some deep dives on the genes responsible for producing that particular component to see if we can find any links. From what we can tell, its upregulation physically blocks chemo from getting into the tumor (we can show this with fluorescent microscopy), but we're still trying to tease out what signaling pathways are affected by it too.
that is so cool. your research is so cool. I'm in absolute awe :biglove:
 
Dubz! What's your thesis?
I think you're also in a PhD and your posts about immunology and epi classes make me EXCITED for the answer
I study chytrid, pathogenic fungi that infect amphibians. Mainly the more recently discovered one, Bsal, that isn't in the US (yet), but my siren project is with Bd, which is endemic in some areas in the US. So far I've done work with pathogenesis, diagnostics, and a little bit of treatment exploration. But my plan for my thesis work is to investigate long-term effects of sublethal infection, especially on reproductive fitness.
 
I study chytrid, pathogenic fungi that infect amphibians. Mainly the more recently discovered one, Bsal, that isn't in the US (yet), but my siren project is with Bd, which is endemic in some areas in the US. So far I've done work with pathogenesis, diagnostics, and a little bit of treatment exploration. But my plan for my thesis work is to investigate long-term effects of sublethal infection, especially on reproductive fitness.
! !! ! ! ! ! !! ! I just took a midterm where like half of it was on chytrid!
 
And goodbye what little anonymity I ever had :laugh:
Every time interview season rolls around, I get at least 1 PM from some applicant who figures out who I am. Anonymity is overrated. Or that's what I keep telling myself b/c I'm really bad at being anonymous :laugh:
 
Every time interview season rolls around, I get at least 1 PM from some applicant who figures out who I am. Anonymity is overrated. Or that's what I keep telling myself b/c I'm really bad at being anonymous :laugh:
I was really hopeful I would get you for my interview but it wasn't you🙁
 
Every time interview season rolls around, I get at least 1 PM from some applicant who figures out who I am. Anonymity is overrated. Or that's what I keep telling myself b/c I'm really bad at being anonymous :laugh:
We always seem to have a smaller applicant pool on here so that hasn't happened to me...yet lol
 
I was really hopeful I would get you for my interview but it wasn't you🙁
I ended up doing 15, I tried my hardest 🙁

(also, never again. 15 was way too many. Don't EVER tell the office that you can do as many as they need. Lesson learned.)
 
That's still a lot. I'm too introverted for that many in one day. I had one day where I had 5 and that was enough.
Me too tbh
this last round I did that on Saturday and then worked Sunday and Monday, and I felt like never talking to another human again
 
Me too tbh
this last round I did that on Saturday and then worked Sunday and Monday, and I felt like never talking to another human again
I feel this so much hahaha I had a great time doing them and meeting applicants, but I was WIPED OUT afterward.

I always feel that way at our orientation too, I love welcoming the incoming first years and doing all the activities with them, and then at the end of the day/during free time, it's basically guaranteed that I'm off in a quiet corner somewhere with a book.
 
@supershorty look what I just picked up at my local used book store!
Yesss we should talk about it when you finish it!!

also used book stores are very dangerous places for me, I always tell Z I'm just going to look and then come home with like 12 books...
 
Not gonna lie, I didn't know what this was going to be and I had jokingly said to Z that if you posted saying NSYNC was better than Backstreet Boys (since we seem to disagree on a lot of things), I was going to change my yeet vote to you for a few minutes just out of spite.

I am glad to see I didn't have to do that :laugh:
This exchange that was moved to the sign-ups thread just made me realize I missed an entire page of posts last night on the game thread. So now I gotta go back and read that entire page. Also that is one of my favorite B99 scenes too!!
 
My "to read" list in my notes app is so long :sorry:
I have a spreadsheet of books I want to read and I've already realized that I almost certainly have more books on there than I could read in a natural lifespan.
 
Yesss we should talk about it when you finish it!!

also used book stores are very dangerous places for me, I always tell Z I'm just going to look and then come home with like 12 books...
I only allow myself to go to the bookstore like once every 3 months. My college town has a great one where there are $1-$5 quality books. I love it there!
 
If they're half price, it means I can buy twice as many, right? Right?!
Okay but HBP is my favorite bookstore, and I love going there when I am back at my parents' house. I just really love bookstores and libraries. When I was a kid, my parents stopped getting me brand-new books as gifts because I would finish 1 (or more) books in a day. So instead they got me HPB giftcards haha
 
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