Pamelia explores the challenges facing women in science and draws from her own experiences in school and life.

There has recently been a lot of talk about why it seems that men excel in many areas of science, such as biology, physics, chemistry, and engineering, but women shy away. Many reasons have been produced. Some claim that society has taught women to be less accepting of their own mistakes, so they are afraid to ask questions. There is a strong argument that many technology firms have a very masculine atmosphere that is not accepting to women. Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard, even implied that there is something different in the brains of men and women that makes it less natural for women to pursue science.

My name is Pamelia, and I am a woman in science (I just finished my freshman year of college!) I want to talk about my experience in science, to dispel some fears from other girls considering science as a career path, and to explore what needs to be done in order to fix the gap.

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Xoxkitkat is introduced to a unique way of keeping a journal.

Two birthdays ago I received a ballet pink gift bag adorned with images of adorable, wide-eyed owls from an older cousin of mine. Oh, how she knew me. It wasn't until a few hours later when I began to open it alone in my room, and as I pulled out the contents one by one, my subsequent thoughts were: "Too. Cute.", "Ka-ching!", and "Oh, a journal". It was a sweet thought. I liked writing after all, just not so much about myself. I'd sparsely written in a few pages of a diary when I was younger, but there were always so many excuses not to write. Maybe I'd have a boring day or an extended bout of writer's block, but more often than not -- eughh, emotions. . . I just didn't think journaling was for me, and so I let it sit on the shelf, unopened, for two years.

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