The Ulysses Quartet joins guitarist Ben Verdery in a program of American composers, including two by the performers themselves, as well as works by Leonard Bernstein and Jimi Hendrix. Admission is free, registration is required.
Join musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra who will perform works for string quartet by Shostakovich, Pärt, and Mendelssohn. Free, reservations optional. Discover program information and make an optional reservation.
Join Professor Andrew K. Diemer for a lecture based on his book, Vigilance: The Life of Wiliiam Still, Father of the Underground Railroad. Tickets are free and can be obtained here. To livestream the lecture, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6s5__N1agc
This series highlights art and history as told on screen by Black artists, and includes new film restorations, recent documentaries, and experimental short films by Black filmmakers. Check out the schedule and free registration to learn more.
Join bestselling author Tricia Hersey for an immersive reading from her new book, We Will Rest! The Art of Escape. This collection of meditations and poetry is inspired by hymnals, prayerbooks, and abolitionist pamphlets which taps into community care techniques as a radical form of rest. Free tickets are available.
March of the Penguins – 20th Anniversary Screening @ Avalon Theatre
Date: Saturday, February 22, 10:30 a.m.
Watch March of the Penguins again as though it’s the first time! The Avalon Theatre (5612 Connecticut Ave. NW., Washington, DC. 20015) is hosting a 20th-anniversary screening of this beautiful documentary that tracks emperor penguins journeying through extreme weather in Antarctica. Tickets are $10.85 and available for sale on the Avalon’s website.
Alicia Waller and her ensemble will perform selections from her acclaimed EP, Some Hidden Treasure, and material from her highly anticipated debut album, Louder Then. Admission is free with an optional online reservation.
The Arlington Arts Alliance presents a juried show featuring artworks by its members. This event is free and takes place at the Alliance Gallery, 2700 Clarendon Blvd Suite R330, Arlington. (Convenient to Clarendon Metro.)
JewCE: The Jewish Comics Experience explores 100 years of Jewish cartoons, comics, and graphic novels. Visitors will discover the Jewish origins of iconic comic book superheroes from the 1930s to the 1960s. The exhibit also includes the development of cartoons in Yiddish and Modern Hebrew and spotlights contemporary graphic novels from around the world with Jewish themes. Admission is free.
January is Thyroid Awareness Month. To observe it, Rotation author and Himmelfarb Librarian Ruth Bueter spoke with Dr. Chelsey Baldwin, MD to learn more about the thyroid. Dr. Baldwin is a board-certified endocrinologist at the GW Medical Faculty Associates (GW Medicine) where she treats patients with thyroid conditions. Dr. Baldwin is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at SMHS and a thyroid expert.
The Rotation: I’d like to start by saying thank you for meeting with me and helping our readers learn about the thyroid during Thyroid Awareness Month!
Dr. Baldwin: You’re welcome! I’m happy someone wants to talk about it!
Can you tell us a little about what inspired you to become an endocrinologist and how you became interested in the thyroid?
I thought I was going to be a primary care doctor. I enjoy the outpatient setting and I enjoy long-term relationships. I found that I really enjoyed having expertise and that I wanted to be an authority on some topic. I think that primary care is incredibly challenging because you’re in charge of so much, and this gave me a way to keep some of those things that I really wanted - those long-term relationships, and an outpatient setting - and I got to develop an expertise.
The physiology of endocrine is my favorite, so that’s what led me to choose endocrine. And then thyroid, interestingly enough, when I was a fellow I thought I was going to do pituitary. I enjoyed it, and it’s the control center of the endocrine system. But I had a mentor who was a thyroidologist and essentially took me under his wing as far as interest in research, and that’s how it developed, meeting the right person at the right time in my career.
What brought you to GW?
My husband works for the federal government and we were told that we were moving from New York City to DC. I knew I needed to find an academic institution to continue what I had begun at NYU, which is an academic career. I really enjoy seeing patients, but it really balanced things out for me to also have teaching, and to be around people who are thought leaders and are trying to push the envelope, find something new, and are thinking about how to make medicine better than it was 10 years ago. That’s what you find in academic medicine. I actually stayed behind in New York for a year and a half waiting for the right job to open for me, and that was GW.
We at GW are very glad to have you!
Thank you, Ruth!
Many people outside of medicine might not be familiar with the thyroid. I wasn’t familiar with it until I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism a few years ago. Can you tell us a little bit about it, its role in the body, and how healthy thyroid function contributes to overall health?
Sure. So the thyroid is a relatively small gland, it’s about 15 grams, and it sits in the midline at the base of the neck. So this little gland produces thyroid hormone, and thyroid hormone travels via the blood to all cell types of the body. Of course, I’m a little biased, but what I like to say is that by being a thyroidologist, I have my hand in the physiology of almost every tissue type: the heart beating at the right rate, blood pressure maintenance, how fast the gut moves, or when there’s disease - too slow, too fast - weight management, mental health. The list goes on and on. It makes my job challenging, but also, it’s quite intriguing physiology.
So again, for people who may not be as familiar with the thyroid, what are some of the things that can go wrong with the thyroid? What are the most common thyroid problems you see with your patients?
When I’m giving an overview of things that can go wrong with the thyroid, we can think of hormonal problems and we can think about structural problems. For hormonal problems, the thyroid can either not function well enough - the hypothyroidism that you suggested - and again you just think of the metabolism of all of the cell types slowing down, not getting the correct signals. And then the opposite can happen where there’s too much thyroid hormone, and think about being in an overdrive state when it comes to metabolism. And so both [hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism] are one, incredibly common, and as you shared, can happen to young patients. So I see a large diversity of patients, and interestingly enough, a lot of young patients.
When we think about structural problems - nodule development. These nodules can be benign, the majority of nodules will be benign. But sometimes, they can one, overproduce hormone and we’re back into that overactive state. Or two, they’re just large enough that they’re causing symptoms due to the fact that the neck is a small space, and they either need to be removed or shrunk in order to alleviate symptoms.
And then finally, thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is a passion of mine. I truly am excited about all of the progress we are making in fine-tuning the treatment of thyroid cancer to individualize patient needs. And so that’s kind of a brief overview of what can go wrong with the thyroid.
You talked a little bit about thyroid cancer being a passion of yours. So what are some things that you can do to help patients with thyroid cancer? Are there new treatments, or something that you’re excited about in that area?
Well, interestingly enough, it’s not necessarily new treatments, at least for a majority of patients, it’s learning when treatment isn’t necessary. We’re learning more and more that some of these small cancers and early cancers do not have an aggressive course. And maybe we went a little overboard in the past giving patients treatments that didn’t necessarily change the outcome and took on risk. We’re getting much better at fine-tuning that, making sure that, as one of the famous thyroidologists once said “make sure that the punishment fits the crime.”
That has been a huge change in thyroid cancer culture, and making sure that the expertise disseminates that practitioners are more comfortable not being aggressive. Because that can actually be really hard on the clinician too, you feel like you’re not doing every little thing you can to prevent recurrence and/or progression. But the bottom line is that knowing when to hold back is truly important.
And then, advancements in thyroid cancers that are new: There are some really rare, aggressive thyroid cancers. Being at a tertiary care center like we are, I, unfortunately, get to see those more often than many clinicians will. And it is so exciting to see that based on molecular or genetic therapies, we are able to make huge impacts on patient survival. There’s a cancer called anaplastic thyroid cancer, that had a dismal overall survival of about 6 months. We are drastically changing that outcome by being able to target these molecular targets within the tumor. It’s really exciting! We published a paper on a case just like that last year. So again, I’m just excited to be a part of that shift and see real progress.
Are there things that we can do to help maintain healthy thyroid function as patients?
This question is usually the one that is the most difficult. There isn’t a whole lot to do for preventative measures when it comes to the most common hormonal problems which are autoimmune. Unfortunately, those are genetic predisposition risks, and as I tell my patients, there’s nothing you’re gonna do about that. You were born with that code.
And then that second factor, we’re not totally sure what it is that triggers autoimmune disease. Was it a virus? Was it something environmental? But we don’t know what that is to tell people to avoid it. And maybe can’t even avoid it if it’s something common, like a virus or a cold.
Dietarily, the United States and many developed countries iodinate their salt, so iodine is no longer a concern, which at one point was a nutritional problem with the thyroid. But that is really limited to countries that don’t have a national iodination program and are mountainous. Otherwise, natural iodine from the sea protects populations closer to the ocean.
As far as thyroid cancer risks, those tend to be radiation exposures, are things that we know. Those tend to be things like disasters that are non-intentional. So I’m not sure a patient can do much to avoid that. The tough answer there is that there are not a whole lot of preventative measures. But of course, regular exercise and a good diet are the things that I harp on because those are important for everyone’s health.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of treating patients with thyroid disease? And/or what is your favorite aspect of your work?
I think one that struck me yesterday was when I was seeing a young patient with a recent diagnosis of thyroid cancer, and rightfully so, they were nervous, they were anxious about how is this going to look for them, and what is this going to be. It’s really nice to be that guide for that patient. Essentially setting up expectations, what are we going to do to get the very best outcome? I find that part of my job incredibly rewarding.
And two, while I’m giving this talk to the patient, I’ve got a resident and a fellow with me who are learning how to do the same thing for their patients. So it’s kind of full circle - you serve the patient in front of you, and then you additionally serve patients that benefit from your students.
So you touched a little on some thyroid research you’ve done related to thyroid cancer, but can you tell us about some of the thyroid research you have done?
We did talk about that thyroid cancer paper where we published the first case of using targeted therapies, Dabrafenib and Trametinib, to target a patient with differentiated thyroid cancer that was unresectable harboring a BRAF mutation, using those targeted therapies. The uniqueness of this was that it wasn’t an anaplastic cancer, it was a differentiated thyroid cancer, but we used the prior research to apply there.
Some other projects that I work on, I do a lot with minimally invasive techniques for thyroid structural disease, so that means those big nodules that are bothersome, those nodules that overproduce hormones, and very small thyroid cancers. Within the last 5-10 years, there has been a new modality on the block, minimally invasive techniques like laser therapy, and radio frequency, which is my expertise. Coming down the road even newer things like nanopulsed therapy. I do a lot of work there.
Currently, we’re working on a project looking at thyroid ultrasonography, and predictive factors for whether or not a patient will end up hypothyroid after removing half of the thyroid. Additionally, I’m working with Dr. Khati in radiology and Dr. Joshi, one of our surgeons. We’re looking at the reliability of a system called TI-RADS - it’s a radiology system for grading thyroid nodules, and how do we make that reproducible not only between providers but interdisciplinary providers, because that has been a critique of the system in the past. We’re trying to say that at GW, we figured out how to make this a reliable system. Those are some of the projects that I’ve worked on and that are still ongoing.
In addition to your clinical duties, you teach first and second-year medical students here at GW. You said you also work with fellows and residents. Can you tell us why you enjoy sharing your passion for medicine and endocrinology with medical students?
Sure. When teaching, you get to go back over that physiology for endocrine, which is really fun, and it’s fun to see the students kind of find that same passion again. Beyond that, I enjoy working with students, residents, and fellows because they remind me of how important it is to be a lifelong learner, constantly being curious, and constantly being willing to explore and go outside of your comfort zone, especially the students. They’re so altruistic still, and I hope that they continue that, and it actually reignites altruism in me. There are multiple benefits to teaching.
When you aren’t treating patients or teaching medical students, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I have a dog that takes up as much time as I can give her. And I’m learning French, so that is something that I’ve been trying to do for self-growth. My husband, whenever he’s not traveling for work, we try to make sure we’re out and about exploring the town. And so I keep myself quite busy outside of work as well.
What advice do you have for students just starting in medicine?
Be curious! Ask any question. There aren’t dumb questions. I remember looking back and being so scared to ask something. Like maybe that wasn’t a good enough question. You wonder what stones you left unturned. And this is that time in your life when you get to ask anything and be curious, and you never know what you might find that sparks your interest, and your passion, and leads you down the path that could be the most rewarding career in medicine.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I think I’ve said it all!
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today! Happy Thyroid Awareness Month!
Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – all English-speaking countries – are the countries represented by the authors of this article. The incidents represented include the doxing and harassment of medical practitioners simply for being Jewish; a wave of anti-Jewish sentiment expressed by medical professionals, medical schools, and professional associations; the feeling among Jewish medical professionals that they must hide their identity to avoid workplace repercussions; and even demonstrations at healthcare facilities that have frightened staff and patients.
Key questions remain in the wake of these incidents, according to the authors. Gordon et al. seek to understand how the resurgence of antisemitism affects the Jewish community, which includes healthcare workers. They wonder when and how national healthcare authorities will step in with strategies aimed at combating the atmosphere of hatred affecting the workplace and its stakeholders, from practitioners to patients. Additionally, the authors question how the response might be different if this degree of hatred were aimed at other societal groups.
Hatred needs to be addressed at institutional levels, according to the authors. Gordon et al. list three suggestions for public policy: that a clear definition of antisemitism be established and widely disseminated across healthcare contexts, including workplaces and schools; that clear policies for conduct be communicated, as well as the consequences for violating the policy; and finally, that education on antisemitism be provided to leadership, faculty, staff, and students at healthcare institutions.
Medical professionals in the United States have responded to the resurgence of antisemitism in a concrete way with the establishment in the wake of October 7 of the American Jewish Medical Association, a new nonprofit organization established to represent Jewish physicians, fellows, residents, medical students, and public health and healthcare professionals. The AJMA has chapters across the U.S., and issues statements on current topics of concern. It also provides access to a form for medical workers to report cases of antisemitism, including violence or intimidation, hate speech, or institutional issues, among others. The AJMA also has a weekly podcast that looks at the intersection of healthcare and Jewish values.
Sadly, antisemitism did not begin with the Holocaust, nor did it end there. On this international day of remembrance, it is important to learn from the past by considering how you can help to chart a more inclusive future.
References
Gordon, M., Teitel, J., Rosenberg, T., Oratz, R., Katz, N., & Katz, D. (2024). Antisemitism in Medicine: An International Perspective. Rambam Maimonides medical journal, 10.5041/RMMJ.10536. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.5041/RMMJ.10536
January is Glaucoma Awareness Month, a good time to take a look at recently published research from the field. A forthcoming study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease uses data from a prospective cohort study called Adult Changes in Thought (ACT), which follows cognitively normal older adults until Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia development. Those included in the group were study participants with a diagnosis of glaucoma who filled prescriptions for glaucoma medications (including alpha-adrenergic agonists, beta-adrenergic antagonists, miotics, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, and prostaglandins) for at least ten years.
Davidson et al. cite sensory impairment as one modifiable potential source of dementia risk. Glaucoma is a common cause of visual impairment in older adults, and several past studies have suggested glaucoma may be associated with a higher risk of dementia, although this is not yet proven. Additionally, glaucoma and dementia may potentially share molecular pathways and clinical features which are associated with neurodegeneration.
Treatment of glaucoma focuses on reduction of intraocular pressure through daily use of topical eye drops. Because both glaucoma and dementia are highly prevalent in older adults, therefore Davidson et al. feel it is important to study the potential connections between the two.
Patients included in this study are older adults at risk of dementia from Kaiser Permanente Washington (state). Participants are followed by ACT until they develop Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. The study looked at age and dementia risk, first glaucoma medication fill, in addition to other factors. 521 participants in the ACT study were ultimately included in this analysis. 62% were female, and beta-adrenergic antagonists were the most frequently prescribed type of medication. The mean exposure time for each study participant to beta-adrenergic antagonists was 1.4 years.
The study concluded that with each year of alpha-adrenergic agonists (AAA), there was a 33% higher risk of dementia (but not Alzheimer ’s-type dementia). The findings of Davidson et al showed that beyond AAA, there was no other glaucoma medication class associated with dementia or Alzheimer’s-type dementia. This constitutes a new finding, because exposure to glaucoma medication use has not been studied extensively, nor has use of AAA previously been linked to an increased risk of dementia. It is important to note that some studies have also pointed to adrenergic dysregulation as playing a role in cognitive decline. Topical use of AAA drops induces central adrenergic activity in some patients, which the authors hypothesize could be a mechanism leading to adrenergic dysregulation.
The authors note that their findings were unexpected, and they cannot fully rule out that the association between AAA glaucoma medication and dementia is related to patients who have more severe glaucoma. (Data on the severity of the glaucoma was unavailable to researchers.) AAA was not a first-line medication, but rather one prescribed to patients after beta blockers or prostaglandins are unsuccessful. In the cohort being studied, AAA was the third most prescribed medication for glaucoma.
While Davidson et al. acknowledge study limitations, this finding indicates an important area for future research, to look at medication exposure time and other factors such as other drugs patients have been taking concurrently with glaucoma medications.
References
Davidson, O., Lee, M. L., Kam, J. P., Brush, M., Rajesh, A., Blazes, M., Arterburn, D. E., Duerr, E., Gibbons, L. E., Crane, P. K., Lee, C. S., & Eye ACT study group (2025). Associations between dementia and exposure to topical glaucoma medications. Journal of Alzheimer's disease: JAD, 13872877241305745. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/13872877241305745
Himmelfarb Library has honored Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with numerous blog posts, and as we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. again today, we wanted to take a look back at some of our previous posts. These posts can serve as an opportunity to reflect on Dr. King’s life and legacy, celebrate the progress made toward continuing Dr. King’s work, and recommit to the work that still needs to be done.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is well known for his passionate and thoughtful speeches that examined racial discrimination in the United States, the negative impacts of poverty, and the need for communities to rally behind and support vulnerable populations. His iconic “I Have a Dream” speech focused on education, access to housing, racial desegregation, and building an equitable country. Dr. King also fought to end racial inequities in healthcare.
On March 25, 1966, Dr. King spoke at a meeting of the Medical Committee for Human Rights. While the full transcript of this speech has not been discovered, fragments were printed in newspapers. This speech addressed the harsh realities that people of color, particularly Black Americans, faced in America and urged listeners to educate themselves on these inequities and work to dismantle systemic oppression. It was during a press conference documented by the Associated Press before this speech that Dr. King is thought to have spoken one of his most famous quotes about health according to Professor Charlene Galarneau:
“We are concerned about the constant use of federal funds to support this most notorious expression of segregation. Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death” (Galarneau, 2018, p.5).
Dr. King’s speech was a call to action encouraging people to educate themselves about the issues of racism and economic inequality and use this knowledge to establish and maintain inclusive communities. If you’d like to learn more about Dr. King’s speech to the Medical Committee for Human Rights, read the full post!
If we are to take up Dr. King’s call to action and educate ourselves on the issues of racism and economic inequality, last year’s post about honoring King’s legacy through self-education can be a great place to start! This post highlights resources that can help you learn about these topics so you can put that knowledge into action!
To learn more about these resources, read the full post!
References: Galarneau, C. (2018). Getting King’s Words Right. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 29(1), 5–8. https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2018.0001
With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World,” by Steven Johnson.
About the Book: A story of epidemiology in its infancy, Steven Johnson analyzes the cholera outbreak in 1854 and the key investigators unraveling the mystery of transmission. Balancing urban planning, biology, and politics, The Ghost Map explores the rise of ultra-dense urban communities and the trial-and-error discovery of basic civic needs, like waste management. It’s a book about ideas: both why we cling to bad ones and the consequences of doing so.
Reasons to Read: If you enjoy medical detective stories, Johnson provides an excellent one, assembling information into an efficient and intelligible chain of cause and effect while commenting insightfully on the history of disease. The book has no shortage of Victorian horrors, as well, if you want to further your gratitude for 21st century life.
Reasons to Avoid: well, it is fundamentally a book about poop (and ingesting it); "what cholera wants is an environment where people are eating other people's excrement” (Johnson, 2006, pg. 40). Scatological tolerances aside, it’s a book as much about urban planning and the competition of ideas as it is a straightforward disease narrative, compared to something like Pale Rider.
We hope you had a restful and relaxing Winter Break! We’ve enjoyed having so many of you in the library again during the first week of Spring Semester classes! It’s always fun to feel the buzz of excitement in the library at the start of a new semester!
We’d like to take a minute to remind you that Himmelfarb Library is here to support you as you pursue your goals this term, so let’s review some ways Himmelfarb can help you make the most of the Spring Semester.
Library Hours
Himmelfarb’s regular operating hours are:
Himmelfarb Library
Reference Services
Consultation
Monday - Friday
6:00 am - Midnight
8:00 am - 8:00 pm
8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday
8:00 am - Midnight
Not staffed
Not staffed
Sunday
8:00 am - Midnight
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Not staffed
Visit our Hours page to view any exceptions to our normal hours, such as holiday closures.
Study Zones
Himmelfarb is also a great place to study with numerous options to meet your needs and preferences.
Social Zone - 1st Floor: Our first floor is not quiet and is the perfect place to study with your friends, hang out, and be social, or take a study break with a game of chess, our current puzzle, coloring books, board games, or hula hoops!
Silent Zone - 2nd Floor: Our second floor is a silent floor reserved for graduate and advanced degree students. Silence is golden on this floor - it’s the perfect place to study if you need pristine silence to focus while you study. Don’t let the 4-person tables tempt you to be social - even whispering can disturb your fellow silence seekers.
Quiet Zone - 3rd Floor: Our third floor is a quiet study area, where whispering is acceptable, but please be respectful to others and keep things quiet.
Group Study Rooms: Our study rooms are located on the second and third floors and are great for studying with friends! Reserve your study room in advance to secure a room. These rooms aren’t noise-proof, so please keep conversations quiet so you don’t disturb others in the Silent and Quiet Zones!
Our Collections
Himmelfarb has extensive collections that include more than 125 databases, 6,700 e-books, and 6,500 journals, available 24/7 from on and off campus! Our print book collection, located in the basement-level stacks, is available for checkout. Most books can be borrowed for three weeks, with two renewals available if you need an item longer. To renew your items, stop by the first-floor service desk, call us (202-994-2962), or log in to your library account and renew online.
While we pride ourselves on our books and collections, Himmelfarb offers a lot of things you might not expect from a library. Take some time this semester to explore some of the more unique things Himmelfarb has to offer!
BodyViz: This interactive anatomy visualization tool is a fantastic way to explore and learn anatomy in a fun and exciting way!
Statistical Software: Some of our third-floor computers come equipped with statistical software including SPSS, Stata, SAS, NVivo, MATLAB, and Atlas.ti.
Tech Equipment:Our digital camcorders, digital voice recorders, and ring lights can be reserved in advance for your media-related projects.
Medical Gear: We have suture kits, an ultrasound machine, a blood pressure monitor, an ECG monitor, an iPhone otoscope, and a fitness tracker available for checkout!
Tech & Support: We have chargers for iPhones and MacBooks, USB-C to HDMI OUT and USB-C to USB-A IN adapters, HDMI cables, headphones, and dry-erase markers available for checkout. We also have free earplugs at the first-floor service desk!
Reference and Research Support
Himmelfarb is more than just a great space to study and fantastic resources! Our librarians and staff can help you find the resources you need for your studies and research. Whether you’re looking for the right book or journal article for an assignment, need help with a literature search or a systematic review, or want to learn how to organize your sources with RefWorks or Covidence, our reference librarians and staff can help!
Stop by the first-floor service desk to get help from our knowledgeable and friendly reference librarians and staff in person, or use our Ask a Librarian service to chat virtually. Our Ask a Librarian service is staffed by real Himmelfarb librarians and staff, so you can be sure you’re getting the help you need! You can also email us a question, or schedule a consultation with a reference librarian at himmelfarb@gwu.edu.
It’s early January, meaning Earth has completed yet another lap around the sun, and the time of resolution is upon us.
Or . . . is it?
By now, most of us have heard about “Quitter’s Day:” the second Friday in January where the already-weary masses shrug off their goals. The name has stuck, presumably, because we can relate to it - the fizzling resolve, our second chances degenerating rapidly into our first chances. But, maybe the problem isn’t willpower; it’s in the way we structure (and think about) resolutions.
There’s nothing really special about January 1st, other than it’s the collectively agreed-upon beginning of the year. But a circle (or, technically, an ellipse) can begin at any point. Cheesy as it is to say, any day could be worthy of a new beginning.
Every revolution could be a revolution.
Part of what makes “Quitter’s Friday” psychologically crushing is the 355 days until the slate wipes clean in the following year. 365 days, moreover, is far too long a timeframe for ideal measurement. Research suggests that motivation increases with proximity to a goal’s desired outcome (Hall et al., 2024). Intuition confirms this. Consider how much more motivation it takes to begin a jigsaw puzzle (or any creative project) than to complete it.
But every goal - fitness, career, educational, or otherwise - will have its ups and downs, its booms and busts. A slackening of resolve should not lead to quitting, but reevaluating the goal and how to get there.
How important is the goal to you? Current research on anhedonia posits that having too many goals, contrary to the cultural expectation of always accomplishing everything, decreases reward sensitivity and, therefore, decreases motivation (Hall et al., 2024). If the goal isn’t central to your life’s journey, it could be time to reevaluate it, or shift its place in the goal queue.
Moreover, it helps to differentiate the overall goal - like becoming a doctor - from the steps needed to get there, just like a star will tell you a direction but not the means of travel.
The overall goal animates the boring steps and renders them meaningful, while the boring steps convert a goal into actual reality. Success becomes possible when we identify tangible, accomplishable steps.
If you know these “boring steps,” then the task is to organize them, focus on the step at hand, and mentally frame them with the overall goal. If the steps aren’t known, paralysis may occur, but can be remedied by mentors who can help clarify and guide you.
As you can tell, this process simply can’t be relegated to once a year. It’s a constant charge to the self. A constant reevaluation and reconfiguration.
So this year, instead of joining the quitters on Quitter’s Day, we should determine what we really value, chart the steps we need to take, and as the year progresses, continue working towards it.
Due to snow, the Himmelfarb Library's building will be closed on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. However, our electronic databases, e-books, and journals are still available through our website! You can also get reference help via our Ask Us chat reference service.
Location: 100 Maryland Avenue SW Washington, DC 20001
Cost: Free
Washington Botanical Garden dresses in lights to celebrate Christmas. It is one of the most beautiful places you can't miss during your visit to this city. In addition to seeing some 26,000 plants and numerous plant species, it has a special room dedicated to the deserts of the planet, where you can appreciate succulents, shrubs, and flowering plants characteristic of these regions. Also during this month, there are a series of festive concerts and an annual exhibition with the best plant species and miniature replicas of emblematic buildings, such as the Smithsonian National Museum of History
Date: Continuous at 10AM to 5PM on Monday and Wednesday through Friday, 10AM to 6PM on Saturday and Sunday, and Closed on Tuesday
Location: 925 13th Street, NW
Cost: Free
Planet Word is the only museum in the country dedicated to renewing and inspiring a love of words and language and includes immersive exhibits for all ages. Visitors can deliver a famous speech, watch a library book come to life, sing karaoke tunes, and more. The museum also offers a variety of virtual programs.
Date: October 4 – April 13 from Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: 707-709 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
Cost: Free
For the duration of the 2024-25 NBA and NHL seasons, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Ted and Lynn Leonsis, and Jeff Skoll present a landmark exhibit featuring more than 150 photographs by legendary photojournalist Harry Benson, renowned for his chronicles of culture, politics, music, movies, television, and sports. The free exhibit includes photographs of every President and First Lady since Dwight Eisenhower, iconic images of legendary athletes and musicians, a behind-the-scenes look at The Beatles' arrival to the United States, stunning moments from the Civil Rights Movement, and much more.
Location: 2700 F St., NW, Washington DC 20566 Kennedy Center (In-Person and Livestream)
Cost: Free
Trio Sefardi, a Northern Virginia–based ensemble, performs traditional songs of the Sephardim, the descendants of Jews exiled from Spain in 1492. The Washington Post said the ensemble “gave lovely and luminous performances.”
Location: 3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
Cost: $6
Zoolights is an event held at the National Zoo year after year. The brightest lights decorate the paths of the park and its resting areas, and everywhere you go you will come across brilliant animal sculptures. In addition to this light show, there are also some musical performances. Of course, the more than 500,000 LED lights that make up this annual spectacle are totally respectful of the environment and the zoo's species. This is one of the plans to do with children in Washington DC, but, no doubt, adults will also enjoy it in a big way.
Location: 2700 F St., NW Washington DC 20566 Kennedy Center (In-Person and Livestream)
Cost: Free
Songwriter Vienna Teng reemerges this fall with her We’ve Got You—her first new music in over a decade—but her fans have been here the whole time. Teng’s new mini-EP reflects the complexity of her life over the past decade: climate change work, community building, and parenthood.
Dr. King recognized the power of service. He famously said, "Everyone can be great because everybody can serve." GW’s MLK Day of Service and Leadership is a day to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through a day of service, workshops, and reflection.
This day of service is a unique opportunity for hundreds of GW students, faculty, staff, alumni, and DC community members to strengthen their service values, create positive and impactful contributions to our communities, and commit to continuing acts of service as exemplified by Dr. King.
Here’s a chance to dine at your favorite DC restaurants, and save money while you do it! Multi-course dinner menus are available at $40, $55, and $65 per person, and lunch and brunch options are $25 or $35.
