November 5, 2023

by Dr. Plastic Picker

I think this picture represents us. We were so happy last night Mr. Plastic Picker and myself (Dr. Plastic Picker). Sometimes I think of things and just go forth and do it, and trust in the universe that it’s going to work out. And honestly, it did last night. I had this idea that we must sing Karaoke at a party and bring together the H3SD San Diego’s Heat and Human Health speakers and volunteers. It was an idea, and there was only one Saturday that my friend Dr. Luis Castellanos and his family could make it. So we sent out the evite and asked my dear younger brother permission, and we did the event. We invited a lot of people who spoke, mostly physicians, and administrative level type people. We invited the premedical students and the high school volunteers as well. The actual Climate Karaoke (which I’m totally taking credit for!!!!) ended up very different than I imagined. It actually ended up better, if you can believe it.

Just wanted to document that it was such a beautiful night, and this is the email I sent to the older folks who last minute could not come.

“Just wanted to thank you for supporting h3sd, and let you know that climate karaoke ended up so different and more fun than I imagined.  It was essentially Luis, 2 pediatricians, 1 pediatric psychiatrist, and Jack Shu and his wife (he is the one who presented us with the award from San Diego Air Pollution Control District) supervising UC San Diego premeds and high school students mostly from the southbay (with my nieces and nephews and their friends all mixed in) having a very innocent and supervised teeny bopper like party. The kids were belting out Hamilton and Little Mermaid on the karaoke machine which was surprisingly going all night. The high school students were excited to mingle with the UCSD premeds who were excited to have the two med students there. The premeds were making fun of Sed for being born in the 1990s since they are all firmly millenials and they were riding my parents elevators up and down. Everyone naturally wandered up to the 3rd floor roof deck and we watched the sunset together and a lot of selfies together.  I was mentioning to my younger brother who lives in my parents house for now how fortunate we all are, and our family forgets how amazing the sunsets are. It brought us back to the time our family and my parents first finished building their house. And honestly having a safe excuse to share this home with these wonderful young people, and feed them and allow them to mingle and get to know each other and sing karaoke was an evening I will never forget.  Mr. Plastic Picker is so bogged down in the nitty gritty of managing a bunch of sometimes fractious radiologists, and it brought us back to the time we were premedical advisors and tutors at Currier House at Harvard college, and those happy days when we mentored.  

So thank you for supporting these various students as their professors, advisors, and mostly supporting H3sd which was the reason we all know each other and met.  The joy and community and love was palpable again in the room. I have a gazillion pictures and snippets of the karaoke songs (some of them were really really good!) but the students asked about their professors and the other doctors and leaders who were part of the summit, and I told them that you were taking much needed time for your families or had last minute emergencies.  I was honestly so thankful to stand in proxy for the collective you, and made sure the kids were all taken care of and no one under 21 drank.  A few parents of the premeds actually drove down from OC  and stopped by, and it was such a beautiful moment as we welcomed them to meet the other students. We were so glad to open up our home to this event.

Much love to you all and wanted to share just a few pictures and know that we collectively moved the climate work forward with CLIMATE KARAOKE!  

So many smiles today, and my daughter got to hang out with these great kids too and for that I’m incredibly grateful. And I hadn’t sang in over 2 decades so started reusing some parts of my body I had forgotten work!

Big green hugs!!!”

And that’s the green truth. Thank you for following along on my climate journey. Last night was a night to remember, CLIMATE KARAOKE!!!