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     One of the topics we discussed last night seemed to parallel issues discussed in a political book "What's the Matter with Kansas?  How Conservatives Won the Heart of America" by Thomas Frank.  Frank's theory is that Kansas (symbolic of the entire Mid-West) began to vote Republic not because of the ideas of the Republican party but because the culture and presentation of the Republican party resonated with them.  Frank argues that Americans are voting against their best interest because they want to vote against liberal elites who drink $10 cups of chai mocha latte grandes and discuss Kafka.  Similarly I think that, as Sara and Professor Grobstein were pointing out, the culture of science demands that emotions must be hidden and the jargon must be cutting-edge, which necessarily prevents the vast majority of the public from  understanding.  I think that the wide variety of responses to Dr. Taylor have to do with how her story is told and the content is secondary.  She likely is aware that in trying to simplify to such a great extent the left and right brain she has alienated most of the scientific population.  Yet she has such a strong following in the general public.  I was initially surprised that she used the term nirvana to describe her euphoria but the word is probably more present in the common vernacular than euphoria.  I think that we, as a scientific audience, are more likely to question her personal account because we don't want to give her the credibility of being a neuroscientist if she presents her information as a layperson.  Another reason why the culture of how Dr. Taylor presents her information and the culture of who is watching it struck a chord for me is because I watched the video twice.  The first time I watched Dr. Taylor's TED lecture I was in my common room, on my laptop.  When I watched it during class, it seemed much more theatrical and overblown .  I was watching it in a different mind set in class and I probably would have written off Dr. Taylor to a greater extent if I didn't remember that I had recently watched it before and found it emotional, but that seemed warranted as she was describing her own stroke.  I do agree that she may not be up-to-date on cutting edge research but has managed to engage the public about the brain and raise awareness about strokes.