Grant application

I want a grant from the MacArthur Foundation fellows program. The foundation fellows receive $500,000 in unrestricted "no strings attached" financial support over the next 5 years. I have previously discussed this program here.

The press release about the 2008 recipients says:

Previous MacArthur fellowship grant recipients "were selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future."

From Wikipedia:

“The Foundation does not accept applications or grant interviews. The foundation relies on anonymous nominators, who submit recommendations to a small selection committee of about a dozen people. The committee then reviews every applicant and passes along their recommendations to the President and the board of directors. The entire process is anonymous and confidential. The first time that a new MacArthur Fellow learns that he or she was even being considered is upon receiving a phone call telling him or her the good news.”

Since the Foundation's application process involves nothing more than luck, prayer, and a secret handshake, I am hereby submitting the specific aims of my MacArthur Foundation grant proposal to you, dear reader, cyberspace, President Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Santa Claus, and God.

Offers of funding from those in Hollywood, Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania, Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia, or others who are interested in my work will of course be gratefully accepted.

A more serious, focused, scientifically-sound proposal utilizing a mixed quantitative and qualitative methods approach will also be submitted to the National Institutes of Health for funding consideration.

Thank you all kindly for your attention to this matter.
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The overarching goal for this MacArthur Foundation grant is to use fiction and non-fiction publishing venues to enhance public exposure and stimulate national public conversation about the origin of medical and government conspiracy theories and these beliefs' impact on disparities in healthcare and health outcomes in the United States. More background on this topic can be found here.

The specific aims of this proposal are:

1. To write a literary fiction novel utilizing African culture and myth, medical and midwifery traditions, magic, and storytelling to follow ten generations of an African family through life in Africa to enslavement in America into impoverished freedom and oppressive lack of opportunity in the Southern United States. This novel will be submitted to mainstream publishing houses for publication.

and 2. To use quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the historical origins of medical and government conspiracy theories common to African Americans in Philadelphia and the impact of these beliefs on access to health care, use of antiretroviral therapy, and adherence to medication in African Americans with HIV infection. The data collected in this aim will be submitted for publication in medical journals and a non-fiction book written for a non-medical audience.