I must unsubscribe in a few days because my position has been
terminated, but I just wanted to throw my two cents in before I
go.  I leave this list with new respect for histotechs, a job I
did not know existed, even though I grew up in the town with the
evidently the only accredited program in our state.  Many of us
that work in academic or industry research jobs are expected to
suddenly be able to do histology and immunohistochemistry with no
prior training. I had planned to take histology during college
but could not work it into my schedule when the university
switched their calendar my senior year.  However, I suspect it
was similar to the course I finally took three years ago when I
was trying to analyze the phenotype of a knockout mouse - just
memorizing slides. At that job we had a histology core to do all
the embedding and sectioning.  I remember one of the MD fellows
in our lab being very contemptuous of the quality of their work
since the H & Es often came back too pink or too blue.  However,
today I suspect some of those problems were with our very
variable fixation techniques and not the core's fault at all.  A
sudden reorganization at this job flung me into an anatomy lab
where I struggled for months to learn sectioning and staining.
This list has been a great resource and I do urge you to continue
to fight for respect and recognition for your profession.