April is the cruelest month
The first line of T.S. Eliot’s poem the Waste Land which explores brokenness and loss in the U.S., England, and Europe at the end of the first world war.
Seeding Hope
“Give them hope.” That was my charge from the course directors in Gateways, a pipeline masters in science program at Brown University created to increase the diversity of the physician workforce. Started by Dr. Gowri Anandarajah six years ago, the first two weeks of the program this summer have focused on various aspects of the US health…
Hope
Beneath the 6 inches of new snow in the Northeast, there is evidence of spring. The skunk cabbage spears could be seen at the edge of the steams, and small carpets of moss appeared greener. Birds are beginning to show their breeding colors and behaviors. The Omicron variant is receding and the CDC is altering guidelines. You can now search…
Celebrating Gratitude
Tough times continue. Another variant of COVID19 has appeared in Africa. The pandemic marches on and on. The political divisions feel sharper with narrowing options for middle ground.
Thursday was Thanksgiving, a traditional celebration of colonialism coming to this continent. The alternative names are Indigenous Peoples day or Native American Heritage day. Will there always be the victors and the…
We muddle on . . .
Is it the 4th COVID surge? I am losing count. I walked up the stairs in the medical school this week with a physician I didn't know. He complained about his exhaustion from COVID. "It's the unvaccinated we are caring for in the hospital. Such a waste of resources. Nurses are quitting." I empathized and agreed, "These are hard times."
I went to the barn where I lease a horse and the owner…
Play it again
Twenty years ago, I was sitting on the concrete stairs outside the Shoulder to Shoulder apartments in Santa Lucia, Honduras, when I heard the announcer on a colleague’s short wave radio say that US troops were moving into Afghanistan. My compatriots (physicians, nurses, residents and medical students) on the medical mission out of the University of Cincinnati…
Seeking hope
You can’t miss the anniversary discussions about a year of COVID: the lockdown, the losses, the old life still yearned for, but the new routines becoming more familiar.
This week, both COVID immunized, Reed and I took a trip to watch an ancient spring event in northern Indiana: the migration of the Sandhill cranes toward their nesting sites in Wisconsin, Minnesota and further north. We were seeking a change of pace and the magic of taping into nature’s majesty…