Polonius gives advice to his son, Laertes, in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet. Laertes is leaving Denmark to study abroad in France. Polonius states that he only has a “few precepts,” but his long-winded speech goes on and on as a sort-of comic relief in the middle of the tragedy. In high school, I recited this speech …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
Grandmother Tree
Grandmother Tree by Dr. Joel Ying I remember the great grandmother tree of Claymont Mansion. The dappled light under the shade of her branches; the wind rustling the leaves into the rich moist soil. Grandmother has seen many suns, moons, and stars. A lark sings to the beauty of her nurturing. Walking paths meander here …Read More
Remembering Vincent Chin ~ Annie Tan
How do you turn tragedy into prayer? … a prayer for a better world … a prayer for justice … a prayer for healing … June 19, 2022, marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Vincent Chin. The Asian American community united in response and worked to expand the protections against hate crimes. Learn …Read More
Oath of an Engineer
The steel ring, notable for its simplicity of engineering, is placed on the little finger of his right hand, his dominant hand. The ring symbolizes the strength of the profession as it touches all that he will do. Along with his fellow graduating classmates, he takes the ceremonial oath of his profession to serve “the …Read More
Neonatal Step-Down Unit
“You seem traumatized,” said my friend the neonatologist–a pediatrician that takes care of newborn babies. I was telling the story of my very first rotation decades earlier as a medical resident fresh from medical school. I was assigned to the neonatal step down unit where I was expected to be the doctor. The unit had …Read More
Grit ~ Angela Lee Duckworth
In the 11th grade, I joined the track team with the dream of becoming an athletic nerd–the straight-A athlete that every college would want. The counselors told me that I needed to be “well-rounded” in order to get into a good college, and I was determined. I had been on the cross country team, and …Read More
A Story A Day ~ Tim Lowry
“A story a day keeps the boredom away.” My dear friend and fellow storyteller, Tim Lowry, is posting a story a day on YouTube for school kids throughout the month of May… the final stretch before summer vacation. The video below is recorded with a lively audience of 2nd graders. Ask your local schools to …Read More
Catch the bloom in Myakka State Park
“The Coreopsis are blooming in the park,” he said in a flat matter-of-fact tone as if making a scientific pronouncement. The group nodded in agreement, but I’m not from the Sarasota area of Florida. As far as I could tell, he was speaking a foreign language. I had no idea what he was talking about. …Read More
Mind and Heart ~ Charles Bukowski
“Drink from the well of your self and begin again.” Mind and Heart by Charles Bukowski unaccountably we are alone forever alone and it was meant to be that way, it was never meant to be any other way– and when the death struggle begins the last thing I wish to see is a ring …Read More
Be Drunk ~ Charles Baudelaire
“Who among us has not dreamt, in moments of ambition, of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhythm and rhyme, supple and staccato enough to adapt to the lyrical stirrings of the soul, the undulations of dreams, and sudden leaps of consciousness.” — excerpt from the Dedication of Le Spleen de Paris Charles Baudelaire was …Read More