One holiday gift-giving season, I got a budgie. I was perhaps eleven years old. I had asked for one of those tiny little birds when I saw them at the pet store. Blue and white, he (or she, I’m not sure) was so cute. I had wanted my own pet bird ever since I had …Read More
Category: Journal
Story: Love or Money ~ Joel Ying
There are some stories that you do not really know until you’ve heard it directly from the people that have lived it. Growing up, I knew my parents story of immigration from bits and pieces of overheard conversation, stories gathered second hand told by other relatives, and gaps filled in from similar stories that I …Read More
One Today ~ Richard Blanco
One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,peeking over the Smokies, greeting the facesof the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truthacross the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a storytold by our silent gestures moving behind windows. ~ first stanza from One Today by Richard …Read More
Transforming Your Life Story
At some point while working full time as a hospitalist doctor nearly two decades ago, I began to feel thin. I remember standing outside leaving a meeting at the home of one of the other doctors. The day was sunny and warm, just before the start of the really hot summer in Florida. The heat …Read More
Embodied Wisdom
“The head comes up with options, the heart knows what it loves, and the gut makes decisions.” I was at a workshop in Big Sur, California, when I heard these words of distilled wisdom from another student. The magnificent cliffs above the Pacific Ocean punctuated the sentence with the crashing waves. Relaxed from the morning …Read More
The Day That Broke Me
Admit or send home. The emergency room doctors have one basic decision. Is this person sick enough that they need to be admitted to the hospital? Or can they be treated and sent home to follow-up in the clinic? If you need hospital care, you are admitted under the care of your doctor. But if …Read More
Mondays and Holy Thursdays
I wish I could say that I was less confused. The garbage collection people sent me a notice to change the dates of collection from Wednesday and Saturday to Monday and Thursday. I’d like to set the record straight. In the age of euphemism starting sometime in the 1980’s, I understand that I might refer …Read More
Slip Sliding Away ~ Down the Grand Canyon
“you know the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip sliding away.” Paul Simon was slip sliding away in my head as I made my way down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Shorts, T-shirt, hiking boots, sunglasses, hat, suntan lotion… backpack with water, trail mix, snack bars. The group of four of us …Read More
AI generated images
Open AI’s DALL-E is a major upheaval in the world of photography. If you’ve been hiding in a cave, you might not know that AI stands for “Artificial Intelligence.” You also might not know that major advances have been happening and the world of AI is now in beta testing by different companies releasing the …Read More
When Breath Becomes Air ~ Paul Kalanithi
“In that first year, I would glimpse my share of death. I sometimes saw it while peeking around corners, other times while feeling embarrassed to be caught in the same room.” ~ excerpt from Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air In his last year of training to become a neurosurgeon, Dr. Paul Kalanithi is diagnosed …Read More