Nancy, our new office manager, was pushing hard on everyone in the clinic to sign up for a rafting trip. She had gone with the same outfit before and assured us it would be wonderful. We would all simply blast off in carpools after work on Friday for the 7- hour trip to the Klamath…
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View Khati Hendry's profile
Nancy, our new office manager, was pushing hard on everyone in the clinic to sign up for a rafting trip. She had gone with the same outfit before and assured us it would be wonderful. We would all simply blast off in carpools after work on Friday for the 7- hour trip to the Klamath…
Read More
“You will always be friends” the counselor told us. We were too entwined and besides, she had seen it repeatedly in the women’s community, a fluidity of friends and lovers staying connected despite everything. I said nothing but promised myself, “Oh no, we won’t”.
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Veterans were synonymous with WWII when I was a child, the good war against the unimaginably evil Hitler but also the horror of the atom bomb. I don’t think I was the only one who wished for “world peace” when I blew out birthday candles or participated in student United Nations.
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The library was on the basement floor of that old 1934 two-story dark brick building in a small windowless room, maybe 12 by 15 feet. Its walls were lined with bookshelves, neatly organized into the Dewey decimal system
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Imagine being in that stadium with thousands of other university students and faculty, all roused up, politically aware, wanting a path forward. The emotional energy was contagious and overwhelming. Surely the concerns of so many people coming together could not be denied.
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Fireman Phil came to Marble Elementary School. We first-graders were gathered in the school gym, seated cross-legged on the floor. What makes a fire? How do you stop it? Do you throw water on oil (no!)? This is a fire extinguisher. If you are on fire, don’t run–drop and roll. It’s been over 60 years…
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The fire was blowing along the ridgeline in our direction. Trees were candling—igniting and throwing off firebrands--burning hunks of wood. Now the fire had jumped the vast concrete firebreak of Hwy 24 into the Oakland Hills.
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Monsoons are more than just rainy days. They are the wet season, the dry season’s counterpoint. The rains are intense downpours, not drizzly affairs, and they sweep in ferociously. They are the annual water renewal that makes life possible. Of course, that is changing along with the rest of the climate, but still. The small…
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People at San Francisco General Hospital emergency room had T shirts printed up that included the tag line: “as real as it gets”. That pretty much summed up the big urban County Hospital experience where I was a medical student. The ER was where lives in crisis ended up—there, or in prison, or sometimes both.…
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Was there anyone on the panel who could not give equal weight to the testimony of a police officer?
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The UFW had some simple housing available in a local apartment building in Calexico, where I had stayed the first time. It was pretty bleak, and soon one of my union contacts offered that I could stay at his place on the other side of the border, in Mexicali.
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Nighttime in our community hospital was something to be dreaded when I was a resident. It meant I was on overnight call, following a regular day’s work. The hospital emptied of the day staff and visitors, leaving limited lab and imaging services, fewer nurses, a couple of physicians and emergency room staff–tag, you’re “it”. When…
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My mother sometimes asked when she started looking old. I notice I look a lot more like her every day.
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In 1989, there were several reports of tourists being killed while visiting game parks in Kenya. When people found out that we were about to travel to Africa, they asked with alarm, “Should you really go?”
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When people ask me where I’m from, it gets complicated. I say, “Well, we moved around a lot. I grew up mostly in Michigan.” However, Michigan was just where my nuclear family lived on and off when not overseas, there were no relatives nearby, and we moved away before I finished high school. In fact,…
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You can see a great distance from the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu. The view is quite spectacular as it winds along the crests of the mountains, rolling up and down with the terrain; the wide path at the top of the wall turns into irregular stairsteps to accommodate the undulations and is punctuated…
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In the universe of trauma, it seems pretty trivial to describe a childhood horror movie. Looking back now, it is hard to believe that I would be terrified by the old sci-fi low-budget 1950’s film, “The Blob”. I was surprised to learn from Wikipedia that it was Steve McQueen’s acting debut, and music was by…
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It was our friend Jack who recommended Aidan to us. We needed someone to paint the house interior, and he assured us that Aidan was the best. He was also an artist, a perfectionist, and a quixotic Irish fellow who presented us with a four-page estimate in hand-written calligraphy. Yes, he was available, and yes,…
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It was the dark winter solstice of December 2020. Everything was shut down because of COVID, and vaccines were a mere glimmer. Life was suspended. Work had stopped abruptly one day in March—I was too old to risk showing up in person, and virtual options were poor—so de facto retirement came more suddenly than I…
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There was a phone with buttons for hold and intercom, and a blocky computer console sitting squarely in the middle of the desk. I think it was a Dell. The font was clunky and there were no graphics. This was my first computer.
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We were put on a bus, blindfolded, and driven around country roads this way and that. At some point, groups of four were let out of the bus, given a map, and told to find our way back. We were all fifth graders in East Lansing public school and this was part of the curriculum…
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Although I don’t look forward to going to the dentist, I do appreciate the importance of the work–maybe because I have always had dental issues, from cavities to crowns, partial plates and bridges to implants, orthodontia to tooth extraction. Much of it is thanks to genetics, which forgot to provide me a full secondary set…
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We were looking for somewhere to buy a boom box to play CD music for our elopement ceremony in Niagara Falls, and someone suggested Canadian Tire. Incredulous, we had to ask why an automotive service center would have such a thing and were met with an amused look and explanation that the store carried much…
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Big error: I hadn’t actually checked the recipe before the day of the meal.
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But in 1961 our family was headed for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for a two-year stint and I was now eleven-going-on-twelve. For me, it was an escape into the unknown, a reprieve from the prospect of junior high, and I was certain that all my frames of reference would shift.
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The house looked sort of lived-in, and we loved it, eclectic and thrown-together though it was.
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Are people merely “consumers” seeking to get the best deal from health “providers” based on market factors (and their satisfaction is important so they will keep being customers?) Or are they just people needing to heal?
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It was a fall afternoon when Ron and his friend appeared with the acid and what the hell, we had nothing better to do.
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Don't you hate the state of late?
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There were songs for the sisters, the grandchildren, the in-laws, and the whole “cast”. We thought they were pretty clever.
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." – Albert Einstein
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They say you never forget how to ride—it is, after all, “just like riding a bicycle”.
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Sally gallantly offered that I could take the MG, but I wouldn’t consider it—far too untrustworthy to risk taking over the bridge.
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The downside of a house of mementoes is that it is hard to throw anything out. I think the oldest thing I have is something that eluded getting thrown out by several generations, but I don’t really know its story. This is all I know.
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In the Before time, every evening the news god spoke.
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I write because Suzy Underwood put out a plea to my college class listserv for stories about interviews, and I thought I had a good one.
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On my first day, it was show time. I nervously knocked on the door and entered to find a pleasant young man who listened patiently as I introduced myself in halting Spanish and asked what had brought him to the clinic.
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As my mother descended into dementia, her letters stopped, and we kept in touch through phone calls, increasingly with my father alone. By the time my mother died, he had become my confidante and mutual support system.
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I have spent years of my life trying to come to terms with on-call sleep deprivation.
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I felt uncomfortable packing the book and uncomfortable leaving it behind.
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My father was leaving the lecture hall when he stepped out of the doorway and a snowball—or more accurately, an ice ball—came hurling from the side and hit him directly across his open eye.
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So proud you are all contributing members of society.
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The plan was to recruit male volunteers to be “sold”, for a term of some hours, at a “slave auction”. It was 1967, in the middle of civil rights protests.
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The Muslim staff that worked in our house protected the gardener and his Hindu family, temporary refugees in their own land.
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My whole world lies waiting
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We could hear dull, throaty roars in the distance. We were more than happy, thank you very much Mr. Guard, to be accompanied across the field. Would they be willing to have us take their picture the next day, once there was light, if we gave them a copy? Indeed, they would.
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It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a light of hope.
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“What happened?” The woman in charge of Introduction to Clinical Medicine seemed concerned. I had failed the course’s written exam. “I don’t know.” And really, I didn’t. I had never failed an exam. We second-year medical students had been farmed out in small groups to assorted ophthalmologists and ENT physicians in practice to learn eye…
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Unlike the barracks and prefabs we had lived in, the modest new house in East Lansing had a righteous Midwestern full, unfinished basement. Wooden staircase near the back door, cinder block walls, divided in two sides. Washing machine and dryer, furnace, storage, and tools on one side; if we had canned, the fruits and vegetables…
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We are adaptable, smart in many ways, and know that what should be done is also technically possible. Is it enough?
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You never like that stove. You don’t know what it meant.
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I’m sure you would not guess it, if you guessed a long, long while, so I’ll take it out and put it on—it’s a great big Brownie smile!
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The routine was: Turn on water and collect in bucket until warm—wet self—turn off water—lather and wash—turn on water to rinse—end!
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I always liked the way my dad played the piano, inventing arrangements from a fake book and not just playing scripted sheet music. He loved interesting chords, with a just enough dissonance. There were certain tunes he played often, refining the sound over time, drawing heavily from the Great American Song Book and jazz standards. …
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I would go to bed half dressed in a tee shirt, and at the first sound of the alarm, quietly roll my legs over the edge of my top bunk and slide onto the floor, already standing, trying not to disturb the roommate.
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“Hi mom, it’s me, calling from Sweden.” This will have to be short. It is expensive. “When was Grandma born?” “What was her father’s name?” I need some crumb of information if we are to have any luck tracking down relatives, and this was all unplanned. 1897. Carl Corsberg, from ”Smaland”. That will have to…
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Won't you please move closer? Now, say, "Cheese"!
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“It’s snowing!” And all the kids in Mrs. Kennerson’s first grade class jumped up from our desk chairs as one, rushing excitedly to the window. Outside, flurries spun and danced in the wind, and for that moment, it was the most important thing in the world.
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Memories of when I lived on Sumac Ridge (with apologies to Robert Frost).
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We had a whole ten days off, a fiftieth birthday to celebrate, a new telescope to try out, and a good grasp of Spanish. A map. No GPS, smart phone, or travel internet then.
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A woman was “looking at the corn” when she blew a stop sign and T-boned our car.
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I'm not really someone who makes new year's resolutions, but this year Sally announced she plans to learn to play the old accordion she bought on a whim years ago.
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Actually, sometimes I really like getting a letter.
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When I started thinking about this prompt, I started a list of all the reasons I had to be grateful, and soon found there was a true embarrassment of riches. When stacked up next to myriad reasons to be dismayed, angry, and depressed, an old saying came to mind: “I guess a man (sic) is…
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All efforts to improve health are based on helping the body to heal itself, be it through emotional support, listening, suggestions for nutrition or activity, medications or surgeries, self-care or connection to a healthy environment.
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With apologies to Ms Franklin
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I had a glimpse of the future at East Lansing Junior High--and it didn't look good. It seemed like a reprieve when our family moved to the other side of the world. I wasn't sorry.
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Once it got dark, the kids would hit the residential streets in roving bands gone wild, armed with big bags, running to each porchlight to cry, “Trickertreat!" at the door.
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At age 92, there was no treatment for him; usually the end would come from some infection his blood cells could no longer fight off. When? Maybe a month or two, max. Maybe tomorrow. No one knew. He got very quiet and then said, “Oh. I guess I had better make some phone calls.”
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The traffic going into London for the morning commute is insane. The roads in London are impossible (and no GPS then). Finding the cute little hotel in the Bloomsbury District would have been a challenge if we were awake and oriented; we were not.
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I just remember it was the girls crowding around my dad, and it was a very special time. Each week, he put aside his work and read us a chapter.
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Meals were a challenge when I was a resident on hospital rotations. There were no official breaks, no lunch, dinner, or breakfast hours, just work that had to be done and rounds to attend. Sure, there were cafeterias with overcooked steam trays of food, but they weren’t open 24/7, and weren’t free. Finding a moment…
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It is not foreign terrorists who invaded the US Capitol, corrupted democracy, attacked the press, blocked voting, tried to install an unelected autocrat, attacked public health, imposed punishments with religious zealotry against women, or damaged the rule of law.
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It was clear I needed a job. Turning twenty, literate (two years of college behind me), energetic, and flexible—surely this would not be too hard. But it turned out I knew nothing about finding work.
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The house was a study in deferred maintenance. Charming, with furniture, bedding, kitchen ware, and barn implements still in place, but old. He was a budding architect. I was a friend of a friend with no repair skills to speak of, but had youthful enthusiasm, and came cheap.
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Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a high school far, far away, there was a computer date dance.
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Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don’t criticize what you can’t understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command.
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And yet, somehow, I have experienced cotton candy, apple fritters, kettle corn, corn dogs, Indian tacos and bannock, and have roamed through outdoor venues with crowds of young people milling around midways, carnies, pavilions with exotic chickens, beer fests, dog shows, food trucks, music stages, lumberjack contests, and barrel races. Not to mention street fairs and parades of all stripes. I just can’t tell you where and when.
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So many to choose from, and what a long, strange trip it's been...
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I suppose most memorable family vacations have something that goes wrong.
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Many kids had cap guns in holsters on their hips. These were loaded with red strips which were impregnated with dots of chemicals, and would explode with a loud bang when the trigger was pulled.
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As we pulled onto the onramp of 580, I screamed that we had to go back, NOW!
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I was made Queen for a Day. But that started a Family Feud and landed me in Jeopardy.
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It was lonely. I suppose it was just adolescent agonizing over the search for independence and existential meaning, while simultaneously longing for acceptance and inclusion from kids my age. You know, the usual.
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A litter of kittens frolicking in the California sun, named by my teenaged aunt Susan: Peanuts, Schroeder, Linus and Charley Brown. Left behind when his family moved, we inherited the tawny pai dog. Feral and battle-scarred, a forever stray who one day vanished. Bishkar. Gray and white cat, clawing, meowing, rubbing, always knowing how to…
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With apologies to Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist.
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Then, in the fall of 1963, an amazing thing happened. The State Department, through the United States Information Service (USIS), sponsored a goodwill tour of American jazz musicians. None other than the Duke Ellington Band—yes, that one!--made an astoundingly extensive tour that, according to google, went from New York to Damascus, Amman, Jerusalem, Beirut, Kabul, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, Colombo, Kandy, Dacca, Lahore, Karachi, Teheran, Isfahan, Abadan, Baghdad, Beirut and Ankara. You may have noticed Dacca in that list.
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I think it was my fourteenth birthday when my father bought me a transistor radio. They were a wonder. Mine was small enough to hold in a hand, with a little leatherette case and ear bud, from Japan.
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In the end, she decided she didn’t want to break up the family, and returned, telling my father never to mention the idea of doing a PhD to her, EVER! It was too late. That was that.
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In 1957, travel overseas meant lots of shots for our whole family—Mom. Dad, and three children. I was the middle child, age 6. We had to go to a special clinic in downtown Lansing, and we children were promised we would be taken out to dinner if we “behaved”. This would be a big deal…
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We had no details. Television? None in the house. Radio? I can’t recall. And really, why should it be covered 24/7 in Botswana? When you read about a disaster on the other side of the world, how many details do you hear? Internet? Smartphone? This was 1989.
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In the darkness, find light
Sun shines, laughter peals
Watch again and again
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The Goops, they lick their fingers,
And the Goops, they lick their knives;
They spill their broth on the tablecloth,
Oh, they lead disgusting lives!
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Somehow, we turned into a street and found ourselves in Old Dacca, where we clearly didn’t belong.
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Sally called me Cyd Charisse, but the hairdo was the only resemblance.
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In Canada, new programs were suddenly in place for the unemployed and businesses. Schools closed, gatherings were progressively smaller. Everything was changed, reminding me that “normal” can dissipate overnight. I harbored a guilty thought—could world-on-pause be something good?
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Kids! Try this at home!
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I didn’t learn who McCarthy was until much later. And I know now why news is so important.
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Now that decision seems pre-ordained and perfect, as life never is--but it is for me.
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I don’t think the memory of that ever left her, written wordlessly in a scar on her heart.
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I just did an inventory: 81.
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The executive team fought unionization ferociously-- we were fomenting discord and destroying the clinic, and how could we do this to the community?
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I always thought I had a knack for drawing. Someone encouraged this when I was twelve, a year when my family was stationed in East Pakistan, and I came under the wing of an ex-pat Danish artist name Tova. She helped me do an oil painting for my parents, a still life with two…
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Trust yourself.
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There is only ONE THING you are permitted to say
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The most complete darkness I ever knew was in Vietnam
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applying for med school while female
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A long way
Prompted By Prejudice
/ Stories
Nancy, our new office manager, was pushing hard on everyone in the clinic to sign up for a rafting trip. She had gone with the same outfit before and assured us it would be wonderful. We would all simply blast off in carpools after work on Friday for the 7- hour trip to the Klamath…
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Supernova
Prompted By Ex-Friends
/ Stories
“You will always be friends” the counselor told us. We were too entwined and besides, she had seen it repeatedly in the women’s community, a fluidity of friends and lovers staying connected despite everything. I said nothing but promised myself, “Oh no, we won’t”.
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The Poppies Grow
Prompted By Veterans Day
/ Stories
Veterans were synonymous with WWII when I was a child, the good war against the unimaginably evil Hitler but also the horror of the atom bomb. I don’t think I was the only one who wished for “world peace” when I blew out birthday candles or participated in student United Nations.
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Marble School Library
Prompted By Libraries
/ Stories
The library was on the basement floor of that old 1934 two-story dark brick building in a small windowless room, maybe 12 by 15 feet. Its walls were lined with bookshelves, neatly organized into the Dewey decimal system
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1969
Prompted By Strikes
/ Stories
Imagine being in that stadium with thousands of other university students and faculty, all roused up, politically aware, wanting a path forward. The emotional energy was contagious and overwhelming. Surely the concerns of so many people coming together could not be denied.
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Fireman Phil
Prompted By Fire
/ Stories
Fireman Phil came to Marble Elementary School. We first-graders were gathered in the school gym, seated cross-legged on the floor. What makes a fire? How do you stop it? Do you throw water on oil (no!)? This is a fire extinguisher. If you are on fire, don’t run–drop and roll. It’s been over 60 years…
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The Fire Next Time
Prompted By Fire
/ Stories
The fire was blowing along the ridgeline in our direction. Trees were candling—igniting and throwing off firebrands--burning hunks of wood. Now the fire had jumped the vast concrete firebreak of Hwy 24 into the Oakland Hills.
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Monsoon
Prompted By Rainy Days
/ Stories
Monsoons are more than just rainy days. They are the wet season, the dry season’s counterpoint. The rains are intense downpours, not drizzly affairs, and they sweep in ferociously. They are the annual water renewal that makes life possible. Of course, that is changing along with the rest of the climate, but still. The small…
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Exploring the unexpected.
As Real as It Gets
Prompted By The ER
/ Stories
People at San Francisco General Hospital emergency room had T shirts printed up that included the tag line: “as real as it gets”. That pretty much summed up the big urban County Hospital experience where I was a medical student. The ER was where lives in crisis ended up—there, or in prison, or sometimes both.…
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Voir Dire
Prompted By Jury Duty
/ Stories
Was there anyone on the panel who could not give equal weight to the testimony of a police officer?
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Don’t You Ever Feel Lonely?
Prompted By Isolation and Solitude
/ Stories
The UFW had some simple housing available in a local apartment building in Calexico, where I had stayed the first time. It was pretty bleak, and soon one of my union contacts offered that I could stay at his place on the other side of the border, in Mexicali.
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A brief moment
Prompted By Dawn
/ Stories
Nighttime in our community hospital was something to be dreaded when I was a resident. It meant I was on overnight call, following a regular day’s work. The hospital emptied of the day staff and visitors, leaving limited lab and imaging services, fewer nurses, a couple of physicians and emergency room staff–tag, you’re “it”. When…
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How clear it seems in retrospect.
Now We Are Six (-ty plus)
Prompted By Aging
/ Stories
My mother sometimes asked when she started looking old. I notice I look a lot more like her every day.
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Africa
Prompted By Danger
/ Stories
In 1989, there were several reports of tourists being killed while visiting game parks in Kenya. When people found out that we were about to travel to Africa, they asked with alarm, “Should you really go?”
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Where are you from?
Prompted By Can You Go Home Again?
/ Stories
When people ask me where I’m from, it gets complicated. I say, “Well, we moved around a lot. I grew up mostly in Michigan.” However, Michigan was just where my nuclear family lived on and off when not overseas, there were no relatives nearby, and we moved away before I finished high school. In fact,…
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The Great Wall
Prompted By Lightning
/ Stories
You can see a great distance from the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu. The view is quite spectacular as it winds along the crests of the mountains, rolling up and down with the terrain; the wide path at the top of the wall turns into irregular stairsteps to accommodate the undulations and is punctuated…
Read More
The Blob
Prompted By Trauma
/ Stories
In the universe of trauma, it seems pretty trivial to describe a childhood horror movie. Looking back now, it is hard to believe that I would be terrified by the old sci-fi low-budget 1950’s film, “The Blob”. I was surprised to learn from Wikipedia that it was Steve McQueen’s acting debut, and music was by…
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Gong Ceremony
Prompted By Ceremony
/ Stories
It was our friend Jack who recommended Aidan to us. We needed someone to paint the house interior, and he assured us that Aidan was the best. He was also an artist, a perfectionist, and a quixotic Irish fellow who presented us with a four-page estimate in hand-written calligraphy. Yes, he was available, and yes,…
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Say It Ain’t So
Prompted By Retrospect Retrospective
/ Stories
It was the dark winter solstice of December 2020. Everything was shut down because of COVID, and vaccines were a mere glimmer. Life was suspended. Work had stopped abruptly one day in March—I was too old to risk showing up in person, and virtual options were poor—so de facto retirement came more suddenly than I…
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You’ve Got Mail!
Prompted By My First Computer
/ Stories
There was a phone with buttons for hold and intercom, and a blocky computer console sitting squarely in the middle of the desk. I think it was a Dell. The font was clunky and there were no graphics. This was my first computer.
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Cartophile
Prompted By Directionally Challenged
/ Stories
We were put on a bus, blindfolded, and driven around country roads this way and that. At some point, groups of four were let out of the bus, given a map, and told to find our way back. We were all fifth graders in East Lansing public school and this was part of the curriculum…
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Dentistry for All
Prompted By The Dentist
/ Stories
Although I don’t look forward to going to the dentist, I do appreciate the importance of the work–maybe because I have always had dental issues, from cavities to crowns, partial plates and bridges to implants, orthodontia to tooth extraction. Much of it is thanks to genetics, which forgot to provide me a full secondary set…
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Sandy McTire
Prompted By Retail Rewards
/ Stories
We were looking for somewhere to buy a boom box to play CD music for our elopement ceremony in Niagara Falls, and someone suggested Canadian Tire. Incredulous, we had to ask why an automotive service center would have such a thing and were met with an amused look and explanation that the store carried much…
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Spice of Life
Prompted By Learning To Cook
/ Stories
Big error: I hadn’t actually checked the recipe before the day of the meal.
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Off We Go
Prompted By Planes and Trains
/ Stories
But in 1961 our family was headed for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for a two-year stint and I was now eleven-going-on-twelve. For me, it was an escape into the unknown, a reprieve from the prospect of junior high, and I was certain that all my frames of reference would shift.
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The Way We Were
Prompted By Feathering Our Nests
/ Stories
The house looked sort of lived-in, and we loved it, eclectic and thrown-together though it was.
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Not a Customer
Prompted By Customer Service
/ Stories
Are people merely “consumers” seeking to get the best deal from health “providers” based on market factors (and their satisfaction is important so they will keep being customers?) Or are they just people needing to heal?
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It’s All One
Prompted By Drugs and Alcohol
/ Stories
It was a fall afternoon when Ron and his friend appeared with the acid and what the hell, we had nothing better to do.
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I’m late, I’m late Retroflash
Prompted By Procrastination
/ Stories
Don't you hate the state of late?
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Chestertown Follies
Prompted By Memorable Performances
/ Stories
There were songs for the sisters, the grandchildren, the in-laws, and the whole “cast”. We thought they were pretty clever.
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The Magic Potion
Prompted By Do You Believe in Magic?
/ Stories
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." – Albert Einstein
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You Never Forget
Prompted By Riding a Bicycle
/ Stories
They say you never forget how to ride—it is, after all, “just like riding a bicycle”.
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The Little MG That Couldn’t
Prompted By Car Trouble
/ Stories
Sally gallantly offered that I could take the MG, but I wouldn’t consider it—far too untrustworthy to risk taking over the bridge.
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Keeping Warm
Prompted By What I Own That's Older Than I Am
/ Stories
The downside of a house of mementoes is that it is hard to throw anything out. I think the oldest thing I have is something that eluded getting thrown out by several generations, but I don’t really know its story. This is all I know.
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In the Before Time Retroflash.
Prompted By Broadcast News
/ Stories
In the Before time, every evening the news god spoke.
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“You don’t look Chinese!”
This One’s For You
Prompted By Why We Write
/ Stories
I write because Suzy Underwood put out a plea to my college class listserv for stories about interviews, and I thought I had a good one.
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We’re Doing the Best That We Can
Prompted By Lost in Translation
/ Stories
On my first day, it was show time. I nervously knocked on the door and entered to find a pleasant young man who listened patiently as I introduced myself in halting Spanish and asked what had brought him to the clinic.
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Unforgettable
Prompted By What My Father Told Me
/ Stories
As my mother descended into dementia, her letters stopped, and we kept in touch through phone calls, increasingly with my father alone. By the time my mother died, he had become my confidante and mutual support system.
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An Intern’s Prayer retroflash
Prompted By Sleepy Time
/ Stories
I have spent years of my life trying to come to terms with on-call sleep deprivation.
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Don’t Obey in Advance
Prompted By Banned Books
/ Stories
I felt uncomfortable packing the book and uncomfortable leaving it behind.
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Was Blind but Now I See
Prompted By The Eyes Have It
/ Stories
My father was leaving the lecture hall when he stepped out of the doorway and a snowball—or more accurately, an ice ball—came hurling from the side and hit him directly across his open eye.
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What She Said
Prompted By What My Mother Told Me
/ Stories
So proud you are all contributing members of society.
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A Very Bad Idea for an Auction
Prompted By Auctions and Raffles
/ Stories
The plan was to recruit male volunteers to be “sold”, for a term of some hours, at a “slave auction”. It was 1967, in the middle of civil rights protests.
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The Hair of the Prophet
Prompted By Refugees
/ Stories
The Muslim staff that worked in our house protected the gardener and his Hindu family, temporary refugees in their own land.
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Year Number Three Retroflash
Prompted By Pandemic, Year Three
/ Stories
My whole world lies waiting
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Photo Booth on Safari
Prompted By Photo Booths
/ Stories
We could hear dull, throaty roars in the distance. We were more than happy, thank you very much Mr. Guard, to be accompanied across the field. Would they be willing to have us take their picture the next day, once there was light, if we gave them a copy? Indeed, they would.
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Port in a Storm
Prompted By Hotels, Motels, Inns, and Hostels
/ Stories
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a light of hope.
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What happened?
Prompted By Cheating
/ Stories
“What happened?” The woman in charge of Introduction to Clinical Medicine seemed concerned. I had failed the course’s written exam. “I don’t know.” And really, I didn’t. I had never failed an exam. We second-year medical students had been farmed out in small groups to assorted ophthalmologists and ENT physicians in practice to learn eye…
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The Basement Laundry
Prompted By Basements and Attics
/ Stories
Unlike the barracks and prefabs we had lived in, the modest new house in East Lansing had a righteous Midwestern full, unfinished basement. Wooden staircase near the back door, cinder block walls, divided in two sides. Washing machine and dryer, furnace, storage, and tools on one side; if we had canned, the fruits and vegetables…
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Time is short
Prompted By Time
/ Stories
We are adaptable, smart in many ways, and know that what should be done is also technically possible. Is it enough?
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Stove
Prompted By Some Assembly Required
/ Stories
You never like that stove. You don’t know what it meant.
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Val-de-ree, Val-de-ra
Prompted By Scouting
/ Stories
I’m sure you would not guess it, if you guessed a long, long while, so I’ll take it out and put it on—it’s a great big Brownie smile!
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Shower
Prompted By Guilty Pleasures
/ Stories
The routine was: Turn on water and collect in bucket until warm—wet self—turn off water—lather and wash—turn on water to rinse—end!
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Have You Met Miss Jones?
Prompted By One Song That Moves Me
/ Stories
I always liked the way my dad played the piano, inventing arrangements from a fake book and not just playing scripted sheet music. He loved interesting chords, with a just enough dissonance. There were certain tunes he played often, refining the sound over time, drawing heavily from the Great American Song Book and jazz standards. …
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A recipe for joy--try this at home!
Delivering the news
Prompted By Newspapers
/ Stories
I would go to bed half dressed in a tee shirt, and at the first sound of the alarm, quietly roll my legs over the edge of my top bunk and slide onto the floor, already standing, trying not to disturb the roommate.
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The Accidental Genealogist
Prompted By Group Photos
/ Stories
“Hi mom, it’s me, calling from Sweden.” This will have to be short. It is expensive. “When was Grandma born?” “What was her father’s name?” I need some crumb of information if we are to have any luck tracking down relatives, and this was all unplanned. 1897. Carl Corsberg, from ”Smaland”. That will have to…
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C’est Cheese Retroflash
Prompted By Group Photos
/ Stories
Won't you please move closer? Now, say, "Cheese"!
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The First Snowflakes
Prompted By Snowy Days
/ Stories
“It’s snowing!” And all the kids in Mrs. Kennerson’s first grade class jumped up from our desk chairs as one, rushing excitedly to the window. Outside, flurries spun and danced in the wind, and for that moment, it was the most important thing in the world.
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Shoveling the Drive on a Snowy Morning
Prompted By Snowy Days
/ Stories
Memories of when I lived on Sumac Ridge (with apologies to Robert Frost).
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Kindness of Strangers
Prompted By Highways and Byways
/ Stories
We had a whole ten days off, a fiftieth birthday to celebrate, a new telescope to try out, and a good grasp of Spanish. A map. No GPS, smart phone, or travel internet then.
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A Comin’ Through the Corn
Prompted By Highways and Byways
/ Stories
A woman was “looking at the corn” when she blew a stop sign and T-boned our car.
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Be it resolved retroflash
Prompted By Resolutions
/ Stories
I'm not really someone who makes new year's resolutions, but this year Sally announced she plans to learn to play the old accordion she bought on a whim years ago.
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Holiday meme retroflash
Prompted By Holiday Letters
/ Stories
Actually, sometimes I really like getting a letter.
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Lucky dog retro flash
Prompted By An Attitude of Gratitude
/ Stories
When I started thinking about this prompt, I started a list of all the reasons I had to be grateful, and soon found there was a true embarrassment of riches. When stacked up next to myriad reasons to be dismayed, angry, and depressed, an old saying came to mind: “I guess a man (sic) is…
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In it for Life
Prompted By Family Medicine
/ Stories
All efforts to improve health are based on helping the body to heal itself, be it through emotional support, listening, suggestions for nutrition or activity, medications or surgeries, self-care or connection to a healthy environment.
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Chain, chain, chain retroflash
Prompted By Chain Letters
/ Stories
With apologies to Ms Franklin
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Non, je ne regrette rien!
Prompted By Regrets
/ Stories
I had a glimpse of the future at East Lansing Junior High--and it didn't look good. It seemed like a reprieve when our family moved to the other side of the world. I wasn't sorry.
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“Trickertreat”
Prompted By Trick or Treat?
/ Stories
Once it got dark, the kids would hit the residential streets in roving bands gone wild, armed with big bags, running to each porchlight to cry, “Trickertreat!" at the door.
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A Good Death
Prompted By Lemons to Lemonade
/ Stories
At age 92, there was no treatment for him; usually the end would come from some infection his blood cells could no longer fight off. When? Maybe a month or two, max. Maybe tomorrow. No one knew. He got very quiet and then said, “Oh. I guess I had better make some phone calls.”
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Avoiding the Boot
Prompted By Parking
/ Stories
The traffic going into London for the morning commute is insane. The roads in London are impossible (and no GPS then). Finding the cute little hotel in the Bloomsbury District would have been a challenge if we were awake and oriented; we were not.
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Happy reading to all
Prompted By Children's Books
/ Stories
I just remember it was the girls crowding around my dad, and it was a very special time. Each week, he put aside his work and read us a chapter.
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Lunch box
Prompted By Mealtime
/ Stories
Meals were a challenge when I was a resident on hospital rotations. There were no official breaks, no lunch, dinner, or breakfast hours, just work that had to be done and rounds to attend. Sure, there were cafeterias with overcooked steam trays of food, but they weren’t open 24/7, and weren’t free. Finding a moment…
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We have met the Enemy–Retroflash
Prompted By 9/11 Twenty Years Later
/ Stories
It is not foreign terrorists who invaded the US Capitol, corrupted democracy, attacked the press, blocked voting, tried to install an unelected autocrat, attacked public health, imposed punishments with religious zealotry against women, or damaged the rule of law.
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Trying to work
Prompted By Going to Work
/ Stories
It was clear I needed a job. Turning twenty, literate (two years of college behind me), energetic, and flexible—surely this would not be too hard. But it turned out I knew nothing about finding work.
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This Old House
Prompted By Home Repair
/ Stories
The house was a study in deferred maintenance. Charming, with furniture, bedding, kitchen ware, and barn implements still in place, but old. He was a budding architect. I was a friend of a friend with no repair skills to speak of, but had youthful enthusiasm, and came cheap.
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Oh joy! Oh f#ck! Oh crap! Sorry.
The Computer Date Dance
Prompted By Dating
/ Stories
Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a high school far, far away, there was a computer date dance.
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The Summer of our Discontent
Prompted By That Summer
/ Stories
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don’t criticize what you can’t understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command.
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All is Fair
Prompted By State or County Fair
/ Stories
And yet, somehow, I have experienced cotton candy, apple fritters, kettle corn, corn dogs, Indian tacos and bannock, and have roamed through outdoor venues with crowds of young people milling around midways, carnies, pavilions with exotic chickens, beer fests, dog shows, food trucks, music stages, lumberjack contests, and barrel races. Not to mention street fairs and parades of all stripes. I just can’t tell you where and when.
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Okay. We were definitely eclipse-chasers now.
Happy Anniversaries Retroflash
Prompted By Anniversaries
/ Stories
So many to choose from, and what a long, strange trip it's been...
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Diminished expectations
Prompted By Family Trips
/ Stories
I suppose most memorable family vacations have something that goes wrong.
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What did we know?
Prompted By Guns Then and Now
/ Stories
Many kids had cap guns in holsters on their hips. These were loaded with red strips which were impregnated with dots of chemicals, and would explode with a loud bang when the trigger was pulled.
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Smile!
Prompted By Can't Leave Home Without It
/ Stories
As we pulled onto the onramp of 580, I screamed that we had to go back, NOW!
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Quiz show retroflash
Prompted By Quiz and Game Shows
/ Stories
I was made Queen for a Day. But that started a Family Feud and landed me in Jeopardy.
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The anti-club
Prompted By Cliques and Clubs
/ Stories
It was lonely. I suppose it was just adolescent agonizing over the search for independence and existential meaning, while simultaneously longing for acceptance and inclusion from kids my age. You know, the usual.
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If the name fits, wear it
Prompted By Naming Pets
/ Stories
A litter of kittens frolicking in the California sun, named by my teenaged aunt Susan: Peanuts, Schroeder, Linus and Charley Brown. Left behind when his family moved, we inherited the tawny pai dog. Feral and battle-scarred, a forever stray who one day vanished. Bishkar. Gray and white cat, clawing, meowing, rubbing, always knowing how to…
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Blowin’ in the Wind
Prompted By Recycling
/ Stories
With apologies to Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist.
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And the best of all, Sir Duke
Prompted By Separating the Art from the Artist
/ Stories
Then, in the fall of 1963, an amazing thing happened. The State Department, through the United States Information Service (USIS), sponsored a goodwill tour of American jazz musicians. None other than the Duke Ellington Band—yes, that one!--made an astoundingly extensive tour that, according to google, went from New York to Damascus, Amman, Jerusalem, Beirut, Kabul, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, Colombo, Kandy, Dacca, Lahore, Karachi, Teheran, Isfahan, Abadan, Baghdad, Beirut and Ankara. You may have noticed Dacca in that list.
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Que sera, sera
Prompted By Remembering Radios
/ Stories
I think it was my fourteenth birthday when my father bought me a transistor radio. They were a wonder. Mine was small enough to hold in a hand, with a little leatherette case and ear bud, from Japan.
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A bumpy section of the journey
Prompted By Stay-at-Home Parent
/ Stories
In the end, she decided she didn’t want to break up the family, and returned, telling my father never to mention the idea of doing a PhD to her, EVER! It was too late. That was that.
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This won’t hurt a bit
Prompted By Vaccination
/ Stories
In 1957, travel overseas meant lots of shots for our whole family—Mom. Dad, and three children. I was the middle child, age 6. We had to go to a special clinic in downtown Lansing, and we children were promised we would be taken out to dinner if we “behaved”. This would be a big deal…
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I Just Called..
Prompted By Technology Tribulations
/ Stories
We had no details. Television? None in the house. Radio? I can’t recall. And really, why should it be covered 24/7 in Botswana? When you read about a disaster on the other side of the world, how many details do you hear? Internet? Smartphone? This was 1989.
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Movie Review Haiku
Prompted By Rewatchable Movies
/ Stories
In the darkness, find light
Sun shines, laughter peals
Watch again and again
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Table Manners: A Case Study
Prompted By Manners
/ Stories
The Goops, they lick their fingers,
And the Goops, they lick their knives;
They spill their broth on the tablecloth,
Oh, they lead disgusting lives!
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Lessons from Old Dacca
Prompted By Inequality
/ Stories
Somehow, we turned into a street and found ourselves in Old Dacca, where we clearly didn’t belong.
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With apologies to Julie Andrews.
Haircut in Istanbul
Prompted By Haircuts
/ Stories
Sally called me Cyd Charisse, but the hairdo was the only resemblance.
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Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe
Prompted By One Year of the Pandemic
/ Stories
In Canada, new programs were suddenly in place for the unemployed and businesses. Schools closed, gatherings were progressively smaller. Everything was changed, reminding me that “normal” can dissipate overnight. I harbored a guilty thought—could world-on-pause be something good?
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Snap, Crackle, Pop
Prompted By Advertising Jingles and Slogans
/ Stories
Kids! Try this at home!
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Good Night and Good Luck Retroflash
Prompted By First Memory
/ Stories
I didn’t learn who McCarthy was until much later. And I know now why news is so important.
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Righteous persistence brings great rewards
Prompted By Reconnecting
/ Stories
Now that decision seems pre-ordained and perfect, as life never is--but it is for me.
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We’d make a peach of a pair
Prompted By Valentine's Day
/ Stories
I don’t think the memory of that ever left her, written wordlessly in a scar on her heart.
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The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
Prompted By Hats
/ Stories
I just did an inventory: 81.
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Viva nuestra asociación
Prompted By Good Trouble
/ Stories
The executive team fought unionization ferociously-- we were fomenting discord and destroying the clinic, and how could we do this to the community?
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Art at Harvard?
Prompted By Art and Art Museums
/ Stories
I always thought I had a knack for drawing. Someone encouraged this when I was twelve, a year when my family was stationed in East Pakistan, and I came under the wing of an ex-pat Danish artist name Tova. She helped me do an oil painting for my parents, a still life with two…
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You’re on the right track baby
Prompted By Letter to My Younger Self
/ Stories
Trust yourself.
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Thank you lessons
Prompted By Thank You
/ Stories
There is only ONE THING you are permitted to say
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Lights out in Vietnam
Prompted By Hello Darkness
/ Stories
The most complete darkness I ever knew was in Vietnam
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The Medical School Interview
Prompted By Interviews
/ Stories
applying for med school while female
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