It has been a difficult time for many as of late — we've been witness to recent multiple losses of creative trailblazers, artists, activists and humanitarians. Some of them have been well-known, like Dolly Parton, Gloria Steinem and Cassandra Wilson, who we may have looked up to, learned from, aspired to be like and occasionally, had the chance to know personally, or call a friend. While she was not as easily recognizable to the public as the aforementioned women, Elena Schwolsky was a trailblazer, artist, activist, healer and humanitarian who inspired many and created vehicles for communication and connection. Elena left a deep impression on me.
Read moreThe Evolution of Anecdote to Story and Beyond by Angus Woodward
My father was a raconteur, and as his dementia advanced, he often got caught in anecdotal loops. In the middle of a familiar story, he would forget that he had told the beginning, repeat it, then charge through the middle before backtracking again, cycling through the tale until some kind of interruption saved him and his listeners.
Reading Samantha Stewart’s poem “Stingray” (Spring 2022 Intima) made me think about how experiences can become anecdotes, which may turn into stories, which may evolve into legends. And I saw how personal legends connect the dying to the living.
Read moreThe Hospital Gift Shop: An Unlikely Refuge by Maureen Hirthler
An emergency physician fondly looks back on an unlikely refuge within the hospital: the gift shop.
Read moreUnconscious Memoir: Seeing My Medical Emergency from Others' Perspectives by Elisabeth Hedrick-Moser
In “A Life Less Terrifying: The Revisionary Lens of Illness,” a non-fiction piece published in the Spring 2016 Intima, writer Ann Wallace notes that “The act of living and of moving forward requires a constant recursive motion of looking back and re-visioning.” I’m newly aware of that recursive motion, as my essay “Fluid” opened an unexpected conversation with my family around my bout with sepsis pneumonia.
Read moreHow Meta-Narratives Protect and Serve Us by Maureen Hirthler
As I was writing my MFA thesis this summer, I thought daily about narrative. After all, both medicine and memoir are about stories—ours, our patients—and my MFA has been about learning how to tell stories well. Stories should move us forward; occasionally they hold us back. Sometimes the true meaning of stories takes years to uncover.
Read more
Quisque iaculis facilisis lacinia. Mauris euismod pellentesque tellus sit amet mollis.