Many novice writers think of the term revision as a process where they fix errors and “clean up” their work. But expert writers know that revision is a way to envision your work again. In her book Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg advises writers to “[s]ee revision as envisioning again. If there are areas … [Read more…]
In class we met in small groups to answer the question: How does narrative contribute to healing? Here are some of the ideas we came up with. As we talk more about this, we can add more ideas to our list. -When the health care practitioner listens to the whole illness narrative, he/she can connect … [Read more…]
As we read in Arthur Frank’s book, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics, telling stories for the ill is a way to rewrite the map of their lives. It is also a way to create a new version of the self. Yet illness stories can be uncomfortable and prone to interruption because of our … [Read more…]
In his NYT article, “Doctors, Revolt!,” medical intern Rich Joseph argues, “Certainly doctors must understand disease, but medical education is overly skewed toward the biomedical sciences and minutiae about esoteric and rare disease processes. Doctors also need time to engage with the humanities, because they are the gateway to the human experience.” After his encounter with … [Read more…]
In Cheryl Strayed’s “Heroin/e,” she writes about her mother’s death from cancer and how Strayed found her own escape from the pain by using heroin. Managing her mother’s pain at the end of her life was a difficult balance. Strayed writes, “The nurses came one by one and gave her morphine with a needle. Within … [Read more…]
After reading “War Dances” by Sherman Alexie, many good questions came up that we explored in blog posts and in class. In her blog, “War Dances,” Sara wrote, “We blame people for their conditions.” This led to the question: What is your philosophy on treating patients with addiction and unhealthy lifestyle choices? Maritza discusses the … [Read more…]
As we explore both scholarly articles and literature this semester, it is important to focus on your “close reading” skills. Here are some tips for close reading: Read with a pencil or pen in hand and annotate the text as you go Look for text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections Recognize patterns (repetition, contradiction, similarities, symbols, … [Read more…]
Welcome to Narrative Medicine & Writing! The author, teacher, and physician Danielle Ofri explains in an interview for the New England Journal of Medicine, “More than those things we’ve seen in text books and lectures, we remember the patients we’ve seen and their stories.” Simply by the nature of the job, healthcare workers are allowed … [Read more…]
