Story time

The formal quality of experience through time is inherently narrative.

Stephen Crites, "The Narrative Quality of Experience," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 

Story is a basic principle of mind. Most of our experience, our knowledge, and our thinking is organized as stories... Narrative imagining is our fundamental form of predicting [and our] fundamental cognitive instrument for explanation.

Mark Turner, The Literary Mind

Narrative Medicine

I think I'm going to apply to the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia!

http://ce.columbia.edu/narrative-medicine

Pas de Deux

Looking back at the unplanned hodgepodge of dance, literature, and music in my life, I realize that I can't be a doctor without this creative aspect, despite remaining forever an amateur in each field. The middle of my residency was as close as I'd ever come to drowning in the morass of medicine. To be whole, I somehow need both—the two serpents entwined in the medical caduceus symbol, partners in pas de deux.

Danielle Ofri, Pas de Deux 

needing to write

I saw Ben. We were in a coffeeshop in Lake Forest. It was Starbucks. Do you remember, you had asked him while driving when he could drink coffee. He said eighteen. You asked where. He said Starbucks. And there he stood, smiling at me, reminiscent of you. Then I woke up.

on a wish and a fear

Old School

No true account can be given of how or why you became a writer, nor is there any moment of which you can say: This is when I became a writer. It all gets cobbled together later, more or less sincerely, and after the stories have been repeated they put on the badge of memory and block all other routes of exploration. There's something to be said for this. It's efficient, and may even provide a homeopathic tincture of the truth. --From Old School by Tobias Wolff 

Coleridge the Runaway

"No one on earth has ever LOVED me," he later wrote.

Anne Fadiman, At Large and at Small

Chapter Eight

There are trails to walk in the woods and rules that say if you pass someone during the day you may simply drop your gaze to the path as a signal you are thinking seriously about your work and do not wish to engage in conversation.

Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty 

I saw Ben. We were in a coffeeshop in Lake Forest. It was Starbucks. Do you remember, you had asked him while driving when he could drink coffee. He said eighteen. You asked where. He said Starbucks. And there he stood, smiling at me, reminiscent of you. Then I woke up. 

on a wish and a fear

I used to write here more often.

Senior shout out

found while digging through past documents

“But time is the one thing we have been given, and we have been given to time.” --Annie Dillard

Dear mommy & daddy--words cannot suffice what you are to me. Thank you for being there half a world away. I love you. Dear Joseph--did you know that I love you too? I’ll miss you. Dear Auntie--thank you for the laughter and conversations. I’ll remember them always. Dear Mrs. Delaney--you’re the best advisor with the best caxy-ful office! I love you and I’ll miss you. Dear my Lady Advisory--I’m going to miss our bagel mornings and pasta dinners! Dear my swim team girls--had the best season with you guys getting out the pool like an athlete and being “too sexy for a sport that requires clothes”! Dear Eric--you’re my best and favorite coach. Thank you for believing in me both inside the pool and out. Dear Jennifer--you’re my second mom. Loved our morning workouts and eighth period swims and Panera/car/living room talks. Love you. Dear my Bible study girls & Cody & Rich-- “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). I love you guys. I’ll miss our Wednesday nights! Dear Mrs. Plambeck--you’re the best voice teacher, Bible study leader, and hugger. Thank you for teaching me music and letting me love it. I love you more. Dear Mr. Plambeck, Foos (Go Big Green!), Vanessa & musical cast--you guys made my favorite musical extra special! Dear Dr. C--thank you for the two years of chemistry, HEAT meetings, and baking in your lovely kitchen! I’ll miss your contagious energy and laughter. Dear Mrs. Bell--you’re the best person I met at LFA. You made me love literature without telling me to. I love you and I miss you. Dear Rickey and Arwah and Ms. Asher--loved working with you guys for litmag! “Submit to me.” Dear Emily--thank you for the long emails and late phonecalls. Love you. Dear Jenna--fellow swim captain & advisory buddy, I’m going to miss you so much! Dear Jack--loved our morning meetings together! You’re the best Rolf. Dear Ellena--best neighbor and artist, I’m going to hang your paintings on my wall. Dear the ladies of Ferry Hall--thank your for your legacy and letting me carry it. I’ll always remember. Dear you--if you’ve read until here and your name’s still not here, I love & miss you all the more. Dear Chris--thank you for your smile. I could never forget you. Love you always. 

The best diet

The best diet is the one you don't know you're on.

Brian Wansink, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think

your mailbox

     In regard to the poems I left with you; will you be so kind as to return them to me at my new address? And without bothering to coment upon them if you should find that embarrassing--for it was the human situation and not the literary one that motivated my phone call and visit.

    William Carlos Williams, Paterson