June 20, 2014 Friday "chewing tobacco at lunch time"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 20, 2014 Friday

Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)

     “Trouble with the chief complaint is when asked he says cough for about a week. No sob or wheeze.”  

Interesting Name:

     Zinkevius 

Anecdote:

     A three year old had sores in his mouth and was complaining to his Mother.  His Mother was puzzled as to how this happened and wanted to know how he got it.  

     Little Tommy felt obliged to assuage her concern, so he looked at her and said, "Mom.  My mouth is sore because they gave us chewing tobacco at lunch time." 

               Westport, Connecticut, 1990's

This was in a bathroom in Carrboro, North Carolina, just underneath
a Zen Meditation Center upstairs.  

Poetry:

San Antonio

Tonight I lingered over your name,
the delicate assembly of vowels
a voice inside my head.
You were sleeping when I arrived.
I stood by your bed
and watched the sheets rise gently.
I knew what slant of light
would make you turn over.
It was then I felt
the highways slide out of my hands.
I remembered the old men
in the west side café,
dealing dominoes like magical charms.
It was then I knew,
like a woman looking backward,
I could not leave you,
or find anyone I loved more.

     by Naomi Shihab Nye 

     from Is this Forever, or What? Poems and Paintings from Texas

Coup d'essai:  Of Philosophy

"Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me, " Thoreau, Walden. 
  

     I was drawn to philosophy as a major because it epitomized this 'experiment of life' - Socrates and the thought the the unexamined life is not worth living.  The Jesuits, besides being very passionate about their faith, were very intellectual so I had read Sartre, Kierkegaard, Heidegger and my favorite, Camus, in high school…and the Catholic existentialists, Chardin, Marcel.  I remember Father O'Brien, my mentor, saying that Jesuits had to obtain a PhD and then decide before taking their vows whether man's secular knowledge or the truth they found in their knowledge of God was more important.  An admirable path in life I thought.
    Youth…the innocent zeal and joy…the boundless horizons…the adventure and exhilaration of this 'experiment'.  I still have the same feeling when I reread Walden (below).
     

Favorite Musician/song:

     England Dan and John Ford Coley, "Love is the Answer" (song)

     The voice had always reminded me of Seals and Crofts and then I found out that "England Dan" is Danny Seals, the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts.  Just like Seals and Crofts' music, the song has a message of compassion that I find very moving.   I love the tight bass and drums, the punching quality of the bass drum, the background violins…lyrical harmonies and that "Seals and Crofts" vocal quality.  And the lyrics. 

Favorite Book/author:

     Walden, Henry David Thoreau

     I still have my edition from March 20, 1972, with the cover missing from overuse.  I mark up my books…dog ears, notations, asterisks…(i.e. see How to Read a Book, by Mortimer Adler that I read in the 1960's)…and most importantly, I write "ha" in the margin next to humorous or moving quotes.  Walden has the most "ha's" in total and per page of any of my books, even more that Don Quixote and Mark Twain's Autobiography.
      The themes of being non-material, appreciating the beauty of nature, the simple life, happiness…goals I still strive for.  A reminiscence: I remember staying up all night with a group of friends (we were all Sophomores) in 1972.  We spent the entire night sitting in the hallway and in various dorm rooms talking, laughing, sharing about our future, our experiences there, our intellectual pursuits, about philosophy, music, our goals.  We went to the golf course the surrounded the Inn as the sun rose.  It was a magical night that I can still feel with such warmth...joy and camaraderie…even the air and the fragrances of the dorm are dear to me.  One girl was very sensitive and had a wonderful sense of humor.  I lent her this very book and she returned it to me the next day saying, with a tender smile, that she had "read my 'ha's' "   

Favorite Movie/DVD:

    Win Win with Paul Giamatti.

    Funny and heart-warming.