I recently listened to a CBC radio program about liminal photography. It piqued my interest because the concept of liminality was a focus of my dissertation on healthcare narratives and I find myself continually drawn to its explanatory power. The radio show explored “liminal space photography” which documents empty hallways, dark stairways, old arcades, and…

“I still believe in the power of the word, that words inspire.” – Joni Mitchell In her essay, Some Notes on Attunement, UK writer Zadie Smith chronicles her relationship with Joni Mitchell’s music and, through these reflections, provides a way to explore our own complicated relationship with change. While listening to Mitchell’s music now evokes…

I forgive you, I forgive you, I forgive you. – Dilruba Ahmed Showing ourselves some compassion is easier said than done. Many of us have a background tape of critical thoughts looping in our heads. A sense that we never quite measure up. Poet David Whyte aptly calls it the “unmerciful ways we talk to…

    It feels cruel. Something in me isn’t ready / to let go of summer so easily.– Karina Borowicz Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall. – F. Scott Fitzgerald W. S. Merwin’s beautiful poem To the Light of September landed in my inbox recently. As I read the lines…

every story worth telling has a thousand beginnings For lawyer, writer, and former prisoner Reginald Dwayne Betts, poetry is closely linked to re-invention and survival. I recently listened to him talk about his latest collection of poetry on the themes of imprisonment, freedom, and social injustice on CBC radio. The collection was inspired by the…

Donald Hall, considered by many to be one of the most influential poets of his generation, died on June 23, 2018 at the age of 89. He taught for 30 years at the University of Michigan, served as US poet laureate from 2006 to 2007, and won numerous awards, including two Guggenheim fellowships, the Los…

I hated labels anyway. People didn’t fit in slots–prostitute, housewife, saint–like sorting the mail. We were so mutable, fluid with fear and desire, ideals and angles, changeable as water.  Janet Fitch, White Oleander The acclaimed poem, Where I’m From, by Kentucky poet laureate George Ella Lyon has become a popular poetry writing exercise. It is…

I have been preparing a presentation for a conference on the essay A Patient Examines his Doctor by literary critic and writer Anatole Broyard. While working on my dissertation research on narrative healthcare, Broyard’s writings on illness were on my radar but I hadn’t delved into his work. I was inspired to re-visit his collection…

While working on my PhD dissertation a few years ago I became intrigued by the idea of liminality. In cultural anthropology, liminality (from the Latin līmen, meaning “a threshold”) is the ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the in-between or transitional phase of social rituals. Healthcare researchers have begun to use the concept to explore…

I’ve spent the last few weeks working on a grant proposal to support compassion in healthcare. I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about compassion – both what it looks like and how to teach it. I’ve also been musing about the idea of kindness. Could something so old-fashioned and prosaic hold promise for improving…