The Deaf Social

One of the most inspiring parties I have ever attended was at a gathering of about 150 deaf people. I was invited by my sign language teacher when I was in college several years ago. The whole class was invited but I was the only one to make the trip on the bus out to the hall where the event was to take place. The gathering was called a 'Deaf Social' and believe me when one of these things is arranged, you had better come ready to party! Deaf people love to dance, are intensely social and love really LOUD music. The music is so loud because they obviously have to feel the rhythm to dance. Their conversation is uninterrupted by the music because they communicate with ASL (American Sign Language) so they can be sharing an intimate joke while standing right next to gi-normous music speaker.

One of the interesting thing about standing and watching many deaf people sign together is that you can view multiple conversations at the same time without leaving your chair. I'm sure that there is a certain code for secrecy and a way for people who use visual forms of communication to 'whisper' to each other but I saw none of that at this event.

If you are ever an invited guest to a deaf social, I encourage you to go. The people I met that evening were among the most interesting and amusing people I have ever met anywhere. The jokes are funnier, the camaraderie is more intense, the people are so animated that hearing people seem like store window manniquins in comparison. Take my word for it, you will be amazed.

On The Turning Away

"I still climb Mount Everest just as often as I used to. I play polo just as often as I used to. But to walk down to the hardware store I find a little bit more difficult."

Dr. Seuss in an interview published in The New York Times Book Review

The elderly are often the most vibrant and inciteful people in our society. They are old and wrinkled, they sometime have an odor and their speech is not often crisp and sure but wisdom still manages to sneak out through their stories and gestures. You sometimes have to really sit back and examine your own visceral reaction to appreciate the importance of a seemingly unimportant appearing older person.

Let's make a point to give the elderly a chance to speak and communicate. They are often biased and inarticulate, they make out dated references to events and people who are no longer present. But, if you take the time to hear the history and the meaning in the conversation, you will appreciate something that is difficult to appreciate in our fast paced society; depth of character.

Pleasures and Perils

This is a photo of my wife, Debra Curtis taken while we were traveling in Kenya for a month in 1986. These were the days before children, before grad school and before it came time to pay back all those student loans. Deb has always been community minded and worked for a time in a battered women's shelter where she walked to and from work while completing her master's degree. She has an undergraduate degree in political science from Keene State College, a Masters degree in Public Health from San Jose State University and a doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from Rutgers University. She is a gifted ethnographer, teacher and writer. Deb is a respected scholar and was awarded a National Science Foundation Grant for her field work in the Caribbean. Her work includes papers co authored while she was a research assistant at Stanford University, reviews of scholarly work by others in her field and she has been chosen to present her papers annually at the national anthropology association meetings for several years in a row. She is currently an associate professor of anthropology at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island.

This month, her first book, 'Pleasures and Perils: Girls' Sexuality in a Caribbean Consumer Culture' (Rutgers Press, 2009) is available on Amazon.com and will be taught in anthropology, sociology and sexuality courses in colleges all over the country. Her work in the field of girls sexuality on the island of Nevis has been enthusiastically reviewed by her respected peers.

In short, Debra Curtis is one of those wonderful people who, through hard work, force of will and steadfast perserverance has made the most of life's opportunities. The rest of us can only try to keep up and work harder even as we joyfully watch her fly on ahead.

The Art of Living

"The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their minds and their bodies, their information, their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which; they simply pursue their vision of excellence at whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing."

James Michener

Nickname-ification

At what point do we business owners and managers risk the breakdown of the chain of command if we fraternize with our employees? I often think about walking the line between being friendly with my staff and maintaining a distance and creating and maintaining professional boundaries. This is not an egalitarian society and my medical practice is not a democracy. There are times when it should be a 'meritocracy' and times when it should be a 'boss-ocracy'.

The managerial style I employ in our small office is often messy and slightly chaotic. The assumption is that the people I have hired to work in my practice are very capable of sorting themselves out, getting their work done and being productive without a lot of oversight. When left to themselves with a minimum of direction, the staff perform very well on the whole. If there is a personality blow out or conflict I note the nature of the dispute, see who the players are, decide if I need to intervene and then we all go back to work.

One of the best things about working with the same team is that we can all read each other's moods and be respectful of each other....most of the time.

If I do choose nicknames for my staff they are names like; 'Red Dog', 'Tex', 'Pumpernickle' and 'General Patton'. When they think of nicknames for me, the name they pick better be a cool one.

Beulah's Ship

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am older than President Obama, television physician, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, talk show host, Stephen Colbert and Chief of Staff and former Congressman Rahm Emanuel. These people hold positions of influence and authority in the new administration and are up and are established personalities on television. Rather than focus on the ship that sailed and bemoan the bygone days and missed opportunities, the road less traveled etc. I am now a bit more interested in the careers of those who made a difference and really hit the gas after fifty.

In 1942, Beulah Hepburn Emmett took all of her inheritance and energy and, in her 60's, started the first boarding Waldorf School for high school students in the U.S. High Mowing School offered a creative alternative to traditional education. Mrs. Emmett was the daughter of a diplomat and lived abroad for most of her childhood and adult life. She acquired a hilltop farm in New Hampshire and started a small school there based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner a German philosopher. The School has produced many artists, actors and dancers and not a few lawyers, doctors and business owners. Mrs. Emmett's school on the hill has survived her by several decades and is a powerful example of the goals that can be accomplished with dedication and vision even as some people are winding down their productive lives.

Daring Greatly

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again...who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly."

Theodore Roosevelt

The concept of 'daring greatly' is one I try and inspire in my patients on a daily basis. When patients who are in pain come in for treatment I try to elevate them to new heights of committment to their recovery. When smokers are trying to quit, hypertensive patients are trying to lose weight and when patients who have sustained some injury in the course of their work, I try to help focus them to move the patients to a successful conclusion to their problem. Getting our 'game face' on as we turn and walk back into the fire to face more bullets is important in the healing process.

Too often in life, we all get dragged down by misery and drudgery especially when struggling with a health issue. It is part of the doctor's job to prescribe treatment to be sure but our patients rise to the challenge and succeed much better when they are infused with a do-or-die attitude and a fighting spirit.

The next time your doctor starts you on a medication, fixes a laceration or tells you that you have a new health challenge to overcome, remember that there is some fight in you and that going down swinging is better than just going down quietly.

Once more into the breach, dear friends!