Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Palliative Care

by Brian Maurer

In autumn splendor
The dying leaves drift down
To cloak the dead,
While overhead
The hunter’s moon casts
Her misty shroud
On fallow autumn fields.

About Brian T. Maurer.  Brian is a pediatric physician assistant, an essayist and a poet.  To see his blog and learn more about his work go to Brian T Maurer's Web Blog.

Stone Hill Dawn

About Saigyo

Stone Hill Hike

"I Can"

[From the NY Times;] Tatyana McFadden, a 24-year-old college senior, was born with spina bifida, which left her paralyzed from the waist down. She is now a decorated wheelchair sprinter, and she has 12 medals — three gold — from the last three Paralympic Games, in Athens, Beijing and London.

McFadden grew up in an orphanage in St. Petersburg, where she was never given a wheelchair. She spent her first six years walking on her hands before Deborah McFadden, then the director of the International Children’s Alliance, adopted her during an overseas trip. After taking to sports in her childhood, Tatyana McFadden fought through the courts in high school in Maryland to compete against able-bodied runners. 

Her mother says that when Tatyana arrived from Russia, she used a phrase that meant “I can do it myself. And that’s just what she’s done. She’s never been afraid to try anything.”

McFadden has become the preeminent wheelchair marathoner and hopes to....  Tatyana was featured in an inspirational article in the NY Times on October 11, 2013.

 

 

 

 

Fat and Thin: Common Ground

Fat and Thin Find Common Ground
By Abby Ellin

This is an excellent article about anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorders.  It is worth reading by anyone with an interest in eating disorders and obesity. Published, NY Times, October 10, 2013.

Still, despite differences in physical characteristics and symptoms, those suffering from an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia and those with obesity have “shared psychological components, commonalities and underpinnings,” said Dr. Scott Kahan, director of the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, a nonprofit obesity policy organization.

One of the comments made referenced Overeaters Anonymous, an organization which can help many people. OA's website states:
Overeaters Anonymous offers a program of recovery from compulsive eating using the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of OA. Worldwide meetings and other tools provide a fellowship of experience, strength and hope where members respect one another’s anonymity. OA charges no dues or fees; it is self-supporting through member contributions.

[While] OA members differ in many ways, we are united by our common disease and the solution we have found in the OA program. We practice unity with diversity, and we welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively.

 

Rumi-nations

This is a companion piece to Sara Zargari's post. Rumi is a revered Persian poet and Sara is walking in his footsteps.

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
They day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all



Where I'm From

Where I’m From*
by Sara Zargari

From rusty dusty roads
To everything that goes,
Comes a humble girl
With pretty big eyebrows.

It was a family trait
Although it wasn’t so great.
Hours and hours were spent
On eyebrows that wouldn’t stay straight!

For full poem: Download Where I'm From

Sara Zargari is in the tradition of Rumi.  Also see: "Rumi-nation."

Author Bio:  I was born on 30^th of March of 1998 in Shemiran, Tehran, Iran. Currently, I live in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. I came to Canada in June of 2012. So far, it’s been nearly a year and a half since my landing to Canada. My family mainly consists of doctors, in fact, it is packed with doctors of different fields of study however, my grandmother’s (maternal grandmother) side of the family consists of artists such as interior designers, architects, pianists, actors, directors and many, many more. What I really want to do in life is to become an animator for either Dreamworks or Disney. Since the dawn of my childhood, I’ve been raised with animation, whether it to be in series or movies and have come to admire this field of study greatly. I have felt many times in my life and know that, it is my duty to make the next animations for the next generation; otherwise, I will disrespect the past animators and movie makers for I have only watched their movies and have given nothing in return. Grasscat (the green cat below) is one of my first creations and so, expect to see her in the movie industry soon!

People of the Fall