Welcome
Dear Medicine and Meaning Reader,
Hurricane Creek, by Chad Sievers
We are delighted to present the Winter/Spring 2022 edition of Medicine and Meaning. In this issue, we feature a conversation with Dr. Riley Lipschitz, Director of the High Impact Health Clinic. Dr. Lipschitz talks about her path to medicine and how a recent loss of one of her patients led her to redouble her commitment to medicine.
In the poetry section we highlight the many emotions we’ve been experiencing in these challenging days. One of the poems by Kacee Daniels expresses joy and misery while being a minority student in a non-minority college. Dr. Billy Thomas, Professor of Pediatrics, interprets this poem in the light of racial injustice in America to help us better understand each other.
In the fiction section we publish stories of saving a baby bundle from disaster, remembering a departed spouse, colleagues gone astray, and appreciating the blessedness of every day. The creative non-fiction section features stories on living with HIV/AIDS, care of a child with cancer, care of a spouse during illness, care of oneself during a medical crisis, and finally frustrations of navigating the health care system.
We also again present 55-word stories, a form of flash writing used in many medical schools to engage students in narrative medicine without burdening them with classical writing. Some of these stories are in poetry format, some in prose, and some in the mixed genre of “proetry,” manifesting elements of both. These stories largely relate to entering the world of medicine, encountering illness, and deciphering science.
Finally, we portray images of viruses attaching to cell membranes and soothing photographs of nature in and around Arkansas.
We call your attention to the many pieces written by friends outside of UAMS. This reflects the growing reach of our writers, artists, and readers.
We thank each of you for spending time with us.
The Editors
Paulette Mehta, Editor-in-Chief
Erick Messias, Founding Editor
Chris Fettes, Poetry Editor
Eric Moorehead, Non-fiction Editor
Metu Osele, Fiction Editor
Allen Sherman, 55-Word Story Editor
Bill Ventres, Conversations Editor
Vicki Flynn, Images Editor
Chris Lesher, Web Content Editor