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The Goddess of Small Things
Every office needs a goddess. Every doctor needs to see one now and then to keep things in perspective. Separate the two Magisteria. I have a goddess –not self-professed to be sure, but in a pinch, self-acknowledged. She comes to see me once a year or so, for reasons that are not at all transparent. It…
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Are We There Yet?
There are some things you just have to get right -or else. But, or else what..? Continuing exposure, even to the most egregious injustices risks dulling the senses; eliciting not indignant shouts but shrugs, excuses not action. Accommodation. There are benefits that accrue to adaptation, of course –if one lives next to a pulp mill,…
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A Gynaecologic Chapel
I’ve always been fascinated with the Sistine Chapel in Rome –well, in the Vatican City to be more Catholically correct- but perhaps not for all the reasons you might assume. I have to confess –sorry, poor choice of words- I have to admit that I have little interest in the fact that it is in…
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The Size of the Dog
In the hazy light of retrospect I can still see her lying there on the hospital bed scowling at me. She was clutching her baby as if she’d won it in a game in which she’d cheated. In fact, I suppose she had… But I’m getting ahead of myself. Way ahead. I’d first met Mary…
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Perchance to Dream
There’s something about complexity that I find intimidating; impressive as it may be, I don’t crave the complicated. I don’t even understand it. Of course, that may be part of its fascination for some: a facet of the instinct that leads to worship of that which is mysterious. Unknowable to the uninitiated. The awe of…
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Menstrual Taboos
Culture shapes behaviour, attitudes and beliefs -or is it the other way around? The chicken or the egg? This has puzzled me since I was a child wondering why everybody I knew wore jeans but in pictures the people living in, say, India did not. And the members of my family –uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins- all…
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The Begging Bowl
We all have needs; we are all mendicants at some level. Sometimes subtle: a smile that begs response, a look that hopes for more; sometimes obvious: a verbal request, or even a sign that solicits aid. But sometimes it is more blatant. Glaring. Almost rude. I was once accused of that –of shameless, brazen panhandling. And right…
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Breast and Ovarian Cancer Screening
I am sometimes troubled by the concept of risk. I mean how can we possibly decide whether or not a risk is acceptable? No matter the statistics, if the issue under consideration doesn’t happen, then the risk assumed was acceptable. So far, so good. But of course the converse is also true: no matter how low the risk,…
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