As political scientist Sir Alfred Zimmern – an advocate of the League – once said, “the League of Nations was never intended to be, nor is it, a revolutionary organization,” rather it strategically provided an efficient international institution by accepting the world as it was. Although Zimmern expressed notable concerns…
Artists throughout time have done impressive pictorial recreations of literary works that speak to them. However, what would the recreation painting be like if the poet painted it himself? In “The Blessed Damozel,” Dante Gabriel Rossetti tells the story of a dead woman in the Heaven, or the damozel, dreaming…
From my birth until I was old enough to stay home alone, my grandmother babysat my younger sister and me when our parents were at work, and we lovingly called her our Nana. Nana was an excellent babysitter given her experience as an elementary school teacher for most of her…
The Christian Bible is the most read book in the world. And the impact of the Bible’s wide readership can be seen everywhere—in history, in modern day, in politics, in culture. Even in the United States, which does not consider itself a Christian nation, Judeo-Christian values have often been cited…
Throughout history, humans have expressed ideas that are beyond our understanding of what is around us. The stars were told to be omens of the past and future, and comets were labelled as prophecies of impending disasters. These untold superstitions of our forefathers are some of the first examples of…
Preface As crowds of people waited in line for health services, I asked patients questions about where they got their drinking water, their living situations, and I was always told to ask women if they were pregnant or could possibly be pregnant. I found that many of these girls were…
She walks to the bus stop and sits on the bench. The 12-year-old girl is making her way home after a school ski trip, so she patiently awaits the arrival of the 28. It usually comes frequently, but strangely enough—not today. As she waits, she whips out a book from her bulging backpack, which overflows with dozens of novels, loose papers, and anything else you can imagine. Packed beyond capacity, the bag probably weighs more than her, so she nearly buckles under its weight. She’s a bit of a hoarder with an urge to keep everything at her disposal. If you stay ready, you don’t gotta get ready. But this time, nothing could have prepared her for what was about to happen.
At the intersection of medicine, ethics, and literature exists a practice known as narrative medicine—an approach which stresses the humanization of patients and the subsequent care that follows attentively tuning into the stories of those grappling with illness and death. Dr. Rita Charon, an internist and literary scholar
Introduction Open year-round, the open-air “Moskva” pool was oblivious to the infamous Russian winter. The heated water, especially during snowfall, sent up waves of steam. Snow fell on the diving platforms, the pool ropes, and the brightly colored caps of the swimmers; some would have snowball fights with the still…