Literature + Medicine Conference

Last Tuesday evening, I had the good fortune of meeting Dr. Abraham Verghese, author of My Own Country (the memoir we studied in our socio-behavioral sciences for medicine class last semester) and Cutting for Stone (one of my mother's most favorite books). Ever since we read his memoir in class, I've considered Dr. Verghese one of my role models, partly because his accounts of the way he treated his patients inspired me, but also because his writing and his life gave me the confidence to begin writing myself. It was pretty much because of him that I now have made it my goal to publish a memoir by the time I die, and get other, shorter works of writing published in journals or other publications along the way.

Dr. Verghese has inspired me more than I can put into words. That's why when our professor emailed us about the Literature + Medicine conference, saying that he was going to be speaking there, I immediately jumped at the opportunity and registered as soon as I could. Even so, however, I didn't really know what I was getting into - I had no idea that I would actually get to meet and speak with Dr. Verghese himself in person.

I arrived at the conference half an hour earlier than I had expected to. There was no traffic on the road, so at 5:30 exactly, I had pulled into the lot and parked my car. I got out of the car and walked upstairs to the reception, expecting to just stand around for an hour until the conference was ready to start.

Instead, as soon as I entered, I encountered one of my classmates, and fifteen minutes after that, he tapped me on the shoulder and whispered excitedly, "There he is!"

I turned around, confused. All I saw was a bunch of well-dressed men and women. "Who?"

"Dr. Verghese! He's right there, in the blue suit, talking to that group of people."

After a few seconds, my eyes landed on a man dressed in a blue suit with his back to us. I was about to turn and say, "Are you sure that's him?" in a skeptical tone of voice, when he shifted and I got a glimpse of his face. Yep, that was definitely him. Dr. Verghese and I were standing in the same room, literally ten feet away from each other. I was at a loss for words.

"I had no idea he was actually going to be here, talking to people before the conference! I thought he was just here to speak. I might actually get to talk to him now, if I just go up and introduce myself."

With that, my friend and I decided that we would go get copies of his books and have him sign them for us. When we returned, we stood near enough to catch his attention, and after introducing ourselves to him and getting our books signed, we walked away, trying not to make it obvious how starstruck we were.

Later, just before the conference started, I went up to Dr. Verghese again because earlier, I did not get the chance to actually talk to him like I wanted to. Even the second time, I had to speak really quickly because the conference was about to start and I didn't want to take up any more of his time, but I finally got the chance to ask him the question that had been burning in the back of my mind ever since I read the last page of My Own Country: what advice did he have for aspiring physician-writers?

After reading Dr. Verghese's first memoir, I talked to my mom about how much I enjoyed reading it and she started sharing with me more essays written by and interviews with other physician-writers, such as Atul Gawande and Paul Kalanithi. Reading physician memoirs and writings has almost become a new favorite hobby of mine; after reading fiction for so long (which I've spent pretty much my entire life doing), it came as a surprise to me when I found that I had as much interest in reading these nonfiction pieces of writing as I did those books. I still remember being told back in middle school that it would become important for me to cultivate an interest in books beyond the genre of fiction; at that point in my life, I refused to believe it and would pointedly walk by the nonfiction section of the library every single day as I made a straight beeline for the works of fiction that captivated my attention. It's only in retrospect now that I can look back on little me and laugh at how naive I was. That's childhood, I suppose.

When I asked Dr. Verghese that question, I felt a sense of great anticipation and suspense build. His answer, however, was simple: gain as much experience as you can, and read a lot. The simplicity of his answer struck me as rather anti-climactic in the moment, but as I sat down and thought about it for a minute, I realized that there really was no better advice I could have been given. I'm determined now to take his words to heart - I will not throw away any opportunity, and I will take every experience, whether good or bad, as something to learn from. The stories and poems that were shared with us during the conference were emotional, inspiring, and wonderful pieces of literature. I can only aspire to write like that. Dr. Verghese's lecture at the end also had some words of wisdom that have stuck with me - the one thing I liked the most was his analogy about the apartment break-in to explain the difference between curing and healing. I hope that by writing this now, that when I'm a medical student in the future, I can look back on this post and remember the sense of awe and determination his words inspired in me, and use those to keep moving forward and be not just an effective physician, but a compassionate one as well.

learning about animals at a birthday party

Last week, I volunteered with UNICEF at the Birthday Party Project in Dallas. This organization is dedicated to bringing joy to homeless children by hosting monthly birthday parties for them. At the party, we helped put up decorations, gave the kids with birthdays their birthday badges, and at the end of the party, handed out party favors to all the kids as they left and helped clean up the room afterwards.

When they came in at the beginning, screaming and running around, I was unprepared for the noise but their excitement to be there made me smile. Most of the party consisted of a show by the "Critterman," a trained professional who came in with various wild animals, showed them to the kids, and taught them about those animals, their habitats and behaviors. It was quite amusing to see how the kids screamed and moved away when the Critterman took out a reptile and a giant constrictor at the very end, but what was most remarkable was seeing how the kids slowly inched forward as he told them about the animal, and finally even worked up the courage to go to the front and hold or pet it. That was the best thing about it - not only did the kids get a lesson on wild animals, but also had the chance to get over their fear of them. Even I was able to learn some things from the Critterman that I hadn't known before!

Overall, the birthday party didn't last very long (less than an hour), but even in that short amount of time, I could see the impact it had on the kids who were there. It made me happy to see that our simple efforts brought the kids such happiness. As we were handing out goody bags to the kids, one little boy came up to me and proudly showed me his stuffed hedgehog that he had gotten and allowed me to pet it. The birthday party was a rewarding experience because it showed me how something as simple as a cupcake, a birthday gift, and a place to celebrate could bring the kids so much joy. I hope that in the future, I'll have a chance to help out with another birthday party.

service with UNICEF

UNICEF's volunteering events are always such a fun experience. At our last event, my friends and I agreed that of all the service clubs we've been a part of in high school and college, this one has done the most in terms of providing a diverse array of volunteer events and done a great job in putting them together. Honestly, I've enjoyed volunteering with UNICEF more than with any other club; over the year, we've helped out at so many different places and events, and they've all been really great experiences. Last semester, the Genesis Children's Theater was the first place where we worked, and at the end of the semester, I had the chance to volunteer at two places: the Trains at Northpark, and the Love for Kids Annual Fair in Flower Mound.

The Trains exhibit volunteering was fun because for one, I had always been curious about the trains exhibit, and as a volunteer I was able to see the entire thing for free, and secondly, the kids who came to see the exhibit with their families were absolutely adorable. It's been a recurring theme that all of UNICEF's volunteer events have had something to do with children (which I guess is fitting, considering the mission of the actual organization itself), and I've personally loved that because I love children, and I've gotten to interact with kids of all different ages and backgrounds at each of the different events I've volunteered at.

The final volunteer event of the semester was the Love for Kids fair. It was in Flower Mound, which is pretty close to where I live, so I was excited to volunteer there. Since it was so close to my house, I was actually surprised that I'd never heard of this event before, especially since it's an annual event. That's another thing I really admire about UNICEF- they do such a great job of finding all these volunteer opportunities that I never would have discovered just on my own. I would say that this event was probably my favorite of the entire semester; not only because the fair itself was great, with tons of different booths, music, food, and (of course) kids, but also because the table I was managing was filled with books that we were to give to the kids. My job at the fair was basically to share with these kids the importance of reading, and allow them to pick any book from the table and take it home with them. I loved doing this, because a lot of the books on the table were actually books that I had read and loved as a child; all I wanted to do was stand there and look at them all day long. It was pretty funny, actually, because we had to split up among several different tables and everyone unanimously decided to keep me at the books table because it was obvious to them how much I wanted to be there. What can I say? I've been a bookworm all my life. I wanted desperately to share the magic of these books with all the kids who came by.