daniel

Tuesday, March 4, 2008 – 12:39 PM:

I just finished a bowl of Carma’s (Carma’s Café in Charles [not the] Village) delicious, homemade, Icelandic yogurt sprinkled with her truly authentic, handcrafted granola. This brings me to one of the more trivial injustices in life that I would like to discuss for a moment; and oh how I wish we were limited only to such injustices. I speak of the manner in which people so loosely and misleading use the term “granola.” It can be an outright slighting remark directed at people who live and act in certain ways, wearing a variety of brightly colored clothing made from all-natural fibers and who are wonderfully unconcerned with the fad hair fashions of the day. Sometimes it is an utterance of genuine and fond affection in reference to some the earthier and more socially engaged, environmentally conscious, metaphysically guided, Dr.Bronner’s soap using, and yes for some even patchouli and Birkenstock wearing folks among us. Of greater concern, however, is when people use the term “granola” in an attempt to describe some lame cereal product and pass it off as the genuine article. I say all of this to punctuate the following remark: Carma’s granola is the genuine article…it is indeed granola; and boy was it a treat to eat.

I am not writing to you today simply to discuss granola and all of its implications socially and politically, but to share with you some of my thoughts as we approach the spring break:

1. I am so proud of my fellow classmates. This thought resounds in my mind as I reflect this afternoon. I think it was six but it may have been seven of my friends here at JHU SON who scored 100% or higher on our second pathophysiology exam. Woo-hoo! I am studying with the best and the brightest and I am grateful for that.
2. A shout out to all of the great people who came to Accepted Students Day here at JHU SON! I met some (Indigo and her mother from Brattleboro, Vermont and a pleasant gentleman from New Jersey just to name a few) and was able to give a tour or two of the school and offer my recommendations on places in Baltimore to get really good food. I hope you decide to reside here for your nursing education.
3. I wanted to direct your attention to some of the rich history associated with Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital. You may have heard of “The Four Doctors.” These are William H. Welch, William S. Halsted, William Osler and no, not another William, but rather Howard A. Kelly. These men were indeed great. Pioneers in medicine as we know it, they were also part of the original faculty here at the JHU School of Medicine. Have you ever heard, however, of Dr. Vivian Thomas? If you have, well done to you for paying attention to those little known heroes and giants of the human spirit who stand quietly in history’s back room. Men like Vivian Thomas deserve a place front and center. If you do not, you should know about this man and his story, a very large part of which took place right here in East Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I even know where his portrait hangs in the Blalock Building here at the hospital. The movie telling his story is called, “Something the Lord Made” and I highly, highly recommend it.
4. Lastly, I want to say that life here at JHU SON is still wonderful, even in the midst of pharmacology and pathophysiology. As tough as these two classes are for some of us, it is all part and parcel of the experience and somehow, these professors are actually getting us to start thinking like a nurse! That is very exciting indeed I must tell you.