EP 783 The Power of Story in the Field of Medicine
Patients are not just the sum of their often limited check-ups and lab results. They come to their doctor with many behaviors and influences that affect their overall health. How nutritious is their food, how healthy is their living environment and what are their genetic predispositions among other things? Can they even maintain regular contact with the health system absent appropriate transportation? And yet in our medical system, often following the protocols established by large medical groups and insurance companies can a doctor really gain that perspective within the limited amount of time they are able to spend with their patients? Our guest, Dr. Dean-David Schillinger, a primary care physician at San Francisco General Hospital and author of “Telltale Hearts: A Public Health Doctor, His Patients, and the Power of Story” reveals what he has discovered is necessary to truly understand his patients, often poor and marginalized people, who have more chronic conditions than others in our society. Empathy and science create the alchemy necessary to address their needs.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our most recently posted podcast with Tony Payan focused on the essential relationship between the United States and Mexico. Given the importance of the topic and the many issues involved, we decided to bring another perspective to the subject. Our guest on this podcast, Jennifer Apperti, is the director of the Texas-Mexico Center at Southern Methodist University. She focuses much of her attention on the longest shared border and the issues surrounding the unique Texas/Mexico relationship. It adds another dimension to the subject.
Mexico, not China, is now America’s leading trading partner. Who knew? All we hear in relation to Mexico are issues related to the southern border. And with that, we never have an honest discussion of the many aspects of that border relationship which span geography, natural resources and culture. It all gets boiled down to border security. In short, if there’s a more important bilateral relationship for the United States, I’d like to know what it is. And now with Claudia Sheinbaum becoming the new president of Mexico, the first woman of the Jewish faith to do that, it will be interesting if she follows in the footsteps of her predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Orbrador, or sets a new course for our neighbor. To discuss this important issue is Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, at Rice University’s Baker Institute. For a much more nuanced discussion of the relations between the two countries, listen in.
The pressures for adolescents and young adults to maintain a certain standard of beauty in our culture is pervasive. It comes from parents, peers, video of all sorts and social media. And in the wake of the pandemic we find ourselves with a twin mental health crisis amid Face tuned photos, viral makeup tutorials, and misleading online nutritional advice. It’s a complicated picture and no one has been trying to do more to provide help in navigating this territory than Dr. Charlotte Markey who has written books providing body image advice to boys and girls as they approach puberty. Her latest book, “Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life” recognizes that these same issues exist in a different form for those who now make many choices without the benefit of their parents. We tackle a range of topics in the age of Ozempic as to how young adults and others can create a healthy relationship with their mind and body. Please listen to the podcast, but, by all means, get this book as a practical guide to deal with this overarching issue in our culture.
She may be our next president as she heads into the August Democratic Convention with a full head of steam following President Joe Biden’s decision not to run again. And while she has a long career as a prosecutor, district attorney, Attorney General of California, U.S. Senator from the Golden State and Vice President, there are conflicting narratives about her. Is she tough on crime or not? Does she want Medicare for All or has she reversed that position? Is she liberal or more moderate? Finally, how effective a chief executive would she be? All of these questions will be answered in the course of a short campaign, less than one hundred days, but the question is who will define her in the eyes of the voters–the Republicans or her campaign? To discuss all of this with us is John(Jack)Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College politics professor, who has followed Harris’ career for decades.
J. Ted Oakley, founder and managing partner, of Oxbow Advisors, has seen it all. That’s why he wrote his latest book “30 Million and Broke.” Yes, it happens to celebrities, athletes, and lottery winners who are given the wrong guidance, no guidance or are left to their own devices. Mr. Oakley has seen it happen to those who sell businesses and those who are born with money, who think it’s their birthright to have it forever. But many of the same lessons of careful financial management are important to those of us who have much fewer resources and must make them last a lifetime. We unlock the keys to doing that in this interesting conversation about money–a topic many of us spend little time paying attention to. This 30 minute investment of time may be well worth your while.
We know that liberal democracy in America has always contained contradictions–all men are created equal as slavery defines the economic order of the Revolutionary moment, as one example. And while we have had a noble, but abstract, commitment to freedom, justice, and equality, tragically, that has seldom been realized in practice. The fraught politics of this moment, perhaps, reflects the fact that we just may be too tired, depleted and divided culturally–meaning how we define this ongoing experiment and who should be able to participate in it–to reclaim the work to bend the arc of history toward the goal of progress in addressing those wrongs. It is a frightening notion that what you see on the surface–political polarization, disinformation and general rancor–may be something we no longer have the resources to deal with. Professor James Davison Hunter, of the University of Virginia, coined the term ‘culture wars’ back in the 1990’s. In his book “Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis” he frames the argument powerfully that with compromise now a forbidden word in our political lexicon, we may be at a tipping point and have no other way to address it than by force. It is a disturbing thought from one of America’s per-eminent scholars.
The White House, as a place, conjures up much about our history as we envision the remarkable people and the momentous events that have comprised its remarkable story. We’ve watched Oval Office addresses, seen press briefings and events of State with major performers there. If you’re old enough to remember, then First Lady Jackie Kennedy invited us to view some new furnishings she wanted to bring to The White House, which acts as both a place of work and the living quarters for the President’s family. Destroyed and rebuilt, renovated after neglect and the site of key decisions about war and peace, it remains a symbol of continuity and stability to the American people. Corey Mead, in his book, “The Hidden History of The White House: Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments” shares stories we have not heard before about what has transpired there throughout time. We bring the story to this day as we take an aural tour that takes into account the changes in its uses during an era of growing importance as we have firmly established the Imperial Presidency.