Jan 15, 2016
UNEXPECTED PLEASURES OF 2016 WELCOME TO CUBA
Life is not about the regrets about the PAST nor about the anxieties of the FUTURE. As I sit here at the Admirals Club at Heathrow Airport in London, I…
Stories
Field notes from the road
Medicine, culture, travel, food, healing, and human stories from my archive. Start with a trail, search for a memory, or move by year.
Roads, meals, clinics, and human encounters.Archive into inquiry
These field notes are not only memory. They are the ground from which my new field inquiries begin.
The current inquiry follows one trail through the archive: food culture, metabolic health, Indigenous knowledge, and Suriname.
Jan 15, 2016
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016 FROM THE WILD COAST OF QUIBERON IN BRITTANY, FRANCE
Walking along the windswept coast of this village which has become a tourist destination for the French, I couldnt but think of the poems of Pablo Neruda who had described…
Dec 15, 2015
YVES BERTHOU AND PRANAYAMA: AN ANTHROPOLOGIST IN BRITTANY, FRANCE
YVES BERTHOU AND PRANAYAMA Most people in the west are now aware of the Yogic Breathing, Pranayama, which is used for relaxation as well as treatment for some of the…
Sep 15, 2015
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO KIND TO ME? AN EREV YOM KIPPUR REFLECTION
Why are people so nice to me? I asked Alejandra, the lady in charge of the Amazonas BnB where I am staying in Leticia, in Colombian Amazon, just across from…
Aug 15, 2015
EL INDIO IN MEXICO: A CASE OF DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP
EL INDIO IN MEXICO: A CASE OF DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP We hear about the importance of doctor-patient relationship but we don’t hear about the extraordinary relationships between Doctors and Patients. I…
Jul 15, 2015
ROMANCE IN THE TIME OF THE MONSOON
Romance in the time of the Monsoon How can I not think of Gabo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, when I am wandering around this lovely small town of Fort Cochin? I…
Jul 15, 2015
TENDERNESS WITHOUT BORDERS LA TERNURA SIN FRONTERAS
TENDERNESS WITHOUT BORDERS. Ternura sin Fronteras No puedo vivir sin ternura One cannot live without tenderness Pablo Neruda once wrote Sabre acariciar las neuvas flores por que tu me ensenaste…
Mar 15, 2015
GASPAR DA GAMA…FIRST OF THE MANY FOREIGN JEWS ON COCHIN COAST
I had only one purpose looking through the graves at the Grave Island off the coast of Zanzibar. Would I be able to identify any Jewish names amidst the medieval…
Mar 15, 2015
Visiting With Purpose Or Just Passing
VISITING WITH A PURPOSE OR JUST PASSING THROUGH I can recognize two types of Tourists: one group that is passing through, they didn’t come here because they have any special…
Mar 15, 2015
AN EXTRAORDINARY WEEK IN THE USA WITH INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA
ONE WEEK IN THE USA: A TRAVELOGUE This is a not an ordinary travelogue. I have just spent one week in the USA. I flew in from London on American…
Mar 15, 2015
FEW HOURS IN COCHIN.. VERY EXCITING INDEED
I returned to Cochin after an absence of five years, which is very long for me with regard to any country in my world view. I had come primarily to…
Feb 15, 2015
DISTORTION OF HEALTH INFORMATION ON INTERNET
HEALTH INFORMATION ON INTERNET DISTORTED BY COMMERCIAL GROUPS Low Vitamin D Levels Tied To Increased Risk For Type 2 Diabetes. HealthDay (2/24, Predit) reports that a study published in the…
Feb 15, 2015
FRIENDSHIPS IN MIAMI
Who else do you need in Miami, asked my sister, you have me and my husband and also your good friends M and G and all of us like to…
Jan 15, 2015
SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RESEARCH IN HEALTH, ILLNESS AND DISEASE
SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RESEARCH IN HEALTH, ILLNESS AND DISEASE You have to tip your hats off to molecular scientists who concentrate on a minute aspect of metabolism. But it…
Nov 15, 2014
POST MODERNITY AND THE FUTURE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Post Modernity and the Future of Communications My sister told me that she had lunch with six adults and as many children at a nice restaurant in Cayman Islands, it…
Nov 15, 2014
ANTHROPOLOGY IN MEDICINE: IS THERE AN ANTHROPOLOGIST IN THE HOUSE?
Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE ANTHROPOLOGY IN MEDICINE IS THERE AN ANTHROPOLOGIST IN THE HOUSE? I was about to qualify as an Endocrinologist from the University of…
Nov 15, 2014
CULTURAL FRANKENSTEIN: CUBA AND THE WORLD
Australian researchers have uncovered how the massive DNA molecules that appear in some tumours are formed like Frankenstein's monster, stitched together from other parts of the genome. This solves a…
Oct 15, 2014
WHEN EXOTIC BECOMES EXTORTION: INDIAN FOOD IN MIAMI
WHEN EXOTIQUE BECOMES EXTORTION :INDIAN FOOD IN MIAMI Indian Cuisine is an oxymoron, unless of course it is a compilation of numerous cuisines found all over India. Indian cuisine was…