2024 PMH Health Professions Creative Writing and Art Contest Awards Ceremony

Transcript

• 00:00We have to shrink that.
• 00:03My name is Anna Reisman.
• 00:04I'm the director of the Program
• 00:05for Humanities and Medicine,
• 00:06and I'm thrilled that you guys are all here.
• 00:09We have some people on Zoom,
• 00:11and it's been a great contest.
• 00:14I'll tell you a little bit about the contest,
• 00:16and then we'll just jump
• 00:17right into the presentation.
• 00:18So this began about 25 years ago
• 00:21as a prose and poetry contest.
• 00:24That was just for Yale medical students.
• 00:26And a couple years ago we
• 00:28added the art category.
• 00:29And then we also added,
• 00:31we welcomed submissions from all
• 00:33Yale health profession students.
• 00:36The medical student winners received
• 00:39the Marguerite Rush Lerner Award,
• 00:41and Marguerite Lerner was a member
• 00:43of the Yale dermatology Department.
• 00:45She authored several children's books.
• 00:47She was deeply involved in music and the
• 00:49learners were the parents of four sons,
• 00:51of whom two are Y as in graduates.
• 00:54The award was established in
• 00:56her honor by her loving family.
• 00:58Winners who are part of the PA Nursing and
• 01:02MPH programs receive an award called the
• 01:05Program for Humanities and Medicine Award.
• 01:08This year we had across the three
• 01:10categories close to 100 submissions,
• 01:12and I want to just thank the judges
• 01:15who are all mixed together on my list
• 01:18here for the different categories
• 01:19ABBA Black and Merritt, Terry Degradi,
• 01:22Sarah Cross, Lawrence Gutterman,
• 01:23Melissa Graff, Randy Hunter Epstein,
• 01:25Kenneth Morford, Sharon Ostfeld,
• 01:27Johns, Vinnie Quaglarello,
• 01:29Lisa Sanders, Nora Segar,
• 01:31Elizabeth Marhofer, Rita Rienzo,
• 01:33Sharon Chikigian, and Cynthia McNamara.
• 01:36So thank you to all of the judges for
• 01:38looking at all of those poems, stories,
• 01:40essays and looking at all the art.
• 01:43And I also want to thank Karen,
• 01:46hiding in the back,
• 01:47who does everything behind the
• 01:49scenes especially for this contest.
• 01:51And believe me,
• 01:52there's a lot when you have 98 or 100
• 01:55submissions. So thank you, Karen.
• 01:58And
• 01:59the way that we'll do this
• 01:59today is I'm going to go back and
• 02:02forth for the most part from we'll
• 02:05start with a a poetry winner,
• 02:07we'll go to a prose winner.
• 02:08And in the middle I'm going to cluster all
• 02:11the art 'cause we have the art on on slides.
• 02:14And you can also see not originals
• 02:18but printouts of the art over there.
• 02:20We have one original.
• 02:21So when that person is presenting,
• 02:23she will show you her original,
• 02:24which almost fits in her pocket.
• 02:27OK, so shall we start with poetry?
• 02:31First first place poetry winner
• 02:34who is Terry Mottragi. Mottragi.
• 02:38OK, And Terry is in the class
• 02:41of Yale School of Nursing,
• 02:43class of 2026,
• 02:44and her first place poem
• 02:47is called Caretaker Welcome
• 03:01Caretaker. We drive out to the desert,
• 03:04sunroof open,
• 03:06stars spilling sunburnt and thirsty,
• 03:08and a dented minivan crawling 6
• 03:11hours down the California coast.
• 03:13As the dust sprawls where
• 03:15nothing green can breathe,
• 03:17I marvel at the strange magenta blooms
• 03:19that sprout in spite of it all.
• 03:21When we reach the old motel,
• 03:23fresh white paint rolled across its walls,
• 03:26a Lye I zip my snug black floral dress
• 03:29weaved with thin strands of gold,
• 03:31and paint my lips a dusty rose.
• 03:34Today is my 30th birthday before me.
• 03:36On the splintered pine table is a pastel
• 03:39pink cake with rings of ombre swirls,
• 03:42delicate like water flower.
• 03:44Sorry, watercolor.
• 03:46I ordered it for myself two weeks
• 03:48ago from the beloved bakery Wisteria,
• 03:51bellowing from atop the shop door.
• 03:54Maybe it was good sense,
• 03:55or just the past retching again,
• 03:58but I knew this is true.
• 03:59While I spend most days in hospitals,
• 04:02Forest Green scrubs and bright white
• 04:05sneakers collecting blood into
• 04:06tubes dripping blood into veins,
• 04:09swaddling wrinkly newborns and guiding
• 04:11their wandering tongues to warm milk.
• 04:13Proud reassurances to timid parents Today,
• 04:17my birthday in the desert.
• 04:19Nobody at this table would pause to care.
• 04:21For me this reckoning is merciless
• 04:24tangles of motherhood, marriage,
• 04:26martyrdom and melancholia.
• 04:28Hospital or home.
• 04:30It is my job to boil pots of soup so
• 04:33bellies do not Pierce with hunger.
• 04:35To put cool clothes to warm
• 04:37foreheads so fevers do not blister.
• 04:39To spoon oatmeal into three chipped
• 04:42bowls so clever minds do not forget
• 04:44fractions to empty my breasts until
• 04:46they're chafed cherry red so my baby
• 04:48screams do not Pierce the night.
• 04:50And nurses. Work is never finished.
• 04:53Sugar spills and cake contorts
• 04:55in the hot sun.
• 04:56Indeed,
• 04:57there were not thoughtful
• 04:58candles hidden in pockets,
• 04:59so I pull some from my purse prepared
• 05:02and bounce my round baby on my hip.
• 05:04As I set them ablaze.
• 05:06I watched their flames rejoice
• 05:08amongst A4 four voiced chorus,
• 05:10too sour and sweaty to fake cheer.
• 05:13I wince softly pushed the blade
• 05:16through rings of icing and dutifully
• 05:19passed slivers of sweetness.
• 05:21Thank you.
• 05:30And as you finish,
• 05:32if you go to the back,
• 05:32Karen will give you a certificate that
• 05:36you can frame and put on your wall.
• 05:39OK. Thank you so much, Terry.
• 05:41Our next reader will be Courtney
• 05:44Hart and Courtney is the 1st place
• 05:47Pros winner for a piece called
• 05:50These Small Things and she is
• 05:52also a Yale School of Nursing
• 05:55student class of 2025. Courtney
• 06:07hi. Before I start I just want to say a quick
• 06:11thank you to my parents for
• 06:13allowing me to share this story.
• 06:15It is 1988 and I am three iPad into my
• 06:19parents room and climb up onto big bed.
• 06:21It used to feel like a life raft
• 06:23in the ocean with the two centers
• 06:25of my universe sleeping within it.
• 06:27My father is there now,
• 06:28a soft safe mountain.
• 06:30I starfish across his belly
• 06:32and ask why he is crying.
• 06:34I find out in adulthood that I said,
• 06:36is it because you're sad about Brennan?
• 06:38My father has told me that he
• 06:39was shocked by the question,
• 06:41though he doesn't say whether it's
• 06:42because he was surprised at my intuition
• 06:44or because he was suddenly staggering,
• 06:46jolted off balance as I sweetly asked him to
• 06:49account for the reason behind his weeping.
• 06:51I think, though,
• 06:52that perhaps he shouldn't have
• 06:53been startled by my directness.
• 06:55Either way,
• 06:55what 3 year old is going to mince wards
• 06:58when piercing together why her baby
• 07:00brother has died before he even lived?
• 07:03I was with my mother when she
• 07:04discovered that my brother's heart
• 07:06had stopped on his due date.
• 07:07Until then, she'd had a healthy,
• 07:09uncomplicated pregnancy.
• 07:09A true not in the umbilical cord
• 07:12we discovered later was what
• 07:14caused Brennan's death.
• 07:15I was ushered out to the
• 07:17receptionist desk to draw,
• 07:18blissfully unaware of my mother's
• 07:20emotional wreckage contained by
• 07:22the door behind me as she waited
• 07:24for my father to come.
• 07:25I imagine that the receptionist
• 07:26did the best she could with me
• 07:28in an office made for adults.
• 07:30I wonder if they have crayons by now,
• 07:32maybe just a few in primary colors,
• 07:34paper peeling off,
• 07:35and a well worn coloring book
• 07:37for times like these.
• 07:39When my brother was born on December
• 07:415th at Yale New Haven Hospital,
• 07:42he was no less beautiful
• 07:44than had he been living.
• 07:45If you ask her,
• 07:46my mother will tell you about
• 07:47the kindness of the nurses,
• 07:48the kindness of her doctor.
• 07:50She has said that you will remember
• 07:52this kindness for the rest of her life.
• 07:54I picture them treating her like
• 07:55some delicate hothouse flower.
• 07:57Gloved hands,
• 07:58gentle voices subdued.
• 07:59They must have delicately swaddled my
• 08:01brother snug the knit hat onto his soft head.
• 08:04They press his feet onto an
• 08:05ink pad for footprints.
• 08:07They took pictures gingerly wrapping
• 08:08a knitted baby blanket around him.
• 08:10My mother and father were able
• 08:12to keep running with them until
• 08:13they felt ready to say goodbye.
• 08:15If any parent is ever ready for that moment,
• 08:17the sharp cleaving into life
• 08:19before and life after.
• 08:21Why I asked my mom and my dad.
• 08:23Sometimes these things just happen,
• 08:25sweetheart.
• 08:25I stayed with my Uncle John during
• 08:28my brother's funeral service.
• 08:29We went for ice cream.
• 08:30I've been told it is 2019 and I am a
• 08:34new doula supporting my 6th family.
• 08:36The mother has become beloved to me.
• 08:38She has fielded a few rough
• 08:40challenges during her pregnancy
• 08:41with Astounding Grace,
• 08:42and we've bonded over our
• 08:43shared love of obsessing over
• 08:44music harmonies.
• 08:45Heaven charitably howled with laughter
• 08:47at the baby naming proclivities
• 08:50of our fellow New Yorkers.
• 08:51On her baby's birthday,
• 08:52her daughter emerges into the world crying
• 08:55lustily rosy and flushed with breath.
• 08:57It is an almost an afterthought when
• 08:59the obstetrician mentions the true
• 09:00knot in the cord and we marvel at its
• 09:02twist while she assures my beloved
• 09:04client that it did not affect her
• 09:06baby in the slightest after all.
• 09:07Just look at her, she says.
• 09:09The knot is breathtaking
• 09:11and terrifying to behold.
• 09:13After I make sure that the photos
• 09:14and videos are air dropped,
• 09:15after I embrace my client
• 09:17tightly before tucking her in,
• 09:18after I press my forehead against the
• 09:20baby's swaddled belly for one whispered
• 09:22moment of gratitude and feverish relief,
• 09:24I make it all the way to the
• 09:26sidewalk of 1st Ave. Ave.
• 09:27before the violent, heaving sobs come.
• 09:31It is an October evening in 2022,
• 09:33and I'm writing my application
• 09:35essay from midwifery school.
• 09:36Why do you want to be a midwife?
• 09:37Yale asks me,
• 09:39ameliorating health disparities.
• 09:40I write, walking alongside families
• 09:42through a beautiful life transition.
• 09:43Reproductive justice,
• 09:45trauma, informed care.
• 09:46These are all words that I use in my essay.
• 09:49I don't say a word about my brother.
• 09:51It is 2024,
• 09:52and it's my fifth clinical shift as
• 09:54a midwifery student on the same unit
• 09:56where my parents had those precious
• 09:58few golden hours with my brother.
• 09:59I feel clumsy,
• 10:01slow,
• 10:01acutely self aware of my inexperience.
• 10:04Some days it feels like my brain
• 10:06is expanding at lightspeed,
• 10:07making connections between what
• 10:08I'm learning in the classroom
• 10:10and what I'm seeing on the floor.
• 10:12And other days it feels as even as
• 10:14if even the most basic information
• 10:16is like water through a sieve.
• 10:18I've begun, perhaps, to find my footing.
• 10:20I've learned that I should always
• 10:21keep a spare pair of sterile gloves,
• 10:22size 6, for my small hands in my pocket,
• 10:24just in case I feel more comfortable
• 10:27taking an H&P and triage.
• 10:29I know now that I should simply
• 10:30embrace that cervical exams will
• 10:32feel confounding for quite a
• 10:33bit longer on this fifth shift.
• 10:35It is 4:54 AM and I'm cloaked in
• 10:38a scratchy hospital blanket on the
• 10:39plastic couch in the provider's lounge,
• 10:41foolishly denying myself sleep
• 10:43while pouring over treatment
• 10:44algorithms for anemia and pregnancy.
• 10:46When my phone rings about the
• 10:48intrauterine fetal demise in Room 472,
• 10:51there's this thing that I do to
• 10:52ground myself in a hospital room if
• 10:54I'm in danger of losing composure.
• 10:56I dig my nails into the palm of my left hand,
• 10:58and it delivers just enough
• 11:00muted discomfort to restore me
• 11:02to temporary equilibrium,
• 11:03occupying my mind elsewhere
• 11:05from my own sadness.
• 11:06I do this now as I stand
• 11:08beside our patient's bed,
• 11:09bearing silent witness to her
• 11:11primal screaming to the sobs
• 11:13racking her tensing body.
• 11:14We are deferential to her suffering and our
• 11:17hushed tones and our cautious movements.
• 11:20Afterward,
• 11:20our patient lies limply,
• 11:21her thick hair tangled,
• 11:23chipped purple Polish on her toes,
• 11:25a streak of blood drying on her right thigh.
• 11:28She is unspeaking, staring distantly
• 11:29into the furthest corner of the room,
• 11:32adrift in her own sea of thoughts,
• 11:33while around her are volleying questions.
• 11:36Please, for certainty,
• 11:37though we can offer little prayers
• 11:39for answers where we can give none.
• 11:41Her husband chokes out the question.
• 11:43Sometimes these things just happen, I hear.
• 11:46I take her hand as she gazes into my eyes.
• 11:49Hers contain oceans of pain.
• 11:53She does not want to hold her baby.
• 11:55It's her right,
• 11:56I insist silently to myself.
• 11:57It's her choice.
• 11:58Still, it feels like frantic wings
• 12:01beating a panicky bird trapped
• 12:02in the rib cage of my chest.
• 12:04It feels like precious gold in time,
• 12:06slipping away.
• 12:07Her baby is beautiful,
• 12:09with a thick cap of glossy black hair.
• 12:12I take care to support his soft
• 12:15head as I snug the knit hat onto
• 12:18it and delicately swaddle him.
• 12:20We press his feet onto the ink pad.
• 12:22We take pictures,
• 12:23tenderly wrapping a knitted
• 12:25baby blanket around him.
• 12:26I cradle his soft weight as I whisper A
• 12:29wish to him for nothing but beautiful.
• 12:31Endless sky.
• 12:32These small things at least I can do.
• 12:35Thank
• 12:48you so much, Courtney.
• 12:50I will invite our second place.
• 12:53We have a tie for second place in poetry.
• 12:56And I will invite first Fabrizio
• 12:59Darby from Yale School of Medicine,
• 13:01class of 2027, to read his poem called Yad.
• 13:13Yeah,
• 13:15the smell of fried chicken told me
• 13:17that yad was a euphemism forever.
• 13:19You end up That house is static,
• 13:21but home is ever changing,
• 13:22ever ebbing like the traffic on a highway.
• 13:25The rice and peas told me that no
• 13:27matter what, Jamaica is with me,
• 13:29as I am with her, and if I close
• 13:31my eyes and listen closely enough,
• 13:32this clamoring concrete conurbation
• 13:34sounded like the kasha covered flora that
• 13:37hummed me to sleep on a Sunday afternoon.
• 13:40The ackee and saltfish shouted wagwan
• 13:42and reminded me that the morning
• 13:44breakfast was more than just a meal,
• 13:47but a series of memorable moments
• 13:48in time that would define my life.
• 13:50My perspectives shape my dreams.
• 13:53The Curry chicken made a punching
• 13:55bag of my tongue,
• 13:56taunting me to reclaim MyHeritage
• 13:58and stop holding back the bless
• 14:00up brewing behind my lips every
• 14:02time I'm about to say thank you.
• 14:04It yanked my tonsils,
• 14:05pierced my U villa like a swallowtail.
• 14:08As if to say you can take a
• 14:10Hummingbird out of the forest,
• 14:11but novel nectar will never make it an eagle.
• 14:14The city sirens strum like strings and
• 14:16if I hummed to the rhythm of the din
• 14:18I could use it as a one drop beat,
• 14:20so sweet,
• 14:21like ripe plantains on a school day.
• 14:24Thank you. Thank
• 14:32you so much. OK,
• 14:36And I didn't tell
• 14:37you before, but we also have
• 14:39a tie for pros first place.
• 14:41And so the other person who won first
• 14:44place and the Program for Humanities
• 14:47and Medicine prize is Kelly Dunn.
• 14:49Kelly, are you here? OK.
• 14:52And Kelly's piece is called Hunger
• 14:54and Kelly is a Yale Physician
• 14:57Associate Program student,
• 14:59class of 2025. Congratulations.
• 15:03It was a very long. Oh, I'm so sorry.
• 15:05It was actually a very long piece.
• 15:06So this is a small excerpt from it.
• 15:09It's a little dark. So sorry.
• 15:12OK. In my nursing class,
• 15:14I learned that when a person was
• 15:16about to die, the last thing to
• 15:17go was their sense of sound.
• 15:19I tried not to think too much about
• 15:21what my patients would hear when
• 15:22their time came the hush of spare
• 15:24hairs that grew between thighs,
• 15:25the popping of bones,
• 15:27the dull flood of breasts
• 15:28that hung like weighted socks.
• 15:31Of all these sounds, though,
• 15:32my favorite was Ching.
• 15:33Her name was a light chime,
• 15:34her shuffling gait,
• 15:35the shape of old homes on my street.
• 15:38Her skin was fragile, sinews,
• 15:40tender, like a baby birds.
• 15:42When we first met in the hall,
• 15:43Ching told me that she had
• 15:44not been fed that day,
• 15:45despite just having dinner
• 15:47and broken Chinese.
• 15:48I dutifully told her that I would
• 15:50bring hot tea and sandwiches,
• 15:51pudding and fruit cups.
• 15:53She was so small,
• 15:54and it hurt to imagine her hungry.
• 15:55So even though I knew that
• 15:57Evening AIDS had fed her,
• 15:58I brought her more food anyway.
• 16:01Adjacent to her was the man in 2O2.
• 16:04He was so large,
• 16:05his legs red and angry,
• 16:07bloated from the blood and the
• 16:09lymph that fought their way
• 16:10through his many layers of fat.
• 16:12His skin swelled so much
• 16:13that it's split into lines,
• 16:14pus oozing out of every rift the day before.
• 16:17The doctor told him that if
• 16:18his behavior did not change,
• 16:19his leg would need to be amputated.
• 16:21To cope with the matter.
• 16:222O2 asked me for a chocolate flavored
• 16:24on sure and found an extra large
• 16:26pizza from Little Caesar's for delivery.
• 16:29He barely made his way 100
• 16:30feet down the hallway and down
• 16:32the elevator to pick it up.
• 16:33Later that night I was on my hands
• 16:35and knees cleaning his urine
• 16:36that was mixed with red sauce.
• 16:38On the bathroom floor,
• 16:40I felt there's steady decay,
• 16:42swelling cells, ballooning legs,
• 16:44encroaching fat that slowly
• 16:46cocooned hypertrophied heart,
• 16:47the great weight of it all urging
• 16:49the body to shush, to rest,
• 16:51to shut down and surrender.
• 16:53Or if they were lucky,
• 16:54the slow shrivel of their bodies as
• 16:56they fought A sickness that scraped
• 16:57every morsel of meat from their
• 16:59bones consumed until they became nothing.
• 17:15OK, our second place.
• 17:19So poetry also had a tie in second place.
• 17:23And Kelly Dunn also won that prize.
• 17:27And her poem is called On Chinese Medicine.
• 17:30And again, she's part of the Yale
• 17:31Physician Associate program. So Kelly,
• 17:38try again. This
• 17:40one. This one's better.
• 17:41It's cheerier, OK.
• 17:43It's called on Chinese medicine.
• 17:46My Mama. She gave me life,
• 17:48marked every fruit as hot or cold for fever,
• 17:51melon, green meat severed from
• 17:53netted Rhine for lethargy, mango,
• 17:56sweet juice between my fingers,
• 17:58balancing yin and Yang in the hum
• 18:01of the labor unit, I hold papaya
• 18:03to practice an endometrial biopsy.
• 18:05I take the thin tulle scraping
• 18:07pink meat from flesh,
• 18:09black beaded seeds spilling
• 18:11out this proxy for a womb.
• 18:13Meanwhile,
• 18:14Novocaine is injected between thighs.
• 18:16Meanwhile,
• 18:17bellies smell swell like spring fruit,
• 18:20while I try to remember if
• 18:21the papaya is hot or cold.
• 18:34And Kelly will be back one more time.
• 18:37Seriously.
• 18:40OK, the next person I'm going to invite
• 18:43up also won two prizes.
• 18:45And this is Hannah Gonima who
• 18:48won second place and 3rd place
• 18:50in prose and she is Yale School
• 18:54of Medicine class of 2031.
• 18:59And the pieces as you see here,
• 19:00the 1st the 2nd place was called
• 19:02An Ode to the stars we find and
• 19:04a second is called Boy and Girl.
• 19:07And I believe you're going to just
• 19:08read Boy and Girl in full. Welcome.
• 19:30I don't love public speaking,
• 19:31but I did shorten the story so you
• 19:35don't have to suffer for too long.
• 19:38Boy and Girl, Let me tell you a story.
• 19:42Like so many other stories,
• 19:43It is one of a girl and a boy.
• 19:46The boy was an orphan who had
• 19:48lost his parents at the ripe
• 19:50dawning of his adolescence.
• 19:51A handsome boy, the youngest of four.
• 19:54His uncles called him Bello growing up,
• 19:56meaning beautiful.
• 19:58Never an emotional one,
• 20:00this boy, but rather steady,
• 20:02like calm and still waters the girl.
• 20:05She was quite the opposite,
• 20:07born to a loving mother and an angry father.
• 20:11In the wrestling ring,
• 20:12anger and love tore at the girl,
• 20:15each claiming them for her own,
• 20:17clawing their way through her being,
• 20:19begging to be her resting place.
• 20:21Much to the dismay of fate,
• 20:23anger won,
• 20:24as it usually does in its
• 20:27overcoming and vicious ways.
• 20:29But love snuck its way into some
• 20:31small crevice of the girl to come
• 20:33out every so often during rare
• 20:35moments when anger had grown weary,
• 20:37confusing the girl as to which was which.
• 20:40They both felt similar,
• 20:41the anger and the love,
• 20:43the girl would say.
• 20:44If the boy was clear skies,
• 20:46the girl was the Thunder that
• 20:48rumbled all through it.
• 20:50And while the boy had a limited
• 20:52Dictionary of words to describe
• 20:53the universe of his mind and heart,
• 20:55the girl lived in a flurry of letters,
• 20:58drawing upon them at the
• 20:59most critical moments,
• 21:01painting with them lamentations of
• 21:03her fury and pointing them like sharp
• 21:05knives that those surround her,
• 21:07leaving behind a trail of those
• 21:09who fell victim to her language.
• 21:12When I look in the mirror,
• 21:13the boy and girl rest on my face.
• 21:16The girl's fingers are like my own,
• 21:18and my hair is the spitting image
• 21:20of the loose ringlets which crowned
• 21:22the head of the boy's mother.
• 21:24From the boy,
• 21:25my legs are joined in the center by
• 21:27aching joints that crack at their own accord.
• 21:30From the girl I was handed down
• 21:32a crippling web of anxiousness,
• 21:34manifesting and piercing pain
• 21:36that shreds my stomach.
• 21:38It was on a trip that this
• 21:40pain once struck me,
• 21:41and the boy marvelled that such
• 21:43a physiological pain exists.
• 21:45To think that one can be so anxious
• 21:47that their digestive organs declare
• 21:49their temporary retirement and gnaw
• 21:52their way through one's abdomen,
• 21:53urging for Air and Space,
• 21:55was not a process the boy was
• 21:58ever familiar with,
• 21:59despite the girl having suffered
• 22:00through it for decades.
• 22:02She had never told him.
• 22:04Perhaps he had never noticed.
• 22:06What forces of destiny, I wonder,
• 22:09brought the boy and girl together?
• 22:11I do not think it was the tender
• 22:13doing of Love's fingers.
• 22:15It certainly was not the master
• 22:16plan of bliss as it seemed to
• 22:19show no interest in their lives.
• 22:21Peace most definitely.
• 22:21Coward in the face of the boy and girl,
• 22:24deciding that some battles were
• 22:26simply not worth fighting.
• 22:28Rather the boy and girls story
• 22:30was taken over by confusion,
• 22:31instability and despair.
• 22:32Did they all sit at a table
• 22:35like the gods on Olympus,
• 22:37childishly bickering over who got
• 22:39to control the puppet strings
• 22:41of the boy and girls lives?
• 22:43Or was it always meant to be that way,
• 22:45meticulously weaved by Helen's
• 22:48threads into her tapestry?
• 22:50Whatever the case may be,
• 22:51such was the story of the boy and girl.
• 22:53Haphazardly written by the grotesque
• 22:56hands of fate's uglier qualities.
• 22:58They were thrown across these to
• 23:01distant lands and enveloped by the
• 23:03hands of illnesses which crept
• 23:04through their bodies and brains.
• 23:06With time,
• 23:07anger grew stronger within the girl,
• 23:09and love peaked out from its unsafe
• 23:12crevice less and less frequently.
• 23:14The boy somehow maintained his still waters,
• 23:17but something darker now loomed beneath.
• 23:20It came free of its leashes and
• 23:22revealed itself to the world
• 23:24on too few occasions to count,
• 23:25but the aftershocks of its appearance
• 23:28still appear as imprints in the soft earth.
• 23:30On the nights when it emerged,
• 23:32the creature scrambled to return to
• 23:34their homes, underground and in the skies,
• 23:37and in the crooks of trees and
• 23:39particles of dirt to huddle with
• 23:41their families until the storm pass.
• 23:43I can still remember the heavy gaze
• 23:45of the moon and her star children on
• 23:48me during these accidents of nature.
• 23:50Will it ever end?
• 23:51I asked her.
• 23:52It always does, child, she replied.
• 23:55You see,
• 23:56I have had vivid dreams where
• 23:58I watched the boys and girls,
• 23:59the boy and girls story,
• 24:00like in a movie.
• 24:02I sit still while I take in the
• 24:04scenes before me of the boy being
• 24:06born into the cradle of warmth and
• 24:08love and how they were treated.
• 24:10For some reason unbeknownst to me,
• 24:13I cry as I see him lose his parents,
• 24:15and my mind fills in the gaps of
• 24:17the grief he has never described,
• 24:19but which I can sense acutely
• 24:22in the laden silences.
• 24:23I watch as the girl grows,
• 24:25brought into the world a
• 24:27malleable clump of breath and air,
• 24:29only to be hardened by the unforgiving
• 24:32tools of a father's fists and fire.
• 24:34I watch as the film roll flies
• 24:37to the volumes of life.
• 24:39I watch as boy meets girl, Boy Marys,
• 24:42girl, boy comma girl becomes boy and girl.
• 24:46The film projector creaks and
• 24:48crackles like a ticking bomb.
• 24:50At this point I am screaming,
• 24:51yelling for the movie to stop.
• 24:53No more. I screech in anguish.
• 24:55Nothing good will come of it, I know.
• 24:57I crawl out of my seat and bang
• 25:00on the screen. No one responds.
• 25:02The film conductor overlooks from his
• 25:04auditorium and laughs at the creature,
• 25:07who still, after all this time,
• 25:08refuses to understand.
• 25:09My hands are bleeding now,
• 25:11my eyes are swelling,
• 25:13and all around me nature is rotting
• 25:15and decaying from the anguish,
• 25:16bleeding out from the pores of my flesh.
• 25:19But none the less, the movie continues.
• 25:22It does not care for these silly,
• 25:23silly sensitivities of nature.
• 25:25It must go on.
• 25:27Boy and girl birthed a girl.
• 25:29They name her henna, meaning happiness.
• 25:32I pause my tears to laugh.
• 25:34Misery never did stand a chance to irony.
• 25:38I turn away from the screen I can no
• 25:40longer watch in my scramble to rise.
• 25:43I knock over a vessel here as
• 25:45it's glass shatters and sends
• 25:47echoes through the empty theater.
• 25:49I look down at the broken
• 25:51shards in my reflection.
• 25:52There's only boy and girl in the look.
• 25:54They return.
• 25:55Thank you.
• 26:09OK, so we are going to hear is Melanie here,
• 26:14Melanie. OK, so we're going
• 26:17to go right to the art
• 26:21and what I'll do, what we'll do is
• 26:25just go through each of the art pieces
• 26:28and the 1st place is Lanique Huggins,
• 26:32Black Motherhood in Medicine and she
• 26:34is Yale School of Medicine 2027.
• 26:48Good evening everyone.
• 26:49Thanks for coming. As was said,
• 26:52my name is Lanique and I am a second year
• 26:55student in the Yale School of Medicine and
• 26:58this piece was
• 27:00inspired by something that I have thought
• 27:02much about over the past two years.
• 27:05I remember during one of the first
• 27:08weeks of Med school learning about
• 27:11a statistic that black mothers are
• 27:14the the maternal mentality rate
• 27:16among black mothers is 2.6 times as
• 27:18high as non Hispanic white mothers.
• 27:22And that statistic really struck
• 27:24A chord with me and several of my
• 27:26classmates and just made us really think.
• 27:30And then throughout that first semester,
• 27:32I had conversations,
• 27:33both formal and informal, conversations
• 27:36in classrooms, outside of
• 27:37classrooms with other students.
• 27:39In my year about building a
• 27:43family during a medical career,
• 27:45I heard people who were not
• 27:48black identifying across races,
• 27:50talking about how much more difficult it is
• 27:53to start a family as a woman in medicine.
• 27:56And then that for me,
• 27:58had me and some of my friends thinking
• 28:00about how much more difficult it will
• 28:02be to navigate that journey as somebody
• 28:04who is already a woman in medicine.
• 28:06And then on top of that,
• 28:07the odds stacked against,
• 28:08as you could say,
• 28:10as a black woman in medicine.
• 28:12And so I just wanted to create this
• 28:13piece if you kind of recognize
• 28:16the beauty of black motherhood,
• 28:17the struggle of it,
• 28:19but especially with in the lens
• 28:21of black mothers in medicine,
• 28:23which I think is something that is
• 28:26not as focused on it and is a very
• 28:29precious set of identities that I do
• 28:30hold. That's it.
• 28:40OK And our second prize winner
• 28:43for art category is Hung.
• 28:49There you are OK when OK and
• 28:54the piece is called Submerged.
• 28:56And Hung is a Yale School of
• 28:58Medicine student, class of 2025.
• 29:02Hi everyone, my name is Hong.
• 29:05I am a third year medical student.
• 29:07And thank you so much Doctor Reisman,
• 29:11Karen, and the judges for picking
• 29:13my piece and for allowing me to
• 29:15be here to talk about it today.
• 29:18So Submerged is actually a
• 29:22colorized version of a different
• 29:25painting of the same name
• 29:27of a triad called Submerge Emerged
• 29:29and Converge and Submerge is
• 29:33specifically about feeling overwhelmed.
• 29:38And this feeling of being overwhelmed is
• 29:43somewhat self-imposed, as you can see,
• 29:46because the subject is only half,
• 29:47half of her face is in the water,
• 29:50and this water
• 29:51is made of of her own hair.
• 29:54And in, you know, in the hair
• 29:57or the water you can see fish.
• 29:59And you might ask, what's
• 30:00up with the fish motif?
• 30:04And how I came up with this motif was
• 30:08actually I was studying for step one.
• 30:10And unfortunately I learned
• 30:12many things for the first time.
• 30:16You know, I was very fascinated
• 30:19by what I was learning and
• 30:21how the human body functions.
• 30:23But I also was terrified because
• 30:25why on earth am I learning so
• 30:27many things for the first time?
• 30:30So I wanted to find something that
• 30:32would capture fascination and fear.
• 30:35And you know, to me,
• 30:36what is more fascinating than
• 30:39and and fearsome than the ocean?
• 30:41And we're not going to talk about
• 30:43why koi fish is a freshwater
• 30:44fish and not saltwater, but
• 30:49and also shout out to my partner Eric,
• 30:51who introduced me to Radiohead.
• 30:53One of their one of their song that is one
• 30:55of my favorite is called We're Fishes.
• 30:57And this song captures
• 30:58perfectly what I bring.
• 31:01What I want to convey through
• 31:03this painting is a feeling of,
• 31:05you know, a little somber,
• 31:07a little scary and but ultimately
• 31:12more reflective and contemplative.
• 31:15So thank you so much for having me.
• 31:17And thank you,
• 31:25thank you, Hung.
• 31:26OK, the 3rd place, Art, we have a tie.
• 31:29And I will first invite
• 31:32Matthew Anderson to come up.
• 31:34And Matthew actually has two
• 31:37pieces in the art.
• 31:38One is third place and one is an
• 31:40honorable mention And he will tell you
• 31:42about eye contact and stress fracture.
• 31:44And he is class of medicine at Yale
• 31:47School of Medicine class of 2026.
• 31:51And no,
• 31:53no, no, come on up.
• 31:55So you can just advance this.
• 31:58OK, so just talk about both. Yeah.
• 32:02Hi, I'm Matt.
• 32:05So the two submissions I have
• 32:08here are photos from my travels.
• 32:11I think photography for me has been a
• 32:14means of capturing moments or pushing
• 32:17me to interpret my surroundings.
• 32:19And so these are two moments
• 32:21that I found myself in.
• 32:23And to relate this to our theme of
• 32:27the night humanities in medicine.
• 32:30I think Med school has been this
• 32:32wonderful experience of learning
• 32:34about how all of these factors of
• 32:36Physiology and exposures and environment
• 32:38relate to our health as humans.
• 32:41And sometimes I can't help
• 32:43think how those same principles,
• 32:45how the same principles also relate to other,
• 32:49you know, other things that
• 32:50we see in our environment,
• 32:52namely organisms and our environment.
• 32:54And so these two pieces perhaps relate to,
• 32:57you know, how does,
• 32:59how does humanity affect the
• 33:00things around us both, you know,
• 33:03societies around us as well as organisms.
• 33:05And you know what happens when we're
• 33:07there versus when we're not there.
• 33:09And so with that,
• 33:10I'll go ahead and read the
• 33:11blurb that I I wrote for this.
• 33:12This is called eye contact and this is a
• 33:15photo of my partner taken in Indonesia,
• 33:17Bali, Indonesia,
• 33:18which is a a Hindu island during
• 33:21the celebration of Gulangan,
• 33:24which is a this a celebration of the
• 33:28spirits of ancestors coming to the community.
• 33:31And so we were visiting a temple,
• 33:33and this temple is the most
• 33:35notable on the island.
• 33:36And a lot of a lot of local
• 33:38people were there to celebrate.
• 33:41And I was, you know,
• 33:43honored to be able to be
• 33:45in there in that moment.
• 33:47So a woman clothed in batik silently
• 33:49watches large koi in a Balanese temple pool.
• 33:53They have made their home in holy
• 33:55spring water and find their food
• 33:57from the crumbs of thousands of
• 33:58local visitors enclosed by 4 walls.
• 34:00The fish trace lazy circles
• 34:02beneath the water's surface,
• 34:03appearing as bright droplets
• 34:05rolling across Moss floor as
• 34:07if aware of watchful eyes.
• 34:09A single koi peers out of the water
• 34:11to briefly consider his viewer in
• 34:12the outside world before returning
• 34:14to his circular choreography
• 34:15and thoughts of the next meal.
• 34:22This next photo is taken in the
• 34:24Rocky Mountain National Parks,
• 34:26specifically Bear Creek Lake trails,
• 34:28which are very popular in the summer but
• 34:30during the winter are not as desirable.
• 34:32And so as you can see,
• 34:34it's kind of a barren,
• 34:36frozen lake devoid of people.
• 34:39But I found this very peaceful beauty in it,
• 34:42and I called it stress fracture.
• 34:44So in the deep cold of winter,
• 34:47Moraine lakes in the American
• 34:49Rockies harden into windswept basins.
• 34:51Ice becomes a carapace of frozen
• 34:53ripples and entrapped bubbles that
• 34:55protect a freshwater ecosystem below.
• 34:57As fluid drains throughout the season,
• 34:59water levels lower and the formidable
• 35:01shield becomes a brittle shell.
• 35:03Slow growing fractures arc across the
• 35:06lake as the remaining water and its
• 35:09contents are crushed between the weight
• 35:11of tons of ice and unmovable stone.
• 35:14That's it.
• 35:25The 3rd place other person who tied
• 35:27for third place is Stellen Lee,
• 35:31who is here. Yeah, and Stalin's
• 35:33piece is called Opera for Longevity,
• 35:35The harmony of Art, Tech and Health.
• 35:37And Stalin is a Yale School
• 35:39Public Health Student 2024.
• 35:51OK, hello everyone. My name
• 35:52is Stanley Lee.
• 35:54I am master of public health student.
• 35:56I started as a professional opera
• 35:59singer and now I'm passionate
• 36:01about how music and tech and
• 36:04this transformer health outcome.
• 36:06I use musical therapy and
• 36:10advanced tech to explore new medical pathway.
• 36:15So this journey,
• 36:17deeply inspired my grandfather's
• 36:18struggle with Parkinson's disease,
• 36:21led me to create this piece,
• 36:23which I'm thrilled to share with you today.
• 36:25This project blends my background
• 36:28on the upper stage with my
• 36:30current work in health technology.
• 36:32So it started to from those
• 36:36moments trying to connect with my
• 36:38grandfather as his memory faded.
• 36:40And those experiences drive me to
• 36:42find new way to care through
• 36:44technology and arts. So this
• 36:47award strengthened my belief
• 36:49in combining difference fields.
• 36:50I shows, it shows how art
• 36:53and tech and come together,
• 36:55changing perspective and improving health.
• 36:59So my grandfather's condition pushes
• 37:01me to merge the emotional depth of
• 37:04music with the precision of art,
• 37:06reaching out those isolated
• 37:10by illness. And I will keep
• 37:12pushing this boundaries of what
• 37:13art and tech can do in healthcare.
• 37:16So together, I hope
• 37:18we can create a future where they not only
• 37:21need but work together to foster
• 37:24innovation health solution.
• 37:26Thank you so much.
• 37:39Is Winston here? OK, so Winston Trope is
• 37:44Yale School of Medicine, class of 2026,
• 37:47and was awarded an honorable mention
• 37:49for his piece called Precision.
• 38:01Good evening everyone.
• 38:02So my interest in photography began
• 38:04during my semester abroad in Japan.
• 38:06In college, I pushed myself to really
• 38:09capture the culture I observed and I
• 38:12began to appreciate and enjoy photography
• 38:14as an art form and artistic expression.
• 38:17Following college, I took a job as a
• 38:19research assistant in thoracic surgery,
• 38:20and I was fascinated by the moments
• 38:22of humanity and intimacy that I saw
• 38:24among the members of surgical teams.
• 38:26My team was kind enough to allow
• 38:28me to bring my camera into the
• 38:30OR over my years on the job.
• 38:31It's a challenging and fun environment
• 38:33to shoot in. There's fast movement,
• 38:35extreme light dynamics,
• 38:37and kind of odd angles. Dr.
• 38:40Ronald Salem, a surgical oncologist,
• 38:41was the first surgeon here at
• 38:43Yale who let me photograph his
• 38:45procedures as a medical student,
• 38:47and Nisha Washington is a scrub tech that
• 38:50has worked with Doctor Salem for many years.
• 38:53Their interactions are filled with a
• 38:55carrying warmth and practiced intuition,
• 38:57and it took me a few surgeries
• 38:59to learn their flow.
• 39:00But I was able to catch one of
• 39:03those moments of silent intuition.
• 39:05If you look at their eyes,
• 39:06each of them knows exactly where the
• 39:08other is and what the other is doing.
• 39:10There's complete trust.
• 39:12Moments like these are what made me
• 39:14begin shooting in the operating room.
• 39:15And I'm excited to, you know,
• 39:18keep practicing surgical photography
• 39:19and honing this art.
• 39:21But I'm grateful to Doctor Salem and
• 39:22Tanisha for giving me my start here at Yale.
• 39:24And from being willing to share
• 39:26their bond with you.
• 39:28Thank you for your consideration and for
• 39:29letting me participate in this contest.
• 39:41Zainab.
• 39:45OK, so another honorable mention
• 39:48award in art goes to Zainab. Tell me
• 39:53how to handle it. In and all of
• 39:56Yale School of Nursing 2024.
• 39:58And her piece is entitled Blood Cells. And
• 40:01she is holding it. I brought
• 40:03it in her little couch. It's
• 40:07very
• 40:10small. Clip. My blurb.
• 40:14Hi. Thank you so much for having me here.
• 40:16I'm very honored to be here with all
• 40:18of you amazing artists and writers.
• 40:21The blend between our humanities
• 40:22and medicine is something that's
• 40:24very special to me and is what
• 40:26inspired me to become a nurse,
• 40:27so I'm just very grateful
• 40:29that this program exists.
• 40:30I painted this piece during my
• 40:32first year of nursing school,
• 40:33which was one of the most difficult
• 40:35years of my life.
• 40:36I've been painting self-portrait
• 40:37since I was a teenager,
• 40:39and I always enjoy how each portrait
• 40:41represents a period of time in my life.
• 40:44To me, this portrait represents the beginning
• 40:46of an arduous but incredible journey to
• 40:49becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner.
• 40:51Thank you so much.
• 41:02And the final honorable mention is
• 41:06Jean Claudine Raimondi
• 41:08who is on Zoom hopefully
• 41:16and the piece is called Capatico
• 41:22and Jean Clauntin is a Yale
• 41:24School of Nursing student 2025.
• 41:26No, and it's not here or on
• 41:30Zoom and this is the piece.
• 41:33OK. So we will move
• 41:34back in that case to
• 41:41to we still have a few more
• 41:44poetry and prose winners. And
• 41:50I'm going to go to Morgan
• 41:56Morgan Brinker, who is an honorable
• 41:58mention Rush Lerner Prize and Prose
• 42:00and the piece is entitled The
• 42:02Observation of Something Pink and
• 42:04Morgan is Yale School of Medicine 2026.
• 42:19Hi everyone, and congratulations
• 42:20to all the other winners,
• 42:23The Observation of Something
• 42:25Pink. In medical school,
• 42:27one of the first things we are
• 42:28taught is the art of observation
• 42:30and introduction to the profession.
• 42:32Our first medical school course.
• 42:35We examined patents to deconstruct
• 42:37bias and participate in our first simulation,
• 42:39somehow picking up on the artificial
• 42:42cues of a mannequin observation.
• 42:44It is something that is impressed
• 42:46upon us early in our journey.
• 42:48Stuff into our formal wear,
• 42:50pulling anxiously at the top button
• 42:52of our shirt as we articulate why.
• 42:54Medicine to interviewers who jot
• 42:56down our observations and pray we
• 42:59impress them Enough observation.
• 43:01It was our first assignment,
• 43:03anatomy noted in common anatomical
• 43:05landmarks on our donors to ease us into an
• 43:08emotionally taxed and year long course.
• 43:10This is about recognizing our donors as
• 43:12individuals rather than cadavers solely
• 43:15meant for educational benefit observation. I
• 43:19remember our first anatomy practical
• 43:21like it was yesterday. Anxiety spiked
• 43:24in my veins, causing my hands
• 43:25to shake around my clipboard
• 43:27as I stepped to a table.
• 43:28Not surrounded by other
• 43:29students for my first question,
• 43:32I kept mentally repeating
• 43:33to myself. The thoracic and neck
• 43:35structures as I scanned the donor for
• 43:37the tag corresponded to my answer sheet.
• 43:40My eyes landed on pink toes.
• 43:43I paused in my search for the tag.
• 43:45The donor had bright
• 43:47pink toes that seemed out of place,
• 43:49surrounded by silver tables and
• 43:51students in muted scrub colors.
• 43:53I began to think more about
• 43:54the person in front of me.
• 43:55The exam faded into the background,
• 43:58fixating on her nails.
• 43:59I'm used to myself.
• 44:01Who painted them? A granddaughter
• 44:04eager to spend time with her grandmother.
• 44:06I could almost picture them giggling
• 44:09over anything, everything and
• 44:11nothing at the same time.
• 44:13Or did she go to a nail salon
• 44:14to have a relaxing experience?
• 44:16Unless she was ticklish
• 44:18then of course the nail salon
• 44:19is not an enjoyable place.
• 44:22Did she spend an ungodly
• 44:23time standing at the shelves
• 44:24filled with endless colors
• 44:26trying to find a perfect color?
• 44:28Why did she paint her nails?
• 44:30A spontaneous
• 44:30pick me up, a plan splurge
• 44:33before her last days on this earth?
• 44:35Something she wanted to do
• 44:36knowing that she and her family were
• 44:38making the ultimate sacrifice and donating
• 44:40her body to science and education.
• 44:44Even though we had previously engaged
• 44:46in conversations about this topic,
• 44:47the sheer significance of this
• 44:49donor's gift finally sunk in.
• 44:52This was a person who someone loved
• 44:54and continues to love and grieve.
• 44:56This was someone who worked through
• 44:59any feelings of apprehension regarding
• 45:01donating their body to science.
• 45:03This was someone who prepared
• 45:05their loved ones for possible
• 45:06feelings of not receiving closure
• 45:09somewhere else in the
• 45:10lab, Doctor Stewart's voice
• 45:11start to pull me back to reality
• 45:13and the Lumen Practical exam.
• 45:15I stared down at the donor,
• 45:17her pink toes winking up at me
• 45:18as if it didn't trigger my third
• 45:21existential crisis within a month
• 45:23of starting medical school. However,
• 45:25this existential crisis was warranted,
• 45:27as it served as a crucial reminder when
• 45:30we witnessed traumatic events in medicine.
• 45:32We are challenged physically,
• 45:34mentally, and emotionally.
• 45:36We walk a delicate line between
• 45:38temporarily pushing aside our emotions
• 45:40to process them later when appropriate,
• 45:42and maintaining our compassion for
• 45:44both our sakes and our patients.
• 45:47Like most things in medicine,
• 45:48we will continue learning how to
• 45:50cope with these complex sentiments
• 45:52for the rest of our careers.
• 45:54But our donors helped us to take
• 45:56our first steps in this process,
• 45:58teaching us that when we are
• 46:00faced with death,
• 46:01our vulnerability and compassion
• 46:03allow us to be our most human self.
• 46:06And as a gift from our donors that
• 46:07we are only beginning to recognize,
• 46:10honor and pay back. Thank you.
• 46:21Is Melanie here?
• 46:28No. OK, Laurel.
• 46:34OK, so Laurel K is won an honorable
• 46:37mention in the poetry category.
• 46:39Laurel is Yale School of Medicine,
• 46:41class of 2025, and her poem
• 46:43is entitled Midnight Garden.
• 46:47Hi, everyone. I hope
• 46:48you can hear me. I'm on the zoom.
• 46:51We can hear you. We
• 46:52cannot see you. OK.
• 46:57Oh, OK.
• 47:08All right,
• 47:10let's see if this works.
• 47:14OK.
• 47:17Can I just
• 47:17get one more confirmation that you guys can
• 47:19hear me? At least, If not see me.
• 47:24OK. I see myself now.
• 47:26There we go.
• 47:29All right. OK. Thank you for
• 47:30letting me join via Zoom.
• 47:31And it was so lovely listening.
• 47:33I was in transit for part of this,
• 47:34but it was so lovely listening to
• 47:37the other readers and seeing the art.
• 47:41Thanks, Vika. Yes, thank
• 47:46you. Midnight Garden.
• 47:47Confronted with the final decision
• 47:49of a front door, you make instead
• 47:51for the shadowed flower beds,
• 47:53ears still ringing of sirens
• 47:54and telemetry, and spent Ivs.
• 47:56But now it is only the crickets
• 47:58and your eyes adjust to the moon
• 48:00flowing into view over the ash trees,
• 48:03erasing all but the colours It
• 48:04cares for you to know today.
• 48:06Or perhaps it was yesterday.
• 48:08You pulled a bullet from
• 48:10between a man's shoulders,
• 48:11your own shoulders still tight with
• 48:13the raw breath of strong nerves.
• 48:15The Rosemary breathes too in the dark,
• 48:17but quietly you must strain to
• 48:19hear it's pine scented murmur,
• 48:21the secrets it trades with
• 48:23the crawling sugar snaps.
• 48:25The beetroot knows not of crush
• 48:26injuries and codes of friction on
• 48:28asphalt or friction on sternum.
• 48:30It knows instead the arc that Vega
• 48:33traces on the sky in the dizzy
• 48:35dance of bumblebees and Wasps.
• 48:37You are no attentive Angel
• 48:38at the head of Trauma One,
• 48:39but the spade that separates
• 48:41the mint from the dandelion.
• 48:43Your knees sink to the dirt and feel
• 48:45for the veiny limbs of cherry tomatoes,
• 48:47their hard bodies slick with dew.
• 48:50No need to administer antibiotics.
• 48:52Acetaminophenodemocene compost and coffee
• 48:54grounds will invigorate the cucumbers.
• 48:57You divide Ivy from okra with the same
• 49:01decisive precision that A10 blade
• 49:02divides the layers of skin and fascia,
• 49:05a procedure that worked exactly the
• 49:06way it was meant until it didn't.
• 49:08You had to tell a young man's mother,
• 49:10who screamed in a way that almost made sense,
• 49:13a rejection of air that the Lacinato
• 49:15kale now inhales and the scents
• 49:17remains only in the sugar snaps,
• 49:19reaching towards the moon as
• 49:21they would the sun.
• 49:23A thick metal scent rises
• 49:24as you pour on water,
• 49:25enough to wash these hands again,
• 49:28but not enough to drown the earthworms
• 49:30on their adamantine missions to
• 49:32consume everything that remains.
• 49:34This and that patch devoured and made new
• 49:48thank
• 49:53you. OK. And I believe unless Melanie or
• 49:57Jean Claudine have appeared, last call.
• 50:02OK, then I'm going to invite
• 50:03Kelly back up for a third time to
• 50:07read her Honorable mention prize,
• 50:10which is entitled On the First day
• 50:12of Anatomy Lab for another Anatomy.
• 50:16I'm so sorry. This is
• 50:17the last one, I promise.
• 50:21OK. On the first day of anatomy lab,
• 50:24it is September.
• 50:25My hair is damp from morning shower.
• 50:28The street is a lexicon of leaves,
• 50:30the air just beginning to turn cold.
• 50:33I learned all our donors
• 50:34are from Connecticut.
• 50:35I'm given their ages on a typed list,
• 50:37not 70s or senior, but 718889.
• 50:42The numbers are seemingly arbitrary,
• 50:44but I like the precision.
• 50:46It brings a real weight to the bodies.
• 50:48I will soon see the sum of
• 50:50every moments they breathe.
• 50:52The metal casing is hard to keep open.
• 50:55I press my knee into it to draw
• 50:56the locking mechanism into place.
• 50:58But when I'm done,
• 50:59I see that a thin brown line,
• 51:00no thicker than the width of my fingernail,
• 51:02has stained my pants.
• 51:03I spit on it and rub the fabric,
• 51:05but it stays.
• 51:07I unzip the white plastic,
• 51:09unwrap the canvas and tuck
• 51:10it behind my donor's legs,
• 51:12knowing I will make sure his
• 51:13toes are covered once more.
• 51:14At the end of class,
• 51:16we are told to just look today,
• 51:18to sketch and observe.
• 51:19Yet I can't help but touch.
• 51:22His skin is hard and cold and Gray,
• 51:25like the blocks of clay ceramacists use.
• 51:27His hands are bound postmortem,
• 51:29and you can see the impression
• 51:31of fingers left on his belly.
• 51:33It reminds me of the fossils
• 51:35I've seen in museums,
• 51:36of dinosaur shell eggs or ferns in tar,
• 51:39in the footprints in the Kao Desert
• 51:42preserved from when Mauna Loa erupted.
• 51:44A professor exclaims and tells me
• 51:46they're pitting indemnidus impressions,
• 51:48which can be noted at a given
• 51:50depth on a point scale.
• 51:51But I'm still thinking about Mauna Loa,
• 51:53the sprawling desert and the hot
• 51:55volcanic ash that swept across
• 51:57the whole island in one day,
• 51:58taking families but keeping a trail of
• 52:01their footprints perfectly preserved.
• 52:03I later learned the word is Ademitus,
• 52:05but for now I stroke his cheek and hold
• 52:07his hand, his fingertips stained yellow,
• 52:09and noticed how his nail
• 52:11beds are big like mine.
• 52:13We are encouraged to look at
• 52:14the donors on other tables.
• 52:16At table 36,
• 52:17there is an Asian man with speckled
• 52:18skin and skin tags like my dad,
• 52:20clear serum pulling around his
• 52:22eyes that shine like tears.
• 52:24I see Ivs and a central triple
• 52:26lumen line embedded in skin,
• 52:27vestigial structures,
• 52:28still trying to revive life in a dead body.
• 52:32The embalming process makes things concrete,
• 52:35lithified immortalizing wrinkles
• 52:36and folds of skin like non laminar
• 52:39strata and sedimentary rock.
• 52:41I'm with bodies that will
• 52:42soon join the earth again.
• 52:43Lost in geologic time.
• 52:45The morphologies are unfamiliar,
• 52:47Stomachs too full or too hollow,
• 52:49fat held and told to halt,
• 52:52contorted to form an assemblage of small
• 52:55knolls and topographical maps of places.
• 52:57I don't know.
• 52:59Class is soon over and I'm sitting
• 53:00in the shuttle on my way home,
• 53:02looking at the sketch of my donor,
• 53:04his large nostrils,
• 53:05barrel chest and hands with
• 53:07nail beds as large as mine.
• 53:09Wondering if you wore 1/4 zip sweater
• 53:11in September and if his partner
• 53:13ever reminded him to wear a hat
• 53:15before he left for work because
• 53:16it was cold outside. Thank you.
• 53:25Thank you everybody for coming.
• 53:27That's marks the end.
• 53:28We can do a group picture with
• 53:29people who are still here.
• 53:30I know some people had to leave, but
• 53:33any judges who are here also
• 53:35we would like to have you in the picture.