(no subject)
Dear Almost-Everyone,
Regarding my dual degree. Narrative Medicine. I've been getting a lot of snide comments and looks and so forth recently, especially when I mention certain aspects of the program. I know a lot of you think very poorly of the lady who runs the show. I'm concerned that you think I'm as odd as you think she is.
Yes, I've been distant lately. Partly that's because I've been legitimately busy with midterm papers and a few personal/family issues. But partly, it's been a response to the attitude I sense. It's not an uncommon attitude, this devaluation of the humanities, but it stings nonetheless. Is it a surprise to you that I'd rather hang out with my college friends, many of whom were humanities majors and "get it," instead of people who actively mock my field of study?
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh. It's after 3 AM, and this is the sort of thing that should never and can only be said on such little sleep as I've had tonight. This isn't everyone in med school, but it's enough of you that I should probably say something. Frankly, a couple of weeks ago, it all crystallized after one particular comment and led to a three-hour cryfest on a bench in Morningside. I dislike cryfests, especially ones that are necessarily semi-public. I'd rather have things out, passive-aggressively, online!
[But then, you know. There was that moment when I mentioned that some of the narrative theory was pretty heavy, and someone said, What do you mean theory? and that was a lightbulb for me, because my background in complit presupposes theory (and in fact my literary theory class in college was one of the best, because I had a phenomenal professor who drew articulated lorries on the board to illustrate -- literally -- her point; you'd probably think she was odd too).
So even though I know that lots and lots of people get through their daily lives without knowing anything at all about story/discourse or signifying monkeys or laughing medusae, this was a moment of insight for me. Because I can totally see how, without any knowledge of the theoretical framework surrounding NM, you could think this is all just New-Age-y frou-frou stuff. We were never exposed to the theory in those second year short-courses, but that's the scaffold on which all of this is built.
I guess I'm trying to understand where the anti-NM sentiment is coming from, because I want to counteract it; I want to show you that this is not merely a serious course of study but also one that matters deeply. That's something that I feel intuitively, and I get that not everyone thinks with stories, and so on, but I think that's the source of the disconnect here.
But on the other hand, I have plenty of friends from high school and college who think in numbers and are now doing graduate work in things like math and physics and materials. I don't understand any of it, but clearly they do and are happy, and so it's cool. Why do med school people -- again, not all, but more than makes me comfortable -- like to hate on NM to me?]
Framework issues aside, though, the core of the matter here is that by mocking the program and its goals, you are, consciously or un-, mocking me. I dislike that. So please stop.
Regarding my dual degree. Narrative Medicine. I've been getting a lot of snide comments and looks and so forth recently, especially when I mention certain aspects of the program. I know a lot of you think very poorly of the lady who runs the show. I'm concerned that you think I'm as odd as you think she is.
Yes, I've been distant lately. Partly that's because I've been legitimately busy with midterm papers and a few personal/family issues. But partly, it's been a response to the attitude I sense. It's not an uncommon attitude, this devaluation of the humanities, but it stings nonetheless. Is it a surprise to you that I'd rather hang out with my college friends, many of whom were humanities majors and "get it," instead of people who actively mock my field of study?
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh. It's after 3 AM, and this is the sort of thing that should never and can only be said on such little sleep as I've had tonight. This isn't everyone in med school, but it's enough of you that I should probably say something. Frankly, a couple of weeks ago, it all crystallized after one particular comment and led to a three-hour cryfest on a bench in Morningside. I dislike cryfests, especially ones that are necessarily semi-public. I'd rather have things out, passive-aggressively, online!
[But then, you know. There was that moment when I mentioned that some of the narrative theory was pretty heavy, and someone said, What do you mean theory? and that was a lightbulb for me, because my background in complit presupposes theory (and in fact my literary theory class in college was one of the best, because I had a phenomenal professor who drew articulated lorries on the board to illustrate -- literally -- her point; you'd probably think she was odd too).
So even though I know that lots and lots of people get through their daily lives without knowing anything at all about story/discourse or signifying monkeys or laughing medusae, this was a moment of insight for me. Because I can totally see how, without any knowledge of the theoretical framework surrounding NM, you could think this is all just New-Age-y frou-frou stuff. We were never exposed to the theory in those second year short-courses, but that's the scaffold on which all of this is built.
I guess I'm trying to understand where the anti-NM sentiment is coming from, because I want to counteract it; I want to show you that this is not merely a serious course of study but also one that matters deeply. That's something that I feel intuitively, and I get that not everyone thinks with stories, and so on, but I think that's the source of the disconnect here.
But on the other hand, I have plenty of friends from high school and college who think in numbers and are now doing graduate work in things like math and physics and materials. I don't understand any of it, but clearly they do and are happy, and so it's cool. Why do med school people -- again, not all, but more than makes me comfortable -- like to hate on NM to me?]
Framework issues aside, though, the core of the matter here is that by mocking the program and its goals, you are, consciously or un-, mocking me. I dislike that. So please stop.