Coming Home After A Homecoming

I’ve just returned from Iowa City, where I attended The Examined Life Conference view program here, a gathering of people who are dedicated to exploring how the arts and healthcare intersect, and to teaching the importance of this intersection to those who choose to become healthcare professionals. It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet so many committed, passionate, talented people, including Rita Charon, the founder of Narrative Medicine, Bud Shaw, one of the pioneers of liver transplant surgery, and Ken Browne, a filmmaker who has become a believer and is now producing a documentary about this important work. It was also my privilege to speak at the conference. My talk, which explored the use of music and poetry in medical humanities presentations, was attended by a group of thoughtful, kind, and interesting people who seemed to enjoy my music and poetry and provided me with wonderful and useful feedback.  Hats off to Jason Lewis and Dave Etler, who do the hard work of putting on the conference, and to the University of Iowa and the wonderful city of Iowa City.  Do yourself a favor and look for this conference next year. You will come home feeling as I did, that you’ve been to a reunion of kindred souls.