idealawg

Sister profession news: "New requirement for Class of 2018 is part of national trend toward a more balanced medical education experience"

Press release from University of Buffalo:

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Since Hippocrates, medical practice has been seen as both science and art. In the 21 century, amid ever-greater scientific advances, medical schools are working to maintain balance between the two, developing new ways to highlight the art of medicine.

On Dec. 5, first-year medical students at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will participate in a new requirement: attending the First Year Humanities Day.

UB medical students will hear about and discuss medicine as depicted in poetry, music and drawing; they will even be able to participate as artists themselves, drawing a nude model in one of the sessions as they learn to correlate findings from gross anatomy in a living body. Other topics include discussing health care in terms of cost, cultural attitudes and ethics.

“UB, along with other medical schools nationwide, understands that just as we require our students to develop scientific expertise, they also need to develop expertise in the art of practicing medicine,” says Michael Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences at UB and dean of the medical school.

“Our students must learn to appreciate and understand not just clinical symptoms but the individual who is experiencing them,” he says. “The medical school’s new humanities requirement is one way to achieve this goal.”

The half-day event, sponsored by the UB medical school’s Center for Medical Humanities, includes a broad range of workshops and lectures that use the arts, humanities, ethics and social sciences to teach the art of medicine and techniques of observation, analysis and self-reflection.

Members of the media are welcome to attend: for more information, contact Ellen Goldbaum, [email protected] and 716-645-4605.

Titles and speakers are:  

Click to read the rest.

Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain*: Drumming for collaboration, barrier breaking, health

A colleague and close friend of mine is in San Diego this weekend attending a Remo Drums HealthRHYTHMS course, being taught by Christine Stevens (videos of Stevens). I am looking forward to hearing all about what she learned when she returns to Colorado because for many years I have been interested in the use of music for conflict resolution (see my past posts on that topic here). The use of music with and for aging seniors has also been a long-time interest.

A third reason I am interested in the effects of music: Dr. Stephen Porges talks about the physiological and psychological effects and benefits of the feeling of safety (click to read my post about his Polyvagal Theory). And he has talked about the role of music in that sensed safety. Click to read what he has written about music therapy and trauma (Lifespan Learning Institute). Excerpt:

Music is an important component of the human experience. The use of music in culture has been a documented feature of the history of civilizations. Types of music have been uniquely associated with distinct feelings, experiences, and social interactions. Cultures have incorporated music into the educational process, religious and tribal rituals, and patriotic expressions. Music conveys features of culture both with lyrics and melody. Vocal music has been used both as a contemporary vehicle and an archival mechanism to transmit important cultural, moral, spiritual, and historical events and values. Music has been used to calm, to enable feelings of safety, and to reduce the social distance between people.

Music can be a very potent and effective tool. The drum, one of the most basic instruments, provides a way any of us, no matter how musically unskilled, can use the tool of music actively, playfully, and easily.

If you want to take the course my friend is now attending, click for locations and dates of future programs. Sounds like a booming, thundering good time.

Description of the course (taken from the Remo Web site):

HealthRHYTHMS Basic Training teaches a fun, evidence-based whole person strategy which promotes socialization and ensures a healthy non-strenuous workout. On a deeper level it builds bridges while fostering nurturing, support, camaraderie, self-respect and respect for others. It is not really about drumming, but uses the drum as a tool for communication and personal expression. This system can be integrated as a therapeutic strategy in group counseling sessions, support groups, rehabilitation centers, schools, hospitals, aging facilities and more.

I can think of a few law firms that could benefit from a drum corps in the hallways.

*Chorus from Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On":

The beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding
A rhythm to the brain
La de da de de, la de da de da

Is the place and space where a mediation occurs important?

Huston Lake in Denver, CO

We are learning more and more about how our surroundings affect our health, mood, creativity, and productivity. See, for example, these links (here and here) about the cognitive benefits of nature. Just as is true with music, I think the choice of setting is an underemployed influence that can be used in conflict resolution. But, just like music, what soothes us or energizes us is not universal. A setting that is ideal for me and my moods and states may be different from the one that is optimal for you.

So the ideal setting presents a challenge.

For ideas to ponder when thinking about the setting of a mediation, we can look to an intriguing field called design psychology. Click to read "Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Places," a white paper by Dr. Toby Israel, one of the field's leaders. From that paper:

Many of the design visionaries and scores of those practicing today cite Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language as their “bible” — their source of inspiration when it comes to people and place. While I, too, have been inspired by Alexander, much of Design Psychology theory and practice is grounded in the work of Abraham Maslow, a humanistic psychologist. Maslow believed that we are all motivated to become “self-actualized” human beings — whole, fulfilled people who, similarly, are able to “appreciate again and again freshly and naively, the basic good of life with awe, pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy . . . ” Maslow believed that we could only become self-actualized once we have satisfied a hierarchy of human needs as included in his classic hierarchy ... .

For the purpose of Design Psychology, I have transposed Maslow’s theory into a theory of place as “self- actualization.”

Her theory-of-place pyramid can be seen here on page 25.

Although I am not suggesting we look to a pyramid topped by self-actualization for the place of a mediation, I do think the chart can remind us to consider carefully the purpose of the meeting and, to the extent possible and feasible, to be mindful of the setting's influence.

And, whenever possible, don't you think it is valuable to involve the parties in that decision? I do and have found you can learn much by doing so. Just one example: In a recent mediation, the choosing of the place and then the process of handling the logistics of the location arrangements had a positive impact on the group when we convened.

We were better able to address the dispute due to the grace and pace of choosing the place and space. (Okay, sometimes I can't resist a jinglish rhyme.)

Listen to the cicadas of 2013

The sound of cicadas on the east coast. Click to listen. (Above is a photo I took of one of the gang.)

Note: You can hear the sound of a landing plane in the middle of this short recording but mostly just the cicadas singing (or whatever they do).

Note (added June 3, 2013): Article on the cicadas "17-year cicadas create a buzz in some Va. neighborhoods" (Washington Post). Click to listen to them in another of my recordings from Manassas, Virginia.

 Note (added June 9, 2013). Here are some haiku poems written by Matsu Basho about cicadas.

Nothing in the cry
of cicadas suggests they
are about to die

Calm and serene
The sound of a cicada
Penetrates the rock

Lonely silence, 
A single cicada's cry 
Sinking into stone

Atul Gawande on how professions produce top-level performers and the difference between coaching and teaching

I've been away for a bit due to the illness of a family member, and hope to be back blogging more often soon.

Today I am happy to post the link to a talk by Dr. Atul Gawande; his presentation, given to Harvard Graduate School of Education, is titled "The Difference Between Coaching and Teaching." From the School Web site:

On Wednesday, October 24, HMS and HSPH Professor Atul Gawande applie[d] his observations from the fields of sports, music, schools, and medicine, to a discussion of how different professions produce top-level performers.

Enjoy his talk. Click to learn about Dr. Gawande's book The Checklist Manifesto.

H/T: Farnam Street.

Denver lawyers: Want to learn how to be more mindful by making music?

Many times, I have blogged about the benefits of mindfulness and meditation (see here and here). I wrote "Move From Being a Mindless Lawyer To a Mindful Lawyer" for The Complete Lawyer. And I maintain a Web page with resources related to mindfulness in the law: ContemplativeLawyers.com. Now I am writing to see how many of you would be interested in an activity that is a bit novel.

Last spring, I purchased my first harmonica and was immediately impressed with how much one has to be in the moment to play well, or even play at all. Then I recently I took a clinic with musician Ronnie Shellist and again thought that playing this little rectangle with holes requires mindfulness.

What a coincidence to talk after the class with Ronnie and learn that he too finds the harmonica an excellent instrument of mindfulness! Later he and I had coffee to explore further this topic. And I had an idea . . .

Would any of you like to attend a short presentation with Ronnie to learn about mindfulness and the harmonica? I was thinking we could have this program at one of the regularly scheduled meetings of Colorado Contemplative Lawyers Society (i.e, the third Tuesday evening of one of the upcoming months), or we could find another time and date. Right now, I just need to know the interest.

To that meeting you would need to bring a harmonica; some are available for less than ten dollars on Amazon. On the agenda might be discussion of whether some of us would want to meet regularly and learn to really play the mindful harmonica. The main goal for this meeting though would be mindful fun!

Let me know if you are interested by e-mailing me.

After 2-week mediation with Gail Killefer, George Clinton and Black Eyed Peas resolve their dispute

George Clinton accused Black Eyed Peas (more here in the Washington Post) of using part of one of his songs in their "Shut Up" without permission. Their two-week mediation resulted in a resolution. I was happy to notice that the mediator Gail Killefer and I both have attended intensive conflict resolution training with Gary Friedman.

Country song an inspiration for new book on storytelling

As a fan of country music since I was a small child, it pleases me when someone who "hates" country is shocked to be moved by a song of that genre. For example, many of my friends who don't like country are nevertheless moved by this song.

I have been looking forward to reading The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human (review of the book) and my face broke out in a big grin when I learned that "Stealing Cinderella" was a major reason the book was written. From Amazon:

What inspired you to write this book?
I was speeding down the highway on a gorgeous autumn day, cheerfully spinning through the FM dial, and a country music song came on. My normal response to this sort of catastrophe is to turn the channel as quickly as possible. But that day, for some reason, I decided to listen. In "Stealing Cinderella," Chuck Wicks sings about a young man asking for his sweetheart's hand in marriage. The girl's father makes the young man wait in the living room, where he notices photos of his sweetheart as a child, "She was playing Cinderella/ She was riding her first bike/ Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight/ Running through the sprinkler/ With a big popsicle grin/ Dancing with her dad, looking up at him. . ." And the young man suddenly realizes that he is taking something precious from the father: he is stealing Cinderella. Before the song was over I was crying so hard that I had to pull off the road. I sat there for a long time feeling sad about my own daughters growing up to abandon me. But I was also marveling at how quickly Wicks's small, musical story had melted me into sheer helplessness. I wrote the book partly in an effort to understand what happened to me that day.

Many country songs are stories. Here are a couple of my favorites for you:

• "A Father's Love (The Only Way He Knew How)"
• "The Walk"
• "Love Without End, Amen"
• "That's My Job"

Weather permitting: Clinic in Denver with legendary David Amram Saturday, Feb 4

Tomorrow, February 4, at noon, David Amram will be giving a clinic in south Denver with one of the Colorado Jazz Workshop combos. If you are interested in attending, email me for details.

From Wikipedia:

David Amram (born November 17, 1930) is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz (including being one of the first noted as an improvising jazz French hornist[1]), ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston Hughes, Charles Mingus, Leonard Bernstein, Sir James Galway, Tito Puente, Mary Lou Williams, Joseph Papp, Arthur Miller, Miles Davis, Arturo Sandoval, Stan Getz, Pete Seeger, Elia Kazan, Odetta, Lord Buckley, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Allen, Machito, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Allen Ginsberg, Nina Simone, Gregory Corso, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, Hunter Thompson, Johnny Depp and Jack Kerouac throughout the course of his career.

Click to read the rest.

Swing dancing in Denver: Enjoy all the physical and mental benefits—and have fun

Did you know Denver has a swing dancing scene? If you are an accomplished swinger, a middling dancer of the jitterbug, or someone wanting to learn a new, pleasurable way to get in your aerobic exercise for the week, come to the Mercury Cafe. Colorado Jazz Workshop big bands will be swinging there on the following dates:

• Feb 5-Monday Big Band
• April 8-Saturday Big Band
• May 20-Wednesday Big Band

Swing lessons will be available on each date; cost is $9; time is 8 to 11 PM.

And just in time for the gigs, a terrific article by Brad Weissman about the history of swing, and about swing dancing in Denver. From "Swing it!" (EnCompass):

Denver is an ironic place in which a new swing boom might take place, as it almost killed “King of Swing” Benny Goodman’s career right before his big national breakthrough at Los Angeles’ Palomar Ballroom on August 21, 1935. Former Elitch Gardens proprietor Jack Gurtler told Denver historian Corrine Hunt, “Benny Goodman bombed in Denver!”

In the early 1930s, there were two basic kinds of jazz, broken down along racial lines. For black audiences, there were the adventurous, virtuoso sounds of artists typified by the brilliant inventions