Nothing For Us Without Us

Nothing For Us Without Us

I started this series to counterweight how my brain tends to work, ruminating over failures and forgetting successes. Because last week’s post reminded me of an important lesson learned in that role, I’d like to go there. ‘Susan’ and I were the two secretaries in the...
Everybody Has a Worry Bottle

Everybody Has a Worry Bottle

The first year I worked at the University of Minnesota, I didn’t know what program I wanted to enroll in, but I did want to take advantage of free classes. I took drawing, and ceramics, and graphic design, and weaving. Those classes felt like the opposite of dental...
In the Shadow of His Mother

In the Shadow of His Mother

Let’s go back to the clinic, back to the Accutane study, back to that sixteen-year-old standing in his mother’s shadow. Let’s call him Keith. (I do not remember his real name.) At Keith’s first appointment, it was his mother, solidly built, who spoke on his...
“The Worst I’ve Ever Seen”

“The Worst I’ve Ever Seen”

To tell this story, I’m making up some names, using ‘Brenda’ for my boss’s pretend name, and ‘Doug Russo’ for the pretend name of a patient. It was a Tuesday morning, and while the Transplant Clinic was hustling on their side, the Derm side was uncharacteristically...
Tran1 or Tran2?

Tran1 or Tran2?

The interesting thing about working at a university in a staff role is that those roles, especially the ones lower on the totem pole, tend to be populated with people who are working the job as a means to a different end. There were four of us who worked the front...
Jule Kucera