Okay. Well, I never followed up on that promise, which ended my last blog post in 2009. I had hoped, over the last 10 years, to explore health topics I felt were mis-represented in the media. It’s been a long time. And, in that time, mis-information is an understatement regarding what we’ve heard about subjects like vaccines and gun violence related to health of our children, to name a few.
Shortly after that last blog post, more than 10 years ago, I fell deep into an abyss of our current medical care system caring for patients in a mid-sized practice, and then climbed out of it as I realized I needed to use my voice in a different way and needed more time to focus on caring for my young children. Instead of blogging here, I’ve written stories and poems, presenting them around the Bay Area and in publications, promoted the intersection of film and health on Stanford’s campus and used my twitter account to share what I feel to be important truths about our medical system, maternal and child health and the role of art in wellbeing. It has been, and has become even more clear to me over time, that when a cacophony of voices considers a topic, it’s the voices that tell a moving story than can have the most impact. So now, I still care for patient’s, in a practice that I love, but I have devoted more time than before to storytelling. With my fourth child having just started kindergarten a few days ago (!), I am embarking full steam on this chapter.
I am excited to announce, that next fall, my debut picture book: WHEN YOU BREATHE, will be published by a local, quality driven, boutique publisher, Cameron + Kids. They create gorgeous books. And in WHEN YOU BREATHE, the science of how our respiratory system works meets poetry and song, wonder and our connection to the universe. I wrote the first verses of what has become WHEN YOU BREATHE more than 10 years ago, with my second baby still cradled in a carrier.
From time to time, I’ll post longer updates here, on my experiences where storytelling, poetry, awe, well-being and children meet. You can also find me @_artelixir and @_songelixir on twitter. May you find some wonder today.
