At 1:26 am a piercing notification came from the campus alert system, waking me from a light sleep while I was on call at the hospital. An active shooter. The computer screen in my call room glowed brightly. I was disoriented. I looked out the window at the hospital entrance. I saw nothing. I heard nothing unusual. I immediately texted my residents. “Where are you?” When they replied that they were safe in the ICU work room and call rooms,...

This is a screenshot from a podcast with the guest pastor who spoke at a megachurch in central Indiana the other week. He is brandishing an axe, stating that he holds this while he prays for people as he “prays in battle against spiritual warfare.” “Christianity is war,” he exclaimed. I was stunned to see this image. A weapon. Held while praying. I felt nauseated by this. I listened to the excerpt from the podcast a dozen times to make...

Every day, there is another jarring headline about the economy, war, immigration, loss of funding for essential services, corruption, racism, desecration of historic sites, catastrophic weather events, political divisiveness, shocking Supreme Court decisions, threats to election integrity, disease outbreaks, and AI’s threats to humanity. Every day, we are blasted with news that drops our jaws. Every day, we think it can’t get worse, but then it does. I find myself going through these days in various states of shock, anger,...

There is just sheer exhaustion in being an American right now. Every day, there is another barrage of confusing, inexplicable, deeply hurtful news. Deportation without due process. The indiscriminate gutting of essential services like monitoring food safety, cancer research, and weather monitoring. Erasing Black American history and women’s history. Threatening judges and law firms. Employing economic tactics that experts around the globe agree are hurting Americans and people all over the world. Turning our backs on Ukraine. Insulting and breaking...

“Our decision is based on your depression.” I can’t say I was surprised, but I was disappointed and saddened to read these words in a rejection letter for the supplemental disability insurance policy I applied for through my workplace. In January of 2023, I went for a routine physical exam with my new primary care doctor, and I screened positive for depression. After discussing my options with her, we decided that a low-dose SSRI in combination with high-quality therapy would...

I recently took care of a patient who went out of his way to thank for me crouching next to his bedside to speak to him. “I like you,” he said. “Actually, I don’t just like you, I trust you. You didn’t stand over me like some ‘lord’ like most people do. You got down and looked me in the eye.” It’s true. I did. His bed seemed to be extra low to the ground and for some reason my...