Tag: Health
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
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May 1, 2026
Thanks to Chinyere Okoh, a 2026 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s blog.
Beyond the Silence
by Chinyere Okoh
I find myself alone in a still room,
where shadows seem to stretch and exhale with me.
The quiet carries a single, fragile question that lingers in the air:
Where am I?
The voice feels both distant and familiar,
as though it belongs to me and yet echoes from somewhere beyond. » Read more about: Rebuilding Connections: Book Review of Together by Vivek H. Murthy, MD »
April 19, 2024
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
“You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving.” – Paul Kalanithi
Last week, I attended an online conference hosted by The Atlantic. The “Health Summit” promoted discussions of: “the future of scaling innovation, sustainable solutions to improve patient care, and the complexity and opportunity in this revolutionary moment in health care.” They did not disappoint.
October 13, 2023
Thanks to Ally Zlatar, a 2023 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
My journey into the realm of art activism was ignited by my personal battle with severe ill health, which included a protracted struggle with an eating disorder spanning over a decade. Throughout my recovery journey, I came to realize that many, particularly within the medical profession, often fixated on the diagnosis rather than recognizing the person grappling with the illness.
» Read more about: Ally Zlatar: Navigating the Intersection of Art and Activism »
August 5, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
I often think of education in terms of a path. For some, the path is direct. Most often, however, it is not, but rather wanders a circuitous route through various disciplines and ideas. Many reasons exist for this wandering nature of education. Most importantly, however, we discover ourselves along the way.
Recently, I read Torbjørn Ekelund’s book In Praise of Paths.
July 1, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Breaks are necessary for both mind and body. However, taking a break does not necessarily imply idle behavior. Quite the opposite! When we have a break from our regular routine, we are able to do things the revitalize us. Rest allows for change which can recharge batteries drained from the rigor of the work week. Typically, humans enjoy puzzles,
Ahab Rages and Odysseus Weeps: Trauma as a Core Concept for Humanistic Inquiry
June 24, 2022
Thanks to David C. Yamada, a 2022 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
The Great Books of the Western World series includes the two-volume Syntopicon, An Index to the Great Ideas, which contains 102 core ideas and accompanying entries that help to frame the major works to follow.
October 15, 2021
Thanks to Jaya Upadhyay, a 2021 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
To the Bone (2017), a Netflix film, opens with two potent sequences. The first is a scene in which two stick-like figures emerge from the backdrop and approach the screen. These are women engaged in an eating disorder treatment program where the lead character, Ellen (Lily Collins) is enrolled. The second scene shows Ellen being weighed in her underclothes while her step mother Susan (Carrie Preston) questions her,
August 27, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
I picked up Intimations by Zadie Smith with no intention to write about it. I simply wanted to read another person’s experience of COVID and isolation. Though I have worked fairly hard to steel my mind against the static, restrictive nature of the pandemic, preferring stoicism, I now wanted to read of someone else’s experience. I read a Brainpickings article that mentioned Smith’s book.
July 16, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Likely you are already familiar with the image of Olympics rings, the symbol of the Olympic Games. First introduced in 1913, it has become a ubiquitous representation of sports across continents. Based on a design by Pierre de Coubertin, the rings represent the five participating continents of the time. The colors exhibit at least one color from every participating nation’s flags.
February 26, 2021
Thanks to Kyle Ryan Williams, an HMU 2021 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
In this pandemic era, COVID-19 has turned everything on its head. We are forced to isolate ourselves away from others in hopes of minimizing the rate by which the virus is transmitted. The prevention and sickness and death from the virus itself are not the only variable at play. Hospitalization rates may be the most obvious,