How to use this Page

Gerald M. Oppenheimer and Ronald Bayer are the authors of Shattered Dreams?: An Oral History of the South African AIDS Epidemic which uses interviews to tell the story of how physicians and nurses in South Africa struggled to ride the tiger of the world’s most catastrophic AIDS epidemic. They wrote such a compelling piece for World AIDS Day that I thought it would be nice to delve deeper into their book. The excerpt below looks at how doctors responded to the AIDS epidemic in South Africa.

Coming to AIDS (more…)

Share This

Okay, we had a bit of excitement last night. What with all the changes, the full moon lunar eclipse and more, it seems my um, "girl" rhythms are a bit off and scared the heck out of me, so my husband freaked and next thing we are in the ER! (Oh, I just had huge de ja vu!) I am THE worst patient in the world and refused a ton of stuff I felt unnecessary. In the middle of all this, it was like a comedy routine because both my daughter and myself were wide open and seeing things in the ER like mad! Our nice paramedic was actually hooked and fascinated when I blurted out, "Oh, you have a hard time believing this because you were a soldier and very left brain." After that he came in and out of the room and asked for more--asking both myself and my daughter about the spirits surrounded him. Turns out in spite of so many old doctor traumas I carry around and major fears I didn't know I had, the doctor said tests were fine and the problem would settle itself out soon enough. I realized I had been pushing myself horribly and frustrated by not seeing enough reward. Can anyone relate to this? I've felt the old message in my head and have thought, "Is this enough yet?" Awful, huh? I think my body is only talking loudly to myself.

On a very nice note, check out Carlene's blog. She did the most lovely tribute to my work that touched me deeply! Big thanks to Carlene.

That's our dog, Zeus staring out at the view I got to have for seven incredible days... but that was then and now...

I'm home!

I'll admit - its' nice to be back and if I get to post twice this month I will far exceed my expectations! It's Summer and it's Book Two's turn for my as much of my attention as I can give it. In Maine I was able to sit staring at the ocean and feel the cool morning breezes while turning out pages every day! Every day! I love when that happens, when the book takes more than a few tinny baby steps and begins to show off a little leg!

I am dodging bullets in the way of freelance jobs that threaten to bring my crawling book to a halt. But what can we do? Bills need payin' and I do enjoy to eat a meal now and again.

Hey - how many of you zip over to JacketFlap just to see who was "recently on"? Come on? Fess up. I've now added that click to my frequent Amazon, and Google procrastinating clicks. Try it - it's fun. Easy. And then you can go back to work, I promise! And if you haven't signed up - rush right over now and become part of the publishing network.

Speaking of which - I was just over there on JacketFlap and the blog being highlighted at the moment (how come it's never my blog when I click over?) was David Lubar's "Gadfly in the Ointment". He's so funny and his observations...well, very David Lubar.

Last week he linked to a post that all kid writers MUST read - it's from Kate Messner's blog and it's a real pick-me-up from a 7th grade teacher and writer. Go look!

In related news: I got me a new laptop!!! Yay! The black macbook is my companion for my upcoming LA trip. It's so sleek and fun. Apple you have my heart once again..... Read the rest of this post

By Kirsty OUP-UK

On Sunday 1st July 2007 a ban on smoking in public places came into effect in England. Similar bans have already been in place in the rest of the United Kingdom for some time. Virginia Berridge, Professor of History and Director of the Centre for History in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is the author of Marketing Health: Smoking and the Discourse of Public Health in Britain, 1945-2000. Below, Professor Berridge talks about how, while we are now used to doctors and government officials telling us what is good and bad for us, this development has only come about in the last 50 years. (more…)

Share This