This month, my husband and I finally made it to our honeymoon destination — Thailand! We jokingly refer to this as our anniversary-moon since we arrived there just a month shy of our first wedding anniversary. During my two-week vacation from residency, we spent the first few days at home in Philadelphia (highlights to follow),…
Category: World
BRCA: Beyond the Pink Ribbon
In recent weeks, much attention has been given to a topic that previously had not crossed the minds or conversations of most of the general public: prophylactic mastectomy. It was not until a figure known world-wide chose this course of action for herself that the preventative measure became common knowledge. All of a sudden, everyone…
Beauty and the Marketing Beast: Why I Can’t Love Dove
Many of us have seen Dove’s latest ad campaign as it makes its way around social media sites. Upon initial viewing, my first reaction was, “Wow!” They make a great point about how women view themselves, downplay themselves, and perhaps even emotionally handicap themselves when it comes to their physical appearance. I saw the reactions…
Lessons from (other people’s) faith
“God has no religion.” Mahatma Gandhi Approximately one week into my elective in Palliative Care, I am learning to bite my tongue when it comes to discussions on religion and faith. My own religious persuasion has evolved and devolved over time, and I cannot pinpoint any specific game-changing factors in the process. What I do…
International Women’s Day
“No self-respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex.” [Susan B. Anthony] March 8 was International Women’s Day. This post is a bit delayed because although this is a 102-year-old observance, I only learned of it on Friday and wanted to learn more. IWD began as a…
Red Baraat: a bhangra brass band!
As we strolled along Frenchmen Street last weekend, I overheard the words “Indian funk brass band” and immediately turned around to learn more. That night, Blue Nile was hosting Red Baraat, a diverse band that fuses the contagious energy of bhangra music with the joyful shake-your-hips sound of the brass bands of New Orleans, the…
One Billion Rising on V-Day
Two months ago, the horrific gang rape of a young woman from New Delhi sparked protest and anger around the world. Violence against women is rampant in every society, but most of the cases are brushed under the rugs of ignorance and political repugnance. I am still surprised that the Delhi case became a worldwide…
London Travelogue: Day Trip to Paris
To view all London Travelogue entries, click here. 1/3/13 For the penultimate day of our trip, we planned a day trip to the city of love, Paris. Several months in advance, we booked Eurostar train tickets for the 2.5 hour trip. Aside from buying the tickets, we did not do much more planning as we wanted…
London Travelogue: Day 5
To view all London Travelogue entries, click here. 1/2/13 After a restful and calm New Year’s Day, we hit the ground running again. We started the morning off by visiting the Tate Modern, one of four museums in the Tate group (the others being Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives). This is the most…
London Travelogue: Day 4
To view all London Travelogue entries, click here. 1/1/13 After ringing in the New Year, January 1 was a day of sleeping in and relaxing. We lounged around the house for the afternoon, and then in the evening decided to watch The Hobbit at the O2 arena, located on the Greenwich Peninsula. The O2 arena…
For Jyoti Singh Pandey
This is a poem I wrote several years ago. It resonates with me each time a tragic headline or untold personal story of a woman comes to the surface. Today, I dedicate it to Jyoti Singh Pandey, may your brave and strong soul find moksha. We Are My first lesson in gender inequality Came at…
London Travelogue: Day 3
To view all London Travelogue entries, click here. 12/31/12 Monday brought a visit to Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, and Trafalgar Square, all within walking distance of each other in Westminster. “Circus” refers back to the Latin word for circle, indicating “a round open space at a street junction.” There are several “circuses” in London, including Piccadilly…
pen . paper . storm 