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Making My Own Race Card
Tomorrow’s schedule for the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Human Rights Week has Michele Norris presenting the MLK Distinguished Lecture, “Our Hidden Conversations.” It’s based on her Race Card Project which produced her new book “Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity.” Sena and I probably are not going to…
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Woodpeckers Coming Out of the Woodwork After the Snowstorms!
We have not seen any birds in our backyard since the arctic blast began this past week or so—until a couple of days ago. We saw a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a Downy woodpecker, and a White-Breasted Nuthatch. Hardly a flock, but interesting anyway. We had a little trouble deciding whether we saw a White-Breasted Nuthatch or…
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Martin Luther King Day About Peace and Unity
I noticed that Iowa City and Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas have a couple of things in common regarding the celebration of the Martin Luther King holiday this week—one is inclement weather. The other thing is hope for peace and unity. I was a student at Huston-Tillotson (one of the HBCUs) back in the 1970s.…
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Complexity Intervention Units Past And Present
Here’s another blast from the past about Complexity Intervention Units (CIUs) or what used to be called Medical-Psychiatry Units. I co-staffed one for 17 years at Iowa Health Care, the organization formerly known as Prince. No wait, that used to be called the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. They’re rebranding. I was looking up CIU…
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Plate!
I was listening to the Big Mo Blues Show last night on KCCK radio, 88.3 on your FM dial. I didn’t hear him mention his favorite cook, May Ree. She cooks hand-battered catfish; it’s better because it’s battered. Often, he’ll add a little to the legend, like where you can find May Ree’s establishment where…
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Who Gets the Credit?
When I think about peak moments, I remember this guy back in junior high school who decided to try to break the Guinness Book of World Records for skipping rope. I don’t remember his name but the school principal and his teachers all agreed to let him do it during class hours. They marked out…
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A Look Back at Intravenous Haloperidol for Delirium
I found one of my old blog posts about using intravenous infusions of haloperidol for delirium in the intensive care unit. The bottom line is it that it probably should not be used, in my opinion. This is sort of a follow up on my Christmas Eve blog post in which I mention talking to…
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Testament to Testiness on Liaison Psychiatry
The other day, I got an email message from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP). It was from the Med-Psych Special Interest Group (SIG). It was an intriguing question about a paper somebody was looking for and having trouble getting it through the usual channels. The paper was “The Liaison Psychiatrist as Busybody” by somebody…
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An Old Blog Post About My College Days in Texas
There’s something embarrassing yet fascinating about reading my old blog posts from years ago. The one I read yesterday is titled simply “I Remember HT Heroes.” I make connections between my undergraduate college days at Huston-Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University (an HBCU in Austin, Texas) and my early career as a consultation psychiatrist at The…
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Shout Out to the European Delirium Association
I just want to give an enthusiastic shout out to the European Delirium Association (EDA). I rediscovered the website. It’s updated and an extremely helpful organization in the study of delirium. It provides excellent education about the disorder. I met one of the past presidents of the EDA, Alasdair MacLullich back in the early 2010s.…
