A Contract of Good Faith (3/7/21)
Part of my job in medical education is to orient students for ‘experiential’ exams. Each student will soon talk to a real person --...
An Espresso Macchiato for the Children I Did Not Have (3-2-21)
Sometimes I talk to the children I did not have. And sometimes I can hear them, too. It’s a bit mysterious. I have (alive) children to...
A Clean Contrary Way - and a Good Place to Visit (2-26-21)
“We need Montaigne,” I’ve thought, all through this past year of pandemic isolation and losses of many kinds. Among other gifts, my hero...
WAGES: My First Job - part 2 of 2 (2-23-21)
[continuing, after part 1: https://www.marymuffindonovan.com/post/wages-my-first-job-part-1-of-2-2-20-21 ] (cont’d) First Paid Pursuits...
WAGES: My First Job - part 1 of 2 (2-20-21)
On my most recent birthday, via Zoom, my family asked a bunch of questions (favorite vacation memory? if I could live anywhere in the...
A Sparrow through the Supper Hall (2-18-21)
Around election time in November, I signed up for a Saturday series of webinars on “Forbidden Conversations” (Death, Sex, Money) from the...
Dream Method Acting (2/10/21)
Every now and then, I move through a day with what I’d call a dream hangover. I wake from a dream whose meandering turns and visual...
Of Numbers and Islands (2/6/21)
Like me, you may have heard news lately about the human tendency toward numbness, as deaths of our fellow human-animals increase. As I...
Needles, Live-Orals and Sequelae (1/31/21)
On 3/13/20, in the wake of unnerving news-briefs, uncertainty and disbelief, my academic institution told us: “Take home what you think...
from 2011 - Numero Cinq: "What It's Like Living Here: Wheaton, Maryland" by Mary Donovan (1/22/21)
How agonizing, and rewarding, to read anything you wrote 10 years prior. Where’s that thick, red Sharpie, now? Even birthed from the...
On Having Dreams (and Colors and Words) (1/18/21)
On this holiday to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, I’m trying to keep the Reverend’s long view in mind. A true visionary, he...
Capitol Siege – thoughts from a muffin born at Trader Joe’s (1/15/21)
Last week, a mob incited by lies, paranoia and their own unhinged President breached security at the Capitol, we-the-people’s house, as...
Tooth #13 – How the Light Gets In
October 2020 – (a note to clinical med-students) Students, it’s been a minute since we shared a ‘small-bite’ beyond a link to a podcast...















