February 2007

Little Big Minds (February 3-9)

Marietta McCarty (Piedmont Virginia Community College) has written a new guide book for parents and educators who want to share the enduring ideas of the ‘biggest minds’ of thinkers like Plato, the Dalai Lama, and Martin Luther King Jr. with the ‘littlest minds’ of children. She believes that children have the innate ability to explore the ideas of the world’s greatest philosophers.

Also: Is reincarnation possible? In his book, Life before Life, Jim Tucker (University of Virginia) examines 40 years of research into the claims of over 2,500 children who say they remember past lives.

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Waking up Together on Valentine's Day (February 10-16)

In their book, Waking up Together: Intimate Partnership on the Spiritual Path, Ellen and Charles Birx (Radford University) explores how a spiritual practice can enhance intimacy and partnership. As they say in the first chapter: “In one sense we journey alone, but in another we wake up together.”

Also: On the flip side of Valentine’s Day, Nina Brown (Old Dominion University) has written a new book of advice Coping with Infuriating, Mean, Critical People. They might include colleagues, bosses, friends, parents and lovers who boast and brag constantly, take credit for other people's work, expect favors, and never listen.

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Distilling the History of Caribbean Rum (February 17-23)

Rum is essentially an accident. On 17th-century sugar plantations in the Caribbean someone figured out that the waste from making sugar, chiefly molasses, could be turned into a potent alcoholic drink that came to be called rum or "Kill-devil." Jerome S. Handler (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities) and Frederick Smith (College of William and Mary) discuss Smith’s book, Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History, and the impact of rum in the region.

Also: Susan St. Onge (Christopher Newport University) is working on a documentary film on Francophone communities in the Americas. She says that there are a surprising number of native French speaking Americans who feel a common bond because of the language.

 

Bedside Manner (February 24 - March 2)

Patients say that it is empathy, and not just medical skills, that they value most in choosing their primary care physician. With that it mind, Alan Dow and Aaron Anderson (Virginia Commonwealth University) are part of a pilot study that helps young doctors hone their bedside manners. Theater professors are teaching medical residents how to develop their empathy, active-listening and whole-body communication.

Also: With the growing number of elderly who are homebound due to illness, house calls may be making a comeback. Peter Boling (Virginia Commonwealth University) trains medical students how to deliver home care, resurrecting the sometimes lost art of the house call.