For Instance

As I write and write and write and never seem to get to the end, I reflect.

For instance, when the last two chapters of Part Five become four chapters.

No wonder.

What I did today

I actually posted this in Kij Johnson's lj, but thought I would repost here.


Today at his request I drove Twin B, my high school senior son, down to the university to hear a "visiting scholar" lecture by Dr. Paul Farmer who does work on global health and development. He started in Haiti working in community health projects and developed the idea of projects that, instead of being vertical (brought in from above with the sole goal of prevention) were integrated into the entire community. He also talks a lot about how global health projects cannot succeed without tackling the structural violence inherent in the system.

Farmer gave a fabulous lecture.

My son waited patiently afterward for a chance to talk to him. Farmer is one of those people with the ability to give his complete attention to and a genuine interest in the person he is talking to at any given moment.

My son's question?

"What made you angry at the world?" (that is, what got you started down this path)

Farmer's answer: "I'm not angry at the world. I'm excited about the world. I'm angry at injustice."

Plus it turns out that Farmer (MD, PhD, both from Harvard I believe) is a Lord of the Rings fan and had just started a reread.

My son was totally stoked.


Farmer is one of the co-founders of a group called Partners in Health.

From their website:

What is Partners In Health (PIH)?
Partners In Health is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts, and active in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, Russia, and the United States. Our mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. Through service, training, advocacy, and research, and by establishing long-term relationships with sister organizations, PIH strives to achieve two overarching goals: to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair.

How did PIH start?
Partners In Health was formally founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer, Thomas J. White, and Todd McCormack, joined soon thereafter by Ophelia Dahl and Jim Yong Kim. The history of Partners In Health is recounted in Pulitzer Prizewinner Tracy Kidder’s bestselling book, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House, 2003).