Jul
28
2009
Treating More than Obvious Wounds
Tim Richardson, Chief of Staff at Togus Veterans Medical Center; Tammy Duckworth, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs; and MHC staff Victoria Bonebakker and Lizz Sinclair
MHC’s recent Literature & Medicine Training Institute in Chicago brought together 60 people from across the country to learn the ins and outs of organizing a successful Literature & Medicine program. These intensive trainings for facilitators, hospital organizers, and staff from partnering humanities councils who want to be involved in Literature & Medicine have been invaluable as a means of disseminating the program and ensuring that MHC’s goals and high standards for the program are met.
During a recent staff meeting, MHC staff discussed how the Oxford Junior Dictionary is removing words pertaining to religion, monarchy, and so-called British history to replace them with more modern language (a limited number of pages being the impetus). A small outcry ensued as everyone read through the list and came upon words that had a special meaning. “Coronation,” “empire,” and “decade” represent some of the monarchist words, while “sin,” “saint,” and “devil” are among the religious ones. But it was words like “beaver,” “cheetah,” “porcupine,” and “newt” that were more upsetting, and especially “corgi” (Toby, the office dog, is such a one). “Acorn,” “blackberry,” “cowslip,” and “sycamore” were others that garnered groans of dismay. We supposed this list to be representative of British history. The replacements included “blog,” “attachment,” “cut and paste,” vandalism,” “dyslexic,” and “colloquial.” “Negotiate,” too, is an interesting and necessary addition.
