Category: David C

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Scum of the World

I could hear the cussing from inside the room and noted the awkward glances of nearby nurses and staff who turned to look and gawk.  Even though I only sat a few feet outside the door, I ignored the increasingly loud litany of expletives and deliberately focused on the screen in front of me.  He was my...

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Trauma: What Freud Learned About Rape

In medical school we glossed over Freud because psychoanalysis had largely become outdated.  Popular culture has turned his method into a mockery; we chuckle to think of the bearded psychiatrist listening intently to some dude reclining on a sofa talking at length about the hidden sexual meaning underlying his bedwetting dreams.  In the new era of...

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Segregation

It has been about a year since we moved out of the “inner city.”  It’s an experience we are still processing with many mixed feelings, among them relief, disappointment, and shame.  It is a relief to be able to walk around the block without fear of hearing gunshots, to sleep at night with...

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Anniversary of Theft

My wife reminded me that it has now been one year since we were last broken into.  She was partly reminded of this because our car was broken into last week, an incident in which only a cheap phone charger and several quarters were taken.  This occurred despite having moved to a “nicer” area...

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Pediatrician to Parent to the Passion

I stopped and put my fork down on the plate.  There was still food on it, but an emotional force had interrupted my appetite.  My wife and I had been sitting at the dining table, chatting idly about preparations for our child, now nearly 34 weeks old and still in the womb. 34...

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Advent and the City

We stared at the piece of plastic and sank into the futon.  Positive.  We were sure of it even as our minds struggled to grasp the enormity and totality of its meaning.  Positive.  Were we ready for this, for anything?  Positive.  We were going to be parents.