I’ve recently written a couple of linked pieces for the BMJ Medical Humanities Blog, about cutting and editing, scars and memories. Thank you to the editor, Deborah Bowman, for inviting me to contribute. The pieces are online here: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2014/04/13/guest-post-by-poet-and-writer-clare-best-on-cutting-and-editing-and-scars-and-memories/ http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2014/04/21/guest-blog-post-by-poet-and-writer-clare-best-part-2-on-scars-and-memories/
Category: Self-portrait without Breasts
Seven-year itch
I can’t quite believe I’m now seven years post-op. What is it about seven years? Some urban myth that every single cell in the body has renewed itself in that time (skin is quick to renew itself in seven days, bones take longer – several to seven years, and it seems most other organs are…
Medical Humanities galore!
This past week has been a rich time. I went to Cheltenham for two days of Medicine Unboxed over the weekend, and on Monday I spent an evening at St George’s, University of London, speaking at the first event in their new series ‘The Art of Medicine’. I’m feeling increasingly comfortable and settled in this…
‘Attentive Writers’: Healthcare, Authorship, and Authority
A conference hosted by the Medical Humanities Research Centre, School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow, 23-25 August 2013 Each time I walked between my hotel and the Sir Charles Wilson Building where the conference was held, I passed a sign to Oakfield Avenue. The juxtaposition of disciplines on the sign seemed spot on: Philosophy…
Swimathon
I’ve finally done it. After thinking about it for several years, I’ve signed up for the Swimathon. On April 27th I’ll be swimming 5 km (just over 3 miles), that’s two hundred lengths of the local Leisure Centre pool. The swim is in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. Swimming has always been one of…
‘Bodies of Work’
I am pleased to present, as a round-up of this year’s work on the project, the text of an article I wrote for issue 9 of Artemis Poetry, November 2012. My thanks to Kay Syrad for inviting me to write this piece and to Dilys Wood and Anne Stewart of Artemis Poetry for kind permission…
The Ethics of Genetics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, 3rd December 2012
Bobbie Farsides and Sue Eckstein invited me to contribute to a conference for fifth year medical students at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. It was good to be back there fourteen months after the Self-portrait without Breasts project launched at BSMS in October last year. I was delighted and honoured to present the poems and…
Sitting with Laura’s images in the Forum
The morning after the Self-portrait without Breasts event at Exeter University, I spent a couple of hours sitting in the Forum, a little distance from the exhibition of Laura’s photos. I really wanted to study the images up close, admire the quality of Laura’s work, the quality of the prints (which is superb) but I…
Self-portrait without Breasts in Exeter, 27th November 2012
It was quite a journey by rail over the flood waters on November 27th, but what a wonderful event Andy Brown and Corinna Wagner and many others had organised at Exeter University. Thanks to all of you for everything you did to make it happen. Special thanks to Dr James Mackay for coming from London…
Clare Best 