Read online6 min · 3 pages
If Ties Could Talk
A thoughtful reflection on the stories behind a collection of neckties, each representing different chapters of life, career, and personal relationships.
March 2024 · United States
The Reading Room
Essays & Reflections
Stories of family, travel, medicine, history, and the small observations gathered over a lifetime. Begin with a favorite, browse a collection, or explore the complete archive.
- Essays
- 29
- Online
- 26
- Topics
- 35
New to the archive?
Start Here
Three inviting places to begin—one personal, one cultural, and one drawn from a life in medicine.
Begin 016 min
If Ties Could Talk
A thoughtful reflection on the stories behind a collection of neckties, each representing different chapters of life, career, and personal relationships.
Read essayBegin 028 min
Valborg
Bonfires, songs, students, and spring: an inviting guide to Sweden’s enduring Valborg celebration.
Read essayBegin 034 min
It Was Thursday
A young intern’s cold January night becomes an intimate account of responsibility, uncertainty, and care.
Read essayBrowse by interest
Explore the Collections
The complete collection
All Essays
29 titles
Word10 min · 5 pages
The Art of Retirement
A practical reflection on leaving medical practice, finding new purposes, and embracing life’s next chapter.
May 2022 · United States
Medicine & WorkIdeas & Reflection
Read online4 min · 2 pages
Edna Swanson and the Wig
A patient’s adventurous 1920s San Francisco story, retold with warmth and a marvelous final turn.
February 4, 2020
Family StoriesMedicine & Work
Read online4 min · 2 pages
Mrs. Edith Swanson and the Wig
The shorter telling of Edith Swanson’s adventurous encounter with a fashionable San Francisco hairdresser.
February 4, 2020
Family Stories
Read online4 min · 2 pages
Ether
A vivid recollection of ether, childhood medicine, and the sensory memories that refuse to disappear.
October 17, 2019
Medicine & WorkIdeas & Reflection
PDF12 min · 6 pages
Story Songs
Reflections on narrative songs and the enduring pleasure of music that knows how to tell a story.
March 2017
Arts, Music & Humor
Read online2 min · 1 page
After the Fall, or Herpetology 101
A playful domestic poem in which an unexpected snake turns a quiet night into family legend.
Family StoriesArts, Music & Humor
PDF16 min · 8 pages
Aphorisms as Dictated by James J. Walsh
A preserved collection of family sayings, practical wisdom, and memorable turns of phrase.
Family StoriesIdeas & Reflection
Read online2 min · 1 page
Banana Bread (Bananakaka)
A family recipe becomes a path through Swedish ancestry, migration, and memories shared across generations.
Family StoriesSwedish Heritage
Read online4 min · 2 pages
Flying Down to Rio Without Fred or Ginger
An overnight journey to Rio, told with medical curiosity, dry humor, and an eye for fellow travelers.
Travel & PlacesMedicine & Work
Read online12 min · 6 pages
How Well Do You Know Jim Littlefield? (The Vanity Game)
A personal quiz built from the objects, episodes, and inside stories that make up Jim’s life.
Family StoriesArts, Music & Humor
Read online4 min · 2 pages
In the Shop
A wartime factory photograph opens a reflection on tools, work, and skills learned at the shop bench.
Medicine & WorkIdeas & Reflection
Read online4 min · 2 pages
It Was Thursday
A young intern’s cold January night becomes an intimate account of responsibility, uncertainty, and care.
Medicine & Work
Read online4 min · 2 pages
James Joyce and His Influences
A preserved dissertation abstract tracing James Joyce’s influence on William Faulkner and Anthony Burgess.
Arts, Music & HumorIdeas & Reflection
Read online2 min · 1 page
Life Is Not a Problem to Be Solved but a Mystery to Be Lived
A brief meditation on Joseph Campbell, following one’s bliss, and learning to live inside life’s mystery.
Ideas & Reflection
Read online2 min · 1 page
Lunch at Marshall Field's
A cherished Chicago holiday ritual returns through the dining room, decorations, and bustle of Marshall Field’s.
Family StoriesTravel & Places
Read online4 min · 2 pages
My Writing Class
A candid and funny account of community writing classes, their characters, and the urge to put life on paper.
Arts, Music & HumorIdeas & Reflection
Read online16 min · 8 pages
Physics Is Important: Quantum Mechanics and Reality
A reading collection about quantum mechanics, reality, and why the questions of physics reach beyond equations.
Ideas & Reflection
Read online2 min · 1 page
Pierre the Balloon Poodle
A small balloon dog, the Edinburgh Fringe, and a bilingual story whose language is part of the joke.
Travel & PlacesArts, Music & Humor
Read online6 min · 3 pages
Ringling Bros. Circus Closing After 146 Years
The closing of the Ringling Bros. circus prompts a tender look at childhood, tradition, and generational change.
Family StoriesIdeas & Reflection
Read online2 min · 1 page
Scotland the Brave
An invitation to visit Scotland in August, with weather, festivals, history, and hard-earned travel advice.
Travel & Places
Read online10 min · 5 pages
Some Thoughts on Ireland
A thoughtful travel primer on seeing Ireland slowly, understanding its regions, and choosing how to explore.
Travel & Places
Read online34 min · 17 pages
Songs in My Life
A musical autobiography connecting favorite songs with the people, places, and moments that gave them meaning.
Family StoriesArts, Music & Humor
Read online4 min · 2 pages
The French Lesson
A trip toward the Dordogne becomes a warm comedy about language, confidence, and being understood abroad.
Travel & PlacesArts, Music & Humor
Read online6 min · 3 pages
The Lights of Betterton
A memory of Betterton opens through Fitzgerald’s green light and the way places glow across time.
Family StoriesArts, Music & Humor
Read online4 min · 2 pages
The Old Switcheroo
The remarkable weekend in 1967 when Sweden changed sides of the road—and transformed daily life overnight.
Swedish HeritageIdeas & Reflection
Read online32 min · 16 pages
Thinking God Knows What: James Joyce and Trieste
A preserved biographical essay about James Joyce, Trieste, and the complicated geography of an artist’s life.
Arts, Music & HumorTravel & Places
Read online4 min · 2 pages
Top 25 Defining U.S. Events of the Last 60 Years
A concise personal survey of the political, social, scientific, and cultural events that reshaped modern America.
Ideas & Reflection
Read online8 min · 4 pages
Valborg
Bonfires, songs, students, and spring: an inviting guide to Sweden’s enduring Valborg celebration.
Swedish HeritageTravel & Places