[vc_row content_placement=”top”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading source=”post_title” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left|color:%231e73be” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”By the Emory DPT Humanities Committee: Amber Baas, SPT, Madison Beasley, SPT, Stefano Campana, SPT, and Nela Handac, SPT” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left|color:%23000000″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1634657034130{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_column_text]
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To Read:
My Spirit Burns Through This Body
Akwaeke Emezi
Akwaeke Emezi is an award-winning writer and artist known for their poignantly reflective writing. The themes of gender, inhabiting a disabled body, and the human experience are woven through their work, visible in their various novels, short essays, and articles. This short personal essay puts words to emotions in a way that transcends their particular illness and resonates with anyone who lives in a body.
A core theme of this essay—wrestling with an unwanted reality about the body—is at the center of rehabilitation. Emezi’s experience is an important one to add to our understanding. Emezi challenges readers to understand the importance of the body, and to understand it’s intricacies:
“For once, I can see the beauty in having flesh that is as loud as my spirit. It insists on care, it is just as stubborn as I am, just as brilliant, and I forgive it for being like this, disabled and furiously alive.”
Three Questions That Can Predict Future Quality of Life
Joseph Coughlin, PhD
What matters most when you get older? How can you take steps today to plan for a future that is full and vibrant? The MIT AgeLab—created to translate new ideas and technologies into practical solutions to maximize quality of life across the life-span—has identified three questions you can ask yourself to determine if you are prepared to live well in retirement:
- Who will change my light bulbs?
- How will I get an ice cream cone?
- Who will I have lunch with?
Although most concerns about retirement are focused on financial security, these questions remind us of other considerations that can contribute to living well in the future. On the surface, they may seem trivial. But as the author describes the underlying significance of each of these activities, he touches on universal themes that can afflict an aging adult:
- Loss of independence;
- Decreasing access to things we enjoy;
- Declining social networks.
This piece is thought-provoking; it creatively brings to the table important considerations for those of us dealing with our own aging or the aging of those we love.
To Watch:
Louise Bagnall
Directed by Irish filmmaker Louise Bagnall, this short film portrays the experience of living with dementia. Through vivid imagery and storyline, Bagnall conveys the struggles of those with dementia, and their relationships with their care partners. It offers space for mourning the challenges this brings, and captures the emotions of someone living through this experience. However, the film also pushes those who care for those with dementia to walk with gentleness and care. For therapists working with this population, the film is a poignant reminder of what patients may be facing daily. Recalling its message may help practitioners bring greater patience to what can often be challenging situations.
To Listen to:
“Wonder Woman” on the Poetry Unbound Podcast
Pádraig Ó Tuama
This podcast features the poem “Wonder Woman” by Ada Limón. The poem offers a glimpse into a moment in the life of a woman dealing with chronic pain. It highlights how small moments can bring strength, and how story shapes our experience. The podcast is approximately 16 minutes long; its discussion invites listeners to dive more deeply into the poem and explore its meaning. This format presents an excellent way to practice reflecting on art and how one person’s experience can shed light on the experiences of many.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_id=”author-about”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”About the Author(s)” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
