On the 22 November, medicine360.co.uk (a group made up of staff, graduates and students of the intercalated BA in Medical Humanities) along with the Department of English, held the second 'Bodies' event. The day's programme drew together international best-selling authors, a hit theatre-production, local artists, medics, a film director and a poet. Around 200 people came to the Wills Memorial Building to hear and see some of the many and various ways in which medicine and the humanities interact. The event was ticketed (except for some widening participation school students), and not cheap; but funding from the school of humanities was able to fund 10 places for students from the Department of English. What follows is, in no particular order, a patchwork of reflections on the day as it happened made up from the reports of Hanah Bates, Seren Beer, Kashvi Cox, Sofia Lambis, Amanda Schlicht. We’re glad you enjoyed it!
9.30 am -- the smell of croissants and coffee; delicious pastries by Farro! I knew little about the body. (I was a growing hypochondriac.)
Kat Lyons, the former Bristol City Poet, introduced talks with readings of poetry.
10 am Benji Waterhouse -- brutal, raw, eye-opening honesty, with comedy, giving us a real insight into the day-to-day life of a psychiatrist. A perfect start to the day. We all warmed to the way he spoke so openly about his profession. Question: how might we reconsider those who live beyond our normal boundaries of “social sanity”?
11 am Elise Downing -- 'the first woman to run around the coast of Britain', or, 'from ‘crying crayon’ to ultramarathon runner'. The power of the human body and mind. And: 'You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.' (Alan Watts).
11.50 am Mike Scrase -- from aniridia (absence of iris) to tachycardia (where your heart beats faster than normal) to his comic – Zip – which is all about superhumans whose powers were secretly their disabilities. The 'disability-lens' in literature. ‘Even if it feels like you mean nothing to the world, somewhere there is a world where you mean everything.’
12.20 pm Anthony Warner -- The Angry Chef. The battle between hunger and ecological sustainability. 'Hungry societies do not progress.' How our desires, bodies, consumption and the environment are all connected.
1 pm -- freshly filled bagels from The Little Bagel Co! Thought-provoking artwork in the Main Hall. Biggerhouse Film with We Need to Talk About... Death in the Reception Room. Chatting to students and academics and newly qualified doctors. The Good Grief Festival! We are given chances to meet, make acquaintance with and admire those who had spoken. (I stormed the comic author, occupying his tea-break with compliments and questions between each peppermint sip.) A great chance to network with others involved in the field of the medical humanities.
2 pm Matt Morgan -- an ICU consultant. He proved to us that anyone can write when they have something they are passionate about. Q. What can vets and doctors learn from each other? How the lungs of a giraffe can save a human life. (Hearing an author's own interpretation of their writing will forever be a valuable experience.)
3 pm Nathan Filer -- his love of books and appreciation of what they can teach us was infectious. Uses literature to put compassion and sympathy to the forefront ... essential for our understanding of patients with mental health difficulties. Q. What is it like to live in a world that isn't built for you? Was a mental health nurse and now creative writing course director at Bath Spa.
4 pm Every Brilliant Thing -- an interactive theatre performance; a gut-wrenching display of storytelling; holding back tears by the end; exposed to the realities of living with someone suffering from severe depression; a generational struggle; the little things in life which bring us joy. I did cry. 'You don't have to be in abject despair to get help.'
6.30 pm Rachel Clarke -- a palliative care doctor. Two families and the donation of one heart. Her insight into in people ‘often facing the worst times of their life with the absolute best bits of human nature’. Remarkably touching. Celebrates humanity at its best; encouraged a gratitude I thought respectable.
7.15 pm Henry Marsh -- ex-neurosurgeon humorously talking about why hospitals are so horrible. Stepped outside the body to imagine better conditions to treat, sooth, and nurture the patient. The architecture and design of hospitals. We must make our hospitals nice places to prove to patients that we really care about them.
I came away: with hope and inspiration; enlightened; with little breath and much too many thoughts; feeling more curious than when I entered; with a pen shaped like a syringe and a lot of new books to read; with a greater understanding and appreciation for the medical humanities; with a greater understanding of how the humanities and sciences intersect.
And these were Kat Lyons's, the poet of the day's, thoughts-in-a-vlog, and this is the full programme of the day.