WORMHOLE: What’s in a Name?
WORMHOLE.: Words On Rehabilitation, Medicine, Humanities, Old Stuff, Language and Education
Welcome to my new website. I thought long and hard about what to call the blog. Friends and family know that I like witty wordplay so a straightforward “My Website” or “My Blog” might not be the best choice. However, titles are not my favorite thing to create.
I wanted something that would reflect the intersection of my many interests: science, medicine, rehabilitation, art, music, culture, language, education. I’ve always thought of myself with one foot in the sciences and the other one in the arts, putting weight on one side for a time then switching to the other. All or nothing. Through this project I endeavor to have weight figuratively and equally distributed between the two feet, sometimes favoring right or left for brief periods of time instead of hopping around on either one. Having both the sciences and the arts make for a well-rounded human being. Imparting those ideas to others is my contribution to education. After all, “doctor” comes from the Latin “docere”, to teach.
One of my friends suggested “The Renaissance Catalogue” but that was a little vague (Sorry, Fil)… although it was appropriate since the Renaissance flourished as a result of the Bubonic Plague (1). In the same way, this website locates origins in a COVID-19 pandemic. Many years back, my friends Alberto and Anjali suggested I start one, but the busyness of life always got in the way.
First there was TARMAC: Thoughts about Rehabilitation, Medicine, Arts and Culture. I even had a tagline: “Your landing place, then let your ideas take flight”. Great, because I like traveling too and could write about that! But “Tarmac” was a registered trademark in the United Kingdom so that may not be the best idea.
Then there was TAMBAC: Thoughts about Medicine, Bodies, Arts and Culture. A play on the Filipino word “tambak”, meaning pile… like a brain dump of my ideas. However it is often used in the sense of a “pile of discards” so that negative vibe probably wouldn’t go over well.
Next up was WOMANCAVE, like “Man Cave” but for the opposite gender… something also called “she shed”. Well and good, since I am a woman, and this is where I can go to reflect and relax. But I had trouble filling up that acronym. Words on medicine, art, N, culture, anthropology, V and education. What should N stand for? Nothing? How about V: vanity? OK, scratch that idea.
Finally, WORMHOLE. I know, a little weird. Einstein (2) described them as tunnels connecting two points in space-time, which otherwise would be far apart. Essentially a shortcut. I have an IKEA analogy: instead of going through their prescribed winding route through the store to see all the furniture and stuff they have to offer, there are shortcuts between point A and point B that bypass the lovely kitchen displays that you’re not interested in at the moment – but if you don’t have your blinders on you’ll see them anyway and get new ideas. For some of these topics I’d like to have the blinders removed.
Through WORMHOLE, I hope to connect point A to point B in ways that make you go hmmm. Perhaps not a literal shortcut, but a new way of looking at how medicine and science influence arts and culture and vice versa. “Art” is pretty broad: the performing arts, literature, the visual arts… pretty much covering all aspects of the humanities. The diverse topics beg to be organized in broad categories (see menu in the right-hand column): for example, Rehabilitation Medicine, Anthropology, and JOINT – my special project from 20+ years ago.
Welcome to WORMHOLE. Words On Rehabilitation, Medicine, Humanities, Old Stuff [History], Language and Education. I might throw in some pictures too. But PWORMHOLE does not make sense, so never mind. References:
(1) How did the Bubonic Plague make the Italian Renaissance possible? Dailyhistory.org. https://dailyhistory.org/How_did_the_Bubonic_Plague_make_the_Italian_Renaissance_possible%3F Accessed November 26, 2020.
(2) Stierwalt, S., 2020. Are Wormholes Real?. [online] Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-wormholes-real/ Accessed 26 November 2020.
