Thursday, December 22, 2016

TotW 12/15: Last of the Season


Continuity Care Team 44 had a hard week on 12/8. Their patient no longer qualified for care after that appointment, and after a difficult transition Dr. Lin decided that they should be Team of the Week! Unfortunately, we had already chosen a team at that point so they were given the conciliatory prize of being TotW 12/15 instead. In addition, there was a secret written agreement made between this writer and this team’s M3, Sam Mootoo, upon which it was agreed his answers would be published in full. I give you, Reader, Team 44! We begin with Sam’s exposition (slightly edited for HIPAA compliance)-


From Top to Bottom: Priya Jaisinghani (M4), Sam Mootoo (M3), Zach Berlant (M1
All the hyperbole aside, Team 44 would sincerely like to extend our warmest gratitude and appreciation to … our patient who sadly no longer qualifies for care at Promise Clinic. We all learned a great deal from our interactions with [them] and look forward to using that knowledge to further assist us in our respective medical careers. The Team of the Week award, somewhat Pyrrhic in nature, was awarded to us based on his final visit with us. It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t dedicate this gracious recognition to [them].






1) Do you celebrate a Holiday in December? If so, which one?

Zach Berlant (M1): Chanukah & Christmas!

Sam Mootoo (M3): “Celebrate’s an interesting choice of words in this scenario, but I don’t fault you for that: it’s quae modo dicta sunt. In this writer’s observed opinion, “celebrating” Christmas has become the wet dream of corporations everywhere, a time when consumerist ideals reach a manic tenor and the most important aspects of human emotion and relation are expressed by Hallmark. It’s an injustice, and I’m all too familiar with injustices. In 4th grade, I lost in the qualifying round for the school spelling bee at the hands of the word ‘soliloquy’, a term I’d never heard before and one that gave me, what I would now recognize as, a mild panic attack in front of my classmates. I spelled it s-o-l-i-l-o-q-u-o-y and listened sheepishly as my 4th grade teacher corrected me on my errant ‘o’. The injustice was my opponent’s word: independent, a word that we had learned to spell back in kindergarten. He knocked it out of the park all while sporting a mischievous grin. It was a long walk home that day. I knew straightaway that a disservice was done to me and swore by the old gods never to enter another spelling bee so long as I lived.  Getting back on topic, I do put up a Christmas tree in December and listen to Wham’s runaway, though overdone, smash holiday hit from yesterday in a caffeinated stupor. So yeah, Christmas it is.”

Priya Jaisinghani (M4): Christmas!

2) What's your favorite holiday movie?

Zach Berlant (M1): Home Alone

Sam Mootoo (M3): “My favorite holiday themed film is Home Alone. Growing up, it was one of a handful of movies that we had on VHS, so we ran it on repeat all year round with special consideration around Christmas time. I still think Buzz was a little sociopathic…and that Uncle Frank was a closet depressive/alcoholic…and that it was weird of the Mom to ride back to Chicago in the back of a U-Haul with a polka band…but apart from those adult influenced and minor grievances, it’s my go to movie this time of year.”

Priya Jaisinghani (M4): “Home Alone, of course!”

3) If you were one of Santa's reindeer, which would you be?

Zach Berlant (M1): “Vixen- because he loves magic!” (The more you know, huh?)

Sam Mootoo (M3): “Little is on record about Santa’s reindeer. In addition to formally dressing up, slicking my hair back and taking a Xanax in preparation for this interview, I did extensive research in the origin story behind the unorthodox Uber of ungulates. Save for different analyses on the original 1823 poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas”, I came up mostly, but not completely, empty handed.  From my research that leaned heavily on Chris Baker who penned a wonderful exposition on the merry mix up: in a nutshell, while American poet Clement C. Moore gets credited for the poem, it’s believed that Henry Livingston, an Amsterdam explant in New York, originally wrote it. "Dunder and Blixem" is a Dutch expression that means "thunder and lightning” (Moore spoke German, Livingston spoke Dutch). The 1844 reprint by Moore changed "Blixem" to "Blitzen." Now, the latter is the German word for lightning, while the former is Dutch.The change of "Dunder" to "Donder" was likely an error that Moore failed to notice when he reprinted the poem (since he didn't speak the original language). Eventually, "Donder" became "Donner," which is the German word for thunder. Isn’t that wild? To address the question, I’d be the union of Dunder and Blixem, a mass of hair and charged electricity with wild powers held in check by other, equally capable beings. The ancient Greeks called him Zeus.”

Priya Jaisinghani (M4): “If I were one of Santa’s reindeer, I would be Dancer!”

We all know who the real stars are this season!

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