Call me sentimental, but I like this idea: by taking a public health job, I’m contributing in a small way to things Jip had planned to do after getting her master’s degree in public health. She had always seen herself returning to work in the north, with the hill tribes. But early on in her studies, she was diagnosed with this disease and life took a different direction.
I was her editor back then. Papers she wrote about health statistics passed through my hands before they were turned in, as did applications she filled out before being allowed to do research on human subjects. Now all that vocabulary comes flooding back as I work on similar documents.
Another bonus: I stay current on all the latest threats. Take bird flu. Jip has been telling me for the past year that I should avoid eating chicken and eggs. I’ve been nodding in that way that husbands do, then going ahead and doing what I’ve always done.
I thought the problem was being hyped, especially here, because of the recent visit by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the heads of the CDC and WHO (in the photo below, they’re all in the front row, while I’m the guy in the back on the right, staring at the rising helium balloons). Then every day this week we get fresh reports about H5N1 being found in a new species or on a new continent. Maybe it can’t hurt to change my diet, following Jip’s lead yet again.
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2 comments:
John, your post reminded me that the past is always present. Who knew that all of what you learned from Jip's profesional work would find a second life in your work. It's nice to hear; it's a reminder that we can't know how life can circle back, pick up something from the past, and create something anew. Thank you for the reminder. Thinking of you both.
Rachel (amidst raindrops as the rainy season begins in Northern California)t
John, your description of yourself in the the group photo and then actually finding where you are in the photo reminds me of Woody Allen's movie, Zelig (circa mid 1980's): about a guy who ends up in photos with famous people and becomes famous himself, but still mysterious as to how he got there. If only the rest of the "significant" people could see that what you're looking at (out of range of the photograph) is where others attention should be directed. John, you're a leader who the "significant" people haven't figured out how to follow.
ken berry
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