Matthew's Blog
Physicians, Providers, and… Prescribers?
I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is there seems to be a turn away from using the term “Providers” for physicians. The bad news? The new term may be “prescribers.” (Check out the recruiting page for Cerebral). Think about what this implies about...
When Telemedicine is a Good Idea
Telemedicine is a good idea early in a pandemic when a vaccine doesn’t exist. This saves the lives of both healthcare staff and patients. Telemedicine is a good idea for a patient stationed in Antarctica where the next available face-to-face visit is six months away....
Painting and Writing: Judgement and Patience
My wife is doing a fabulous job painting our living room this week—much better than I could achieve. Why? Because in this creative domain she has two things I lack: judgment and patience. And in my domain of writing? These are the two traits (or are they skills, or...
iPhone Writing
I am trying to improve my writing volume by increasing my ability to “write anywhere, anytime.” One component of this is to write more frequently using Ulysses software (my rough draft word processing app software of choice) on my iPhone since my iPhone is the one...
Resonating With My Cat and My Readers: It’s About Me
Sometimes I feel sad my cat Roo can’t speak to me. I would love to know how he sees the world, what his favorite treat is, what wet-food flavor he most likes, what he is afraid of, and what I can do to make his life more joyful. Yet then I realize that all he ever...
Perspective
I have just been informed of another delay—thanks to Covid—in getting a much-needed surgery. The details aren't important. What's important is that if my personal Covid Pandemic Story turns out to be that I had a semi-elective surgery delayed by a month because of...
On Improving My Use of Verbs
Strong verbs create action, save words, and reveal the players.Roy Peter Clark—Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies For Every Writer I dedicate the rest of this month to active verbs! How? During my first draft editing, I'll identify every verb as active, passive,...
Culture: A Red-Flag Word For Me
Here’s a definition of culture I recently read in Nietzsche’s essay David Strauss, the confessor and the writer: Culture is, above all, unity of artistic style in all expressions of the life of a people.Nietzsche Here’s one of the Oxford English Dictionary’s...
Wittgenstein, Mountains, And Rivers
I just received the book Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations via Amazon. (Thank you Amazon!) It's recommended reading for the one-day course An Introduction to Wittgenstein: Games, Pictures, Rules, and Therapies which I will be taking this May through Oxford’s...