Learning to write in the tropics

 Today I dreamt of creating my own meme. There is something almost cathartic about them and my current situation definitely seems meme appropriate. As a medical historian, I have fairly good knowledge of what diseases were eradicated with vaccines, which weren’t but are no longer so latent, and which are still merely roaming the earth. Or so I thought…..turns scarlet fever, the disease that caused Beth’s heart to weaken in Little Women, and so it stayed in my mind as something from that period and like several from that time period, it was no longer ‘around’. To my surprise, the daughter of some friends may have had a mild case after an outbreak of it in her nursery. So one week later, after an encounter with said child, I found myself with a bad sore throat, I am prone to laryngitis so I didn’t connect it to the child and her possible scarlet fever-induced rash. I don’t actually have scarlet fever but, predictably, laryngitis but for a day or so before going to the GP it crossed m...

  Lately, because of a bad knee and the bike needing some repairs, I have been strolling into work. Strolling at a not so early hour but early enough that the day is just beginning and the many people who live in east Oxford and work in the city centre are in the midst of their morning commute. In these many months I have done it quite automatically more concerned with not getting wet, being too cold, being too hot, and being on time to really take notice of more than a few things. But today was different, maybe I was more awake or maybe it was the weather, I noticed more details than usual. In the months since February that I have been doing this on foot commute the sun has changed, it is coming out earlier and earlier, and the street I live on is lusher and lusher, with many hues of green to light my way. The smell of blooming flowers is another thing that accompanied me this morning but what stood out the most was the fact that as I passed through the covered market and then out...

I think all of us watching the implosion of a huge part of the church in Germany where only a small minority remain faithful to the church's teachings on all subjects (even including the second reading on a Sunday) have wondered: where to from here? Ever since I entered the adult world of work I have felt pulled between working in secular institutions or focusing on faith-based ones. In recent years, encountering people brought up Catholic in different countries one commonality stands out: their lack of formation that is deep, well-informed, and aligned to the actual teachings of the Church. Sometimes full lack of formation has been less damaging than the poor and diluted formation that is sometimes received in some parishes or communities.  One thing became clear to me living in Germany, that a society as broken with people as emotionally scared and stunted as the German society is, could only be a product of spending so many decades walking in darkness. Only a small group of Germ...

Over the past couple of days, I have been following, as much as possible other commitments allowing, the fifth meeting of the synodal way. This has been going on for some time, I have been hearing about it since 2019 from one of the women theologians who stepped away from the process and even left the country. These past few days the reporting of several from EWTN has made the daily interactions in Frankfurt available to many. Having lived in Germany and having had an overall good experience of faith life amongst a group of Catholics belonging to movements such as the Emmanuel Community and Communion and Liberation (there were also some from Opus Dei, and Nightfever organisers, Neocats, and many foreign Catholics) it saddens me to see what is happening under the auspice of the synodal way. Admittedly it also angers me a bit with the Vatican which should have stopped this some time ago, it appears so passive in the face of blatant disobedience (while it is quite happy to clamp down on o...

It's been a while since the world woke up to the news that Pope Benedict had passed away. As it was during his life the media had very opposing views, some old news stories aimed at painting a bad light of Ratzinger resurfaced, to the point I was asked about it over dinner one night during the Christmas vacation.  None of this was important or necessary at the time and in my ways, it still isn't. The media will always twist things depending on their particular bias. While I instinctively want to defend him at times I also feel it's best to just let things pass, it can't really touch him anymore nor will it in the grand scheme of things change much, ultimately it all rests on God and people's trust and hope in Him.  In the days that followed his passing many articles started to appear of personal experiences and encounters with Pope Benedict, many of which resonated with my own experience, he was after all the first Pope I was really conscious of, and his intellectua...

Christmas draws near and I have started with a bit of travel. Most of the time I go straight to a family home, where depends on how many days off I have. But on occasion, especially if I am staying on the European side of the Atlantic, I take advantage of being back in Spain to visit friends from Uni, most of whom live in northern Spain. Recovery from all the viruses I managed to pick up in November can continue here, though I felt recovered enough to travel.  This particular time I have been on a bit of a mission that has led to an unexpected nostalgic tour of my old undergrad uni.  While I have studied at several universities since, the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain continues to have a special place in my heart. It is in so many ways home, truly alma mater, because it was the first place I was on my own, it was a very safe space in which to experience those first years of adult independence and freedom. While there I saw old friends from undergrad days and I...

  Happy Advent everyone! This advent, as has happened to me so many times in recent years, is panning out to be quite different than expected. Mostly I feel I stumble into each season without expectations but I suspect what really happens is I expect peaceful, smooth, and healthy sailing. Ah....if only. It is, whatever my condition when the season does arrive, one of my favourite times of the year.  Now, in the life of someone attached to Oxford or Cambridge, the formal becomes a part of life and you don't quite come to appreciate what it is until you leave or until you come back after graduation and recognise the mind-opening event it can be.  One interesting formal happens during the start of Advent, which frames the curiosity that is Oxmas or Bridgemas (if you're at the other place), the anticipated Christmas celebrations at each university because the term ends at the end of November. This past week (and before the 'rona caught up with me for the first time ever) I ha...