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“Sure.” “...you'll be here if something goes wrong though, right?” |
I've been putting perhaps an inappropriate amount of pressure on myself regarding my retirement blog post. How to best convey how much I adore MSIH? How to share all the things that make this program special? I'd been looking for a good story to share—the best story, in fact, until I saw a TED talk by Brandon Stanton, creator of Humans of New York. In short, he discusses how our interests influence what the media reports. Our news becomes weighted with extremes over representative reporting because we like a good story.
This should have made me realize that as a member of the media (as partaking in Blogger of the Month fully entails), I should be focusing on writing the best representation of medical school rather than actively seeking out the best story about medical school. Instead, it inspired me to copy Humans of New York and create: Humans of MSIH!
It turns out that being the HONY guy is really hard work. I thought it would be super easy: iPhone camera and I would snap some photos, hear some great quotations, and make a great post. Plus, I could [and definitely did] cheat because I got to bug people for a week to give me a good quote. It turns out my HONY technique (“smile and now give me a Humans of MSIH quote!”) just produced a lot of deer-in-the-headlights looks and speechless peers. The best quotes were those that I wasn't looking for, that just came in the spur of the moment. In the end, I'm not sure if I learned from Brandon Stanton's lesson or proved it wrong, because in this case, the moments I wasn't looking for made the best stories.
With that, here is Humans of MSIH:
“Tell me something happy!”
“Uh...”
“Your sister just got engaged!”
“My sister just got engaged!”
Today in microfashion.*
“I just broke people's hearts by telling them who won the playoff game.”
“Do I have hat hair? I wore my winter hat here.”
“A beard like this doesn't just grow overnight. It's much easier than that. It grows over-night and over-day. It's just a matter of laziness.”
“I could really use a nap.”
“What advice would you give to a very large group of people?”
“Follow your heart!”
“Stay away from maps.”
“Maps?”
“I said RATS.”
Today in [anatomy] fashion.
“What was the best part of your day?”
“I found this balloon.”
“What advice would you give to a very large group of people?”
“How you feel is shaped more by how you respond to the challenges in your life.”
“Wow. That's really insightful. Can you just like, look really pensive for a sec?”
“Can I be part of the talent show?”
“Sure. And if you don't have a talent, you could always carve a decorative swan from an apple on stage.”
Pause.
“That's going to be my quote, isn't it?”
“Why?”
“You're famous! We all see you every day. You're the best part of the morning!”
“I know.”
--as we were walking away---
“Have a WONderful DAY!”
In the words of our favorite security guard, have a wonderful day!
*Credit to Katie for creating (and photographing) this incredible masterpiece, to Judson for modeling it, and to Nathan for allowing me to post it. - blogger of the month, Sara Teichholtz
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