Pulse
The Body Electric
Medical students create an online showcase for their creative works.
By Kim Kiser
Every day, across the entire globe, millions of physicians begin millions of stories with, Patient presents with—medicine’s Once upon a time. Indeed, every hospital visit is itself a collision of stories, those of patients, and families, and workers, and science.
Those words come from the editor’s introductory note in “The Body Electric,” an online forum for University of Minnesota Medical School students (http://ilovethebodyelectric.blogspot.com/). The blog was created this past January by Aaron Crosby and Neil Siekman, both of whom recently finished their first year.
At the time, Siekman was finishing up a screenplay he and a friend had been writing. He discovered Crosby was also interested in creative writing, and together, they decided to create a place where they and other students could share their works.
Since Siekman and Crosby got word of the blog out by email and on Facebook, a number of students have posted their essays, poems, photos, and musical recordings. Some are related to medicine. For example, one student shared a poem she wrote that compared love with Staphylococcus aureus infection.
Siekman says they hope to make the forum more interactive and encourage members of the incoming class to contribute as well.
“Medicine is one of the most humanistic of all professions,” Crosby says. “You can’t just be studying science and applying it to other people. You have to explore your own humanity.”