Editor's Note

Dear Readers,

This year has seen the second hand-off of the Health Humanities Journal to an editorial staff comprised of both new and familiar faces, all of them eager to continue exploring what this interdisciplinary venture can bring to the campus of UNC. We seek to combine the analytical mindset and difficult questions of medical experiences and studies with the creative and expressive medium of the humanities in order to bring these stories of health, wellness, and caregiving into a format from which readers like you can both empathize and learn. For this fall edition, we received one of our highest submission counts in the journal’s short history, and it was a delight to carefully go through these wonderful pieces of art, fiction, narrative, poetry, and more with the Editorial Staff. I have deeply enjoyed becoming familiar with these works through in-depth group discussions that ranged from meticulous debates on punctuation, to complicated workshopping of meaningful topics, to sheer awe at the unique perspectives and beautiful writing of our fellow UNC students.

The capacity for empathy within the pieces published in this journal continues to impress me. In these narratives, a volunteer at a senior living center looks past a prickly exterior to sympathize with a difficult resident, a grandson tries to understand his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s disease through both the medical research and their personal relationship, and several medical students struggle with the dread of sharing bad news. Poems cover the heart-breaking account of a friend’s overdose and a sibling’s love through sacrifice with a marrow donation for her brother. We can’t help but notice the theme of using these literary outlets to explore compassion and empathy for others. As an EMT reports vignettes of his patients and a student explains her struggle with depression in metaphor, we are invited to live for a moment in the frustration and inner strength of others. Through these works, authors reach beyond a limiting conception of self to ask questions about how friends, patients, relatives, and peers experience health

and illness, and they offer their services in sharing these stories, making them accessible and meaningful for any who devote enough care to give them a read.

I would be remiss to neglect sharing my gratitude with all those who have contributed their time and effort to create this edition of the Health Humanities Journal. To Dr. Jane Thrailkill and Dr. Kym Weed, thank you for your support and guidance. To our generous sponsors, thank you for granting us the means to bring this publication to greater audiences around UNC. To previous Editor-inChief Emily Long, thank you for your trust in handing off the journal and your willingness to answer my numerous questions. To the Editorial Staff, thank you for your diligent work, your invaluable insights, and your inspiring commitment that truly made this journal what it is. And to our authors, thank you for the mind-blowingly vulnerable act of sharing your work with us. We can only hope that we, as editors and readers, deserve it.

The Editorial Staff and I are proud to present the Fall 2019 issue of The Health Humanities Journal of UNC-Chapel Hill. We hope it inspires you to live through these shared experiences of others and find empathy for struggles unknown to you. The power of the health humanities lies in this opportunity for understanding, and we are honored if this journal can serve some small part in that endeavor.

All my best,

Elizabeth Coletti Editor-in-Chief