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Conferences & Meetings

This blog describes a visit to ancient Petra and a conference of Middle East Nurses United in Human Caring.

2018 marks the sixth conference in Jordan of the Middle East Nurses United in Human Caring. The conference was started by nursing pioneer Dr. Jean Watson, together with nurses from Israel and Palestine. Jean, who holds now 12 honorary international doctorates based on her Caritas. . .

Approximately one month ago, Houston, Texas was inundated by the storm surge caused by hurricane Harvey. In an unprecedented series of Atlantic hurricanes, Harvey was followed in quick succession by hurricane Irma which struck Florida, hurricane Maria which devastated Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, . . .

Welcome to Israel Arriving in Israel less than a week ago for a short visit on the way to the conference in Jordan, their first question was: “What the _______ (insert appropriate word of your choice) is going on in the US?” To which we replied, “What the ______ is going on in Israel?” It’s complicated. I hardly know where to start. But we have to start somewhere, to bring attention to what’s going on in these turbulent times...

When Susan was working on her PhD at the Fielding Graduate University prior to graduating in 2011, we attended every annual session plus some regional meetings through the year. Since she finished, we had not attended a Fielding event for the last couple of years until this year’s annual meeting in Santa Barbara, California. It was with great pleasure that I got the chance to spend a few days with the brilliant faculty and students of Fielding. The group meetings were very stimulating and informative.

I became a musician because when I was young, I loved listening to music and was drawn to learn how to make music myself. Fast forward half a century, and my music has led me, together with my wife Susan and our creation . . .

Rice is a staple of the Japanese diet. Japanese-grown rice costs twice as much in Japan as the same rice sold in other countries. This is because of a convoluted system of distribution and middlemen, which raises the price far beyond the actual and reasonably expected price of rice.

The price of healthcare in America is similarly inflated. . .

For the third year in a row, Susan and I attended the conference Middle Eastern Nurses Uniting in Human Caring. This year’s title was Human Caring in a Time of World Crisis, a theme chosen almost a year ago, before the most recent war between Israel and Gaza, before the hideous executions by ISIS, most recently of a Jordanian pilot burned alive. . . 

Sometimes life is so packed with activities that it's difficult to adequately report in my occasional blogs. That is my feeling about this past week in Detroit.