As the days grow colder and the to do lists grow longer, ESN will be sharing a series of time management tips, interspersed with longer reflections on aspects of our relationship to time. Stay tuned as our writers share quick tips, explore at more length, or in some cases reorient our usual notions of time management. Today, ESN writer Scott Santibanez kicks off the series with an opportunity to zoom out and reflect on what is most important to us before we dive into the everyday details of time management. Like many of … [Read more...] about Time Management Tips Series, Post 1: God and Priorities
Developing Christ-like Character in Grad School
Recently, I was pleased to write a recommendation for an outstanding 4th year medical student's application for a residency program. I've been asked to write and review a number of recommendation letters over the years. While the letters I've written and read highlight a wide range of positive attributes, two characteristics have stood out to me lately. Supervisors recognize someone who is confident. For example: “she displays decisiveness.” They also value someone who is humble—“receptive to feedback,” and “shows … [Read more...] about Developing Christ-like Character in Grad School
Encountering God in the Liminality of Graduate School, Part 2
In the first part of a two-part reflection, Scott Santibanez shared some theological reflections on the liminal space of graduate school. In Part 2, he shares some of his own story. It was 1991, during the summer between my first and second years of medical school. I was in the basement of a Christian clinic in Times Square. The clinic provided free medical care for homeless people in New York City. I was filling up a tub with warm soapy water so one of our homeless clients could soak his feet. And I loved doing … [Read more...] about Encountering God in the Liminality of Graduate School, Part 2
Encountering God in the Liminality of Graduate School, Part 1
I once had a seminary professor who liked to talk about something he called liminality. The term comes from the Latin word limens, which means “threshold.” Liminal space is a place of transition, of waiting and not knowing. People who are in liminal space exist in the threshold between their previous life and a new one. “It is the doorway or portal between statuses,” anthropologist Jack David Eller writes, “the road that links the origin and destination.”[1] With its years of training and preparation, graduate school … [Read more...] about Encountering God in the Liminality of Graduate School, Part 1