Patrick M. Ohana
Bio
A medical writer who reads and writes fiction and some nonfiction, although the latter may appear at times like the former. Most of my pieces (over 2,200) are or will be available on Shakespeare's Shoes.
Stories (504/0)
The Second Boot
Reading a short anecdote by Terry Mansfield about a missing other shoe, I remembered a funny story that I’d heard when I was a teen, over forty years ago. My memory is pristine. I even remember things that never happened to me, as far as I know. I think that the old story you’re about to read is still funny but you’ll be the judge of that. It seems that Terry has been giving me some ideas since December. I guess that he’s like a secondary muse. But wait! A muse can’t be male. So, forget what I said! I have my muse, and this story, she approved. I ask for her approval since I like her taste. I don’t have to ask her, but I do with all my love and I think that she knows it. Do you, Crissey? She’s a timid muse, except with me, sometimes. But wait again! This story is supposed to be about a second boot. I must have digressed. When I think of her, I digress. And I think about her when I’m awake. I did it again. I digressed. I need a short break. You won’t notice it.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Journal
The Physics of Shakespeare
Why would anyone wish to defy physics, the truest science of all? It is like asking Einstein to forget everything he ever said and thought. I can easily defy religion and most nutrition guidelines too. When it comes to physics, I am adamantly resisting but I’ll play along.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Poets
Eat Me! The Almost Definitive Guide to Nutrition
An apple a day does not keep the doctor away, but an avocado just may, and some coconut is always welcome. Eaters can be divided into four groups: (1) those that eat and would eat anything, even human meat under extraordinary circumstances; (2) those that eat a selection of meats (various animal parts) and plants (grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.); (3) those that only eat plants; and (4) those that only eat meats. There is a fifth group that only lives on water and air but is beyond the scope of this text. All groups consume water; perhaps the only fare in common, notwithstanding its cruciality.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Longevity
In Fitness and in Health
Fitness and health, health and fitness, seem to be synonyms at some level. How can one be fit but not healthy or healthy but not fit? Well, dear readers, one can be “healthy” but "not fit" or “fit” but "not healthy". I may belong to the first group, as far as I know. I may be healthy too. Oh, I have the odd pain here and there, the occasional bout of suffering, but these, unfortunately, are part of being alive. There may be individuals out there who are also bereft of these niceties of existence, but they would belong to a class of their own. Most people learn to cope with these two “almost” unavoidable conditions.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Longevity
“Babe, I’m Leaving”
“I must be on my way,” since Styx and Stones will break my bones when Alzheimer’s disease (AD) takes over. Even love cannot stop AD, but cutting short your intake of carbohydrates (carbs, sugars) completely, or at least significantly (p < 0.01) could save you from the grips and tribulations of this memorable disease. By the way, another name for AD, the name that should be adopted or added, is diabetes type 3. You read correctly. Diabetes! Of the brain, in the brain, around the brain! The book, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar - Your Brain’s Silent Killers, by David Perlmutter (a practicing neurologist and Fellow of the American College of Nutrition) may become your best non-fictional read if you give it a little space and time between your meals.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Longevity
Pornman
Morty loved porn. He was Pornman, after all. Pornman? The man who lived in porn. He literally lived in it as if it was a place. It was in his case. I should first tell you about his superpower. While sexual prowess was part of his aptitude, Pornman didn’t fly or anything like that. But I should start from the beginning. Chronology is never a given unless one makes it flow.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Filthy
A Perfect Year for Cancer
Breast cancer was her September 11, robbing her of a breast, and then allowing her to live free of it and cancer for ten years. The first five years of this decadent decade were supplemented by a daily tablet that battled the disease by limiting the normal supply of estrogen, which also served to sustain its persistent onslaught. But the tenth September 11 Memorial piercingly pronounced the expiration of her reprieve. The disease thrived undiscovered for close to a year thanks to an ER physician, surely a misnomer, who did not uphold his Hippocratic oath. But where does this recurring story begin? Beginning and end are equally unpromising; the beginning then, and only for the sake of chronology.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Longevity
“The Future of an Illusion”: Allelu-Freud
Peter Gay points out that “Freud was a consistent, aggressive, dogmatic atheist, a child of the Enlightenment who saw a world at war to the death between science and religion. To study religion, he was convinced, one must take a stand outside it: only the unbeliever can truly understand belief” (Gay 429). In other words, Freud felt that in order to evaluate any religion, one had to be an atheist. It is a powerful statement that follows a specific pattern of logic that beautifully reverberates in the saying: All the thoughts of a lizard are lizard. Still, should we take this notion for granted? I think that this essay will answer the question quite clearly, for I will deal with four critics and their views vis-à-vis The Future of an Illusion, but also with their position towards religion. Furthermore, I shall analyze the text of The Future of an Illusion in order to ascertain any relationship between its rhetorical devices and the proposition of this essay.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Psyche