{"id":7262,"date":"2010-08-13T05:21:16","date_gmt":"2010-08-13T10:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=7262"},"modified":"2010-08-19T13:55:41","modified_gmt":"2010-08-19T18:55:41","slug":"professors-poem-dedicated-to-wife-published-in-national-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/08_13_2010\/professors-poem-dedicated-to-wife-published-in-national-journal","title":{"rendered":"Professor’s poem dedicated to wife published in national journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Blair Grubb\u2019s poem was printed on the inside back cover of the autumn issue of The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha. The illustration is by Jim M\u2019Guinness.<\/p><\/div>Dr. Blair Grubb, professor of medicine and pediatrics as well as director of UT\u2019s Electrophysiology Program, does not see the human heart as just a muscular organ responsible for pumping blood throughout the body. He also sees it as the seat of value and meaning for humans, the fount of our existential drive.<\/p>\n

And with Grubb\u2019s heart, this value, meaning and drive is directed at his wife, Barbara Straus, who he has passionately loved for 34 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarbara is an amazing woman: a mother, wife, pediatrician and community leader who has bravely battled brain cancer for the last two years,\u201d Grubb said. \u201cShe has never once given into remorse or self-pity; rather, she lives each day to its fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n

To celebrate her and the strength she has exhibited in battling cancer, Grubb wrote a poem titled \u201cThe Gaze\u201d about her and their relationship that was published in the autumn issue of The Pharos. The quarterly journal is published by Alpha Omega Alpha, a prestigious national medical honor society of which Grubb is a member.<\/p>\n

Part of the poem reads, \u201cTurning to me your eyes tell it all. A gaze that reaches to my heart\u2019s core.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Grubb\"<\/a>

Grubb<\/p><\/div>\u201cThe Pharos publishes engaging and scholarly essays and poetry on a wide array of medical subjects, emphasizing the artistic, the literary, and the place of music, language and culture in medicine,\u201d said Debbie Lancaster, managing editor of the publication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe poem is an attempt to put into words the deep feeling and admiration that I have for Barbara,\u201d Grubb said. \u201cIt was very gratifying to have the poem accepted for publication. I have always admired the way that The Pharos tries to blend medicine and the humanities into a seamless whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Physicians need to observe this mixture, Grubb said. \u201cMedicine is not a science, but rather it is an art that uses science as one of its tools in the act of reducing human pain and suffering. To lose sight of medicine\u2019s human aspects and origins is to risk depersonalizing people into mere things.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Grubb thinks that medicine is \u201camong the foremost of the humanities.\u201d After all, he asked, \u201cWhat other animal cares for its ill or wounded?\u201d<\/p>\n

Grubb indicated that he has been writing poetry and essays for some time, although he says he feels like he is just now learning about poetry. He said he composes his pieces by going \u201cover and over the poem until I hit a point where I have to write it down.\u201d He rarely makes changes to first drafts, which he writes with a fountain pen on paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing matches poetry in it compactness of thought and directness in expression,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is the ultimate expression of the beauty of human language.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read Dr. Blair Grubb’s poem, \u201cThe Gaze,\u201d which appear in the autumn issue of The Pharos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[14,13],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7262"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}