WRITING PORTFOLIO
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“We know how terrible plastic is for the planet — and for our bodies. It’s clogging up our oceans, damaging wildlife and polluting our natural habitats in devastating ways. Plastic use can have wide-ranging health impacts and micro-plastics and chemicals from plastics are finding their way into our food chain at an alarming rate. We know this and want to cut plastic out of our daily routine but it’s so ubiquitous that it can feel completely overwhelming…”
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“One doesn't expect to walk out of a talk called "The problem with dying and what we might do about it" feeling uplifted, but that was exactly what happened when I left BJ Miller's presentation at Medicine X yesterday afternoon.
Miller, MD, kicked off with a tribute to the late David Bowie, whose last album, released posthumously…”
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“Our favorite wine-making rebel (with a cause), Arianna Occhipinti started making wine under her own label at the age of 22. Less than ten years later, she has officially taken the wine world by storm. A darling of wine critics, published author and an international symbol for the new face of Sicilian wines…”
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“Ai-jen Poo and her grandmother play mahjong together. "That's our thing," she says, with a smile. "She lets me win once a year on my birthday." Always ready with a laugh and a story, Poo's 93-year-old grandmother's mantra has been, "Laugh from your belly three times a day and you'll have a healthy life." Despite the laughter, her grandmother's health began to decline and Poo realized that she and her family didn't have a plan for her grandmother's care. They got "lucky," she recalls, finding dedicated…”
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“We all want to smell good, but there’s a lot that’s hidden in those delicious scents. In fact, about 4,000 chemicals are currently used to scent products, but you won’t catch any of them listed on the label. So, the next time you think about reaching for a scented product at the grocery store, ask yourself, “what’s the cost to my health?” You might just change…”
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“After losing his last living grandparent in 2010, wellness speaker/author David Romanelli realized how much he missed connecting with other generations. So he began hosting “Drinks with Your Elders” events…”
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“It’s a clear, crisp January morning as I head out to the pasture with a bucket of warm oats. I call my horse’s name and, a moment later, hear her galloping towards me thunderously. She greets me with a gentle little nuzzle, looking for the slice of apple she knows is always in my pocket for her…”
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“Ten years ago, Sangeeta Agarawal was a busy software engineer in Silicon Valley. Her lifestyle led to professional success, but eventually work-related stress began to take a toll on her health and she was diagnosed with a series of chronic health problems. She was able to maintain a facade of "being okay" on the outside, but Agarawal said she was "in pieces" on the inside. When her physician brought up the possibility of spinal surgery, she knew that something had to change…”
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“Waking up at dawn, steaming cup of coffee in hand, to watch grapes picked at Monte Rosso Vineyard. Driving the back roads of Mendocino, with Joni Mitchell on my car stereo, praying that my GPS would lead me to a little magic patch of old vines. Walking through Nervo Vineyard and knowing that Italian immigrants, probably a lot like my family, planted these fields over a hundred years ago. That harvest I found myself falling in love.
Why do old vineyards matter? Old vines matter because our history matters. They matter because treating the earth with reverence matters. They matter because, in this age of newer, faster, better-we need to remember to tune into what the past teaches us. There's a real wisdom in the old ways if we slow down enough to…”
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“When Alexis Roberts Keiner's 9-week-old son died unexpectedly at day care in 2012, "we had to choose very quickly what kind of bereaved family we were going to be." She shared her story with attendees of an emotional panel on grief in the digital age, which was led by ePatient advisor Liza Bernstein, at this weekend’s…”
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“Mango butter - ever heard of it? We all love a ripe, delicious, juicy mango but many of us have never heard of the skincare powerhouse that comes from the mango seed. It’s one of our favorite skincare ingredients and can work wonders for your skin – but how exactly does it help your skin feel healthier, happier and more…”
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"Without time to waste, I instinctively grabbed Annie, thrust the car door open and began to sprint -- with 70-pound Annie in my arms," recalled 22-year-old Julia Kramer-Golinkoff in a moving speech on the Stanford Medicine X stage this morning. "We burst through the ER doors and…”
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“Morgan Twain-Peterson almost needs no introduction: the champion of vineyard preservation and key player for the Historic Vineyard Society, Morgan made his first wine at the age of five, and has justly garnered a wealth of praise in the last decade for his distinctive, complex Bedrock wines…”