The Irish seem born with a love of music. At social gatherings, everyone’s always ready to sing his or her “party piece.” Performances are judged less by skill than by uninhibited sincerity or showmanship. Nearly every Irish household has some kind of musical instrument. That love is especially strong for traditional Irish music. You can…

In an epigraph to his 1926 novel, “The Sun Also Rises,” Ernest Hemingway quotes Gertrude Stein: “You are all a lost generation.” Stein was referring to those born between the 1880s and 1900, particularly the men who had served in World War I and the men and women of the “Roaring Twenties.” In some ways,…

Carmen Gloria Perez always dreamed about traveling the world. Then, when she was just 10 years old, her parents split up, and her mother took her from New York to Puerto Rico in hopes of starting fresh. Life was difficult, and her family had to rely on government assistance to get by. “When I was…

When describing their symptoms, medical history, and health changes at a clinic or hospital, every patient is the storyteller of their own health. Good storytellers tend to get better health care, but a history of childhood trauma plays havoc with telling your own story. Consider Florence, as a (fictional) example: It is a hot July…