Joy for the nation...we could use that.

"Senna", the documentary film about late Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, is in part about how one person provided some degree of happiness and relief for a nation. Upon his death on the track at the San Marino Grand Prix in May 1994, a Brazilian woman said, 

"Brazilian people need food, education, health, and a little bit of joy. Now that joy is gone." 

Her sentiments were mirrored by the national mourning that surrounded her, in a country wrought by poverty and inequity.

Sounds familiar? It should. We are part of an increasingly polarized society, fighting with poverty and a host of social ills. Where's our "Ayrton Senna"? Do we need one collectively, or are we divided such that we need many? Can we find that power in ourselves, and if so, can we share it?  I don't know, it just made me think. 

 PV

Give it all your "bleepty bleep"....regularly.

" Her proud like her mother and ooohh momma’s sweet 

   So you just know that Juicy fruit ain’t gon’ fall too far from tree 

   So if we ever woop the woop

   I want all that bleepty bleep 

   On this nasty carpet Bixby fresh on one knee 

   Say I do I do I do I do I do 

   So we can float up outta here in this hot air balloon 

   Lets put a baby butterfly up in your lil’ cocoon

   And maybe 2030 our baby, she’ll be nerdy make the whole club swoon." 

  Excerpt from Andre 3000's verse on Jeezy's, "I do" 

This is some inspired, positive (and personally relatable) work from Andre 3000, who regularly produces very insightful lyrics. Coupled with a ridiculously funky soul music sample, the verse closes out a track that I should not have been surprised by given the players involved.  Young Jeezy's not been on my playlist much, but that's about to change. 

What does this have to do with health? Well, for me, wellness is as much about how I feel as it is  about "my numbers" (weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc), and music makes me feel good. Dancing can be great cardio, and the overall feeling I get from dancing to good music is irreplaceable. To feed that passion, I make space to listen to my music, hear the lyrics, feel the beat, and get lost in that emotion. Dancing, happens all the time! You might catch me on the metro bending knees everso slightly to a beat that's in my head or my headphones. The only places I don't dance are in meetings and while giving addresses/ lectures, but I'm sure I'll be moved to dance while at the lectern one of these days. 

 I say all this to say that my passion for music moves me, and I believe helps keep me healthy. Finding the things that work for you is a personal journey. You can incorporate any healthy activity you like into your routine. Just make sure you make it routine (3-5 times / week).  Maintain it because you love it, so when you "woop the woop" you give it all your "bleepty bleep". Trust me, you won't regret it.

PV

Tu me comprends? Public Health lessons in French......

Standing in line at Whole Foods I was privy to a conversation that I did not completely understand.  The  language flowed beautifully, the tones were warm, there was care in the words, care undiminished by pace.  I found myself connecting a few words, but not the whole conversation, it had been a while since I had heard conversational French. It reminded me that I needed to re-immerse myself in the language. It also reminded me that we can talk in people's presence and have them not understand much of what we say, even when we speak their language .  

I wasn't being spoken to, and I suspect that the people having this conversation had no idea of my eaves-dropping or my comprehension.  The latter had the potential to be cloaked by their ignorance of my knowledge of their tongue.  Come to think of it, they may expect me to understand them because it is not unusual for people from other countries to speak more than one language.  But speaking is one thing, speaking so you are understood is something else.  

Some of my public health colleagues embrace this mode of operation.  They work hard to ensure that health communications are clear and understandable by the target audience. Today's French lesson  reminded me that many of us may speak the language of the people we are serving, and may speak directly to them,  but still manage to speak in a manner that leaves them only understanding a few of the words.  Key concepts are missed, and major lessons lost on a group we want to "get it".  We may talk around them more than we talk to them, and I don't think we mean to. 

More on translation in the coming weeks.  

A bientot (see you soon). Bonne nuit ( good night). 

PV

PS - Tu me comprends? = Do you understand me?