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EDITOR'S NOTE Dear Readers, This year has seen the second hand-off of the Health Humanities Journal to an editorial staff comprised of both new and familiar faces, all of them eager to continue exploring what this interdisciplinary venture can bring to the campus of UNC. We seek to combine the analytical mindset and difficult questions of medical experiences and studies with the creative and expressive medium of the humanities in order to bring these stories of health, wellness, and caregiving into a format from which readers like you can both empathize and learn. For this fall edition, we received one of our highest submission counts in the journal’s short history, and it was a delight to carefully go through these wonderful pieces of art, fiction, narrative, poetry, and more with the Editorial Staff. I have deeply enjoyed becoming familiar with these works through in-depth group discussions that ranged from meticulous debates on punctuation, to complicated workshopping of meaningful topics, to sheer awe at the unique perspectives and beautiful writing of our fellow UNC students. The capacity for empathy within the pieces published in this journal continues to impress me. In these narratives, a volunteer at a senior living center looks past a prickly exterior to sympathize with a difficult resident, a grandson tries to understand his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s disease through both the medical research and their personal relationship, and several medical students struggle with the dread of sharing bad news. Poems cover the heart-breaking account of a friend’s overdose and a sibling’s love through sacrifice with a marrow donation for her brother. We can’t help but notice the theme of using these literary outlets to explore compassion and empathy for others. As an EMT reports vignettes of his patients and a student explains her struggle with depression in metaphor, we are invited to live for a moment in the frustration and inner strength of others. Through these works, authors reach beyond a limiting conception of self to ask questions about how friends, patients, relatives, and peers experience health
