azette G December 2014
Seattle U Bangkok, Vienna, Bengaluru Tennis Cycling Murphy
Sydney, Morgan, Susan & James Thomas & Murphy 1316 SW Mitchell Lane Portland, OR 97239-2826
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Gazette 2014
Exquisite dawn, g. in my year 55; n r ea l alive, breathing, l l sti learning, loving, teaching, ... n r cycling, making music, reading, l ea to photographing, travelling, writing, w ho playing tennis, paying bills and rendering taxes. g nin Work remains playful. Play remains essential. The world is a ar e L wonderful playground. Perhaps it is summer... or autumn... or winter or spring. Life seems cyclical and each season pregnant with gifts. I fill the Gazette each year with incidentals I notice in life, savoring the contrast between looking and perceiving.
jim@voicedoctor.net (503) 341-2555 moogen@twinsis.us (503) 867-0796
susan@voicedoctor.net (503) 341-0767 sydney@twinsis.us (503) 867-0798
n o i t p e Perc
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Cold morning
Dog attack left, Leave him behind, Angry barking, shivers down spine.
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Wide, straight open, Alone it seems, Hands off brakes, picking up steam. Car hood right, Appears from the bushes, My rear wheel slides, watery swooshes. Hands grip tighter, Handlebars shimmy, Nerves on edge, relax Jimmy. S curves behind, enter a funnel, Hurried sedan, passes in tunnel. Wet and cold, arms still shaking, adrenaline shots, free for the taking! Rain slicked roads, Leaves, mist, puddles, Riding a bike, life’s never too subtle.
James joined two challenges by Rapha, a cycling company; the #Festive500 to ride 500 km between Christmas and New Years (I came in at position 2,354 out of 48,589 participants with 556 km) and #rapharising to climb 8,800 meters during 9 days in July (I ranked 1,066 out of 44,118 with 11,638 meters climbed). Memories range from white fingers and saddle fatigue to thirst quenched by hikers sharing their water on the climb over Mackenzie Pass through the volcanic desert.
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2014 cycling totals for James — 290 hours in the saddle, 5,438 km horizontal, 85 km vertical—strava.com
Crest the top, Tuck going down, Pick up speed, wheels spray round.
Gazette inspiration from: Apple, iPhone6, iOS 8, apps, Snapseed, Filterstorm, Daring Fireball, Medium, Instagram: voxdoc, Moment lens, Canon, River City Bikes, cylindric Mac Pro
Fingers numb, Temperatures chill, Seek internal heat, climbing the hill.
The corner Impervious Escalade, mountain marketing, commuters delight, complete insulation, no worry, no fright, Quick trip to work, red hex, just slow down, braking, decelerating, she glances around, eyes searching, no cars, she’s cleared on to town. Brakes on, still drifting, (don’t think she saw me) Radio banter, rush hour drive, her head swivels right. foot lifts off the brake, glides gently on. No cars, she whispers, foot moves to accel, she will look left, soon, I can tell. Foot touching down, speed starts to rise. Here comes the glance, head swivels left sees me on bike slams on brake we meet eye to eye.
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Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon
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Rothenberg ob der Tauber, Germany
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Music Performance
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Finally by Susan
The first six months of the year were spent writing, editing, defending and finally submitting my dissertation to the University. After 6 years of classes, comps1 and research, I successfully defended my dissertation on the health and well-being of young adults with cerebral palsy to bring my PhD journey to completion. On June 15th, with my parents and family present, I walked across the stage to receive my hood and diploma. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those individuals near and far who supported my along the way, without all of you, this journey would not have been possible.
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1 comprehensive exams
Finally Done-PhD
Filling up my new found time
After I was done, I informed the girls that I was going to complete all the projects that I had put on hold while going to school. Now as I begin to re-enter my new/old life I guess I didn’t realize that there were many projects or activities that I had put on hold or only dabbled in over the last six years. At this point I think it is going to take me another six years to catch up on all the unfinished projects.
I continue to run and participate in local races/runs with my wonderful running buddies, Kirsten, Valarie, Rachel and Sabrina. They are always a great support group and willing to take on whatever running adventures people might suggest. This year, my running highlight was volunteering with my friend Valarie as a running buddy in the “Girls on the Run” program. The goal of the program is to unleash confidence through accomplishment while establishing a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness. It was a great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed running with my buddy in the Starlight run. In April, I began taking tennis lessons. With the hope of getting bet-
ter with lessons I signed up to play on two USTA teams in addition to our annual summer World Team Tennis team. I had a great time playing with my old and new teammates and have continued to take lessons with the hope of improving my skills in order to be more competitive during this upcoming season. Knit night continues. Although I’m not sure how much knitting we actually accomplish when we all get together, we have a great time and are always inspired by the projects that Kirsten completes on a monthly basis. I will finish my first sweater and have a second on the way. I really enjoy learning new skills and hope to complete more knitting projects this upcoming year. After many years of only quilting when a baby was born, I am finally beginning to working on bigger projects; many that were promised years ago. I had promised Julia a quilt for her high school graduation; however, it seems like I may actually have it ready by the time she graduates from Bates in the spring. Its good that I am enjoying having this creative outlet again as I have enough of a fabric stash to complete many projects without ever needing to go to the fabric store. Thanks to Ashley and Chris
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wanting to have their wedding reception in our backyard at the beginning of August, our gardens received the much needed attention that had been lacking over the past few years. With the help of Ashley, Chris and Jody the gardens were weeded, trees trimmed, and bark spread. It was a wonderful day, and the yard looked magnificent and served as a great backdrop for the beautiful bride and groom. Although I haven’t made the smallest dent on my extensive list of unfinished projects, one thing I realized, is that I need to do a lot of purging. My friend Rachel enthusiastically recommended that I read “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing,” by Marie Kondo. I received the book for Christmas and hope with my new found knowledge I can make progress on the closets, drawers, and attic that we lovingly refer to as Narnia. After many months, possibly even years of talking about getting a dog, we finally adopted a new dog. On
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Thanksgiving eve, Murphy came to our house through a program called Project Pooch. Project Pooch is a program that pairs incarcerated youth at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, with homeless shelter dogs. The youth train and groom the dogs in preparation for
their new adoptive families. Murphy has quite the personality and enjoys running, ball playing and receiving petting from anyone who is willing. He has added so much to our family and I truly enjoy having someone home with me when Jim is gone.
Work
This year brings two of our long term research projects to an end allowing us to have time to embrace the additional drug studies for boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and the new Shriners Hospitals Outcome Network. In order to handle the increased load, we have a new staff member. Maria was hired in April to help with the drug studies and our new research management system. She has been a great asset to our team, allowing us to continue to take on new research and improve the organization in our department.
Gazette 2014
Family & Friends
My new found time has allowed me to spend more time with friends and family. It has been nice to be spontaneous and not feel the pressure to be home studying or writing on my dissertation. Christmas brought visits from my parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece. It was fun to spend the holidays with family, s hoppi n g , walking the dog, eating, and drinking and we certainly appreciated all the help taking down the train and tree in preparation for our annual New Years Eve party. I am hoping next year I will continue to spend more time with family and friends.
Travel
With school coming to an end, it has allowed me more time to travel both with Jim and our family. In February, I went with Jim to Thailand. It was a fascinating country, full of temples, buddhas and intense color. Jim’s former fellows, Dr Ornouma and Dr Suthee and Ornouma’s sister Suripan served as my tour guides extraordinaire. It was great experiencing a different culture with and through the eyes of locals.
I think the girls and I appreciate that Jim travels to some great places as we tagged along with Jim to his meeting in S a l z bu r g , Austria. It was fun to reconnect with Monique, Daniel, Luise and Jurjaan. The girls and I had a great time exploring while Jim was at his meeting. I think one of our highlights was the Sound of Music tour. Our tour g uides were ver y entertaining and it was fun to see the sights that they used to film the movie. Thanks to the success of the tennis team Jim plays on I got to enjoy 4 days in sunny California. It was fun to watch the tennis, get in a few matches myself and then get to
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do some hiking in Joshua Tree. It was I certainly like having the time and a wonderful vacation. Who knows opportunity to travel with Jim on his where next years travels will be, but travel adventures.
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Murphy by Murphy
I’m Murphy (formerly Roscoe and Kye), the newest member of the Thomas household. I came to Portland via Woodburn where I spent a month with my trainer at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility brushing up on my manners in order to pass my good behavior test. Adopted on the eve of Thanksgiving, I came to the Thomas home, no one really warning me about the craziness I was moving into. People went in and out of my new home every day. Luckily, everyone loves to throw tennis balls. James and Susan have a tennis habit that keeps yellow balls in ample supply. I work really hard to leave them all around the house so that I can find one at a moments notice just in case anyone wants to play. The backyard gives me lots of space to chase the balls and squirrels and birds. I am always happy to go for a car ride, even if it is only to drop Susan off at work so the girls can have the car. Morgan and Sydney are
happy to take me along whenever they can, so I have visited pet stores all over town, where the workers are always willing to give me a treat. We go for lots of walks. There are many new paths for me to discover, so I’m looking forward to doing lots of exploring. I have quickly realized that Susan is the head of the household, so I follow her around to make sure that I get fed, take care of business and get a walk and run every day. I really enjoyed spending time with Morgan and Sydney. Our first visit was rather short, since they don’t really live here anymore. Christmas break was longer and I spent more time with them. I think I must be the king of Snapchat and Instagram, as they certainly take a lot of photos with me, but I don’t mind because I get lots of snuggles. Friends with dogs are essential, so I have spent days visiting Susan’s friends with dogs to acquire new friends. Over the Christmas holiday, on a Mount Hood trip, fresh powder snow covered the ground 3 feet deep. I had a great time chasing the girls and cousin Kendall down the hill as they sledded. After sledding we headed to Hood River, a dog friendly town where I can bring my family in with me. In my short time on Mitchell Lane, I have become king. Please visit.
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R ot he nb er g
ob
de r
T au be r
ch i un M We stayed at AirBnB locations throughout our journey.
urt Frankf
Sa lzb urg
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s d r a c t s Po
a n n Vie
H al l i n T iro l
Hoh ensch wang au
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Shoulder bursitis, tennis elbow, lumbago, sciatica: ibuprofen, Nurofen Plus - there is more to sport than meets the eye.
Tennis — 5 days per week. James’ USTA MAC 3.0 Men’s team won a berth at Nationals. The WTT team - last in division 3rd year running. Hmmmm, addiction? Susan is starting lessons, joining a team and playing hard.
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Morgan's Memories College This year has been filled with new experiences. In the spring, I finished my first year of college at Seattle University and more recently finished my first term of sophomore year. Time flies by (as you get older). During freshman year I started taking business classes and have now declared my major as Marketing. I don’t have a plan for the future or a set idea on what I want to do with Marketing. So far my favorite class has been a Business Communications class. This class made me realize why I really love business.
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This year I am living in an oncampus apartment with Tori, my roommate from last year, along with Sydney. We share a bedroom and also have a bathroom, kitchen and living area. Apartment living is much nicer than dormitory life. Because we have an apartment, we all cook our own meals. They are pretty basic but we have learned how to start living on our own. I like cooking better than eating on campus because then I don’t have to worry about what’s in the food. This year instead of cheerleading, I have an internship with athletics at
Gazette 2014
Editor’s note: “Older” might be a relative term here.
by Morgan
our school, marketing sports games, mainly soccer and basketball games. So instead of being on the court for basketball games I am on the sidelines and seeing what goes on behind the scenes. It is different but I like it. This past year with cheer, our team got to go to Vegas and cheer on our basketball teams in the WAC conference
tournament. It was something I had never experienced before, as it is very different than gymnastics. The experience was amazing.
was good to see them. This summer I worked at the MJCC as a camp counselor for gymnastics camps. It was weird working there, as that’s where I began doing gymnastics and so much has changed from the time I was there. It was fun to teach kids something I love and it was good to be back around gymnastics again. I ended the summer with a family vacation to Austria and Germany, two places I have never been. I loved both countries, although they were very different. My favorite town was Salzburg in Austria. We stayed there the longest and my mom, sister and I got to know the city well while my dad was at his meeting. It has many cute little shops as well as some history, with Mozart’s birthplace being there. In Germany my favorite place was Frankfurt as
Summer This summer started off with my mom’s PhD graduation. It is great to have her done, as she now has more free time. My grandparents came out to watch her walk across the stage. It
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the shopping was amazing and the city was huge. It was amazing traveling and getting the experience. Some of my favorite things were watching a Munich 1860 soccer game, visiting BMW world, and wandering through amazing castles. Being at college I don’t get to travel as much as I did in high school, so it was nice to travel again. This summer I started taking some tennis lessons and enjoyed playing with the family.
20 years For my 20th birthday my parents came up to Seattle and we spent the day with them. We went shopping downtown, got our nails done and ate a lot of good food. It’s nice to not have to cook for a day. We went to dinner with my parents, Iman and Tori. It was a nice day not having to worry about
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homework and just enjoying the day. It was also nice to see my parents, as I didn’t go home to Portland other than Thanksgiving and they only came up once.
Pets For the past four years in high school every Christmas I had asked for a dog and because our family was so busy with school, gymnastics, tennis, work and traveling we didn’t have the right lifestyle to have a dog. But this past Thanksgiving we adopted a dog. It was a long process. While Sydney and I were at college and my dad was busy with work, traveling, and tennis, my mom decided she wanted a dog to keep her company. I had wanted a dog so bad but also had many hesitations to it as my parents seem even busier now that I am gone, but I really wanted a dog. We started looking in the spring and didn’t have any luck with any dogs. We wanted to find the perfect dog and my parents had some high expectations. We wanted a labrador retriever, either black or brown. This summer I came across this place called Project Pooch. This organization is located at the youth correctional center in Woodburn, Oregon and the youth train the dogs that come to this place. The first dog we looked at got adopted, so we lost our chance on him. But after looking at the first dog we were adamant about adopting from Project Pooch as we liked that the dog came trained and it was a great organization. We looked at another dog and
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he turned a little bit aggressive so it wasn’t the right fit for our family. While Sydney and I were at school the project received a dog they thought would be perfect for our family. So my mom visited it and really liked it. Over Thanksgiving the dog came to stay with us for a “trial day” and I was scared I was not going to like this dog or it wasn’t going to like our family. But after about an hour I was in love with the dog. The dog came named as Kye however we have changed it to Murphy Thomas. I now love this dog and look forward to seeing it every time I come home. This program was amazing and we ended up with the perfect dog for our family. I couldn’t be happier to finally have a dog. It just sucks that we got one while I am away at college, but every time I come home we play fetch and go on walks. We took Murphy to Mt. Hood and he loved the snow. I can’t wait to take him to Hood River this summer. It will always be a hard goodbye when we leave him to go back to school.
Holiday For the holidays my mom’s side of the family came to visit. We had my grandparents, my aunt, uncle and cousin here so it was a full house. We went shopping, attended the Blazers game against Toronto, which the Blazers won in overtime. We also took Murphy up to the mountain for the first time, which he loved. He couldn’t get enough of the snow. We had our annual Christmas and New Years party. I will start my winter quarter of my sophomore year in the New Year.
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Happy Holidays from James, Morgan, Sydney & Susan
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Thomas Family Portrait
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20 Years
T
by Sydney
his year brought many new things, as it always does. I finished my first year of college, lived on my own, worked and traveled.
Seattle University Finishing my first year of college and starting my second year was a transition which I enjoyed very much. Aside from homework and tests, college is a great experience. Freshman year on the cheer team, I really enjoyed cheering at the Men’s basketball games. My parents and friend, Hannah Savinar, came up for Homecoming and it was nice spending the weekend with them, as I didn’t come home winter term. Spring term, we only had classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which was nice to come home on long weekends and I enjoyed only having classes three days a week. Spring term I came home a few times for Easter and the long weekend. We finished most of our university core classes and started taking business classes, which is more interesting than core classes. The start of sophomore year, we moved to an apartment on campus with Morgan’s roommate from freshman year, Tori Zink. We cook most of our meals, which has been better than we thought. I take mainly business core classes, so it has been interesting to learn about all these different aspects of business, such as economics and accounting. I didn’t do cheer this year, but I have a sports marketing internship with Seattle University Athletics, which is fun to see a different side of basketball games than from cheering on the side of the court.
Summer This summer brought travel, work, shopping, tennis, soccer games and friends. Right when school got
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out, my mom had her graduation from Portland State, so my grandparents came out for that, which was nice to see them. We started working at the MJCC as summer camp counselors, which turned out to be better than we thought. I enjoyed working with the kids, mostly ages 3-5. We kept them active with gymnastics, art activities, swimming and games. In my summer free time, I enjoyed shopping, spending time with friends, spectating Timber soccer games and trying some tennis. I started tennis, because my parents love it so much and it has been fun to play with them. Timbers stadium. Since going to Seattle, I have My summer ended with travel to learned to love watching soccer games. Germany and Austria. We spent a few We went to many this summer at the days in Salzburg, Austria. While my dad was at his meeting, my mom, sister and I enjoyed walking around the town and taking the Sound of Music tour. We watched the movie right before our vacation and it was so cool and amazing to see some of the places where the movie was filmed. That was one of my favorite parts about the trip. A f ter Austr ia , we went to Germany. In Germany, we continued to shop, eat and walk around the towns. It’s always crazy to see the different cities, and their culture and how it is different than what we are used to. In Germany we went to a “TSV 1860 München” soccer game at Allianz Arena. It was amazing to see a soccer game in another country and how different the players can be. On a very rainy day we decided to see what BMW World was, and it turned
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summer, our family really started looking for a dog. We found a few from Project Pouch, but none ended up working out for us. Finally, when we were at school, my mom found the dog that she fell in love with. So during Thanksgiving break, he began his stay with us on a trial basis, but then never left. At first, I didn’t want a dog. I liked our life the way it was since we are a busy family. We named him Murphy, and I instantly fell in love with him. He is turning out to be a great dog and fits right in with our lives. out to be way cooler that we thought. You could see all their cars and motorcycles, and then also, their designs that they hope to have in the future. We spent our last day in Frankfurt, Germany. We have been to the Frankfurt Airport many times, so it was nice to finally get to see the city, since we never had. Soon after we got back, it was time to pack up and head back to our second year of school in Seattle.
Murphy All throughout high school, we always wanted a dog, but our family’s lives were too busy. This past
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able to spend Christmas and New Winter break went by faster then I Years with us which was lots of fun. would have liked. We got about 3 1/2 weeks off which was great to spend with family and friends. The first week my parents were still working so it was a great time to sleep in and catch up with friends. The second week my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin Kendall came to visit. It was great to see them all, as it had been a while since I had seen my aunt, uncle and cousin. We enjoyed spending time together, shopping, and walking around Portland. The Portland Trailblazers also happened to be playing against the Toronto Raptors while they were here so we went to the game with them. Luckily Portland beat Toronto in an overtime game. That was really fun to watch together. They were also
Winter Break
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S
eizing time with Morgan & Sydney, we took several walks in Cascadia, including Catherine Creek overlooking the Columbia (below). Stooping for a view of tiny wildflowers, feeling the exertion of climbing at elevation, the shiver of chill air as the sun disappears; tiny actions, curious memories to savor. Walking, cycling, even riding in the Mini with the top down, all reduce an anonymity created by tinted windows, the rush to work and the distance we live apart on this globe,
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If
I am not in the forest or wandering the slopes, a city has wonders around every corner, especially urban streets scaled for wandering. Many cities in the world, sprouting before automobiles, have an interior proportion suited to pedestrian exploration. I love an alley that perforates a building, microstorefronts lining the walls. I cherish the cafe with two outdoor bistro tables, room for two cups and a pastry, waiting for us to sit down.
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Fellow colleagues studying the human voice
Sharing coffee & road trips with new fellows studying laryngology: Alberto Ochoa, Nihal Aydin.
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Former fellow, Monique Verguts in Salzburg. Josef Schlรถmicher-Thier hosted a tremendous conference celebrating human voice in Salzburg, Austria supplying his homebrew, Sangerelixer for hydration - with mesmerizing music from traditional Austrian bands to opera to piano concertos.
Visiting Ornouma Shriwanishvipat at Yanhee hospital in Bangkok.
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Thailand
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You must go
Color saturation
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Turkey
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Before hopping on the plane, Elif, Orhan and I sit down in the living room. I prop my feet up on the leather ottoman, fire toasting us. We enjoy each other’s company for hours on end in the late evening. After all, soon I will travel through their hometown, immersed in the back street scenes of Istanbul.
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Just before 5 AM, after a short flight from Antalya where the European Laryngological Society met, I wander underground in the Istanbul Attatürk airport, searching for the train terminal. All I encounter are metal pull-down doors lining the corridors. Ultimately, I spot a dozen locals crouched or snoozing beside one of the doors and surmise the train station is on the other side. As it could be awhile before opening, I retrace my steps, exit the terminal and find 4 long lines of cabs, drivers standing, smoking, chatting. Not many customers yet. I hop in the front cab, show the address of my destination and he nods. I don’t speak Turkish. After a 25 minutes on a highway, we cross the Attatürk bridge over Golden Horn, the streets narrow and we wander uphill through very dark, winding streets of Istanbul. Nearing the Galata tower in the Tünel neighborhood, we seem to be driving in circles. Well not circles, but some sorts of triangular, wildly geometric patterns, laid out by pedestrians a thousand years ago, one way streets and barricades preventing our apparent desired movement. I have the impression we are having some difficulty as he stops to converse with a man hoisting garbage into a truck. How much do you trust a cab driver, in a city you have never been to, where almost everyone is
Gazette 2014
Orhan P amuk & Elif Safak
leave a nice tip for the effort. There is a light up the street in a 3 by 3 meter convenience shop, pomegranates and oranges out front. Chilled in the April air, I duck inside for hot tea, waiting for the city’s awakening. This is definitely Orhan’s neighborhood. I divagate on Elif and Orhan’s streets for the next three days, thankful for their sharing.
asleep? I pull out my iPhone and use up some roaming data on Google maps. We do seem to be close to my hotel, but not closing in on it. I pass my phone up to the front seat and point back to a road we just passed on the right. Apparently my map is more accurate than his. The B&B is shuttered at this hour, but we arrive. He reduces his fare, embarrassed by the navigation. I pay and then
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India
M y travel to India involved teaching in Bengaluru, P une and D elhi, interacting with physicians and residents, all interested in the human voice.
A riot of color, cars, people, food. So much intensity of life in this land of contrasts. Why not a sniff by an elephant? Why not flower petals on the atrium floor in the hospital? Why not 10 across on a road with 4 lanes?
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Joshua Tree
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To be alive
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