Your Life is an Occasion – Rise to It! --Dustin Hoffman as Mr. Edward Magorium in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium If you haven't seen ''Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium,'' you are missing a gem.  I love this movie.  In so many ways, it embodies what this blog is all about:  living life.  To live life well, we have to live it ...

Watching the movie Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Mutant.  He enters an environment where he is the outcast.  In a world of imagination and creativity, he speaks a language of rules and regulations.  When difficult times come, he tries to help, but his love of paperwork gets in the way.  ...

Why is this ''cervical cancer'' vaccine not being advertised honestly?  I watched a commercial with my teen daughter several weeks ago.  When it was over I asked her, ''Based on this commercial, should you receive the vaccine?''  Her response was along the lines of, ''Duh, yeaah.''  So we had an eye-opening chat about why her ...

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, concluded in 2007 that night work is ''probably carcinogenic to humans.'' Furthermore, the IARC classifies the cancer risk of night work as ''Group 2A,'' the same group as tanning beds-and only one group below asbestos and mustard gas. According to ...

I thought I would comment on this man.  I am not a sports fan, nor did I watch the Olympics.  In fact I did not even watch the Superbowl this year.  So, back to Phelps.  He has a charity foundation to promote water safety and advocate swimming for children, he wrote two books, won 14 career Olympic gold medals, and has set ...

Do pleas for help flood your inboxes and mailboxes?  Just this week I received such an email, outlining the present plight and giving a call to action.  This email even went so far as to include links that provided contact information, making it easier to jump into action. My immediate reaction is to feel the need to click on the links ...

Since becoming the editor of ADVANCE in 2000, the thought has often occurred to me that PTs and PTAs are a surprisingly well-informed and opinionated bunch. But they are also a lot of fun as well. This was proved to me on June 13 at the annual APTA conference in San Antonio, as APTA premiered its first Oxford Debate. PT experts on both sides ...

I'm not a big news buff, but by now my husband would have clued me in on something this sensational.  Amazingly, he hadn't heard of it either.  I just read an article on the use of microchips in Alzheimer's patients.  Yes, I said IN.  The same technology that has been used in pets since the 1980's is now being used in humans. ...

I recently read a letter to the editor in which an OT called PTs on the carpet for ''pushing too hard.'' The author was a retired OT who had undergone physical therapy and felt her physical condition had been adversely affected by PTs who aggressively forged ahead without regard to her individual physical status. The fact that she appeared to be ...

I've been a therapist for many years having graduated in the 1980s.  I've seen things change.  Trends have come and gone.  In many cases what we do now didn't exist then.  I've seen my profession grow to a major component in modern health care.  I've seen good therapists, bad therapists and a few I'd call ...