Three Yale School of Nursing (YSN) students recently earned honors for their artistic work in the 2022 PHM Health Professions Creative Medical Writing and Art Contest, an annual celebration honoring the creative submissions of YSN, Yale School of Public Health, and Yale School of Medicine MD, Physician Associate, and Physician Assistant Online students.
Nurse Midwifery student Taylor Evans ’24 MSN tied for second place in the Prose category for her piece “A Mother’s Musings.” The epistle is the first contact between a mother and daughter in many years, prompted by the daughter’s upcoming wedding. The letter writer makes clear that the many pages that follow do not constitute an apology for leaving, but are instead an explanation.
The piece also describes A Mother’s relationship with the recipient’s father:
“Away from the city lights, I understood why he had covered his room with posters of constellations and nebulas. The galaxy hung suspended over our heads, so close that if I reached out my hand would come away with stardust in the creases of my fingers. As we embraced each other in the lapping ripples of the lake, he touched the corner of my eye with his thumb and whispered that he loved me. He didn’t need me to say it back, and I loved him a little more for that.”
Read the full text of “A Mother’s Musings.”
Post-Master’s Clinical Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student Jeremy Mills, MSN, PMHNP-BC took home third place in Prose for his piece entitled “The Successors.” The story introduces the reader to four nurse practitioners two years into the COVID-19 pandemic before focusing on Janelle.
“Janelle comes [to the cafeteria] at least once every shift and stands in the low light. There’s a melancholy here that feels right to her. The grief of a place with good memories, now bathed in the first signs of deepening night. A feeling of being left behind—she has been left behind. A feeling of being the last in line—she is the last in line. An awareness of an unconquerable task before her with a sense of duty that she will at least try. Staring at the falling snow, allowing this feeling to swell in her chest, is melodramatic, and she knows this. She is going to look silly to the people of the future when they invent a way to look back at every moment in time. But she can take a breath here and feel sorry for herself and no one has to know it. She thinks a sorrow is better than an anger.”
Read the full text of “The Successors.”
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Primary Care student Zeynep Inanoglu ’24 MSN received Honorable Mention distinction in the Art category for her acrylic paint on canvas piece “Mom and me.” A female subject with brown hair and brown eyes looks directly at the viewer while cradling a young baby, comforted by a pacifier. The pair are outlined in pink against a background that includes greenery and flowers.
Winners will celebrate together at a virtual ceremony on May 5.