Cathren is a community collaborative artist who has been working with the Community Libraries of Providence and other non-profits since 2012, developing arts and literacy programs and creating public art installations. She has been an artist in residence at Hattie Ide Chaffee Home since 2023, implementing visual arts and health programs with seniors and dementia patients. Website: ArtHouseRI.com
Dear Sister C; I just graduated from a design school as a top student. I had no problem dealing with tough deadlines or assignments. But now that I’m out, I feel like I’m back to square one. I wanted a career in fine arts. It’s not like there’s a JOB out here for me. Freelance sucks. We […]
For most of us, October is the month of Halloween bringing costumes, candy and flying bats, along with TV reruns of every horror movie ever made. But for the followers of Wicca, October holds a much deeper meaning: It is the month of Samhain, one of the four greater Sabbats of the year. It symbolizes […]
Poets, artists and musicians have known it for hundreds of years, but now medical research confirms it: Loneliness and isolation are hazardous to your health. Dr. Harlan Krumholz, director of the Center of Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Yale-New Haven Hospital, notes, “We shouldn’t just be concerning ourselves with pills and procedures. We have to […]
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Hunter Thompson We don’t live in a sane world. We’re not safe behind bars. Here, on the other side of the gates of privilege, a lot of us have wandered into the trenches. It’s an easy place to get lost for a while. When I […]
Watching the American health system operate is like watching a game of Whack-A-Mole: a symptom pops up, a doctor smacks it down. Another one pops up and whack! It goes down. Up again, down again, over and over. Unfortunately, it is a game in which the patient seldom wins. The US spends more on healthcare than any […]
In a world where acts of terrorism, violence and despair dominate the news, Ginny Fox, founder of the Peace Flags Project, has a different message: One of hope. “We are all peace makers. Peace is active, peace is personal and peace is communal. The power is in our hands.” Ginny’s inspiration for the Peace Flags Project came […]
America today faces a heroin epidemic of surreal proportion, generating deaths from overdose, HIV and violent bloodshed between the drug cartels that stoke the rising demand. The surprise is that 2015’s graduating class of junkies hails not from the inner cities, but from middle and upper class America, many with incomes above $50K. The pushers […]
Recent studies have shown STD rates rising at astronomical rates across the entire country. In our own state, between 2013 and 2014, new cases of syphilis rose 79%, gonorrhea increased 30%, and the rate of HIV grew by 33%. And these are the reported cases, statistically shown to be only half of all infections. Many […]
Dear Dr. Brilliant Cliché; After I dropped out of school I got caught for a petty crime — I shoplifted some CDs. Anyway, my parents got me intothis “rehab” program so I could minimize the impact of my pilfering. They feel like they’ve done their job, the state thinks I’m reforming and everyone’s happy. I’m […]
Every time I research a health topic, I uncover something that surprises the crap out of me. I assumed that sunscreen protects us from the damaging effects of the sun. Turns out the opposite may be true — cases of skin cancer have actually increased since its introduction to the general market. The ancient Egyptians used plant extracts […]