Arts Rural

Transcript 

Julia Terhune:

This Rural Mission is a podcast brought to you by Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, the Herbert H. And Grace A. Dow Foundation, and the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Family Medicine Department.

Julia Terhune:

We are so excited to bring you season three. I'm your host, Julia Terhune, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

Julia Terhune:

A common pastime for rural residents and tourists alike is the local farmer's market. I love them, and it seems to be a hallmark for many rural communities. Not only do farmers attend these events, but often you'll find local craftsmen, artists and even local musicians.

Julia Terhune:

So maybe that's what you were thinking when I said art in rural communities or arts rural for this podcast episode. And you'd be right. After all, there are many artists who are at these events, but my perspective takes a little different turn.

Julia Terhune:

When I say arts rural, I was actually thinking about some of the doctors and future doctors that I know. So that might sound kind of confusing, but it's not when you think about it this way. I describe it like a Venn diagram. There's one circle with art. There's one circle with medicine and in my world, where they seem to overlap is in rural communities.

Julia Terhune:

You see, growing up in a small town, I experienced a place where people used their crafts to survive, but also where many arts and skilled crafts have survived. If you've ever been to one of those markets that I mentioned, you know what I mean. People make their living off of the things they make, but they also make things to serve them on their farm, in their home. Some families I know, and maybe you know too, have simplified their lives, to make more room for art and music. And there doesn't seem to be a community gathering without those things in many small places.

Julia Terhune:

So what does that mean for the doctors that want to serve in these bucolic communities?

Julia Terhune:

We've talked at length on this podcast about the social and economic complexities that make doctoring in rural communities a little harder. Harder problems sometimes cause more creative solutions, which is definitely something our partners today will speak about. But I think that the people who serve in these rural communities as physicians are themselves a little more complex. They seem to not only come at physical issues with a multi-faceted approach, but have several sides to them as people.

Julia Terhune:

We've said on this show that doing rural medicine is a brave thing to do. Now, I would like to propose that serving rural communities is a creative thing to do.

Julia Terhune:

Let's start with some student stories. Right now in the leadership and rural medicine programs, we have two pretty creative women learning to become rural doctors. Kayla, who you'll hear from first, is originally from Minnesota, but is now completing her clinical medical education in Traverse City and preparing to become either an OBGYN or a surgeon. She's not a hundred percent sure quite yet.

Julia Terhune:

Ellie is originally from Illinois, but came to the upper peninsula during her undergrad and has stayed in Michigan ever since. She will also be going to Traverse City this summer. Both students got a fine art degree along with their pre-medical requirements in undergrad, and yet nothing deterred them from medicine.

Kayla:

So I went to undergrad. I had actually already completed 60 college credits before I even got there. So I only had two years left to do.

Kayla:

But I had this four year scholarship that covered a good amount of my tuition. And I was like, "I don't know if I'll be ready to graduate in two years." So I went to undergrad. I knew I was going to do something science, but my whole family is kind of artistic and no one's really been able to go and entertain that or build on their artistic skill. The [inaudible 00:05:00] high school art classes and then my oldest sister just stopped and my mom kind of stopped and I was like, "I would love to do art."

Kayla:

So I went to undergrad and I did a double major. I did biology and then studio art and then a chemistry [inaudible 00:05:14] but no one cares about that.

Julia Terhune:

And Ellie reiterated that point. Here she is.

Ellie:

I kind of have always wanted to go into medicine. From when I was younger, it was like the first thing that I said when I was five. And I feel like it's very cheesy, but then I never really came up with anything else that I liked.

Ellie:

I just kept finding more reasons as I got older to like medicine. Until I got into high school, I didn't really have any other ideas. And I took my first real art class. I took a ceramics class in high school and I was lucky to be in an area where we had lots of different art classes. So I was able to take a couple years of ceramics back then.

Ellie:

And I just really fell in love with it and I love working with my hands. I've taken so many science classes to try to do well and prepare myself for the future, being a doctor, that I wanted. Just being in art was really nice and relaxing. It kind of gave me a creative outlet that I didn't know that I needed and I just really enjoyed it.

Ellie:

After I took those classes and I was a senior in high school, I said, "You know what? I'm just going to be an art major." And I can still take all of my, my science classes. And I had actually met with my future advisor, pre-medical advisor in college. His name's Dr. Lucas. He's at Northern Michigan University. And he told me to just go for it. He was like, "There's so many people that apply as science majors. And a lot of medical schools now are really interested in people that are doing something different. So have other passions. "

Ellie:

So I just decided to go full force with it. And I really have no regrets. It was one of the best decisions that I made.

Kayla:

And it worked out really well. It's been kind of a stress relief. I'd go to these really intensive biochemistry and then biochem lab. And then I would go and I'd worked 15 hours on a sculpture and it would be like the perfect little ratio for me.

Kayla:

It took me a long time to figure out what I was going to do with my senior art show, a big project you put together at the end of your four years of undergrad. And it's a big group show. I was applying to medical school at the time, going through all my interviews. And I started sculpting all of these heads. And I tried to like convey what does it feel to be anxious or to be so stressed out?

Kayla:

And I kind of just went for it. I just started sculpting this giant head. And then of course it fell apart because art just always falls apart on you. It's really good for problem solving though. So I had to rework it a couple of different ways and it turned out better for it, so that was nice.

Kayla:

But I ended up doing these five heads on these giant four-foot pedestals. So you'd walk into the gallery and all these heads are staring at you. And each one was kind of a different representation of anxiety or stress or kind of depression, but more anxiety and stress. And I had interviewed some of my friends and siblings and I was like, "Okay, what does stress feel like to you?" I was trying to capture how we all feel stress so differently.

Kayla:

So the first one I made, it was based off my face and it was screaming. And then half of it was kind of exploded off. Kind of like if you've ever felt so frustrated, your head's going to explode. So I literally made that, but then I did it very realistic on the side and then where it was exploded, it was very artsy and abstract. And I really wanted to highlight clay and what clay can do.

Kayla:

And then the other four, one was really spiky. It had all these spikes, kind of like how you get really defensive and shove everyone away from you when you get stressed out or at least I do. And then there was another one. My mom was like, "How come none of your sculptures are smiling?" And I was like, "Oh, I got this." The last one I made was smiling, but then it was like empty inside. Kind of how you can put on a smile, but sometimes they're not always... It's just like a face, right?iSo it was empty on the eyes. And the head was crumbling down around it. You put on the face, like I'm still smiling, but on the inside, you're kind of empty.

Kayla:

And it was just such a cathartic experience. I don't think I even understood the stress and anxiety that I was carrying and just shoving down until I put it into these art and it's so therapeutic. It was amazing.

Julia Terhune:

I had to ask Kayla at this point, if she ever felt like the two sides of her brain were at war with one another.

Kayla:

I think in undergrad a little bit. When I was going for it, I had been accepted into medical school and then I had completed this big project and I was so proud of all those sculpted heads. And my art teacher's like, "Are you sure? It would be so like..." She was like, "You would love the art community. You can join us still." And it definitely crossed my mind. I was like, "Oh, if I do medicine, will I have time for art?" But I'm trying to. I'm trying to force myself to incorporate it in, and time management so that I get to embrace both.

Julia Terhune:

What is always fun and interesting about doing these podcasts is the similarities that come out of your conversations and the commonalities that people have with each other, even if they aren't related.

Julia Terhune:

This idea of art, not only being a place of relief, but also a way to think about serving patients holistically was something that I found out from Dr. Julie Phillips as well.

Julia Terhune:

Dr. Phillips is a wonderful partner and friend. While she may not be a rural doctor, she serves in one of the state's largest hospitals as a family medicine doctor who also does OBGYN. So she sees many rural patients.

Julia Terhune:

She not only has worked on numerous rural related research projects with our program, but has a vested interest in helping students achieve their residency goals and finding ways to help them return to rural communities. You'll hear her again this season, when we talk about the complexities of getting into residency in the midst of a pandemic.

Julia Terhune:

She is also a talented writer, artist, and textile artist. Her story about her medical work and creativity mirrors that of Kayla and Ellie's, but in a way that shows how necessary art is in general, especially when caring for people.

Dr. Julie Phillips:

I actually think I was artistic before I learned about science and fell in love with science because when I was a very small child, I liked to write stories and poems. And I like to make things even then, even when I was little, like four or five, elementary school. When I was in elementary school, I used to write, of course. Everybody wrote stories in elementary school. It was a thing that you would do because teachers would tell you to, but I always wrote the stories that the teacher would pull out of the pile and read to the class. I was very proud of my writing, my creative writing, when I was small.

Dr. Julie Phillips:

I kept doing that through school and through college. I actually took English classes a lot, as well as my science classes, because I really enjoyed and loved them and liked using that creative side.

Dr. Julie Phillips:

It's something that I've kept with me. I didn't do it as much when I was in medical school because I think I was just working so hard. I kind of let that piece of my brain be dormant, I guess, is the word. But then after that, I started to pick it up again.

Dr. Julie Phillips:

I love narrative writing as a form of expression for medical doctors. I just think it's really valuable for us to have that and to be able to celebrate it and cultivate it and spend time on it. I think it's a pretty unique way to care for ourselves, to be able to write about our experiences and write about the meaning of being a physician and express ourselves that way.

Dr. Julie Phillips:

I really love to write poetry now. That's kind of my favorite form of writing. But I also write a lot of research papers, right? I have these two far apart on the spectrum pieces that I do. I do research writing that's more technical and very descriptive and very exact. And then I have poetry, which has many fewer rules, but it's kind of challenging in a different way. And I really like both of them. I get a lot out of doing both.

Dr. Julie Phillips:

In terms of making things, yeah, I've always made things like since I was a kid. I love to make things. My grandmother taught me to knit and then I didn't knit for a long time. And then I relearned when I was an adult and I just love that. And I like to sew. I don't know. It's just my favorite way to kind of relax and do something fun is to make stuff.

Dr. Julie Phillips:

I think there's something to be said for thinking outside the box in medicine. And I think I'm pretty good at that actually. That's an indirect link, but yeah, I do think that it does help you look at problems in a different way when you are used to sort of breaking the rules. You can break the rules creatively a lot. Sometimes it's fun to have a patient and just do something that is not the usual because sometimes the patient doesn't need the usual thing. Sometimes they need something special just for them.

Julia Terhune:

So what does art mean for rural communities? Why is it important for people, not just patients? Let's start with someone known very well on this podcast, Brian Eggers. You'll recognize his name because so much of his work has been on this podcast.

Julia Terhune:

The cool part about his story is that he's from Northern Lower Michigan. He's been a musician for many years and grew up near Boyne City. Now he's in Nashville, Tennessee, working on his music career and also song writing and producing. His perspective on the contrast of the rural music scene compared to the bustle of Nashville shows just how unifying art and music can be.

Brian Eggers:

To me, I'd say just as a microcosm, Boyne City has completely changed from 15, 20 years ago 'til now. And they do on Friday nights throughout the summer, they do Stroll the Streets where there's literally live music on every corner of the downtown area. As they've done this, the city has flourished and blossomed and businesses came. The tourism has increased immensely. Just as a whole, it really just pumped up the feeling. When you go there, you're like, "Man, this place is different."

Brian Eggers:

It's rich. It's diverse. It's not just a one faceted, "Oh, this is the town that's on the lake," because there's thousands of those. There's all kinds of these tourist towns who don't have much to offer aside from the scenery. And when you do something like Stroll the Streets on a Friday night in Boyne City, yeah, it's a little town with on the water and it's cute and it's pretty, but the people that you meet and the music you're hearing as you walk through the town or the waiter in the restaurant or whatever it might be, those connections are really what translate to people and it gives you more of a sense of what culturally is available here.

Julia Terhune:

And that sense of community is important because it connects and it gives people an identity, something that we're all searching for. Here's Kayla and Ellie again, giving their take on how art can affect rural communities and rural medicine.

Ellie:

I've had to think about this a lot when people ask me how art is going to help me at all. But I think art is really about communication. And that is something that I think, in medicine traditionally has been a little less of a priority. And I think now people are learning that it's important to talk to your patients and try to educate them and treat them as if they do know and they want to know and be involved in their care more.

Kayla:

And so I think my art degree really helped me take all this scientific knowledge I have and try to break it down into more simple terms. I think that's a really good skill to have, especially in a rural area. There are a lot of people that might not be... They might've graduated high school and then they went to work with the family business or things like that.

Ellie:

And I think that's kind of the biggest area and it would help in any other area as well.

Kayla:

I think, Cold Springs, that's the town I'm from. They had recently got this cute coffee shop, adorable. And they painted this giant mural of the town inside on one of the walls. [inaudible 00:19:41] they painted like this road. So highway 23 is what it takes you to Cold Springs. So it's like the big road that'll get you there. They painted it on the big mural and then they write on it with chalk questions like, "What are you most excited about?" Or "What's your new year's resolution?" And you see the whole community comes in and they're writing on the wall and little kids are drawing pictures on the chalk. And it's just a great way to bring the community together. And everyone gets to see like, "Oh, what did they write?" And so it's just art in small ways that kind of brings the community together.

Kayla:

I think art is so important to a small town. We think about art being in these big urban centers, but art is really important rural communities too. It totally shapes how we view our environment and it represents the community values and it creates conversation. So I don't think it could ever be undervalued. And if there's ever a chance to bring art into a rural community, it should definitely be explored because I think it's so beneficial.

Julia Terhune:

I think the more creative minds we get working together on rural issues, the sooner these issues will become a thing of the past. I think if more creative minds can start to consider the opportunities that rural areas provide, instead of just looking at what's common or what's expected, the sooner we can start to make a real difference in the lives of those most underserved.

Julia Terhune:

It might be one of the most creative things to go back to a rural community and find new ways of tackling medical leadership and economic issues. It's why we make this podcast, to help people think about the differences in rural areas, but how those differences are something that can actually be celebrated, and maybe we could get to that celebration sooner if we understood them better, kind of like an art gallery. You walk in and there's all these styles and approaches and ideas coming together to make one place beautiful and interesting. And yeah, sure. Not everything is your taste, but you can really leave with a sense of appreciation and respect.

Julia Terhune:

Perhaps if we considered the aspects of rural communities, the same way we consider the different aspects of different artistic approaches, perhaps then we can start looking for those commonalities and finding creative solutions.

Julia Terhune:

Thank you, Brian Eggers for not only being interviewed, but for letting us use your music for all of these episodes. Thank you to Dr. Phillips for your time and your contribution to this project and so many other projects we've looped you into over the past years. You have been such an asset to our team.

Julia Terhune:

Thank you to Kayla and Ellie. We are so excited that you are a part of our program and can't wait to see all of the creative things you do with your career. Thank you as always to Dr. Andrea Wendling for letting me exercise my creativity through projects like this. And thank you to all of you for listening. We couldn't do this without our listeners, and we are so grateful for your time. We have more coming for you this season, and we hope that this podcast will inspire you to make rural your mission.