Historical Reflections: The Medical Heritage Center Blog

Voices in Humanism

Mrs. Laudi’s Pies

Mrs. Laudi was a jolly old woman who loved to bake pies. She believed that every pie she made had a secret ingredient that could make anyone happy no matter what. Her pies quickly arose to stardom by word-of-mouth. They were both delicious to the taste and beautiful to behold. One day, there was a new king in the village. He swore that Mrs. Laudi’s pies could have no effect on him one way or another. He was a very angry man and felt that he could not be persuaded to change. He also was not one to enjoy the taste of sweet things period! The King went on to make many new laws as time went by and the people in the village suffered deeply. Some chose not to stay and went on to distant lands if they were able to escape the retaliation from the king and escape without being beheaded or worse. However, Mrs. Laudi was one of the ones who remained behind. She continuously tried to persuade the king that one bite of her pie would bring him happiness, fulfillment, and personal gain but, he was stubborn and continuously refused to taste it. One day, a terrible storm came, and depleted the villagers out of most if, not all of their food supply. Even many of the vegetables were uprooted. It was also during the fall season and the people in the village could not foresee the food supply being replenished anytime soon. Suddenly, Mrs. Laudi had an idea. If I could scrape up enough items and make a pie, she thought then I could make everyone in the village happy, including the King. Mrs. Laudi began by gathering muddy carrots, grass, flower seed and strawberries she had noticed, growing on a vine. In the distance she could see bees buzzing on honeycomb that had not been destroyed by the storm. She used the honey to sweeten the pie. For the crust, she had some leftover flour that she had stored in a barrel. For oil, she used a slice of bacon and the drippings left over from breakfast she had eaten prior to the start of storm. She began. In place of a rolling pin, she used an old glass pop bottle she found lying alongside the road. She mixed and assembled everything at once. Because there was no power, she used bricks and stones and sticks and created an oven. On top of the crust, she rubbed a small bit of oil to give the appearance of golden brown. People came from all over the village as the wind blew the scent of Mrs. Laudi’s freshly baked pie throughout the air. Mrs. Laudi began to sing and so did the villagers. The king came out of his palace to see what was going on. When he smelled the pies, he quickly demanded that they be given to him and that Mrs. Laudi would bake for him continually. This made the people angry but, there was nothing they could do. After all, the king’s army was bigger and stronger than they were. As Mrs. Laudi continued making her delicious pie all the villagers including Mrs. Laudi noticed that her king was becoming fatter and fatter, so fat that he would have tummy aches. This made the king angry so, he ordered Mrs. Laudi to leave the palace and she was thrown into prison at once. The people were happy because once again they could feed of the spoils of the land in their stomachs full. But they were saddened in their hearts because dear Mrs. Laudi was in jail. As Mrs. Laudi slept, her tears would meet underneath her chin and dampener her pillow. One night the guard said to her that if she would make him a pie, he would set her free. So, at midnight when the king was asleep the guard took Mrs. Laudi out of prison and to his home. She baked him one of the most delicious pies she had ever made. She gathered nuts and raisins and sugar, and a pinch of kindness. The guard ate to his heart’s content. He kept his word and put her on a horse and sent her away to a far and distant land. The people in the new village welcomed Mrs. Laudi with open arms and she made some of the best pies ever. When the new villagers heard what the old king had done, the new king summoned the old King to punish him and stand trial. The old king became very frightened and begged Mrs. Laudi to forgive him. He confessed that her pies were delicious, and that he felt happy when he ate them. Mrs. Laudi forgave the old king, and he was sentenced to gather all the ingredients for Mrs. Laudi’s pies and the villagers and everyone ate to their hearts content and passed her recipes down from generation to generations to come. Mrs. Laudi and the villagers lived happily ever after.

Cynthia Price
Writer, Poet, Lyricist, Mother
Retired from OSU College of Medicine 2018

Voices in Humanism

Pandemic Still Life
Took this photo in April 2020 as it captured a still life that embodied what it was like early in the pandemic with empty shelves in the grocery stores and daily TV briefings.

Mary Beth Fontana, MD
Photographer
Faculty Emeritus, Cardiovascular Medicine
OSU College of Medicine Professor or the Year 2005
Inaugural Last Lecture 2017

Voices in Humanism

Empowerment
(Presented as a gift to Ada Stewart, MD, President, American Academy of Family Physicians)

Brian Bachelder, MD
Past President, Ohio Academy of Family Physicians
Hometown: Mount Gilead, Ohio
Artistic Media: Foiled Stained Glass

Voices in Humanism

Cabin Retreat
This is our cabin we retreat to, to be warmed by the fire, to reflect, to be grateful and to let our souls rejuvenate.
We know we are so fortunate to have this blessed place and try to support, in many ways, those less fortunate.
Life, like flowers, will blossom after the cold for most, but not all of us.
We offer grateful prayers for those whose who are, and will, suffer great loss and longing from this dark night.

Paul A. Weber, MD
Professor Emeritus
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Wexner Medical Center

Voices in Humanism

Gates Failing
OSU College of Medicine Class of 2022

Gates Failing enjoys meeting interesting people, exploring new regions and cultures, and laughing at the absurdities of life. You can catch him cruising down Neil Avenue on his bike or whipping up a homemade loaf with his bread machine.

Artists: Phillip Anjum (photographer) and Elizabeth Auckley (painter)
Medium: Oil paint on printed canvas
Artist Statement: We are current medical students at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. For our Portrait Project, each student was first photographed ‘in their element’; in a space where they felt comfortable. The photos were then completely de-saturated and then printed on canvas to represent the depersonalization that medical school experience may instill as well as the constant disorientation that comes with embracing a completely new and uncertain world. The colors painted back onto the canvas represents the uniqueness of each individual that shines through the showcase of the human faces of future physicians who will be caring for patients across the country and the world.

Voices in Humanism

A few days after George Floyd’s murder on 5/25/2020 gripped our nation, I refreshed the lyrics to Barry McGuire’s classic 1965 anti-Vietnam War protest anthem. It usually takes me a long time to complete a song, but the words to Eve of Destruction (Election of Destruction) flowed onto the computer screen very quickly. It was Friday night, the end of the typically busy work week and I needed to express feelings of outrage from that most tragic event, in the context of a COVID-19 pandemic and against the wider lens of societal disintegration we have experienced over these past four years. I shared this with a circle of fellow lovers of folk music who regularly meet on Saturday mornings (previously in-person at the Worthington Farmer’s Market and at the time of this writing, virtually on Zoom) and received their positive feedback. I initially envisioned turning this into a film incorporating video and still images taken from current events. I reached out to a music production team to record the song. As things turned out, the film portion never took off (so if anyone has interest in creating a film, please let’s collaborate). One of the music producers asked me what I was going to do with it. I thought about it and came around to the idea of a YouTube video to encourage people to vote on Election Day, 2020. A friend pointed out that the lyrics leave the listener wanting for an answer. That led to the idea of adding words addressed to the listener of this lyric video during instrumental break, the outro and finale, “GO VOTE!!!” as a solution. With Election Day now behind us, it’s an almost cathartic ending to the song.

In the spirit of Folk Music, please feel free to sing and play along – chord changes and words are matched and syllables bolded “on the beat” for ease of “jamming”.

Hear the song by visiting: https://youtu.be/u0-gNwDAcz4

Steven W. Ing, MD, MSCE
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
Lyricist, Singer