Gap Year – Week 13 I am a quarter of the way through this gap year, the 12 months between fanatical obsession with exome sequencing and full-time dedication to the writing life. The past few weeks we have focused on a new adventure – Van Life. My wife and I have been thinking about this … More Gap year. Week 13.
Welcome or welcome back to my travels between respectability and susceptibility. Less than three months ago I was an employed clinical geneticist. Now I’m the retiree ordering a cappuccino in the forenoon. This month my plans have been to focus on nonfiction, including medicine, but I have not been especially efficient. We took a week … More Gap Year -> Week Eleven
A pivotal moment in early 2000s redirected my career when tasked with creating a newborn screening policy for the US Army. A tragic case of a child’s death due to a missed screening prompted this action. The patchwork of screening standards in different locations highlighted the need for a comprehensive policy to safeguard children’s health. … More Gap Year: Week 10
On 8 January 2024 I retired from a career in medicine and am taking this next year to gather forces, or hoist myself by my own petards, before undertaking another crazy line of work. We are now winding up the first month of the gap year journey. We have spent the last week of January … More Gap Year: Week 4
Late lunch at Bread and Salt in Frisco. Paula and I walked down 5th to Main, the windy snow at our backs, the atmosphere January grey. Curbside seating was not offered. The patio chairs and bistro tables were mounded with a cubit of snow, the yellow umbrellas furled and resentful of the chill and desertion. … More Gap Year: January 15, 2024
I’m taking a gap year. Yes, I think I’ve earned it. Perhaps it’s more like a sabbatical. No, let’s call it a gap year. Such 12-month vacations didn’t become popular or common until I was well past high school graduation in 1973. Back in the early 70s, if you decided to knock around after 12th … More Gap year : week one
Scott D. McLean, MD 