Posts by Calvert F Cazier, PhD, MPH

Today was a cold, wintery Saturday morning with a fresh blanket of newly fallen snow on the ground. Anne and I were sitting on a couch talking when she decided to clean a junk drawer that was in the living room. I made a silly or snarky comment about not messing up the drawer that…

I couldn’t believe it when some stranger called me a name, which I will not use but I will simply substitute it with the letter ‘T’. You can decipher the word by filling in the blank “tu_d”. Why would someone call me that name when everyone who knows me is aware that I am a…

Several years ago, my wife and I were in Florida spending time with our family. We were really looking forward to an outing we had planned to the Everglades where we rented a couple of canoes to observe the alligators in their natural environment.   Before leaving basecamp, the rangers gave us instructions and a…

In December of 1967, I was living in the small city of Bergamo in Northern Italy. It was a beautiful place, located in the foothills of the Alps. The people living in this community were friendly and hospitable to our group of young American boys (19 – 21 years old). We were living in a fairly…

I clearly remember one hot summer day that I spent stacking hay with Uncle Quinn, Grandpa Cazier, and a couple of cousins. I was about 10 years old, and nobody realized I was beginning to show symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome. One of my early OCD symptoms involved my inability to walk…

I am embarrassed about my role in this story, but I share it because these types of stories are part of everyone’s life, and they should be shared along with our positive experiences. So, did you read that first line twice? I hope so and thank you. I firmly believe that it’s important to share…

One chilly October afternoon in 1926 an event occurred that changed the trajectory and lives of the entire Ambrose and Ann Call family. A terrible accident occurred in the kitchen. ​On this particular day, Ann was in the kitchen preparing dinner and not paying attention to her youngest daughter, Lois. Little Lois (as I  affectionately call…