June 17, 2005

Author meets with Admitting's journal club

There was as much laughter as literature on the docket when Gloucester author Charlotte Gordon met with the Admitting Department's journal club June 8. The journal club, a group composed of staff from Admitting, has met monthly for the past year to discuss works ranging from health care-related articles from The New Yorker to favorite poems. When Nancy Connery, director of Admitting and the original organizer of the journal club, recently heard Gordon read from her book Mistress Bradstreet, a biography of Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet, she immediately thought of the group. Eighteen employees, a mix of journal club members and guests, took part in a lively lunchtime discussion with Gordon in the Sweet Room. Gordon, also a published poet and teacher, touched on subjects ranging from the Puritan mindset to the elements that define the American style of poetry.

Gordon, front left, with members of the Admitting journal club

Connery formed the MGH group to provide an opportunity for Admitting staff who enjoy reading to come together. Participants have found that literature and poetry open avenues of discussion around a variety of issues. "Charlotte Gordon was knowledgeable, articulate and funny," Connery says. "It really was a wonderful hour for all of us. The department was on a "book high" for the rest of the day."