Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with Peter

I don't know how many of you have ever read the book "Tuesday's with Morrie" by Mitch Albom, but I really like the story- even more that it took place at my Brandeis University. Morrie Schwartz was in the Sociology department- my department even- and was a great mentor to Mitch in teaching him about life. My mentor at Brandeis- Peter Conrad- is even more incredible and I feel very lucky to have been able to have given him a guided tour of my home of Salt Lake City for the past 3 days. Peter Conrad is one of the top medical sociologists in the world- he is most famous for his work on "medicalization" which is the process by which life events/traits take on a medical definition and medical treatment. Most of his work has investigated ADHD and now the appearance of adult ADHD and how it became a medicalized problem. My father teaches and sees patients at the University of Utah Medical School and has heard me talk and write alot about medicalization. My dad then arranged for Peter to come and present his work at "Grand Rounds"- the physician term for a morning lecture. Peter did an excellent job- as always- being quite lively and entertaining, yet passing on the key arguments and support. He presented to a standing room only crowd and then later that day in the Sociology department and then again at a small discussion group that evening.

In his free time, I was able to show him some of the beauties of Salt Lake City, as this was his first visit- and I too was reminded of just how beautiful it is. I first took him on the tram at Snowbird up to 11000 feet for a gorgeous view of the mountains. He also very kindly took this photo of me as well.
I also was able to take him to Temple Square where we took a tour of the 21,000 seat Conference Center
View of the Salt Lake Temple- where I was married 4 months ago- from the roof gardens of the conference center

and then to the newly restored- and earthquake safe- Tabernacle. This was really neat for me because this was my first time seeing it since the renovations- and it was quite beautiful, as you can see.
And then to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for this stunning, picturesque view of the temple

And then another view of the temple from the reflecting pool. This was actually one of the best times that I have been able to see the temple in the pool- and the photo turned out pretty goodFinally, since the weather has been so beautiful and perfect, he wanted to spend the rest of his time outdoors so we hiked up to Ensign Peak to have a stunning view of the entire valley, from the Great Salt Lake to downtown to the University of Utah. Here's the downtown view
And finally through Memorial Grove and part of City Creek Canyon. I truly enjoyed his visit- not only for hearing him speak and hearing his advice and help on my dissertation, future papers, and plans, but especially for hearing more about his life outside of academics. I have known Peter for 3 years and knew a little bit about his family and heritage, but I now know so much more and have an even greater respect and admiration for him. We also were able to discuss religion- he asked me specific questions about my faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and our basic beliefs (including our views on divorce, tattoos, godhead, diet coke) and I was able to ask him about the Jewish faith and he told me about some of the traditions that I had not known about, especially for the orthodox sect, and how much they read the Torah, separate dinner plates for meat products and milk products, and what gives Challah bread its great and unique taste (its eggs- in the batter and brushed on top).

It was so great to be able to spend so much time with him, especially since I won't be seeing him on such a regular basis anymore, given that we are on opposite coasts now, but I feel truly so lucky to have such an incredible mentor who has helped me to become a better medical sociologist and provided me with opportunities that I could have only dreamed of. Brandeis truly is an amazing place, as you can see that the legacy of mentors like Morrie Schwartz continues today.