Damn the Slam - it's done!

Missed the Slam?
Damn! We had a
damn fine time of
rhythm and rhyme
humour and wit and
more than a bit
of politics
left and right
(but mostly left)

Mariam's a wonder -
no wonder we all love her
did the job, found the guests
did her best
love poems
while her man just smiled and
added up the scores

Her special guests
set the bar pretty high
but the bar was nigh
and the docs didn't flinch,
didn't give an inch
steeled as they are for a fight to the death
to see who's best
in any kind of tussle
where wit not muscle
brings the spoils

There was medical madness, sadness, badness,
and a little joy
but boy, very little
for it seems
the dreams of docs
are haunted
by what they've seen
and been made to do
so soon

But they made us laugh and
click with delight
on a black winter's night
on a bright red stage
with comments sage
unfaltering rhythm, impeccable rhyme
alliterating, iterating, titillating,
scintillating, stimulating, motivating
fascinating
fun



Thanks from Creative Doctors to:
Dr Mariam Chaalan, the Red Rattler Theatre  in Marrickville (what a great venue!), Judith Babich of Active Locums and special guests Will Small and Jonathon Davis and the 70 plus finger-clicking audience members who all had an amazing experience.

Reigniting Creativity

Someone asked me recently how to get back into art. I don't know that I'm the right person to ask, but I suggested that she come to some Creative Doctors networking meetings and ask some people who've done just that how they went about "getting back into art"  after many years of a life immersed in medicine.

Since then I've met someone else who might be able to help.

Sally Swain is an  artist, art therapist and "creativity coach" from Sydney who has a blog called Art and Soul Space. She's also the author of several very interesting books including "Great Housewives of Art" a wonderfully humourous and provocative look at art and gender through such serious subjects as Madame Degas vacuuming in her tutu and Mrs Picasso dusting the mantelpiece. (You can click here to see more of the fabulous pictures from the book)

If you want to be inspired have a look at Sally's blog. I guarantee that every post will make you smile. You'll love the non-linear connections, the flexible thinking and the way she turns the everyday into something special.

You may even come away inspired to do something creative yourself.

Creative Doctors Dates to Remember:

We're giving you the opportunity to help create our visual identity and Thursday 30th July is closing date for the logo competition. 

Entries must be received by midnight on 30th July to be in contention

Logo suggestions should be simple, bright, memorable and reflect the purpose of Creative Doctors

Submit entries via the contact form on the blog or directly to janorman@mccauleysoftware.com

Here's a link to more information

Thursday 30th July  is ALSO the date of the

Creative Doctors inaugural POETRY SLAM  

at 7.00pm at the Red Rattler in Marrickville

Click here for more information about the night and on their names to see special guests Jonathon Davis  and  Will Small at work

AND

Thursday 10th September

is Performers Night at the Camelot Lounge

People are excited already about our annual Performers Night and I am getting calls from prospective performers hoping to secure their spot on the program. 

Based on past successes we can guarantee it will be a great evening.

Performers start rehearsing now! -
and if you want to be in the audience
please put the date in your calendar.

This will be best medical variety show in Sydney on the night! 

Invitations to performers will be coming out soon. 
Make sure you watch this space and your inbox. 

Just to give you a feel for it, you can see some visual highlights of doctors and medical students performing at past Creative Doctors Performers Nights on the right

You'll be amazed by what you see!!

Writers Night Anthology Part 5 - An elephant in the room

I can't find any pictures of Alan Lackey that don't involve him accepting a prize for something. I've succumbed to the pressure. There he is on the left accepting yet another one while at medical school (which, for him, wasn't all that long ago).
At Writers Night 2015 he showed another side of himself, reading two poems one of which, "An elephant in the room", you can read on the Original Words page by clicking here

OMG!!! The logo competition entry address is wrong!

Many apologies to those of you who have been trying to send in your logo competition entries to the email address advertised.
We've received some entries via the blog (which was clever!) but the email address for entries should have been janorman@mccauleysoftware.com (there are two "c"s in mccauley not one)
Looking forward to hearing from even more of you now i've finally got it right!

Writers Night Anthology - Part 4 Robyn Coleman's Travel Blog

Robyn Coleman is a retired GP and Occupational Medicine Physician whose art work featured at our Visual Arts Night earlier this year.
Robyn has recently added travel writing to her list of creative interests and treated us with a post from her new blog at Writer's Night last month.
To read "Ancient Olympia Comes to Life", the work Robyn presented at Creative Doctors Writers Night 2015, go to her blog travelwritingwithvictoriarobyn

Writers Night Anthology - Part 3: Pumpkin Soup

There's a new story on the Original Words page. Click here  to find it. It's the one I read at the Writers Night this year. It's a bit wicked and, before you ask, all the characters are entirely fictitious!
Writing short stories and poetry is something I do for my own pleasure. It gives me a sense of achievement and provides me with a place to anchor all the free floating emotions dislodged by my challenging day job.
I'd like to be a real writer one day but I guess I'll have to hurry if that's ever going to happen. In the meantime I'm just doing it for fun.

Logo, Logo, Logo!!!!

Gillian Corban of Corban and Blair

A couple of months ago we announced that Creative Doctors needs a logo. We need a logo for our letterhead, our blog and for banners to fly at our events.
We have had a couple of great suggestions so far but we want more to choose from so we are finally announcing that THE COMPETITION IS ON!!
We have a judge (Gillian Corban from Corban and Blair, a Sydney based company that specialises in great design and custom made products)  and a prize (a voucher from that same company)
We need something bright and snappy that reflects the links between medicine and creativity and that will easily translate to a poster or a banner.
Send your entry to janorman@mccauleysoftware.com  by 30th July 2015 to be in the running.
We'll announce the winner in August and your work will be immortalised through Creative Doctors!

Announcing Creative Doctors First Ever POETRY SLAM!

Dr Mariam Chaalan

We've got new blood and new blood brings great new ideas...so we're having a POETRY SLAM!
Want to know what it is? Check out the Australian Poetry Slam website at the end of this link. Watch some slam poets at work and decide whether its your kind of entertainment or better still, if you can do it too!
Dr Mariam Chaalan has found us the perfect slam venue in the Red Rattler Theatre in Marrickville and invited a couple of very special guests, slam poets Will Small and Jonathon Davis (click on their names to see them at work)
Go to the Events Page of this blog for more details.See you in Marrickville on 30th July

Writer's Night Anthology - Part 2: Poetry by Brendan McPhillips

Brendan performing at Camelot 2014

Brendan McPhillips is a Sydney based GP psychotherapist whose interests extend to writing poetry and prose, and improvised performance. He has been involved in improvised theatre for over a decade in a group now called the Out of the Box Theatre Company (formerly Paperbag Playback) which relies on techniques of spontaneous response as a way of honouring the everyday events of our lives http://outoftheboxtheatre.com.au/
There is a clear connection between these personal interests and Brendan's professional life

Brendan's contribution to writer's night was a very beautiful and personal poem about his relationship with his "goddaughter" You can find Brendan's poem on the Original Words Page of this blog