Let Them Eat Cake

 Hannah Billings, M1, Class of 2023

My name is Hannah Billings, I am a first-year medical student who runs a local cake pop business, Cake on a Stick LLC.

From hobby to business . . . Cake on a Stick began as a creative outlet, paired with a passion for baking. After trial and (many) errors, techniques were perfected, and delicious masterpieces were made. While the process of baking is enjoyable, the real fun was in sharing with family and friends. And thanks to the encouragement and supportiveness of the early taste-testers, Cake on a Stick was born and it’s poppin’!

A Musical Arrangement

Alexis Yakes, M1, Class of 2023

“Alexis Yakes is from Denver, Colorado.  She was a concert pianist as a child, and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, as an undergraduate majoring in Contemporary Writing and Production.  She then attended New York University in New York City, New York, in order to obtain prerequisites necessary for Medical School through the Post-Baccalaureate program.  She has worked multiple career trajectories including personal training/fitness instructing, assistant producing/radio programming, and bartending.  She is currently a Doctorate of Medicine candidate class of 2023 at the University of Kansas.  When not studying, she can be found hanging out with her two dogs, Gibson and Bunny, the loves of her life.”

Triple

Stefano Byer, M2, Class of 2022

Incredulous of the report of the malignant lump, my heart tore
To the verses of Robbin’s, I hastily implored
What fate lies ahead for my family’s core?
 
We’ve been branded a diagnosis
Praying for a positive prognosis

The Tumor Board

Ben Harstine, M3, Class of 2021

Round the table
 Sit one by one
 We talk, we vote
 Another decision done.
 Sixty-five and sick
 Tumor load too large
  
 Surgery? No.
 Chemo? No.
 Radiation No.
 It must be time to go on.
  
 Next.
  
 Eighty-seven
 A tumor again
 One more shot
 Hope not lost,
 Decisions begin

Caps for Sale

David Embers – Class of 2020

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Four-year-old David was a simple guy. He loved to eat, he loved to argue, but most of all, he loved to wear hats. He loved cowboy hats, baseball hats, and party hats. Any kind of hat. An odd obsession for sure, especially when his head was so egregiously large. Regardless, it was his first love. His favorite book to read at bedtime was Caps for Sale, a children’s book detailing the life of a cap peddler who was unique in that he wore all the hats he had for sale on his own head. My mom and dad must have read me that book a thousand times. I can still recite entire pages from memory. I spent hours thinking about how happy that hat salesman must have been. Considering its intended audience was pre-kindergarten, the book’s author likely did not anticipate impacting a reader so deeply, but that’s an issue to take up with pudgy, argumentative, cap wearing four-year-old David. How frustrating must it be to be my parents? You pick out some random book at the bookstore hoping your kid will fall asleep by page four like he does every other book. Instead, he forces you to re-read it over and over again. And then, the next day, when you need help putting away dishes, he’s standing there eating his eighth popsicle, daydreaming about how many hats he can balance on his head. Whatever my parents got paid to put up with me, it wasn’t enough. And yet, as it stands today, some twenty years later, I’m still thinking about that book. Popsicle in hand, I’m still thinking about what it really means to wear all the hats.

Mary Fischer, Class of 2022

Each story is unique, intimate, and powerful. Readers, please come open-minded and ready to engage with the following stories. More importantly, be ready to interface with an intimate space and allow yourself to step inside someone else’s life. The following is the narrative of Mary Fischer, a second-year medical student at KUMC.

Emily Johnson, Class of 2022

Each story is unique, intimate, and powerful. Readers, please come open-minded and ready to engage with the following stories. More importantly, be ready to interface with an intimate space and allow yourself to step inside someone else’s life. The following is the narrative of Emily Johnson, a second-year medical student at KUMC.

Hot Take: Health Care Copays are Placing Our Inmates at Risk

Hebron Kelecha – Class of 2021

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Imagine you work in the kitchen of a correctional facility and your copay for a doctors’ visit costs $5. However, you make a whopping 33 cents an hour.

That is the reality faced by many who are incarcerated in prisons throughout the United States. It is not surprising that most of our prison population is poor when they enter the prison system. Couple this with jobs that pay less than a dollar an hour and fees for accessing health care, and we are laying the foundation for negative health outcomes.

Jared Mazurek, Class of 2022

Each story is unique, intimate, and powerful. Readers, please come open-minded and ready to engage with the following stories. More importantly, be ready to interface with an intimate space and allow yourself to step inside someone else’s life. The following is the narrative of Jared Mazurek, a second-year medical student at KUMC.

Lauren Zeller, Class of 2022

Each story is unique, intimate, and powerful. Readers, please come open-minded and ready to engage with the following stories. More importantly, be ready to interface with an intimate space and allow yourself to step inside someone else’s life. The following is the narrative of Lauren Zeller, a second-year medical student at KUMC.