Broad Street Review

Philly's home for arts, culture, and conversation

David Woods

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since November 13, 2012

David Woods is a medical editor who lives in Philadelphia's Society Hill neighborhood. Visit his website at www.davidwoods.info.

As founder and CEO of Healthcare Media International (HMI), I publish periodicals on management, communication, risk management, and managed care... and provide consulting and editorial services in these areas, as well as on healthcare policy.

I have a doctorate in health policy, and have written four books and 100+ articles, editorials and reviews in peer reviewed healthcare publications. For five years I taught a summer course on medical writing at Jefferson's College of Graduate Studies and served as editor in chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal before coming to Philadelphia in 1988. For the past 12 years I've been editor and publisher of Philadelphia Medicine... and I'm a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. You can find more than you can possibly want to know at www.davidwoods.info.

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Page 1

Is this cute little bird leading kids — and adults — astray?

Social media's effect on English literacy

2b or not 2b, that is the ?

Are social media dumbing down the English language? Is Shakespeare getting squeezed out?

Jan 20, 2014 Essays 2 minute read

Mel Gibson as Braveheart: Give me childcare or give me death?

Scotland flirts with independence

Calling Rob Roy: It’s time for your breath test

Scotland, the rugged land that gave the world capitalism and more inventions than you can shake a stick at, is now contemplating rugged independence, the better to achieve a welfare state.

Dec 03, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Beneath David Cameron's mild exterior beats the raging soul of Henry V (above).

Taunt the British at your peril

This means war! (or at least a change of subject)

So you think the English are modest and self-deprecating? Did you see how Prime Minister David Cameron responded when a Russian insulted his country? That ought to show them!

Sep 15, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Why waste our time here when we could go to a motel?

Automobiles: Yesterday's status symbol

End of the love affair: The automobile's last gasp?

Is the automobile going the way of the newspaper? In an age of $4-a-gallon gas and improved mass transit alternatives, tooling around in a gas-guzzler has become a luxury many people can happily do without. Yes, even teenagers.

Aug 26, 2013 Essays 2 minute read

A typical American's idea of global news.

Broadcast news: Here comes Al Jazeera

Celebrities, begone! Al Jazeera brings you the very serious news

American TV news operations have astutely perceived that Americans really don't care much about what's going on in other parts of the world. So why do the Brits and Middle East oil sheiks think otherwise?

Aug 26, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Why does any label with the word 'French' sound raunchy to Americans?

When Anglophones speak French

How do you say ‘Wi-Fi' in French?

French is a beautiful language. Why do Americans, Britons and Canadians alike insist on mangling it?

Jul 27, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Awaiting the guests in 'Downton Abbey': Bowing, scrapingâ€” and job security.

Where have all the servants gone?

It seemed like a good job, considering the alternatives

Today's relatively classless society has rendered the servants of “Downton Abbey” and “Upstairs Downstairs” virtually obsolete. Yet the gulf between rich and poor seems as wide as ever.

Jul 23, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

All quiet on the warring front

At last, peace and quiet (or at least quiet): The good/bad news about cyberwarfare

Thanks to drones, robots and toxic chemicals, modern warfare is quieter and cheaper than ever before. That means it's even more dangerous.

Jul 13, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Admit it: Wouldn't your life be drab without Kate and Will?

Brits and Americans: How we really differ

How do you raise your kids? (And other British-American conflicts)

Britain and the U.S. are two nations separated by a common language, you've heard it said. But if you ask a native-born Brit married to a Jewish American— like me— the gulf far transcends mere linguistics.

Jul 13, 2013 Essays 4 minute read

Regimented schooling, as seen in 'Pink Floyd The Wall' (1979).

Education: The key question

The missing curriculum: How to think

Today the question is not whether we need education, but what kind. The idea that an education should encourage the pursuit of learning and knowledge as an end in itself seems to be going by the board.

Jun 21, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Now the good news: Your insurance will cover your condition.

The new "psychiatric Bible'

Psychiatrist, heal thyself

You've heard it said— jokingly or not— that most psychiatrists go into the field in order to work out issues of their own. A slog through the profession's new de facto Bible pages suggests that the joke is no joke.

Jun 04, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Rupert Murdoch is 82; his mother liived to 103.

Don't call me old!

The best is yet to come: Thinking outside the old-age box

Just think: A 60-year-old in reasonable health will likely have 25 years more on this planet. It's time we started thinking of age 60 as a beginning, not an end.

Apr 05, 2013 Essays 6 minute read

'My fellow jelly doughnuts....'

Remedial English for public officials

Who will speak up for language?

A recent study provided the alarming news that 75 percent of California community college students need remedial English courses. What the percentage is for public figures we can only guess at.

Mar 16, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

The next pope

The case for a CEO pope

What the Catholic Church needs now is neither a saint nor a scholar but something it has really never had before: a turnaround specialist.

Mar 02, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Will future generations extol the droll wit of Ann Coulter?

The decline of wit in public life

What Churchill said to Lady Astor (and Ann Coulter didn't say to Obama)

Incivility and intemperate language are on the rise in political and public discourse. But as Churchill and Disraeli demonstrated, there's a way to get your point across and have a little fun, too.

Dec 29, 2012 Essays 3 minute read