From the mailbag: What happened to The Journal of Nursing Jocularity?

RE: What happened to The Journal of Nursing Jocularity?

Thanks for asking. I was Vice-President of the JNJ during its eight year stint and best friends with publisher, Doug Fletcher. Doug had a great vision when he created the JNJ and left a tremendous legacy. His untimely death, and the deaths of our friends and colleagues Bob Diskin (Too Live Nurse), Georgia Moss, and Diane Rumsey, left a huge void in the world of healthcare humor. In Doug’s honor, AATH has named its Lifetime Achievement Award after Doug (see www.aath.org)

 Below is an announcement I created when we ceased publication of the JNJ. Barely a day goes by that I don’t think of Doug and smile. 

The Journal of Nursing Jocularity was a quarterly publication for nurses and health professionals that was written, edited, illustrated and published by nurses and health professionals. The first issue was Spring, 1991; the last issue was the Spring, 1998. Filled with satire, true stories, cartoons, and all around funny stuff related to nursing and health care – it established its place in nursing history as the only humor magazine for nurses. 

With the death of Doug Fletcher, Diane Rumsey, Georgia Moss, Bob Diskin, and Debra Woodbury on May 1, 1998 the Journal of Nursing Jocularity ultimately ceased publication.

Below is the news report from the Albany Times: 

  

Tragic Accident Results in End of an Era

ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, MARK McGUIRE, and JOE PICCHI Staff writer

A fiery head-on collision between a tractor-trailer and a sport-utility vehicle left five people dead and three injured Friday morning on Route 20.  The dead were registered nurses scheduled to perform in a comedy show Friday night at the Theater Barn in New Lebanon. The show — “Who’s Got the Keys?” — was supposed to run three nights. A representative of the theater said Friday afternoon that the show had been canceled.All the victims, three women and two men, were in a 1994 Ford Explorer. One woman was thrown from the vehicle onto the road. The others remained in the Explorer, which caught fire after the tractor-trailer rolled over it, police said. A third car, a 1987 Chevrolet sedan, also was involved in the 10:24 a.m. accident.  The Explorer was registered to one of the victims, a Columbia County resident. The others were from Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona, State Police Capt. John Byrne said.The names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of their families, Byrne said. They were pronounced dead at the scene by Columbia County Coroner Angelo Nero.State Police Sgt. G.E. McGreevy said the Explorer pulled out of Jefferson Hill Road onto Route 20 and into the path of an eastbound tractor-trailer laden with about 1,300 used tires. The vehicles collided head-on.  The crash also involved a third vehicle that was heading west on Route 20 toward Nassau, which police surmise might have collided with the tractor-trailer before it rammed into the Explorer.  The condition of the wreckage and the death toll made it difficult for State Police to immediately determine the accident’s cause, Byrne said.

Three people were pulled alive from the crash scene and taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital, one of them by helicopter. The accident closed Route 20, a two- to four-lane road that twists through Rensselaer County en route to Massachusetts.

Truck driver Byron Chacon, 30, of West Haven, Conn., is in fair condition, authorities said. He underwent surgery for injuries to his right arm and suffered multiple abrasions, according to hospital officials.  His co-worker, Jose Ardon, 38, also of West Haven, was in fair condition with a head injury, facial cuts and burns to his hands, officials said. He was taken to the hospital by helicopter.  Donna Brightman, 36, 921 Saratoga Ave., Ballston Spa, the driver of the third vehicle, was released from the hospital after being treated for a head cut and a knee injury.

Police said the tractor-trailer began its trip from the West Haven offices of Inter-East Tires, which collects used tires and brings them back to Connecticut. The truck had made several stops in Albany and Troy, and was en route to Pittsfield when the accident occurred.  “I feel terrible,” said Inter-East Vice President Steve Briley. “This fellow (Chacon) has been an excellent employee. We’ve never had a problem.”

Brightman’s westbound sedan, which was damaged on the driver’s side, careered off the road into the woods about 100 yards from Jefferson Hill Road. Broken glass and parts of her car were strewn along the road, uphill from the crash site.

Byrne said it was too early to determine what happened, but police have developed a working theory: that the tractor-trailer was heading down a moderately steep hill on Route 20 while the Chevrolet was headed uphill toward the village of Nassau. The Ford Explorer was on Jefferson Hill Road, which is about in the middle of the hill. Police think the blue car might have hit the tractor-trailer first, causing the truck to plow into the Explorer as it pulled out of Jefferson Hill Road heading toward Nassau.

The Ford Explorer was reduced to a twisted, blackened hunk of metal. The vehicle appeared to be squashed, as though the tractor-trailer had driven directly over it — which Byrne called “one possible scenario.”

The impact of the trailer hitting the Explorer was so great that the vehicle’s license plate was found deep in the woods. The Explorer caught fire and was fully engulfed when the members of seven volunteer fire departments arrived.

The tractor-trailer plowed over the north side guardrail on Route 20 and flipped, scattering the used tires onto the road and into the woods. The trailer stretched halfway across Route 20, blocking the road.  Two hours after the accident, fire and police were still extracting the dead from the Explorer.  “You get pretty messed up when you see people burning and can’t do anything about it,” said Tsatsawassa Fire Chief Jay Kreutziger, who arrived at the scene moments after the crash and saw the Explorer engulfed in flames.

Kreutziger said a nearby resident, who was unidentified and could not be found, hurried to the road with a fire extinguisher in an unsuccessful effort to douse the flames.  Both truckers were able to get out of the vehicle on their own despite the fact that the truck’s cab was upside-down.  Traffic was diverted to side roads off Route 20, which remained closed as of 11 p.m. Friday but was expected to reopen by midnight.

At a news conference Friday night at Troop G headquarters in Loudonville, Byrne said he confirmed that several of the victims were nurses who were supposed to perform the night of the accident in a production called “Who’s Got the Keys?”  The show was part of a Nurses Week celebration, following a demonstration at the state Capitol by a grass-roots nurses organization called the Florence Project that publicizes problems related to health care.

Bright yellow fliers advertising the show were strewn about the accident scene at the intersection of Jefferson Hill Road and Route 20.  The fliers described “Who’s Got the Keys?” as a musical comedy put on by a cast of 20 singing and dancing health care professionals. The show was to be about an exhausted nurse who “discovers the real meaning of being a nurse” by battling an evil, four-headed HMO monster with help from a wacky cast of characters.

Katherine Smeland Pebler, the New York state coordinator of the Florence Project, said the five nurses who died in Friday’s accident had just rehearsed “Who’s Got the Keys?” at the Theater Barn and were heading to Albany to attend the rally at the Capitol steps.  A nurse who had been at the rehearsal but declined to join the group heading to the rally and instead went home to her 4-year-old son assisted the police in identifying the victims, Smeland Pebler said.

“Our profession has experienced a great loss,” said Smeland Pebler, reached by phone at her home Friday night.”The fact that these RNs, who have been working so hard on this play to bring to light the demise of health care in our nation, died, is tragic. Further, it disturbs us with the Florence Project that they were on their way to our rally.” Oster
contributed to this report.

First published on Saturday, May 2, 1998
Copyright 1998, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.

Viva Las Vegas! Humor at Work

 Standing in line—I HATE standing in line. Customer service lines, grocery store lines, lines at the Post Office, and my all-time-least favorite—Security Check Point Lines—until today. Viva Las Vegas! 

The Las Vegas Airport has taken a lesson from theme parks such as Disney Land and Six Flags, and now as you shuffle through security to get to your gate, you can be distracted—even entertained—albeit briefly, on monitors strategically placed along your path. 

Imagine (subtle) instructions on how to go through the security check point via The Blue Man Group (with their electric message boards flashing: “You must be a ticketed passenger”), Monty Python (Absolutely no weapons, and that includes swords!), and a cast of characters from various shows on The Strip, all conveying messages on how to get through the security line quickly and efficiently. 

LAS gets it. Whether it sales, customer service, business services, healthcare—humor works! You can inform people, and at the same time decrease their frustration, distract them from the fact that they’re being herded like cattle to the stockyards, relieve some anxiety, and even entertain them! And if this can be accomplished in a security check point line—think what you could accomplish in your line of work. 

Los Angeles, D.C., Chicago—take note! Tally-ho!

From the mailbag: when people aren’t ready to laugh–how to make the connection

RE: At a circumstance when people are not ready to laugh, could you tell me how to make the connection to humour? 

Great question! One of the key factors to the effectiveness of humor is “timing” (the other two being bond and environment—see blog at my website for more on those). There are many factors involved in why a person may not be ready to laugh. One of the primary ones is “emotional attachment.”In other words—many times humor comes from pain and the pain becomes funny when people are no longer feeling a personal emotional stake in the situation.

If the person isn’t ready to laugh because they are sad, sometimes they need to work through the sadness before they can laugh. Allow them more time to cry, to get over it. You can gently start introducing humor by using self-effacing humor, or by reminiscing about funnier, happier times. 

Rather than try to “give” humor to the other person, try “receiving” the humor. In other words, ask them to share a funny story with you. Something like: “Has your little girl/daughter/granddaughter said anything funny lately?” Or “Crazy stuff happens where I work all the time” (share something), then ask, “Does anything like that ever happen where you work?”  

If the person is receptive to ideas, ask them to start a list of fun things they like to do. They need to list no less than 10, and half of the ideas should be minimal to no cost (sometimes we’re unhappy because we have little money). Then encourage them, when they’re feeling unhappy, tired, irritable, etc. to make a commitment to do one thing on their list. 

If the person is just a negative person, then you’re probably not going to change them. You have to accept the fact that they don’t appreciate humor and not let it squelch your own humor enjoyment. 

I hope this answers your question. Let me know if I can further clarify. And like I said, if you cruise through the blog at www.humorx.com there is more commentary and there are also some articles that might be helpful. 

Yours in laughter!

Karyn

It’s a Funny World

It’s a funny world, if you’re listening. Yesterday while waiting at the gate for my flight to board (and slamming down my Starbucks which could NOT accompany me on my flight) a voice boomed dramatically on the overhead:

 

“Do NOT attempt to sneak any liquids on board this flight. If you do, the lights will dim, sirens will blast, the gates will slam shut and you will be whisked away.” I don’t even know what the rest of the announcement was, as I was laughing out loud. I looked around—few if any were listening—too bad. You gotta grab the humor where you can find it—especially in airports.

 

My dear friend, Mary, shared that while sitting in the dentist chair, she overhead the conversation going on in the next room:

 

“It looks like you’re gonna need a root canal, Mrs. Smith,” the dentist said.

 

“Ugggghhhhhhhh! I’d rather have a baby!” came the woman’s reply.

 

The dentist responded, “Well, let me know which one you’d like me to perform so I can adjust the chair.”

 

One of my audience members shared that at a recent staff meeting, her CEO asked the team if anyone would like to participate in the 401K. A new and enthusiastic young man raised his hand and said, “I would—but can you tell me how many miles that would be?”

 

Another participant heard someone ask his surgeon about post-surgical limitations. “Can we have sex after my cataract surgery is over?”

“Not today,” the surgeon replied without missing a beat. “I’ve got other patients.”

 

One day my travel agent called and told me about a customer she’d just booked a flight for. Apparently it was the first time the lady had ever flown because when the agent asked her if she would prefer an aisle or a window seat, the woman paused and then responded, “You better give me an aisle seat. I don’t want to get my hair messed up.” (Don’t you just hate it when they leave the windows rolled down on those 747s???)

 

My advice—listen up and grab the laughs where you can.

Improv Your Customer Service

My youngest son, Adam, is a student at Second City, the school of improve in Chicago, the springboard for so many of the Saturday Night Live cast. Finally people who can appreciate what his high school teachers could not—his comedic genius! (How many trips to the principal’s office for entertaining his classmates? I lose track&hellip

Recently I asked him how he was applying his lessons at Second City to other areas of his life (hoping that my tuition dollars were getting the most bang for the yuck, so to speak). I was pleasantly taken aback by the wisdom he has acquired. He works evenings waiting tables (as many starving artists do) at a local restaurant/jazz club: Andy’s Jazz Club. (For those of you living or visiting Chicago, definitely check this place out—great food and great music [and amazing waiters—at least on certain nights…]).

He explained that the two most important rules of improv are 1) Never say no. Whatever the situation, say yes—take whatever situation you’re given (especially the unexpected) and go from there—run with it.

2) Make the rest of the ensemble look good. It’s not about yourself—it’s about the others on your team.

So… how does that apply to waiting tables??? Adam explained to me that every seat, every patron is a “scene” and whatever request is made, the answer is always yes. (Oh, that all the waiters and waitresses in my past could have said "yes," rather than—“we can’t substitute,” “it’s not our policy,” “you’re not my table” and other statements sure to ruin one’s appetite!)

Secondly, being a very funny guy, his tendency in the past was to entertain those at his tables—not a bad thing.  But what he’s realized is that there’s always at least one person in every group that enjoys being funny, too. Thus rule #2: Make the other person look good. Adam loves being funny, but now his goal is to make someone at his table appear funnier than him. “When I’m funny, I get good tips. But when I make the other guy look even funnier, I get great tips.”

Wow! The answer to almost all customer service challenges wrapped up in the first two rules of improv!

Say yes to the customer’s request and run with it—make it work using creativity, imagination, humor and whatever it takes.

It’s about the other people, not us. Making our customers, patients, coworkers, bosses, spouses, family members, friends, classmates—whomever!—look good.  As my mom always said, “what goes around comes around.”

Way to go, Adam. Go to the head of the class.

May 1 (You don’t have to make this stuff up…)

Eau brother! Hasbro and Demeter Fragrance Library have released their latest essence: Eau de Play-Doh! The limited-edition scent (smelling amazingly like the distinctive smelling modeling compound) is a smell for “highly creative people” says Hasbro’s publicist. At $19 an ounce—such a bargain! Other scents include Dirt, Tomato and Thunderstorm are available at www.demeterfragrance.com

 

Just what I always wanted–to smell like Mr. Bill!

April 7

Observed t-shirt: Party ‘til he’s cute

Observed bumper sticker: D.A.M.  Mothers Against Dyslexia

 

While I was standing in line at Starbuck’s, a curly headed four year old girl in tow with her mom by and shrieked, ”Oh boy! Starbucks!” The woman behind me murmured, “she raised her right!”

 

 

The flight attendant caught everyone’s attention when she announced during the safety instructions: “The lavatory is located in the front of the cabin. It will remain in the front of the cabin for the duration of the flight. At no time will the lavatory be in the back of the cabin.  In the unlikely event of a water landing, your seat may be used as a flotation device. Place your arms through the straps, lean against the cushion, and once you have paddled to safely to shore, you may keep the cushion with our compliments.”

 

My 7-year-old stepson, Tom, was assigned to do a report for school but he couldn’t decide what to write about. We ran through a litany of ideas: animals, bugs, super heroes, cartoon characters—nothing appealed to him. We then ran through his favorite kinds of foods: pizza, M&Ms, bagels—no luck.  “I don’t want to write about foods,” he said adamantly.

 

Out of desperation, his dad said, “How about boogers?!”

 

Tom cocked his head and smiled. “I said I don’t want to write about food!”

 

You know what they say—the difference between boogers and broccoli is that kids won’t eat their broccoli!

February 7

Feb 7

Just finished up a delightful trip visiting my two awesome sons. They’re as different as night and day and I couldn’t love them more. My oldest, David, has the laid back dry wit of his dad, with a slightly sicker twist (gets that from me!). We watched “Anchorman” with Will Ferrell together and laughed out loud—what a great bonding experience! He’s still cancer-free, although he’s still dealing with the ramifications of chemo: avascular necrosis in both hips that will eventually necessitate hip replacements. He takes it a day at a time, all in stride and keeps his sense of humor. I’m so proud of him.

My youngest, Adam, took me to the Improv Olympics (in
Chicago—brrrrrrrr!) last night. What a hoot! These guys and gals are so quick on their feet, taking a cue from the audience and running wild with it. A lot of people really haven’t experienced or understand Improv. It’s a terrific skill that would benefit anyone in their daily life—at work or at home—learning to think on your feet—quickly, creatively and with humor. Adam is currently studying improve atSecond
City—the springboard for many of the Saturday Night Live cast. I’m quite confident that somewhere in the not-so-distant future you’ll see his smiling face there, as well. Adam and I shared laughs over “Wedding Crashers” (also with a Will Ferrell cameo). I guess my boys do share something in common—they both crack up over Will Ferrell!

Tonite I’m heading back for home to my new husband and warmer weather. It’s a long flight back to
San Diego but the crew of Southwest doesn’t let me down. After completing the safety instructions, the flight attendant notified us that the cabin lights would be turned down “to enhance the appearance” of the person seated next to us. He then went on to explain that the reading lights could be found above our heads, in between and not to be confused with the call lights for the flight attendants, which were on either side of the reading lights. He suggested we find them right away as “it’s gonna get reeeeeeeeal dark in here.” He paused and then turned off the cabin lights. Immediately we heard a “ding” as a flight attendant call light was accidentally pushed. He sighed and then commented, “There’s always one!”

January 24

Tuesday 3:30 p.m.  I’m
Karyn Buxman-Godek and I can’t believe you actually found you way to my blog.  Amazing… Here’s where you’ll get to read my observations and rants which will hopefully have some connection to humor as it relates to business, relationships and health. The world’s a funny place. Trouble is, most of the time we’re too busy to note the funny stuff that’s right under our noses. Maybe that’s where I come in. Seems that I have a knack for finding the humor in a situation. Granted, things aren’t always funny. Time may have to pass before we can find the humor in a situation. But I think most adult humor comes from pain and discomfort. It may be our own or someone else’s—it may be a little pain, it may be a lot—who knows? But in today’s world there’s no shortage of pain so there probably isn’t going to be a shortage of humor, either.

 

Yesterday was a day filled with frustration. After recently getting married (not the frustrating part!) I’m in the process of moving and I can’t find anything. Seems no matter what I need, I can’t find it. My life is chaos and piles. And then last night my husband stands before me holding our tickets to Cirque du Soliel—soooooo??? The tickets were for the day before— we’d spent our Sunday afternoon trudging through piles and piles of stuff when we were supposed to be at the long-awaited (and not cheap) Cirque du Soliel— agggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I’m depressed and frustrated to the point of tears. And then this wonderful man sits me down, tells me to close my eyes and after a few moments, instructs me to turn to the tv. I look and there is my favorite scene from the hysterical movie (and I do mean hysterical!!!!) In and Out with Kevin Kline. There’s no way I can watch him dance to “I Will Survive” and stay depressed—just no way. I’m gonna keep this man—You want a successful relationship? Find someone you can laugh with (and laugh and laugh&hellip BTW, if you haven’t seen In & Out, run, don’t walk to your nearest Blockbuster and rent it.

 

Today is one of those days that I get to practice what I preach. I’m on my way to do a presentation for the Florida Educational Facilities Planners Association. Just as we’re pulling away from the gate at the
San Diego airport—bam! Mechanical failure. After keeping us a captive audience (literally) and in suspense—they decide they better put us all on another plane—too bad it won’t get there in time for my connection, a.k.a. the last flight out to Jacksonville, FL (than you very much, Delta). Drats—now I have to fly to
Savannah, GA and drive to Amelia Island, FL, getting in sometime around 1 a.m.  (On our second plane, we’re flying for about 5 minutes when we here this loud “whump” and shortly after the captain announces that the noise was an engine and we probably weren’t gonna make it to
Atlanta (thanks, again, Delta). N-E-way… seems that we’re gonna give it a try. If you’re reading this, then I guess we made it.)

 

Few people can grasp how directionally challenged I am. When getting driving directions from someone and they say, “you can’t miss it,” I shudder. There are days I can’t find my way out of a brown paper bag with a map… And now I’m driving in the middle of the night to a place I’ve never been in a car that’s not mine and no GPS available… And after all this grief, I get to step up on stage and tell folks how to find the humor in the situation.

 

Hmmm… how could this be worse…  I could be stuck in the last row of the airplane… middle seat… between 2 sumo wrestlers… with flatulence problems… yikes—that definitely would be worse…  this may take some more time to find the humor in this—but I guess that’s a start. More later.