Doctor, Doctor . . .

Since I’ve been sick and missed two days of digging, I can’t report much on the archaeological end of things from this week. I’m reduced to telling stories from the first two weeks of the dig, when "the kids" were here and up to their antics and when we had a bunch of academic doctors (ThDs and PhDs) and one MD: the 2 Drs. Schuler, Dr. Chambers, Dr. Friend, Dr. Holst, Dr. Patella, Dr. Pratt, and her husband, the lone MD, Dr. Anders. Few people called Arny Friend or me "doctor," but most of the other academics were in positions of authority over students who were digging, so they were all addressed by most as "Dr. So-and-So," including Jay Anders, the MD. Sometimes a small group of us doctors would be standing together with students around and would get goofy, addressing one another ""doctor," "doctor" in imitation of a scene from MASH.

After our evening devotions on the night before Michael Patella left, it was clear that something was afoot among the students. Andrea, I believe, served as spokesperson for the group, and made their request. Before we all went our separate ways for the rest of the evening, she asked, could all the doctors stand in the middle of our circle of chairs on the beach, shake hands with one another, and say "Doctor," "Doctor." We all complied and had fun doing it. One of the students caught this scene on video, and I’m told, it will be in "Hippos 2006: The Movie." The next morning at 4:45 as we waited for the bus, the students were discussing the scene among themselves. "That went even better than I thought it would," said Andrea. Cameron concurred. Since the students’ time with us was cut short, there seems little possibility that scene will end up on the cutting room floor. Watch for previews of this coming attraction!

When Rachel sprained her ankle, Joyce ate something that disagreed with her, and Amanda and Kristina were out of circulation with their intestinal troubles, we called on Dr. Anders for medical advice. One evening as I was discussing Amanda and Kristina’s ailments with Efrat, our caring kibbutznik, she suggested they go to the kibbutz clinic. When I explained that Dr. Anders was an MD and had consulted with the young women, Efrat replied, "Oh, he’s a real doctor!" I couldn’t wait to pass that comment on to wife Dr. Susan Pratt, with whom I had recently had a discussion about the superiority of an academic PhD over a "trade degree" such as MD! We all got a good laugh over it, especially Dr. Anders.