The Sound of Music

October 2025 | Vol. 69, No. 3
Written by Sam Garloff, DO

Earlier this week, I was happy*. Honestly, quite happy. It was a week of perfect beginnings. The Sun-Times reported that Chicago will be home to the Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine, the first new Chicago medical school in over a century. Even better, the curriculum is reported to integrate mental and physical medicine throughout each year to deepen a physician’s holistic approach to not only patient care, but self-care. To an over-the-hill shrink, living in Chicago, what could sound better?

My friends, the happiness I felt didn’t stop there. Friday, my spouse and I were scheduled to attend the CSO, featuring Mahler. Two days later, dinner out to celebrate our 57th anniversary. Then, the vicissitudes and vulgarities of life arrived.

Thursday morning, I awoke to a text message from the wife of an old friend. I knew it could not be good news. Dave, aka Zoot, was now receiving home hospice care. Dx: Glioblastoma.

Zoot and I have been friends for 65 years. I gave him his nickname, which he accepted with pride. You see, Dave was a tenor sax/clarinet man. I tagged him after Zoot Sims, the famous tenor sax player for Benny Goodman, Kenny Baker, Stan Kenton, Artie Shaw, and Woody Herman’s “The Four.” You see, that was the level of Dave’s playing.

"Where ID was, there EGO shall be"

~ Sigmund Freud

June 2025 | Vol. 69, No. 2
Written by Sam Garloff, DO

Typically, when I proffer a submission to the newsletter or journal, it is rather whimsical. Not this time. Andrew Budson, MD, a researcher at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has published a New Explanation for Consciousness. "In a nutshell, our theory is that consciousness developed as a memory system that is used by our unconscious brain to help us flexibly and creatively imagine the future and plan accordingly." [This] "suggests that we don't perceive the world, make decisions or perform actions directly. Instead, we do all these things unconsciously and then, about a half second later, consciously remember doing them....We knew that conscious processes were simply too slow to be actively involved in music, sports and other activities where split-second reflexes are required."