Doctor taking skills back to Afghanistan
Elliott Larson closed his medical practice on Dec. 31, but the 65-year-old Southborough internist is headed to Afghanistan, not into retirement.
Larson and his wife, Martha, will travel to the capital city of Kabul, where he'll work with the International Assistance Mission, researching how best to start a postgraduate education program for doctors in Afghanistan.
The couple will spend six months learning Dari, one of two primary languages spoken in Afghanistan, before Larson starts his project. The International Assistance Mission is a Christian-based agency that has operated health, economic development, and educational programs in Afghanistan for more than 35 years, despite a temporary ouster by the Taliban in 2001.
"I think they have a lot of respect in the country for sticking with it," Larson said of the mission.
The fall of the Taliban has presented new opportunities for Afghanistan, and Larson would rather continue his medical work there than turn to a life of golf or tennis stateside.
"I enjoy practicing medicine, and I enjoy teaching," said Larson, who served as chief of medicine at Marlborough Hospital for four years through 2003. "It's challenging intellectually. The interns and residents have questions. Every situation is new, and every patient is slightly different. You're using your knowledge, but the application isn't always the same. That's why it's fascinating."
The move to Afghanistan will be the second for the Larsons, who lived there from 1970 to 1974. Larson had been working for three years as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., where he conducted early clinical trials of the rubella vaccine. He gave up that job when he was invited to teach microbiology at Nangarhar University's School of Medicine in Jalalabad, as part of a team of doctors organized by Indiana and Loma Linda universities.
Martha Larson, who had taught at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, started teaching other team members' children. Elliott Larson helped start a nursing school for women. Their second son was born in November 1971.
But King Mohammad Zahir Shah was overthrown in a July 1973 military coup by his former prime minister, Sardar Mohammad Daoud, who abolished the monarchy and declared himself president.
"The overall climate became less friendly to Americans as a consequence of that," Elliott Larson said. "One of the big changes was a lot more influence from the Soviet Union."
The Larsons decided to leave Afghanistan eight months later, traveling by VW beetle on a 10-week adventure that took the family through Iran and Turkey and across Europe to England.
The couple has often looked back on their experiences in the 30 years since.
"It had a huge impact on our lives," Elliott Larson said. "When you do something like that, it changes you forever."
He worked as a clinical scientist for the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council before the family moved back to the United States in 1991. He has twice returned to Afghanistan, most recently last July, when he visited three Kabul hospitals to give talks on infectious disease and do clinical teaching.
"It was an opportunity to see firsthand what it's like to live there," Larson said. "I would have no problem being there."
The Larsons expect to return to Afghanistan in March, and they've told the International Assistance Mission that their commitment is open-ended.
"These people want to learn," said Larson, who recalled his trip last summer. "One doctor turned to me after rounds and said, 'Dr. Larson, if you came here, you could really be of help.' To me, that's a really powerful motivator."
CREATING A WORLD OF HIS OWN -- Jeffrey Thomas is a third-shift production operator at
The Westborough author's novels and short stories blend horror, science fiction, and fantasy, sometimes with a little social commentary or satire thrown in.
"I think the only real magic in the world is human imagination," said Thomas, 47. "I have loved going to other worlds that people created, and I think somewhere along the line I decided I want to create my own world where people could go, too."
Punktown is Thomas's fictional world of choice, the setting for several of his novels and short stories, including "Everybody Scream!" his latest book, which was published in September by Raw Dog Screaming Press. The paperback edition of the novel was released this week.
"Punktown is an immense metropolis on another planet," Thomas explained. "It's primarily colonized by human beings, but there's also a wide variety of alien beings that live there as well. They all kind of come into conflict with each other, learn from each other, or fall in love with each other."
The book takes place in the span of one day in Punktown, on the grounds of an annual fair. " 'Everybody Scream!' would most readily be called science fiction, because it takes place in the future," Thomas said. "But it's also very dark, and it definitely has characteristics of a horror novel throughout its many subplots."
Darkness is a common theme in Thomas's work, which includes titles such as "Letters from Hades," "Aaaiiieee," and "Monstrocity," nominated as a best first novel for the Horror Writers Association's 2003 Bram Stoker Awards. Thomas admits much of his writing has its origins in anger.
"My darkness gets pretty dark sometimes," he said. "The darkest thing I can convey is a feeling of desolation -- when your spirit is so filled with blackness you can't get around it. Sometimes the violence you do to your own self psychologically is more destructive -- something you can't protect yourself from or run away from."
Thomas has wrestled with his own psychological demons in his battles with depression.
"I'm a typical artist with a typical artist's temperament," said Thomas, who's also a published illustrator.
"I'm very sensitive. I feel emotions very strongly. Some people tend to waltz through life more easily than others, and I have never been good at that dance. Depression has been something I battled with a long time, and I think I channel it very well in my fiction. I'd rather make my characters be depressing than me be depressed."
Thomas started writing as a child. His first comic book, written at age 6, featured stick figures battling each other with the heading, "War." He was a shy and reclusive teenager who liked to escape into fiction and movies and eventually dropped out of high school.
He finds inspiration from authors such as horror writer H.P. Lovecraft; Yukio Mishima, a Japanese writer who committed public hari-kari in 1970; and Thomas Hardy, whose "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" is his favorite book. "I learned about establishing environment from reading people like him," Thomas said.
Thomas's books have been published in German, and Russian and Greek translations are in the works. Thomas, though, is not counting on making a full-time career of writing. He says he'll instead measure success by the number of readers he reaches.
"How many best-selling horror writers are there that one can name?" he asked. "I'd rather be a David Lynch than a Steven Spielberg. . . . I want to be known for creating fresh, innovative work. When I see myself spoken of in that way -- in reviews and on message boards -- I feel successful."
Thomas will sign copies of "Everybody Scream!" at Tatnuck Bookseller & Sons in Westborough at 2 p.m. Jan. 29.
AROUND THE TOWNS -- Donald Eugene Dwinnells finally picked up his high school diploma on Thursday -- 60 years after he left the former Hale School in Stow.
Dwinnells was scheduled to graduate in 1945, but left during his senior year to work in the merchant marine. After training in Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., he served during the final days of World War II, on a ship bringing home troops from Europe.
He was presented his diploma at a Nashoba Regional School Committee meeting.
"I guess because of my age, I decided if I wanted to get it before I died, I'd better get it," said Dwinnells, 77. . . .
Dvora Green wants Jewish girls to understand the true meaning of bat mitzvah, the religious ceremony that marks their coming of age. "It's become very superficial, where girls -- and boys, too -- have big parties and themes," the Westborough resident said. "It's not really what it's all about."
Green has started a chapter of the Bat Mitzvah Club at Chabad of Westborough, where she serves as director. The group is open to Jewish girls ages 11 to 13. Members will learn about their Jewish identity, perform community service, and explore their unique qualities and personal strengths.
The club's first meeting is today at 4:30 p.m. Contact group leader Chani Blotner for more information at 508-757-4656.
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