doctors without borders.

Every Thursday night in high school, Mum and I would settle down in front of the TV, like millions of other moms and daughters, to watch ER. I really loved it; I fell head over heels for Noah Wyle in his role as Dr. Carter, and, in his final days as a member of the cast, his character traveled overseas to do humanitarian medical work with an organization called Doctors Without Borders (or Medicins Sans Frontieres).
I was spellbound. Though you wouldn't know it by the large volume of paperbacks on my bookshelf, or by my college diploma and degree, I dreamed for a long time of going to medical school and becoming a doctor. I've always loved helping people, and I saw medicine as a field in which I could be a professional "helper". And who knows, maybe one day I'll relearn biology and science and don a white jacket, but I'm not sure my English degree will be much help.

Nonetheless, I really got interested in MSF. I did some research online, and in college, applied for a few internships in their New York offices (to no avail). I get their monthly newsletter by email and have a map of the world hanging in my bedroom that they sent me, marked with the quote by Nicolas de Torrente, executive director of the group: We find out where conditions are the worst-- the places where others are not going-- and that's where we want to be.

So when I found out that a documentary had been made about the organization, I was eager to see it, and tonight, at 7:30pm, it's being shown in 450 movie theaters nationwide. It's called Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders.

Here's the trailer, and if you're interested, you can head over to their website to see what movie theaters near you are playing the movie. There are even rumors of some Oscar activity... I can't wait to see it.