Parkhurst resident’s voodoo is writing
A resident in Parkhurst produced a fiction book inspired by her work as a community service dietician.
After being troubled by the paradigm of healthcare in the space she was working, a dietician decided to pen her experiences and feelings. Qualified dietician and high school English teacher Carla Chait, who stays in Parkhurst, is the author of Floor 1.
Floor 1 is fiction based on Chait’s experience working as a community service dietician. According to Chait, the narrator of the book feels lost in the hospital as she grapples with her sense of futility and helplessness in making an actual difference in the patients’ lives.
“I would hope that the book gives an alternative view of working as a healthcare professional in a hospital. The narrator is less frustrated with the hospital’s lack of resources than she is with her apparent inability to help people,” said Chait.
She said writer and editor Andrew Miller encouraged and worked with her as she developed an integrated manuscript. Along the way, it felt like it would never be just right or enough, but eventually, Chait reached a point where she felt she had said what she wanted to say.
“Floor 1 feels like the apogee of my writing experience so far because of the intensity of the development – rigorous and in-depth revisions – required for its cohesion. So, in a way, the book is the highlight of my writing experience.”
The English teacher began writing creatively in her early twenties. At the time she was studying dietetics, which she found alienating and limited in its approach to healing and healthcare. Writing became a conduit through which Chait could express a part of herself and her consciousness that was undernourished in the degree.
Having studied nutrition and dietetics after high school, Chait, however, became disillusioned with the practice and returned to university later on to pursue English literature. Chait has now returned to dietetics, teaching and counselling on macrobiotics while she also writes and makes art.
“Writing for me is a kind of voodoo, where the story or poem takes hold of me and I’m compelled to follow its course and process until completion. It’s challenging because I can think of and do little else while under the spell, and I’m racked with self-doubt and second-guessing, but it’s also magical because I feel very connected to the experience. Then, of course, having someone appreciate, resonate with, and enjoy the writing is very special.”
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