Category: News, observances, history

October Celebration and Commemoration

October encompasses significant events such as Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, acknowledging both Christopher Columbus’ exploration and the legacy of Native Americans. Other key occurrences include the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, a mass shooting in Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania in 2018, and Halloween. The month invites a mix of celebration, commemoration, and history recognition.

updated October 7, 2025

October is a fun month, not too demanding. It’s the first full month of spring/fall, depending on where you live, and the month before the annual Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season starts.

I’m sharing some October topics with you in this post.

The Halloween Season

Pumpkins are everywhere . Halloween and fall decor and displays get bigger and more outlandish every year. And almost every food or drink has a variation flavored with pumpkin.

a bunch of pumpkins

Football and other Sports

And football season is in full swing. Whether kids, high school, college, or pro, fans are in the stadiums or in front of televisions cheering their favorite team. Some folks just show up for the food as tailgating has become a sport in itself

Whether you like football or not, this is good advice.

Columbus Day, October 13

The United States has one federal holiday this month, Columbus Day, the second Monday of October. This day commemorates October 12, 1492, the day Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, reached the Americas. (Although he never landed in what is now the United States.)

“Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator. In 1492, he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Niña ships alongside, hoping to find a new route to India.

Between 1492 and 1504, he made a total of four voyages to the Caribbean and South America and has been credited – and blamed – for opening up the Americas to European colonization.” from Biography.com

Indigenous Peoples’ Day-October 14

Before Columbus and other Europeans arrived in the Americas, indigenous people already lived in North America. I’m not going to recount the long history of their interactions, but by presidential proclamation, we now commemorate them on the second Monday in October-Indigenous Peoples Day.

 NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 10, 2022, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.  I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.  I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who contribute to shaping this Nation. 

I wrote about Native Americans in this post about watercress and in another about my trip to New Mexico.

The Rich History of Watercress in Native American Culture

In 1889, the Locvpokv Muscogee Creeks established the village of Talasi near the Arkansas River, later called Tulsa. The Council Oak remains a cultural landmark, where Native Americans hold ceremonies. This article explores watercress and its culinary uses, highlighting its significance to local indigenous communities and the environment.

Keep reading

The Art and Science of New Mexico

Taos is an art mecca both within the town and at the Taos Pueblo, which is also a must see for those interested in  Native American history and culture. At the pueblo, tribe members display and sell handmade arts and crafts.

Keep reading

The Great Chicago Fire

On the night of October 8, 1871, fire spread across Chicago, Illinois. While the cause of the blaze is unknown, its origin was at what today is home to a Chicago Fire Department training facility.

An estimated 300 people died and 100,000 were left homeless by the three-day inferno that erased 2,100 acres of the city. The center of Chicago and the heart of the business district were wiped out. Yet, just 20 years after the fire, the city’s population had grown from 300,000 to 1 million people. from architecture.org

Today Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. (2022 stats) See my photos of Chicago in this post.

Tuesday Travels- Chicago Illinois

Chicago, now the third largest United States city, was once destroyed by a fire of uncertain origin. It hosts an annual St. Patrick’s Day parade and offers tourists multiple attractions and experiences.

Keep reading

Squirrel Hill Pennsylvania-October 27

We will never get used to hearing and reading about mass shootings but some are particularly heinous, those that happen in a school, healthcare facility, or house of worship. That happened on October 27, 2018, with which I had an unexpected connection. I wrote about it here.

Halloween-October 31

Whether you like it or not, October is known for Halloween. While some reject it as pagan or evil, others find a way to make it fun and enjoyable without dark overtones.

Halloween, contraction of All Hallows’ Eve, a holiday observed on October 31, the evening before All Saints’ (or All Hallows’) Day. The celebration marks the day before the Western Christian feast of All Saints and initiates the season of Allhallowtide, which lasts three days and concludes with All Souls’ Day.

from brittanica.com

We helped at our church’s carnival dressed as a country duet, the rhinestone cowboy.

exploring the HEART of health

Whatever ways you choose to observe the “holidays” of October, have fun, stay safe, respect others, and please follow and share Watercress Words.

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a world globe with two crossed bandaids

Doctor Aletha

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“healing the homeless”-a review of ROUGH SLEEPERS

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder presents the challenges and triumphs of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program in his new book. It gives an insight into the lives of the homeless ‘rough sleepers’, their struggles, and their stories. Primarily focusing on Dr. Jim O’Connell’s dedication, the book uncovers his 30-year journey caring for Boston’s homeless population, battling societal and political neglect, and medical inconsistencies.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder takes us on a virtual ride through the streets of Boston to introduce us to the homeless “rough sleepers” and the people who care for their medical needs. If you care or are simply curious about the homeless people on the streets of your community, you should read this book.

Rough Sleepers:

Dr. Jim O’Connell’s urgent mission to bring healing to homeless people 

by Tracy Kidder

The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has served thousands of people for over 30 years. Tracy Kidder rode on the program’s outreach van with the director Dr. Jim O’Connell, whose one-year commitment turned into a 30-year mission. Caring for the “rough sleepers”-those who sleep on the sidewalks, doorsteps, and parks of Boston’s streets- wasn’t what he envisioned when he finished his medical residency in 1985.

For five years the author rode along the late-night rounds with the Harvard-educated physician. He learned what the program does and why it matters. Homeless people are often alcoholic, drug addicted, ex-cons, mentally ill, or suffering from serious chronic illnesses. Living on the streets makes it impossible to get the kind of consistent medical care they need.

The homeless tend to distrust outsiders, especially the medical and mental health community. But through patience and persistence, Dr. Jim and the other staff won their trust by treating them as human beings with complicated stories that brought them to the streets and keeps them there.

The narrative reads like a novel as Mr. Kidder tells the backstories of these people shunned and ignored by society, but whom the doctors, nurses, counselors, and therapists treat with dignity and respect. He describes their frustration when the rough sleepers shun the care they offer or relapse after seeking care, as well as the lack of financial support from the political powers.

One rough sleeper, Tony, forms a special bond with Dr. Jim and we learn the most about him. Mr. Kidder relates his story bit by bit to a shocking climax when we learn what drove him to the streets and kept him there long-term.

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Rough Sleepers is not an easy book to read but is equally hard not to read. I found myself cheering for the staff when they get someone off the streets and into a small apartment but grieving when they lose one to disease, violence, or a drug overdose. I am inspired by the perseverance and persistence of Dr. O’Connell and his co-workers in caring for a population of patients for which there is often little positive feedback.

Content warning-this is a true story about people with rough lives. There is candid discussion of drug and alcohol use, medical conditions and treatments, and various types of sexual behaviors.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Professional Reader 25 Book Reviews

Jim O’Connell, M.D.

Dr. O’Connell is the President of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and teaches and writes about care for the homeless. He wrote about his experiences caring for the homeless in, Stories From the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor

Tracy Kidder wrote about another physician, Dr. Paul Farmer.

Mountains Beyond Mountains:

The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World 

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In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most.

Tracy Kidder’s account shows how one person can make a difference through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease.

Profound and powerful, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people’s minds through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”

Amazon

Mr. Kidder won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for

The Soul of A New Machine 

Tracy Kidder’s “riveting” (Washington Post) story of one company’s efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and has become essential reading for understanding the history of the American tech industry.

exploring the HEART of health

You can use the links to learn more about these books, the authors, and the physicians. Watch a video at the Boston program link to learn more about the care they provide. Some are affiliate links that may pay a commission to this blog.

This post’s cover photo is courtesy of Pexels and was shot by photographer Timur Weber.

Please follow this blog by email so you can know when I publish other book reviews and information and inspiration to change your health challenges into health opportunities.

Medical stethoscope and heart on a textured background

Dr Aletha