I was a ninth grader, curious about something I had recently heard of: psychosomatic medicine. The study of the mind-body connection wasn’t a new concept, but it was new to me and I was fascinated. So when I learned that our junior high school would be participating in a science fair and that I could write a research paper about a scientific subject, I was all in.

My research was done in 1974, long before I had a computer or a smart phone. I didn’t have Google. There was no internet. My search engine was the card catalog at the public library in my home town and at a university library about 30 miles away. (Thanks for driving me, Dad!)

I took reams of notes by hand and arranged them into mountains of papers with corresponding themes or ideas. I was especially careful to keep records of sources, so I could accurately cite them in footnotes and a bibliography. Quotes required exact sources, including page number, so I was meticulous in note-taking and learned how to keep it all organized on paper.

The more I learned about the effect emotions have on illness, the more fascinating the topic became to me. A method to control your own heart rate and body temperature using biofeedback was also intriguing, and as I read, I was increasingly amazed at the complexity of the human body (and mind)!

I had many questions: Was it true that patients with certain diseases often exhibited similar personality traits? Why had a large percentage of asthma patients suffered a near-drowning experience earlier in their life? Can a person really be “scared to death”? Could relaxation techniques help ease symptoms of psoriasis?

Although reading and notetaking was time-consuming, the process of putting together my research paper was even more laborious. Remember– no word processor or computer. I wrote everything out by hand and typed it all on a typewriter. No backspace. No cut and paste. No spell check. Not even erasable ink.

So with the hunt and peck, seek and find method, I learned to type. If I decided to rearrange words or reorganize sentences, I’d have to start over. If I made a typo, I’d redo that entire page. If I ran out of room at the bottom for my footnotes, I’d have to discard that page and start again. I spent about 400 hours over three months working on the sixty-one-page report.

When it was finished, my research paper earned a purple ribbon at the regional science fair and entry into the Minnesota state science fair in St. Paul!

My trip to the big city for the three-day state science fair was an experience in itself, including this small town girl’s first hotel stay. What I didn’t know, unfortunately, was that I would be expected to defend my research paper in front of a panel of judges. Without time to prepare, I presented a weak defense and obviously didn’t earn any additional honors. I was still proud of my accomplishment and appreciated all I had learned in the process.

Now to the disappearing part. I loaned the only copy of my research paper to a psychologist from my home town. I don’t remember his name, but I heard he moved to California. Maybe he threw the paper away. Maybe he used it to publish his own book and became a millionaire. Who knows?

Should I be mad? Nah. Disappointed? Sure. Regrets? I have a few… 🙂

“Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.”

Daniel J. Boorstin