Midweek munch and muse

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 67, No. 10, December 2025, Page 341 Editorials
By: David B. Chapman, MBChB

Being a member of the BCMJ Editorial Board for the last 17+ years has taught me a few things about communication. I believe the main aim of the journal is to communicate knowledge, thoughts, and ideas that are relevant to BC physicians. In doing so, the journal builds connections between us. Good communication is the cornerstone of strong and healthy relationships.

My partner is an aunty to two lovely nieces. By extension, they call me “Uncley.” Their parents have started a wonderful tradition in their family called the midweek munch and muse. The goal of this tradition is to strengthen the bonds within the family. It also enhances their children’s comfort with talking to adults. Every Wednesday, the six of us (mom, dad, daughters, aunty, and uncley) get together after dinner and spend an hour or more talking. In rotating fashion, one member of the group will put together a selection of questions and some refreshment for the evening. Going in turn, we each draw a question that we have to answer for the group, while everyone is munching on their gourmet treat, sourced by the week’s leader. Even the kids, ages 8 and 11, have their turn creating the questions and curating the treats. These are some of the questions from recent weeks:

  • When you think about the last few months, what are you most grateful for?
  • What has been most important or meaningful to you lately?
  • What’s one thing you wish people asked you about more often?
  • If you could spend more time on one thing in your life, what would it be?
  • When you think about the future, what are you most hopeful for?
  • What’s been bringing you joy lately?
  • What’s something you are excited about right now?
  • Is there anything in your life that you would like to change or improve this year?
  • What’s the silliest thing you did this week that made you laugh?
  • If you could invent a new holiday, what would it be called, and how would we celebrate?
  • If you could travel anywhere in the world (or outer space!), where would you go?
  • If you could eat only one food for a whole week, what would you pick?
  • What’s something you’re really proud of from this week?
  • If you could talk to animals, what’s the first question you’d ask?
  • What’s your favorite thing to do when you feel bored?
  • If you could design your own playground, what would it look like?
  • What’s one thing you want to try or learn with our family this month?

The questions give multiple opportunities for everyone around the table to communicate with each other. It’s one of the highlights of our week and is a fun way to engage with each other.

As my tenure on the Editorial Board draws to a close, I am musing about the great experience it has been. I was invited on to the Editorial Board by D1, when he became the editor (see BCMJ 2022;64:283). Seventeen and a half years later (it went by in a flash), it is time for me to step aside for another colleague to take my place. It has been a privilege to work with such gifted and genuinely nice people during this time. This is D2 signing off.
—David B. Chapman, MBChB

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David B. Chapman, MBChB. Midweek munch and muse. BCMJ, Vol. 67, No. 10, December, 2025, Page(s) 341 - Editorials.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

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  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
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