Judy Citko is the executive director of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. Before participating in a panel on what doctors can teach us about end-of-life decision-making, she sat down in the Zócalo green room to talk about why living with teenage boys is underrated, and how she keeps her mind clear.
What do you wake up to?
My cats snuggling with me.
What do you eat for breakfast?
Cheerios with milk.
What film can you watch over and over again?
I have two teenage boys, so I like Hot Rod and Napoleon Dynamite—kind of goofy movies.
What good qualities do teenage boys have that might surprise people?
I just have a lot of fun with them. I’m engaged, and my fiancé has two teenage boys as well, so we have one in every year of high school. I grew up with three sisters, and now it’s all boys—even my cats are boys.
What’s your most prized material possession?
I work in end-of-life, so honestly it’s relationships. I don’t really have any material possession that stands out to me.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
What you resist will persist. That was from a friend of mine who was a physician. It came from Landmark training—it’s part of their philosophy.
If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?
Maybe a cloaking device. Just so you can get better insight into certain people and situations.
Ask yourself a question then answer it.
What would you do if you had more time? If I had more time and money, I would spend it traveling with my family.
If you could have a beer with anyone in history, living or dead, who would you choose?
Gandhi—it would be interesting to be able to talk to him directly about his philosophy and to get a sense of him as a person.
How do you pass the time when you’re stuck in traffic?
Usually listening to music and trying to keep my mind clear. I can be more effective in achieving what I want to achieve if I don’t have a lot of thoughts—self-talk—in my head all the time.