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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

EndNotes archive for Jan. 1, 2011

TUESDAY, NOV. 15, 2011

Morse code or megaphone - listen

Social media can be fun: finding long-lost loves, keeping close with far-away friends and family and even getting a glimpse into the details of co-workers' lives. But at some point, we have to listen, really listen to the tweets and posts and texts. No one…

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Facebooking from her hospital bed

Sarah Blain Bain is one of those Spokane women everyone seems to know. She has 685 Facebook friends, and she probably knows all of them pretty well. She was instrumental in starting a support group for parents who lose children at birth or shortly after.…

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MONDAY, NOV. 14, 2011

The Michael Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil show, “IMMORTAL,” lands at the Spokane Arena on Saturday night.

My mom's first rock concert at 91!

My mom, who turns 91 today, doesn't have much of a bucket list. She's mostly content to wake up every morning alive, with mind intact, and a body that still works pretty darn well. Seeing a rock concert wasn't ever on her list. But she…

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SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2011

Mt. Spokane is framed in the frost rimmed branches of trees north of Deer Park at sunset in 2000.  The  blues and orangish colors of the setting sun add a backdrop to the brillant white of recent snow and frost . (Christopher Anderson / The Spokesman-Review)

Too soon, too young

The accident which killed two University of Idaho students seems too familiar a story. We learn about these tragedies each year. And each year I think of Tyler. Tyler and I were in high school together; he played a wind instrument in Varsity Band while…

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George Clooney was the only cast member of “ER” to become a big screen superstar. (Kevork Djansezian / The Spokesman-Review)

You just never know...

Seems that suffering and pain are no respecter of persons. Recently George Clooney spoke out about his suicidal ideations during the time he was hospitalized and experiencing excruciating pain. Health care professionals look at pain management as an essential component of treatment and as a…

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FRIDAY, NOV. 11, 2011


How long is your warranty?

A new piece of furniture arrived yesterday and the warranty information read: The term "lifetime" as it is used in this warranty is defined as 25 years. 25 years? What if we all arrived on Earth with warranties? How long would your lifetime warranty last?

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THURSDAY, NOV. 10, 2011

Should alcoholics get new livers? 

Carla Johnson, a former S-R staffer now working for the AP, has an interesting story about this debate. An excerpt: Some gravely ill alcoholics who need a liver transplant shouldn't have to prove they can stay sober for six months to get one, doctors say…

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Dead or alive in there?

Have you ever worried that you might end up (after an accident or a stroke) with a body that doesn't work at all but a brain still active? It happens. Read or watch The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the true story of the writer…

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WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9, 2011

Fly with your suit on

An advantage to having a "death blog" (as its nicknamed in the newsroom) is the conversations that now happen around my desk. This morning, we talked about proper funeral attire, and my colleague Gina Boysun told me that three of her male relatives wore their…

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TUESDAY, NOV. 8, 2011

Just a test: world won't end tomorrow

Tomorrow, the federal government is testing the Emergency Alert System at 2 p.m. Eastern time, 11 a.m. Pacific time. We've been getting memos today from government agencies asking us to let our readers know that when the usual honking/buzzing noise comes on the TV tomorrow…

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Sandhill cranes fly in front a 95% full moon, near Alda, Neb., Friday, March 18, 2011. The moon's orbit is in it's closest position to earth in 18 years. (Associated Press)

Life and death at 3 a.m.  

My niece Gretchen who lives in LA is traveling in the East and her Facebook post read this morning: "Woke up at 2:30am and now can't go back to sleep." I was up at 3 this morning and never returned to slumber. I bet all…

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MONDAY, NOV. 7, 2011


Naming names

Every year, in a Sunday that falls closest to All Saints and All Souls Day, the names of all the parishioners who have died in the past year are read aloud at St. Aloysius Church on the GU campus. After a month's worth of names…

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SATURDAY, NOV. 5, 2011

60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS). Photo courtesy of http://www.cbsnews.com/ (Andrea Shearer)

Did you ever wonder...

…how Andy Rooney spent the minutes outside of 60 Minutes? The legendary commentator died Friday from post-surgery complications. He was 92. His words, his attitude, his I'll-say-whatever-I believe voice gave us perspective and always something to think about after the second hand stopped. He earned…

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The silent season

This is my favorite time of year, the slow move of fall toward winter. I welcome the change back to standard time and the 4 p.m. darkness. Even as a child, I loved the foggy post Halloween nights. Mostly, I love how things quiet down.…

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FRIDAY, NOV. 4, 2011

Ian for Endnotes blog

Dr. Hrair Garabedian: Lifesaver

Thirty five years ago today, my nephew Ian was born in Spokane. Right away, doctors knew something was wrong because he looked blue/black. A valve to his heart had not opened properly. Surgery wasn't an option. He was given the last rites. Many in the…

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Saving teens: graduated drivers licenses 

Need some good news this afternoon? Here's some from the National Institutes of Health. Programs that grant privileges to new drivers in phases — known as graduated licensing programs — dramatically reduce the rate of teen driver fatal crashes, according to three studies funded by…

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World Pneumonia Day coming soon

There's a well-known quote: "Pneumonia is the old person's friend." This means that an older person who is in very ill health and would like to pass on is sometimes helped along by pneumonia. So it was a bit of a surprise to receive this…

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THURSDAY, NOV. 3, 2011

Cinque terre floods (Marco Vasini / Associated Press)

Grieving Cinque Terre 

Cinque Terre -- five small towns in Italy --was a favorite weekend getaway for Gonzaga in Florence students long before Rick Steves "discovered" the region. But thanks to Rick Steves' travel blog, I discovered that parts of Cinque Terre were literally torn apart due to…

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WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2, 2011


Katelyn Roker speaking at Davenport event for Ronald McDonald House event.

Ronald McDonald House mourns little Katelyn

The Ronald McDonald House in Spokane hosts families with children battling illness. The staff, volunteers and other families support one another and love the sick children among them, knowing they will lose some of them. One of those children, Katelyn Roker, 6, died recently of…

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The day of your birth

Google undertook an ambitious project a few years ago to digitalize newspaper archives of papers throughout the country. The project has been discontinued but you can still access many stories from the past by googling "News archives." Last night I scrolled through the Spokane Daily…

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TUESDAY, NOV. 1, 2011

The knot of grief in your chest

When my dad died in 1996, my heart literally hurt in a physical way. I kept saying to people: "It's like a scarf with a huge knot tied right at my heart." Now, I know it was a classic symptom of grief. From our column…

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MONDAY, OCT. 31, 2011

Carol Willette’s 8th birthday party in November 1962. She’s in front of the cake with her hand on her cheek. Cleda Sweetland is on the left side of the photo with the bow in her hair and a watch on her wrist.

Home decor grief

The two women I wrote about in my Sunday story are my exact age, 56. So when I saw the photo of Carol Willette's 8th birthday party, it brought back so many memories of home decor, circa 1960s, specifically the thick, flowered drapes. When I…

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Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.



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