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EndNotes archive for June 2012

SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 2012

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012, after the Supreme Court ruled on his health care legislation. (Luke Sharett/Associated Press)

Thank you, Mr. President 

Today, I spent over three hours at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance with a friend and her husband. She is a patient there and I went with them to take notes, ask questions and offer support. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance has patients from all over the…

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FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 2012

Poison ice tea: one more dang thing to worry about

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report yesterday on the case of extreme food poisoning at a Dallas County Texas restaurant in 2010. Symptoms, which included fainting resulting from low blood pressure, occurred within minutes of consuming food from the restaurant and…

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THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2012

The no-soul theorists weigh in

In our Tuesday column, a reader asked how you know when the spirit or soul leaves a body. One part of the answer read: In the late 1800s, Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Massachusetts conducted research on dying patients. He set their beds on specially designed…

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012

Nora Ephron in 2010 (Charles Sykes / Fr170266 Ap)

We Remember Everything…Nora Ephron  

She Bewitched us and gave us Heartburn. She sent us (You’ve Got) Mail. We learned secrets deep within Silkwood and wondered if just maybe the best romance begins between best friends, like Harry Burns and Sally Albright. Every woman on the planet remembers Meg Ryan’s…

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Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, left, and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne in a scene from “The Hunger Games.”

Trend alert: Charity hunger games

Just got a voice message asking me to please post on my Facebook page or blog or Twitter account, or all of the above, that Sears has narrowed its Love.Hate charity competition to two charities -- The American Cancer Society and St. Jude Children's Research…

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TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2012

Ministry of the short note

In our column today, we talked about contacting folks who are experiencing hard times, and how hard this can be if you've been out of touch. When we lose touch with relatives and friends after many years, it can seem both awkward and impossible to…

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MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

Mary Rock waves her cane Wednesday as she stands in her backyard in front of a door, center, where she says Charles Wallace entered her home in north Spokane. (Tyler Tjomsland)

Why didn't he shoot the 87-year-old? 

Charles Robert Wallace, who shot two sheriff's deputies last week, also confronted an 87-year-old woman in her home and then stole her car. She fought him with her cane, and he did hit her with the butt of his gun, but he didn't shoot here,…

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SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012

Girl Scout Troop 3014 made a quilt for the North Idaho Violence Prevention Center in Coeur d’Alene. The Athol troop includes: Amanda Curry, Kaylie Higbee, Alexys Howard, Hanne Larsen, Tehya Russell, Madison Salois, Shelby Salois, Sophia Thulin, Hannah Ziegler and (not pictured) Cynthia Gregg, Emma Heigel, Jaelyn Hennig, Keyonna Smith, Amanda Stevens and Cena Westphal. Back row: Girl Scout leader, Tanya Ziegler and parent helper Shan Salois, and NIVPC volunteer coordinator, Tamarah Cardwell.

Hopping through life

I spent all day Saturday hopping with my good friend…to quilt shops. Each summer various quilt shops in Western Washington host the five-day, Shop Hop event. As we drove (200 miles out and home again), I kept thinking how our adventure was like a metaphor…

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FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012

Public fireworks are a thrill to watch.
 (Metrocreative / The Spokesman-Review)

Another voice...part 2 

From the Desk of Fr. Doug What the Nuns’ Story is Really About Part Two I had no intention of writing a Part Two to last week’s article but two things happened that inspired me to do so. The first was the overwhelming response to…

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THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI, right, blesses Archbishops at the end of a mass in which they received the pallium, a woollen shawl symbolizing their bond to the pope, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Monday, June 29, 2009. (Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)

Another Voice

A friend sent me the following words from a Catholic Church bulletin. The commentary was written by one of the parish priests. The second column he wrote will be posted tomorrow. From the Desk of Fr. Doug What the Nuns’ Story is Really About Many…

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The first class of Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing to graduate in 1901, from left, Rose Dudley, Maud Pepper, Ida Hoffman and Nellie Randle. They were admitted to the program in 1899.

Give $1.25 in service for every dollar

In my Rewind story today, I patched together what nursing life might have been like for Alice Hope, class of 1926 at Deaconess Hospital nursing school. The nursing school alums (it closed in 1980) have put together a beautiful wall of historic photos and anecdotes.…

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

For Becky Nappi blog

RIP: Shyla the dog

My niece's dog, Shyla, a mini chihuahua, was killed in a tragic way last week. A deer in the wilderness behind their Spokane Valley home kicked her in the head. The doe had just given birth to a fawn and was protecting her baby, a…

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TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2012

Officers down, shaky voices

The police scanners are on alll day in the newsroom and we've all learned to ignore them. But you can't help but hear the voices. They are male and female, chatter between officers and dispatchers and always unusually calm, professional, betraying no emotion. This afternoon,…

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MONDAY, JUNE 18, 2012

John Baker’s daughter, Krista, died in 2000 of cystic fibrosis while waiting for a lung transplant. Baker has made it his decade-long quest to honor his daughter by raising awareness of the need for organ donors. “People ask me, ‘Don’t you think it’s time to pull back from this?’ I’m not ready.” (Dan Pelle)

John Baker: A father's love

My Sunday story about John Baker, who lost his daughter to cystic fibrosis and now gives talks to teens about organ donation, was a grief exercise in the reporting. I didn't have Kleenex at the talk he gave to the Ferris students and couldn't stop…

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THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

hands in the same of a heart (Vladislav Mitic)

The heart remembers

The sadness crept in early this morning and made its home inside me. I could not understand it. Then I glanced at the calendar – oh, yeah. June 14th. My dad died on this day seven years ago. And my sisters and I spent the…

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Beware bank accounts set up for victims

Our EndNotes column Tuesday warned people against donating to accounts set up for people in the community who have hit on hard times or have experienced great tragedy. Turns out, the person who opens it has all the control, and financial institutions don't monitor those…

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2012

For Becky Nappi blog

First bath, forever memory

You get the text 15 minutes after filing the Sunday story about the father who lost two children, one at birth, the other at age 20. The new baby in your extended family will get his first bath, courtesy of Nana, your sister, at 4…

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TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012


A Toyota Prius, front, zips along during rush hour in the car pool lane of the southbound 405 Freeway in Los Angeles, thanks to a state law allowing hybrids to use the high-occupancy vehicle lane. 
 (Los Angeles Times / The Spokesman-Review)

Road trip! 

Some Catholic sisters are taking their work on the road. Well, they are planning a bus trip across nine states stopping at homeless shelters, healthcare facilities, schools and food pantries to highlight their work with the poor and vulnerable in our communities. The tour, “Nuns…

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MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012

For Becky Nappi blog

How long will you live? 

In my extended family, I sometimes ask the 30-and-40-something members how long they think they'll live. Some think it's a weird question. But what I've learned from being part of a very large family, with multiple generations, is this: It's impossible to predict who will…

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SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

Dying is hard: "Let me save others" 

In today's Spokesman-Review, Curtis Johnson wrote a powerful guest opinion column about his desire to end his own life through the Washington law that allows people to do so if they have six months to live. His dilemma? He has rapidly progressing ALS – amyotrophic…

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SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2012

No Turning Back 

Judy Butler’s guest opinion column speaks beautifully to the on-going nonsense of the Vatican’s misbehavior toward women religious and therefore toward all women. Women – lay women, women living in religious communities, all of us - have had enough. We will no longer be silent.…

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FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012

Roses bring beauty and elegance to the garden. (Susan Mulvihill)

Gravesite delivery 

I interviewed a man named Hugh Davis, 68, on Thursday morning. He's a retired journalist and communications specialist who now works temp jobs overseeing education seminars. I am working on a future story about people who remain working after retirement. Davis even delivered flowers for…

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THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2012

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, he of the hollow cheeks and lean physique, is going strong at 65.Associated Press photos (Associated Press photos / The Spokesman-Review)

What else doesn't age well?

From a recent Hallmark birthday card. 10 Things that Do Not Age Well; 1) Milk. 2) Men's feet. 3) Women's hairstyles. 4) Lettuce. 5) Kid Celebrities. 6) Things that are dead. 7) Teeth. 8) Cantaloupe. 9) Rock stars. 10) Hippies. What would you add to…

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012

Rhetoric from Rome 

I have always said that the pope and I have a silent agreement: I don’t tell him how to say Mass and he doesn’t tell me what may or may not occur in my bedroom. So far, the plan has worked well. However, he continues…

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The sound of not-dead-yet 

The recent news that the New Orleans Times-Picayune is going from a daily to three times a week prompted comments from some people outside the newsroom. The asked me if I thought, like they did, that the end was near for all newspapers. Likely not.…

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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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