Christian televangelist Pat Robertson has infuriated many of his viewers with his comment that a person is within his/her moral right to divorce a spouse who has Alzheimer's disease. The extremely conservative pastor defended his stance by saying that Alzheimer's disease "is a kind of…
Jacqueline Kennedy recorded opinions and her worldview on a series of audio tapes a few months after her husband's death. Their daughter, Caroline Kennedy, released those audio accounts, unedited, as a book. Excerpts of the tapes played last night as ABC's Diane Sawyer took viewers…
We have spent the last week remembering the devastating events of September 11, 2001. Yesterday was a day filled with honoring lives lost, recalling the horror, but also honoring the spirit of hope that pulses through Americans everywhere. Perhaps the best way to continue our…
Port Authority Police, who were the first law enforcement personnel to respond to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, quickly rushed into the burning buildings and helped to rescue thousands of employees. Some of them climbed high up into the burning towers to assist…
I left for work…turned on the radio … heard the news of the first plane hitting the tower…My mind raced, "Where is everyone in our family?!" Oh, God! Jim is in Manhattan! My brother-in-law, based in London, was in New York this week. I returned…
Father Mychal Judge died on September 11, 2001. Five fire fighters carried his body and laid it at the foot of the church's altar. As these men moved down the street, the first tower collapsed. The following is an excerpt from the eulogy delivered at…
In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, The Port of Seattle Police Department sold hats to raise money for the Port Authority Police Department Benevolent Fund in New York/New Jersey. That department lost 37 officers in the attacks. Each hat had the name of one…
In junior high school I was placed in the honors math program at a time when girls were considered a bit out-of-their league if they excelled at subjects like math. After all, we were still slated to take home economics (you know, cooking, sewing, keeping…
Many cultures believe in the healing power of water: most religious traditions use water as a primary symbol of new life, renewal, change, power. A program called Healing Waters has unique healing properties for our recovering veterans: through fly fishing. Started in the Washington, DC…
Aging brings surprises: we do not recover as quickly or as easily from ailments. Sometimes we end up with illnesses that are chronic: congestive heart failure, arthritis, bursitis. English novelist, Aldous Huxley, wrote: “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do…
German researchers report that specially-trained dogs can now detect lung cancer – more accurately than a CT scan – by sniffing patients' breath. How do they do it? “Lung cancer patients breathed into glass tubes that contained fleece to capture the odors of the specific…
My dad was described as a “downtown kind of guy.” He loved to walk through the Minneapolis skyways at noon. Strolling through the department stores and walkways on his way to lunch, he’d say hello to people he knew, and give us the details: “I…
The news out of University of Pennsylvania this week about their serial killers caused me to weep. "Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania transformed patients' own white blood cells into 'serial killers' capable of annihilating cancer cells within the body. The two patients who experienced…
Do you believe in miracles? Our pets love us and offer comfort and care – without condition. Imagine the joy in recovering your pet one year after a fatal car accident took away your husband and child. May Caesar live a long and happy life…
You read about these events: life-long lovers who die within hours of each other. Read the story of Bob and Kay Sarver who died within 15 hours of each other. Perhaps our spiritual connections with each other influence our bodies more than we realize. If…
Lucille Ball would be 100 years old today if she were still alive. She was the wacky star of I Love Lucy, the comedy hit of the 1950s. In each episode Lucy worked diligently to outwit her husband, Ricky Ricardo (played by Desi Arnaz, her…
When we look at people who are famous, people who have reached success beyond our own imaginations, we think we have an accurate glimpse into their lives. We do not. Today we learn the sad news of Jeret “Speedy” Peterson’s death – from an apparent…
…I would say when violence erupted in Seattle, in Lakewood, at the Uffizi in my beloved Florence. At the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, a wallet was inadvertently left on a bench. The finder turned in the wallet which made its way back to…
Singer Amy Winehouse has died. I do not recall her music, if I ever heard it, it has left my memory. The only voice I do remember is that of media reports of her on-going demise: alcohol, drugs, strung out, passed out, a self-destructing-train-wreck of…
Austin, Texas was recently named by Kiplinger as the number one "Best City for the Next Decade." As Baby Boomers hit retirement, many of us seek a new place to call home, a place where money will go far. Today's retirees often take classes, pursue…
Remember learning to read: the feel of books and struggling to carry them around as a child? Remember lugging them in the hallways of school or down the road to home? How we read has changed recently as much as what we read as adults.…
Happy 90th birthday, John Glenn! What a journey – then and now. I am old enough to remember Glenn's first flight into space. It was sci-fi-like. Would you, if you were offered the chance, travel into - or out of - the atmosphere?
Today, I am …well, Rebecca calls it "shedding" while a physician friend calls it "giving the house a 'crapectomy.' " I will just call it "unloading stuff into the universe." But I always get stuck on the part "where shall I send these things?" And…
Earlier this week our EndNotes column ran a Q/A on Japanese traditions surrounding death and grief. A lovely film explores this topic in the Japanese-produced film “Departures,” a film that won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. "An exquisite cinematic masterpiece that…
How old is old?? Rebecca and I initiated our EndNotes column primarily for our generation, the Baby Boomers, to address issues around aging, illness, death/dying and etiquette needed in these situations. A new poll finds three-quarters of all baby boomers still consider themselves middle-aged or…
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.