Today’s feature section offers some easy, practical insights when making those resolutions, plans, and hopes for self-improvement in the new year. While we may long to be tidier, thinner and more relaxed, just wishing will not make it so. Some simple steps can lead us…
I know some people feel irritation at all those year-in-review stories that appear this weekend. But I think they help us. Each year contains a lifetime. Major changes. Births, deaths, retirements. One task at the end of a long life is to do a life…
We had a dozen early retirements in the newsroom and co-workers last days have been staggered throughout the month. Today is the final day for Jeff Jordan, "Jordy" to all of us here. You know the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy says…
While small-town life has its limitations, and having the neighbors know your business can be annoying, those same neighbors can become your community of strength and survival. Rod Dreher writes for The American Conservative and is part of a communitarian conservative tradition; his ability to…
Check this out. It's going viral on YouTube and Facebook and now, the mainstream media. From the LA Times: Ben Breedlove died on Christmas, leaving behind a wordless, two-part YouTube video message about chronic illness, death and the afterlife viewed more than 450,000 times as…
We often read about parents doing amazing things for their children. Taking a bullet. Donating a kidney. Mortgaging the house for college. But how far and wide would you go to rescue an older parent from some horrible situation? In my Christmas Day story, Jeannine…
Folks in New York'sTimes Square today have a chance to say "good riddance" to the worst of 2011 in their lives. And we can, too, via cyberspace. Inspired by a Latin American tradition where people put items into dolls and then set the dolls on…
My two great-nephews play a video game which mimics a war zone where soldiers battle and kill one another, several times in the course of a game. I have never seen one of these before and was frankly quite shocked at the violence. So I…
During this week, after the Christmas rush and before the silliness of New Year's Eve, we often pause to assess our path, our choices. Some of us make resolutions - you know, lose weight, relax more, spend more time socializing - and often these promises…
The best Christmas card message in my mailbox A Christmas Wish… May we break down boundaries, tear down walls, and build on the fountain of goodness inside each of us. May we look past differences, gain understanding, and embrace acceptance. May we reach out to…
As the year ends, we look back at the events - global, communal, private - that define 2011. From Egypt's Tahrir Square to Wall Street; from Libya's political upheaval to Japan's quaking destruction, we have witnessed drama and change. Osama bin Laden is dead; our…
While writing out Christmas cards and channel surfing last night, I happened upon the 1949 film Holiday Affair on TCM. It's about a widow torn between two men at Christmas. She has a son. Her husband has died in World War II. It's not one…
Many of my grown nieces and nephews send out Christmas postcards with beautiful photos of their children on them, taken in photo studios. The professional photos always allow a fond memory to surface from 1957, when my mom and dad gathered us in the living…
My Saturday story was about Armand Nirgro, an 83-year-old Spokane Jesuit who has led retreats all over the world, including in India and Rome for Mother Teresa and her order of sisters. He has early stage Alzheimer's, and The Ministry Institue in Spokane, which he…
After almost nine years, the American presence in Iraq is over. Early today the last American soldiers rolled out of Iraq and into Kuwait. Since March of 2003, 4,500 American lives were lost; $800 billion - invested in this war. Like all wars, the question,…
My television idol, Patty Duke, turned 65 last week. She shared her experience of filing for Social Security and Medicare benefits. Duke - Anna Pearce in real life - has been a spokesperson for Social Security, telling boomers to enroll for benefits online - via…
Writer Christopher Hitchens died yesterday of cancer of the esophagus at 62. He was absolutely one of my favorite writers. He took on those he deemed hypocritical, including Mother Teresa. He was a prolific writer who smoked and drank "enough to kill or stun the…
I received an e-mail – written by my dad’s co-worker, friend and, really, the son he never had. My dad died in 2005 and I miss him every day. Every day. The message made my heart sing and is the best gift I could receive…
In my first reporting job, in 1979 in Fort Lauderdale, our bureau was filled with 20something reporters. We had a Friday ritual. We would leave work about 5, go to the store next door, buy six-packs of beer and then drive to someone's house for…
I love receiving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emerging infectious diseases report, taken from the journal of the same name. Here's what's new, according to the CDC press release: 1. Babesiosis among Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries in the United States, 2006–2008, Mikhail Menis et…
Our column today talked about how to acknowledge, during holiday celebrations, a child who has died. Cathy has some good suggestions here. We have a long tradition at our house of honoring the deceased elders by placing their favorite alcoholic drink in front of their…
Yesterday, more than 150 folks gathered to honor the 12 men who are taking early retirement from the newspaper. These are my peers, guys I've known for 20 plus years. Lots of former S-R staffers came to the party, and it was a chance to…
On Tuesday, 37-year-old Guiliana Rancic, the host of E!, will undergo a bilateral mastectomy. The young woman has been diagnosed with breast cancer; she told reporters that she does not want to spend the rest of her life wondering if the cancer has returned in…
Losing a child trumps all other deaths, as parents of children who have died will tell you eloquently. Sunday, throughout the world, parents and friends of children who died will light candles in their honor. In Spokane, the candlelight remembrance, sponsored by The Compassionate Friends…
The Centers for Disease Control just released the 10 leading causes of death in the United States in 2008 and 2009. Here they are: 1) Diseases of the heart. 2) Malignant neoplasms (the medical name for cancer). 3) Chronic lower respiratory diseases 4) Cerebro-vascular diseases…
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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