Atlantic magazine has an excellent article this month about a researcher who is exploring the theory that a cat parasite invades human brains and causes people to dress sloppy, walk into traffic and even go schizophrenic. It could explain crazy cat ladies. If you own…
Davy Jones, of Monkees fame, died of a heart attack at just 66 years old. In sixth grade, when the television show started about the rock band, my girlfriends and I spent hours discussing our favorite Monkee (mine: Peter Tork). We bought all their albums,…
The report in today’s New York Times reveals that body parts of some of the 9/11 victims were incinerated at the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base and then released to a landfill. If true, this information only adds to the grief and anguish of…
My mother-in-law, a cradle Catholic who attended church every day of her adult life, would likely be as appalled as I am when reading about the legislators, in Virginia and now in Idaho, who would require ultrasounds for women considering abortion. Here's the description, from…
Press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: A new influenza A virus discovered in fruit bats in Guatemala does not appear to present a current threat to humans, but should be studied as a potential source for human influenza, according to scientists…
Mice give people the creeps if they creep into your home, but lab mice might be the new best friends of older folks worried about Alzheimer's disease. In a promising study with mice, those given a decades-old cancer drug -- bexarotene -- saw fewer deposits…
From Reuters Health: Sodium phosphate enemas, used to relieve constipation, may cause older people to suffer kidney failure or even die, a new report suggests.The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, focuses on a group of 11 patients, ranging in age from 61…
The wise and experienced…and a bit older…actor: Christopher Plummer …and the Oscar goes to the nominated-17-times…Meryl Streep…and the evening was hosted by…we all love him…Billy Crystal…and the best picture goes to… a silent film. Has anyone under 40 ever even seen a silent film before...
Anne Lamott arrived in Tacoma for her evening talk at Urban Grace Church. Her truth-telling- no-matter-what stories and edgy wisdom gave the audience reason to sigh, ponder and affirm: we are in this life together. I sat in the front row and listened like I…
Looking through some old, old newspaper clippings the other day, I came across some old obits, from the early 1900s, and from various newspapers. Of one 94-year-old who died in 1908, it was written: "For several weeks, she has been lingering from day to day…
My co-collaborator on the blog and column, Cathy Johnston, works for Providence Centralia Hospital on the state's West side. On Ash Wednesday, someone walked away with the chapel's 2-foot ceramic Virgin Mary statue. They tried to steal Joseph, too. And broke him while trying. "Either…
Another law enforcement person has been killed in the line of duty. Early this morning a Washington State Patrol trooper was performing a routine traffic stop. The trooper called in the stop and when the dispatcher did not receive a status check from the trooper,…
A bonus for growing older in the Inland Northwest? We don't have a real obvious facelift culture. You spot them here and there on women and men, but there's no real pressure to go under the knife for vanity's sake. People age in place and…
In our EndNotes column today, we answered a question about why people tell cancer horror stories to people going through cancer treatment. Or why they react in weird ways to cancer news. For instance, when my co-author, Catherine Johnston, confided in a colleague that she…
It happened again this morning. I was driving in the right hand lane on North Monroe. A car in the left hand lane had stopped for a pedestrian I couldn't see (not in a crosswalk). The pedestrian had started across in front of the car.…
Found this in one of the emails mentioned in the post below. Pretty good. I think: The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.
I've been on vacation for nearly two weeks and returned today. In my mailbox at work? A letter from a prisoner (they can't email) and a brochure from Poynter, a journalism institute, and my paycheck stub. Three items. My email? About 700 emails and counting.…
I am “of a generation” that remembers the two holidays for two presidents - before the merge. In my childhood, it did not matter where the holidays landed – mid-week or not, we remembered the men for whom the holiday was set. You know, before…
Whitney Houston was celebrated and honored and remembered…for hours… as her family and friends memorialized her life. The service was attended by 300 mourners, including Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Diane Sawyer and Houston's cousin,…
The Arizona statehouse is contemplating this according to the Arizona Republic: "House Bill 2793, proposed by Rep. Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, would require advertisers who alter or enhance a photo to put a disclaimer on that ad alerting customers that " 'Postproduction techniques were made to…
Amanda Knox has a book deal - and hopefully a chance to pull her loving parents out of the debt they plunged into when they lived through her four years of incarceration. The legal fees, the travel expenses, the cost of supporting themselves while seeking…
Mary Matsuda Gruenwald was 17-years-old when she was taken with her family to her first assembly center. Like many Americans of Japanese ancestry, she spent time in an internment camp during World War II. Once freed, she eventually joined the cadet nurse corps. She wrote…
The new washing machine arrived today. I really was sad when the 26-year-old Maytag was hauled away. That old machine had three buttons – for water temperature – and three options for washing cycles. It was a “top loader” and on the shelf above I…
Good question. Lots of answers. Sometimes it is best to imagine the answer: Saint Valentine was the perfect, thoughtful lover or even a magical cupid who causes one’s object of affection to return that passion. However, Valentine was most likely someone we are less likely…
Our Boomer generation has been busy about seeking new adventures as we age. Meet Kathleen Flenniken, 51, a former Hanford engineer, turned poet. Washington state’s poet laureate, 2012-2014, that is. Flenniken earned engineering degrees from WSU in 1983 and from the University of Washington. She…
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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