From the Associated Press today, this story: "Dr. Richard Olney, an internationally renowned researcher who dedicated his life to finding a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease, has died after his own eight-year battle with the disease. He was 64." People who die from the same…
My Sunday story about two Japanese-American men who grew up in downtown Spokane in the 1950s reminded me once again how much we were taught as children about life by the adults around us, not just by our parents, but all the adults we knew…
I do not have survivalist tendencies for stormy weather. No barrels of drinking water stored under the house, no food rations for 21 days. I have adamantly refused to invest in a generator, citing the great $$$ for a few hours of power. “Silly,” I…
It was 26 years ago today the space shuttle Challenger blew up. My cousins work at Kennedy Space Center and tell stories of ushering astronauts’ family members into a room to explain what they had just witnessed: their lives destroyed by a NASA disaster. On…
The road, You shall follow it. The fun, You shall forget it. The cup, You shall empty it. The pain, You shall conceal it. The truth, You shall be told it. The end, You shall endure it (Dag Hammarskjoldd)
A friend and I were discussing passion the other night. Not the sexual kind. But the passion for ideas, causes, projects, new adventures. We've noticed that as we age (we're both in our mid-50s) it's harder to feel passionate about all of the above. We…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recenty released statistical information about gang homocides in five cities in the United States. They analyzed data from 2003-2008 when 856 young people died in gang violence. No surprises, but sad just the same. Five cities met the…
Last night, at about 9, my iPad "rang." I had never heard it ring before, opened its cover and there was my great-nephew Sam and his dad, Matt. They had just bought an iPad and were calling me on its FaceTime feature, I don't Skype…
We watched President Obama's state-of-the-union speech in HD last night and -- I know this sounds shallow -- but I kept getting distracted at how old most of the members of Congress, the Supreme Court and members of the cabinet looked. I noticed sun damage…
The nation's oldest sitting federal judge died Monday night. U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown died at age 104. "As a federal judge, I was appointed for life or good behavior, whichever I lose first," Brown quipped in a 2011 interview with The Associated Press. How…
In our EndNotes column today, we answered a question whether it's appropriate to send condolences on Facebook. The answer: It depends. For teens and other big Facebook users, sure. For those in generations who expect a handwritten card, no. After she proofread my story, newsroom…
We lived through a BIG storm in Puget Sound last week: snow, ice, wind and today black ice on the roads. When talking with friends, the first topic was always, “Got power?” But after that the litany of loss took precedence. And at the top…
I'm getting stuff together to drop off at a Goodwill truck this morning. These two items are among the stuff. The Minolta camera is 33 years old. I bought it on my first journalism job in 1979 at The Fort Lauderdale News. I was in…
I love Facebook because comments are often short and clever and just enough. Yesterday my Facebook friend, Penny Simonson, posted this. I wanted more! Here's what she wrote: "Today I went to the funeral of a lovely woman to whom I am only related by…
Today is my father's birthday. Joe Nappi would be 93 if he had lived this long. He died in January 1996, just a few weeks after turning 77. He had been ill with Alzheimer's for about seven years and in a care facility the last…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report today on the health of cancer survivors. You always hear how a cancer diagnosis changes a person's health habits for the better. But it's not always the case. From the report, culled in a random…
Mary Milla, 91, worked 43 years at Fairchild Air Force Base as a civilian, much of it as secretary to the commanders at Fairchild Hospital. She retired in 1986. She got to know many of the young docs who came through on their military duty.…
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization recently released its 2011 facts and figures report. Hospice use continues to rise in the United States, no surprises there. Some of the stuff I found interesting in the report: Almost 42 percent of all deaths in the…
Atlantic magazine's wire online always has some great items that fit into this "death blog.". Here are two from today: 1) The number of people who have died because they were wearing headphones to listen to music and didn't hear the car, train, etc., tripled…
The outrage toward the captain of the doomed Italian cruise ship seems mostly centered on the fact he abandoned the ship before everyone else was safe. "Staying with the ship" is such a good metaphor for one of our greatest challenges in life, staying when…
The photos of that Italian cruise ship continue to haunt us. How could a trip to paradise go so wrong? The captain touting his ship to islanders? While the captain literally jumped ship, the passengers worked to save each other: a woman offering her sweater…
Amanda Livingston, wife of Gary Livingston, retired chancellor of the Community Colleges of Spokane, died Friday after a four-year battle with cancer. Gary retired two years ago, at age 62, and he told me after an interview that a major reason was to spend every…
Jan Polek, a woman who championed women's rights here for 40-plus years, died this week. Today we ran a news story about her, and her obit ran in our classified section. People have been emailing me this morning with Jan stories and so I thought…
The Centers for Disease Control released today nine year's worth of suicide statistics, gathered from 1999 to 2008, for people ages 45–64 Some findings: The suicide death rate for persons aged 45–64 years increased overall in the nine years, from 13.2 to 17.6 per 100,000…
The Associated Press is reporting that a University of Connecticut researcher "known for his work on red wine's benefits to cardiovascular health falsified his data in more than 100 instances." Do we have to add red wine to the list of foods once touted as…
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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