WELCOME TO OUR BLOG
Welcome to the SevenPonds.com blog – a community-driven extension of SevenPonds.com! I hope you find comfort and community in the resources and stories featured here. I’m always happy to hear from readers and can be reached at suzette@sevenponds.com.
FEATURED
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Poetree: The Innovative Urn: Margaux Ruyant's urn honors the life of the deceased while cultivating the new life of a tree -
Putting It Back Together: Exploring Grief through a near-death experience: A 21-year-old woman's near-fatal accident alters her relationship with life. -
Buddhism and the Eastern Middle Ground: In Buddhist tradition, our death falls into a plane of existence that continues even after our final breath
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Categories
Author Archives: Liz Matsushita (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)
Short Story: “Breaking the News,” by Vladimir Nabokov (1935)
Friends struggle with how to break very bad news in this story of the moment before grief
A prominent 20th-century author and one of the great masters of language, Vladimir Nabokov wrote his share of epic, seminal novel-length works, including Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada, or Ardor. But in the short story “Breaking the News,” first published … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Breaking the News, Classic Literature, Death, Loss, Loss of a Child, Vladimir Nabokov
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Book Review: The Art of Being a Healing Presence (2001)
How to help a loved one through a tough time
What does it mean to be a “healing presence”? Is being present a simple physical state — or is there something more to it? The Art of Being a Healing Presence, a slim 2001 book written by counselor and ordained … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Grief Counseling, Healing, Healing Process, helping loved ones grieve
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Book Review: The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Sensitive, honest portrayal of loss in the story of the Ganguli family
The family saga is a tried-and-true literary genre, one that usually follows a central clan as they grow, marry, have children, age and eventually die. There’s a certain rhythm to these types of stories — unlike so many other novels, … Continue reading
Book Review: Famous Last Words
Pocket-sized book takes a lighter look at some notable final utterances
Are a person’s last words important? Do they leave some indelible mark on this world, having been the final vocalizations of a human being before he or she passes into the next one? I’ll leave that for you to decide. … Continue reading
Book Review: “Last Acts of Kindness,” by Judith Redwing Keyssar
Stories from the bedsides of the dying and what they can teach us
A few months ago, I interviewed Redwing Keyssar for the SevenPonds blog to get her perspectives on death, dying, and palliative care. Her book, Last Acts of Kindness, outlines Redwing’s unique philosophies and also provides a vital tool for health … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Death, Dying, End-of-life care, Good Death, Hospice, Nursing, Palliative Care
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Depression and Death in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar
Semi-autobiographical novel reflects Plath's own struggles with depression and suicidal tendencies
Sylvia Plath’s life reads like a tragedy. A gifted writer and poet from an early age, she struggled with depression starting in her teenage years. She married poet Ted Hughes, with whom she shared a tumultuous relationship and two children. … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Death and Dying, Depression, Mental Heath, Suicide, Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
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What Is Palliative Care? An Interview with Dawn Gross
Why palliative care physicians are fairy godmothers, not "Grim Reapers"
Dawn Gross, MD, PhD, is a hospice physician at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her background is in hematology and immunology, and she now works for the hospital’s Palliative Care Service, specializing in treating patients facing life-altering illnesses and … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged Death and Dying, End-of-life care, Healthcare, Hospice, Hospitals, Palliative Care
2 Comments
Film Review: In Bruges (2008)
Madcap hitman flick that treats with humor some of life's deeper questions
This hilarious, moody, very violent film by writer-director Martin McDonagh is incredibly difficult to characterize. Is it a comedy? An action/heist flick? A downer drama? Hard to say. Whatever it is, it blends elements of all these genres brilliantly, features … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Afterlife, Death and Dying, In Bruges, Purgatory, Spirituality
1 Comment
What Is Elder Abuse? An Interview with Marti Riporetti-Brown
What is elder abuse, and how can we prevent it?
Marti Riparetti-Brown is a second year doctoral student at USC’s Davis School of Gerontology. She focuses on, among other things, the prevalence and risk factors of elder abuse and neglect in American caregiving. We spoke to Marti about the dangers … Continue reading
Song Review: “Videotape,” by Radiohead
"When I'm at the pearly gates, this will be on my videotape"
I’ve always been of the opinion that the last song on an album holds a special significance. An artist will usually leave the listener with a parting shot– a summation, perhaps, of the album’s themes, or some poignant words of … Continue reading
What Is a Palliative Care Nurse? An Interview with Judith Redwing Keyssar
Palliative care specialist opens up about health care, consultation, and end-of-life
Judith Redwing Keyssar is the Director of the Palliative Care Program at Seniors at Home, a program of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service. Her book, Last Acts of Kindness (2010), is a collection of her experiences being a self-described … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged End-of-life care, Hospice, Hospital Care, Hospitals, Palliative Care
2 Comments
Film Review: The Land before Time (1988)
Lovely animated tale of dinosaurs could help children to understand and deal with losing a parent
Here on the SevenPonds blog, we’ve reviewed many healing films and suggested many more (you can check out a full list of our suggestions on our Multimedia page). Many of our films, however, are aimed towards adults. What about children, … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
2 Comments
What is Spiritual Healing? – An Interview with Dale Borglum
Considering conscious dying and spiritual healing as we plan for the end-of-life
Dale Borglum is the founder and Executive Director of the Living/Dying Project, a group that offers healing to those at the end-of-life and their caregivers. Dale has had a long and impressive career in healing, spirituality, and caring for dying … Continue reading
What are the Effects of Trauma? – An Interview with Carolyn Lunsford Mears, Part 2
The conclusion of our interview with the trauma expert, as we discuss how to deal sensitively with those who've experienced trauma
Dr. Carolyn Mears suffered her own trauma in 1999, when her son survived the tragic Columbine High School shooting, and the experience served as a catalyst towards earning her doctorate. She now serves as dissertation adviser and adjunct faculty at … Continue reading
Book Review: Two Weeks of Life (2008)
Eleanor Clift's memoir examines terminal illness, hospice, and the Terri Schiavo case
Eleanor Clift’s husband, Tom Brazaitis, died in 2005. For years, the Newsweek journalist cared for Tom, who had been diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1999, and towards the end she took him home to spend his final days in his … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged Eleanor Clift, Grief, Hospice, Palliative Care, Right to Die, terminal illness, Terri Schiavo, Two Weeks of Life
2 Comments
What are the Effects of Trauma? – An Interview with Carolyn Lunsford Mears, Part 1
Understanding the full effects of trauma from death on those who've survived a life-changing event
In 1999, Carolyn Mears’ son was a student at Columbine High School in Colorado, where a horrifying mass shooting claimed the lives of 12 students and 1 teacher. She now serves as dissertation advisor and adjunct faculty at the University … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged Aurora Theater Shooting, Bowling For Columbine, Columbine, Columbine High School, Columbine Killing, Columbine Shooting, Coping With Sudden Death, Coping With Unexpected Loss, Grief, Healing, PTSD, Survivor guilt, Tragedy, trauma, Trauma From Death, Traumatic Event
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What is Advance Directive? – An Interview with Judy Epstein
You already knew about the importance of filling out an advance directive; what about a POLST?
Dr. Judy Neall Epstein is a naturopathic physician and the Clinical Director of the Compassion & Choices End-of-Life Consultation Program. Dr. Epstein spent ten years in private practice before accepting her position at Compassion & Choices, where she works with … Continue reading
The AIDS Crisis and Representations of Heaven in “Angels in America”
The play's poignant, brutally honest take on the physical, mental, emotional crisis of an AIDS patient
Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is almost too big to discuss: a sprawling three-part, six-hour play ambitiously covering themes ranging from love and abandonment, to homosexuality and Mormonism, to faith and religion, to disease and dying, to politics and justice, … Continue reading
Posted in Lending Insight
Tagged AIDS, Angels, Angels in America, Death and Dying, Heaven and Hell, terminal illness
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What is Ash Scattering? An Interview with Gary Trovinger
How scattering ashes from the air can make beautiful and lasting memories for a family
The popularity of cremation continues to increase in the United States, and as it does, we’re seeing more and more creative and meaningful options for cremation ash disposition. Gary Trovinger is the owner and pilot of SCATTERINGS, a Bay Area-based … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Advice
Tagged Airplane, Ceremony, Cremation, Cremation Ashes, Disposition, End-of-Life Planning, Preplanning, Scattering Ashes
3 Comments
“Notes for a Story of a Man who Will Not Die Alone,” by Dave Eggers
Eggers' imagining of how one man flouts tradition and makes his death into a grand party
Dave Eggers is something of a San Francisco hometown hero, if literary figures can be heroes. His novels, including A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, are well-known and critically-acclaimed. He founded McSweeney’s, a publishing house with a respected quarterly literary … Continue reading
