Author Archives: Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

The Xingu Indian Kuarap Festival Celebrates Death with Life

Among the surviving Xingu Native American Amazon tribes, a days-long ceremony commemorates death, life and youth
Posted on November 1, 2012 by Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

While we revelers in the U.S. fan out to solicit candy and purchase alcoholic beverages, celebrating a holiday whose commercialism has almost become a parody of itself, perhaps we would do well to look a little further south, to the … Continue reading →

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Our Beautiful Funeral Music: “Why Does Someone Have to Die,” by Philip Glass

A haunting orchestral work by a modern classical master
Posted on October 30, 2012 by Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

In Philip Glass’ typically haunting style, “Why Does Someone Have to Die,” written for the blockbuster motion picture The Hours, the rich orchestration and full, almost narrative shape, fits perfectly with its title and makes for perfect funeral music. Today, Philip … Continue reading →

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“The Wind Through the Keyhole,” by Stephen King

The master of horror returns to his epic Dark Tower Series
Posted on October 26, 2012 by Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

On June 19th, 1999, famed horror author Stephen King was walking on the side of a quiet country highway outside of Lowell, Maine, when, he was struck by a pickup truck, the driver distracted by his dog in the back … Continue reading →

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Our Beautiful Funeral Music: “The End,” by the Doors

Songs to guide you through a loss, to play at a funeral, or to enjoy on your own
Posted on October 16, 2012 by Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

“The End,” one of the Doors’ most famous, and impenetrable songs, in its final stanzas, reveals itself as a song on death. Immortalized in Francis Ford Coppola’s viciously brutal war film, Apocalypse Now, “the End” tells a long, winding, haunted … Continue reading →

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What Is an Ombudsman? An Interview with Benson Nadell

Ombudsmen in San Francisco face many challenges in their mission to protect residents of long-term care facilities
Posted on October 13, 2012 by Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

  Benson Nadell is Program Director of the San Francisco Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Long-term care ombudsmen are tasked with monitoring the quality of life at licensed LTC facilities, a tall order in this age of state budget crises, and … Continue reading →

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Beasts of the Southern Wild by Beinh Zeitlin

An imaginative, engaging film about the death of a way of life
Posted on September 28, 2012 by Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

In the opening sequence of Beinh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, a wildly imaginative independent film set on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, a herd of Ozarks, towering beasts that roamed the earth in the days before the Ice Age, … Continue reading →

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