Author Archives: Liz Matsushita (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

Two Weeks of Life by Eleanor Clift

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

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What are the Effects of Trauma? – An Interview with Carolyn Lunsford Mears

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

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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

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“Angels in America” by Mike Nichols

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

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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

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“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

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