In the Sept. 24th issue of the New Yorker, Oliver Sacks tells the tale of Clive Wearing. In his forties, Wearing suffered herpes encephalitis and as a result, has a memory of only seconds. Sacks is fascinated by Wearing’s retained musical skills and his love for his wife Deborah. It’s a long article – fascinating [...]
Archive for September, 2007
from Oliver Sack’s article “The Abyss”
Posted in cultural phenom, science of memory, tagged , amnesia, forgetting, memory, music, Oliver Sacks on September 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
learned some new things…
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged forgetting, memory, StoryCorps on September 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
I went to the StoryCorps booth at the Milwaukee Public Library today with my dad. He was a little antsy, wondering what kind of questions I’d ask him. When the facilitator held up her hand to signal 5 minutes left in the 40 minute session – we were both surprised. Because Dad’s an only child, [...]
in search of the perfect memory
Posted in cultural phenom, science of memory, tagged alzheimer's, dementia, forget, forgetting, immortality, memory, software on September 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
A. R. Luria gave us “S” in the Mind of a Mnemonist. “S” could remember extensive, random sequences of numbers years after he’d seen them. Yet, he was nearly socially illiterate. Now there is Gordon Bell and life logging. Bell endeavors to record every bit of data in his life (literally everything he sees and [...]
an act of imagination…
Posted in art, books, cultural phenom, tagged alzheimer's, Complicite, dementia, forget, forgetting, imagination, memory, Mnemonic, theatre on September 26, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Way back in the spring of 2001, I saw a production in New York by one of my very favorite theater groups in the WORLD, Theatre de Complicite (they also did an amazing Broadway version of Ionesco’s Chairs) The play was called Mnemonic. Here is a line from the opening monologue… “But what I am [...]
Building Bridges
Posted in art, film, public education, tagged , , aging, alzheimer's, dementia, documentary, forget, forgetting, generations, intergenerational, memory, Michael Verde, Naomi Feil, poetry, Robert Pinsky on September 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Memory Bridge has a lovely new website and a new documentary film that dares to step into the world of late stage dementia and hope for connection. It’s tricky territory – many caregivers see only a void of hope and meaning. The film profiles the Memory Bridge curriculum, which partners middle and high school students [...]
Psychiatrists rally to combat stigma
Posted in medicine, public education, tagged alzheimer's, dementia, memory, public health, remembering, stigma on September 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
I came across this website/effort today– Changing Minds. The Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK and the Republic of Ireland are tackling the problem of stigmatization of people with mental illness. The effort addresses Anxiety, Depression, Schizophrenia, Dementia, Alcohol and Drug Addiction, and Eating Disorders. Seems like a good idea for a project in [...]
Article on Polypharmacy
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , aging, alzheimer's, dementia, drugs, forget, forgetting, memory, perscriptions, pills, remembering on September 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The NYT’s Science section had a great article on older adults and polypharmacy today. It paints a picture of a world in which pills are given for every ill; where doctors (specialists) don’t talk to each other; where drugs are tested on the young and little is known about their effects on the old; and [...]
snowflakes and memories
Posted in film, tagged aging, alzheimer's, dementia, film, forget, forgetting, intergenerational, Julie Christie, love, marriage, memory, Polley, sarah polley on September 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Away From Her (2007), the latest film to tackle the issue of Alzheimer’s, is now available on dvd (as of Sept. 11th). Filmmaker Sarah Polley accomplishes something that others haven’t been able to do before…make a film about Alzheimer’s that’s about something more than Alzheimer’s. The film has rich poetic imagery that calls the nature [...]
With a granddaughter like this…
Posted in art, tagged aging, art, dementia, forget, forgetting, intergenerational, Katerina Seda, memory, Rennaissance Society on September 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Katerina Seda noticed her grandmother (77) was starting to withdraw from friends and family. So she enticed her back into community by having her draw every tool she could think of from the hardware store where she worked for over 30 years. The exhibition of over 600 drawings will be at the Renaissance Society at [...]
