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Death A Growing Topic In Pop Music
Songs about death and dying have become less taboo, especially with young rappersPop music, particularly new rap from the past year, has latched onto death. It is now an in-vogue topic to discuss. A song about suicide, Logic’s “1-800-273-8255” (named for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline), was even nominated for Song of the Year at this year’s Grammy awards. A study performed by Quartzy showed that there has…
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Gun Violence Is a Terminal Illness
The epidemic has claimed too many American livesIn the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14th, I’m having a great deal of difficulty writing about anything else. Yes, this column is intended to inform and enlighten our readers about the challenges posed by terminal illness. But it seems to me that the epidemic of gun deaths in this…
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How Can Cannabis Help Those at the End of Life? (Interview)
An interview with Dress Wedding and Kelly Quirke of Harborside Health Center, Part OneToday Sevenponds speaks with Dress Wedding, a Holistic Services Director with Harborside Health Center located in Oakland, California. Also joining Dress is Kelly Quirke, Community Engagement Coordinator. This is the first part of a two-part interview with Harborside, a state-of-the-art medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland and San Jose, California. Dress and Kelly offered me a…
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“Indestructible”
Ben Byer’s experience with ALS and his global search for a cure is chronicled in this documentary filmBen Byer died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on July 3, 2008. He was 37 years old. Ben was diagnosed with the disease nearly six years prior in 2002 at the age of 31. He was an actor and filmmaker, and decided to chronicle his fight against the illness. What started as a…
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“Ooh Child”
The Burke family soul band, named by their mother for the way they stood in group photos, promised a better life in complicated times.Ooh-oo childThings are gonna get easierOoh-oo childThings’ll get brighter In 1970, the words to the Five Stairsteps release of “Ooh Child” felt like a healing balm. My fellow college students and I had suffered numerous national wounds that needed soothing: the most recent – the May 4 shooting of unarmed Kent University students by members of…
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Conscience and Religious Freedom Division Threatens Patient Autonomy
A new Trump agency protects healthcare providers who opt out of medical aid in dyingIn a significant blow to Americans who wish to exercise their right to die on their own terms, the Trump administration announced in January that it has created a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights. According to the official press release, the office…
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Light-Activated Platinum: A New Approach to Cancer Chemotherapy
A novel new drug uses an inactive platinum compound to target cancer cellsA Ph.D. student working with the Monash Warwick Alliance has made a pioneering discovery about a prospective new cancer drug. The platinum-based compound goes by the chemical name trans,trans,trans-[Pt(N3)2(OH)2(py)2], and was developed by a research group led by Professor Peter Sadler of the University of Warwick’s Department of Chemistry. It is unique among chemotherapeutic agents…
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“Kuzosu: the Death of a Noble Lady and the Decay of Her Body”
Death and decay can have a positive sideThe kusozu are traditional Japanese watercolor paintings that gained popularity between the 13th and 19th centuries. The paintings depict graphic images of death and decay. Kusozu were created in the Buddhist tradition to meditate on the temporary nature of the physical world. The intention of these works of art was not to create fear or…
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