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A SevenPonds Visitor Thanks Us
Letters like these are the inspiration that keep us goingTo Our Readers, We are proud to share with you a letter (via email) from a visitor to our SevenPonds website. Sonia was inspired by the information we provide to help people like her and her family navigate the end of life. Letters like Sonia’s are ever so precious to us at SevenPonds. They keep us endlessly…
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“Cemetry Gates”
Song touches on the unfairness of death, yet ultimately is about love“Cemetry Gates” by The Smiths is, on the surface, a song about two people who enter a cemetery to examine the gravestones. However, there are numerous ways in which you can dissect the deeper meanings that singer-songwriter Morrissey may have intended to convey. The song begins with the singer and his companion meeting at a…
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Can You Still Depend on 911?
All across the U.S., consolidation and privatization of EMS is having terrible resultsWe are nearly halfway through 2017, yet many municipalities across the United States are still struggling to recover from the Great Recession of 2008. With their tax bases dwindling, and in some cases nearly gone, dozens of local governments have slashed budgets to the point that essential services are barely adequate to meet the needs of…
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Heart Transplant: Better Organ Preservation Leads to Higher Success Rate
A new method of preserving heart tissue may reduce the number of hearts wastedAccording to United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, the numbers are grim. Four thousand people are waiting for a heart transplant in the United States. Every 10 minutes, another person is added to the transplant list. Most of these critically ill people wait an average of four months before a heart becomes available. Meanwhile,…
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Monday Hearts for Madalene
Page Hodel creates beautiful hearts as a tribute to lasting loveIt’s an honor for SevenPonds to share with our readers the story of the Monday Hearts for Madalene project, a true account of the power of love in the midst of death.The project’s origins take us to 2005: the moment Page Hodel encountered Madalene Rodriguez and fell “instantly, dizzyingly in love with her.” The couple’s…
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The Circle of Life — in Stop-Motion
A short film explores the relationship between life and deathThe circle of life happens all around us every moment. And yet it’s a difficult concept to think about on a daily basis. The stages of youth, old age, death, decomposition and rebirth happen so slowly that we rarely notice them in real time. That’s why artist Emma Allen decided to create her short film, “Ruby.”…
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How Can I Protect My Family and Assets with Estate Planning? (Interview)
An interview with Stacy Turner, Esq. Part TwoToday SevenPonds continues its interview with Stacy Turner, Esq. Stacy has kindly agreed to give some estate planning tips to our readers to help ensure that their wishes are respected after their death. Debra: Stacy, can you give me a quick overview of estate planning? Stacy Turner: Estate planning has several, equally important components. First,…
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New Jersey Introduces Bill to Give Tax Credits to Organ Donors
The bill would give a $1,000 tax break to donors, living or deadTwo bills currently pending in the New Jersey legislature would provide tax credits of $1,000 to organ donors in the state, Politico reports. The bills also authorize tax credits of $100 for blood donors who donate at least four times in a calendar year. The bills are the first in the nation to offer “no…
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“The Deep”
Doerr’s award winning short story emphasizes the importance of embracing all that life has to offerWhile finishing up a contemporary short story class this semester, I came across a piece of fiction that has since nestled itself deeply into my consciousness. The story, which I found in Ben Marcus’s book “New American Stories,” is by American novelist and short- story writer Anthony Doerr. Doerr is the author of the 2014 novel…
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