Pursuing dignity
by Rita Kohn Mar 10, 2004

Book event
The Forgetting … Alzheimer’s: A Portrait of an Epidemic is a book we need to read. David Shenk’s urgency dignifies an individual’s decline into dementia while giving dimension to the individuals and teams dedicated to research, treatment and care-giving. Shenk will speak at Glendale Branch Library March 11 at 7 p.m. It is the first program in the “Alzheimer’s: Community Conversations” series. Books will be available for sale and borrowing, along with free materials on AD.
David Shenk will speak about Alzheimer’s at Glendale Library; 269-1791.
By power pointing literary icon Ralph Waldo Emerson’s stages of memory loss, and showing how AD “most likely afflicted such figures as Jonathan Swift and Willem de Kooning,” Shenk both lifts from shame and levels the field for incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Excavating ancient history of senility, tracing literary allusions to loss of faculties, revealing roadblocks in brain research and finally exploding the harmfulness of denial, Shenk gives humanity to this dread possibility of which many dare not speak. The brain, ephemeral by design, explains Shenk, is a thing of awe and angst. Like the little girl with the curl, when it’s good, it’s very, very good, and when it’s bad, it’s horrifying. Yet ... And, it is within the parameters of “yet” that Shenk makes remarkable contributions to our understanding, acceptance and activism regarding Alzheimer’s disease. Sharing bits and pieces from care givers’ computer chat rooms, diaries and journals, Shenk’s narrative personalizes and humanizes the possibilities of “consolation prizes.” Shenk’s book spurred the companion documentary by the same name, which aired on PBS/WFYI.
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