From the library: Still Alice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wow. I just finished watching Still Alice, and I still feel weepy, and I should get turn in for the night, especially since I checked it out from the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the library: Still Alice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wow. I just finished watching Still Alice, and I still feel weepy, and I should get turn in for the night, especially since I checked it out from the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-26T06:11:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html\",\"name\":\"From the library: Still Alice\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-26T06:11:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-26T06:11:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"Wow. I just finished watching Still Alice, and I still feel weepy, and I should get turn in for the night, especially since I checked it out from the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"From the library: Still Alice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From the library: Still Alice","description":"Wow. I just finished watching Still Alice, and I still feel weepy, and I should get turn in for the night, especially since I checked it out from the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From the library: Still Alice","og_description":"Wow. I just finished watching Still Alice, and I still feel weepy, and I should get turn in for the night, especially since I checked it out from the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-09-26T06:11:18+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html","name":"From the library: Still Alice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-09-26T06:11:18+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-26T06:11:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"Wow. I just finished watching Still Alice, and I still feel weepy, and I should get turn in for the night, especially since I checked it out from the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"From the library: Still Alice"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":2856,"date":"2015-09-26T00:11:18","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T06:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2015-09-26T00:11:18","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T06:11:18","slug":"from-the-library-still-alice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/09\/from-the-library-still-alice.html","title":{"rendered":"From the library: Still Alice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Wow.<\/p>\n

I just finished watching Still Alice, and I still feel weepy, and I should get turn in for the night, especially since I checked it out from the library over a week ago, but didn\u2019t have the chance to watch it earlier, so I had to watch it tonight after getting back from the \u201cmiddle school band night\u201d football game (we left after halftime), in order to return it tomorrow morning before the library opens up and the grace period ends.<\/p>\n

The storyline is easily explained: \u00a0shortly after her 50th birthday, Alice, a brilliant linguistics professor at Colombia, and mother of three grown children, is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease. \u00a0The movie chronicles the progression of the disease, from moments of forgetfulness, to leaving her job, inability to remember how to tie her shoes, needing help dressing, confusion about family, and a description that sometimes she knows where she is, and more often she\u2019s just lost, maybe remembering something from the past \u2014 and the movie depicts her just sitting on the couch looking at a TV that isn\u2019t even turned on. \u00a0The movie also depicts her relationships \u2014 her husband ultimately can\u2019t handle the situation and her youngest daughter, who at the start of the movie is unsuccessfully trying to make her way as an actress in L.A. and squabbling with Alice, who wants her to go to college instead, moves back to take care of her while her husband, an ambitious scientist, moves to Minnesota for a dream job at the Mayo Clinic.<\/p>\n

One of my fellow Patheos bloggers<\/a> is dealing with this situation right now, with respect to her elderly mother, and has shared pieces of her story. \u00a0Closer to home (and I write this only because I blog anonymously so I don\u2019t think I\u2019m invading their privacy), Dad\u00a0has been diagnosed with dementia \u2014 not Alzheimer\u2019s, to be sure, and I\u2019m not sure, and Mom isn\u2019t sure, because she doesn\u2019t have a clear explanation from the doctor, or maybe the doctor doesn\u2019t really even know, to what extent this was the result of the head injury going on 1 1\/2 years ago, and to what extent the injury just exacerbated developing symptoms \u2014 but nonetheless the scenes toward the end of the movie, in which Alice sits passively, remind me too much of our last several visits home. \u00a0Dad\u2019s case isn\u2019t as extreme by any means, but it still worries us greatly, especially since Mom and Dad live 5 hours away, our opportunities to visit them are few, and Mom\u2019s health isn\u2019t great, either.<\/p>\n

Remember when Newt Gingrich ran for president four years ago? \u00a0OK, fine, he was mostly forgettable as a presidential candidate, but one thing I do recall is that he made a big pitch for substantially increased funding for research into Alzheimer\u2019s and similar diseases. \u00a0Normally I\u2019m skeptical of calling any sort of increased government spending \u201cinvestments\u201d \u2014 e.g., \u201cinvesting\u201d in building new roads or bridges \u2014 but in this case, if scientists could find a cure, or a treatment of symptoms, or a vaccine of some kind (rather than just retrospective studies that say, \u201cdo crossword puzzles\u201d, which, by the way, my Dad did every day, and continues to, except now he doesn\u2019t get very far), it would be a tremendous accomplishment and produce substantial benefits to both patients, their caregivers, and society as a whole.<\/p>\n

People often speak of wanting a \u201cManhattan Project\u201d, that is, a major, sustained government-funded research effort to meet their goal, though it\u2019s often something like the dream of an abundant and cheap source of renewable, non-polluting, non-carbon-generating energy. \u00a0But this is where I\u2019d spend my money.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"