On Being – With Alzhemier’s

On Being, a program broadcast on NPR and via podcast, has an new episode on “Alzheimer’s and the Spiritual Terrain of Memory” with many touching moments.  The summary is as follows:

“Alzheimer’s disease has been described as ‘the great unlearning.’ But what does it reveal about the nature of human identity? What remains when memory unravels? Alan Dienstag is a psychologist who has led support groups with early Alzheimer’s patients, as well as a writing group he co-designed with the novelist Don DeLillo. He’s experienced the early stages of Alzheimer’s as a time for giving memories away rather than losing them.”

The website offers poems and essays from the writing group.