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Filed in Aging, Sickness

Awake and Demented

Noelle Oxenhandler asks what happens when an aging mind practices mindfulness of its own decline. Artwork by Jelena Vukotic

Noelle Oxenhandler

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Dementia: it takes a blizzard of white lies to soften the hard edges of that ugly word. To me, it's as ugly as cancer—no, uglier. If I play the harrowing game I played as a child, which-would-you-rather?, then I would a thousand times rather have cancer than dementia.

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