Author Archives: Jon Wagner

Visiting When She’s Entranced – 10 May 2017 –

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Jon Wagner

I had a good “new normal” visit with Leslie today. She was seated at her lunch table, awake and lightly smiling when I arrived around 11:30. rolled her into the activity room for some arm stretches, and we did those … Continue reading →

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Visiting When She’s Asleep – 24 April 2017 –

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Jon Wagner

Leslie was awake when I arrived to visit with her, and she stayed awake through arm stretches (which she did just fine) and through an animated lunch. She reached for everything in front of her, and put a fair amount … Continue reading →

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How is She Doing? – 12 September 2013 –

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Jon Wagner

A little less than two years after I began seeing Leslie at Kairos (her first memory care home), her brother and sister—both of whom lived too far away to visit regularly—asked me how she was doing. I struggled briefly to … Continue reading →

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Hand Chatting

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Jon Wagner

When she could still walk and stand, I held my cousin Leslie’s hand to steady and support her. It was also comforting and pleasurable for me, and I think for her, but I never thought about it as more than … Continue reading →

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Inferring She’s There

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Jon Wagner

I made this video while visiting my cousin Leslie in her first memory care residence. It was a nice day, and we’d spent most of an hour or so in the courtyard, sitting with our backs to several trees and … Continue reading →

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Mind the Gaps

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Jon Wagner

Every photograph frames a story about people who are no longer present, at least not in the same way. The story involves anyone who made the photograph or is visible in it. Some photographs also suggest absences other than those … Continue reading →

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Trial and Error

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Jon Wagner

Lisa was a gifted experimenter and my primary trial and error coach. When Leslie became too frustrated to read along with full pages of text, Lisa tried children’s books, photo books and magazines and noted which ones seemed to work … Continue reading →

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Does she still recognize you?

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Jon Wagner

One of the questions Lisa and I were asked most frequently by people who knew her mom had Alzheimer’s, but hadn’t visited, was “Does she still recognize you?” It sounds like a straightforward question, and in some sense, maybe it … Continue reading →

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Seeing a Person Think

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Jon Wagner

The image above is a slice from one of several photos I took during a visit with Leslie at her memory care facility. I rarely crop photos to remove information about what I’ve photographed, but I had to cut this … Continue reading →

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Amanda Petrusich on Aretha Franklin

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Jon Wagner

In the August 16, 2018 issue of the New Yorker, Amanda Petrusich opened her review and appreciation of Aretha Franklin’s work with the following sentence. I haven’t read anything since that better frames the challenge of thinking one’s self through … Continue reading →

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