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Shepherd Bliss: Dancing with Death at Death Cafes

AFP

There was something old-fashioned and even spiritual about selecting the time of one’s own death and then inviting friends over. I have learned a lot about life, love, and death from the Day of the Dead and Nearings’ passage over thirty years ago, as well as from other death experiences. Death can be a teacher, if one moves beyond denial into acceptance—harder in some cases than others. A death awareness movement seems to be growing and takes various forms.

JMU baseball tops ECU, 5-2

Chris Graham

Junior right-hander Chris Huffman (Fort Defiance, Va./Fort Defiance) struck out seven for the victory and senior Trent Cundiff (Roanoke, Va./Northside) wrapped up eight scoreless innings from the JMU staff with the save in a 5-2 victory over East Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Clark-LeClair Stadium in non-conference baseball action.

Virginia State Police answering thousands of calls due to snow

Chris Graham

From 4 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 12) through 4 p.m. Thursday (Feb.13), Virginia State Police state police emergency dispatch centers fielded 4,052 calls for service. During that same 12-hour period, state troopers responded to 1,095 traffic crashes and 1,115 disabled vehicles across the Commonwealth.