In this week’s episode of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Eugenia Zukerman, an internationally renowned flutist, writer, and former television correspondent. Eugenia was the artistic director of the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado for thirteen years and the arts correspondent on CBS Sunday Morning for more than twenty-five years. She is the author of two novels, two works of nonfiction, and numerous screenplays, articles, and book reviews.

Three years ago, Eugenia’s family began to notice changes in her cognition. She was unusually forgetful and at times confused in ways that seemed unusual. Pushed by her family to undergo testing, it was determined that she was suffering symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. It was around this time that Eugenia took pen to paper, and began writing what turned into a lyrical memoir (“Like Falling Through a Cloud,”) of her experience coping with the type of forgetfulness and confusion that comes with such a difficult diagnosis.

What Eugenia Zuckerman is going through is a variation of what we will all face at some point in our lives, and it’s something that is particularly hard to accept for those of us who have been blessed with bountiful lives and the capacities to shape them. We’re used to getting our way, but when it comes to our mortality, we’re all in the same boat. We all have a common fate to share, and in some odd way, this can be a source of comfort.

As we move into a new decade full of life, love, relationships, and opportunities, it would behoove us to focus a little bit more on the things that bring us together and less on the things that set us apart. In this sense, Eugenia’s story serves as an inspiration.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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