Journalist; the last of "Murrow's boys" -- via CBS News. One of the Voices of God on our radios and TVs, Hottelet was the last of that first extraordinary generation of news and broadcasting talent developed at CBS -- first via radio, then TV -- for 41 years. He began reporting for UP in 1938. Thought by the Gestapo to be a spy, he was imprisoned for four months until FDR helped spring him. He covered D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. Later in his career he focused on election work, civil rights coverage, and wound up as the U.N. correspondent for 25 years. A very good reporter and writer!
Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Booth Colman
Actor -- via boothcolman.com. An instantly recognizable TV character actor, Colman was the go-to guy for worried scientists, anxious villains, and comic bosses -- although he did a much broader range of work than this in film and on stage.
Norman Bridwell
Writer and illustrator; creator of Clifford the Big Red Dog -- via the New York Times. Great quote from him: "Sometimes you'll do something that you really like and no one else does. You'll feel horrible, but you've got to just press on and keep trying. If you like doing it and keep working at it, then someday you will succeed."
Irene Dalis
Mezzo-soprano; a stalwart and deeply gifted performer at the Met for 20 years -- via the San Jose Mercury News.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
DEATHCETERA: A weekly roundup of stories worldwide on death, mourning and more
TOP
STORIES
‘Death
is always the best career move’ – the Telegraph on celebrity’s digital
afterlife
Livestreaming
funerals: innovation or abomination? – from Lex Berko via the Atlantic
‘Second-Hand Grief’ – Laura
Leigh Abby on how mourning affects life for a partner, at Modern Loss
DEATH
More on the cult
of Santa Muerte
– from Oriana Gonzalez and Alasdair Baverstock at the Daily Mail
Stephen
Colbert’s last guest will be Death – via Patrick Kevin Day at the L.A.
Times
Magical website
tells you when you’re going to die – from fastcodesign.com
MOURNING
Digital mourning – by Adam
Wernick at PRI
‘How to Survive
the Mourning After’
by Monique Minahan in Elephant Journal
FUNERALS
A mass funeral
for the unclaimed dead in Los Angeles – from John Schleuss, Taylor
Goldenstein, and Maloy Moore at the L.A. Times
This
is definitely not the funeral director for you – via Barry Smythe at the
Mirror
We
discover the National Museum of Funeral History in a story concerning ‘weird
museums’ – via Donna Gordon Blankinship and AP
OBITS
Newspapers want
to regain financial benefits of publishing obituaries – from Diana
Marszalek at Net News Check.
Raoul J. Cita
Songwriter, arranger, pianist, and singer; best known for his work with the Harptones; one of the unsung (pardon) progenitors of doo-wop -- via the New York Daily News. He wrote the standard "Life is But a Dream," sang on "Sunday Kind of Love," and had an immense influence on the sound of a cappella groups.
Monday, December 15, 2014
Sy Berger
Invented the modern baseball trading card -- via the New York Times. Hey, don't act like it's not a big deal -- he added color, stats, a facsimile autograph, all elements that made these little cards so fascinating and fun to collect and trade.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Friday, December 12, 2014
FRIDAY REVIEW: 'Working Stiff' -- Diagnosing the Dead
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262
Bodies, and the making of a Medical Examiner
Judy Melinek, M.D. and T.J.
Mitchell
2014
Scribner
New York
What happens to the dead? I don’t mean their souls, I mean
their bodies. Our squeamishness about death, decay, and corpses is a perfectly
reasonable aversion, but in every society, somebody has to deal with it.
This most taboo subject is the pith of Judy Melinek’s
memoir. She takes us along with her from her student days as an aspiring
surgeon to her introduction to forensic pathology, moving on to cover her
fellowship at the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Throughout her
training, she encounters deaths accidental and natural; homicides and suicides;
and the horrors of 9/11 and the crash of Flight 587 in Queens two months later.
Throughout the work, and her co-author Mitchell leaven the
gruesome details with a broader portrait of Melinek and her growing family,
giving us insights into the workaday world of people who make a career out of
examining the dead. There is a strong through-line here, too, as Melinek
relates her father’s suicide when she was young -- and surmises that part of her
calling is an attempt to heal that wound. There is plenty of (grim) humor, too,
and deflation of the myths that TV has instilled in us – no, not all medical
examiners are hot, full of witty repartee, instant and accurate judgments, and
sporting deep décolletage.
The faint-hearted need not pick this book up. “Working
Stiff” is a clinically precise, no-holds-barred description of the profession
and case histories that will make you gasp. However, this is far more than a
catalog designed to satisfy morbid curiosities. Medical examiners provide
closure for families, provide answers for criminal investigations, and add to
our knowledge base about mortality and disease.
For those who would like to know facts about the stories our
bodies tell after our deaths, this text is absolutely invaluable.
The best movie obit reel is TCM's
Per the excellent writer and historian Eve Golden, a reminder that Turner Classic Movies' end-of-year Remembers reel is the best summation of the film industry's departed for the year. Exquisite and evocative. It takes tremendous amount of time and discernment to winnow someone's essence to a few seconds on screen. Watch the video -- the edits and production are top-notch.
Kathleen O'Keefe
Journalist and publisher -- via the New York Times. Pioneered independent journalism in Cambodia in 1992.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Jane Freilicher
Artist -- via the New York Times. I like her. She did what she thought was right. A quote from her from the NYT obit: "To strain after innovation, to worry about being on the 'cutting edge' (a phrase I hate), reflects a concern for a place in history or one's career rather than the authenticity of one's painting."
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