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.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Mary MacCracken
Teacher of children with emotional and cognitive disabilities, and memoirist -- via the New York Times. Her books were turned into films: "A Circle of Children" and "Lovey."
Columba Dominguez
Actress -- via the Guardian.
Las 10 Divas del Cine Mexicano (Columba DomÃnguez) by Sesshomaru-Light
Las 10 Divas del Cine Mexicano (Columba DomÃnguez) by Sesshomaru-Light
Friday, August 15, 2014
Licia Albanese
Soprano -- via Parterre. Best remembered as one of the most definitive Cio-Cio Sans, she sang for Toscanini, and with Corelli, Gigli, Bjorling, and Pavarotti, among others. Her singing career stretched from 1934 to 1987 -- 53 years!
FRIDAY BOOK REVIEW: 'The Death Class'
The Death Class: A True Story about Life
By Erika Hayasaki
2014
Simon and Schuster
By BRAD WEISMANN
Dr. Norma Bowe’s death class at
Kean University in New Jersey is the ostensible subject of this new book.
However, the book quickly becomes a portrait of Bowe, as well as ones of
selected members of her class. “The Death Class” is about overcoming tragedy,
cruelty, the randomness of life, but to me it’s not that compelling,
unfortunately.
Hayasaki’s prose suffers from both
stiffness and self-importance. When she gets caught up in her parallel
narratives in the center of the book, that awkwardness fades and we get a real
flow of story, but it comes back in fits and starts towards the conclusion. At
points, staggeringly awful sentences sit next to sublime observations. The jolting
quality changes, as well as the up-close-and-personal revelations that stoke
the narrative turn “The Death Class” into a long, haphazard feature story full
of too many predictable moments.
It is very hard for a journalist
not to track into the well-worn and effective template of personal suffering
and redemption, but the cumulative impact of “The Death Class” is blunted
severely simply by not showing readers the shape and content of Bowe’s course.
It becomes the disjointed account of various field trips Bowe takes her class
on. In fact, the writer falls for Bowe and what might have been a more
effective look at an innovative teaching method turns into a mushy tribute. The
reader deserves better.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Myrtle Young
The Potato Chip Lady, collector of anthropomorphically shaped potato chips -- via the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
Arlene Martel aka Arline Sax aka Arlene Sax aka Tasha Martel aka The Chameleon
Actress --via treknews.com. Best remembered for her role as T'Pring in an episode of Star Trek-the Original Series, she also had a prominent role in one of the best episodes of "The Outer Limits" -- "Demon with a Glass Hand."
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Lauren Bacall aka Betty Joan Perske
Actress -- via TMZ. One of the last great performers from the Golden Age of Hollywood, Bacall started as a model, then got cast in "To Have and Have Not," which sparked both her career and her romance and eventual marriage with Humphrey Bogart. Since then, she did great work in film, on radio and stage, and on TV. Some other highlights: "The Big Sleep," "Key Largo," "Written on the Wind," "Applause," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Misery," and "Dogville." She even made fun appearances on such shows as "The Sopranos" and "Family Guy." She could act, she was funny, and she was smokin' hot.
Monday, August 11, 2014
WEEKLY READER: Roundup of stories on death, mourning, and more
Photo courtesy Ding Rui/CNN |
TOP STORIES
New “death
simulator” is a new escape-room game due to open in September, per Maggie
Hiufu Wong on CNN
In the pages of Cracked, Himanshu Sharma outlines “The
5 Creepiest Death Rituals from Around the World (Part 2)”
Corpse stolen from
mortuary after four months reveals family feud: via Nkem Ikeke of naji.com.
DEATH
In Time magazine, John Sanburn reveals Emily
Kinni’s remarkable photo essay on former places of execution
From Confessions of a Funeral Director, “5
Fantastic TED Talks on Death”
Richard Harris of the Wall Street Journal reports on the
growing momentum of the aid-in-dying movement
Brittany Goodin writes about death and Beat
literature in the Artifice
Daniel McConnell of Ireland’s Herald on the
Irish government’s implementation of a “short-form” death certificate that
omits the cause of death
Death
in Gaza, from AP via Fox
Peter Dominiczak and Dan Hyde in the Telegraph meld the two
inevitables – death
and taxes
In The Nation, Nicholas Tufnell describes digital
methods of dealing with death
Michel Koh on Thought Catalog, on the
death of friends
‘Lethal neglect’? A
nursing home nightmare
Mary Awad in The Artifice analyzes anime and childhood death
In the Ernest Becker Foundation, H. Talat Halman reviews “Beyond
Death Anxiety”
Oh dear.
Taxidermy as a “creative hobby,” from Laura Secorun Palet on NPR.
MOURNING
Memory
and loss: mourning the dead of World War I, from Ian Bell of the Herald.
In the Guardian, Laura Barnett writes about Hannah
Moss, who performs a silent play about her father’s death
Elon Gilad of Haaretz discusses Tisha
B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning
Fear
of death and the silence of life, from Daniel Coffeen in Thought Catalog
OBITS
Marty Kaplan in HuffPo gives
Warren Bennis a different kind of obituary
Esteban Parra, in the News Journal, on more
kooky obituaries
FUNERALS
Church
cancels funeral ceremony for gay man – from Shannon Behnken of WFLA
Rude Pundit recalls a
loving funeral for a gay man in 1989
Crowdfunding
funerals, from Kayleigh Kulp of Fox Business
Want
to spend summer vacation interning as a mortician? – from Lin Hui-chin and
Jake Chung of the Taipei Times.
The Sun Herald relates the death of funeral director Jesse
Richmond, Jr., a
pioneer of the drive-through funeral home
Wrong
body. Via EURWeb.
Better late than never: remains
of nine Jonestown victims found in abandoned funeral home after 35 years:
Randall Chase, AP, via ABC
From the Better Business Bureau via the Topeka
Capital-Journal, “planning
funerals saves stress”
Tampa
funeral home robs clients, per Elizabeth Behrman of the Tampa
Tribune
MISC
The
mystery of the misplaced, duplicate tombstone found 35 miles north of the grave
– from Saundra Sorenson of the Portland Tribune
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)