my blog

I’m sorry. If this is the case, you’re grieving and that sucks. And now you have a writing assignment—one that culminates in a reading in front of either a bunch of strangers or a bunch of people you know or a mix of both. Hard …read more

I know this might be a sensitive topic for some people, and it is also one on which I am opinionated, so I’m just going to come right out with it. It is important to name the cause of death in an obituary, preferably early …read more

A recent article in The Guardian reported that dying “well” in a “planned and personalized way” has become a bit of a trend. “One of the chief desires of our time is to turn everything we touch into a reflection of who we are, how …read more

The first person I knew well who died was also the first person I “went out with,” though in actuality we went very few places aside from walking home from school together. We held hands until there was a car coming, and then I’d let …read more

I’m obsessed these days with the funerary practices in a small town in south-central Colorado. Thanks to the mortician Caitlin Doughty, who reported and wrote the provocative book From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, I understand that Crestone, Colorado, …read more

Avid readers of obits know when we’ve found a good one. For many of us the pursuit of a well-written tribute is why we’re reading the obit page in the first place. To get someone’s essence just by reading words on a page or on …read more