Former MLB player, manager, and coach -- via the New York Times. The reason for the batting helmet. Wish he had dug Bill Lee.
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, June 4, 2014
Alexander 'Sasha' Shulgin aka the Godfather of Psychedelics
Psychedelic pharmacologist who synthesized more than 230 pschoactive compounds, most notably MDMA or "ecstasy" -- via the Independent. "Our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability."
Lee Chamberlin aka Alverta La Pallo
Actress who was a charter member of educational series "The Electric Company" -- via the New York Times. A wonderful performer, she was also quite memorable as Cordelia to James Earl Jones' Lear in 1975; also figured in Sidney Poitier's ubran films of the 1970s and much, much TV.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
‘Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?’: Roz Chast’s rueful comedy of death
By BRAD WEISMANN
Roz Chast
2014
Bloomsbury USA
Do you parents make you crazy? You are not alone. After you
escape your childhood home, the pressure abates for a while, but unless they
are victims of a tragic accident or you are successfully estranged from them .
. . you will have to deal with their end-of-life issues. Someday. Sooner than
later. It will not be pretty.
Enter Roz Chast, long-time cartoonist for the New Yorker
magazine, whose neurotic musings have long reassured me that I am not alone.
Once again, she steps up to provide much-needed laughter and recognition of the
difficulties of caring for aged parents, and dealing with their passing, in the
sad-but-funny-but-true “Can’t we talk about something more PLEASANT?”
Let's get this straight -- this is not a cute, whimsical, perky little story. Her exquisitely honest account of the ends of her parents’
lives and the repercussions thereof seemingly makes for a God-that’s-not-funny book. With a deft mingling of narrative, graphic panelwork, and archival
photographs, Chast is able to transmit the complexity of the experience into
graspable, human terms, and those terms can be instantly appreciated by any
reader who has gone through a similar experience.
Parents – what can we do with them? The reversal of roles,
in which the children become caretakers, is at best awkward and at worst extremely
painful, wrought with anger and shame. The figures that stood over us, shaped
us, approved of us or not, are now in our shoes and we in theirs. As their
bodies decay and their minds unravel, we are forced to take charge, making
decisions, closing doors and opening doors, smoothing the path to death. With them fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting every proposal every step of the way.
What a riot? The humor in Chast’s new book comes from the
relief of simple empathy. She outlines her background and childhood, provides sketches
(literally and figuratively) of her parents – neurotic, apartment-dwelling New
Yorkers, her mother domineering and violently emotional, her father sweet but
passive. Starting with the registering of accumulating piles around their home,
and untended layers of grime, Chast realizes that intervention needs to take
place.
Parental taboos on discussing death, the afterlife, money,
plans must be overcome. Her father’s senile dementia, coupled with her mother’s
increasing bouts of disability, begin to eat up Chast’s time, thoughts, and
resources. Her suppressed resentment is palpable on every page, as she deals
with the increasingly catastrophic consequences of their denial of inescapable reality.
Along the way, she gives us unflinching looks at such things
as the detritus left in her parents’ place (eight pages of color photographs!), dealing with mounds of incomprehensible paperwork, trying to guess what level of care can eat up how much money for what length of time, and asides regarding “assisted-living” facilities (“As Places went, it wasn’t
bad. It didn’t make you want to kill yourself”). Chast is very up-front about
her conflict between loveing her parents and resenting them, between revealing all and feeling that she is exploiting her
situation for material. But her catharsis is real, and the reader is better for
it.
There are no Hollywood ending in the ordinary lives of those
we love. There is no magical closure.
“. . . I cried. The bellowing quality of
the sobbing and the depth of the sadness I felt surprised me. I was angry, too.
Why hadn’t she tried harder to know me? But I knew: if there had ever been a
time in my relationship with my mother for us to get to know one another – and that’s
a very big ‘if’ – that time had long since passed.”
The most horrible thing I could think would be to summarize
by declaring chirpily that this is a book everyone will love. No, you won’t.
This is NOT a book you should rush out and buy copies of for all your friends and
relatives, as though it were some kind of magic palliative for the grief,
confusion, anger, and sorrow everyone must wade through to get to The End. But
-- if you have dealt with this subject in any way shape of form, you will find
it a great comfort. And maybe it will help you deal. And that’s not an
inconsiderable achievement.
Oscar Dystel
Publisher who saved Bantam Books; master of the paperback -- via the New York Times. Among his big bestsellers: "Battle Cry," "Valley of the Dolls," "The Exorcist," "Catcher in the Rye," and "Jaws."
Monday, June 2, 2014
Eldred "Griff" Blakewood IV
Teacher, community activist, canoeist, and dancer -- via the Advertiser.
READER: World roundup of stories on death and dying
The death mask of Han van Meergeren, notorious forger. Repurposed into a work of art itself, is its purchase by one museum he defrauded the ultimate act of revenge? See story below. |
From Blunderbuss magazine, a reprint of of Essay Liu's 2005 award-winning piece "Seven Days After Father," which became the 2010 film "7 Days of Heaven"
From rabble.ca, Azeezah Kanji wonders why some victims of violence are remembered, and others are not.
From the Seven Ponds blog, a look at Victorian-era grief as social spectacle and wellspring of art
Daniel Lowe of the British Library discusses the political uses made of the death of Queen Victoria
From The Artifice, death as origin source in comics -- and as circulation-raising gimmick
In the Toronto Star, Megan Ogilvie begins a series of stories on confronting the end of life, and making decisions concerning it; the story contains several links to related stories as well
From artnet news, a museum collects the death mask of a famous forger who fooled it and others with fake Vermeers
Via Alltop, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a handy and comprehensive graphic breaking down causes of death round the world, and through a variety of categories
A promotional video for a new episode of "The American Experience," via PBS -- "Death and the Civil War"
From the Times of India, Purnima Sharma talks about how that county faces the digital aftermath of death
In Time magazine, Lia Zneimer explores mourning in the age of social media
In an episode of Creepy Corners, Louise Hung reports on an outing with Caitlin Doughty of "Ask a Mortician"
From the Gothamist, Mark Yearsley's brilliantly written meditation on the funeral industry's recent convention in Las Vegas
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Ann B. Davis
Actress, later minister; best known for her iconic portrayal of housekeeper Alice Nelson in "The Brady Bunch" -- via the New York Daily News. One of America's most loved character actresses, she got her big break as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz in "The Bob Cummings Show" (aka "Love That Bob") from 1955 to 1959. In 1969, she gained immortality as Alice. In 1976, she went to work full-time for the Episcopal Church.
Michael Schmidt
Photographer -- via the Independent. His latest work, Lenbenssmittel, was a seven-year study of the global food industry, which won him the prestigious Prix Pictet award -- three days before his death.
Michael Schmidt - Lebensmittel from Institut fĂĽr Kunstdokumentation on Vimeo.
Michael Schmidt - Lebensmittel from Institut fĂĽr Kunstdokumentation on Vimeo.
Lakshmi Kumari Chundawat
Writer and politician; preserved Rajasthani folklore and rejected purdah -- via the New Indian Express.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Karlheinz Bohm
Iconic actor best remembered as star of "Peeping Tom" -- via the Hollywood Reporter. A remarkable actor who started off as a pretty face, but developed into much more. After making his name with appearances as Franz Josef I in the Austrian costume melodrama "Sissi" trilogy with Romy Schneider,
he broke away sharply with his portrayal of the insane, murderous photographer Mark Lewis in Michael Powell's transgressive 1960 masterpiece "Peeping Tom."
Later in his career, he worked in four consecutive Rainer Werner Fassbinder films: "Martha," "Fox and his Friends," Effi Briest," and "Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven." A gutsy actor!
He also worked extensively with efforts to provide relief for the people of Ethiopia, founding Humans for Humans.
he broke away sharply with his portrayal of the insane, murderous photographer Mark Lewis in Michael Powell's transgressive 1960 masterpiece "Peeping Tom."
Later in his career, he worked in four consecutive Rainer Werner Fassbinder films: "Martha," "Fox and his Friends," Effi Briest," and "Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven." A gutsy actor!
He also worked extensively with efforts to provide relief for the people of Ethiopia, founding Humans for Humans.
Charlie Porter
Adventurer and scientist; climbing pioneer and innovator; first person to round Cape Horn in a kayak -- via the Telegraph. Here's a 2001 New York Times story on him; and here's a definitive portrait and interview of/with him from Rock and Ice magazine.
Matthew Saeed Muhammad aka Matthew Franklin aka Maxwell Antonio Loach
Champion light-heavyweight boxer who became homeless, then homeless advocate --via the New York Times. Abandoned at 5 by his family, raised by nuns; member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Spent his winnings, became homeless. After turning his life around, he became an advocate and spokesperson for the homeless.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Massimo Vignelli
Designer; created the iconic NYC subway map of the 1970s, the famous Bloomingdale's logo, and other innovative and beautiful creations -- via the New York Times. The map hung on my walls, wherever I lived, for years; absolutely stunning -- and very user-friendly!
Agnes Dodds Kinard
Pioneering lawyer, historian, and community activist -- via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
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