2015’s Most Memorable Death Essays and More
2015 was a good year for death. Without much hesitation writers and editors both agreed that death topics sold copy/generated clicks so the stories kept…
2015 was a good year for death. Without much hesitation writers and editors both agreed that death topics sold copy/generated clicks so the stories kept…
Photos: See The AIDS Quilt On Governors Island Gothamist (August 12, 2014) On Monday and Tuesday of last week, a portion of the AIDS Memorial…
How great thou art: 50 years of Afro-Caribbean funerals – in pictures Charlie Phillips, in The Guardian (July 25, 2014) The spirituals sung, the Scotch…
Want to Understand Mortality? Look to the Chimps
Maggie Koerth-Baker, New York Times Magazine (June 25, 2013)
Today is the release date for the new Planet of the Apes movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
We’ll set aside all the timeline problems and alternative universes this specific reboot created. And no one should ever speak again of Tim Burton’s terrible remake.
What everyone should be discussing is how apes grieve for their dead. The New York Times Magazine ran an article in June 2013 on this topic. The Death Reference Desk has also written about Chimpanzees and grief before, in 2010 and 2009.
You can also read more generally about animals and death here.
Whenever we Humans start discussing our primate cousins and grieving, we run the risk of going on an anthropomorphising rampage. That said, it’s clear that our Great Ape relatives could teach us a few things about understanding mortality and the finality of time.
Want to Understand Mortality? Look to the Chimps Maggie Koerth-Baker, New York Times Magazine (June 25, 2013) Today is the release date for the new…
Can You Die From a Broken Heart?
What happens to our bodies when the bonds of love are breached.
Kirsten Weir, Nautilus (July 10, 2014)
Death by broken heart. It’s the worst.
I wish I knew how to quit you!
We also recommend checking out Nautilus, which is good Science and Culture publication.
Can You Die From a Broken Heart? What happens to our bodies when the bonds of love are breached. Kirsten Weir, Nautilus (July 10, 2014)…
Grave Matters (podcast)
BackStory, with the American History Guys (May 23, 2014)
This week the genius history podcast BackStory rebroadcasted their show “Grave Matters” in honor of Memorial Day.
Did you know that the term “funeral parlors” was a marketing riff on the Victorian parlor room of the home, the inevitable site of the wake and funeral? To kick the dour image of death, the parlor eventually morphed into the “living” room. BOOM!
Do check it out. Always informative and entertaining, BackStory is one my (Meg’s) favorite podcasts.
Grave Matters (podcast) BackStory, with the American History Guys (May 23, 2014) This week the genius history podcast BackStory rebroadcasted their show “Grave Matters” in…
Gravity (2013) IMBD (December 22, 2013) Do not read this Death Ref post if you have not seen the film Gravity and would rather…
Death Salon LA 2013 Los Angeles, CA (October 18 and 19, 2013)
Our good friends at the Order of the Good Death are putting on an enormous Death Fest next week in Los Angeles. Check it out if you can! And here’s some Death Race 2000 just for fun.
Death Salon LA 2013 Los Angeles, CA (October 18 and 19, 2013) Our good friends at the Order of the Good Death are putting on…
Packing Protection or Packing Suicide Risk? Shankar Vedantam, Washington Post (July 07, 2008) Anatomy of a Murder-Suicide Andrew Solomon, New York Times (December 22,…
In honor of the one year anniversary of Juanita’s death, I’m again sharing the memorial post I wrote for her. If you missed it last…
On the Media: Updating Your Social Media After You Die WNYC Public Radio (March 23, 2012) With social media, so much of our interactions with…