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…
Grief + Mourning
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December 31, 2015 -
August 18, 2014Seeing The AIDS Memorial Quilt in New York in 2014
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…
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July 26, 2014Day 26: Photos of London’s Afro-Caribbean Funerals
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…
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July 11, 2014
Day 11: Planet of the Apes Grieving for Their Ape Kind Dead
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…
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July 10, 2014
Day 10: When People Die from Broken Hearts
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)…
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May 26, 2014
Grave Matters… Muahahahaha!
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…
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December 22, 2013Gravity is a Movie about a Dead Child
Gravity (2013) IMBD (December 22, 2013) Do not read this Death Ref post if you have not seen the film Gravity and would rather…
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October 7, 2013
Death Salon LA 2013: Better than Death Race 2000
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…
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December 23, 2012Reflections on Mass Shootings in America
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,…
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October 26, 2012
Repost: Juanita Garciagodoy (March 10, 1952 – October 27, 2011)
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…
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October 14, 2012When People Choose to Die
When Prolonging Death Seems Worse Than Death Fresh Air with Terry Gross, NPR (October 09, 2012) Many of us think of death as the worst…
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March 25, 2012
Social Media Web Users Keep Dying…Second Verse Same as the First
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…
