The Dead Beat (notes)

“Historians tell us we are living in the Golden Age of the Obituaries.”p10

“It’s the best time ever to read obituaries, and I’m here to tell you, it’s a great time to die.”p12

“Obit writers are invisible, writing about people who have ceased to exist. If they wrote advance obituaries for some publication’s files, and they die before their subjects, they become people who no longer exist writing about people who no longer exist.”p14

Have to say that puts a whole new meaning into the term ghost writer.

“What is the correct collective noun for obituarists? A plague of obituarists? A wake of obituarists?”p16

I personally like, an exasperation of expiration writers, or headlines like, “The Obituarists Raise Money at the Death Benefit.” What about “Local Obit Writer’s hold 3-Day Death Camp”? Please excuse my bad taste.

Richard Pearson, Post obituary editor said, “God is my assignment editor.”p20

The Dead Beat (notes)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/06/dead-beat-notes.html