#7 - The NYT Obituaries Section

I've always been morbidly fascinated with obituaries. My roommate and I used to have the New York Times delivered to our apartment, and barring some massive tragedy on the front page, the first section I'd read every morning was the obituaries. We've now realized that we're poor college students, who truly can't afford to have it delivered ($15 a week! Those elitist bastards), and so I've started reading the obituaries online. The online edition of the Times has more obituaries than are printed, so I've got even more dead people to read about, which is great.

The thing is, it isn't exactly the deaths that fascinate me. What I'm fascinated with is the lives - more specifically, how the obituary writers condense those lives into 5 word phrases or epigrams. Here's an example from today's paper: "Jefferson Thomas, Who Helped Integrate Little Rock School, Dies at 67". Another example, from a few days back: "Corneille, Dutch Artist With A Lyrical Modernism, Dies at 88". I don't know enough about either of these men to know if these are sufficient descriptions, but I'm totally captivated by how succinct they are.

Some historical examples:

• "Truman Capote, Stylish Novelist, Dies at 59"
• "Richard Burton, Rakish Star, Dies at 58"
• "Florence Nightingale, Famous Nurse," Dies at 90"

What will your obituary say? They're short, so unfortunately, "Courtney Barajas, Pulitzer Prize Winner and Queen of Everying, Dies at X" probably won't be the best choice. But hopefully it'll be something along those lines.