online archive
6:00PM
OCT 8 2007
Elvis has really left the building
From Chronicles, Thomas Fleming on counting people and people who count. Putting a price on the priceless: Assigning a dollar value to a person’s life might seem impossible, not to mention unthinkable. But after a wrongful death, the needs of the surviving family often lead to that grim calculation. From Free Inquiry, a series of articles on dealing with dying. Wrong answer: New research finds surprising errors at suicide hot lines. Like putting people on hold. A review of Obit: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People who Led Extraordinary Lives by Jim Sheeler. A review of The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich, and Powerful Really Died by Michael Largo. Fame's dead certainties: Yes, Elvis really has left the building. We all die, even the famous and infamous. Death is the reality that cuts through all the hyperbole of the hyper-real.
