I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't think most people know what's going to be in their obituary, but I do.
I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary notices I have read with pleasure.
I always wondered what hearing one's own obituary might sound like, and I sort of feel like I may have just heard part of it at least.
Beyond being timely, an obituary has a more subjective duty: to assess its subject's impact.
I generally wake up, exercise and read through a huge amount of newspapers. I get to the office somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00 - my brothers and I are always the first ones in.
I write early in the morning, usually after reading portions of at least half a dozen newspapers on the web.
I'm fairly certain when I die that the obituary will say, 'Author of 'Angels in America' dies.' Unless I'm completely forgotten, and then it won't say anything at all.
When the 'Guardian' is commissioning writers to write obituary pieces about you and your career... it doesn't get much nastier than that. And you've just got to go, 'It doesn't actually matter.'
Like everyone else who makes the mistake of getting older, I begin each day with coffee and obituaries.
Obituaries were among my favorite to write because they have elements no other news stories have - a story from start to finish with a proper conclusion.
No opposing quotes found.