On the one hand, obituaries are an amalgam of a bunch of different kinds of journalism: they're feature stories, they're profile pieces, they cover history, and they're hard news too.

On the other hand, the subject is always... dead.

This hour, a look at the art of obituaries and obituarists.

GUESTS:
Kate Cimini - A reporter for The Salinas Californian and CalMatters
Vanessa Gould - Produced and directed the documentary Obit.
Heather Lende - Obituarist for the Chilkat Valley News in Alaska and the author of Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer
Bruce Weber - Retired New York Times obituarist

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 24, 2017.

On the one hand, obituaries are an amalgam of a bunch of different kinds of journalism: they're feature stories, they're profile pieces, they cover history, and they're hard news too.
On the other hand, the subject is always... dead.
This hour, a look at the art of obituaries and obituarists.
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>Kate Cimini&nbsp;- A reporter for&nbsp;The Salinas Californian&nbsp;and&nbsp;CalMatters</li>
<li>Vanessa Gould&nbsp;- Produced and directed the documentary&nbsp;<a href="https://www.obitdoc.com/">Obit.</a></li>
<li>Heather Lende&nbsp;- Obituarist for the&nbsp;Chilkat Valley News&nbsp;in Alaska and the author of&nbsp;Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer</li>
<li>Bruce Weber&nbsp;- Retired&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;obituarist</li>
</ul>
Join the conversation on&nbsp;<a href="http://facebook.com/ColinMcShow">Facebook</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/wnprcolin">Twitter</a>.
Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired August 24, 2017.

The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/about">The Colin McEnroe Show</a> is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/tags/the-nose">The Nose</a> for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

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