I’ve written a few obituaries and tribute pieces in my day. They’re tough to write. People — family, friends, admirers — have certain expectations. Their expectations are born of nostalgia, and nostalgia is a nasty little thing. In Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, “The heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good; and thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burdens of the past.” And that’s the problem when approaching these things; these homages to life, acknowledgments of death. In remembrance, obituaries exalt someone’s contributions . . .
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