Life is short. Why not enjoy the time we have?
Vol. 2, Issue 15
"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." --Mark Twain
NEWS & NOTES
What a d’Vine Creation!
What do you do with an ornamental plant that's become one of Australia's most pernicious weeds? If you're Zimmi Forest, you harvest it by hand — thus removing its invasive tendrils from the land and keeping it from smothering native vegetation — and you turn it into coffins.
In an effort to combine the weaving tradition with sustainability, the veteran basket maker and fiber artist transports locally-sourced woody cat’s claw creeper (Dolichandra unguis-cati) back to her Mullumbimby studio and weaves it into large, eco-friendly baskets she calls "regenerative eco coffins." Forrest was inspired by a colleague in New Zealand who made willow coffins, and the increasing demand for “green” funerals:
Each handmade coffin takes about 60 hours to create, comes in three sizes and can cost up to $5,500. Forrest also offers weaving and mortal reflections workshops where she teaches people, and those preparing to die, how to weave a coffin together.
FMI: Click here.
Death by chocolate
When you hear the phrase "death by chocolate," does it make you think of a dark, rich triple chocolate cake? Or perhaps a hot fudge sundae with chocolate ice cream and chocolate shavings? Well, at the library in Hooksett, N.H., Death by Chocolate is a fabulous program that combines conversations about death with the world's best sweet treat.
On April 30, the library will co-sponsor a death cafe with The Sage Heart, a nonprofit organization focused on compassionate care, support and education about end-of-life issues. Attendees will discuss death with veteran hospice nurses Lisa Cassidy and Carmen Peace. Best of all, chocolate fondue will be served.
FMI: Click here.
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NOTABLE OBITS
* Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has died at 79. A lifelong Republican, Armitage was a central figure in U.S. national security from the Vietnam War era through President George W. Bush's first term. But it was more than a year after he'd already retired that Armitage made headlines for admitting his role in the events that led to the unmasking of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Plame's husband, retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, had undertaken a fact-finding mission for the CIA and found no evidence that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was building a nuclear weapons program. This alleged program was one of the Bush administration's key reasons for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Armitage later apologized for disclosing Plame’s identity to conservative columnist Robert Novak, who published the information. Neither was charged with any wrongdoing. I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying during the investigation; however, Bush commuted Libby’s 30-month prison sentence and President Donald Trump pardoned him. (Warren P. Strobel, The Washington Post)
* Francis, the first Latin American and Jesuit pope, died at 88. The Argentine was a modest man who lived in a small guest cottage rather than the 10-room papal quarters. He paid his own bill at the Vatican hotel and rode around town in a Ford Focus instead of the papal limousine. Unlike his predecessor, Pope Francis opted for a more welcoming and modern tone as he led the world's 1.38 billion Catholics. He met with leaders of other religions and embraced people who were vulnerable (poor, sick, disabled, migrants, imprisoned and unhoused). During his 12-year tenure, the pontiff railed against climate change and declared pollution a sin. His historic outreach to the LGBTQ+ community, his handling of the church's sexual abuse scandal, his decision to stamp out the traditional Latin Mass and his appointment of more than half of the voters in the College of Cardinals earned him the ire of conservative factions. Many liberal Catholics were disappointed that Francis was willing to discuss progressive policies, but failed to take stronger action on matters like priestly celibacy and providing greater roles for women in the church. Yet even when he met with the public, even autocrats and warlords, Francis never wavered from sharing his message of unity and peace. (Anthony Faiola, The Washington Post and Jason Horowitz and Jim Yardley, The New York Times)
* Francis Davis, a longtime jazz critic at the Village Voice and a contributing editor for The Atlantic Monthly, died at 78. Davis wrote numerous books on jazz, including "Outcats: Jazz Composers, Instrumentalists and Singers," "Bebop and Nothingness" and "Jazz and Its Discontents: A Francis Davis Reader." In 2009, he won the Grammy Award for best album notes for his work on the Miles Davis recording "Kind Of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition." He was also the husband of Terry Gross, host and co-executive producer of the NPR show "Fresh Air." (Nate Chinen, NPR and Kevin Whitehead, NPR)
* German secretary Irmgard Furchner, who worked in a concentration camp during World War II, died. She was 99. Furchner was 18 years old when she reported to work in 1943 as a secretary to Paul Werner Hoppe, the commandant of Stutthof, near the German-held city of Danzig. She took dictation, managed his correspondence and processed paperwork, including deportation lists and execution orders. By the end of the war, more than 60,000 people had died at Stutthof. Furchner would spend the next seven decades living a quiet life in Germany until her 90s, when she was put on trial for war crimes. She was eventually convicted of being an accessory to 10,505 murders and an accessory to five attempted murders. (Emily Langer, The Washington Post)
* Christian Holder, 75, dancer, choreographer and star of the Joffrey Ballet, died. Born in Trinidad and raised in Britain, Holder began performing in his father's dance company when he was just 3 years old. Holder joined the Joffrey as an apprentice as a teenager. During his 13 years with the dance company, he played the Moor in "The Moor's Pavane" and Death in "The Green Table." As a choreographer, Holder worked on American Ballet Theater productions of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and "Weren't We Fools?" He was also a costume designer for Tina Turner and other stars, a painter, a theater director and a playwright. (Alex Williams, The New York Times)
* Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Chris Jasper died at 73. The singer/songwriter studied musical composition at the Juilliard School of Music before joining the Isley Brothers as a keyboardist. He also wrote, arranged and produced numerous songs for the group, such as “For the Love of You,” “Between the Sheets” and “Fight the Power." In the 1980s, Jasper would launch a solo career and the label, Gold City Records. The Isley Brothers, including Jasper, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. (Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times)
* Character actor Nicky Katt, 54, who played teacher Harry Senate in the Fox series "Boston Public," died. Katt started in show business as a child actor, appearing in small roles in the movies "Gremlins" and "The 'Burbs." Over the next four decades, he would work with some of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood, including Richard Linklater ("Dazed and Confused," "School of Rock"), Steven Soderbergh ("The Limey," "Full Frontal") and Christopher Nolan ("Insomnia," "The Dark Knight"). (Pat Saperstein, Variety)
* British actress Jean Marsh, who co-created the serialized hit TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs" with actress Eileen Atkins, has died. She was 90. The program, which was set in a London estate during the Edwardian era, shared the tales of the wealthy Bellamy family who lived above, and the servants who lived below. Marsh played Rose Buck, the head parlormaid. The show ran for five seasons during the 1970s, was revived for the BBC in 2011 and was said to have partly inspired the program "Downton Abbey." "Upstairs, Downstairs" would eventually receive seven prime-time Emmy Awards, and Marsh would win one in 1975 for best lead actress in a drama series. She was also known in the U.S. for playing Queen Bavmorda in the 1988 fantasy film “Willow.” (Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times and George Bowden, BBC News)
* Veteran game show host and radio DJ Wink Martindale has died. He was 91. Martindale was still in high school when he landed his first job in radio at WPLI in Jackson, Tenn. When he moved to WHBQ in Memphis a few years later, Martindale hosted a radio show in the morning and a kids’ TV show in the afternoon. One evening in 1954, he helped to arrange singer Elvis Presley's first radio interview and the debut of the song "That's All Right." In the 1960s, Martindale asked his agent to find him a job as a game show host. For the next four decades, Martindale would host nearly two dozen of them, including "What's That Song?" "Tic-Tac-Dough" and "How's Your Mother-in-Law?" He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. (Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter)
* Elaine Wynn, 82, who helped to build a casino and resort empire with her former husband, died. Elaine and Steve Wynn were just newlyweds when they arrived in Las Vegas in 1967. Together, they remade the Strip into a glamorous and luxurious place to party and gamble. Steve was known for creating all the deals while Elaine handled the architecture, interior design and staff uniforms at their properties (the Golden Nugget, the Mirage, the Bellagio). Although the couple divorced in 1986 during the building of the Mirage, they would remarry a year later and divorce again in 2010. She later served on the Nevada State Board of Education and became a major art patron, giving a $50 million donation to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (Penelope Green, The New York Times and Matthew Crowley and A.D. Hopkins, Las Vegas Review-Journal)
FAMOUS DEATHS IN HISTORY
On April 21, writer/humorist Mark Twain (74), singer/songwriter/civil rights activist Nina Simone (70) and singer/songwriter/musician Prince (57)
On April 22, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (68), landscape photographer/environmentalist Ansel Adams (82) and humorist Erma Bombeck (69)
On April 23, sports journalist Howard Cosell (77), Australian-English writer P.L. Travers (96) and journalist/historian/author David Halberstam (73)
On April 24, novelist/short story writer Willa Cather (73), founder of cosmetics company Estée Lauder (95) and Olympic gold medalist weightlifter/coach Tommy Kono (85)
On April 25, actress/dancer/singer Ginger Rogers (83), actress/comedian Bea Arthur (86) and actor/singer/civil rights activist Harry Belafonte (96)
On April 26, burlesque actress "Gypsy" Rose Lee (59), jazz pianist/organist/bandleader Count Basie (79) and actress/comedienne Lucille Ball (77)
On April 27, broadcast journalist/war correspondent/TV host Edward R. Murrow (57), TV and film producer Paul Junger Witt (77) and politician/TV tabloid talk show host Jerry Springer (79)
On April 28, cartoonist/painter Barbara Fiske Calhoun (94), director John Singleton (51) and astronaut Michael Collins (90)
RECOMMENDED SUBSTACK
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"I perished in latitude 79° north under the hardships of the return journey over the inland ice in November. I reached this place under a waning moon, and cannot go on, because of my frozen feet and the darkness. The bodies of the others are in the middle of the fjord. Hagen died on November 15, Mylius Erichsen some ten days later.–Jørgen Brønlund." --final diary entry of Greenlandic polar explorer Jørgen Brønlund
MOMENT OF GRATITUDE
Thanks to Dead Good Legacies, Unsplash, Weaving Nature, YouTube, Galah, Jen King, The Sage Heart, Hooksett Library, Sonia Rye, Eddie Izzard, Hello Death: Conversations on Life and Death, Wilson Quarterly, The Written Word, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, Unscripted: Conversations with Christian John Wikane, the Los Angeles Times, Variety, the Television Academy, BBC News, The Hollywood Reporter, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Apple News, Dan Mall, On This Day, Playback.FM, Britannica: This Day in History, Time and Date, Wikipedia, The Moonlight Reader Society, Oldster, Canva and Deposit Photos for art and story suggestions.
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I LOVE the woven weed caskets! What an amazing way to care for our people and our environment. I wonder if we could do that with English Ivy?! It's a big problem in the Pacific Northwest.