MObituaries

At ObitCon, members of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers talk about the privilege of honoring lives well-lived. Mo Rocca reports on the gathering of obit writers (where they hand out their annual awards ceremony, the Grimmys), and introduces the second season of his podcast, "Mobituaries."

According to James Loewen in his book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Sasha and Zamani are two aspects of time as expressed in some Eastern and Central African cultures. Sasha are spirits known by someone still alive, while Zamani are spirits not known by anyone currently alive. The recently departed whose time overlapped with people still here are the Sasha, the living dead. They are not wholly dead, for they live on in the memories of the living ... when the last person knowing an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the Sasha for the Zamani, the dead. As generalized ancestors, the Zamani are not forgotten but revered.

Your assignment:  write your own Obituary.  Assume you live to be at least 80 years old.  What will you have accomplished?  Who will you leave behind?  What will your legacy be?

Paradox of the Poultry Pardon

"You can tell what a nation is like by the way it treats its turkeys"

 In just a few days, we will once again endure the annual spectacle of the President of the United States pardoning a turkey that would otherwise have been fated for the Thanksgiving table.  So this is a good time to ask why a nation that bemoans the bloated prison system and proclaims that "life is all about second chances" is--on the matter of clemency--one of the stingiest Presidents in U.S. history?

Put another way: If a turkey deserves a second chance, why not America's Prisoners?

Which States/ Countries are part of the unique club that still have the death penalty?

Cast your vote for this year's Turkey.

Which Presidents have given the most pardons?  The least?

Can a President Pardon himself?   Should he?   Why/Not?

Should Voting be Mandatory?

Do the election results for Butler County confirm or refute this graph?

What should the title of this map be?  What do the colors represent?  What other conclusions can we draw from this map?  Who votes more:  educated or non-educated? Rich or poor?  If you were running for office where would you campaign?

Over twenty countries have some form of compulsory voting which requires citizens to register to vote and to go to their polling place or vote on election day. Should the United States be next?

Read the Discussion

Who is in favor of Compulsory Voting?  Opposed?  What do you think?

Why shouldn't you be forced to vote?

Why are we making voting harder, not easier, for many Americans?

Don't Vote!?

Over the past 150 years, many people worked hard and fought valiantly — and sometimes even died — to expand the right to vote to all Americans. Today, no matter your gender, race or income level, American citizens 18 or older have the right vote. Yet, voter turnout rates in the United States, especially during midterm elections like those on Nov. 4, are among the lowest in the world (PDF). For certain groups, like poor people and young adults, turnout rates are even lower. In a country that prides itself on its democratic values, why don’t more people vote? What do We the People Want?