Death Is An Advertisement

Since my last post on this blog, I have moved from Washington, D.C. to Tennessee and then to North Carolina. I've also gotten married and taken a new job. In short, my life has rotated 360 degrees.  No, that's not right.  Maybe more like 180 degrees.  I definitely haven't come full circle.  I wish I knew what I was doing, exactly, but I don't.  Nevertheless, I plan to live out loud.  After all, I don't think anyone really knows what their doing anyhow.

I am now employed by a media conglomerate that owns several newspapers and television stations in the Southeast.  My new title? "Obituary Specialist".  I process obituaries for six newspapers (Well, only three right now, but the plan is to take on three more in the coming weeks).  This means copying text forwarded by e-mail from funeral homes into a program designed to process classified advertising.  Today, I was told I no longer am required to implement AP Style, or, really, edit the obituaries much whatsoever.  They are now considered paid ads and nothing more, and newspapers will now print only what funeral homes provide.  If you've ever seen an obituary written by a funeral home, what I just said may disturb you.  Funeral home directors aren't exactly prolific writers.  Most of them seem on the verge of death themselves.  Anyhow, this news, to me, doesn't bode well for the individual grieving process, or how we as a society deal with death in general.  If death was already considered an after-thought where news is concerned, now, it's an after-thought that is also solely a method by which funeral homes advertise their business and make money.   This is not uplifting news.