Pauline Phillips aka Abigail Van Buren aka Dear Abby is dead at 94.
This letter was reprinted in The Chicago Tribune on Sept. 1, 1979.
"Aloha."
— the last word of Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), the World War II veteran and 53-year member of Congress who died today at 88, via The Wall Street Journal. Obituary here.
From Ann Gerhart’s 2009 profile of Dave Brubeck:
He concluded that all rhythm begins, literally, with the heart — “pa-DUM, pa-DUM,” he taps on his knee — its pacing changes, from emotion and duress, across climes and continents, perhaps accounting for the ethnomusical variations across the world.
“It is the very first sound a baby hears,” Brubeck notes, “and the very last sound the body makes before it expires.”
Photo by Ben Garvin for The Washington Post
"I didn’t always write for a living, and even back when it was my most fondly held dream to one day be able to do so, writing was always difficult. Writing is like pulling teeth. From my dick."
— writer David Rakoff, who died yesterday at 47, in his essay collection “Don’t Get Too Comfortable,” via Stuever.
Lupe Ontiveros has died.
You didn’t know her, but you did.
Sally Ride (1951-2012)
“They shall have stars at elbow and foot…”
June 1983 Columbia photo by the AP via NASA
"Shake off your hangover, sweetheart, and start writing."
— Scott Patton, a former Washington Post editor who died Wednesday, to a young reporter who needed a nudge to meet deadline.
Ernest Borgnine died yesterday. You should watch “Marty.”
You should also watch this.
RIP Ray Bradbury.
io9, which has confirmed the author’s death with his family and his biographer, has some lovely reminiscences up already. But we have to believe that the man also appreciated this NSFW ode. From all your nerds to you, big guy.
