Obituary - Definition and Examples

An obituary is a published notice of a persons death, often with a brief biography of the deceased.   To journalists, writing obituaries of people who are not prominent--average private citizens--may seem routine, even boring; however, to the family of the deceased, obituaries are anything but routine. They are the published record of their loved ones life, the last document attesting to the worth of someone about whom they cared. Here are some common ways of writing first-day obituary leads: W. James Hassleblatt, 78, of East Lansing, former chairman of the English Department at Lansing Community College, died Tuesday in Mercy Hospital after a short illness.Plumber, building contractor, and folk singer John B. Constance of the Town of Tinapple died Wednesday in Millard Fillmore Hospital. He was 64.Nancy Whire, 94, a retired Latin teacher at St. Louis Academy, died Monday in her home following a long illness. The lead combines this special information with an identifying description, or at least an occupational title, and with the full formal name of the deceased, his or her address and age, the day (but not time) of death and, usually, the cause of death or circumstances surrounding it. Examples: died Wednesday after a brief illness; or suffered a fatal heart attack Sunday, two days after his wife of 51 years died.(W. Richard Whitaker, Janet E. Ramsey, and Ronald D. Smith, Mediawriting: Print, Broadcast, and Public Relations. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004) Obituary Guidelines Obituary writing follows some basic forms, even when you are writing a special profile. All obituaries, no matter how long or short, must contain the same crucial information . . ..Name: Use full name, middle initial and nickname if it was commonly used. . . .Identification: . . . Usually, people are identified by occupation or community service. . . .Age: In some cases, a family will request that you withhold the age. . . .Date and Place of Death: Use the day of the week if the death occurred that week, the date if it was more than a week prior to the obituary. . . .Cause of Death: This fact is not required at all newspapers. . . .Address: Tell where the person lived when he died and previous areas of residence for any major length of time. . . .Background: Specify major accomplishments, organizations, educational background, military background and any other highlights. . . .Survivors: Use the names of immediate family members (husband or wife, with her maiden name, children, broth ers and sisters). . . .Services: Specify the time, date and location.Burial: Name the place, and provide memorial information when available.(Carole Rich, Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method, 6th ed. Wadsworth, 2010) On the Perfect Obituary The best obit ever can be read at Harry Weathersby Stamps.(Stan Tiner, Raise Your Glass to Harry Stamps. Sun Herald [Biloxi, Mississippi], March 14, 2013) Obituary Example Jill E. Miller, 39, Savannah, died Friday, March 25, 2005, in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Savannah. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Barnesville, Minn.Jill Eileen Smilonich was born in Minneapolis. She graduated from Barnesville High School and Minnesota State University Moorhead. She earned a Master’s degree and PhD in Art History from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She worked for Armstrong State Atlantic University, Savannah.She is survived by her husband, David Veater, St. Simons Island, Ga.; her parents, Nick Smilonich, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.; her mother, Phyllis Smilonich, Moorhead; a brother, Michael (Melissa), Columbus, Ohio; and a sister, Stefani (David) Anderson, Bagley, Minn.Memorial service: Tuesday at 12:30 in the Fine Arts Auditorium, Armstrong State Atlantic University.(Fox Weeks Funeral Directors, Savannah, Georgia; March 27, 2005) Exercise: How to Write Your Own Obituary Begin at the beginning--when and where you were born. Think about your most meaningful childhood memories and the greatest lessons of your formative years. Think about your high school and college accomplishments. A healthy dose of self-deprecating humor can make this exercise quite fun. Write about your first job. Reflect on the relationships that have helped to define your life. Another way of looking at this exercise is to think of it as a condensed autobiography. Write about your greatest triumphs. . . . Face your failures head-on, and think through the gifts that eventually came into your life because of those tough trials. Weave them into your life story.Now think through your hopes and dreams for the future--what you still want to accomplish in your life, places you still dream of visiting, experiences that capture your interest and imagination, books you still want to read, and people you want to get to know. And last, think how you wish to be remembered. What would you like engraved on your tombstone? My favorite epitaph is the one Malcolm Forbes wrote for himself: While Alive, He Lived. My personal choice is, He Made a Difference.(W. Randall Jones, The Richest Man in Town: The Twelve Commandments of Wealth. Hachette Book Group, 2009)The obituary . . . can be useful to students in upper elementary grades through high school and beyond. It demonstrates how to capture essential information and present it in a nutshell format (brief and to the point).(Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli, Nonfiction Mentor Texts: Teaching Informational Writing Through Childrens Literature, K-8. Stenhouse Publishers, 2009)The problem with the [imagined] obituary is that it entices you to dream and to express certain wish-fulfillments. What should concern us even more urgently is what has made us the person we are now, at the starting point of this writing course.(Stephen Wade, Write Yourself a New Life: A Life-Changing Course Where You, and Your Words, Are the Tutor. How To Books, 2000) The Lighter Side of Obituaries When I go at 104, I want my obituary to read, Her chute didnt open.(Jan King, Its a Mom Thing. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2001)When television host David Frost asked [Senator Eugene McCarthy] what he wanted his obituary to say, McCarthy answered without the least suggestion of irony, He died, I suppose.(Mark Kurlansky, 1968: The Year That Rocked The World. Random House, 2005

The Crisis Of Identity By William Faulkner - 1575 Words

The Crisis of Identity Arguably one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, William Faulkner was plagued with a crisis of identity from a young age. Inadequate in nearly every aspect of his life, Faulkner projected his personal shortcomings onto many of his characters, such as with Miss Emily Grierson in â€Å"A Rose for Emily† and Wash Jones in â€Å"Wash.† However, instead of victimizing these characters within his works, Faulkner chooses to rely almost exclusively on the lowborn or outcasts, such as Wash and Miss Emily, as examples of heroism. Unconventional characters like Wash Jones and Emily Grierson pose a test for Faulkner’s readers. If the reader judges these characters with a conventional eye, seeing one other as a murderous†¦show more content†¦This isolation prevented Miss Emily from marrying at a suitable age, therefore leaving her ineligible after her father’s death. In â€Å"Wash,† Faulkner depicts Wash Jones as being the very bottom of society, an image that is strengthened by the foil of Thomas Sutpen. Unlike Sutpen, a self-made man who has risen to the top of society, Wash Jones is the lowest of the low. Wash’s exceptionally degraded status at the bottom of the social heap makes it so that even a Negro woman can block his entrance to Sutpen s kitchen: â€Å"Stop right dar, white man. Stop right whar you is. You ain’t never crossed dese steps whilst Cunnel (Sutpen) here, and you ain’t ghy’ do hit now† (131). Wash Jones’s monumental identity issues are further exemplified through his cowardliness. When Colonel Sutpen goes off to fight for the Confederacy, Wash does not go; he instead tells anyone he can that he is looking after Sutpen’s plantation and slaves. However, â€Å"this was a lie, as most of them†¦ to whom he told it, knew, though there were some who believed that [Wash] really believed it, though even these believed that he had better sense than to put it to the test with Mrs. Sutpen or the Sutpen slaves† (130). Like Faulkner, both Miss Emily and Wash Jones suffer from significant identity issues; however it is these issues that give them the potential to be the atypical heroes that Faulkner crafts. Similar toShow MoreRelatedWilliam Faulkners Major Works and Themes938 Words   |  4 Pagesdark touchy topics such as war, racism, mental illness and suicide in all of books, short stories, William Faulkner wrote about almost every part of life, from something that could be absurd at his time, to something real like racism in the American South. Throughout his life, Faulkner was kind of a rebel, notorious for his confidence, drinking, and he would often make up stories about himself. Faulkner wrote from experience and as a person who lived in the south during times of racism, he wrote aboutRead MoreComparing The Sun Also Rises By Ernest Hemingway And Faulkner1593 Words   |  7 PagesIn the novels, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the protagonists experience a difficult, emotional event. Both Hemingway and Faulkner capture how the protagonists feel unwanted and alone when they go through a life changing experience. Hemingway and Faulkner capture this by using different writing styles to show how the characters cope with their emotions and feelings from the setback. Hemingway writes simplistic sentences to show how Jake Barnes putsRead More As I Lay Dying Essay example1225 Words   |  5 PagesAs I Lay Dying In As I Lay Dying William Faulkner uses multiple points of view to explore the theme of existence as a motionless and meaningless cycle. The cycle is motionless because it is inescapable and unchangeable. One can never leave the cycle of life and death. People perpetuate the cycle by creating life, but in creating life they are creating death, for life irrevocably leads to death. Faulkner depicts existence as meaningless. Nothing really changes in the story. On the surfaceRead MoreAnalysis Of William Faulkner s I Lay Dying 1713 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Faulkner confessed â€Å"It’s much more fun to try to write about women because I think women are marvelous, they’re wonderful, and I know very little about them.† He did not attempt to disguise this amusement considering many of his works involve the presence of women who serve to be pivotal characters. Faulkner is known as one of the most prominent writers in the literary world. Faulkner is from the southe rn United States- Oxford, Mississippi, to be exact. His expertise was the Southern GothicRead More Comparing Faulkners Light in August and James Portrait of a Lady2862 Words   |  12 PagesComparing William Faulkners Light in August  and Henry James Portrait of a Lady Light in August   and Portrait of a Lady are two novels which embodies within them, life affirming morals. Authors like William Faulkner and Henry James possess the art of making the reader learn by experiencing for themselves.   William Faulkner uses the technique of introspection as well as by showing how characters and their actions can affect one another. Henry James also shows that a character’s actions and decisionsRead MoreAnalysis of A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner and The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman2621 Words   |  11 Pages In the short stories â€Å"A Rose for Emily† written by William Faulkner and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†Ã¢â‚¬  written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists experience mental illness, loneliness, feelings of being in control of their lives, and feelings of being insane. Both main characters struggle against male domination and control. The two stories take place in the late 1800’s - ear ly 1900’s, a time where men’s place in society was superior to that of women. Each story was written from a differentRead MoreEssay on The Iniquities of the Father5733 Words   |  23 PagesThe Iniquities of the Father: A Look at the Faulknerian Family. Faulkner has been hailed as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, especially for his depictions of life in the Deep South. Many of his stories take place in fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. In the Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, he focuses on two very different families in this county, and explores how the â€Å"iniquity of the fathers† is revisited â€Å"upon the children† (Holy Bible: KJV Deut. 5.9)Read More William Faulkners Use of Shakespeare Essay5388 Words   |  22 PagesWilliam Faulkners Use of Shakespeare Throughout his career William Faulkner acknowledged the influence of many writers upon his work--Twain, Dreiser, Anderson, Keats, Dickens, Conrad, Balzac, Bergson, and Cervantes, to name only a few--but the one writer that he consistently mentioned as a constant and continuing influence was William Shakespeare. Though Faulkner’s claim as a fledgling writer in 1921 that â€Å"[he] could write a play like Hamlet if [he] wanted to† (FAB 330) may be dismissed asRead MoreThe Influence of Realism and Naturalism on 20th Century American Fiction2205 Words   |  9 Pageschange as a result of a changing economy, society, and culture because of an influx in the number of immigrants into America. Realists such as Henry James and William Dean Howells, two of the most prolific writers of the Nineteenth-century, used typical realistic methods to create an accurate depiction of changing American life. William Dean Howells, while opposing idealization, made his comic criticisms of so ciety (Bradley 114) by comparing American culture with those of other countries. In hisRead MoreThe Impact Of Ancient Greek Theater And Tragedy1703 Words   |  7 Pages men dressed as satyrs, companions of Dionysus who are half-man and half-goat, while the women dressed up as maenads, the immortal followers of Dionysus. As the participants become drunk and filled with ecstasy, they â€Å"transform† into a different identity from before. Later on this behavior became the satyr play, a form of Greek drama. Tragedy is said to be originated from the Dionysian rites, where the name comes from tragoidos, which means the â€Å"goat song† from the satyrs – companions of Dionysus

Discrimination of the Disabled free essay sample

A discussion on the inadequacies of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, a landmark legislation. The following paper examines how people with disabilities in America are not being provided with enough special facilities to prevent any kind of discrimination as a result of their handicap. The writer makes reference to examples in education and employment, where discrimination for disabled people still exists. It is important to mention here that discrimination exists in almost every field and while it is more prevalent in some areas than others, nonetheless the fact remains that most institutions and fields are plagued by cases of discrimination. The most disturbing thing about ADA is not the loophole that exists in its implementation but the public reaction to the cost of providing facilities to disabled people. It is quite unsettling to see that majority of Americans view ADA and such other legislation as a burden on the taxpayers money. We will write a custom essay sample on Discrimination of the Disabled or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Honestly speaking, whether we admit it or not, the truth is that publics negative reaction to these laws is posing the greatest hurdle in its effective implementation.