Original Poem: John Coltrane’s Cancer
Sean MurphyI've written a ton about John Coltrane, easily one of my all-time sources of light, love, and inspiration. But to tackle such a giant, creatively? It's part of a project…
Sui generis on the rocks: Christopher Hitchens, Five Years On
The best way to compliment a writer, as a reader, is to recommend their work to others. That I wholeheartedly do --and have done. The best way to compliment a…
O’Connor and Coltrane: Saints of American Art
i. I never, until this year, made the explicit connection between John Coltrane and Flannery O’Connor. Why should I have? One was an introverted white woman, a southern writer who…
Five From Frank Zappa (Revisited)
December 4, 1993: impossible as it is (at least for me) to believe, Frank Zappa passed away (yet another casualty of the Big C.) twenty-two years ago, today. Zappa, to…
What We Talk About When We (Don’t) Talk About Dying (Revisited)
MY MOTHER EVENTUALLY became acquainted with the white-walled world of procedures and all that happens—before, during, after and beyond: Hope and fear, faith and then despair, the nagging need to…
Five From Frank Zappa
December 4, 1993: impossible as it is (at least for me) to believe, Frank Zappa passed away (yet another casualty of the Big C.) twent-one years ago, today. Zappa, to…
Ars Moriendi or, The Art of Dying (American Style)
This post takes some excerpts from my memoir Please Talk About Me When I’m Gone. While this project is an attempt to commemorate –and celebrate– my mother’s life, it also…
Stuart Scott: Winning
All of us are winning by virtue of being alive. By fighting. But we too often frame discussion of cancer with the now-obligatory martial themes: fighting, battling, winning, losing. Etc.…
Some Thoughts on 5Ks, Colon Cancer, Charity and the Redemption of Friends
I ran my first 5K last Sunday. Anyone who knows anything about me will likely have two reactions, in this order. One: no chance. Two: anything is now officially possible,…
What We Talk About When We (Don’t) Talk About Dying
MY MOTHER EVENTUALLY became acquainted with the white-walled world of procedures and all that happens—before, during, after and beyond: Hope and fear, faith and then despair, the nagging need to…