Obituary

Guys. GUYS. I'm sorry. I have been neglecting you. I read an article recently about how procrastinators are actually perfectionists who care about doing good work who are terrified of disappointing people so they have a hard time starting things and if I actually felt bad about being a procrastinator that article would have made me feel so much better!

I just want everything to be perfect. For you.

Last week I went to a talk at the DUMBO location of The Wing. The Wing, for those who aren't in the know, is the impeccably designed "women's coworking space and social club." It was started in 2016 by Audrey Gelman, who I want to hate so badly but just can't. She is an exceptionally privileged woman who has actually done some very cool things (like have a guest role on Girls!)(she did, but that's not the cool thing)(but also she's friends with Lena Dunham)(and that's cool depending on whether or not we're all liking Lena Dunham that day.)

She's been heavily involved in progressive politics in her 20s, now (she's 30ish) she's founded The Wing, which by all accounts has been super successful in the two years it's been in existence.

Basically it's a midcentury modern clubhouse for the ladies and I hate that I want to be a member SO badly. I'm so drawn to the perfectly coordinated furniture and the bookshelves full of books, all written by women, hundreds of them, organized by color. Honestly, if I joined, it would be to have a place to write that isn't my apartment. And then maybe I would procrastinate less? The monthly price tag exists in this weird place on the expense spectrum, right between "I can reasonably justify this" (i.e. a good haircut, buying a hardcover book) and "this is actually getting a little ridiculous" (i.e. an Equinox membership, juice fast deliveries, the costs that come with trying to give your dog a decent existence in NYC.)

The talk was given by two female staff writers from the obituary section of the NY Times. It was an accident that we were there, my friend misread the schedule and we were expecting a completely different talk entitled "First Jobs" but we rolled with it. Frankly we didn't have a choice, we were sitting in the front row, but I'm glad I stayed.

One of the women had just started about a year ago, the other one had been on obits for something like 14 years. They were talking about how the Times decides who gets a fancy, big featured obituary and who doesn't. They have this incredible project called "Overlooked" where they acknowledge the fact that the obituaries have been dominated by white men since 1851 and present freshly written obituaries for a bunch of women who were overlooked.

Speaking of kicking the bucket- I was listening to a podcast the other day, one of my favs called "The Hound Tall Discussion Series", where they have a panel of comics interview an expert on a subject in a live show at UCB in LA. This one was about death, and the expert was a mortician. She talked about how, instead of cremation, the best use of your dead shell of a body is actually what's called a natural burial. Basically you eschew the trappings of traditional burial (embalming, casket, etc) and let your body decompose naturally in a hole. Not sure if this is a legally binding document, but that sounds really good to me (re: cheap, less fuss) so I think I'll go with that please.