In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Obituary for Marty Just once, you say, you’d like to see an obituary in which the deceased didn’t succumb after “a heroic struggle” with cancer, or heart disease, or Alzheimer’s, or whatever it was that Wnally took him down. Just once, you say, couldn’t the obit read: He got sick and quit. He gave up the ghost. He put up no Wght at all. Rolled over. Bailed out. Got out while the getting was good. Excused himself from life’s feast. You’re making a joke and I laugh, though you can’t know I’m considering exactly that: no radical prostatectomy for me, no matter what General Practitioner and Major Oncologist may say. I think, let that walnut-sized pipsqueak have its way with me, that pebble in cancer’s slingshot that brings dim Goliath down. So, old friend, before I go 28 and take all the wide world with me, I want you to know I picked up the tip. I skipped the main course, I’m here in the punch line. Old friend, the joke’s on me. 29 ...

Share