Here’s a handful of things I wanted to share with you that didn’t seem to fit into posts of their own:
Everybody’s linking to Christopher Hitchens’ article in the newest issue of Vanity Fair wherein he talks a little bit about his recent diagnosis of esophageal cancer. I think it’s pretty impossible not to have a love-hate thing about Christopher Hitchens, because he manages to hold extremely contrasting opinions on a variety of subjects and argues his case so vehemently regardless of the side he’s on, but anytime someone has to come to terms with the suddenness of their own mortality and can do so in such an honest and unflinching way, it deserves to be appreciated. Additionally, you might want to read Hitchens’ Slate piece about confronting his lifelong issues with alcohol that came out just before he learned that he had cancer.
In a similar vein, I liked this interview with Penn Jillette in the June Vanity Fair. No, there’s nothing wrong with Jillette, but he’s cut from the same iconoclastic cloth as Hitchens and is equally able to hold his own passionately on sometimes diametrically opposing ideas.
Here’s a good article from Esquire by writer Chris Jones about a fellow named Terry Kniess, who appeared as a contestant on “The Price Is Right” in 2008 and was the first person since 1972 to guess the price of his showcase exactly correct down to the last dollar. Even as it was happening, the show’s producers were sure Kniess was cheating, but they couldn’t prove it right away. Eventually they came up with some clues…but you need to read the story to get the whole thing. Additionally, I recommend this MetaFilter post from the time when the episode aired, which includes a lot of discussion and some other related links that help flesh out the whole affair.
There has been a study who I can’t be bothered to find at the moment, that indicated a high percentage of British die from esophageal cancer. Ron’s dad had it and it was swift and ugly. Then again, being the stalwart and stubborn Brit that he was he refused treatment because he felt the treatment worse than the disease..
That’s interesting. Hitchens’ own father also died of esophageal cancer, as he mentions in the article. It’s also linked to excessive drinking, which also fits poor old Hitch, and smoking. Given the drinking culture, it’s amazing everyone in the U.K. doesn’t die of it.
Thanks for posting the Hitchens article. On one of the points he raised, I have also been troubled by the use of martial metaphors to describe being diagnosed with and treated for cancer, though I also have to admit using them from time to time. I also don’t like the way we avoid speaking of death by saying that someone “passed.” Not “passed away,” and certainly not “died,” just “passed” like it was some sort of mortality driver’s exam. It is refreshing to hear someone speak on this issue without the euphemisms and metaphors.