History, Humanity, and Ha Jin’s “Nanjing Requiem”

When I learned that the prolific, award-winning Ha Jin had been named to the highly selective American Academy of Arts and Letters (an exclusive honor recognizing only 250 members at any given time), I decided to read Nanjing Requiem (Pantheon, 2011) to learn more about the author and his noted prose style.

Death, Bodies, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

When I was an adjunct English professor I especially enjoyed an assigned reading on all the strange and, let’s be honest, disturbing things morticians do to a body after death. In the United States, the practices surrounding death, wakes, and funerals are strange to say the least. In short, making a person’s body fit for viewing days after decay has begun is no easy task. Blood’s gotta go. Eyelids need to stay shut. Makeup is required.

After You Left: A Letter to My Pet

Dear Friend,

Life hasn’t been the same since you left. I know it wasn’t your choice. Still, I can’t stop thinking how suddenly it was all over. Unexpected, really.