Sir Edward Downes, a prominent composer with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and his wife Joan have taken advantage of Dignitas, the Swiss organization that helps people die with dignity, and that’s news in Britain.
Downes was 85; his wife, a ballet dancer who became a choreographer and TV producer, was 74. They had been married for 54 years and “died peacefully, and under circumstances of their own choosing” according to a statement from their children.
Last week the House of Lords nixed Lord Falconer’s efforts to make it legal to accompany someone seeking help dying in another country. (I’ve written about the British situation here and here). But if the lawmakers thought that was the end of the matter, they were wrong. Such a high-profile case is sure to prolong the much-needed discussion.
Of course, the deaths aren’t news in Canada and, much to the relief of our politicians, we continue to sleepwalk through our lives oblivious to what awaits us.
When I am not writing books, I teach journalism at Ryerson University, where I work with the talented students who put out the Ryerson Review of Journalism. We were delighted to learn this week that the magazine, which has been publishing for 26 years, has won six awards in the 2009 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Student Magazine Contest.
Our spring 2009 issue won first place in the Single Issue of an Ongoing Print Magazine (Editorial) category. The judge, Ashley Deahl, who is acting editor-in-chief and managing editor of Phoenix Magazine, had this to say: “The cover grabbed me right away. It felt almost like an Esquire model—very modern, edgy and fun—something a reader would pick up even if he/she weren’t interested in journalism. The clean but sassy design carried itself throughout the issue as well, and it was married well with thought-provoking photography, perfect feature-openers, great use of typography and a real sense of how to break up copy. A tad copy-heavy at times, but the content was interesting enough to keep the reader moving and wanting more. I truly loved every feature.”
D. B. Scott’s Canadian Magazines blog notes that “this year’s competition attracted 232 entries from 23 universities from the United States and Canada.”
Here are the highlights:
* Consumer Magazine Article: People
First Place: “Deconstructing Barry,” by Ashley Walters, Ryerson University
* Consumer Magazine Article: Investigation and Analysis
First Place: “One Powerful Union Tactic,” by Carolyn Morris, Ryerson University
* Consumer Magazine Article: Investigation and Analysis
Third Place: “Hot Topic,” by Eve Tobolka, Ryerson University
* Consumer Magazine Article: Feature
Second Place: “The Long Goodbye,” by Greg Hudson, Ryerson University
* Consumer Magazine Article: Feature
Third Place: “Pissed Off,” by Greg Harris, Ryerson University
* Single Issue of an Ongoing Print Magazine: Editorial
First Place: Ryerson Review of Journalism, Ryerson University. Marit Mitchell, editor
The obits for Robert McNamara, who died at age 93 on Monday, naturally concentrated on his role as defense secretary to JFK and LBJ during the Vietnam War. And, if you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend The Fog of War, the fabulous Errol Morris documentary. (The subtitle says it all: “Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara.”)
But this remarkable man also makes a cameo in Drive: A Road Trip through Our Complicated Affair with the Automobile as the father of the Ford Falcon.
Here’s an excerpt:
“The Falcon was Ford’s answer to the small imports that had somehow snatched nearly 10 percent of the U.S. market. To Americans, it was an inexpensive compact, but since it could seat six it was big enough to be a family car. Introduced in the fall of 1959, the Falcon was such a hit—the company sold 417,000 in the first year—that Robert McNamara, the man behind the project, earned a promotion. In 1960, he became the first president of the company who wasn’t a member of the Ford family. His stay at the top was brief, though, because before long President John F. Kennedy appointed him Secretary of Defense.
“Ford made and sold the Falcon in the United States until 1970, but the car had an even longer and more successful life in other parts of the world, where many saw it as a mid-sized model. In Australia, it remains the company’s best-seller. And in Argentina, the Falcon was not just the most-produced car, with half a million built between 1962 and 1991, but also a hugely important one culturally. The Falcon was a racing car, a family car, a taxi, a police car—and, from 1976 to 1983, a sinister symbol of the country’s military dictatorship and the so-called ‘Dirty War’ that the generals who ruled after the coup d’etat waged against their own people. Death squads used dark green Falcons to ‘disappear’ trade unionists, artists, students and anyone else who might oppose or question the junta. Since the squads illegally arrested, tortured or killed an estimated thirty thousand people, the car now stirs bitter emotions for many Argentines. (Lawrence Thornton’s 1988 novel Imagining Argentina does a hauntingly good job of capturing the ominous mood those dark green birds of prey created.) Even today, some people in Buenos Aires won’t get into a taxi if it’s a Falcon, and a tour operator in the northern city of Salta, who would have been just four or five when the dictatorship crumbled, told me, ‘I don’t like it when I see a Ford Falcon, I get bad memories.’”
McGill News, the alumni magazine of Canada’s best university, reviews That Good Night and says, “Tim Falconer’s thoughtful new book…approaches the thorny issues surrounding end-of-life care with sensitivity.” (Scroll down — it’s the fourth review on the page.)