Sue Grafton, R.I.P.

[ndrosen]

I'm not a big fan of detective stories, but I read one of Sue Grafton's Alphabet mysteries years ago (I forget which one). I do remember a scene where Kinsey Milhone tries to comfort a child whose life has been messed up.

I thought about that when reading Ms. Grafton's obituary, and a Slate article about how she subverted the tough guy detective genre. From what I've read about her, it seems that the author went through some tough times herself, as the child of a pair of alcoholics, and then in an acrimonious divorce from her second husband (she was married to her third husband for decades, so it seems that her personal life did take a turn for the better). I get the impression of her being a decent, sympathetic human being who cared about people, and now she's dead from cancer, and with us no more. I feel that her death diminishes me, and even all of us, and I may try read her books some time.

Rest In Peace.

Comments

[filkferengi]

I know we're getting to that time of life, where folks start dying off, but far too many folks are getting cancer these days. What's that about?

[cynthia_says_hello]

Mmmm…. my two cents: we are causing at least some (or more) of it; just to begin: we are obsessed with petrochemicals and plastics, and byproducts thereof, which are all around us. These products permeate our lives in ways I’m sure many do not recognize or know the full extent of, and maybe don’t care. Which is fine, we all make choices in life. ☺️

There are recognized and known carcinogens in both categories. I don’t know how to make this any simpler. And even for the “not recognized” substances - I won’t get into this here. ☺️

I read a study many years ago of scientists following/shadowing/observing native folks who live in mountainous communities with little fertile soil as we know it and few dietary options, per se. Yet they live to healthy ages of 100+ and their physiological makeup is extraordinarily amazing. Short summary: they don’t have access to the processed stuff we do (see above). This wasn’t surprising to me.

Neither is the prevalence of cancer.

Marketing is a very strong tool. It’s propaganda.

It is also more expensive to live a chemical-free life-ish than not. I could go to McDonald’s and buy 4 sandwiches (and maybe fries too) for the price of a two pound bag of lettuce. Plus a majority, if asked or observed, would probably chose fast food over lettuce 🥬 (either methodology would likely yield slightly different outcomes).

So there are many variables to this, or a pretty extensive and colorful Venn diagram could be made to illustrate this out.

Ok, I’m done babbling. ☺️ Off I go 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾