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Monday, March 23, 2009

Books RE: Mt Redoubt Volcano Erupts in Alaska

Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 9:02 AM

Also in Alaska:

Nicholas Hughes, whose mother, Sylvia Plath, gassed herself in 1963 at her London home while her two children slept in the next room, hanged himself at his home in Alaska, his sister Frieda told The Times newspaper.

Hughes, 47, was unmarried with no children of his own and had until recently been a marine biologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Like mother, like son.

Comments (16) RSS

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What classy commentary.

Posted by Nick on March 23, 2009 at 9:25 AM

I had no idea Sylvia Plath was an unmarried marine biologist.

Posted by Erik on March 23, 2009 at 9:32 AM

Fairbanks seems like a terribly depressing place to be a marine biologist.

Posted by lorax on March 23, 2009 at 9:43 AM

If I were a marine biologist I'd probably be suicidal too. "Hey," I'd say. "Where's all the biology gone in this ocean? It seems to all be dying horribly due to a confluence of human-created factors!"

Posted by Fisti on March 23, 2009 at 9:48 AM

Thats too bad.

Posted by Lily Fluffbottom on March 23, 2009 at 11:06 AM

Charles, that last line was particularly douchey. Even for you.

Posted by fluteprof on March 23, 2009 at 11:26 AM

Charles- I'm surprised at your last line. Would you consider replacing it with something about how Ted Hughes wrote the "Iron Giant" to help his kids understand their mother's death? Now I'll never be able to see that movie without thinking about that poor doomed family.

Posted by Big Sven on March 23, 2009 at 11:42 AM

I still don't get why Lousiana's Mr. Rogers Governor hates on us doing volcano monitoring.

It's just as useful as monitoring storms ... which if they'd done more planning for, might have saved his state a whole bunch of money ...

Posted by Will in Seattle on March 23, 2009 at 12:03 PM

i was with you until now charles.

you lost me.

Posted by you'll suicide too on March 23, 2009 at 12:13 PM

If you read the article, than maybe you could say:

Like Mother, like Father, like Step-Mother; like Son.

But maybe you shouldn't.

Posted by subwlf on March 23, 2009 at 12:35 PM

Calls 'em like he saw 'em

Posted by The Amazing Jim on March 23, 2009 at 12:45 PM

I think people are reading a flippancy into Charles' last line that isn't there. He is (perhaps with excessive brevity) noting the essential biologically deterministic nature of depression.

People with depression should NOT live in cold, dark places. Fighting depression is a battle for your life, and you need all the help you can get.

Posted by Grant Cogswell, Los Angeles, California on March 23, 2009 at 3:48 PM

actually grant, you are correct. that is what i was implying. i think it had more to do with biology than personal problems.

Posted by mudede on March 23, 2009 at 4:03 PM

So as the son of a mother with panic attacks and a father with advanced alcoholism, I recoil at the pat-ness of "like mother, like son." Yes biology points to a statistical increase in the likelihood that I will have these problems also. But I am not a statistic. And neither was Nicholas Hughes.

Posted by Big Sven on March 23, 2009 at 5:05 PM

@ 13 : The 'commentary' was flip and lazy. Suicide is not hereditary, morons.

Posted by Bryan on March 23, 2009 at 5:14 PM

His suicide has everything to do with his profession and nothing to do with his mother.

Posted by Morgan on March 23, 2009 at 11:41 PM