The Death Class: A True Story About Life (34 page)

© PAT BRIGHT

Erika Hayasaki is an award-winning reporter and assistant professor in the Literary Journalism Department at the University of California, Irvine, an undergraduate degree program dedicated to studying and practicing narrative journalism. She spent nine years covering breaking news and writing feature stories for the
Los Angeles Times,
where she was a staff metro reporter, education writer, and New York–based national correspondent.

Erika has published more than nine hundred articles for the
Los Angeles Times
and also while working as a reporter for other newspapers such as the
Tampa Tribune,
the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
and
The News Gazette
in Champaign, Illinois. In 2004, she won the Los Angeles Times Best Writing award for her stories about a new teacher’s plight, a boy’s dangerous journey to school, and a cultural divide at a Latino high school. She was a recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Breaking News Award. In 2007, she won a narrative feature writing award from the American Association of Sunday Feature Editors for her
Los Angeles Times Magazine
profile, “The Daughter.” She has twice been a finalist for the Livingston Award for journalists under 35, including in 2008, for her reconstruction of the Virginia Tech shootings inside a French class.

She has also served as a volunteer writing mentor and teacher for teenage girls for the Los Angeles–based WriteGirl and the New York–based Girls Write Now. Both are nonprofit organizations that pair professional women writers with teenage girls for weekly mentoring and monthly writing workshops.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, and their newborn daughter.

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PROLOGUE:
The Good-bye Letter

Scene of Timothy McVeigh and Oklahoma Bombing

Clothing:
Nolan Clay, “Jury Views Slogan-Bearing Shirt, McVeigh’s Other Clothes,”
The Daily Oklahoman,
May 16, 1997.

Traced route:
Ben Fenwick, “The Road to Oklahoma City (Timothy McVeigh’s alleged bombing plot),”
Playboy,
June 1, 1997.

Day care:
Arnold Hamilton, “Children of the Bombing,”
The Dallas Morning News,
April 17, 2005.

Murder of Sangeeta Lal

Witness accounts, timeline, crime scene:
Crime records obtained from the Lynnwood Police Department in a public records request, including interviews of witnesses by police.

Aftermath and physical descriptions:
Author’s journals, photos, and first-person accounts.

Mother’s reaction:
Author’s interviews with Sangeeta Lal’s mother, Parneeta Lal, 2010.

School newspaper article:
Erika Hayasaki, “Tragedy Strikes Lynnwood Student: Gun Violence Claims a Young Life,”
The Royal Gazette,
April 1995.

No name, wrong age:
“Apparent Murder, Suicide Claims 2,”
The Seattle Times,
April 19, 1995.

James McCray news brief:
“Murder-Suicide Figure ID’d,”
The Seattle Times,
April 21, 1995.

Virginia Tech

Memorial:
Maura Reynolds, Richard Fausset, and contributed to by Erika Hayasaki, “Somber Vow: ‘We Will Prevail,’ ”
Los Angeles Times,
April 18, 2007.

“Mais oui, Madame. Mais oui”:
Erika Hayasaki, “A Deadly Hush in Room 211,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 25, 2007.

Additional background on Erin Peterson:
Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “Suddenly, a Pain They Can’t Escape; Like Others, a Virginia Couple Struggles with a Child’s Violent Death,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 23, 2007.

“Jocelyne . . . if heaven exists”:
Albert Raboteau, “Students, Stories Shape French Teacher’s Memorial,”
Roanoke Times & World News,
April 25, 2007.

Death in Perspective

An amazing class offered at Kean:
Rajul Punjabi, “Gaining a Little Life Perspective,”
The Cougar’s Byte,
December 11, 2006.

A three-year waiting list:
Priority students received first dibs at registering for the class; open spots filled quickly, leaving Norma with a list of students requesting admission if a spot opened.

Bill Zuhoski:
Interview conducted by author.

History of Death Education

Taboo subject:
Kenneth J. Doka,
The Crumbling Taboo: The Rise of Death Education
(New Directions for Student Services, 1985), 85–95.

Death education as important as sex education:
Dixie Dennis,
Living, Dying, Grieving,
chap. 17, “The Past, Present and Future of Death Education” (Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2009),
www.jblearning.com/samples/0763743267/43267_ch17_pass1.pdf
, p. 198.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross dragging death out of the darkness:
“Dying: Out of Darkness,”
Time,
October 10, 1969.

First college class on death:
Clifton D. Bryant, Dennis L. Peck, eds.,
Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience
(Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2009), 317; Daniel Leviton, “Horrendous Death,”
Death and the Quest for Meaning: Essays in Honor of Herman Feifel,
ed. Stephen Strack (Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1997), xvi.

By 1971, more than six hundred death courses were being offered across
the United States, and five years later that number had nearly doubled:
Kenneth J. Doka, “The Death Awareness Movement,”
Handbook of Death and Dying,
ed. Clifton D. Bryant (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2003), 52.

Now thousands of such classes can be found across disciplines:
Darrell Crase, “Development Opportunities for Teachers of Death Education,”
The Clearing House
62, no. 9 (May 1989): 387–390.

Supplementary Reporting:
From author interview with Illene Cupit, president of the National Association for Death Education and Couseling. Cupit said membership in her organization has grown by 13 percent over the last six years to more than two thousand members. “Prior to 1969 there were virtually no classes on death. Now virtually every college campus in the country has a class on death,” she said.

Norma Bowe:
Scenes are drawn primarily from author’s interviews and observations.

ONE:
The Professor

The Rosedale and Rosehill Cemetery scenes:
Observed by author.

Ray Tse background:
Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran,
Weird N.J.: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
(New York: Sterling, 2009), 230.

Norma’s description of natural death:
Observed by author.

Supplementary background on final days of life:
Robert E. Enck,
The Medical Care of Terminally Ill Patients (The Johns Hopkins Series in Hematology/Oncology),
2nd ed. (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), “The Final Moments,” 173–179; A. Wutzler, P. Mavrogiorgou, C. Winter, and G. Juckel, “Elevation of Brain Serotonin During Dying,”
Neuroscience Letters
498, no. 1 (July 1, 2011): 1; Daniel B. Carr and Michael Prendergast, “Endorphins at the Approach of Death,”
The Lancet
317, no. 8216 (Feb. 14, 1981): 390.

The appearance of a newly lifeless face:
Sherwin B. Nuland,
How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter
(New York: Vintage, 1995), 122.

Near-death experiences:
Raymond Moody,
Life After Life
(New York: HarperOne, 2001); Sam Parnia,
What Happens When We Die?: A Groundbreaking Study into the Nature of Life and Death
(Carlsbad, Calif.: Hay House, 2007); Jeffrey Long with Paul Perry,
Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences
(New York: HarperOne, 2010); Erika Hayasaki,
Dead or Alive
(Amazon Digital Services, 2012).

Denial of death:
Ernest Becker,
The Denial of Death
(New York: Free Press, 1973), 87.

Coroner scene:
Details of coroner’s office scene from Erika Hayasaki, “Finding Life’s Meaning in Death,”
Los Angeles Times,
Sept. 3, 2008.

Arthur Schopenhauer:
Arthur Schopenhauer,
Studies in Pessimism, on Human Nature, and Religion: A Dialogue, Etc.
(
www.digireads.com
, 2008), 6.

Study on what kind of students take death education courses in college and why:
Sarah Brabant and DeAnn Kalich, “Who Enrolls in College Death Education Courses? A Longitudinal Study,”
Omega
58, no. 1 (2008–2009): 1–18.

“I used to pray every day until one day I lost hope and it felt like it was pointless”:
Quoted from student letter read in class.

“After I was raped I wanted to curl up in a ball and die”:
Cited from student letter read in class.

“Life is made up of moments”:
Anna Quindlen,
A Short Guide to a Happy Life
(New York: Random House, 2000), p. 41.

Anecdote about Mary Manly:
From interviews with Norma.

Then Almitra spoke:
Khalil Gibran, “Death,” in
The Prophet
(Eastford, Conn.: Martino Fine Books, 2011), 50.

TWO:
Life Stories of Norma Lynn

Scenes and anecdotes from Norma’s home, childhood, and life:
From observations and interviews by author.

Additional background on Norma’s life:
From interviews with her family members, including father, daughters, and partner, Norm.

Background on Norma’s mother, father, and father’s Mafia history:
From interviews with Norma and separate interviews with her father.

Student who gave birth in a bathroom stall:
Ronald Smothers, “Guilty Plea by Mother, 20, in Prom Death,”
The New York Times,
Aug. 21, 1998.

Scenes of Norma in classroom:
Observed by author.

Erik Erikson

Norma’s teachings on Erikson:
Drawn from Norma’s lectures witnessed by author.

Additional background from:
Lawrence J. Friedman,
Identity’s Architect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson
(New York: Scribner, 1999); Erik Erikson, “Autobiographic Notes on the Identity Crisis,”
Daedalus
99, no. 4 (1970): 743; Paul Roazen,
Erik H. Erikson: The Power and Limits of a Vision
(Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1997), 96; Erik H. Erikson,
The Erik Erikson Reader,
ed. Robert Coles (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001); Erik H. Erikson,
Identity and the Life Cycle
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1994); Erik H. Erikson,
Childhood and Society
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1993); Erik H. Erikson,
Identity: Youth and Crisis
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1994); Erik H. Erikson and Joan M. Erikson,
The Life Cycle Completed,
extended version (New York: W. W. Norton, 1998); Erik H. Erikson,
Insight and Responsibility
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1964); Erik H. Erikson,
Insight and Responsibility: Lectures on the Ethical Implications of Psychoanalytical Insight
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1972); Erik Erikson, “The Healthy Personality,” in
Identity and the Life Cycle Notes
(original version of this paper appeared in Symposium on the Healthy Personality), Supplement II: Problems of Infancy and Childhood, Transactions of Fourth Conference, March 1950, ed. M. J. E. Senn (New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1950), 59–60; Kenneth Hoover, Robert Coles, Lena Klintbjer Erickson, Lawrence Friedman, Catarina Kinnvall, and Lina Kreidie,
The Future of Identity: Centennial Reflections on the Legacy of Erik Erikson
(New York: Lexington Books, 2004), 64–65. Carol Hren Hoare,
Erikson on Development in Adulthood: New Insights from the Unpublished Papers
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); Edward F. Moone, “Erik Erikson: Artist of Moral-Religious Development,” in
Kierkegaard’s Influence on the Social Sciences,
ed. Jon Stewart (Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2010); Coles, Robert, Erik H. Erikson:
The Growth of His Work
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1970).