Nick Cave is an Australian singer-songwriter, actor, novelist, and screenwriter who played a prominent role in the postpunk movement as front man for the bands the Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds. He is also the author of the blog, The Red Cave.
Someone recently wrote to him, asking how he deals with the loss of his son, who died from a fall during an LSD episode. Cave’s response gives light to how he survived the loss: he allowed his son to help.
This year’s holiday season is difficult to celebrate without physical contact with friends and family, but especially hard for a person whose heart has been broken by a loved one’s death.
Today I was reading the Sunday New York Times and came upon a story about Gary Gotlin, the NY Richmond County Public Administrator and Commissioner for Staten Island—the man responsible for handling the county’s residents’ estates who die without a will and/or without living relatives to claim their body for private burial.