tagged w/ Lit
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February 11, 1963 - Sylvia Plath Hughes kills herself during London’s coldest winter in a century. Nicholas, just a baby, and Frieda, age 3, were asleep in the next room. Sylvia made sure they had milk at their bedsides before taking sleeping pills, sealing up the kitchen doors, turning on the stove, and gassing herself to death.
March 23, 2009 - Dr. Nicholas F. Hughes, age 47, follows in his mother's footsteps 46 years later and hangs himself at his home in Alaska. Frieda reports he had suffered from depression for some time, though he had not inherited his mother's mania. This tragedy inspires the question: Is Sylvia Plath to blame for her son's death? Surely her own suicide had a powerful effect on him. Coline Covington of The First Post muses on the subject:
"Children whose parents have committed suicide - at no matter what age - tend to feel not only responsible for their parent's depression and ultimate suicide but also profoundly rejected by them.In short, the parent who kills herself is perceived by the child as not loving him enough to want to live."
It must also be noted that the Hughes-Plath children's step mother, Assia Wevill, also gassed herself in 1969, when Nicholas was 7 and Frieda was 9. Two mothers killing themselves the exact same way would be too much for many of us to handle. Perhaps Ted Hughes had this effect on women?
Further investigations into the Plath and Hughes family mental health history would have to be conducted to come to a definite conclusion. Aurelia Plath, Sylvia's mother, who died of natural causes in 1994, seemed stable enough. It would be especially helpful to know the mental state of Plath's surviving child, Frieda. In an interview by David Burges for Time, Frieda states that she was shocked to find out the truth of her mother's death at the age of 14 from a classmate. She also very truthfully tells us:
"You can analyze [my parents] as much as you like, but if you weren't actually the people themselves . . . It's interesting to me that people have been so interested in them."
Today, she is a successful writer, like her mother. Will she too become victim to her family's plague of suicidal depression? Probably not.
Burges: "If all this had happened to your mom now... do you think it would have resulted in her death? With modern pharmacology, could somebody have helped her?"
Hughes: "I think there's no doubt about that. The advancements in the past 30- or 40-odd years, are huge. I don't believe there's any way that that situation would have arisen now. She'd still be here."
Check out NYTime's Room for Debate on the subject: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/why-the-plath-legacy-lives/February 11, 1963 - Sylvia Plath Hughes kills herself during London’s coldest... more
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Take a walk down memory lane with some of these classic songs and videos from bands like Green Day, MxPx, Rancid, Something Corporate, and more.Take a walk down memory lane with some of these classic songs and videos from bands... more
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In an unbelievable fit of road rage a young bylaw officer had been writing a ticket when a motorist began berating him, then extinguished a lit cigarette into the officer's right eye with enough force to extinguish it. He was able to close his eye before the cigarette hit him, avoiding serious injury, Harding said.
In an unbelievable fit of road rage a young bylaw officer had been writing a ticket... more
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Orange County’s Spare The Air was the music festival that made bus passes cool. Held at the Fullerton Transportation Center, headliners included SoCal rockers Saosin, Lit, Death By Stereo and Sugarcult, alongside Utah’s The Used and Seattle’s Aiden. The event aimed to introduce the generation next demographic to the delights of public transportation. Entry was a very reasonable $10.67 or was free with a flash of a bus pass.
For event highlights hit link above.Orange County’s Spare The Air was the music festival that made bus passes cool.... more
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The video above is a tribute to Lit drummer Allen Shellenberger, who was diagnosed with brain cancer earlier this year. The video was played before Lit performed at a benefit concert at the House Of Blues in Anaheim this past weekend. Allen played six songs with his band before handing his sticks over to fellow Orange County drummer Adrian Young from No Doubt.
Allen has a malignant glioma, a highly lethal cancer which strikes 10,000 Americans each year. It's the same type of cancer that Senator Edward M. Kennedy is also currently battling.
Despite having health insurance and access to the best doctors, Allen, who in better days bounced around on Pamela Anderson's bikini-clad bootie with his band for one of their many, always fun, music videos, is now dealing with heinous medical bills (which can only be hindering his fight for life), hence the benefit.
This is one reason that we must work to gain universal healthcare for all. If this kind of crisis can affect Allen, who with his band enjoyed notable Billboard chart success and has had numerous TV and soundtrack credits, it can affect us all. Click HERE to sign a petition to demand health care for all - NOW.
We're told by his publicist that Allen is "in great spirits and doing really well considering the circumstances." Meanwhile, in a recent blog post on the band's MySpace page, guitarist Jeremy Popoff said, "Allen is responding well to the treatment, and his doctors are very pleased. He will now undergo some new treatments as well. We are all very thankful. Keep the prayers and positivity coming." The video above is a tribute to Lit drummer Allen Shellenberger, who was diagnosed... more
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