Hitchens and Death

Christopher Hitchens has without a doubt been one of the greatest intellectual influences in my life.  So I am deeply sadened by the fairly recent diagnosis of his esophageal cancer, which has spread to his lymph nodes.  I’ve been raised in a medical family – my mom is an oncology nurse, and administers the same drugs Hitchens now requires daily – so I’m aware that the odds are heavily against him surviving even five more years.  Yet even when confronted imminently with what we all must confront eventually, Hitchens has managed to maintain his strength of mind and character that have drawn me to him and his work.  Here’s a recent interview with Anderson Cooper:

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