Omayra Sánchez. Brave in the face of a needless death.

I cried when they canceled The Venture Brothers.

My best friends and I watched every new episode when they aired while we were in college. After I graduated we all pretty much drifted apart, but when Publick and Hammer would actually get around to putting out another season it felt like I was back in that dorm lobby on that smelly couch, watching this show on a huge rear protection TV, with a group of people that were closer to me than anyone ever before or since.

When they canceled the show it felt like there was this unicorn at the zoo, and then one day the zookeeper just went out into the enclosure, blew its brains out, shrugged, and announced "Too expensive to feed!" I was devastated.

Charles Bradley. He lived on the streets for most of his life. When he became famous he died very shortly after :(

Yes. At the memorial for Steve Jobs on Apple's campus. People were speaking in moving ways about their relationships with him. It made it more personal. I can't imagine crying over someone I didn't know without context like that.

Celebrities, no. Pets, definitely.

Adam Schlesinger, a likely preventable death in this selfish fucking country. He gave so many beautiful things to the world while he was here.

Nah, but a couple surprised me with how much they saddened me because I'd always thought it was kind of stupid to get genuinely upset about the deaths of celebrities you don't know. Sometimes your cognitive opinions take a backseat without your permission and you just feel actually mournful about someone who has so little direct connection and who's worldly contributions are almost always in the entertainment space. For me that was David Bowie and Trevor Moore. Both of these surprised me because it's not like I was a hardcore David Bowie fan so it didn't feel like that death should have hit me particularly hard and Trevor, I still can't figure out why that'd upset me so much. I mean I loved his sketch comedy but I'd largely forgotten about him at the time, I think it might have something to do with him being so young as well as all the laughs he'd given us.

When I was about 16 I had to make a conscious decision to not allow myself to feel as much towards the terrible things happening in the world. I would get so deep into feeling that it would wreck me for days sometimes. One day I just chose not to care, as if they were made up stories that I didn’t need to pay attention to. It worked but It changed my personality for years until I realized how to balance it, sort of. It still happens sometimes.