Sunday, December 09, 2007

Katherine Kersten: eater of the dead

A man, his son, and two others die in a small plane crash at the Faribault airport. It is widely reported; Katie sums it up this way:

A small plane piloted by her husband [Julie Mayo the wife; Chester Sr., her husband] had crashed at the Faribault, Minn., airport, as he was returning their son to Shattuck-St. Mary's School after Thanksgiving break. Two of Chester's friends, his roommate Jay Wang and Corey Lyn Creger, also had died.

Does Katie devote her column to a little eulogy for the four souls aboard, to use aviation parlance? No, of course not! Not when there is one of her favorite points to be made! The title of the column, In the midst of sorrow, a school that saves lives, should be a tip off. Instead of a little remembrance of each of the four, we are treated to yet another polemic about the virtues of parochial schools, in this case a boarding school.

Julie Mayo, wife and mother, put a brave face on it when she spoke to a memorial service at the school, apparently for three of its students:

Yet a few days later this same mother stood on a stage at the Faribault school's crowded memorial service with a smile on her face. She said something that seemed inexplicable: "Shattuck-St. Mary's saved Chester's life."

Katie goes on to write a promotional puff piece about Shattuck-St. Mary's School. Writing the column was ghoulish; Spot won't compound the ghoulishness by commenting further.

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