dying

Many Americans, it seems, have a hard time talking about death. Even doctors struggle to deal with the mortality of patients who they know aren’t going to make it.

Two years ago this month, I sat beside my Pop Pop as he died. I can’t help but cry as I type that, but this isn’t a sad story.

When the annual Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference began in 1984, the Los Angeles Times called it "an obscure gathering of engineers, theorists and artists." But in the nearly three decades since then, TED has morphed into a series of mind-expanding showcases staged in several…