The baby boom generation that has changed everything it touched is doing the same for death,writes James A. Fussell for the McClatchy News Service.

“Today’s aging boomers have obit news groups, obit websites, obit blogs and forums, even obit-writing classes so they can pen their own send-offs. There are obit books, obit writers’ conferences.

And coming soon: the launch of Obit magazine , a publication that’s dead serious about writing about the dearly departed.

… In every issue the magazine plans to feature in-depth profiles that probe deeply into the life of a prominent person who has recently died, stories that go far beyond the traditional obituary or newspaper wire story.

But that’s just the start. The magazine also will memorialize figures who have shaped our culture. Other sections will handle issues ranging from sustainability to the politics of death (right to life, euthanasia, etc). The online version of the magazine — obitmag.org, which launches at the end of this month — will let people write and submit their own obits.”