Obituary goes viral

(JTA) — “A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday.”

It’s considered poor journalistic form to begin an article with a quotation. But journalists are also supposed to show, not tell, and there’s no better way to explain the irreverent obituary that Andy Corren wrote for his mother, Renay Mandel Corren, than by simply quoting it.

The obituary published in the Fayetteville Observer, the newspaper of the North Carolina City near where Renay Corren lived for many years, went viral on Wednesday after the crime writer Sarah Weinman tweeted about it.

In the obituary, Andy Corren de...