I regret that Aalihay's plane crashed and eight people died. Perhaps if she had brought less of an "entourage", or less luggage, this would not have happened at all. But most of all I regret the dominance of popular culture and the "cult of personality" thinking that characterizes it. The so-called "news" shows continue to fixate on things like politicians' infidelities and the lives and deaths of marginal artists while so much that merits attention is reduced to a sidebar or sound bite.

I don't mean to belittle the death of Aaliyah, but when you compare the press attention that her death received to that of the passing of John Hartford, you can't help but see that the values in this culture are hopelessly screwed up.