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2002-03-11 | 1:42 p.m.

I was thinking that my fake obituary wasn't particularly authentic. For one thing, I adopted the obit form used for a newsworthy person, which I was (am) not. My real obituary published in my real hometown paper would look very much like this, though possibly edited down even further and riddled with typographical errors:

Annabel Copes

(Nov. 3, 1964 -- Mar. 5, 2002)

Annabel Lee Copes, 37, died unexpectedly Tuesday at her home in Greater Loserville.

Ms. Copes was a stay-at-home mother and a part-time freelance writer. Her writing was published in national magazines, including Komputer Kraze, Parent 'Hood, and the literary journal The Drawn Quarterly.

She volunteered at Grist Elementary School in Lesser Loserville.

Ms. Copes was born in Greater Loserville and lived here off and on throughout her life. She also lived in Tahoe Gulch, Palmetto Bug, Florida, Berkeley, and Oakland. She studied literature at UC Berkeley and attended the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop for a year.

She was preceded in death by her father, Lee Copes, in 1999.

Survivors include her companion of eight years, Duff Kraken, children Criminy, Felony, and Jasper Kraken, mother Maggie, sister Diane Copes-Fell, niece Bambi Linguini, nephew Damien Blythe, and four grand-nephews, all of Greater Loserville, and stepmother Amy of Pineoak Hickorywillow, North Carolina.

A private service will be held by the family. Arrangements by Neptune Society of Northern California.

Contributions may be made to Oxfam, 26 West Street, Boston, MA 02111-1206.

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