A month before dying of cancer, a young mother hands a letter to her hospice nurse. She asks him to publish its contents after she is gone. With these "Opening Closures," she provides her last written goodbyes to family and friends. Presented by B. Elwin Sherman, here you'll find those testaments fulfilled and made visual by the compelling fractal art of B.Z. Leonard. OPENING CLOSURES is the celebration of a life gone too soon.

B. Elwin Sherman is a humorist/author living in the New Hampshire North Country, where he writes a syndicated humor column and often reinvents "the cottage industry survival kit." His books have gone largely unheralded, "because I do nothing to promote them. No one should ever have a legacy before they're dead. Life is embarrassing enough without that." He first read Richard Gary Brautigan's works in college, "when everyone else was lugging around Nietzsche and Kant for ballast. I kept In Watermelon Sugar in my hand because there was a tsunami on the horizon, and there I was without a beach...

Trouble on the homefront? Overworked at the office? Pets too picky? Can't find the humor in anything anymore? DEAR WITBONES may just change your life, with a smile or two to spare. One disclaimer: If you need serious lovelorn help from an "agony aunt," please call your mother's sister first. If she's busy and already has enough trouble with your agony uncle, DEAR WITBONES is here for you. You could do a lot worse, and if you're here, you probably have. Witboner whit-bon-er] Word Origin: noun 1. A question submitted to B. Elwin Sherman's agony uncle advice column. 2. Any individual who poses...