One of my clearest memories from elementary school was the homework assignment given to us by our 6th grade teacher. We were supposed to come in every morning with a snippet from that day's news. What I remember is the desperation among us to be the first called so that you could use "General Franco".
Time always moves slower for kids, but my memory is that for weeks on end the first kid called on each morning would report that "General Francisco Franco remains in a 'grave' condition". He just seemed to refuse to die. {Saturday Night Live got great mileage out of this after Franco's death. Each week Chevy Chase would report that "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead".}
Now, almost 20 years later it's déjà vu all over again with Yasser Arafat.
UPDATENov. 11 7:55pm: Arafat's now conditionally in a grave.
