I did stints of it when I was a young staffer at tribune. you had room to flex, and could choose where you wanted to go as there was no real news prerogative for the piece. bigger obits, obviously, were often on people who had accomplished great things, which made the writing interesting. but not always. I had to write a bunch on soldiers/kids who were deployed to Iraq/afghanistan in 2000s. talked to many parents/siblings; gut-wrenching.