xc - COTD3

Before going to the bodies exhibit I was very skeptical on what my experience there was going to be like. I am extremely squeamish when it comes to body parts and blood so I already new that this was going to be a challenge for me. Surprisingly I found this experience fascinating and very educational but at the same time it also made me think about a lot of questions and made me very unsure about the morals of this exhibit.
The very first emotion that I had when seeing the their bodies was total disgust, I was actually contemplating leaving but considering I spent $30 for the admission ticket and I didn’t want to look like the squeamish one in front of all my friends, so I decided to tough it out. At first the experience for me was sort of like a bad car accident you know you shouldn’t look but you cant look away. For the longest time I was staring into the eyes of what looked like an Asian man in the sitting and thinking position and at a split second I went from thinking, “ this is weird and cool” to thinking,“ at one time this was a living person”. I can understand the argument that this museum could be for educational purposes and a lot of people learn visually so going to this museum of bodies would be more educational than looking at the book “ The human anatomy”. This whole experience got me thinking, in order for someone to make this museum they had to get the bodies from another country? Why? In the United States there has been 1,173 legal executions since September 1 2009, that’s enough bodies to make 5 museums, considering the NYC museum has 200 bodies. So why china? My first thought was there would be no way people would go to this museum if they knew it was American bodies because that would just make us look barbaric. So I decided to try in find out why they used bodies from china and the answer became very clear to me, because there is no real answer. They actually never make it clear where these bodies actually come from, all they say is “Although all the bodies are unclaimed and from the Chinese police, Premier could not independently verify more about them, such as whether the bodies are of prisoners that were executed by the Chinese government.” “This exhibit displays human remains of Chinese citizens or residents which were originally received by the Chinese Bureau of Police. The Chinese Bureau of Police may receive bodies from Chinese prisons. Premier cannot independently verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons.” When I went to the website of Bodies nowhere could I find a explanation of where there bodies came from, the condition these people were in before they died, and what was the cause of execution, all valid questions I would like to know before looking at an exhibit I know nothing about. One argument I heard constantly on Internet forums, not even a website I can properly quote was that these prisoners have signed a document stating that the Chinese government can use there bodies for experiments. Assuming that’s true that still does not explain why we can’t do that to our own American executed bodies. At least using American bodies would make the exhibit more interracial. I believe the Chinese government is lying about the conditions of the bodies, lying about the sort of treatment these prisoners have had and the owners of this museum know it. They know by using American bodies the public would be so far up there ass they would never be able to get this museum up and running.
In conclusion I found the Bodies exhibit very fascinating, but at the same time it made me feel like what I was looking at was morally wrong because I don’t know the full truth of where these bodies actually come from, and I suspect I never will. I think the idea of bodies is interesting but I find the search of the truth behind bodies more interesting.

HW 55 - Culminating Project - Care of the Dead

For my project on the care of the dead I decided to interview my family. Unfortunately they didn’t want to be filmed. I wanted to hear about what my parents wanted to happen after they die because after hearing the first funeral director who came in he really made me think about what I wanted to do. I went to my mom and asked her, she flat out said “god forbid Lora! Please don’t talk about death” This struck my mind. I thought back to when death was always brought up, my mom felt the need to change the subject as soon as she could. This made me change my project to why are people afraid to talk about death? I asked my family this and they all seemed to have the same exact answer. “Its like a curse”. They feel that if talking about it enough, it’s going to eventually happen. Then I brought up the point “well aren’t we going to die anyway?” Then they gave me a look.

When I visited my grandmother recently I brought up the topic to her, and what I was thinking of doing when I pass on. She got up and hit me. She said “Never talk about you dying, say god forbid a thousand times over”, and I did. She didn’t want to talk about her plans or anyone in the families for that matter. But I find her using death as a way to get what she wants. She will tell me “I’m old”, “I don’t have enough time”, “I’m going to be a little star in the sky looking down on you” in order to get the family to do what ever she wants, and not surprisingly we do it. We do it because in the slight chance she is right I don’t want that feeling of “she told me so” or for her to feel we wouldn’t care if she died.

I wish that when I was younger my family had been very open with death. When my grandmother passed away it was very hard on the family. It was the biggest loss I had ever had; I didn’t know how to handle it except through mixed emotion. I know now that home funerals help with the grieving process, I also know what’s going on to my loved one while in the mortuary, all this insight I learned from this unit will help me in the future with the grieving process and help me talk about it before it happens, so I can get closure.

HW 52 - Third Third of the COTD Book

In the last part of Morticians Diaries by June knights Nadle its describes the experiences she has been through while being a mortician,

“I have cried myself dry on his shoulder” p93

he counseled those assembled to remember that the quality of life was more important than the quantity.” p 94

he gave me his vital statistics, said he preferred to be cremated, and then said that the service details could be decided by his parents or sister. P 103

“These are difficult cases we handle these days p106

“This mother lost her son twice-once by her own rejection and then by his death’p107
…:I Was intrigued with the Japanese sections strange decorations. Often food was at the head of the grave…p111

“my mother was in the hospital on life support for two weeks. The doctor recommended removing life support for two weeks”

In the last part of the book a few stories really stuck out to me. There was one story about a gay man and his parents disowned him because of it. But when the mother heard he was dying he didn’t want her to see him like that and he also didn’t want anyone to see his dead body. The gay man named Gary and his partner was Boyd. The mother of Gary tried to press charges against the partner because she felt she had rights as a mother to see her son. But they hired a durable power of attorney that allowed Gary’s wishes to remain, this confused me a little on what durable power of attorney does.

HW 51 - Second Third of COTD Book

In the second part of the book of morticians diaries by June Knights Nadle, you read stories of families who have been through the loss of loved ones. Although in some of the stories you don't hear the "traditional" morning going on. In one of the stories a widow named Janice Bott lost her husband named Andrew had passed. He didnt want a funeral service at all."with Andrew gone I'm so lonely I could die" p50 But instead of a funeral they planned a mass for a whole weeek then after everyone would go out to eat. "People talked, laughed, and simply enjoyed the hour together with food and drink." p51. I have yet to seen or been to a service and seen people basically have fun. Later in the storie she mentions how everything helped her with her husbands passing. This made me think that maybe the issue of a funeral service has a lot to do with how a person will copp with the death of a lost one.


"thanks for encouraging me to come today. instead of forgetting it all happened, i feel good remembering some wonderful times, too. p57

"unresolved grief or anger can create behavioral, mental, and health problems over time." p69

HW 49 - Comments on Best of Your Break HW

Stephen,
I totally agree with what you said in the first paragraph. In my family once someone has passed on, you could never mention any negative things that the person who passed on has done in his/her lifetime. They feel its highly disrespectful. Also i agree with the fact that the fear of the unknown plays a huge role with copping with death. I can connect to your own experiences in which a person would look a lot better (lets say during their wake) then they did before they died. That happened to my grandmother. Overall i thought you kept everything interesting and i found myself thinking a lot about my own experiences, and when you brought up passed class conversations like with what sam said showed how learning all this or even just discussing it makes you question all the "normal" things about death you thought were normal. well done!

Beatrice,
I like how you incorporated how your family does something different that isn't really heard in American society. I feel that people should be upset about people who have passed but celebrate the life that they did have. Also i loved how you mentioned religion, and how that plays such a significant role in dying and what you want to be done to your dead body. I loved how you took what your moms views are and based on your personal views you interpreted your own meaning. Overall i liked your post and it changed me perspective a little

HW 47 - Peer Perspectives on the Care of the Dead (this one)

The first person I asked was a very close friend of mines. Her family has similar views that my family has. I asked her when she dies how does she want to be handled like, being buried, or cremation. She couldn’t decide. She was explaining on how she’s scared of cremation because she hates the idea of her body going up in flames, but likes the idea of spreading her ashes. When she thinks about being buried she hates the idea of being 6 feet under, but then again her family is more towards a burial, in the fact that its more traditional. I too find myself in this predicament. But I feel that the third person I interviewed really helped me in a decision.

The second person I talked to had a whole new idea that I never heard of. He wanted to have his body be stripped naked and put in woods for the crows and animals to feed off of his body. I was shocked when I heard this. I never thought about doing that. My immediate reactions was my body being mutilated, but then again no matter what you choose it’s not going to be always in perfect condition. I asked him why he chose this and he said because Indians did it a long time ago and it could feed other animals. He is also a very spiritual person, and doesn't believe in religion.

The third person I asked was 110% for cremation. She wanted to have all her loved ones have her ashes so she can feel that she is always with her family. She also gets nervous when she is around dead people. Ever since she was a young child she would have a temper tantrum when she would go to funerals. She hates the idea of burial because she also feel that her body wouldn’t let go of her soul and her soul would be trapped in her body 6 feet deep on the earth. This person really influenced my decision in choosing cremation. I’m a spiritual person too so I think I’m going to have to do more research.

The fourth person that I interviewed was thinking about donating his body so that scientist can use it. He knew that his body would “rot” so he said you might as well use it for something good. He is also a biology lover (so that may have influenced his decision), and is an atheist. It made a lot of sense on why someone would do this. I see how religion plays a huge roll in care of the dead. I would like to see more evidence towards this.

HW 46 - Initial Thoughts on the Care of the Dead

The first time I dealt with death was when I was 4 and my family dog passed away. All I remember was knowing that I wouldn’t see her again but at the same time I was told she was going to be in a better place. When I thought about this it made me think about…

~What do parents normally tell their children about death at a young age?
~What do children think about death?

The last time I had to deal with death was when my grandmother passed away. It was very hard on my family. Especially in the fact that my dad had to bury his mom on his birthday. To this day we barely celebrate his birthday because of that fact. We had a traditional funeral and after the wake and funeral we took everyone out to eat at my grandmothers favorite restaurant. When I heard that “we” were paying I found that to be unfair.

~Who invented the traditional aspects of a funeral?
~Why do Catholics feel the need to stare at a body for 3 days?