I interviewed my friend Isaiah, who is 16, my cousin Agathe who is 23, and my father whose 52 all having various perspectives on prom. Isaiah has never been to prom, but seems like he wants too. Agathe never went to prom because it is not offered in France and lastly my Father who went, and never really looked back.
Isaiah surprised me with his superficial simplistic views of prom. He believes he will loose his virginity and have a super cliché time slow dancing, b**** in bottles and a date he really cares about. He says that one should have fun at prom and it's a night worth remembering, or else what’s the point? He says he would have to go ALL decked out, he says he "gotta' stunt" he already seems to have a plan for his outfit, every brand name ready; A Hugo Boss suit, Calvin Klein high bar, Belchinni shoes, and some other brand cufflinks. He is going to get a limo and the whole sha-bang.
Agathe my older cousin laughed when I asked her about prom, she said those scenes in the High school movies? Like in Carrie? I said well yeah, it’s a big deal here in America. She was hysterical at the idea and said it does not exist in France, and she is glad that she does not have to go!
My father had a real funny and quite American experience. He was 18 and a “straight edge” coming out of rehab a few years back. The FIRST THING HE SAID WAS “I drove us there in my 68 VW Bug”. He went with his girlfriend whom was pregnant!!! (With my half-bro) His girl wanted to go so he went, he said he felt really awkward because he does not like suits and ties and was Bored out of his mind. It was not his scene they played disco (not his music) and there was just a bunch of people being showy.
Prom seems to be over hyped by the people who have never gone and out played by the people who have. It is an event to dress up beyond normal attire, show off “looking your best” and pretending to not be d****, having fun with your graduating class. It is interesting because nothing ever comes up about being proud one is graduating and the celebration it deserves. A cliché sequenced evening that one goes to because it's reknown status.
June 01, 2011
May 30, 2011
SOF AFTER PROM 2011
I did not attend Prom, but I did attend after-prom and heard enough about prom that I think I got the picture. First off there is a lot of intoxication involved in this process and not so much celebrating (after-prom). I feel that studying this subject in class was somewhat helpful because it shed-light on to what we were doing. THERE WAS A HUGE WHITE LIMO AND most ladies were still dressed up, or in the second outfit of the night, but the guys had mostly changed into sneaks and jeans. Me & Amhara showed-up as outsiders. We took the train, walked a WHOLE lot, were juniors, and where not dressed up. WE DANCED, and that was fun.
There was typical hooking up in between dates, and idiotic jealousy, and gossiping that I will not get into detail about because it was idiotic. In the end it felt like an over-hyped over-costly party. Prom is materialistic and all that crap but it seemed like no fantasy in my eyes. The speakers did not work and at first we could hardly hear the music, there was coca-cola and strobe lights.
I think besides the over analytical portrayal of the details of prom it is a celebration that is worthwhile. We are expected to work hard to get a special piece of paper so we should be rewarded with "care free fun". The evening seemed to go perfectly scripted as described by our classroom discussions, and there was no straying details.
I would like to attend my prom next year because I heard it is great fun to dance with all your classmates and teachers, I do not wish to indulge in a limo or a $500 outfit or even a $120 invitation ticket. I just want it to be a relaxed AFFORDABLE event where I can have fun with my peers in the opposite manner that is normally expected in a school.
I feel the night for me in a way was a rite of passage because I stayed up all night long and went straight to "work" the next day without sleep. It felt cool, but I WAS OD' TIRED AND OD' SORE THE NEXT DAY. It is funny how before there were lights and cities no one was nocturnal. We lived in light of the sun. When I go upstate, sure we stay up into the night but something about the city can change the time you value.
There was typical hooking up in between dates, and idiotic jealousy, and gossiping that I will not get into detail about because it was idiotic. In the end it felt like an over-hyped over-costly party. Prom is materialistic and all that crap but it seemed like no fantasy in my eyes. The speakers did not work and at first we could hardly hear the music, there was coca-cola and strobe lights.
I think besides the over analytical portrayal of the details of prom it is a celebration that is worthwhile. We are expected to work hard to get a special piece of paper so we should be rewarded with "care free fun". The evening seemed to go perfectly scripted as described by our classroom discussions, and there was no straying details.
I would like to attend my prom next year because I heard it is great fun to dance with all your classmates and teachers, I do not wish to indulge in a limo or a $500 outfit or even a $120 invitation ticket. I just want it to be a relaxed AFFORDABLE event where I can have fun with my peers in the opposite manner that is normally expected in a school.
I feel the night for me in a way was a rite of passage because I stayed up all night long and went straight to "work" the next day without sleep. It felt cool, but I WAS OD' TIRED AND OD' SORE THE NEXT DAY. It is funny how before there were lights and cities no one was nocturnal. We lived in light of the sun. When I go upstate, sure we stay up into the night but something about the city can change the time you value.
May 23, 2011
iniTIL THOUGHTS !
I went to prom in middle school. I remember being excited and feeling as though I was doing the "big girl thang". I remember my parents thinking it was ridiculous, even that I was having a cap and gown graduation. "It's just middle school. . . "I didn't understand how they could not value and be excited by my big day like I was. I bought my dress from some cheapy place with my mom and her friend on Fordham road in the Bronx. I got my hair done, and took a cab to school. It was in our gym and the windows were blacked out. Everyone was grinding and I had never been to a dance before. It was the first time I got drunk, and the school used the red carpet from the hallway as a "Hollywood" red carpet, it was so ridiculous but I was really into it. I felt nervous about going but I felt as though I had to, and it was expected of me. I felt ostracized and odd at the prom. The French call these middle school teen years " age de la dende" or "age of the turkey" when one is awkward and sort of weird. When one is beginning to turn into a women/man but are not completely there yet, thus making one an odd duck.
Sophia Schwab described prom as "scripted" I think it is so true. What come to mind is the polyester dresses that people get online with fake rhinestones and 3rd world country seams barley holding together. I find it is just as scripted as any other ritual whether it be Christmas or a baby shower.
I see prom as the exclusive party of the year. Where everyone that not normally hangs out all go to the same party because they are paying for it. Some reason feeling the need to deck out and spend $200 for one normal party when on a normal weekend night they would probably not pay more than $10 to get into a party. It's weird how standards seem to change for one event.
Sophia Schwab described prom as "scripted" I think it is so true. What come to mind is the polyester dresses that people get online with fake rhinestones and 3rd world country seams barley holding together. I find it is just as scripted as any other ritual whether it be Christmas or a baby shower.
I see prom as the exclusive party of the year. Where everyone that not normally hangs out all go to the same party because they are paying for it. Some reason feeling the need to deck out and spend $200 for one normal party when on a normal weekend night they would probably not pay more than $10 to get into a party. It's weird how standards seem to change for one event.
May 18, 2011
"Harold & Maude" A GREAT MOVIE !
I enjoyed "Harold & Maude" very much, and I think Hal Ashby is a great director, I loved his little touches like focusing in on the casket where it says "permalife" and making Harold look like he was eating out the statue/woman, and showing Maude’s concentration camp id, but never discussing it. Also keeping you on the edge, not always knowing exactly when someone has died or not, like Harold's date the actress or when Harold drove the car over the cliff.
Harold seems to use death in his family as a way to receive attention, he seems isolated within his own family even though he has all money could buy him. He is the black sheep in his family and uses acting out suicides as his way to communicate this. I think that Harold is depressed and wants to die; he states that when he was dead he was happy. Yet with Maude he learns that you cannot avoid life with death because there is nothing afterwards you simply die. So Harold learns to live and find ways of playing the emotions of his heart and finding connections with his life and that of others.
Maude loves life and death for her is seen as the inevitable cycle. She has accepted that things are here today and gone tomorrow so try and live life to the fullest and do what makes you happy. Her belief that things disintegrate and then form other life reinforces the way she lives because she states, " the earth is my body, and my head is in the stars". She has a deep physical connection with life but also lets the depth of her thoughts wander. Maude kills herself because though she understands things just flow she does like to have control, having seen many deaths in her life (assuming not so pleasant) she wants to die when she feels great.
Harold's mother does not seem to find great significance in death and does not take it seriously. She is too consumed by her outfits, hair, and social gatherings to look for the spiritual meaning and what it means to want to die. Or she is so afraid of death and its prospects that she tries to fill her life with meaningless activities to ignore it. She is overwhelmed by death and does not know how to relate to her son instead she tries to make of him what he does not want, when he is not ready for them.
Harold seems to use death in his family as a way to receive attention, he seems isolated within his own family even though he has all money could buy him. He is the black sheep in his family and uses acting out suicides as his way to communicate this. I think that Harold is depressed and wants to die; he states that when he was dead he was happy. Yet with Maude he learns that you cannot avoid life with death because there is nothing afterwards you simply die. So Harold learns to live and find ways of playing the emotions of his heart and finding connections with his life and that of others.
Maude loves life and death for her is seen as the inevitable cycle. She has accepted that things are here today and gone tomorrow so try and live life to the fullest and do what makes you happy. Her belief that things disintegrate and then form other life reinforces the way she lives because she states, " the earth is my body, and my head is in the stars". She has a deep physical connection with life but also lets the depth of her thoughts wander. Maude kills herself because though she understands things just flow she does like to have control, having seen many deaths in her life (assuming not so pleasant) she wants to die when she feels great.
Harold's mother does not seem to find great significance in death and does not take it seriously. She is too consumed by her outfits, hair, and social gatherings to look for the spiritual meaning and what it means to want to die. Or she is so afraid of death and its prospects that she tries to fill her life with meaningless activities to ignore it. She is overwhelmed by death and does not know how to relate to her son instead she tries to make of him what he does not want, when he is not ready for them.
cemetery
I had crazy butterflies from the thoughts of ghost and them communicating with us, but nothing of that sort happened. I was fascinated by the fallen tombstones that were beginning to sink into the ground & cover up with grass. First their body rotted then their casket rotted and now their tombstone is disintegrating. Most of the tombstones were not legible and all dated from at least the 1800's. I sat down at one point and tried to meditate but I felt as though I needed to stay alert and keep my guard up. Even thought it was clear that my fear came from stories I still felt spooked out. Its all the 
symbolizing people from the past wanting to be remembered and the dark silence, it eliminates one of our senses and made me feel held back. Though a flashlight made it worse in my opinion because then I only had a limited range in view and became more focused on one part versus another. The people who paid for the huge outlandish chess pieces got what they wanted because we were definitely more attracted by those. Stupendefied by there grandeur. At one-point cars lights were seen ahead so we ducked behind tombstones, it was weird that what scared me the most in this place was the prospects of other human life. I was also so on edge because I knew Evan was going to try and scare us, and boy did he !!!
I had this desire to walk on the fallen tombstones and swing around the huge chess pieces, but the eerie darkness of the night retained me, for if it would have been day I am sure I would have done it. The fear of disrespecting the decease's beliefs, during the "haunting hour".
The next cemetery was the memorial location for one man; we had to take a path deep into the woods till we arrived to a clearing with the rolling roaring hills of Roxbury ahead of us. Unlike the overwhelming number of gravestones at the previous cemetery there was only one so I no longer felt bewildered but calm. It was not a typical gravestone there were four small stonewalls making a square and inside was luscious greenery. In this location I could not help thinking that we were probably the most disturbance in a while and that it was always this calm here, for eternity. This time I clung closely to Evan so that he could not once again cloak into the darkness and give me another pleasing thrill.
The cemetery visits made me feel the need for silence, I wanted nothing more but to absorb what was around me and dissolve into the experience. At the second cemetery I felt as though I penetrated into everything around me but at once felt as though I stuck out wildly. As we walked on the stone paths I could see the people who had came before us, I could see the people building this long stone path, I could see them building the walls. The first cemetery had a stonewall separating it from the road that was now ready to collapse. It made the cemetery feel so isolated, and as though it had been a labor of importance. It reminds me of the poem The Mending Wall by Robert Frost (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173530) I Am fascinated by the gorgeous moss that thrives upon all the stones and tombstones, to me in my fantasy they are the thriving life of those that were. I enjoyed my trips to the cemetery and was glad they were upstate.
(WATCH AMHARA'S VIEDO ITS HILARIOUS)
symbolizing people from the past wanting to be remembered and the dark silence, it eliminates one of our senses and made me feel held back. Though a flashlight made it worse in my opinion because then I only had a limited range in view and became more focused on one part versus another. The people who paid for the huge outlandish chess pieces got what they wanted because we were definitely more attracted by those. Stupendefied by there grandeur. At one-point cars lights were seen ahead so we ducked behind tombstones, it was weird that what scared me the most in this place was the prospects of other human life. I was also so on edge because I knew Evan was going to try and scare us, and boy did he !!!
I had this desire to walk on the fallen tombstones and swing around the huge chess pieces, but the eerie darkness of the night retained me, for if it would have been day I am sure I would have done it. The fear of disrespecting the decease's beliefs, during the "haunting hour".
The next cemetery was the memorial location for one man; we had to take a path deep into the woods till we arrived to a clearing with the rolling roaring hills of Roxbury ahead of us. Unlike the overwhelming number of gravestones at the previous cemetery there was only one so I no longer felt bewildered but calm. It was not a typical gravestone there were four small stonewalls making a square and inside was luscious greenery. In this location I could not help thinking that we were probably the most disturbance in a while and that it was always this calm here, for eternity. This time I clung closely to Evan so that he could not once again cloak into the darkness and give me another pleasing thrill.
The cemetery visits made me feel the need for silence, I wanted nothing more but to absorb what was around me and dissolve into the experience. At the second cemetery I felt as though I penetrated into everything around me but at once felt as though I stuck out wildly. As we walked on the stone paths I could see the people who had came before us, I could see the people building this long stone path, I could see them building the walls. The first cemetery had a stonewall separating it from the road that was now ready to collapse. It made the cemetery feel so isolated, and as though it had been a labor of importance. It reminds me of the poem The Mending Wall by Robert Frost (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173530) I Am fascinated by the gorgeous moss that thrives upon all the stones and tombstones, to me in my fantasy they are the thriving life of those that were. I enjoyed my trips to the cemetery and was glad they were upstate.
(WATCH AMHARA'S VIEDO ITS HILARIOUS)
May 17, 2011
Comment to my talented classmates (& myself) !!
TO BIANCA: LINK TO POST
In your project you tried to convey that funeral homes not only sell materialistic items but a sense of reassurance to the customer. Whether you are for or against is not really stated just how the customers use the outlandish items they buy to comfort them selves with the idea of losing a loved one.
I really loved your artwork as it is beautiful, powerful, and the colors look really amazing, I like the texture, and how you connected the words with string (especially the string you used it added a nice touch contrasted well with the blue) I loved how un personal the vendor seems because we dont see his head ! I also think that your writing was very concise and powerful !
OVER ALL AMAZING JOB BIANCA !
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
TO MARTYNA:LINK TO POST
First of I like the little personal touches to your blog like the checks, and what do YOU think ? hahaha.. very cute..
Martyna,
I think in your prokect you tried to summarize the 7 stages of greif and how they usually happen for most people and how it effects their daily life and the importance of such feelings. You then represented this with a visual.
I thought that your visual was very powerful and the colors you choose and how you faded them made me really feel a surge of emotions that for me were warm positive STRONG overwhelming feelings. I really value how connected I felt to your artwork. I also really value that you have concluded that death ironically, is important for us living to live through.
My only advice that I could give you is that your stages of greif seem kind of narrow and try and place evryone in a certain order and I think that emotions like this are hard to make a specific "lay out for" When you said you put them in your own order, i think this would have been more powerful (if you have greived a death) to discuss your own stages.
I did think this was nice though because we did not really discuss emotional connections that much and this is definatley an automatic ritual.
GREAT JOB MARTYNA, I loved your art work and the flow of ideas you represented your thoughts well. BE PROUD !
_________________________________________________________________________________
TO SOPHIA: LINK TO POST
HOLA LINDA,
En su "blog post" usted habla de lo que pasa con el cuerpo cuando muere y es dejado a descompóngarse, y los etapas differentes hasta que son uno con la tierra.
Me da felizidad que mi "blog post" le dio la inspiracion de escribir este ensayo. Yo creo que dio mucha informacion buena rapidamenete y muy claramente. Creo que era muy interesante.
Pero me pregunata como usted personalmente piensas sobre este subjeto y lo que usted quiere hacer con su cuerpo. Me gusto much so texto.
perdon que mi espanol es tan "rusty" !
BUEN TRABAJO LINDA CON EL PELO RIZADO !
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FROM MY MENTOR :
I'm curious what Ms. Flesh will truly feel upon viewing a corpse. I imagine that the quest to overcome something denied is more palpable as Ms. Flesh is very directed and passionate against an obstacle. I would like to hear more about what she expects of the experience. It is possible to attend a funeral with a body on view just by seeking the information about the time and place of the service and "viewing". Perhaps the experience of group grieving would be valuable to Ms. Flesh. Often times memorial services are listed publicly and I think as long as she is sincere and respectful she could attend a memorial service.
I was with Ms. Flesh upon the death of our dear friend. Personally for me it was not about not having closure. Closure is highly over rated. It is about loss. I personally have a lifetime of loss due to death and have pondered this human existance of ours since I was child. I have not come to any conclusions except that our whole life cycle is incomprehensible to me because the loss is sometimes unbearable. For me closure, or the end of a linear story doesn't make sense to me. Every loss I have experienced is equally as painful today as it was 43 years ago and beyond. I think young people like life to fit into a safe clear idea... but I doubt that in this case that will be possible.
My saving grace is in beauty. For me experiencing art, music or reading authors that resonate with me like Dostoevsky, Solzenitzen, Tolstoy and Lao Tzu help to balance my soul.
___________________________________________________________________________________
FROM CASEY:
Eloise,
I think this is a great idea! How brave of you to look at something that is a source of fear and has a negative connotation for most people and to literally and figuratively look it straight in the face. I appreciate your tenacity in the pursuit of this endeavor, and I wish there was some way for me to help you. It seems odd that a dead body could be so taboo and difficult to see in our society...especially for educational purposes. C'est la vie!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
FROM MY PROTEGE:
I cried a little but I couldn’t avoid this sense of being calm and serene.
eloise, i have felt this too.
when gary died, i did not feel sad right away. I justfelt calm. but i also felt somethig else. i felt respect. respect not to what he had lost but what he had made throughout his life.
i felt the same whan one of my bestfriend's fathers died. i felt sad for his children, and the time that he might have had with them that he lost: I did not feel sorry for his death. what is death but fo renewal? is it not just to give back to the world which you have taken from all of your life?
stoping people from seeing what we become is not an evil thing. death is a part of life.like a fire that sweeps through a redwood forest, it clears out debries, strenghens bark and helps some new children grow. death itself is not sad; it is how do you leave. do you leave peacefully or in much pain. do you die quietly or with big fuss. it is not the if that matters, but thew when and how.
_____________________________________________________________
In your project you tried to convey that funeral homes not only sell materialistic items but a sense of reassurance to the customer. Whether you are for or against is not really stated just how the customers use the outlandish items they buy to comfort them selves with the idea of losing a loved one.
I really loved your artwork as it is beautiful, powerful, and the colors look really amazing, I like the texture, and how you connected the words with string (especially the string you used it added a nice touch contrasted well with the blue) I loved how un personal the vendor seems because we dont see his head ! I also think that your writing was very concise and powerful !
OVER ALL AMAZING JOB BIANCA !
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
TO MARTYNA:LINK TO POST
First of I like the little personal touches to your blog like the checks, and what do YOU think ? hahaha.. very cute..
Martyna,
I think in your prokect you tried to summarize the 7 stages of greif and how they usually happen for most people and how it effects their daily life and the importance of such feelings. You then represented this with a visual.
I thought that your visual was very powerful and the colors you choose and how you faded them made me really feel a surge of emotions that for me were warm positive STRONG overwhelming feelings. I really value how connected I felt to your artwork. I also really value that you have concluded that death ironically, is important for us living to live through.
My only advice that I could give you is that your stages of greif seem kind of narrow and try and place evryone in a certain order and I think that emotions like this are hard to make a specific "lay out for" When you said you put them in your own order, i think this would have been more powerful (if you have greived a death) to discuss your own stages.
I did think this was nice though because we did not really discuss emotional connections that much and this is definatley an automatic ritual.
GREAT JOB MARTYNA, I loved your art work and the flow of ideas you represented your thoughts well. BE PROUD !
_________________________________________________________________________________
TO SOPHIA: LINK TO POST
HOLA LINDA,
En su "blog post" usted habla de lo que pasa con el cuerpo cuando muere y es dejado a descompóngarse, y los etapas differentes hasta que son uno con la tierra.
Me da felizidad que mi "blog post" le dio la inspiracion de escribir este ensayo. Yo creo que dio mucha informacion buena rapidamenete y muy claramente. Creo que era muy interesante.
Pero me pregunata como usted personalmente piensas sobre este subjeto y lo que usted quiere hacer con su cuerpo. Me gusto much so texto.
perdon que mi espanol es tan "rusty" !
BUEN TRABAJO LINDA CON EL PELO RIZADO !
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FROM MY MENTOR :
I'm curious what Ms. Flesh will truly feel upon viewing a corpse. I imagine that the quest to overcome something denied is more palpable as Ms. Flesh is very directed and passionate against an obstacle. I would like to hear more about what she expects of the experience. It is possible to attend a funeral with a body on view just by seeking the information about the time and place of the service and "viewing". Perhaps the experience of group grieving would be valuable to Ms. Flesh. Often times memorial services are listed publicly and I think as long as she is sincere and respectful she could attend a memorial service.
I was with Ms. Flesh upon the death of our dear friend. Personally for me it was not about not having closure. Closure is highly over rated. It is about loss. I personally have a lifetime of loss due to death and have pondered this human existance of ours since I was child. I have not come to any conclusions except that our whole life cycle is incomprehensible to me because the loss is sometimes unbearable. For me closure, or the end of a linear story doesn't make sense to me. Every loss I have experienced is equally as painful today as it was 43 years ago and beyond. I think young people like life to fit into a safe clear idea... but I doubt that in this case that will be possible.
My saving grace is in beauty. For me experiencing art, music or reading authors that resonate with me like Dostoevsky, Solzenitzen, Tolstoy and Lao Tzu help to balance my soul.
___________________________________________________________________________________
FROM CASEY:
Eloise,
I think this is a great idea! How brave of you to look at something that is a source of fear and has a negative connotation for most people and to literally and figuratively look it straight in the face. I appreciate your tenacity in the pursuit of this endeavor, and I wish there was some way for me to help you. It seems odd that a dead body could be so taboo and difficult to see in our society...especially for educational purposes. C'est la vie!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
FROM MY PROTEGE:
I cried a little but I couldn’t avoid this sense of being calm and serene.
eloise, i have felt this too.
when gary died, i did not feel sad right away. I justfelt calm. but i also felt somethig else. i felt respect. respect not to what he had lost but what he had made throughout his life.
i felt the same whan one of my bestfriend's fathers died. i felt sad for his children, and the time that he might have had with them that he lost: I did not feel sorry for his death. what is death but fo renewal? is it not just to give back to the world which you have taken from all of your life?
stoping people from seeing what we become is not an evil thing. death is a part of life.like a fire that sweeps through a redwood forest, it clears out debries, strenghens bark and helps some new children grow. death itself is not sad; it is how do you leave. do you leave peacefully or in much pain. do you die quietly or with big fuss. it is not the if that matters, but thew when and how.
_____________________________________________________________
May 16, 2011
CORPSE YELLOW PAGES
I want to see a corpse. I read about it and feel like I know about it, but I do not. It is just figments of my imagination. I feel if I where to see a dead body I would be able to further my comfort with death and it would change my outlook on life. I would try and meditate with the body, at least focus on the bubbles coming to my head, the instincts I was feeling, and possible emotional connections. I’ve seen a dead body, that of my uncle’s 15 minutes after he died. He was yellow, scrawny, he’s cheeks were almost non-existent, cold, but he was SO CALM. I cried a little but I couldn’t avoid this sense of being calm and serene. So so calm, I felt odd for feeling that way, the loved ones around were so distressed. Amhara’s grandmother believes that people whom feel the most grief when someone has passed it is because they were unable to tell him or her something, or never got closure. I cried my eyes out the day before because I realized he was really dying and he gave me one last moment of his presence. He gasped up opened his eyes looked at me and said I love you, laid back down curtly. He was receiving calls all day my aunt would hold her phone to his ear as people were saying their goodbyes and he would smile from time to time. When I saw him dead there were two plastic (light bulb) red candles flickering at the windowsill, I placed a flower on him, kissed him, and did not look back.
Honestly if I could have chosen I would want to see a body decomposing, being that it is our deepest connection with the earth, when becoming completely grounded once again, (partially evaporated into the air). To see a corpse is not easy. It takes a long process of demands and litigations. First I contacted 311 asking if they knew any morgues in NYC, with no knowledge they forwarded me to a hospital with an anatomy department. After speaking to Lenox hill Hospital I was abruptly told that no such visit would be possible. Owens funeral home the one I had visited for the interview told me that they would forward my message to Mr. Owens, yet he never called back. Then Home after home I was told that it would not be possible to view corpses because once the body reached the funeral home it was confidential between the family and the home, unless permission was received from a family member of the body or if one is registered with the state. I found it to odd of a request to ask a family that I did not know so I let that one go. To become registered with the state of NY one must receive a High school diploma, a 2-year college degree, and 1 mortuary course. Then, proceeded to calling New York City’s medical examiner which transferred me to multiple extensions, finalizing that I would not be able to see corpses because there is a confidentiality due of process between the law and the family and no one outside of these relations are allowed to see the bodies. Stumped again I then was thinking about how I could cut the family issues out of the picture; when a body is donated to science the family is already aware that the body will be seen for multiple reasons all under the educational umbrella. I thought haeey, I FIT THAT PART! So I began calling around at medical schools in New York City, then being transferred to their anatomy departments. Columbia medical school told me they had never herd about this and asked for my “contact information” and said they would promptly call me back. They once again never did. I then contacted NYU’s anatomy department that politely DENIED me. Lastly I came in contact with Mount Sinai School of Medicine, which has a program for high school students interested in medical studies In the future. They kindly gave me their contact information. I am currently going through an email exchange between Ms. Olmeda and myself. We are awaiting conformation from her superiors. This is a long complicated process and the industry obviously finds anyone without a college degree not competent to be faced with death unless it arises in his or her family or on their block.
For pupils to follow who want to see a corpse:
• Madeline Olmeda, BBA works at the Center for Anatomy/Functional Morphology,
Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is the person to contact about attending an anatomy pre-course of sorts for high school students. Her email is madeline.olmeda@mssm.edu
• The American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service would be a great school to contact, even though we are not college students they cater to people who want to learn about the rituals surrounding cadavers.
• Death midwifes one could contact: nora@thresholdsoflife.org(http://www.thresholdsoflife.org/)
Honestly if I could have chosen I would want to see a body decomposing, being that it is our deepest connection with the earth, when becoming completely grounded once again, (partially evaporated into the air). To see a corpse is not easy. It takes a long process of demands and litigations. First I contacted 311 asking if they knew any morgues in NYC, with no knowledge they forwarded me to a hospital with an anatomy department. After speaking to Lenox hill Hospital I was abruptly told that no such visit would be possible. Owens funeral home the one I had visited for the interview told me that they would forward my message to Mr. Owens, yet he never called back. Then Home after home I was told that it would not be possible to view corpses because once the body reached the funeral home it was confidential between the family and the home, unless permission was received from a family member of the body or if one is registered with the state. I found it to odd of a request to ask a family that I did not know so I let that one go. To become registered with the state of NY one must receive a High school diploma, a 2-year college degree, and 1 mortuary course. Then, proceeded to calling New York City’s medical examiner which transferred me to multiple extensions, finalizing that I would not be able to see corpses because there is a confidentiality due of process between the law and the family and no one outside of these relations are allowed to see the bodies. Stumped again I then was thinking about how I could cut the family issues out of the picture; when a body is donated to science the family is already aware that the body will be seen for multiple reasons all under the educational umbrella. I thought haeey, I FIT THAT PART! So I began calling around at medical schools in New York City, then being transferred to their anatomy departments. Columbia medical school told me they had never herd about this and asked for my “contact information” and said they would promptly call me back. They once again never did. I then contacted NYU’s anatomy department that politely DENIED me. Lastly I came in contact with Mount Sinai School of Medicine, which has a program for high school students interested in medical studies In the future. They kindly gave me their contact information. I am currently going through an email exchange between Ms. Olmeda and myself. We are awaiting conformation from her superiors. This is a long complicated process and the industry obviously finds anyone without a college degree not competent to be faced with death unless it arises in his or her family or on their block.
For pupils to follow who want to see a corpse:
• Madeline Olmeda, BBA works at the Center for Anatomy/Functional Morphology,
Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is the person to contact about attending an anatomy pre-course of sorts for high school students. Her email is madeline.olmeda@mssm.edu
• The American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service would be a great school to contact, even though we are not college students they cater to people who want to learn about the rituals surrounding cadavers.
• Death midwifes one could contact: nora@thresholdsoflife.org(http://www.thresholdsoflife.org/)
May 14, 2011
Young New York Reverend and Christian text
My whole life the cross has been at every crossing of eye, seen through the peripheral view. God Bless on the most valuable tender in my lifetime, what we kill for, what we starve for, what we fight for. The Christian religion is that followed by the dominant discourse and is imbedded into our governmental texts. The reasoning given for many actions are our spreading the knowledge of Christianity. How we tamed our animals. This constant exposure has tainted my mind. This is why I choose to delve into the Christian religion.
Reverend Linda Bartholomew is in her mid fifties (hypothesis) but still has a chic disposition. She wears a white collar around her neck and a black suit matched with colored glass earrings and a short grey bob. She seems very liberal compared to my stereotypical view of a reverend. Her purpose in life is to love like god loves, but that will take much work she says. She believes that “We will be resurrected to the kingdom of god”, we including “everyone somehow”. Based on what I have learned God is seen as the perfect being that we all should serve, similar to a monarchy. "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God" (4:24 Corinthians). This kingdom will be here on earth, and she says this spiritual air picture is a miss-conception. But I can see where people make this mistake because the Corinthian do say “UP to.” but earth is right here. On the other hand my friend Evan is a devout Christian who says the bible says that heaven is somewhere else. According to Bartholomew Hell does not exists it is just used to give the sense that their will be justice in the afterlife, which is in god's hands. She believes injustices such as the vast separation between the rich and the poor will not be present. It will be the perfect life with justice, but if the perfect life existed there would be no injustice thus there would be no need for justice.
We are an anti-animal-wild society, which strongly believes in justice for the savage animal instincts produce. For instance murdering someone or raping someone is seen as horrible acts that deserve justice. When these are our biological instincts acting, and justice is needed for such acts.
Reverend Bartholomew recently conducted a funeral for a young girl who was but a year old. I asked her what she envisions when she thinks of the afterlife, she says "right now I see Blythe sitting in god's lap." when she says this I immediately envision a man, though she does not specify "I look for the LORD; my soul doth wait for him;" (pg. 474 of psalm 130 de profundis) God being a man supports the dominating power and respect they receive in our world. Bartholomew stated, "The body is sacred, no matter whom it belongs to a poplar, terrorist or president" note she only spoke of the human species. In their eyes Death is an enemy, even though it is the vehicle that “delivers” one to the kingdom of god. In heaven "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"(Corinthians 4:26) Reverend states that her role at a funeral is to be present and steal herself and give it to the grievers by being strong and not crying, keeping her composure, even when a little girl who is younger than a year has died, and everyone around is "crumpling". She does say that grieving from the family is important and does not like seeing discouragement of showing ones emotions. Essentially we have begun our eternal life, so death is just a break, a long time to rest. "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (Corinthians 4:16) I thought that this was really true and reflected my attitude on life. What won't kill you will make you stronger. A sense of wisdom, with experience will come deeper acceptance. Death needs to be accepted because things just are . . .. The Christian belief of afterlife is there way of accepting death, (yet not really because they don’t believe they will die forever).
Further Questionings:
Who wrote the bible is it a reliable source?
References:
The Book of Common Prayer
The New Testimony
Interview with Reverend Linda Bartholomew
May 09, 2011
Independent Research A
#1
Research Uses Grow For Virtual Cadavers
BY DENISE GRADY
précis:
2 cadavers earned the status of immortality in cyberspace. Their bodies were cut thousands of times by thin cross sections to create computerized anatomy. The program reconstructs the tissue sections into 3-d images, and has wide accessibility. This was produced by a team of doctors and students and is changing anatomy students learning environment. The bodies were frozen, and sliced like deli ham and after each millimeter of removal a photo was taken. Dr. Robb was the first to view the project and his goal is to use computer techniques to have surgeons practice operations, helping them to know the relationship of the structures in different regions. The one error in the project is no DNA samples were saved to trace the detail back to the genes. Dreams for more advanced technology is on the rise.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/08/science/research-uses-grow-for-virtual-cadavers.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
__________________________________________________________
MEDICINE; Lessons in Body and Soul
By LYNNE AMES
précis:
250 students gather at the 12th annual memorial to commemorate all the cadavers used in anatomy class. The students recognize them as once living. Acknowledge the respect for human life an all they learn from holding a real cadavers in their hands. Dr. Pravety assistant professor of biology and anatomy re-iterates the importance of respect throughout the course and the care expected at the end. The students reiterate thanks and the relatives gain closure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/11/nyregion/medicine-lessons-in-body-and-soul.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
_________________________________________________________
Both articles were written in high honor and utter bafflement of the achievement and use of cadavers in medical school. One illustrates the amazing medical advancements being made with technology, the next illustrating the deep connection the anatomy students create with the cadavers. Every participant of all such activity seems to have a high sense of importance and ever lasting impressions on the still living. The cadaver donators and spectators seem to see donation to science as a way to continue living and making an impact. I think it is insane what we are able to accomplish with science but like every generation past I cannot help feel resilience towards these accomplishments. We are venturing into the depths of ourselves versus the depths of our surroundings.
MUST VIEW VIEDO CLIP !!!!!! : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/mpeg/umd_video.mpg
In the memorial tribute to the anatomy class cadavers, they repetitively state that they must think of these human cadavers AS ONCE LIVING AND TIED TO RELATIONSHIPS. Characterizing a life they have no knowledge about to give the cadaver respect. Why do we as humans feel the need to "respect" cadavers if the life is no longer existent? This must stem from an underlying belief that our souls still linger and are aware of the bodies. I myself have a strong feeling of respect towards human cadavers. Ross Goldberg a speaker at the memorial stated: ''I was holding this brain, the essence of this person, in my hands,'' currently we are devout believers that the soul, spirit, whatever one chooses to call it LAYS IN OUR BRAIN. We have our knowledge so far up our ass it’s insane. We & I are so pleased with the knowledge we accumulate about everything and anything. To the fact that it boils down to our true self? I disagree highly on this belief what makes up my life is the experience I internalize with my sense and my though process, it is not only what I can categorize as thought but FEELING, though this truly cannot be described in the symbols of English.
#2
I walked around East Harlem on this sunny day, the streets were lively as always; once the sun hits the pavement up here you can be sure. The first 2 funeral homes I visited were closed and seemed dead themselves an eerie abandonment to both of them, yet they both had their lights on! The last two I visited were the Mickey Funeral Service, and Owens Funeral Home INC. " Where beauty softens your grief". Both in brownstones, upstairs being the "chapel" downstairs being the office. Mickey's had a dusty moldy smell to it with worn brown chairs and dim lighting. Owens’s was bright and flashy with plastic covered upholstery and flashy Mirrors everywhere. Two very different, very odd atmospheres. Owens stated " I never hear people talking about death and beauty in the same conversation but, to me, death and beauty go hand in hand. Death is nasty. Death is cruel. Well, Isaiah Owens takes that and creates a portrait of your loved one that you can remember all your life." He has had the inspiration to follow this career since he grew up on a farm and there were animals to bury left and right. He says in his 40 years of business, embalming jobs have changed tremendously. There is way less gun shots, and stabs, and cuts, and roof jumpers then there were 10 years ago, he says now most of his clients die of diseases and old age. Prices for the caskets range from $430 - $200,000. Mr. Myers from Mickey’s says he receives satisfaction from helping the families grieve.
I feel as though Owens see's himself as a remover of the grotesque reality of death. That he can wave his wand and make it fiction. Helping to "shelter" us from the appearance of a dead body. I wonder if he is truly afraid of death or if doing his job gives him a sense of order "fixing" the rot of our world. Both funeral homes that I visited felt cold and gave off an overwhelming a grandiose attempt to make one feel comfortable resulting in the exact opposite.
___________________________________________________________
FURTHER QUESTIONING:
WHAT IS LIFE ?
WHAT IS DEATH ?
WHAT IS FEELING ?
WHAT IS THOUGHT ?
Research Uses Grow For Virtual Cadavers
BY DENISE GRADY
précis:
2 cadavers earned the status of immortality in cyberspace. Their bodies were cut thousands of times by thin cross sections to create computerized anatomy. The program reconstructs the tissue sections into 3-d images, and has wide accessibility. This was produced by a team of doctors and students and is changing anatomy students learning environment. The bodies were frozen, and sliced like deli ham and after each millimeter of removal a photo was taken. Dr. Robb was the first to view the project and his goal is to use computer techniques to have surgeons practice operations, helping them to know the relationship of the structures in different regions. The one error in the project is no DNA samples were saved to trace the detail back to the genes. Dreams for more advanced technology is on the rise.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/08/science/research-uses-grow-for-virtual-cadavers.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
__________________________________________________________
MEDICINE; Lessons in Body and Soul
By LYNNE AMES
précis:
250 students gather at the 12th annual memorial to commemorate all the cadavers used in anatomy class. The students recognize them as once living. Acknowledge the respect for human life an all they learn from holding a real cadavers in their hands. Dr. Pravety assistant professor of biology and anatomy re-iterates the importance of respect throughout the course and the care expected at the end. The students reiterate thanks and the relatives gain closure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/11/nyregion/medicine-lessons-in-body-and-soul.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
_________________________________________________________
Both articles were written in high honor and utter bafflement of the achievement and use of cadavers in medical school. One illustrates the amazing medical advancements being made with technology, the next illustrating the deep connection the anatomy students create with the cadavers. Every participant of all such activity seems to have a high sense of importance and ever lasting impressions on the still living. The cadaver donators and spectators seem to see donation to science as a way to continue living and making an impact. I think it is insane what we are able to accomplish with science but like every generation past I cannot help feel resilience towards these accomplishments. We are venturing into the depths of ourselves versus the depths of our surroundings.
MUST VIEW VIEDO CLIP !!!!!! : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/mpeg/umd_video.mpg
In the memorial tribute to the anatomy class cadavers, they repetitively state that they must think of these human cadavers AS ONCE LIVING AND TIED TO RELATIONSHIPS. Characterizing a life they have no knowledge about to give the cadaver respect. Why do we as humans feel the need to "respect" cadavers if the life is no longer existent? This must stem from an underlying belief that our souls still linger and are aware of the bodies. I myself have a strong feeling of respect towards human cadavers. Ross Goldberg a speaker at the memorial stated: ''I was holding this brain, the essence of this person, in my hands,'' currently we are devout believers that the soul, spirit, whatever one chooses to call it LAYS IN OUR BRAIN. We have our knowledge so far up our ass it’s insane. We & I are so pleased with the knowledge we accumulate about everything and anything. To the fact that it boils down to our true self? I disagree highly on this belief what makes up my life is the experience I internalize with my sense and my though process, it is not only what I can categorize as thought but FEELING, though this truly cannot be described in the symbols of English.
#2
I walked around East Harlem on this sunny day, the streets were lively as always; once the sun hits the pavement up here you can be sure. The first 2 funeral homes I visited were closed and seemed dead themselves an eerie abandonment to both of them, yet they both had their lights on! The last two I visited were the Mickey Funeral Service, and Owens Funeral Home INC. " Where beauty softens your grief". Both in brownstones, upstairs being the "chapel" downstairs being the office. Mickey's had a dusty moldy smell to it with worn brown chairs and dim lighting. Owens’s was bright and flashy with plastic covered upholstery and flashy Mirrors everywhere. Two very different, very odd atmospheres. Owens stated " I never hear people talking about death and beauty in the same conversation but, to me, death and beauty go hand in hand. Death is nasty. Death is cruel. Well, Isaiah Owens takes that and creates a portrait of your loved one that you can remember all your life." He has had the inspiration to follow this career since he grew up on a farm and there were animals to bury left and right. He says in his 40 years of business, embalming jobs have changed tremendously. There is way less gun shots, and stabs, and cuts, and roof jumpers then there were 10 years ago, he says now most of his clients die of diseases and old age. Prices for the caskets range from $430 - $200,000. Mr. Myers from Mickey’s says he receives satisfaction from helping the families grieve.
I feel as though Owens see's himself as a remover of the grotesque reality of death. That he can wave his wand and make it fiction. Helping to "shelter" us from the appearance of a dead body. I wonder if he is truly afraid of death or if doing his job gives him a sense of order "fixing" the rot of our world. Both funeral homes that I visited felt cold and gave off an overwhelming a grandiose attempt to make one feel comfortable resulting in the exact opposite.
___________________________________________________________
FURTHER QUESTIONING:
WHAT IS LIFE ?
WHAT IS DEATH ?
WHAT IS FEELING ?
WHAT IS THOUGHT ?
May 05, 2011
PART 2 - STIFF
To test automobile safety corpses are used to detect the impact certain areas of the human body can take until exceeding the threshold. There is a debate in injury prevention of whether using whole cadavers versus parts. I then visited Shanahan an injury analysts for flight 800. To determine the events he notes how intact a body is, different chemical burns, thermal burns, and “extreme water impact”. There are a lot of safety precautions possible to equip planes but the FAA won’t require them because it's not profit worthy. The military has done an assortment of ballistic exams on corpses. The first was to try and increase injury size so the opponent would be shot down but not die, it was not possible. Similar studies are currently being conducted on why people usually fall when shot. Some concluded that it is simply psychological, others say it temporarily shuts down your nervous system. Cadavers have also been used to test bullet vest and other safety gear. Ballistics disturbs many people and is looked down upon for corpse use, bomb studies are the most controversial. Exams with animals instead have been tried but they are never truly accurate. Dr. Barbet (a mad man) in 1931 used cadavers to verify the accuracy of the shroud of the Turin. Zurin a modern doctor proved all of Barbet’s theories invalid. Next I went to UCSFMC to see a beating heart cadaver operated on for organ transplant. Maintaining beating heart cadavers is an emotional stress for hospital staff. When is death existent? Before they had pre-mortuary halls till there were tale tell signs of death (rotting), many doctors tried to invent various probing test to be sure a patient was dead. In early 1907 Macdougal tried to weigh the soul leaving the corpse. The was much debate in ancient times about whether the brain or heart contains the soul. The heart when cut out of H (the patient) still beats and vigrously, many doctors who work on transplants say they have felt a presence in the operating room. Some believe our soul is within our whole body. A multitude of test to prove such theories have been attempted, all failing. Many do not agree with the brain dead classification of death. Many people who have had heart transplants swore they received their donors personality. H now looks like another cadaver but has saved 3 lives.
QOUTES:
"H has no heart, but hearless is the last thing you'd call her." (pg. 195)
"you have people with both ankles and kees damaged and they will never walk right again. It's a major disability now." (pg. 96)
When reading my text it was really making me internalize the actuality of death. I have been surrounded by it a lot but it is hard to grasp the concept that one day you will die, maybe thats because you never do it just happens ? I feel when Roach describes the deaths in detail it really creates a clear image of what could happen to my body and many times the violent reality. I am scared to die and want to experience more, but I am also SO CURIOUS. Roach discusses peoples different views of death and their ways of attempting to record life i.e spirit or soul leaving the body. All different views and approaches all seem to pinpoint down to an energy. I find this interesting because energy is the one thing we cannot measure or see, we can only know of its presences by the effects it produces. I also find that their is some validity in having such a wide spread commonality, whether its because it is partially true or because it reflects on how we think. I am trying to create my own solid opinons about death and afterlife and so on but I cannot seem to choose a concrete opinion. I feel as though everything is life and death and it is indistinguishable. I think perhaps life ends just as it seems to begin. Also reading about all the different alterations of a corpse sort of disturbs me, something tells me that they are to be respected and I seem it is a part of nature I dont want to bother. Yet I say if i needed a heart transplant would I want it ? I want to see a corpse for myself. reading about it is not enough.
QOUTES:
"H has no heart, but hearless is the last thing you'd call her." (pg. 195)
"you have people with both ankles and kees damaged and they will never walk right again. It's a major disability now." (pg. 96)
When reading my text it was really making me internalize the actuality of death. I have been surrounded by it a lot but it is hard to grasp the concept that one day you will die, maybe thats because you never do it just happens ? I feel when Roach describes the deaths in detail it really creates a clear image of what could happen to my body and many times the violent reality. I am scared to die and want to experience more, but I am also SO CURIOUS. Roach discusses peoples different views of death and their ways of attempting to record life i.e spirit or soul leaving the body. All different views and approaches all seem to pinpoint down to an energy. I find this interesting because energy is the one thing we cannot measure or see, we can only know of its presences by the effects it produces. I also find that their is some validity in having such a wide spread commonality, whether its because it is partially true or because it reflects on how we think. I am trying to create my own solid opinons about death and afterlife and so on but I cannot seem to choose a concrete opinion. I feel as though everything is life and death and it is indistinguishable. I think perhaps life ends just as it seems to begin. Also reading about all the different alterations of a corpse sort of disturbs me, something tells me that they are to be respected and I seem it is a part of nature I dont want to bother. Yet I say if i needed a heart transplant would I want it ? I want to see a corpse for myself. reading about it is not enough.
May 01, 2011
COMMENTS !!!! GLORIOUS COMMENTS
FROM OTHERS TO ME:
Younger person:
i read some of you other ones too, and i think they refer to the same thing
Death in the us has become commercialized. Paying for funerals? comon!
the person is already dead
also the part about how it freaks you out, that's not right(It fascinates me that when we decompose what allows us to survive, then eats us. To me that’s super freaky but also so amazing)it is the cycle of life. you may die but your body will nourish the rest of the world, wether it helps scientists gain more knowledge, or it decomposes into the ground to feed hundreds of cycles of flowers or trees
which will then feed other things, like bees or giraffes. You will not end , you will become many things. think of all the children eating the honey that the bees made from your flowers, nourished on your corpse. death is an end, but it is a new beginning.
from Liam
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Older person:
As I began reading this my first thoughts were to my own ideas about death which differ from the two women described. This essay took me on on my own path as I think speaking of death often does. I agree with Ms. Flesh that the two women interviewed do hold back some of their interpretations when to talking to a young person... and perhaps they hold back from themselves due to their own hesitancy around the subject of death. I know the women interviewed personally and one does keep her thoughts close to the core while the other often uses humor to diffuse.
In response to Ms. Flesh's comparison to her peers' attitude toward death I do think young people's brains are not fully formed until about the age of 25 and in a healthy form of fearlessness they negate things that are frightening so as to be able to experience the bombardment of new experiences thrown at them.
I have heard the phrase 'kick the bucket' my whole life yet have never considered it beyond it's use as an expression. The description at the end of this article is so visceral... it resonates.
Brava Ms. Flesh
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Naima:
hey eloise,
i really enjoyed your post. i liked the language that you used to describe peoples reactions to your questions, and i liked the way you peeped-in their quotes. i liked the larger ideas that came across throughout your writing, which, mainly, were that death means different things to different people and they chose how they'd like to think about it. we live in a society where we have options and where the controversy on picking a form of care for a dead body doesn't seem too controversial.
although i really enjoyed your post, i still find that your posts are very choppy. i think that to make your posts have more of a flow, you should read it through aloud and seperate the larger chunks into paragraphs.
thanks girlly,
nai
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________________________________________
FROM ME TO OTHERS:
to Naima:
Wow! you poured your heart out ad what seems to stay bottled up, I can feel all the emotion, I am sure this took courage on your part. This was a very emotional and insisghtful post into Naima and though I feel much sorrow it made me very happy to hear these thoughts of yours.
You spoke of how your mother's passing and how it effected your family and your father and how difficult it was to deal with the care of her body & memory. You also spoke of little Ped's recent passing and how much you give respect to his life , but in contrast how easy going the decision making for his memorial went.
I think your fathers actions to accept your grandmothers decisions show a strong man who really thinks of everyones sake, and it really seems you were still able to give your mother the tribute she deserves. I want to give you praise for being such a strong intelligent, powerful women because I can hardly imagine loosing my mother. From what i've heard you radiate her memory and that is an exceptional vibe you give.
The last days of your mothers life seem quite similar to that of my uncle's, loosing someone to sickness is so hard because you seemingly watch them wither, but as you say "My mother was surrounded by her children, father and mother, which made the moment of her death actually quite beautiful." when its a beautiful person being lost it gathers many amazing people at the time.
As for little Ped's story it is very interesting it really made me reflect on what life means for me and when it begins. You were very excited for no longer being the baby (hahaha) but eveerything happens for a reason, you will have to continue fufilling the title of the youngest.
This was a very intersting and emotionally thought proking post. I respect and feel your sturggle mamasita. !
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
to Devin:
I thought your post was intersting and insightful into your family dynamics.I could hear a good amount of family character in your post.
You discuss both your grandomthers perespectives and that of your fathers. You discuss how their perspectives differ, their similarties and how you compare to there views.
I really liked the way you peiced together the answer by also inserting your insight. I think that this poem resonates well with your post !
EXPENDABLE BY: LANGSTON HUGES
"We will take you and kill you,
Expendable.
We will fill you full of lead,
Expendable.
And when you are dead
in nice cold ground,
We'll put your name
above your head-
If your head
Can be found."
I think it is powerful to note that with generation and time big things change and in a mass size, most of my interviewees as well desired to be cremated. I wonder how our current dominate religous views reflect of the major cremation acceptance !
GREAT JOB.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
to Nina:
Wow I think that your question and thoughts on death are very interesting, things I havent thought of !
I really liked your post there was a good flow of ideas and you peiced all the diffrent information together very well.
I do find that alot of times you would begin an idea but would'nt finish it. For example with catrina you say a lot of qoutes but do not explain there relevance, or you dont finish your idea you just go on to the next topic. I think your english has a few MINOR mistakes but otherwise is reallllly GOOD !!
I enjoyed your writing style, you told a nice story. I also really like your background !
My favorite line was "Some people kill themselves slowly, throughout life. Drinking, smoking, specially using hard drugs, or even maintaining an unhealthy way of thinking, which could cause predisposition to sadness and unhealthiness." I thought this was very insightful.
Younger person:
i read some of you other ones too, and i think they refer to the same thing
Death in the us has become commercialized. Paying for funerals? comon!
the person is already dead
also the part about how it freaks you out, that's not right(It fascinates me that when we decompose what allows us to survive, then eats us. To me that’s super freaky but also so amazing)it is the cycle of life. you may die but your body will nourish the rest of the world, wether it helps scientists gain more knowledge, or it decomposes into the ground to feed hundreds of cycles of flowers or trees
which will then feed other things, like bees or giraffes. You will not end , you will become many things. think of all the children eating the honey that the bees made from your flowers, nourished on your corpse. death is an end, but it is a new beginning.
from Liam
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Older person:
As I began reading this my first thoughts were to my own ideas about death which differ from the two women described. This essay took me on on my own path as I think speaking of death often does. I agree with Ms. Flesh that the two women interviewed do hold back some of their interpretations when to talking to a young person... and perhaps they hold back from themselves due to their own hesitancy around the subject of death. I know the women interviewed personally and one does keep her thoughts close to the core while the other often uses humor to diffuse.
In response to Ms. Flesh's comparison to her peers' attitude toward death I do think young people's brains are not fully formed until about the age of 25 and in a healthy form of fearlessness they negate things that are frightening so as to be able to experience the bombardment of new experiences thrown at them.
I have heard the phrase 'kick the bucket' my whole life yet have never considered it beyond it's use as an expression. The description at the end of this article is so visceral... it resonates.
Brava Ms. Flesh
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Naima:
hey eloise,
i really enjoyed your post. i liked the language that you used to describe peoples reactions to your questions, and i liked the way you peeped-in their quotes. i liked the larger ideas that came across throughout your writing, which, mainly, were that death means different things to different people and they chose how they'd like to think about it. we live in a society where we have options and where the controversy on picking a form of care for a dead body doesn't seem too controversial.
although i really enjoyed your post, i still find that your posts are very choppy. i think that to make your posts have more of a flow, you should read it through aloud and seperate the larger chunks into paragraphs.
thanks girlly,
nai
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
FROM ME TO OTHERS:
to Naima:
Wow! you poured your heart out ad what seems to stay bottled up, I can feel all the emotion, I am sure this took courage on your part. This was a very emotional and insisghtful post into Naima and though I feel much sorrow it made me very happy to hear these thoughts of yours.
You spoke of how your mother's passing and how it effected your family and your father and how difficult it was to deal with the care of her body & memory. You also spoke of little Ped's recent passing and how much you give respect to his life , but in contrast how easy going the decision making for his memorial went.
I think your fathers actions to accept your grandmothers decisions show a strong man who really thinks of everyones sake, and it really seems you were still able to give your mother the tribute she deserves. I want to give you praise for being such a strong intelligent, powerful women because I can hardly imagine loosing my mother. From what i've heard you radiate her memory and that is an exceptional vibe you give.
The last days of your mothers life seem quite similar to that of my uncle's, loosing someone to sickness is so hard because you seemingly watch them wither, but as you say "My mother was surrounded by her children, father and mother, which made the moment of her death actually quite beautiful." when its a beautiful person being lost it gathers many amazing people at the time.
As for little Ped's story it is very interesting it really made me reflect on what life means for me and when it begins. You were very excited for no longer being the baby (hahaha) but eveerything happens for a reason, you will have to continue fufilling the title of the youngest.
This was a very intersting and emotionally thought proking post. I respect and feel your sturggle mamasita. !
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
to Devin:
I thought your post was intersting and insightful into your family dynamics.I could hear a good amount of family character in your post.
You discuss both your grandomthers perespectives and that of your fathers. You discuss how their perspectives differ, their similarties and how you compare to there views.
I really liked the way you peiced together the answer by also inserting your insight. I think that this poem resonates well with your post !
EXPENDABLE BY: LANGSTON HUGES
"We will take you and kill you,
Expendable.
We will fill you full of lead,
Expendable.
And when you are dead
in nice cold ground,
We'll put your name
above your head-
If your head
Can be found."
I think it is powerful to note that with generation and time big things change and in a mass size, most of my interviewees as well desired to be cremated. I wonder how our current dominate religous views reflect of the major cremation acceptance !
GREAT JOB.
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to Nina:
Wow I think that your question and thoughts on death are very interesting, things I havent thought of !
I really liked your post there was a good flow of ideas and you peiced all the diffrent information together very well.
I do find that alot of times you would begin an idea but would'nt finish it. For example with catrina you say a lot of qoutes but do not explain there relevance, or you dont finish your idea you just go on to the next topic. I think your english has a few MINOR mistakes but otherwise is reallllly GOOD !!
I enjoyed your writing style, you told a nice story. I also really like your background !
My favorite line was "Some people kill themselves slowly, throughout life. Drinking, smoking, specially using hard drugs, or even maintaining an unhealthy way of thinking, which could cause predisposition to sadness and unhealthiness." I thought this was very insightful.
April 30, 2011
AHHHH, IM MELTTTTTINNGGGG!!!
STIFF - BY: MARY ROACH (Precis of pg.1 - 86)
Why bury/cremate your body when you can donate it to science, fostering advances in science and saving lives. This book is about achievements made with dead bodies; I've seen many cadavers to create this book, the first being my mothers in an open casket all made-up. I attended an anatomy class for plastic surgeon practice at UCSF. Doctors/students objectify the cadavers to ease the dissecting. All the head kinds vary sitting there in meat roasting pans, I think of them as masks. Before, cadavers were hard to come by and going under surgery had a 50% mortality rate, with no anesthesia. Surgery had a cabaret atmosphere, it boiled down to the poor donating their bodies, there were no consent forms and surgeons would do as they please. There was no respect for cadavers. Yearly at UCSF the anatomy division conducts a memorial service for all the cadavers used. Previously dissection was degree hire for criminal punishment. In the 1700’s anatomy schools began digging up cadavers, they equaled tuition. Anatomist would hire people to dig up bodies, thus came the famous case of Knox who received bodies from Burke & Hare who murder the bodies, and then delivered them fresh. Burke & Knox were both hung and Knox’s skeleton still remains in a museum today. In ancient Rome & Greece they were against human dissection, thus knew very little. In Columbia there was a case where the police were murdering the street urchins to sell their cadavers. I also went to a university where they study the decomposition of bodies under certain variables to aid in criminal justice. There are multiple phases of discomposure, maggots eat at the openings of the body, the bacteria within you eats you, resulting in gas that cannot escape, which swells bacteria rich areas eventually, exploding. There are beetles that eat your muscles as well as maggots and slowly your body melts into the ground. Next I visited a morgue where they embalm cadavers. In the 1600’s Dutch men found a way to embalm bodies because of the shortage of cadavers available for dissection. Embalming really grew during the civil war when the Army had 35,000 cadavers many needing to be transported to their families. Lincoln was then embalmed and brought around America, and it became a fad. Eventually the people warmed up to dissection because of the scientific advances.
• “Life contains these things: leakage and wickage and discharge, pus and snot and slime and gleet. We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and at death. In between we do what we can to forget” (PG. 83-84)
• “Where before they had been grains of rice, here they are cooked rice . . . They live like rice too, pressed together: a moist, solid entity. If you lower your head to within a foot or two of an infested corpse (and this I truly don’t recommend), you can hear them feeding. (PG. 68)
• Vesalius “ jackdaws aloft in their high chair, with egregious arrogance croaking things they have never investigated but merely committed to memory from the books of others. Thus everything is wrongly taught . . . . and days are wasted in ridiculous question.” (PG. 54)
It fascinates me that when we decompose what allows us to survive, then eats us. To me that’s super freaky but also so amazing. What the anatomist Vesalius once stated holds so true to me in relation to how our society survives and how we are taught in school. Most schools are simply taught through textbook and even alternative schools such as SOF that use different mediums we hardly learn through experience. Thus we cannot do much without a book, and simply are filled with information we do not have the chance to absorb and explore to find our own conclusions. I find the progression from where bodies being dissected was a criminal punishment very eye opening; how our religious views have changed as a result to science. From the belief that our whole body went up to heaven, now it simply being the spirit. It is as though the beliefs have changed to satisfy the comfort of the believers. Human parts being used for soap and such also intrigue me. I don’t see why this is more twisted than doing the same with any other mammal. I love Roach’s writing style, her descriptions are so vivid.
Why bury/cremate your body when you can donate it to science, fostering advances in science and saving lives. This book is about achievements made with dead bodies; I've seen many cadavers to create this book, the first being my mothers in an open casket all made-up. I attended an anatomy class for plastic surgeon practice at UCSF. Doctors/students objectify the cadavers to ease the dissecting. All the head kinds vary sitting there in meat roasting pans, I think of them as masks. Before, cadavers were hard to come by and going under surgery had a 50% mortality rate, with no anesthesia. Surgery had a cabaret atmosphere, it boiled down to the poor donating their bodies, there were no consent forms and surgeons would do as they please. There was no respect for cadavers. Yearly at UCSF the anatomy division conducts a memorial service for all the cadavers used. Previously dissection was degree hire for criminal punishment. In the 1700’s anatomy schools began digging up cadavers, they equaled tuition. Anatomist would hire people to dig up bodies, thus came the famous case of Knox who received bodies from Burke & Hare who murder the bodies, and then delivered them fresh. Burke & Knox were both hung and Knox’s skeleton still remains in a museum today. In ancient Rome & Greece they were against human dissection, thus knew very little. In Columbia there was a case where the police were murdering the street urchins to sell their cadavers. I also went to a university where they study the decomposition of bodies under certain variables to aid in criminal justice. There are multiple phases of discomposure, maggots eat at the openings of the body, the bacteria within you eats you, resulting in gas that cannot escape, which swells bacteria rich areas eventually, exploding. There are beetles that eat your muscles as well as maggots and slowly your body melts into the ground. Next I visited a morgue where they embalm cadavers. In the 1600’s Dutch men found a way to embalm bodies because of the shortage of cadavers available for dissection. Embalming really grew during the civil war when the Army had 35,000 cadavers many needing to be transported to their families. Lincoln was then embalmed and brought around America, and it became a fad. Eventually the people warmed up to dissection because of the scientific advances.
• “Life contains these things: leakage and wickage and discharge, pus and snot and slime and gleet. We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and at death. In between we do what we can to forget” (PG. 83-84)
• “Where before they had been grains of rice, here they are cooked rice . . . They live like rice too, pressed together: a moist, solid entity. If you lower your head to within a foot or two of an infested corpse (and this I truly don’t recommend), you can hear them feeding. (PG. 68)
• Vesalius “ jackdaws aloft in their high chair, with egregious arrogance croaking things they have never investigated but merely committed to memory from the books of others. Thus everything is wrongly taught . . . . and days are wasted in ridiculous question.” (PG. 54)
It fascinates me that when we decompose what allows us to survive, then eats us. To me that’s super freaky but also so amazing. What the anatomist Vesalius once stated holds so true to me in relation to how our society survives and how we are taught in school. Most schools are simply taught through textbook and even alternative schools such as SOF that use different mediums we hardly learn through experience. Thus we cannot do much without a book, and simply are filled with information we do not have the chance to absorb and explore to find our own conclusions. I find the progression from where bodies being dissected was a criminal punishment very eye opening; how our religious views have changed as a result to science. From the belief that our whole body went up to heaven, now it simply being the spirit. It is as though the beliefs have changed to satisfy the comfort of the believers. Human parts being used for soap and such also intrigue me. I don’t see why this is more twisted than doing the same with any other mammal. I love Roach’s writing style, her descriptions are so vivid.
April 28, 2011
los veijos thoughts (READ. . . OR THE ONE BEFORE !!!! )
I once again asked what the word death connoted, they both looked at me surprised as if I had startled them. Wendy began to talk about her niece, bubbling to the thought that death is missing beings, Maman said missing. Both specimens want to donate their body to science and then be cremated. Wendy says this is because she likes the visual of the ashes being in different places and letting her loved ones take part, she’s says its also the easiest. She noted that “back in the day” if you did not have money they just threw a whole bunch of bodies in a pile covered them with some dirt and that was it, now the poor are cremated. She also says “we should just get back to being ashes real fast, turn into compost faster”. Maman believes her “spirit” will re-integrate with nature. On the terms of “after” death Wendy stated “WHAT HAPPPPENSSS, I haven’t a clue but . . . I know what I would like”. At one point Wendy used the expression “kick the bucket” I naively asked her what it meant, she said dying, just said in a way that is more removed and disconnected from the emotions that attribute with death.
After interviewing these older specimens I find that they seemed more sorrowful and reminiscent, my mother held it in her eyes, Wendy poured it out. My peers like my self had this attitude of “lets not mope around after a funeral, fuck that negative shit” lets just remember and keep it pushing. Yet these women seemed to remember and “keep it pushing” but there were deeper scars and emotions within their tattered hearts. Maman really seemed to think and censor what she thought before she spoke. Wendy would babble and bubble but through this she reached deeper thinking. Both women also avoided describing death itself, but how other deaths had affected them. Maybe they have lost their imagination, or think it is better to not pretend about the ultimate un-known. Wendy’s remark; humans being chucked in a pile and covered with dirt at first to me felt as dis-respectful, I feel this way because it does not give each person a spotlight. I reflect I don’t know if I agree with my bubbled thought. I feel as though maybe humans are scared of death because it is the ultimate un-known, and to counter balance this we spend a lifetime seeking to gain knowledge, attempting to avoid our fear. ALL MY INTERVIEWEES BELIVE WE HAVE SPIRTS (I should have asked them to tell me what a spirit is). I feel so many of our beliefs are based off of words from common vocabulary so we assume we know what it means but do we truly? Wendy said “when I kick the bucket”, I thought this was an interesting statement of removal, the images it brings to my mind: a strong push to tip the heavy weight, slowly the strong metal container tipping gushing of all its contents with a strong abrupt quick destruction, dispersing across the ground. I feel it really connotes a spirit i.e. the water leaving a shell, but the water seems to trickle and disperse into a huge puddle in surroundings, just like rippling.
After interviewing these older specimens I find that they seemed more sorrowful and reminiscent, my mother held it in her eyes, Wendy poured it out. My peers like my self had this attitude of “lets not mope around after a funeral, fuck that negative shit” lets just remember and keep it pushing. Yet these women seemed to remember and “keep it pushing” but there were deeper scars and emotions within their tattered hearts. Maman really seemed to think and censor what she thought before she spoke. Wendy would babble and bubble but through this she reached deeper thinking. Both women also avoided describing death itself, but how other deaths had affected them. Maybe they have lost their imagination, or think it is better to not pretend about the ultimate un-known. Wendy’s remark; humans being chucked in a pile and covered with dirt at first to me felt as dis-respectful, I feel this way because it does not give each person a spotlight. I reflect I don’t know if I agree with my bubbled thought. I feel as though maybe humans are scared of death because it is the ultimate un-known, and to counter balance this we spend a lifetime seeking to gain knowledge, attempting to avoid our fear. ALL MY INTERVIEWEES BELIVE WE HAVE SPIRTS (I should have asked them to tell me what a spirit is). I feel so many of our beliefs are based off of words from common vocabulary so we assume we know what it means but do we truly? Wendy said “when I kick the bucket”, I thought this was an interesting statement of removal, the images it brings to my mind: a strong push to tip the heavy weight, slowly the strong metal container tipping gushing of all its contents with a strong abrupt quick destruction, dispersing across the ground. I feel it really connotes a spirit i.e. the water leaving a shell, but the water seems to trickle and disperse into a huge puddle in surroundings, just like rippling.
April 26, 2011
homies view on "care of the dead" (OR THIS ONE)
I interviewed 4 men 17,18, 19 and 23. They all currently reside in upstate NY. 17,18, and 19 are seniors at Roxbury central school, 23 is a wwoofer at the organic farm. As soon as I posed my first question “what does the word death connote, make you think of?” a silent eerie but sinful smile seem to come upon all my interviewees faces. They all hold that look of mysterious daring, none of us knowing the answer to what death is. But yet they all seem to try and give us the assurance of what is despuse…. 23 with his holy smile said “life, the life after this”. 18 said “blackness non-existent” the second time I had asked him the question so he tacked on “ tough questions”. 17 said he would be “no longer with us, no longer here, not as much gone but in a different place”. All seeming to have an idea of what might be after if there is an after. Then I would ask the weirdest question of them all, what they would like to happen with the remains of their body. Which implies that I have this dream in my head that if a body remains someone would take care of it. This means I am assuming after my death there would be all these variables, other life, my body, family that cares. 3 of my interviewees said they wanted to be cremated and wanted their organs to be donated to science. 19 said he wants his body to be left to rot, he wants “a bone or sumthin’ left on this earth”. 23 has faith that he will be saved and go to heaven to find all his family after death that is if he is not damned to hell. But he says no one really knows where we are going, this is why you must have faith. I believe the contrary I just live life for the best day-by-day following my intuition wherever that may be. Not concerned by death which I have no control over, yet know is coming. He says “that is a ballzy way of living”. 17 said that when someone died he would just store the best memories of them somewhere in his brain and that’d be it. Those memories would be “filed in my brain” both conscious and sub conscious. All his pets and rodents he buried and “put them back where they belonged.” 23 said he buried all his pets when they died.
I believe that 17 & 23 seemed to bubble but only because they knew the answers to what they were responding, they seemed to be an ever fresh thought in there minds that they were sure of. Especially 23 with his Christian beliefs, he was reciting his fact and there seemed to be no thinking to do. 18 really seemed to think but did not seem to get that deep with his responses, they seemed to be only the surface, he seemed as though he was charting into deep waters in which he did not belong. All my interviewees seemed to be at discomfort with the thought of caskets and the “traditional American funeral” from many general conversations I have had over the topic recently there seems to be a major shift towards cremation, and it being the most popular and desired act towards care of the dead.
I believe that 17 & 23 seemed to bubble but only because they knew the answers to what they were responding, they seemed to be an ever fresh thought in there minds that they were sure of. Especially 23 with his Christian beliefs, he was reciting his fact and there seemed to be no thinking to do. 18 really seemed to think but did not seem to get that deep with his responses, they seemed to be only the surface, he seemed as though he was charting into deep waters in which he did not belong. All my interviewees seemed to be at discomfort with the thought of caskets and the “traditional American funeral” from many general conversations I have had over the topic recently there seems to be a major shift towards cremation, and it being the most popular and desired act towards care of the dead.
April 18, 2011
cuando muero
When I die, if others remain alive, my body remains and I have died under the constrains of civilization, I want to be abandoned at the top of a hill/mountain and I want my body to rot with time, slowly. I want the vultures, and the maggots and the bears and the coyotes to writhe upon my body satisfying the pits of their stomachs. I want my flesh to be mashed up and burn within them to be shat out, and in return grow new life. I want to become one with the grass, let the rain tether my skin, let my bones slowly erode until they become dirt, or whatever other matter. I don’t want to seem as if I am directing the abandonment of my body, I just want it TO ROT, and let the earth do it's 'thang. All in ALL no matter what is done with my body it will eventually becoming something else. That’s all that matters to me, I guess my fear of death. I want new life to form from my particles. Whether this stems from my fear or my perception of reality I am not sure. Don't try and preserve me, let me go. Suena con migo si queires pero no tratas de vivir con lo que no mas exsiste.
Being locked in a wooden box lined with silk seems traitorous, ridiculous, and utterly unnecessary. I don’t want to be in an urn, or in a room with other dead people, I don’t want people to pay tons of money to take care of me. I see coffins as a symbol for the fear of death, trying to preserve a space to "find" the gone forever. The ever-powerful ever-lasting stone is carved to be there as long as the “loved ones” live; yet it as well will slowly erode with time.
I don’t think the dead should be cared for, just moved far enough away that the stink of rotting flesh doesn’t impugn your nostrils. There should be minimal care to the dead, the caring is over. If the chance is given, right after the death it is closure to seep into the non-beating mass absorb the lasting energy that has been divulged into the atmosphere, absorb the energy, walk away and use that energy.
QUESTIONS:
• Why are death certificates necessary?
• Why is simply dumping a body illegal?
• How much does the average American spend on funerals?
Being locked in a wooden box lined with silk seems traitorous, ridiculous, and utterly unnecessary. I don’t want to be in an urn, or in a room with other dead people, I don’t want people to pay tons of money to take care of me. I see coffins as a symbol for the fear of death, trying to preserve a space to "find" the gone forever. The ever-powerful ever-lasting stone is carved to be there as long as the “loved ones” live; yet it as well will slowly erode with time.
I don’t think the dead should be cared for, just moved far enough away that the stink of rotting flesh doesn’t impugn your nostrils. There should be minimal care to the dead, the caring is over. If the chance is given, right after the death it is closure to seep into the non-beating mass absorb the lasting energy that has been divulged into the atmosphere, absorb the energy, walk away and use that energy.
QUESTIONS:
• Why are death certificates necessary?
• Why is simply dumping a body illegal?
• How much does the average American spend on funerals?
April 13, 2011
REPLY
To NAIMA: Thanks for reading my blog mamasita!!! :D Thank-you for my recognition of my poem, It came naturally it just flowed, I like it because I didnt hesitate. I think you could only feel the passion though because you know me !! haha. I think that what your saying about the poem and the movie is really true, there is a sense of void between the two. I think that it is important to think about that for all my future blog post, giving a sense of background info. - asalamalakum
TO MY UNCLE SAM: Thanks for watching my movie ! I really appreciate your feedback since your the MASTER at compiling clips, and making movies ! I am very happy that you understood the message of my movie, and the style I was emulating. I definatley did not like the re-taping aspect of my movie either but because of time and exahustion constraincts I was subject to it. I also really wish I had the time to make more of a personal mix for the music so it would have been more specific to every segement, but once again I had ran out of time. I hope though to make more movies, not because of homework, but because I want, where I would give it the time it needs. I guess ill have to check out, Window Water Baby Moving !!! I had made the fimlming upside down as my own approach for trying to mix it up, but I have a feeling it was a ditraction and erk more than anything else for my viewers. MISSSSSS YOU!!!!! SEND ME A COOL VIDEO OF YOURS ? asalamalakum
TO MARTYNA: THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR WATCHING MY VIDEO! you are right, it did take alot of working to make the movie but I wouldnt say skill that much, I just used Imovie on my mac computer and was able to make it, it is not that complicated! I actually learned alot about how to make the movie while i was doing. GREAT! I wanted to break-up my clips to keep people interested, but also to have the animal and human sex really integrated. on the other hand I didnt really intend it to be humans versus animals, I was trying to say that we are animals and that we need to be more savage, I agree with you that many teens dont look for love, but I agree sometimes, I think our society takes sex to seriously and its nice to follow ones instics and be wild, BUTTTTT dont get me wrong there is a lot of emotion in sex for humans. I wonder if it is the same for the animals, based on the footage it seems like that for some but not for all.. Like the lepoards, they seem to be making "love" in my opinon. I think its great though that you were able to find your own message from my movie that was important to you. I think art is about having the viewer relate in their own personal way, not the way the artist "intends" so i like that. ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU, you could be making movies too, IN NO TIME !!! asalamalakum
TO MY UNCLE SAM: Thanks for watching my movie ! I really appreciate your feedback since your the MASTER at compiling clips, and making movies ! I am very happy that you understood the message of my movie, and the style I was emulating. I definatley did not like the re-taping aspect of my movie either but because of time and exahustion constraincts I was subject to it. I also really wish I had the time to make more of a personal mix for the music so it would have been more specific to every segement, but once again I had ran out of time. I hope though to make more movies, not because of homework, but because I want, where I would give it the time it needs. I guess ill have to check out, Window Water Baby Moving !!! I had made the fimlming upside down as my own approach for trying to mix it up, but I have a feeling it was a ditraction and erk more than anything else for my viewers. MISSSSSS YOU!!!!! SEND ME A COOL VIDEO OF YOURS ? asalamalakum
TO MARTYNA: THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR WATCHING MY VIDEO! you are right, it did take alot of working to make the movie but I wouldnt say skill that much, I just used Imovie on my mac computer and was able to make it, it is not that complicated! I actually learned alot about how to make the movie while i was doing. GREAT! I wanted to break-up my clips to keep people interested, but also to have the animal and human sex really integrated. on the other hand I didnt really intend it to be humans versus animals, I was trying to say that we are animals and that we need to be more savage, I agree with you that many teens dont look for love, but I agree sometimes, I think our society takes sex to seriously and its nice to follow ones instics and be wild, BUTTTTT dont get me wrong there is a lot of emotion in sex for humans. I wonder if it is the same for the animals, based on the footage it seems like that for some but not for all.. Like the lepoards, they seem to be making "love" in my opinon. I think its great though that you were able to find your own message from my movie that was important to you. I think art is about having the viewer relate in their own personal way, not the way the artist "intends" so i like that. ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU, you could be making movies too, IN NO TIME !!! asalamalakum
April 11, 2011
COMMENTS
TO PEERS :
TO BEATRICE: From what I understand PP is an orginization that provides free health care for women and families, and the government is planning on cutting there federal aid because of anti-abortion outcries, even though only 5% of there help is abortions and that money does not come from there federal aid. You attended a protest supporting PP and then created a movie about people who plan to have a family/kids.
I REALLY LOVED YOU VIDEO, the music undertoning- the dialouge was really nice. All your footage was complied VERY nicley and there was still some humour. It really gave a sense of planing for the future and following our insticts. I thought the way you represented this information was simple but powerful, ITS REALLY GREAT ! CONGRATZ !
your project matters to me because i have helped multiple friends get aid from planned parenthood and they are a great orginization. They really help support the common people that our system denies. It gives women the power to be sexual, safe, and not be judged. I think such programs are VERY IMPORTANT. I think supporting PP is imperative, please let me know of protest to come !
Slight advice, create or illustrate a stronger connection between the blog post and the movie.
LOVED YOUR MOVIE, FROM A MOVIE MAKER TO ANOTHER (HAHAHAHA!!)
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TO NAIMA: Naima, your narrative discribing the doula training class you are going to take, your first memories of birth, and the deep discussion with your aunt about working with child delivery and the medical system was written with great beauty. It tied in the previous unit as well (I belive without intention) Which i belive is very powerful.
I realllllly liked the actions your taking, becoming a good friend of yours I can really see you as being a very helpful person in pregnancy. I think that you taking these courses is very interesting and EXPERIENTAL TO THE MAX ! I can't wait to hear how they go! I also really liked the opening story of your post it flowed like a river.
Your project matters to me because as a friend I value the relationship you have with your family and I feel these actions you are taking are going to have a major positive influence on your step mother and especially the little babe to come ! (hopefully) What story it will be to tell that you saw your sibling being born.
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TO CASEY:
Casey, your narrative of following Dr. Moritz all day and getting to attend a c section, a mis-carrige, and multiple vaginal births. Also getting to see the attitudes of nurse practiconers hospital regulations, a doula, and you yourself participating in the birth I find is beautiful !
I really valued the manner that you narrated your post, there was detail, humor, passion, and fluidty. It made me feel as if I shadowed you that day as well.. I can even picture some parts in my mind ! WELL done !!
As a women your post matters to be because you were able to emotionally support a women in labor and truly connect to her and carlito without even knowing her. I think this is really beautiful and must impact the way you look at life. It as well really matters to me that you were able to have a "behind the scenes" visit where you were able to do many things that are not allowed, like catch the baby, hold a flap of skin, so on. I think this is very powerful because these are skills that all women should equire and should not be hidden from us.
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TO ARIEL: Ariel, you shared you and your families intimate story about the birth of your premature sister and the hardships that came with her birth. you then reflected based on what you have learned summarizing that you would not like to have a baby in a hospital but in a birthing center. I completley agree girl !
What I valued about your post was how you were able to learn from your mothers decisions and hopefully imrpove the outcome for yourself. I also really valued that you wrote a narrative I think it changes from an essay and shows the true emotional side of birth, you make that clear expecially with the discription of your mothers hospital stay.
Your project matters to me because I think it is proof of another women empowering herself, it also shows a deep love between you and your family which i think is very important.
I really enjoyed your narritive, I would just suggest proof reading it before posting !
Great job !
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FROM PEERS:
FROM NAIMA:Wow, I really appreciate the creativity brought into your project. You explored your thoughts through these images that often bring a sense of discomfort among most people. This is because we aren't used to confronting our thoughts, even though they come naturally for most of us.
I really appreciated the poem that you wrote, I could totally imagine you speaking these words with passion, and I'm happy that you could communicate that through the internet!
I appreciated the topic because I felt like it is one that everyone can relate to. You have your own understanding that everyone is a sexual being and I appreciate your willingness to question sex being thought of as taboo among a large population in the united states ( i can't speak for any other place).
I still think that you have room for improvement in your writing. I wish that you would have introduced the poem and explained your thoughts being it and the video. A good way to think about it is to think, what if someone not exposed to pregnancy and birth were to see them, how would I prepare them to read my post? well... you get my drift? miss you! have fun in france!
nai
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FROM MY UNCLE SAM:TO BEATRICE: From what I understand PP is an orginization that provides free health care for women and families, and the government is planning on cutting there federal aid because of anti-abortion outcries, even though only 5% of there help is abortions and that money does not come from there federal aid. You attended a protest supporting PP and then created a movie about people who plan to have a family/kids.
I REALLY LOVED YOU VIDEO, the music undertoning- the dialouge was really nice. All your footage was complied VERY nicley and there was still some humour. It really gave a sense of planing for the future and following our insticts. I thought the way you represented this information was simple but powerful, ITS REALLY GREAT ! CONGRATZ !
your project matters to me because i have helped multiple friends get aid from planned parenthood and they are a great orginization. They really help support the common people that our system denies. It gives women the power to be sexual, safe, and not be judged. I think such programs are VERY IMPORTANT. I think supporting PP is imperative, please let me know of protest to come !
Slight advice, create or illustrate a stronger connection between the blog post and the movie.
LOVED YOUR MOVIE, FROM A MOVIE MAKER TO ANOTHER (HAHAHAHA!!)
________________________________________________________________________________________________
TO NAIMA: Naima, your narrative discribing the doula training class you are going to take, your first memories of birth, and the deep discussion with your aunt about working with child delivery and the medical system was written with great beauty. It tied in the previous unit as well (I belive without intention) Which i belive is very powerful.
I realllllly liked the actions your taking, becoming a good friend of yours I can really see you as being a very helpful person in pregnancy. I think that you taking these courses is very interesting and EXPERIENTAL TO THE MAX ! I can't wait to hear how they go! I also really liked the opening story of your post it flowed like a river.
Your project matters to me because as a friend I value the relationship you have with your family and I feel these actions you are taking are going to have a major positive influence on your step mother and especially the little babe to come ! (hopefully) What story it will be to tell that you saw your sibling being born.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
TO CASEY:
Casey, your narrative of following Dr. Moritz all day and getting to attend a c section, a mis-carrige, and multiple vaginal births. Also getting to see the attitudes of nurse practiconers hospital regulations, a doula, and you yourself participating in the birth I find is beautiful !
I really valued the manner that you narrated your post, there was detail, humor, passion, and fluidty. It made me feel as if I shadowed you that day as well.. I can even picture some parts in my mind ! WELL done !!
As a women your post matters to be because you were able to emotionally support a women in labor and truly connect to her and carlito without even knowing her. I think this is really beautiful and must impact the way you look at life. It as well really matters to me that you were able to have a "behind the scenes" visit where you were able to do many things that are not allowed, like catch the baby, hold a flap of skin, so on. I think this is very powerful because these are skills that all women should equire and should not be hidden from us.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
TO ARIEL: Ariel, you shared you and your families intimate story about the birth of your premature sister and the hardships that came with her birth. you then reflected based on what you have learned summarizing that you would not like to have a baby in a hospital but in a birthing center. I completley agree girl !
What I valued about your post was how you were able to learn from your mothers decisions and hopefully imrpove the outcome for yourself. I also really valued that you wrote a narrative I think it changes from an essay and shows the true emotional side of birth, you make that clear expecially with the discription of your mothers hospital stay.
Your project matters to me because I think it is proof of another women empowering herself, it also shows a deep love between you and your family which i think is very important.
I really enjoyed your narritive, I would just suggest proof reading it before posting !
Great job !
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
FROM PEERS:
FROM NAIMA:Wow, I really appreciate the creativity brought into your project. You explored your thoughts through these images that often bring a sense of discomfort among most people. This is because we aren't used to confronting our thoughts, even though they come naturally for most of us.
I really appreciated the poem that you wrote, I could totally imagine you speaking these words with passion, and I'm happy that you could communicate that through the internet!
I appreciated the topic because I felt like it is one that everyone can relate to. You have your own understanding that everyone is a sexual being and I appreciate your willingness to question sex being thought of as taboo among a large population in the united states ( i can't speak for any other place).
I still think that you have room for improvement in your writing. I wish that you would have introduced the poem and explained your thoughts being it and the video. A good way to think about it is to think, what if someone not exposed to pregnancy and birth were to see them, how would I prepare them to read my post? well... you get my drift? miss you! have fun in france!
nai
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Critique of "Savages" -
I found the main strength in this project to be in the balance between saying to the viewer "you are this, this is what you are" in a way that bordered on being didactic while at the same time using an approach that also brought about the beauty and wonder of what you are witnessing.
There is a tension created here between, on one side, the editing, pacing and even the hand-held camera re-filming of already filmed elements and on the other side the actual content of the images along with the musical choices. Not an easy balance to strike or maintain. I was reminded at times of the films of Stan Brackage, especially of "Window Water Baby Moving" which explored human birth through the use of montage.
I think there is courage behind having committed to this subject matter and trying to create a viewing experience that teeters on the edge of being confrontational while having sustained moments of relief to let the viewer simply take in the wonder and mystery of the processes depicted here.
Issues that I had follow -
---
---
At first I thought the opening of the film, with the upside down imagery, was being used as a way to abstract the biological processes depicted, but as the piece progressed and this was not used again (the upside down imagery) I was not sure that this was successful. Of course, this may have not been why the images were presented this way at all, but that is how I perceived them.
At times I had issues with the hand held nature of the re-filming. Sometimes it actually added to the almost poetic nature of the piece, while at other times, to me, it simply obscured the content.
I felt that the project stopped, as opposed to ending. It seemed like time had just run out on the project, and not that there was a "point" to the abruptness.
---
---
All in all I would say that this project was a success, and hope that you continue to explore the power of montage as a way to reinforce and sometimes create all new meaning via film editing.
Sam DeWitt
________________________________________________________________________________________________
FROM MARTYNA:
Eloise! You chose to investigate the subject of human sex vs. savage animal reproduction. You created a video collage containing sex and labor, and wrote a poem discussing the taboo subject of sex and giving birth.
I appreciate the work you must have put into the video. I am interested in movie making and I know that, at least for me, such a montage takes a lot of time and skill to stitch together. The way you transitioned between clips keeps the viewer awake, eager to know what will happen next.
Your topic matters to me because I have been thinking about how sex in our society is starting to become just another source of pleasure. Teenagers seem not to care about the emotional side of love-making. Its a shame that your project can't really be shared publicly because it could help some people realize that people should not become savage animals.
The combination of film and words made your project intriguing and gave me food for thought. Awesome work!
Martyna
(PS Im sorry, my comment just wouldn't post in one part )
April 07, 2011
Savages by: Eloise*****
THIS MOVIE CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT(aka t**oo)!!! VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!!! THERE ARE MULTIPLE SCENES OF NUDITY!!!! (even though nudity is our most natural form)
DUE TO SERIOUS CONTENT I cannot post my video as part of an academic course. If you are interested in seeing the footage please contact me as a friend and we can view it in a social but not academic situation. >:o (please contact me @ eloiseflesh@gmail.com)
Two Becoming One, and One Becoming Two:
The process some of us energetical entities use as our key to existence.
Perceived,
labeled in a multitude of ways
but essentially it is a simple trick of friction.
In our current society we view it as the complicated illness,
follow up procedure,
danger of a birth.
Women are sick,
rushed to hospital,
help.
Not suitable for children to watch,
yet they have been there before.
Denying our commonality with our brothers and sisters.
Defying the rest, dominating our space;
categorized as “elite” and most “intelligent”.
Hiding and shunning the actions that we biologically crave.
Tis' there a difference between mating and fucking?
We joke ourselves to believe civilization is what we should aspire.
Walling in our movement,
hidden behind the black cloak,
tis’ taboo and to be ashamed.
Yet my existence, yours as well,
occurs because of this friction.
It is where I
altered states and now I shall not return?
Unless I am of age,
orrr married,
orrr in 4 walls?
One is not to pleasure while exposed,
or feel,
or scream,
or scratch,
or fart or burp.
One is to sit draped in white cloth denying ones savage attitude.
** I would like to acknowledge the people whom witnessed the making of this movie in public places including the tight quarters of an airplane. I hope you are not too disturbed!
***I would like to give credit to all the following links for posting there footage of animals, and for making there work accessible to myself. I am not taking credit for the visual documentation but the montage, This is in sorts a video collage . Thank-you very much for you great work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4mN6OhseJM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXpSqCbezHw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lcpfe7ocCA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVnFJDjUyQ&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdbP4sZ94Og
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFUHzyM4zW4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfapC780070&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT0V8AXQfmg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kZW8e79Bm0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Zrt4QGTa4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzSXGPslEQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyClkrV4dI4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRs5r-suhSM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgVjLZeqXO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_NduZqXVG8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtFJ5R5CGNI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSQa4nLTyXI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIrlwLQPRU0&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dchildbirth%2B%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52QQDNfTo80
THIS MOVIE CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT(aka t**oo)!!! VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!!! THERE ARE MULTIPLE SCENES OF NUDITY!!!! (even though nudity is our most natural form)
DUE TO SERIOUS CONTENT I cannot post my video as part of an academic course. If you are interested in seeing the footage please contact me as a friend and we can view it in a social but not academic situation. >:o (please contact me @ eloiseflesh@gmail.com)
Two Becoming One, and One Becoming Two:
The process some of us energetical entities use as our key to existence.
Perceived,
labeled in a multitude of ways
but essentially it is a simple trick of friction.
In our current society we view it as the complicated illness,
follow up procedure,
danger of a birth.
Women are sick,
rushed to hospital,
help.
Not suitable for children to watch,
yet they have been there before.
Denying our commonality with our brothers and sisters.
Defying the rest, dominating our space;
categorized as “elite” and most “intelligent”.
Hiding and shunning the actions that we biologically crave.
Tis' there a difference between mating and fucking?
We joke ourselves to believe civilization is what we should aspire.
Walling in our movement,
hidden behind the black cloak,
tis’ taboo and to be ashamed.
Yet my existence, yours as well,
occurs because of this friction.
It is where I
altered states and now I shall not return?
Unless I am of age,
orrr married,
orrr in 4 walls?
One is not to pleasure while exposed,
or feel,
or scream,
or scratch,
or fart or burp.
One is to sit draped in white cloth denying ones savage attitude.
** I would like to acknowledge the people whom witnessed the making of this movie in public places including the tight quarters of an airplane. I hope you are not too disturbed!
***I would like to give credit to all the following links for posting there footage of animals, and for making there work accessible to myself. I am not taking credit for the visual documentation but the montage, This is in sorts a video collage . Thank-you very much for you great work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4mN6OhseJM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXpSqCbezHw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lcpfe7ocCA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVnFJDjUyQ&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdbP4sZ94Og
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFUHzyM4zW4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfapC780070&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT0V8AXQfmg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kZW8e79Bm0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Zrt4QGTa4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzSXGPslEQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyClkrV4dI4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRs5r-suhSM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgVjLZeqXO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_NduZqXVG8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtFJ5R5CGNI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSQa4nLTyXI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIrlwLQPRU0&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Dchildbirth%2B%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52QQDNfTo80
April 06, 2011
recherce independent
Topic: Prenatal Maternal disposition
Bibliography Annotations:
1st Source:
I interviewed Blondel, the Gynecologist that delivered all my cousins and myself on my mothers side of the family. We discussed his patient’s family “rituals” in relation to patient’s age, desires and attitudes. There was a major focus on maternal attitude and outcomes of the delivery and the newborns medical condition. Most information was generalized based upon his years of practice, some was patient specific but ALL identities remained anonymous.
2nd Source:
I interviewed My Grandmother (mother of 3, last child was born: 1967), and My eldest Aunt (mother of 3, last child was born: 2008). We discussed how there pregnancies went, in correlation to there attitude and behaviors while pregnant. We also discussed the societal views of pregnancy, being married before, how most labors went, and media influences. I also interviewed my cousin (26) whom is planning to have a baby and her expectation and the belief of her capabilities when it comes to childbirth. In conclusion, a comparison of the 3 generations was conducted.
3rd Source:
Continuous education is needed in a lifestyle of health, and the younger it begins the better. Thus beginning with prenatal mannerisms including a balanced nutrition and maternal emotions and hormones. The studies conducted by the House of SH, multiple medical associations prove that having children in ones twenties and early thirties is optimal.
4th Source:
Physical conditions change as one increases in age. A study conducted with 4,130 white British women concluded that the optimal age to give birth is at the beginning of adulthood. This is because of the changing in fat locations and the activity of the reproduction and maintenance depots.
5th Source:
This paper explores the historical roots of the dorsal and lithotomic birthing positions. Stemming from the conflict in 1500 France between the prestige’s midwifes and mediocre obstetrics practice. This paper divulges the path of the emerging of such positions from inter-professional struggles. There has been questioning of the effectiveness of such birthing positions since 1882 and little has been done until now.
How this research can be developed:
Based on the collections aforementioned this could be expanded into a project evaluating the societal movement of having children later in life, versus having children at the optimal age. Questioning how our industrial society is effecting our biological predisposition. The interviews conducted are great evidence for how in the past century the advancing generations are changing their family values and child birthing “plans”. The medical studies are proof that early adulthood is the best time to have children because of ones body capabilities. Contrasted with industrialized societies expectations and “regulations” of having children later in life. Lastly the example of industrialized society affecting the facility of women giving birth can be also correlated with why we have children later in life even though it goes against our biological make up.
Bibliography:
1st Source:
Blondel, Dr. . Personal Interview by Eloise Flesh . 4/4/2011. 4 Apr 2011.
2nd Source:
Burdin, Claude , Florence Burdin, and Agathe Pillet . Personal Interview by Eloise Flesh . 4/2/2011. 2 Apr 2011
3rd Source:
"Schoolchildren, maternal nutrition and generating healthy brains: the importance of lifecycle education for fertility, health and peace.." pubmed.gov . House SH, 20/1/2009. Web. 4 Apr 2011..
4th Source:
Wells , JC, L Griffin , and P Treleaven . "Independent changes in female body shape with parity and age: A life-history approach to female adiposity.." pubmed.gov. Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, 22/8/2010. Web. 3 Apr 2011..
5th Source:
Dundes , Lauren . "The Evolution of Maternal Birthing Positions ." Public Health Then and Now 77.5 (1987): 636-41. Web. 4 Apr 2011.. (Dundes 636-41)
Bibliography Annotations:
1st Source:
I interviewed Blondel, the Gynecologist that delivered all my cousins and myself on my mothers side of the family. We discussed his patient’s family “rituals” in relation to patient’s age, desires and attitudes. There was a major focus on maternal attitude and outcomes of the delivery and the newborns medical condition. Most information was generalized based upon his years of practice, some was patient specific but ALL identities remained anonymous.
2nd Source:
I interviewed My Grandmother (mother of 3, last child was born: 1967), and My eldest Aunt (mother of 3, last child was born: 2008). We discussed how there pregnancies went, in correlation to there attitude and behaviors while pregnant. We also discussed the societal views of pregnancy, being married before, how most labors went, and media influences. I also interviewed my cousin (26) whom is planning to have a baby and her expectation and the belief of her capabilities when it comes to childbirth. In conclusion, a comparison of the 3 generations was conducted.
3rd Source:
Continuous education is needed in a lifestyle of health, and the younger it begins the better. Thus beginning with prenatal mannerisms including a balanced nutrition and maternal emotions and hormones. The studies conducted by the House of SH, multiple medical associations prove that having children in ones twenties and early thirties is optimal.
4th Source:
Physical conditions change as one increases in age. A study conducted with 4,130 white British women concluded that the optimal age to give birth is at the beginning of adulthood. This is because of the changing in fat locations and the activity of the reproduction and maintenance depots.
5th Source:
This paper explores the historical roots of the dorsal and lithotomic birthing positions. Stemming from the conflict in 1500 France between the prestige’s midwifes and mediocre obstetrics practice. This paper divulges the path of the emerging of such positions from inter-professional struggles. There has been questioning of the effectiveness of such birthing positions since 1882 and little has been done until now.
How this research can be developed:
Based on the collections aforementioned this could be expanded into a project evaluating the societal movement of having children later in life, versus having children at the optimal age. Questioning how our industrial society is effecting our biological predisposition. The interviews conducted are great evidence for how in the past century the advancing generations are changing their family values and child birthing “plans”. The medical studies are proof that early adulthood is the best time to have children because of ones body capabilities. Contrasted with industrialized societies expectations and “regulations” of having children later in life. Lastly the example of industrialized society affecting the facility of women giving birth can be also correlated with why we have children later in life even though it goes against our biological make up.
Bibliography:
1st Source:
Blondel, Dr. . Personal Interview by Eloise Flesh . 4/4/2011. 4 Apr 2011.
2nd Source:
Burdin, Claude , Florence Burdin, and Agathe Pillet . Personal Interview by Eloise Flesh . 4/2/2011. 2 Apr 2011
3rd Source:
"Schoolchildren, maternal nutrition and generating healthy brains: the importance of lifecycle education for fertility, health and peace.." pubmed.gov . House SH, 20/1/2009. Web. 4 Apr 2011.
4th Source:
Wells , JC, L Griffin , and P Treleaven . "Independent changes in female body shape with parity and age: A life-history approach to female adiposity.." pubmed.gov. Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, 22/8/2010. Web. 3 Apr 2011.
5th Source:
Dundes , Lauren . "The Evolution of Maternal Birthing Positions ." Public Health Then and Now 77.5 (1987): 636-41. Web. 4 Apr 2011.
March 29, 2011
MEETING PEGGY !!!
So I am chilling in Union Square, a place where all us grimy filthy rats don’t seem to bother me. I sit with joy on the grime soaked steps; what came to follow was a miracle. I saw Peggy Vincent across the way spinning on her head while smoking a j at the same time. This is when my interest in her turned into infatuation, so I decided to give her a heart felt praise about her book.
“Hey girrrrl! I loved your book, Baby Catcher. Your belief that "Childbirth is normal, until proven otherwise." and different for every women, inspired me. Your chronicle of being a mid-wife really made me realize the overwhelming percentage of un-natural childbirths that occur in America is oppressing women. This made me re-evaluate American culture for the ump-teenth time, further questioning how else we dis-empower women."
"OH SNAP, thanks! That means sooooo much to me! Gee-wilikeers, what was your favorite part?"
"Well I am currently up to the second third of the book where you are deliberating the impact of being a lone practicing mid-wife upon being a mother, and an array of different birthing stories. I find this part of the book further develops your beliefs stated in the first third of the book. For real though I found when your wrote, “I’d been avoiding the central point of intensity, staying on the brink of the primitive surrender that’s required to get a stubborn baby out. I’d talked hundreds of women into taking that leap of faith, that shut-your-eyes-and-jump moment of bravery. Like a girl standing on the high dive, walking back and forth the length of the board, shivering, going to the brink again to stare down into the water so far below—and then she’s off, airborne. Free. With sudden clarity, I knew it would have to hurt more before it got better. I wouldn’t be able to circumvent the pain. I had to go through it, enter willingly into the void, holding nothing back. I had to jump off the diving board.” (138) To be the climax of book! You really express the empowerment of women versus being in the back seat when you are describing the duties of your job. It really gave me a real sense of sisterhood. The understanding as to why women have the character we do, and why we can be so strong minded. Later you state ”The woman’s eyebrows had shot up when she heard me use the words “placenta” and “vagina” without whispering. Like many midwives, I’m inclined to discuss casually topics that most other people never hear mentioned outside of a doctors office.” (153) I found this to be great evidence to the fear and disapproval women have fostered of there own bodies. Sunning the organs, and life providers of our race. The fact that what makes us females, should be whispered so no one can hear. I found this sad and sickening but important to acknowledge. I find it similar to the fact that when one watches television and they are shooting those RIDICULOUS pad commercials, to prove the absorbency they drop water with blue food coloring, NOW why the heck isn't it red, like we all know it is?! Later you stated “I felt like offering drugs to a laboring woman sent a message that she wasn’t handling labor well, and I didn’t want to impose those feelings”(187) I found this to be the proof of how the institutions do not support our women, versus discourage them."
"But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?"
Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide narratives, and a little journalistic/policy analysis from the perspective of a mid-wife for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, I would say; Give a more grueling image of birth, utterly describing every inch. To provide the reader of a clear image of what a baby looks like when crowning, I think such images would help the readers connect to the moment with depth. I would also attempt to avoid Cartoonzation of the issues, and situations. Lastly I would exaggerate the text a little less, a lot of the use of dialogue seems like cliché to simply convey your point. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I really commemorate you for putting such labor into such an important topic FOR WOMEN, for making ME think about my capability as a women and the attitude I might have when giving birth. Your text really validated my instinctual desire to have a baby and I really question how my character might change during labor. I also find myself innately thinking of my animalistic intent every time I see a baby no matter where or how, I find myself thinking HOW CUTE, and observing women around me doing the same. The next question I‘ve been pondering in result of reading your text is why are we in such denial that we are animals? I feel that the rudimentary disapproval of natural childbirth, being “to posh to push” is the ultimate attempt to cover up our true, wild gory, strong, powerful traits. I also have come to the conclusion that Science is a religion. My conclusions from this came from the passages with the Christian Scientist. In result of reading your book I am trying to be more positive when it comes to my health, and attempting to shy away from seeking with passion and intensity for health issues, because it is simply leading me to find what I am seeking. I am also highly considering not visiting an oncologist unless absolutely necessary, I mean if they don’t support vaginal birth then why would they support me as a woman in there normal practice?"
"Thanks a lot young lady! You New Yorkers sure know what ya’gotta say. Have a nice day "
“THANK-YOU.. ADIOS”
And so I returned to my grime induced steps and merged into my imaginary pregnancy.
“Hey girrrrl! I loved your book, Baby Catcher. Your belief that "Childbirth is normal, until proven otherwise." and different for every women, inspired me. Your chronicle of being a mid-wife really made me realize the overwhelming percentage of un-natural childbirths that occur in America is oppressing women. This made me re-evaluate American culture for the ump-teenth time, further questioning how else we dis-empower women."
"OH SNAP, thanks! That means sooooo much to me! Gee-wilikeers, what was your favorite part?"
"Well I am currently up to the second third of the book where you are deliberating the impact of being a lone practicing mid-wife upon being a mother, and an array of different birthing stories. I find this part of the book further develops your beliefs stated in the first third of the book. For real though I found when your wrote, “I’d been avoiding the central point of intensity, staying on the brink of the primitive surrender that’s required to get a stubborn baby out. I’d talked hundreds of women into taking that leap of faith, that shut-your-eyes-and-jump moment of bravery. Like a girl standing on the high dive, walking back and forth the length of the board, shivering, going to the brink again to stare down into the water so far below—and then she’s off, airborne. Free. With sudden clarity, I knew it would have to hurt more before it got better. I wouldn’t be able to circumvent the pain. I had to go through it, enter willingly into the void, holding nothing back. I had to jump off the diving board.” (138) To be the climax of book! You really express the empowerment of women versus being in the back seat when you are describing the duties of your job. It really gave me a real sense of sisterhood. The understanding as to why women have the character we do, and why we can be so strong minded. Later you state ”The woman’s eyebrows had shot up when she heard me use the words “placenta” and “vagina” without whispering. Like many midwives, I’m inclined to discuss casually topics that most other people never hear mentioned outside of a doctors office.” (153) I found this to be great evidence to the fear and disapproval women have fostered of there own bodies. Sunning the organs, and life providers of our race. The fact that what makes us females, should be whispered so no one can hear. I found this sad and sickening but important to acknowledge. I find it similar to the fact that when one watches television and they are shooting those RIDICULOUS pad commercials, to prove the absorbency they drop water with blue food coloring, NOW why the heck isn't it red, like we all know it is?! Later you stated “I felt like offering drugs to a laboring woman sent a message that she wasn’t handling labor well, and I didn’t want to impose those feelings”(187) I found this to be the proof of how the institutions do not support our women, versus discourage them."
"But what could I have done to make this a better book - that would more effectively fulfill its mission?"
Well, let's be clear - your text sought to provide narratives, and a little journalistic/policy analysis from the perspective of a mid-wife for the book-reading-public to better understand pregnancy & birth in our culture. Given that aim, and your book, I would say; Give a more grueling image of birth, utterly describing every inch. To provide the reader of a clear image of what a baby looks like when crowning, I think such images would help the readers connect to the moment with depth. I would also attempt to avoid Cartoonzation of the issues, and situations. Lastly I would exaggerate the text a little less, a lot of the use of dialogue seems like cliché to simply convey your point. But I don't want you to feel like I'm criticizing. I really commemorate you for putting such labor into such an important topic FOR WOMEN, for making ME think about my capability as a women and the attitude I might have when giving birth. Your text really validated my instinctual desire to have a baby and I really question how my character might change during labor. I also find myself innately thinking of my animalistic intent every time I see a baby no matter where or how, I find myself thinking HOW CUTE, and observing women around me doing the same. The next question I‘ve been pondering in result of reading your text is why are we in such denial that we are animals? I feel that the rudimentary disapproval of natural childbirth, being “to posh to push” is the ultimate attempt to cover up our true, wild gory, strong, powerful traits. I also have come to the conclusion that Science is a religion. My conclusions from this came from the passages with the Christian Scientist. In result of reading your book I am trying to be more positive when it comes to my health, and attempting to shy away from seeking with passion and intensity for health issues, because it is simply leading me to find what I am seeking. I am also highly considering not visiting an oncologist unless absolutely necessary, I mean if they don’t support vaginal birth then why would they support me as a woman in there normal practice?"
"Thanks a lot young lady! You New Yorkers sure know what ya’gotta say. Have a nice day "
“THANK-YOU.. ADIOS”
And so I returned to my grime induced steps and merged into my imaginary pregnancy.
March 22, 2011
HW #39
Vincent, Peggy. Baby Catcher : Chronicles of a Modern Midwife. 1st. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2002. 1-326. Print.
1.) Mainly Baby Catcher goes into the deep eerie blue depths of being a mid-wife. Peggy provides detailed story after story of the trials and tribulations of being a midwife. She illustrates the mothers emotions, the midwife's, that of the assistance and that of the labor and birth process. Versus The Business of Being Born that glimpses over the process contrasted with economical interstices behind hospital births. She also exemplifies the belief of the high importance of a support system surrounding the woman during birth, whereas the movies really just shows the baby being born and mostly skips of labor. Peggy creates a vigilant image that EVERY birth is different for every woman. Peggy includes the intricate list of items provided at a home birth (pg.328-329). Peggy also sheds light that a breech baby does not mean a necessary c-section, the child can be born vaginally but it is a delicate process. Peggy also describes a previous practice called the Leboyer Bath, which was introduced by a French doctor (Leboyer) that a baby should be placed in a warm bath right after birth. Peggy divulges with great detail the major popularity during the 70's of women taking charge of their health by going to the holistic extreme and creating hospital environments meeting their demand, simply by their change in daily life style creating a different demand. Vincent gives a different approach for the reasoning of doctor’s disapproval of home-births, stating that there belief: birth is a retrospective diagnosis until proved normal. They feel that they have gone to medical school to intervene and be of importance, versus the money guzzling approach which is inevitably tied in with a doctor's schooling but that is beside the point.
2.) "Childbirth is normal, until proven otherwise." - Peggy Vincent. I believe that this is true, but the way the author proves this is in a glorified cartoony, and exaggerated manner. I also believe normal is a very abstract term for such a statement, and she could also prove her belief with more insight if she truly described every detail of a baby coming out of a vagina; with the purpose of doing such as well.
3.)
• the beauty of vaginal birth (pg. 26)
• the facility in which teenagers give birth (pg. 103)
• bliss must come with pain (pg. 56)
• What in the hell is a "Christian scientist"? and why is birth so easy for them ? (pg. 111-113)
• Why does our society impede people without a certifications/college education, when the knowledge already exists? (Pg. 76)
4.) The author makes the claim that "The more rigid the birth plan, the higher the incidence of cesarean section." This claim is very hard to prove, I believe it is questioning the spiritual attitude of a women and probably why it has not been researched, emotions and science don't mix. I think the manner in which the evidence was used is valid because it comes from her personal experience as a midwife and is attempting to support the belief that a mother must be sure of her woman bodies' capabilities. Previously in the book she states the birth becomes complicated when the mother begins to think too much, versus letting her body take control. A Government Public health site states "it's important to be flexible — if you know one aspect of your birthing plan won't be met, be sure to weigh that aspect against your other wishes." This addresses the variety and un-predictability of the birth, divulging in the necessity of an open mind-frame trusting that the process will go well. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, conducted a study on maternal fear associated with pregnancy the results concluded that "Regarding the various manifestations of fear, "stress symptoms" and "wish to avoid pregnancy and childbirth" ranked highest. Twenty-two percent of participants had considered requesting an elective cesarean section due to fear of childbirth." This exemplifies that many women non important the source are very fearful of giving birth so much so that they want to have a c-section. One could imply that if one's fear is un-consciously so strong that one does not even want to give birth it could lead to major complications. My last source is the African myth divulged in one of the birth books in class, stating that when women were unsure of their births they would have very serious birth complications, I myself find this a very reliable source in the context that these women gave birth alone in forest. Based on the research I have conducted this evidence is not per say FACT, but Theory and is valid in the context used.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17456465
http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_center/preparing_parenthood/birth_plans.html#
* she golrifies exagerates, carrtonizes, and does not give enough detail of the actual birth
March 15, 2011
HW #38
1. The way she has structured the book is oranized, logical, coherent, and supports her claim. She de-veils cesarean sections and machines, the pros and cons; discuss women's role in supporting such ceremonies, and then reveals the consequences of such actions. She begins by "attacking" the industry, and then reflects upon how women’s actions have lead to such outcomes.
2. What is the childbirth reality in the U.S.A, and what say are mothers-to-be granted as the center of this procedure?
why do doctors seek the necessity in their patients?
What does the contract a women sign’s when going into labor at a hospital state?
3.Childbirth is rapidly becoming industrialized; an event that the authority can "control", "predict", "charge", with the gift of convenience. Women are being pushed by mother culture, insurance companies, and doctors to follow the model procedure.
I believe what has been stated above is very true and very scary but I believe it is partially at faulty of the women for not taking control of her body. I think that pregnancy (like many other things in our culture) have become soo scientific and have lost the beauty of spiritual beliefs. Such as if the women are not sure of her pregnancy she will have a complicated birth. I think women should become more in-tuned with their connection with the "thing inside them", and less preoccupied with the ultrasound every week. I also believe humans are sooooooo scared of death and this is where most of this nonsense sprouts.
4. Women need to be empowered, given the resources to be knowledgeable about their body, since we seem to not trust them. Humanity, (including me & author) must understand the reality that we can only be in control to a certain extent, the rest is up to nature. Insurance companies & the government need to support women’s capability of Physiological birth. Women have the right to decide what medical procedures they want conducted. My personal ever lasting question, is WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS ON THE EMOTIONAL/MENTAL STATE OF BABY, and the babies relationship with mother when born with drugs, and does not receive immediate mother skin to skin contact?
5. The book is written like a newspaper article. The sources are derived from statistics, interviews with doctors/patients, historical books, and her own experiences (greatest-least). She uses all her quotes in a manner that seems very bias, not reveling the whole truth. All the sources are footnoted and a bibliography is in the back. The way she places information I am not sure how creditable it is for her manner of piecing things together, a jigsaw like manner. She uses A LARGE AMOUNT of statistical facts and a slight amount of interviewed evidence to back this up; and all her topics become redundant rapidly. Her style of writing is deprived of BEAUTY, and is quite trying for the reader!
2. What is the childbirth reality in the U.S.A, and what say are mothers-to-be granted as the center of this procedure?
why do doctors seek the necessity in their patients?
What does the contract a women sign’s when going into labor at a hospital state?
3.Childbirth is rapidly becoming industrialized; an event that the authority can "control", "predict", "charge", with the gift of convenience. Women are being pushed by mother culture, insurance companies, and doctors to follow the model procedure.
I believe what has been stated above is very true and very scary but I believe it is partially at faulty of the women for not taking control of her body. I think that pregnancy (like many other things in our culture) have become soo scientific and have lost the beauty of spiritual beliefs. Such as if the women are not sure of her pregnancy she will have a complicated birth. I think women should become more in-tuned with their connection with the "thing inside them", and less preoccupied with the ultrasound every week. I also believe humans are sooooooo scared of death and this is where most of this nonsense sprouts.
4. Women need to be empowered, given the resources to be knowledgeable about their body, since we seem to not trust them. Humanity, (including me & author) must understand the reality that we can only be in control to a certain extent, the rest is up to nature. Insurance companies & the government need to support women’s capability of Physiological birth. Women have the right to decide what medical procedures they want conducted. My personal ever lasting question, is WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS ON THE EMOTIONAL/MENTAL STATE OF BABY, and the babies relationship with mother when born with drugs, and does not receive immediate mother skin to skin contact?
5. The book is written like a newspaper article. The sources are derived from statistics, interviews with doctors/patients, historical books, and her own experiences (greatest-least). She uses all her quotes in a manner that seems very bias, not reveling the whole truth. All the sources are footnoted and a bibliography is in the back. The way she places information I am not sure how creditable it is for her manner of piecing things together, a jigsaw like manner. She uses A LARGE AMOUNT of statistical facts and a slight amount of interviewed evidence to back this up; and all her topics become redundant rapidly. Her style of writing is deprived of BEAUTY, and is quite trying for the reader!
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