HW . 50

My job isnt to comfort the families that come to me and the Johnsons were no different for their 18 year old daughter Jenny. I asked the family all standard questions on what they wanted or really what "Jenny wanted" I gave the family a selection of things to choose from and a description for each one so they would know what they were getting. After the family has picked out and arranged how they wanted everything to happen like every case I would then take the deciesed and those that arranged for embalming, I would go to my underground lab and start the process.

• "they're semiprecious metals that are virtually indestructible; in fact archaeologists have retrieved ancient artifacts from copper coffins in near pristine condition"
• "if protection of a loved one against against water and soil is important a sealed casket might be best"
• "Vaults are more expensive than grave liners, costing as much as 10,000 Fielding explains but if protection is important its the better choice"
• "Fieldings workplace closely resembles a hospital operating room"
• "Some of his colleges skip the stay cream and simply run a line of Superglue along the rim"
• "After twenty minutes thre quarters of a gallon of blood are drained from Jenny and the dark color in the hose begins to brighten, one sign embalming fluid is filling the girls circulatory system"

I never knew how much actually went into the process of embalming I thought it was simply injecting the body with some kind of fluid and putting make up on the face. Theres more to it with having to plug up certain part of the body and disinfecting it to having a certain area were you can make the injection to put the embalming fluid in. I also find it interesting how most families can get ripped off when the funeral director use the line "if its for the loved one then its important" I noticed how that line was usedto get the family to buy something that was more exspensive to make them sort of feel bad that they didnt pick the best that there is even though the person is dead. Both times that the director used the lines it worked instead of choosing a simple casket for 1,595 they chose one that was 4,500, and they even chose to put a wall around the casket to stop grave robbers. I found it interesting how Fielding didn't take the easy way out for the embalming process he went through and did everything througouly and didnt cut any corner unlike others which show he takes pride in his job and does his best.
       I think that most of the things that go into to arranging a funeral is useless, if you dont plan to put the coffin in a place were you can see it then why should the color matter or be really extravagent. Or why do you need to worry if the inside is soft enough if the person is already dead so why should it matter, and im not saying people then should be in a wood box. But that it should be simple and not so etravagent especially something thats going underground that you'll probably never see again. The coffin, flowers, "protective wall" are all materials things that shouldnt be so important if anything the message thats on the grave stone should and you shouldnt need all these things as a way to remeber the person, the person should be enough.

HW . 48

Father

I asked my father how he has dealt with caring for the dead since he has witnessed his uncles, brother, father, mother and grandmother dying and for each one he has had a major part in what goes on in the funeral. All the members services were held in the same church put in the same cemetery in Westchester that my grandfather picked out for when his first son past away  who happened to be the first one in the family to die. Afterwards everyone would go back to the diseased household to eat and have a big dinner which soon became a tradition. Each family member past away from a health problem except for his brother who died from a car accident. All the men who died were smokers in their past which could of caused their deaths and for the women it was more of congenital from their mother or father. From the ones that I have attended with my father I’ve noticed that he tends to have a big part in it and he’s usually the only member who gives a speech and I asked him why no one else did it because he did it for everyone and he told me because all the members seemed to be to overwhelmed to take on that part. I also asked how come he wasn’t overwhelmed like the others were and it was because he was just able to cover it up for the time being and tried to be the strong one for everyone to try and keep everything together. I still wonder why none of the members didn’t want to be cremated and chose to go with being buried? Or what makes funerals a higher demand from people over being cremated?

Mother
My mother goes about caring for the dead simlar to the way that my father does shes hasnt been to as many family related funerals as my father has and hasnt had a part in the funerals as big like reading the eulogy. The main thing is that the member is burried in south Carolina because thats were most of the family is. But all of the funerals have been the same she hasnt been or experienced someone being cremated which is what she wants to happen to her. She feels that being cremated is more natural. When your burried your body is filled with chemcials and a different substances to make you look like your still "alive" which is the opposite of what is going on and a contradiction and she doesnt want that to happen to her. My mother would also would like some of her ashes to be  spread in different places all over because she hopes to have memoires at all of these places, also she wants her family to keep some of her ashes with them if not she'll "haunt them ". I
Analysis:
I wounder though is it possible to haunt someone and when did the idea of that started. But also I see that my motherand father have both dealt with the dead both in different ways. While my father has traditions my mother doesnt really have a tradition for the dead except for being burried in South Carolina but its more of a choice though what you want to happen while with my father you had to be put their. Also while my mother would like to be cremated my father already has a spot that has been picked out which is suppose to be on top of his uncle and next to his mother and father who are next to his uncle and brother who are together in pairs. But because of family problems my father would rather be where ever my mother is then with them.

HW . 45

I dont know much about the care of the dead, only the typical things when people get cremated or families have a wake, open caskets and put into a casket. I know about this because I've been to a few funerals for my grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts and my cousin. The way that my family takes care of the dead is by having a open casket the day before their going to burried and the person is dressed up for everyone to come and see then taken to a church were certain members then talk about the deciesed person. Then the next day thier burried and everyone will go back to the decised house and eat. All of the funerals I go to are similar to that way either its on my father side and his family is west indian or my mother side were most of the people are dominican.

  I also remeber learning in school about how in Greece people would dress the dead person up and put two coins on their eyes as a way to pay the god I belive so that they could be sent to heaven. I also learned how in hawaii they hula dance around the coffin and they have little bowls of candles that they then send off into the ocean after its over. I want to know more about were did all of these different traditions start. Also what are all of the technical things of a funeral who pays for it? etc.

HW . 44

MICHELLE
In Michelles blog she researched how the male role with pregnancy in the US  differs from the male roles in India. From reading I can see that the male role is different their suppose to be the ones that make all the decisions while here its the women who are in charge. One thing that I liked about Michelles blog is that she gave a little bit of background information about India and their pregnancy and how many they have a year. This matters to me because I think its important to know how other countries choose to give birth because, personally I dont want to give birth in a hospital after having this unit and its good to see how other places give birth. 

LARCHE
In Larche's the women who are infertile are treated differently and not respected as much compared to those who are able to give birth. Its unfair that how many children you have is used as a status symbol among women. Its very different compared to the US because we use material things that can be changed, taken back or cost obscene amounts of money. I think its important to know about how other countries will use something that you really have no control over to determine how you rank in society because women cant make it so they can or cant if their infertile. If a community is going to use things to determine your status it should be something that they can control and can take charge of on their own and dont have to deal with consequences because their different or werent born with the ability to do something. 

LEAH
In Leah and Ally's project they researched the different Indian birthing rituals. The one that I found interesting was when Hindus belived the baby to be unpure. So to test if it was or not they would through it over a roof and if it was saved by the "gods" then that means the baby is cleansed and good now. I thought this was very dangerous and would like to know if there have been any babies who died during this ritual because their "no good" and how those families react to it. Its also inportant to know about other countries and their views on things because they see babies as being unpure while we view them as almost the holiest thing and that they can do no wrong at that age.

HW . 42

“An estimated one million illegal abortions occur in Brazil each year, yet very few women have ever been imprisoned on for seeking abortion”

In the US abortion is legal and taken advantage of the average amount of abortions that happen a year is around 1 million and around 3,304 a day.  Instead of giving the child up for adoption women chose to take the easy way out; 74% of women chose to have an abortion because the child interferes with their life or work. While in other parts of the world abortion is used in situations where the person was raped, or they cant support the child. In the US 93% of abortions happened as a form of birth control “a back up plan” because they didn’t use condoms or birth control pills while only 1% of the abortions are from rape.  The women that had an abortion because they didn’t use birth control was their choice which shows how now a days became apart of the social practice. As if its okay to have unprotected sex because you can always just use abortion as your back up plan there are women or girls who don’t choose to have sex and are forced into it and have an a abortion since it wasn’t their choice. Over the past couple of years abortion was seen as if it was “in-style” and something that everyone did the same as  C-sections the amount of the started to increase and also seen as if they were fashionable and “in –style” to.

While women in the US are using abortion as a birth control in Brazil its illegal and not used as a birth control and not taken advantage of. About 500,000 to 1 million women get and illegal abortion a year and most of the abortions that are reported a year are because women or girls were raped, the mothers life is in danger or the fetus has severe genetic abnormalities not because they chose or forgot to use protection. The women that choose to get a abortion were put into life threatening situations and instead of bringing a child into the world who could possibly face the same outcome  as they did end it before it can begin.

The chance of abortion becoming legal in Brazil is very slim; 73% of the people in Brazil are Roman Catholics which means that they are against abortion and when members of a church find out that you had an abortion or was a apart of one you are suspended out of the church and believed that you committed a mortal sin which means that unless you are forgiven you are then condemned to Hell. About 200,000 women are committed to a hospital because of unsafe illegal abortions a year since abortion is illegal they don’t all have the right and professional tools to use to give the procedure and almost die in the process.

A Brazilian 9 year old girl was raped by her stepfather and decided to have an abortion and because of what she did Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, who are a part of  the Roman Catholic Church's decided that she should be excommunicated and they believe that "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated," although it was an unwanted pregnancy. But the fact that the young girls body wasn’t ready to give birth and was to skinny to handle twins and if the girl was to go through would probably risk the chance of all three of them dying wasn’t a factor or that her stepfather committed a crime and raped her. The fact that she had an abortion and the doctors that helped out are the real crime because she “murdered” two fetuses so her and the accomplices will be excommunicated. 

1.Downie, Andrew. "Abortions in Brazil, Though Illegal, Are Common." NY Times 02 Jun 2010: n. pag. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <times.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1993205,00.html>.

2."Mortal Sin ." 03 Apr 2010. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_sin>.

3."Are Abortions Used As Birth Control." Real Choice. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://realchoice.0catch.com/library/weekly/aa062600b.htm>.

4."Brazilian Girl's Abortion sparks Catholic row." Telegraph 09 Mar 2009: 1. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/4960546/Brazilian-girls-abortion-sparks-Catholic-row.html>.

5."United States Abortion Statistics." Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.mccl.org/page.aspx?pid=400>.