HW 49 - Comments on Best of Your Break HW

From abdullah:
I found it interesting that you wrote about your experiences coming from a religious family. I think you're different experiences as when you were a little kid to now is very prosaic. I like your idea of crying being contagious since I have experienced similar instances in my life before.

From Sarah M:
Johnny,
You interviewed two family members with different religious views and analyzed how religion effected their views on death. You also did a great job discussing ho I enjoyed reading about what your grandmother said. You mentioned, "The first thing i noticed about both my interviews is when I asked them what was the first thing that came to there mind they both replied by saying that it is a sad part in everyones life."
I also found it strange that she had an almost identical response to the question, What do you think of when you hear the word death? You would think that an older person would have had a different view on the topic.

To improve this project you could further discuss how religion effects the choice of how to care for the dead. What about the bible makes people chose to not become cremated? What about being underground do you think scares people?

Your work was insightful and I enjoyed reading it.

From Protoge:
Like i have said before in other comments that i've wrote, your topic is really interesting. I liked how you interviewed your dad and grandmother(my dad and grandmother too). I've learned new things about this family. I like how you quoted what the people you interview said. I also liked how you compared the two interviews to eachother. I order to make this blog better. I would say to interview more people and to ask more questions so that you learn something new and learn more.

From Mentor:
Johnny this is a good start, however  you should've asked more questions to the people you did interview, It would have called for a better blog. Also you should've maybe interviewed someone that isn't in your family in order to gain further insight (maybe a friends parent or a older colleague of yours). I like the idea of of this unit being about the care of the dead. I believe that this is a underrated topic that not alot of people look into. I also found interesting how you kept on referring back to what you thought. So next time just do these adjustments and add them into your interviews and you'll probably have a better root to start off from.
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For Abdullah:
I enjoyed reading this blog(although it was a little too long). I also enjoyed how as you were interviewing your mom and uncle you kept thinking about what they said to of course gain insight but also learn more about them. I also valued how you quoted what the people you interviewed said.

For Sarah M:
I liked how you decided to think outside the box and interview someone that ins't in your family. I found interesting how your friends mother as a child was not into talking about death and almost in a sense avoided it. But how now that she is older and more mature she doesnt mind talking about death and excepts it as a part of life that everyone has to go through. I valued how you asked deep interesting questions to make the person you inteview say alot so we can gain info on this topic. Very interesting to read!!

HW 50 - First Third of Care-of-the-Dead Book Post

Precis:       
        There are many alternatives on how to want to care for the dead. For example Jenny Johnson parents decided to give her a burial (where her grandmother was also buried). One october morning at nine o clock the parents of Jenny Johnson left the hospital to make arrangements for the burial. The parents soon found out the cost of the casket (casket being $4,500 alone) and everything else they want to do for Jenny's funeral. Once that got out of the way the embalming of Jenny Johnson began, in order to make her look more presentable and soon after the actual funeral started, were Jenny's family members attended. Everyone in that room was sad, especially the parents who missed there beloved Jenny.
Quotes:
"Embolming is a three stage process of preserving a corpse for viewing
"The few times he's overfilled lips, Fielding has had to cut them open with a scalpel, scrape out access builder and then glue the lips back together."
"Prices for refrigeration vary widely, anywhere from $50 a day to many hundereds of dollars, depending on the willingness of the funeral home."
"No federal law requires that a body be emblamed."
"About half of all states require that a body be preserved if not buried or cremated within a few days of death, but permit methods of preservation other than embalming."
Analytical paragraph:
        Theis book has given me alot of insight. For example i didnt know that caskets cost so much, and I didn't know that you had to pay daily to keep a body refrigerated. This book has made me think about, if there is anything in this country that the governemnt doesn't try to control what you do. However the main thoguht that this book gives me is, if cremations or burials are the better way to go. "Maybe burials are better than cremations in the sense that it's more green and causes less pollution in the air." However I imagine cremations not costing as much as burials.

HW 48 - Family Perspectives on the Care of the Dead

        After thinking about who would be the two perfect people to interview. I came up with my decision and decided to first interview my father. I started out the Interview by asking him what he thinks about when he hears the word death. He then replied by saying, "A part of life that everyone has to go through weather they like it or not."i then decided to ask him, would you  rather be cremated or buried, and why? He replied, "I would rather be crmated because i dont want my body to rot in the ground and with a cremation you and mom can keep my ashes.
        The second person i decided to interviwew was my 84 year old grandmother. Being that old i had high hopes to learn something new and interesting. so after 20 minutes of just talking to her, aking how she is doing and all the other common questions i decided to start the interview by asking my grandmother what comes to her mind when she hears the word death? She replied, A sad part in everyones life. With only that little piece of information given i decided to ask her the question, "everyone in our family has gotten buried. Does this connect to our religious beliefs in anyway? My grandmother responded by saying, "In a way it does because catholic priests talk about what's holy. In the bible it says that god lent us our bodies so we should leave it be and bury ourselves instead of cremating oursleves. Now I have never gone to a cremation but i would imagine it isn't pleasent. To me getting buried is the only way to go. This left me with alot to think about including what my dominant models will think of me if i do choose to get cremated(the ones that are still alive). 
        The first thing i noticed about both my interviews is when i asked them what was the first thing that came to there mind they both rplied by saying that it is a sad part in everyones life. I also found interesting how my father wants to get cremated and my grandmother(From my mothers side) wants to get buried. I realized that the people from my fathers side of the family is religious but not as religious as the family from my mothers side. My fathers side of the family doesn't really care if you decide to get buried or cremated and they are okay with whatever you choose, however my grandmother and mother and everyone else from our family wants everyone to get buried. So this is going to be a hard decision to make.

HW 47- Peer Perspectives on Care of the Dead

        In order to gain more insight and new perspectives on the care of the dead, I decided to interview one of my closest friends. I started the interview by asking him the question, "Does the way the U.S. care for the dead meet your expectations?" He then responded by saying, Wow that's an interesting question and something i've never bein asked before. Well I've bein to 3 funerals in my life and when I looked into the coffins of my dead family members they all looked like they've bein taken well care. However i don't kow too much about how the U.S cares of  the dead either, i got to look into that. After hearing his response, this made me want to know everything that happens in between, when the dead person is taken away from there last living location to being on display in there coffins. So the second question I decided to ask him was, "Do you think that there is a certain part to taking care of the dead that, the workers don't want you to know about." I believe that there is something that the workers wouldn't want there familiy members to know. There are always business secrets  that they dont want the public to know. I agreed and  realized that almost every business does have secrets both good and bad.  
        The next person I decided to interviewed was my Cousin, Who i'm very close to.(We always agree on the same things so i thought that we would both think the same way on this topic.) The first question I asked him was, "what have you noticed about the care of the dead?" He then responded by saing, Well In the past funerals we have bein to together I have notcied that grandma and great grandma looked so peaceful. So I would say that the U.S takes really well care of the dead . I believe that this is the only thing in our system that isn't corrupt right now.That statement got me thinking to the first interview i had with my friend about how everything in this system is corrupt and how every business tries to keep some truths away from the public. So not knowing what to think anymore about if absolutely everything is corrupt in this system or if the the care of the dead is the only thing not corrupt in the U.S. I decided to ask my cusion next question which was, "when you die would you like to be cremated or buried, and why? He replied by saying, at this point i really dont know. However i am more favored to being buried. Everyone in our family is buried it's like a tradition in our family to get buried. I then replied by saying you're right and thus another reason was added to my list of reasons on why I should to get buried. 
        The final person i decided to interview was my god sister. I decided to start the interview by asking her the question, "Do you think the care of the dead changes depending on weather the dead person is getting cremated or buried? She replied by saying, I mean i really dont know, but if i had to take a guess i would say no. It wouldn't make sense for the people to treat the dead bodies they have any different just because they aren't getting buried or just because they aren't getting cremated. After hearing her response I agree'd with her. However I dont know too much about this so i'm also not sure if the dead get treated differently based on how they choose to "part" and alot of crazy things happen in this world of ours so i wouldn't be suprised if the dead do get teated differently. The next question i decided to ask her is, "Do you think that with having a job of taking care of the dead you are also commiting  to a life time of responsibility even after working hours?" She replied by saying, I mean i'm sure that there are more stressful jobs than this. But  in terms of if this job is not made for everyone and if the people that do work in this job have a huge burden to carry then yes this is a job with a lifetime of responsibility even after working hours. 
        After interviewing the three people i definantly gained some new inisght that i prabobly wouldn't have thought on as my own. I also realized that my ideas did compare to the people i interviewed For example my cousin and I both think that there are things kept hidden in the care of the dead that they don't want you to know. I also realized that all three of the people i interviewed weren't 100% sure weather  they want to be cremated or buried yet. However it  make sense that they don't know because we are all around 16 and still young so dying is kept in the back of our minds. Can't wait to move on with this unit so i can learn more about the care of the dead.

HW 46 - Initial Thoughts on the Care of the Dead

        My last experience seing a dead person was about 8-9 years ago when my grandmoher died. I was only a little child and couldn't quite comprehend why my family members (Aunts & Uncles) were crying and why other faamily members were so quiet. Now that i am more matrure I do understand why a persons death is a sad topic (especially when it's someone in your family). Thinking back to that day I realize that I felt no pity and N wasn't sad at all, It almost makes me want to relive it in order to express my emotions and to prove to myself that i'm not so heartless and that I actually care about my grandmother.  
        Growing up as a catholic, with religious family members, they made me believe that once someone dies and they've bein good they go to heaven. However based on how my family members react when someone dies,which is with tears and pity, this has made me believe that someones death is is a sad thing to witness. I feel as though my family for generations has bein the sensitive type that breaks down into tears as soon as anything bad happens to our family members especailly something as serious as a family members death.
                                                     Ideas/questions:
I don't quite comprehend how other people crying makes you feel pity and then makes you cry. It's like a contageous sickness that spreads throughout the whole room until every single person in that room is crying.

HW 45- Comments on comments

To abdullah,kane & Juan:
 I totally agree that this project should have bein taken into more consideration. In future blogs or maybe even a little later perhaps during break when exhibition work gets a bit less hectic i will revise this blog and choose my words closer and add more to this blog.
To Amon:
 I agree that maybe I could off added some more stuff in this paper to make this piece more intersting. A more solid argument would be a difficult task to tackle though because that could lead to a biased opinion formed. However I do believe that would call for a better revised paper. Thanks for your thoughts.

HW 44 - Comments on Other People's Projects

My comments:
To Felipe:
I too like you want to see more doctors working hand in hand with the midwives and doulas in a more equal way. In my opinion i think midwives ans doulas are more important because unlike most doctors the doulas and midwives actually care about their patients.
I valued how you use evidence to get you to your next point. i also valued how you made everything clear to let the reader know what points you made and what point you are trying to get across.
This project matters to me because I wanted to have someone thoughts to compare to on this topic and i basically agree with everything you said here. I liked this paper and the only piece of advice i have is,i would only add
more about what you think on this subject. 

To Ariel:
I can't believe your mother I had to go through all of that. I 100% agree with you when you say, Doctors don't really care about there patients and do what is most convenient for them.
What i valued about this post was how you gained insight from both your mothers past birth experiences as well as the movie to come to a conclusion of how you want to have a birth when the time comes.
The only thing i would do is, i would add more try to connect this experience to other peoples experiences taht you looked up. But Besides that this is really good paper and i enjoyed reading this. 
To Natalie:
This is a really well written very informative post and clear post. I understood basically everything and I knew what points you were trying to get across.
I was shocked to see how many women had to go to the hospital to do a mandatory abortion.
The reason why I think your project is important is because you cite a whole bunch of things having to do with unecessary maandatory abortions and just in general this topic is really interesting and i think everyone should know about this.
Even though this was a good paper the only two little pieces of cold feedback i have is, you kind of repeat yourself in two paragraphs, and the other suggestion is to make it a little shorter. But besides that it was a really enjoyable paper to read and i definantly gained some new insights out of reading this.
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People iwho commented on my blog:
Kane said: 
I liked the topic you choose.I learned new things here that i never even thought about. What you are learning is sooo cool.
In your project I liked how you use a whole lot of evidence to back up everything you're saying.
To make this project better i would say make it longer andcheck some new evidence to put into this blog
Juan said:
This blog made me think about the past birth's i had to go to because of my wife. The first thing i want to say is, i could tell you took sometime to find research, because you basically have research on everything your saying to back up what you're saying. I also liked how you were very informative in your blog by putting up statistics on how the birthing process has changed throughout the years. However one thing that i would do to better this post is to, come up with new insights either by looking some new things up, or watching some videos. And try to make this more interesting to read to get the reader to enjoy reading your blog.