The little video we took probably SUCKS (so check out this crazy narrative in the mind of Jasper HIMSELF).
SIGHHHHHHH. Where to start with this project? We have a super project group which usually consists of Chris, Kevin and I. But this project we got a new member! Lucas. Bright young fella that we thought could contribute a lot. We usually chose to do the hands on option for our projects which is usually recording video footage of us going out into the world and exploring the topic we're studying, so we all grouped up and figured out that this project we were going to go to a funeral home and see if we could go to a funeral or a wake, Chris told us he knew the president of a funeral home uptown so we got the number and called Thursday in class. Lucas (we decided was the best to talk on the phone) pretended to be Chris and the person he talked to told us that we could come observe a public wake at 3-4PM on saturday. I was thinking this is great! because we had this planned out and everything was running smooth opposed to the previous project which was a last minute mess. Plus my birthday was on Sunday so I didn't want to push this off until then. I was going to go away for the weekend but I decided I would stay home for this!
Come Saturday, I set my alarm clock for 12AM instead of 12PM (I think that's right). So I get a text message that woke me up and I took a look at the digital clock, oh 11:22, then I do a double take and oh sh**! It's actually 1:22! So I rushed and got ready. I ended pretty much on time. The train took forever to come of course. I ended up arriving at the funeral home a little after 3 and I called up Chris, and he came over in a minute. We went into the funeral home, it was quiet and dim lighting with dark walls and floors everyone in and around was dressed up in mostly black. I felt bad that I didn't dress in the same way (I had a blue polo shirt on and jeans and of course I was only with Chris at this point who had on a suit). It was VERY quiet and riiiight as we walked in Chris' phone started ringing and everyone looked at us, I answered his phone and went outside. It was Lucas he just got out the train station and I told him how to get to the funeral home. When I went back in Chris was talking to the receptionist and she didn't know who talked to us, she told us we usually would not be able to just sit in on a wake. When Lucas arrived he told her exactly what he was told when he was on the phone but she told us the same thing and told us you're always supposed to get a name of who you're talking to on the phone. She told us to sit and wait and the funeral director would come down and talk to us. Then Kevin showed up also. We were all waiting in the little waiting room and watching a bunch of people come and go. Everyone was super serious and really dressed up even the little kids that were like 2. Everyone looked depressed even the people working there. I felt that I had to whisper when we were talking in the waiting room. Eventually at 4 o'clock the funeral director showed up and told us that we couldn't observe because the next part of the service is starting which is a more personal thing for the family and we would have been able to observe if we came earlier (but we could have been observing while we were waiting for him the whole time, but I knew he was going to come down when the wake was ending I bet Chris while we were waiting). He was nice about it though and I thought there's not much we can do about that so I said alright thanks and we left. Even though this didn't work out as we wanted I still looked at it as a somewhat successful experience. It showed me how serious and sensitive death is to people. I saw how serious the dress code was because I felt horrible that I was the only one (besides Kevin) who wasn't dressed up in a black suit and I don't know if I should feel bad about that. I saw how the funeral home approaches death, because the vibe of serious and quiet was very strong as soon as you walk in the place. Just how people look around and in the funeral home says a lot everyone was so serious but as soon as we crossed the street leaving the vibe was gone, and we went to IHOP which I said is kind of like a funeral because usually everyone goes out together and gets food. In my mind this could've been looked at as a negative but I flipped it to a positive and had a hands on experience with the care of the death.
The bad short video we took if you wanna see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knI-nnK-Asg
Mom's comment: Sounds like the experience was not very successful. Your writing seem a bit too "light" for the subject. I think you all must prepare more for this type of assignment and have a plan B to fall back on, if something fails. You have been to several funerals and could maybe have reflected on your past experiences and compared them with the other people in the group. Write down certain questions for the funeral director etc.
ReplyDeleteI like what your mom said. She is really right about the preparation part but I like a lot of what you wrote. I feel like narratives should be exactly what you were thinking because it is your narrative. If this is how you felt about the topic then I think this is good. My favorite line was when you introduced everyone because these were the "characters" in the narrative and the way you set it up actually made me interested in wanting to read this even though I was there. I feel like your mom was right at the end too when she said write down certain questions and I feel like thats how this post could have been better. I seriously do like this post a lot though I'm just supposed to say something that is a criticism and thats the only thing I think that could have helped.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this part:
ReplyDelete"Even though this didn't work out as we wanted I still looked at it as a somewhat successful experience. It showed me how serious and sensitive death is to people. I saw how serious the dress code was because I felt horrible that I was the only one (besides Kevin) who wasn't dressed up in a black suit and I don't know if I should feel bad about that. I saw how the funeral home approaches death, because the vibe of serious and quiet was very strong as soon as you walk in the place."
This was my favorite part, because I always wondered why people dressed up for funerals. It doesn't really make sense - when people are unhappy, they generally don't want to put a lot of effort into the way they look. I suppose it is out of respect, but I still don't understand why people would be so strict about it.
For a project that doesn't really prove anything, you did a good job writing about it. You wrote a decent amount, and in that amount you started to make some insights. What you didn't do was expand on the insights you started to make. You could have talked more about the serious feelings that you felt and the dress code that you noticed.
ReplyDeleteWhat your blog did do: It was entertaining. It was like Seinfeld, about nothing, but at the same time the way you wrote made it more interesting then most other projects with heavier content. It was definitely more interesting then my project.
What you should have done is reflected on the experience. You could have wrote about what you learned through your failure. There was a couple of things you could have talked about learning but you failed to do so.
Jasper, I liked how you and your group decided to go for a hands on experience. Even if you weren't ready for the wake, your group members still tried to get as much information as possible. What you learned from this experience should help you with other projects in the future.
ReplyDelete