Death ed
There’s a brilliant piece over at funeralwise.com that I think you will want to read. It’s an interview with a teacher, George Campbell, who used to teach a death education class to his high school students.Yes, a death ed class. Could any teacher in Britain propose such a thing without getting death threats? Here’s a […]
The good look
1920s advertisement by a Boston (USA) embalmer: For composing the features, $1 For giving the features a look of quiet resignation, $2 For giving the features the appearance of Christian hope and contentment, $5 What is the look that present day Brit embalmers are coached to create? Whatever happened to consumer choice?!! Source: Lisa Carlson
DADBA
There’s a nicely written piece over at Obit magazine, a review of a new book, The Truth About Grief: The Myth of Its Five Stages and the New Science of Loss (Simon & Schuster), by Ruth Davis Konigsberg. It’s probably worth reading. It’s a demolition job on certain schools of bereavement counselling — those informed […]
Poem
Memoir It has been absolutely fascinating being me. A unique privilege. Now my whole life lies ahead of you. No thanks at all are called for, I assure you. The pleasure is all mine. Dennis O’Driscoll
Memorialisation option
Edward John Trelawny’s Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author is, according to blogger Pykk: a gossipy, wayward, autobiographical book by a moustach’d Romantic who tracked down both poets in 1822 and stayed with them for a while by the Mediterranean. He was still there when Shelley died, and alert enough to rescue the poet’s unburnt […]
Chirpy-chirpy tweet-tweet
Some recent tweets for those of you who do not do birdsong: GoodFunerals Charles Cowling “F*** off, they’re for the funeral.” Most death jokes aren’t very funny, but this is: http://bit.ly/fpKw9J GoodFunerals Charles Cowling Dead woman stirs and stands up on the way to her funeral:http://bit.ly/eWkBqb GoodFunerals Charles Cowling Go on pestering family and friends long […]
Trendy
There’s a nice cartoon in the Christmas Spectator. It’s so verbal I can reproduce it in words. If you’re arty, draw it on the blank sheet above. The Grim Reaper has come for a man, who is standing in his doorway. Reaper G responds to a query. “Scythe? Scythe? You must be joking. Scythes went […]
Smoothie
I enjoyed this blog post from an American woman living in Paraguay. Her husband is some sort of religious minister. Here’s the custom out there: In the jungle, among the Ye’kwana tribe, burials also had to be done quickly. If the family was christian, the dying person would be allowed to remain in his hammock […]
Right to die – when is it, and do you have a?
Assisted dying, self-deliverance, euthanasia and allowing people to die naturally – all these are hot topics which can only get hotter. I’ve just had this email from CareNotKilling, and anti-assisted dying org: Channel 4 are giving you the opportunity to voice your views on a series of short films about euthanasia, which are being shown on […]
Botched embalming?
Here’s a strange tale. Daniel Brennan died in Monklands Hospital, Airdrie, and was looked after Donald McLaren Ltd, est 1912. I don’t know if there was a post mortem, but we are told that Daniel’s illness was a short one. When Daniel’s mother went to see him at the funeral home she was appalled: “I […]
