death and fundraising

http://mypreciousstudio.blogspot.com/2011/02/five-years.html
I'm not sure why, but I found this story of a woman making pendants to hold her mother's ashes for her and her siblings to be fascinating.

http://abcnorio.org/support/support.html
ABC No Rio needs your money to rebuild. We've raised more than I could have possibly imagined possible, but we need more to complete the project.
If you don't know ABC No Rio, the lower east side community center -- home to the culture of opposition since 1980 -- you should. Check out the link.
If you do know ABC No Rio, then you know why we're worth supporting.

---
Today's photos:

I'm a doctor, I'm important. My license plate is MD 80100. I park in bike lanes.
 
 

 
 

Free parking

The go-to place for placard abuse is ... http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/

-Amanda

perfect

Thanks. When I posted that image, Jenna said "I bet Amanda and Noah know the perfect site for stuff like that"

ashes to ashes

I couldn't finish The American Way of Death, because it isn't about my world and the world it is about feels incredibly far off to me, but I did start it a few times and I have been thinking a lot about money and the economy of memorials. People who know full well they can bear children at home and be wed without the aid of the wedding industrial complex still find themselves pouring out cash money to bury the dead. I understand the public health constraints, but it still confuses me. I really appreciate stories of people taking death back into their own hands.

Related: one story about a Jewish congregation that has a committee of volunteers to prepare the dead for burial in keeping with religious custom (maybe you even sent that to me?); another about the impact of DDT on the vulture population and the impact of the declining vulture population on Zoroastrian burial traditions (which relied heavily on vultures).