I just read the article “The Urban Death Project: Designing a Better Way to Die” and feel it’s so important as a concept that I had to share it here. The article discusses the master’s thesis of Katrina Spade, who wants to provide Americans with an alternative to being buried in a vault with their veins filled with embalming fluid. Spade’s alternative also doesn’t involve being burned down to ash. Instead, she would like to…
I have had occasion recently to be put on hold. Who doesn’t in this day of telephone menus, answering services, and spotty customer service? I hate being on hold. In order to avoid being put on hold, I will do whatever I can to figure out answers prior to picking up a phone. Usually, this involves extensive search on an organization’s website. If I can’t find answers, I begrudgingly dial a number, making sure I…
I just finished reading “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War” by Max Brooks. The book was not on my list for the Year of Creative Reading, but I chose it in order to see how the author presented his story as oral histories. Working in the history field, one of our primary sources of information is oral history, so it was interesting to see how someone adapted this form to fiction.…