Citizens of Tomorrow, Be Forewarned

CATS... CATS ARE NICE

A Discworld painting for art class.

LUCILLE CLIFTON (again and again and again ♥️)

awesome

99pi has a really, really good episode about colma

Jewish funeral in Galicia, western Ukraine, 1915

HELL YEAH, MAN

"Glitches", new Secret Knots comic.

digital immortality | virtual e-morality

1. blueskies-bluescreens on tumblr 2. death, virtual grief and your digital footprint 3. online status of a steam community user 4. my journal dot com 5. & 7. hacked-wtsdz on tumblr 6. STurner4077 on twitter 8. the new forms of mourning by julie alev dilmaç 9. all the ghosts in the machine: illusions of immortality in the digital age 10. unknown 11. fairycosmos on tumblr 12. researching death online

— Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore

<3

- Ollie Schminkey, My Father.

ID: a poem that can be read three ways, the left side is labeled Alive, the right side is labeled Dead. Reading only Alive gives:

He walks through the trees, the sun sifting through his beard. Here I am, just a kid, a father with his favourite child. He looks so much like a dad. Here we are: birds flying; a pulsing river; a ravenous picnic; and that smile, a mouth wide open, his child, newly awakened, wrapped around his neck like rosary beads clinging to his body. I loved him long before I heard of his body failing, and I held him so. Trusting that my love is enough.

Reading only Dead gives:

My dreams every night turn to spiders that all have his face. There is a campfire burning out, and me, the white dust of only ash in my hands. In the real world, standing next to his bed again– he doesn’t look like a body about to burn to pieces. Dead silence– no voice, only an echo not quite gone yet. The pills are down his throath, the morphine into his stomach, his body only for the disease, the wound across his back becomes filled with blood, and me, standing next to the body. Grief has hands twisted, tightening in prayer: the last breath like a final amen. I could speak the prayer a thousand ways– still, God will answer for only God, never for the living.

And reading them both together gives:

He walks through my dreams every night. The trees turn to spiders that all have his face. There the sun is a campfire burning out, and me, sifting through the white dust of his beard, only ash in my hands. Here in the real world I am standing next to his bed, just a kid again– he doesn’t look like a father with a body about to burn his favourite child to pieces. He looks dead. So much silence– no voice, only an echo, like a dad not quite gone yet. Here we are: the pills are birds flying down his throat; the morphine a pulsing river into his stomach; his body a ravenous picnic only for the disease; and that smile, the wound across his back becomes a mouth wide open, filled with blood; and me, his child, standing next to the body. Newly awakened grief has hands wrapped around his neck, twisted like rosary beads tightening in prayer: clinging to the last breath, his body like a final amen. I loved him long before I could speak. I learned the prayer of his body failing a thousand ways– and I held him, so still, trusting that God will answer for my love. Only, God is never enough for the living.

End ID

Self-Portrait with Death as a Fiddler, 1872, Arnold Bocklin

Medium: oil,canvas

Did I make you smile for once? ( •᷄⌓•᷅ )

 It’s a bit different from my usual content, I wanted to give you a break :’)

Hey you know how I said I was going to make a workbook on the kind of bullshit you need to do when someone you love dies? I actually did that.

HERE IS THE VERSION WITH LOTS OF SWEARING AT THE USELESS, SHITTY SITUATION YOU’RE IN.

HERE IS THE VERSION WITH A FAIR AMOUNT OF BLACK HUMOR BUT NO CURSEWORDS.

Featuring Helpful Sections such as:

This is an eighteen page book that you can print out, download, share, and give away; it is meant to be used to collect information about funeral planning and account management after a death OR you can use it BEFORE you die and give people information so they’re not stuck playing Nancy Fucking Drew while trying to keep seventeen cousins who crawled out of the woodwork from gutting each other in front of the fucking casket as they argue about who’s inheriting grandma’s favorite dentures.

It’s not exactly cheerful and it’s full of things that are probably going to feel really fucking raw if you’re processing a fresh death.

I’m sorry! I love you! Death is shitty! I’m trying to laugh about it a little and I hope you can laugh a little too because otherwise we’re all just going to cry together.

Good luck!

(in memory of my weirdo mother and her weirdo siblings who all died too fucking young and left me holding this flaming bag of dogshit)

This is so radically kind, thank you

You’re welcome!

Life is short, kindness is what we’ve got.

When my mom died it wasn’t exactly unexpected but it was still sooner than we all thought it would happen. It was a huge punch in the guts and the thought of making things and not being able to show her and share them with her still hurts but in that first month it was like drowning.

So I made this for her, and shared it with and showed it to other people who are hurting, because my momma didn’t raise a quitter but she sure did raise a softhearted fool who wants everyone to feel a little more loved and a little more worthy and a little less alone.

I love you. Take care. Be kind.

This is important, useful, and so very damn kind.

I have passed this resource on to a number of family members who have dealt with sudden death this past year and a half. Every single one, even the ones going through it for the second time in a year, have used it and appreciated it.

I just verified that the links are still working on this because of the google security update, but if you’re having trouble opening it let me know and I’ll happily reupload it!

There is a lot of stuff in this that is specific to the US about what is legal/possible in terms of burials, and the death certificate thing is specific to the US.

But the bits on “figure out which bills need to be paid” and “how to get access to the deceased’s accounts” and “identifying information you are likely to need to get stuff done” and “info that YOU can fill out before you die to make things easier for your survivors” is very easily modified for lots and lots and lots of places.

The “now you have to be a hacker or some shit” part in particular is what probably has the widest application.

god it is so fucked up and so infuriating that embalming is a requirement in so many places to hold a viewing

and the worst part is that its so fake like legally this isnt really a thing but you have so many nasty old money hungry funeral directors leeching money from widows and those in mourning just so they can see their loved one one more time im so mad

dead bodies literally are not dangerous 9/10 times corpse air does not exist and yet you have multi level funeral homes like altima in spain who literally do not allow viewings without the body being placed in a glass coffin or behind a fucking window which again costs thousands and thousands of dollars its so stupid

do your research i am begging all of you to do research because the funeral industry is so not what anyone thinks it is. get into green death and eco burial activism. get into the practice of being death positive. check out recompose life and the stuff that theyre starting because its amazing. throwing bodies into the ground is not as dangerous as directors want you to think

AND LIKE green death is literally the only disposition that doesnt hurt people!! embalming is bad for everyone involved. cremation puts out really bad chemicals and uses a shit ton of energy. alkaline hydrolysis is another great alternative but too many people think its "gross" or whatever. look at me. look me in the eyes. look me in my tumblr dot com eyes. when you die, you can get tossed into the dirt. it is literally your funeral. get what you want

on another note, i am begging my bipoc and lgbtq+ friends (esp trans bipoc) to think about death. i know how morbid this is trust me. i know its offputting. there are too many trans people who die misgendered. research your rights to die trans. caitlin doughty has a really good video on this but im literally in the middle of my funeral directing class so i cant find it rn

YEAH THIS ONE THANK YOU

Slightly different perspective, but many funeral homes will have a "convenient deal" with a big chain florist, but the flowers will be 3x more expensive. Go to a local small business florist, you'll get a much more personal arrangement, and save several hundred dollars.

This seems like a good place to put this PDF called “Death Sucks” (Link Here)

(and PDF “Death Sucks” without swear words link here)

OP made the document freely available (original post link) and sharable. It’s more aimed at people who are surviving the death of a loved one, but is also helpful information for the worst if you are planning ahead. OP’s description is:

“This is an eighteen page book that you can print out, download, share, and give away; it is meant to be used to collect information about funeral planning and account management after a death OR you can use it BEFORE you die and give people information so they’re not stuck playing Nancy Fucking Drew while trying to keep seventeen cousins who crawled out of the woodwork from gutting each other in front of the fucking casket as they argue about who’s inheriting grandma’s favorite dentures.”

Additionally:

How to make a Will (link)

Questions to ask before making a Living Will (link)

And lastly - animation of an old woman and death just because:

How to Cope with Death - By Ignacio Ferreras [From TANDEM]

Praise.

— Caitlin Doughty, From Here to Eternity

Something grim before I draw a more festive piece for the holidays… hopefully. :)