HW 46 - Initial Thoughts on the Care of the Dead

When I think about death I think about the funerals I have attended throughout my life. I have attended about three and the weird thing is it feels like more. I think about those few days the funeral was held and how everyone was crying. When someone in my family dies its very intense just as I’m sure it is for everyone. There are tears and shouts of “why god why”. We gather at the “Ortiz” funeral company and take the time out to mourn the love ones lost. Laminated cards are handed out with the names birth/death days and a prayer that the closest family has picked out. There are usually a lot of people there and everyone is wearing black. Some people get up and say something about the dead, more tears. Then we drive down to the burial site and lower them into the ground.

When someone is placed in the ground I know of a few different things people do to mourn their loved ones. I have a cousin who lost his mother and every year on her birthday he meets with his brother and releases a balloon in the sky, she told him to do that before she passed and she said she would always be looking. Another cousin of mine visits her mother’s funeral because it makes her feel better. Each of these two cousins have tattoos to help them remember their mothers. Everyone has different coping mechanisms and I find that often people keep something physically present or they get something that will forever be there. I have no questions other than general curiosity about how we can deepen this unit by learning new things.

HW 46 - Initial Thoughts on the Care of the Dead photo's

Here is one of the cards handed out at the funerals of my Great grandmother Lucy Vargas. It reads: "God saw you were getting tired and a cure was not to be, so he out his arms around you and whispered come to me. With tearful eyes we watched you and saw you pass away. Although we loved you dearly we could not make you stay. A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest. God broke his heart to prove to us he only takes the best."

HW 44 - Comments on Other People's Projects

CASEY'S BLOG:
Hey casey, as everyone else before me said; the detail in your post made the story very intriguing! I think that your project idea was amazing, I wish I could have done it.
Casey visited St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and helped Dr. Moritz deliver babies while going into detail about the "normal" routines people performed throughout the day.
I thought that you were lucky to have experienced and assisted in the birth of someone whom you didn't know. Personally I would have felt blessed to be a part of that experience and that is what attracted me to your blog. Also during the catapult experiment we discussed your project so I decided to check it out.

NAIMA'S BLOG:

Hey nemo!

I love that you start off with a story because as I am reading it I am imagining it! Which makes me giggle. The 450$ class fee shows your dedication not only to the project but to the craft as well and I thought that made this a little bit more authentic.

You talked of your three day training to become a doula (which is awesome) and an interview from your aunt Ramona. When I heard that you were training to become a doula I thought that your blog would have some things in it that I would like to know like what are some soothing techniques and what exactly would one need to know to become a doula? Medical procedures?


ALLY'S BLOG:

Hey ally,

I thought that yor idea to do a poster board was different and somewhat refreshing. I find that presentations are more interesting than reading blog posts sometimes.

The comparison from traditional hindu practices and American practices was interesting. The baby dropping ritual was intense by American standards, dropping babies 50 feet for a blessing is intense. They are far more religiously connected to birth than we are. When I saw the cultures you were comparing I decided to look at your poster and see what you found.

HW 42 - Pregnancy & birth culminating project

The importance of babies beyond the fact that they help keep the human population alive.

When you walk down the street and you see a baby usually you smile at them. The little dribble of salvia on their chin, the complete innocence and trust in a world they know nothing about. You look at them and feel the warm connection; you wish you could go back to those “good ole days” even though you can’t remember them.

Ryan is my baby cousin who lived with us due to family issues when he was a week old. He stayed with us for a month. I remember how tiny he was, he was so soft and frail like porcelain. It took my entire family to get it together to help take care of the new addition. But the instant love we felt was more than enough motivation.

Ryan showed us all that despite the circumstance or whatever life throws our way we as adults are meant to care and love things, he showed us that it is important for people to not be selfish. His innocence and dependence on me made me feel a sense of worthiness and pride. I could go on for days about all the cute things he has done. I remember his first words and his first christmas, now he can walk and run and he believes he's saying something but it's only his baby talk.

Although I wasn't around to experience his birth or around his mother much throughout her pregnancy I thought that watching him grow and learn is very similar to him being in the womb. I was amazed at how much he has changed and how big he has gotten just as im sure his mother did too.

HW-37 Comments on Birth and pregnancy stories

MENTOR: I think that Luz does a great job of making these things personal, by turning the interview into a conversation I think it helped keep the vibe calm and it helped to gather genuine replies. I also thought her tone was very professional yet casual. A line that stands out to me in this passage is the one where she sums up the idea of surviving during pregnancy. "During pregnancy and birth you don’t know what to expect so you try your best and share the rest, kind of like a survival guide for other soon to be pregnant mothers." I think it makes a lot of sense. One thing I think Luz can work on is possibly making her blog a littler focused on the assignment.

PROTEGE: I think that Luz makes her blog sound very personal and that is the point of the blog posts. A line that stands out to me is one where Luz talks about how woman make gorse things very funny and normal. " We see the gross things that happen as a gateway to connect, making it a funny story. " Its true I have heard a lot of stories about vomiting babies that is made to look cute. One thing I think I can think about later on is my own childhood and birth.

COMMENTS FOR:

Ally: I liked that you started the blog with a story and a very interesting one at that, I think it helps pull readers in. I also liked your question about her thoughts on teen pregnancy, her answers were interesting too. Just try and be mindful of the ending of your blogs because I think it got cut off. Great Job.

Bryanna:Since I know your family I can totally understand your questions and the answers you got. I like that you interviewed the women you know best I think it makes your blog personal and creative, I also like that you put what they had said into your own words so its all your interpretation. But remember to spell check, and don't forget to tell us about what you think, interested to know! Good Job.

David:You had interviews with people that had different experiences but the same motivation, I thought that it made you blog a lot more complex. One thing that stood out to me was the line "it also depends on how the kid turns out which really makes their minds up on whether or not the process of pregnancy was actually worth it or not." because as horrible as it sounds but I think that it's true. It makes sense to me. One thing I think you can work on it the fluidity of your blog, try to organize your ideas a little better. Great Job.

HW-36 Pregnancy and Birth Stories

For this interview I decided that it would be interesting to see the pregnancy and birth rituals over time. So I interviewed my grandmother, Iris my mom, Luz and my aunt Sandra who just had a baby girl named Jade Celeste on February 22. I wanted to keep the interview more like a conversation rather than an actual interview. So my mother, grandmother and I discussed this over a plate of spaghetti.

I started the interview by asking them what was the most surprising thing about being pregnant...
My grandmother said nothing was really surprising it was all a little expected because she had helped raise her siblings. She did however find it “weird” to see her stomach shift from side to side, she even told me a story about when the butt of my uncle Tony was pressed up against her belly for three days and you could see the outline.

My mother on the other hand has a rather intriguing story, because she did not know she was pregnant with me until she was seven months pregnant. She said she was laying down on her back in bed with her cousin Tanya, and her belly just made a huge wave, I had moved. She then went to the hospital and they told her the news. Until that point she had no symptoms or signs, no huge belly nothing to indicate that she was about to have her first child in the next two months. She showed me a picture of her on the beach in a bikini smiling a few weeks before finding out she was pregnant.

My aunt Sandra and I talked over the phone, the baby was a few days old at this point but I saw this as the perfect opportunity, still I didn’t want to trouble her too much. She had no surprises, it was just different. “Different?” I asked, “What do you mean different?” She said, “ I just feel different about people, pregnancy has a huge affect on your emotions. This time around I was really annoyed by people and things. Like sometimes I just woke up and felt annoyed” Then we laughed because the thought of my 4’11 aunt who was a sweet as sugar was very unusual. I then remembered about six years ago, when she had my little cousin Ruby, her first child. It was about two in the morning and we were changing 1 month old Ruby’s diaper and she literally shot poop out straight like a water faucet. We could not stop laughing!

When I interviewed my family I found that they all still felt excited and happy about something that had all experienced. They seemed to still feel like they were going through it again as they smiled and laughed and told me little stories that they asked not to share. My mother and grandmother, although they had children more then 10 years ago were still bubbly, Sandra was too but I think because she has a 24-hour job on her hands was a little more tired and a little bit more reserved. Either way I felt connected to my family through these stories. I don’t know if that’s because its a “girl-thing” .

Culturally I think that we as woman always find the weird things about being pregnant and make them cute or adorable. We see the gross things that happen as a gateway to connect, making it a funny story. During pregnancy and birth you don’t know what to expect so you try your best and share the rest, kind of like a survival guide for other soon to be pregnant mothers.
Something I would like to explore, complications at birth and their affect on the child /family later on in life.

W 35 - Other Peoples' Perspectives 1

I decided to interview 3 of my friends from outside of school, Avery Ellie and Vicky. I've grown up with them and they are some of my closest friends.
Questions asked:
When do you plan on having children if you plan on having children?
Will you camera record the birth of your child?
Would you rather have a boy or a girl?
Do you think a woman should be married before she has children?

I interviewed all three of them together do that may have affected my results, they might have felt like they had to give a specific answer similar to what someone else was saying.

During the interview we sat at a table myself alone on one side. It was typical girl talk at first to try and make everyone feel like this was a comfortable regular conversation. When asked the first question they all replied with different variations of when they are stable and have a home of there own, they gave me bubbles. So I asked what makes one stable? Avery said a good job nice that pays a lot and my own home. Vicky said the same thing but Ellie said when I'm happy and I feel like I'm ready to love someone else. I found there answers typical yet relatable, I think all of those factors are extremely important when deciding if you're ready or not to have a child. I knew my next question would probably result in them feeling squeamish, society allows people to think that showing these things are wrong, not beauteous. Recording the birth of a child is the closest thing we have to exeriencing it without being there. They replied with squirmy faces then said maybe or yes or " I don't know I'd have to be pregnant to say" ( shrug).

I found that with their slight variations in replies they thought they couldn't do anything or know exactly how they would feel until they were actually pregnant. We've all (with the exception of Ellie) have been raised with younger siblings or family members or a pregnant woman to have some experience with the topic however we cannot say for sure. Every pregnancy is different eveu pregnancy has different cravings and different social situations. I don't knowbif the fact that we all come from different social backgrounds affected the withhold I answered and the answers they gave but I do know that they might have a big impact on it. One thing they were certain of was that a woman did not need to be married to have a child, a woman only needed a man to make the baby.