'Death in L.A. can be an odd undertaking'
December 14, 2016 5:58 AM   Subscribe

"So here you are, dead and alone. Chances are you didn’t want this, but your wishes were ignored. Whatever happens to the part of you that you recognize as somehow quintessentially you (call it soul, self, spirit, spark), the other part isn’t finished yet—the fleshly part, the limbs and guts that ached and pleased you in so many ways, the meaty bits that you vainly or grudgingly dragged around for all those years. That piece is still of interest to the bureaucrats. It is still a potential source of profit. In your absence its journey is just beginning." ~ What Really Happens After You Die?
posted by zarq (19 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Stiff, the curious life of human cadavers (mentioned in the article) and Grunt are also fascinating reading.
posted by lalochezia at 6:09 AM on December 14, 2016 [4 favorites]


I'm reminded of a documentary that came out about a decade ago, 'A Certain Kind of Death', about the management of the dead in LA when there are no next-of-kin. Fascinating, though certainly unpleasant.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 6:25 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yes, this article is very much a recapitulation of that film.
posted by briank at 6:28 AM on December 14, 2016


Lots of interesting information here, but wow, that writing style is so offputting.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:55 AM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


In one of the recent episodes of Balls Deep, Thomas followed around a coroner/pathologist, and helped with an autopsy. Pretty interesting and eye-opening, especially the "It's just my job and this is my office" vibe.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:07 AM on December 14, 2016


TIL there is a TV show called "Balls Deep."

I liked the writing style and will look for more by this author.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:14 AM on December 14, 2016


Lots of interesting information here, but wow, that writing style is so offputting.

One of the reasons why I liked the article and thought of posting it here was the writing style.

Ben is Barbara Ehrenreich's son. Most of his published writing is about the Israel/Palestine conflict, including a book called "The Way to the Spring," written while he lived in the West Bank.
posted by zarq at 7:24 AM on December 14, 2016


'Death in L.A. can be an odd undertaking'

i see what you did there
posted by entropicamericana at 7:27 AM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


Actually, looking at his website, Ehrenreich's online bibliography shows he writes about a variety of topics. My only exposure to him prior to this was I/P writing.
posted by zarq at 7:27 AM on December 14, 2016


I'm reminded of a documentary that came out about a decade ago, 'A Certain Kind of Death', about the management of the dead in LA when there are no next-of-kin. Fascinating, though certainly unpleasant.

I know people say it all the time, but this movie changed my life - I was living alone and getting more and more isolated, largely out of sloth and low-grade depression, when I saw it. It was the powerful, gruesome kick in the ass that I needed to haul myself out of my rut.

It also makes public administrator look like a fascinating job - anyhow, it's a hell of a documentary.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:32 AM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


This use of the second-person is one of two I approve. The other is a tax manual.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 7:35 AM on December 14, 2016


I misread the FPP at first and thought this was going to be a story about people trying to figure out how to monetize the departure of the soul (or whatever you want to call it) from the body. Google is probably looking into it.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:41 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


You already need to bring a coin for the boatman.
posted by mochapickle at 7:44 AM on December 14, 2016 [5 favorites]


I'm reminded of a documentary that came out about a decade ago, 'A Certain Kind of Death', about the management of the dead in LA when there are no next-of-kin. Fascinating, though certainly unpleasant.

"A Certain Kind of Death" can be viewed on Youtube. There's a dead body shown within the first minute, so its content may be disturbing to some folks.
posted by zarq at 7:50 AM on December 14, 2016 [3 favorites]


The cheerful morbidity of the tone is something I personally am kind of over, although this is such a well-researched article that I think it's well worth everyone's time. I wish he hadn't put in the anecdote about the obese pastry chef, though. Herrera's gallows humor is totally natural, but I hate the thought that someone might recognize this person from his story. Often people who commit suicide believe that they are only burdens, and the idea that she really is remembered as only a burden is tragic.

The stories of people who can't part with the obviously dead reached me. The first time I lost someone as an atheist adult, I found myself suddenly haunted awake in the middle of the night by the idea that he needed a blanket, he was in the ground, he would be so cold... It's an ancient impulse, I suppose. I kissed my grandmother's forehead in her coffin. Who was it for?
posted by Countess Elena at 8:19 AM on December 14, 2016 [5 favorites]


We sent my dad into cremation in flannel pajamas so he would be warm, later on, in the urn.
posted by mochapickle at 8:32 AM on December 14, 2016 [11 favorites]


"It's an ancient impulse, I suppose. I kissed my grandmother's forehead in her coffin. Who was it for?"

It's one of the defining impulses of being human, some combination of consciousness and culture, of knowing our past and anticipating our future, or wishing to be remembered and fearing being forgotten. While several mammals at least briefly mourn a dead companion, only a very few -- humans, elephants, possibly chimpanzees -- are concerned with the empty bodies and only humans and elephants appear to worry about the bodies or remembering the dead after time passes. Neanderthals and homo naledi appear to have buried their dead; it's one of the ways we know they were more like us than like apes.

It's just for saying, this was a person and not an object, and we remember them, and want to see them decently laid to rest (rather than tossed aside like refuse) because they were unique as we each are unique. And because social death is a slower process than physical death and needs some rituals for the transition. And because that's what consciousness makes you do.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:03 AM on December 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's a shame there's not more than a footnote about the consequences of leaving a pacemaker in during a cremation by accident. My family's funeral director of choice told us about the time he got banned from a crematorium for life because it blew up for this very reason (whilst three other people were being cremated - they had to be finished somewhere else). It was an important professional lesson in not believing doctors without checking for himself, even if they swear there's no pacemaker.
posted by terretu at 5:44 AM on December 15, 2016


Banning someone for life for something like that is silly. It isn't a mistake someone would make a second time. If they did, that would be the time to take out the ban hammer.
posted by wierdo at 6:38 AM on December 15, 2016


« Older I Wanna Be In the Thread Where Data Analysis...   |   Texting W. V. O. Quine... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments