HW 55

            For my project, Rossi and I visited Lanza Provenzano, a funeral home downtown in the Lower East Side. We spoke to the receptionist who was also a mortuary science student in college. She was very friendly, and it was obvious that she loved sharing her knowledge. She answered all of our questions with great enthusiasm. The place was very dimly lit and exactly what I expected to see in a funeral home. It was fully furnished with classy looking chairs, couches, clocks and carpets. It seemed like somewhere people go to talk about dead people. The brightest thing in their was the woman we were interviewing. She was so enthusiastic about care of the dead and aspires to be a funeral director. The way she talked about it was very warm and I found it really odd that she was so fond of care of the dead. One thing I found really funny was that she subscribed to a Funeral magazine. When I said it was a little weird, she responded, "No way. It's really cool. All the new caskets, urns and stuff. It's so interesting. They have this new casket made for hunters where the inside is totally camoflage and there's a place for his rifle. It's sick! And it's sealed with a key if you ever want to get the gun back." I'm still laughing thinking about that. One thing she told us about that I found particularly interesting was this new method of "cremation" where they dont burn the body, but it into a mix of water and chemicals and the flesh disintegrates and the only thing left is bone. She seemed to be having a great time telling us all of this stuff. She said she wants to be cremated when she dies which is weird given her fascination with caskets. We asked her if she thought that people weren't knowledgeable enough about the care of the dead industry to which she retorted, "People dont want to knowledgeable. They're not knowledgeable, but it's because they don't want to be." Another really interesting thing was that she said "I don't like home funerals. In Puerto Rico they had them, it's too sad. Every time you go into that house or room you can't help but feel sad. People don't walk into a funeral home everyday, but they do walk into their house every day. I just hate feeling so sad every time I walk into my grandmother's house." After talking to her and listening to Skip and his colleague, it seems that care of the dead specialists actually like their job, which I think is really weird. How can you like being around dead people and grieving all of time?

Side Note: We also visited RG Ortiz Funeral Home, a few blocks away. When we inquired with the receptionist she told us that she was busy speaking with a man who was clearly her friend and not a client. I thank Lanza Provenzano Funeral Home for their honesty and generosity.