#also yes guilded crypt tours are fairly rare in north america

[bereft-of-frogs]

Have you spoken at all about how you got into death? It’s so not part of the astronaut/doctor/firefighter career options, and I’m curious about how you found it and what drew you to it.

Ha, I guess I haven’t talked about it because it’s not that interesting of a story. It really started more because I wanted to be an academic. Like, the problems with the academy and the university job pool (or lack thereof LOL) aside, all I’ve really wanted to do is read things. And write things. And talk incessantly about whatever I’ve learned. It just so happens that gradually that turned into my working in the broader field of death studies and people usually don’t want me to talk about it outside of October. (My time. to. shine.) But I think it’s secretly the way most people in academics find their subjects - you write one paper, and then another, and then you can’t think of anything to write for your next class and hey how do you think we could make this term paper about X subject- and it builds from there until you find yourself staring down a thesis.

So there wasn’t any real ‘grad school application essay’ moment. It’s not even about like...my parents being in medicine? Though that had certainly helped to desensitize beforehand. It was definitely in college...I don’t even really remember the first paper I wrote that centered on death. I vaguely remember the class it was for...I’m pretty sure it was very bad and I don’t think I got a good grade on it. I do remember the second, because it was about cemeteries and ritualized burial that’s when I was like ‘oh wait cemeteries are interesting.’ I did get a very good grade on it, and a lot of praise from the prof, another reason I think I got in so deep. Because fairly early on I started getting positive feedback, so it was like...’oh this makes it easy to choose paper topics and I get that sweet sweet validation for it, sign me up for this.’ I started reaching for it as a topic when I couldn’t think of paper topics.

I’m fortunate in a way because ‘death’ is a very broad topic and it is also truly universal - ‘we’re all riding that bus,’ a woman once said to me after a tour. So it’s very easy to grab onto that as a rough base to work from and approach whatever term assignment you’re given through that lens. It’s something that happens to everyone, is a major part of every culture, but is so different depending on cultural context and I find it so interesting to see how that’s changed through time. (Why I ultimately switched from anthropology to history for my MA.) I try not to be too sensational about it. While working at a crypt, I actually had a whole conflict with an outside tour company because I wasn’t a huge fan of how they stretched stories to make things seem gruesome or spooky. Like, sure I’m a spooky bitch, but when I’m actually talking about real funeral rituals or burial practices, I’m not about making it look grotesque. I’m very much more in favor a nonjudgmental, nonsensational exploration of this common experience.

(I guess I’m really more of a spooky bitch about ghosts. I like ghost stories, I really do. What I took issue with was I was trying to approach the interpretation of our site as, ‘here are some common ways that people in the 18th and 19th century processed death and the rituals they did’ and there was a specific outside company that always wanted to make it like ‘isn’t that just horrifying?’ about practices that were quite normal in their context. Or just plain making up ghost stories. I worked there for several years and I knew the origins of every ghost story they tried to tell, so I could see the way they were expanded on in each retelling. It wasn’t haunted. And I do actually believe in ghosts. (#boogara) But that crypt wasn’t haunted. Now, the small cemetery in the marshes by the house I grew up in...that was haunted.)

So yeah, anyways, the start was just...I just...kept writing papers. I actually thought of it at first as a “lazy” way of choosing paper topics - but by the time I showed up to grad school I realized that’s just how academics get into specialties. That’s how you start to become more of an expert in your field. You cover the broad strokes first, start reading the foundational texts, then get more and more specific as you go on. You get to the point where you’re able to say shit like, “I really liked this article, but I don’t quite agree with the author’s interpretation of Gorer.” It’s fun.

Thanks for asking anon! It helped to remind me why I got into this whole thing in the first place; I genuinely like reading and writing about stuff. (Grad school ended...poorly...for reasons that were not related to my performance or subject. There’s some bits in the #academic adventures tag if you’re curious.) And also a good reminder that 1) I should really write that essay about death in media because there’s a new show out I can work in to be #relevant and also I have come too far and worked too hard to let my career die because of what happened (even though it was also valid that was a super traumatizing experience) 2) I have so clearly replaced my academic career with fanfiction. I’m not even mad. I’m not even going to fight it. Just know that the number of fics I write that take their titles from folk songs and/or poems about death is probably going to continue to rise. Just a heads up. I’m not going to fight it. There will probably be more footnoting. I’m sorry.

(I’m not sorry.)

#also yes guilded crypt tours are fairly rare in north america #if you somehow piece together where i worked from context clues #let's keep that between us k? #i should probably be more careful with identifying information #anyway #thanks for asking! #this was fun #i should probably go to bed now #death studies #long post #Anonymous