Endocannibalism

According to howstuffworks.com, "Endocannibalism is the consumption of the flesh of a person who is a member of the consumer's kin group. This membership can be based on family, society, culture, tribe -- any type of in-group. Endocannibalism is most often an expression of veneration of the dead, or the pursuit of consuming some esoteric aspect of the person, like the deceased's wisdom."

I've always been interested in different death and funeral rituals of other cultures. While taking a cultural anthropology class at my community college a few years ago my interest grew stronger when my teacher told the class of a group of indigenous people that would take their dead loved ones, place them into a huge container and let decomposition occur and then when the body was a liquid soup, the people would drink the fluids. I was amazed and disgusted at the same time. I knew cannibalism existed however to let a body decompose into something that would then be drunken was an amazing discovery for me. Since finding out about this I was curious to know what other cultures practiced endocannibalism and if it was prevalent today. With my cultural anthropology teachers help, she informed me that many tribes and societies eat their dead still however it's really frowned upon. After learning more about it, I really didn't think it was that gross anymore and I actually thought it was quite meaningful and I could see the spiritual aspects of it and I definitely consider endocannibalism a ritual experience.

I am not an Alcoholic!

When thinking about this weeks blog I had problems trying to figure out what an aesthetic experience was and how it fits into my life experiences and what I came up with is my love for labels.
I'm a huge fan of art work thats presented on labels. I'm not a big drinker but I do enjoy a glass of wine or a nice cold beer on occasion. Usual, I find myself attracted to bottles of wine or beer that have really cool looking labels. Sometimes the liquid inside is a disappointment but the bottle is always a keeper because of the design on the label. Every time I walk into a grocery store or a market I will stop by the alcohol section and peruse the labels for anything new or attention grabbing. Most of the time I buy the product just for the design and never come around to drinking the liquid inside and just end up keeping the bottle for looks in my room or kitchen. Some people might think it's waste of money but I'm really a fan of the art. I'm a huge fan of skulls and retro looking labels so most of my purchases are based on those things. One of my favorite wines is Dia De Los Blancos from Southcoast winery and the bottle has a cool image of a female skeleton and a little skeleton dog. This was the first bottle of wine I actually purchased for myself after swearing never to drink wine because I thought it was too pretentious. I know people get paid good money to make products look alluring to consumers, especially alcohol but I look beyond the product and find mysel truly impressed with the aesthetic that goes beyond the promotion and into the art.

Making Special

Was it me or did "Making Special" sound like something dirty? Maybe just me. Anyway, being new to Arcata and just moving into a new room, it was only a matter of time that I would have to make my room and house my own. My room now is nothing compared to the room back home which was a lot smaller. Even though size was an issue, I still managed to express myself with a purple ceiling and colorful sheets. My room now is huge and full of possibilities, I have a whole new canvas I can play with. In order for me to survive this experience, leaving home and being the new kid in town, I had to make my room a safe place for me to relax and be myself, a hide away. I love color and patterns so I have applied that to my room and have added things that are unique to my taste. For example I just purchased a rug that is woven wool and it's super colorful. I fell in love with this rug and knew I needed it for my room. When someone enters my room they will be stepping on this rug and probably not even notice it, but It doesn't matter if no one appreciates it, because I love it. My room is not complete, in fact, I haven't really even started decorating due to lack funds but I will continue to purchase small pieces of myself in material objects in order to make my room like myself, colorful.