New Orleans, 2/15/09

Cemeteries are inadvertently interesting places. They are meant to hold our dead, to give them a place free from construction or destruction when they can no longer defend themselves from the encroachment of the real world. But the real world is fascinated by such places. We visit cemeteries without knowing a single person buried there. We run our hands over the smooth marble of headstones, make rubbings of intricate designs, tread lightly over freshly piled soil and admire the flowers marking graves. We landscape them, put playgrounds in them, build fountains in them, take naps in the sun in them, meander and loiter. They become tourist attractions, things of beauty, monuments to lives lived fully, a commemoration of life. Why are we so fascinated by cemeteries? Are we awed by death, or are we awed by life?


From St. Louis Cemetery I in New Orleans:

Marie Laveau's tomb, covered with offerings

Jonmikel "chimping," referring to the habit (addiction) of checking your photos in a DSLR after you take them to make sure they look OK... Jonmikel really doesn't do this, but I do!