Unabashed

Two things I find very interesting this morning. First, the Neptune Society, from Matt Staggs:

A Florida company is offering a unique memorial service for your earthly remains. For a fee, the people at the Neptune Society will mix your cremated remains with concrete, which is then molded into a sculpture and placed with others in a giant artificial reef a little over a mile off the coast of Key Biscayne, Florida. The reef then provides a new habitat for marine life and a destination for recreational divers and researchers. It’s apparently all ecologically sound, too. At first blush, I really like this idea. I’m certain that I want my remains cremated, and as much as I love the ocean this would be a perfect way to rest for eternity.

Also of interest today, from Curtis Palmer: Birmingham is gaining a new 1100 acre park in the Oxmoor/Ishkooda area. The park is bigger than New York’s Central Park and is going to have tons of amenities–hiking trails, 20 acre lake, softball and soccer fields, etc. I live in Montevallo, but I work in Birmingham, so this new park will be good for day trips. Oak Mountain State Park is closer and I’ve always loved it (it’s a refuge in an urban area, almost 10,000 acres). I go there often, but I love me a new park, yes I do. Especially interesting in this is that this park will make Birmingham the #1 U.S. city in terms of greenspace per capita. Birmingham catches a lot of grief around the country and is regularly noted as one of the worst places to live in America, so it’s nice to see the “Magic City” making inroads to be something better than it is. If only we could somehow craft a governing body that wasn’t corrupt and driving the city to bankruptcy.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: Alabama, birmingham, cemetery, florida, greenspace, ishkooda, key biscayne, memorial, neptune, oak mountain, oxmoor, park, red mountain, underwater

An excerpt from the Society of S by Susan Hubbard (which has been excellent so far. I’m about halfway through it. Here’s an interview with Susan). This is the inscription on a tombstone in a Savannah, GA cemetery, of a man whose ghost still roams the night:

This humble stone
records the filial piety
fraternal affection and manly virtues
of
James Wilde, Esquire,
late District Paymaster in the army of the U.S.
He fell in a Duel on the 16th of January, 1815,
by the hand of a man
who, a short time ago, would have been
friendless but for him;
and expired instantly in his 22d year:
dying, as he had lived:
with unshaken courage & unblemished reputation.
By his untimely death the prop of a Mother’s
age is broken:
The hope and consolation of Sisters is destroyed,
the pride of Brothers humbled in the dust
and a whole Family, happy until then,
overwhelmed with affliction.

The only thing I haven’t liked about the book so far is the tagline: “If you ever want to hide from the world, live in a small city, where everyone seems anonymous.” In my mind, just the opposite is true. I live in a small town and it’s very difficult to be anonymous here. Even the reclusive people are discussed at length, at times. There’s no escaping gossip in a small city, but in a large city, well, I would imagine that’s where it would really be easy to become anonymous. Just my thoughts.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: bonaventure, cemetery, georgia, ghosts, savannah, susan hubbard, vampires