Meridian, Mississippi

Food as 'Grave Goods':  As Mardi Gras approaches, the beads come out and the liquor flows. Cemeteries seem not to be exempt. Although food is not common on Christian graves, this is the burial place of the King and Queen of the Gypsies. In 1910, the New York Times reported that five chiefs of the great gypsy clans met in Washington and elected Emil Mitchell to become King of the Gypsies. This year, though, it is his wife, Kelly, who gets the beads. She also gets the apples and the Jägermeister. Rose Hill Cemetery. [2013]

Kelly
Wife of Emil Mitchell

Queen of the Gypsies

Honolulu, Hawaii

Food as 'Grave Goods':  Fresh fruit to eat is commonly put on Buddhist graves (though most Buddhists today are cremated). And don't be surprised if you see tea or sake, too. Food becomes the medium by which the living honor departed souls. Oahu Cemetery. [2011]

Madison, Connecticut

Food as 'Grave Goods':  Since Paleolithic times, food has been buried with the dead. Just look at one of Egyptologist James Henry Breasted's sketches below. Christianity, however, made clear that the body requires no nourishment in the afterlife. Food, as a result, is never interred with bodily remains and only rarely appears on headstones. An exception appears below. [2009]

"Looking Down Into the Grave
of a Late Stone Age Egyptian"
J. H. Breasted, Ancient Times, 1916,  p. 38

Barre, Vermont

Focus on Hope Cemetery:  In the early 20th century, immigrants from northern Italy brought their chisels and hammers to the Green Mountains and applied them to one of the world's greatest reserves of tombstone-quality granite. Back in the old country, they had role models like Michelangelo. In Vermont, they became role models. Marking the grave of Albert Ceppi is a bas relief of the sculptor drawing both himself and Jesus out of a granite block: a dual resurrection. [2002]

Barre, Vermont

Focus on Hope Cemetery:  Joey Laguerre loved cars, but he died in a snowmobile accident in 1991. Left behind was his race car, #61. It became, in a half-size granite replica, his chariot to the afterlife.  But it also became one of the signature sculptures of Barre's granite masons: proof positive that Italy's loss was America's gain. [2002]

Barre, Vermont

Focus on Hope Cemetery:  With the Rock of Ages granite quarry next door, you might expect to find the world's best granite memorials on display at Barre's Hope Sculpture Garden. Sorry, Hope Cemetery. How better to say "At Rest" than with a bed (or two: so 1950s!). It looks like the Halvosas are wearing new pajamas. [1983]

Set me as a seal
Upon thine heart
For love is strong
As death
Song of Solomon 8:6

Delmar, Delaware

Etchographic Portraiture:  The advice fits the portraits perfectly: 2nd is the first loser. A life of competition can't be captured in a single head shot. It requires more context than that. Let's see the jersey, let's see the ball, let's see the bleachers, let's see the helmet, let's see the wheels, let's see the track. A complete picture is emerging, isn't it? [2010]

"2nd is the 1st Loser."