New Orleans, Louisiana

Focus on St. Louis Cemetery No. 2:  Do you think this Powerball billboard has found the right audience? Actually, its location is not so puzzling. What you can't see is what defines the northern border of the cemetery: Interstate-10. [2014]

New Orleans, Louisiana

Focus on St. Louis Cemetery No. 2:  Marble has one big advantage over granite: It can be carved into all sorts of sculptural art, like the cherubs seen here. Can you read the inscription on Madame Charbonnet's tomb? Not surprisingly, it's in French. Could she be one of the many refugees who came to New Orleans after the revolution in Haiti? [2014]

New Orleans, Louisiana

Focus on St. Louis Cemetery No. 2:  These are wall vaults or "oven vaults." They constituted the lowest priced tombs in St. Louis Cemetery. The body (presumably un-embalmed) was entitled to the tomb for a year and a day. At that point, the remains were pushed to the back of the vault and into the caveau below. Then, the space became available to someone else. [2014]

Plaque in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

Ozan, Arkansas

Getting Ready for Mother's Day:  How would you summarize your life in just one word? How about MOTHER (in all caps)? Of all cross-cultural human values, motherhood must top the list of virtues. But, here lies not just a generic mother, but a unique individual with a personality all her own: You can see it in her signature. Mother's Day. This Sunday. Don't forget. St. Paul Methodist Church Cemetery. [2012]

Cleveland, Tennessee

Getting Ready for Mother's Day:  "A Mother to All" was Pat. If these foothills of the Blue Ridge were still inhabited by their native peoples, the Cherokee, she would have been a village elder known as "The Beloved Woman." Both titles seem to capture the folk culture of east Tennessee: tight-knit, communal, and gently matriarchal. Fort Hill Cemetery. [2014]

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Getting Ready for Mother's Day:  "Our Beloved Mother" is commemorated on a frilly couch cushion that has been etched into granite. Even though it's rock hard, it looks soft and comforting: of the type she might have made, were she skilled with needle and thread. She's been gone for sixteen years now, but look at all the 'grave goods' that populate the contiguous zone. Her children must miss her still. Mount Olivet Cemetery. [2013]

Our Beloved Mother

Vaughan, Ontario

The Cemetery as a Praying Place:  Some souls go to church to pray. They hope those prayers carry over to the churchyard when they are buried. Every churchyard thereby becomes a garden of Gethsemene, and the prayer of Jesus becomes the prayer of the departed: "My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as you will." The churchyard here was originally Primitive Methodist. Carrville United Church Cemetery. [2010]

The Days are Long
But the Years are Short