"I dig art. With a shovel. In the cemetery." - Jarod Kintz

Victoria has an huge amount of history that is as different and unique as the people who inhabit it. Like many other students at Uvic, I did not grow up here in Victoria or even on the island. For the year and a half that I have lived here, I've extremely enjoyed learning about the many interesting and historical features of this beautiful city. It is then why I've chosen to write about Pioneer Square Cemetery in the hub of Victoria on the corner of Quadra Street and Rockland Avenue.

Pioneer Square, or also just known as 'Old Burying Ground', was the main place to bury the dead for Fort Victoria and Victoria from 1855 to 1873. It is the oldest cemetery in Victoria, and was very popularly used until the much more well known Ross Bay Cemetery in Oak opened in 1873. In Pioneer Square however, there are roughly 1 300 people buried there from a large array of Hudson Bay Company families and later on, participants in the gold rushes. In 1908, it was made into a city park and is well known for its heritage gravestones and bench tombs.

This particular cemetery caught my interest because it is the oldest, and well known cemetery of it's size in Victoria. Before I looked into it, I thought that Ross Bay was the oldest since it's almost twice the size of Pioneer Square and host so many famous people such as Billy Barker, Emily Carr, Sir James Douglas, and Roderick Finlayson. Pioneer Square is located right beside Victoria's famous Christ Church Cathedral which was built in 1926 and is one of Victoria's most beautiful and historically rich cathedrals.

http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_pn.htm

Life Gem - Turning People into Diamonds?

Life Gem is a company founded in 2001, that can turn a dead loved one into a precious diamond keepsake. According to the company, these diamonds are 100% real and made from the carbon in the ashes of a cremated person. The process can be simplified in four steps:

1. Cremate the body
2. Purify the carbon to a very high degree
3. Put the carbon in the diamond press and grow the diamond
4. Fasten the diamond according to the family's wishes.

The whole process takes roughly about 16 weeks. One person can make up to 50 diamonds. This is a fairly popular funeral practice because it can turn the loss of a friend or family member into a daily remembrance that people can wear as a necklace or a ring. Customers can choose the kind of gem that they want through the large variations of styles. The company's goal is to help ease the grieving process by offering a keepsake of individual beauty and comfort.

Choosing to turn a loved one into a diamond can turn very pricey very fast. Depending on the carat, colour, cuts, etc the prices can range from $2 000 to $20 000!

Also, if you didn't think your mother wasn't worth turning into a 20 grand gem, you can also take little Fido, your dog, or any other pet and also turn them into a precious, everlasting diamond.

While it is an American company, LifeGem can ship anywhere and they have hundreds of locations around the states.

Personally, I can definitely understand the desire for the diamonds as unique keepsake, but it also shows an interesting side of the growing need to hold on to a loved one that have passed. While losing someone is difficult for obvious reasons, there is so much emphasis on keeping the person close while they've died, it can be almost unhealthy. LifeGem wants to ease the grieving process, but it's possible that obsessing over the person that has died so for so long, could actually aid for them to not let go and get past the grieving stage.  

http://www.lifegem.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aQPIK4sE58&feature=related

Beware: Blogger Virgin!

As the title rightfully explains, it's true - I'm a first time blogger.

I've never had a blog before, mainly because I don't really use writing as an outlet to express my emotions and feelings. Other people's blog are much more fascinating to me, however. I like to read how people feel, their thought processes, and how they react to the life situations that have been thrown at them.

Starting this blog, it's exciting though. A chance where I'll be able to share my thoughts about my class Archaeology 392: Dead (Wo)men Do Tell Tales. This is a different turn in my anthropological career, as I'm usually more focus on people with a heart beat than those who've been in the dirt for hundreds of years.

We'll see where it goes. I'm really excited for this class. As Yoda reminds us - "death is a natural part of life," so let's take advantage of it and learn about these amazing cultures and people from times before us.