Right now I am taking a break from researching. I have decided that I am going to let this paper (the paper I wrote my wordy thesis for) consume my life for the time being. Even when I'm not directly working on it I am discussing it with other people, pondering my next move, or writing a blog about it. This is something I thought I would never say but I actually enjoy working on this paper. Reading laws, regulations, and documents on the subject doesn't even bore me with this one.

One reason for my excitement comes from the fact that I have a professor who is also excited about it. We call him Fleege. He has been helping me with research and giving needed opinions from the funeral industries perspective. Thankfully, he is extremely knowledgeable. And I mean extremely, his guilty pleasures are searching on the internet (no you dirty mind) for new things to learn and current events. So, not only was he able to give me perspective from the funeral industry but he also gave me perspective from the FCA side of the story.

As of right now I have found tons of information and context that I have to sort through. I still have a long way to go but this will be very beneficial to my education and career.

P.S.

My professor wasn't completely impressed with my thesis. Go figure.

" Give me something to believe in..." - The Bravery

When it comes to my career religion is a huge issue. The religion of the families plays a key role in deciding final arrangements for an individual. Also, my religious beliefs could impact my career and the families I have the chance to work with.  

As of right now, I do not identify with one religion.  I identify with several. My believes coincide with some of the beliefs of  Buddhism, Christianity, Creationism, and probably some others that I haven't been able to explore. Mostly I try to believe in what I believe in. I know this is extremely vague but I listen around, learn what I can, and remember all the things I agree with.  I do disagree with a lot but that's not to say that I don't mind when others agree with the issues I disagree with. 

In an attempt to come up with one definitive answer, I looked around and found the notion of coexisting.    Coexistence is all accepting. It's the belief that we can all live amongst each other in the most civil way as possible. It's impossible to live in perfect harmony but we can do our best to educate each other on our personal beliefs in an appropriate way. We don't shun or get angry with those who disagree with us, we just accept that they believe in something different. Of course, this is still complicated but what isn't when dealing with religion? 

So, basically, I coexist. I believe what I want and those who come to my funeral home won't be discouraged to  express their religions freely.

I like when people "give me something to believe in." They are comfortable with their beliefs and I extract what I agree with and write it down in my mental belief notebook.     

Thesis

I have to write a paper for my intercultural communication class. We had to choose a topic that we were interested in so I chose within my degree. This is my wordy thesis:

The conflict between FCA (Funeral Consumer Alliance) and the funeral industry is the frictional debate in which I have found an interesting relation between power, privilege, and the context surrounding it.

 

Dot Da Da Dah! The Begining

The ethnography is interesting in a couple ways. First off, I have been thinking a lot about being a funeral director, which is directly correlated to me being in mortuary science. This project lets me critically analyze the field I am going into. This just recently became important to me because I am also in a Communication Across Cultures class where I am writing a paper dealing with the conflict between FCA (Funeral Consumer Alliance) and the so called funeral industry. The teacher in this class suggest writing the paper from the critical approach in intercultural communication. Making this the perfect way to critically analyze my career and the topic for a paper I am currently writing. Thanks for the help big sis! 

Also, this is a good way for me to be a little part of something I'm not typically inclined to choose. English, writing, literature, and other things along these lines are not really my strong suit but I don't let that discourage me, it just takes the right encouragement to get me started. This is definitely for a good cause; higher education. Not only higher education for one person but for many people. This could bring an interesting angle to a topic that is hardly disgust. 

As for some other information, my answer is ongoing in regards to why I want to be a funeral director. I toss ideas around as to what I want to do with my life. Right now mortuary science looks good but I'm not sure what I will do with my major. I could become a funeral director in Illinois or go back to Indiana, I could continue my education and eventually become a pathologist, and there are a couple other ideas bouncing around. I basically got into mortuary science because I like biology (dealing with body preparations) and psychology (dealing with families). 

The classes that are involved with my major are pretty diverse. I have taken a funeral history class, a funeral psychology class, and now I am in mortuary regulations, microbiology, and anatomy. Some other classes I am looking forward/have to take are embalming and advanced embalming, cosmetics, pathology, an mortuary law/ business.  For the most part my classes are really cool.