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Article one: Dance, Laugh, Drink. Save the Date: It’s a Ghanaian Funeral.
Going to the New York Times, I expected to hear either statistics for mainstream practices about what is considered a standard funeral, including embalming and ridiculously high expenses, or a focus on one of the alternatives we've heard about in school and, "Gee, isn't this strange but still available." Instead, I wound up finding something similar to the believes of my own family. While the death itself isn't the be celebrated, the life of the deceased certainly is something to be cherished. Reading through the article, I still expected the family to mention how much of a cost was saved because of perhaps avoiding some of the 'tricks' a funeral director might present (cheaper caskets in bad colors, for examples). Instead, the family cited that no expense was to be spared. In fact, the funeral parties are considered competitive, not that unlike the idea that some families have about, "If I don't spend 'enough', I won't look like I loved and respect them."

Article two: Daily Life in the Business of Death
Straight to the point, this article address how the Death Care Industry has so many problems, "We shun it [death and the care of the dead] until we are forced by circumstance to confront it."If something goes unspoken then we consider it a taboo. In our society, it's no wonder that when suddenly a person, even a stranger, is brought to us (or we get sent to) and reassures us not to worry because they can take care of it. We won't have to worry, we won't have to see anything that isn't pretty. The unknown can remain unknown. This idea of ignorance is bliss is challenged by each of the photos shown here. Take the photo of a lift used to move a body. There's no human contact at all, likely for sanitary reasons, but it forces a family and individual to think - do I want that to happen to me? My parents? My child?