Boing Boing on GOOD: "DIY Funerals and the Quest for Authenticity"

Two weeks ago, I posted about people who are bringing the DIY ethic to funerals. For my latest essay over at GOOD, I thought a bit more about this concept and how it might be part of a larger quest for authenticity. From GOOD:

As cyberspace becomes a “layer” on top of the physical world and we spend more of our lives online, a new-found appreciation emerges for authentic experiences, interactions, and goods. I think that’s part of why so many people are embracing the “maker mindset” of DIY culture, from Stitch and Bitch to Maker Faire...

Last year, my colleagues and I at Institute for the Future spent a day brainstorming with James Gilmore and Joe Pine, authors of the famous business book Experience Economy. Their latest book, Authenticity, is about what the demand for truly “real” things means for business strategy. It was fascinating to think with them about the myriad contexts in which questions of authenticity arise. What does “authentic” mean on a Bourbon Chicken Grill’N Dip label that boasts of “authentic food court flavor”? Or in Las Vegas, where the fakeness itself is authentic? Or in death?

DIY Funerals and the Quest for Authenticity

[#1 posted by wynneth , March 25, 2009 12:21 PM]

Just depends on what is real and not for you. When my wife and I got married we had a JP sign off on all the papers and did the ceremony ourselves. We wrote the entire ceremony and had a close friend officiate, bought all the decorations, made the bouquet, and held it in a very nice public park.
...so if DIY funerals become a big thing, will DIY births become a big thing again too? There are more and more midwives listed in the phone book these days.

[#2 posted by inkfumes , March 25, 2009 12:33 PM]

Im all for the quest for authenticity... but the handling of a recently deceased loved ones corpse is something I would probably not DIY, but LSEDI... "let someone else do it".

[#3 posted by musicman , March 25, 2009 3:10 PM]

heh. So funny. Make me feel old. Replace Make/Maker with Punk/Punker. Rewind 15 years (for me: Grunge, Slacker), 30 years (for first gen). Same thoughts, same subject. DIY and authenticity. Politics of.

Still wanna smash the state. Some things never change :)

[#4 posted by Anonymous , March 25, 2009 4:22 PM]

What's going on with Good.is? I haven't been able to get onto the website for quite a while, yet you indicate you posted there 2 weeks ago??? I get a network time-out, whether from home or work.

[#5 posted by leakyskull , March 25, 2009 4:39 PM]

Why not? DIY is DIY. When my dad kicked the bucket his last wish was to be dragged to the curb in a Glad bag. Instead we dumped $10K into the funeral racket. He would have been pissed. We spend our lives taking from the earth, the least we could do is give our carcasses back.
As for what is authentic, old punks never die! they just go acoustic; www.lakeofstew.ca
-Love to y'all and yours!

[#6 posted by spazzm , March 25, 2009 5:19 PM]

Old punks never die, they just smell that way.

Anyways, coffin in Swedish is "kista", so that's what the IKEA product might be called.

Due to how names gradually deteriorate in Scandinavian language Kis-Stad (Ki's town, a suburb of Stockholm) is now known as Kista.

[#7 posted by Anonymous , March 30, 2009 1:24 PM]

There was a documentary on PBS a few years back on the "home funeral" movement. It was interesting.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/afamilyundertaking/