[17 December 2023]: "Primitive Hypertext" — samizdat or self-publishing; QR codes on tombstones; bizarre and dangerously inaccurate AI-generated products; letters from God or heaven-sent chain letters
samizdat or self-publishing; QR codes on tombstones; bizarre and dangerously inaccurate AI-generated products; letters from God or heaven-sent chain letters; yussef dayes
Bismillah. We begin everything with the name of Allah. We say Bismillah to initiate an act to acknowledge the intention and the ethics we carry with all that follows Bismillah.
This is part of the newsletter's “Primitive Hypertext” (Octavia Estelle Butler) strand.
An annotated list of five things I’ve read/seen/heard and want to share. [weekly: every Sunday] Read more about the changes in the newsletter rhythm here.
Hiya!
Chicago was very cute. More on that soon! Here are some shiny objects from this week:
I wish I remembered how I ended up here. I even went fishing in my browser history, lol, and there is no discernable pathway here. Still, here we are:
QR Codes on Tombstones
Earlier this year, during and following the death of my nan, the last elder in my family, I began researching how to be a death doula. The death was hard, but I found a lot of joy in guiding the transition process as the obituary designer (and then photograph hunter), of comforting. Given what we are witnessing in the Congo, Sudan, and Palestine, one of my first questions was, “How do people carry out death rituals in the middle of war and genocide?” It seems like a bizarre concern, but I recognized that folks who had no peace in this life deserve a safe and peaceful transition to insha’Allah, something better. Also, I was thinking about my knowledge of the specificity and time-boundedness of Islamic and Jewish burial rituals (and I wish I could speak more about Christian ceremonies) and thinking about not having access to water to wash the bodies or not having the shroud for burial. I messaged a Jewish colleague about a specific mourning ritual they’d posted about. That question resulted in a sprawling, beautiful email about adapted death gestures, grieving mass death, and touch. I reread it a few times, mostly because I wondered how different rituals evolved over time and what prompted those changes.
Since attending a 2014 lecture about the death industry, I developed an interest in death + grief tech (talking to your deceased partner via an AI chatbot) alongside death + grief rituals (QR Codes on tombstones, professional mourners, funeral mutes, Kriah, Taharah, Janaazah). Several years ago, I came across an article about a man who created a QR code for his tombstone that listed all his publications and achievements so that anyone in the future would know what he accomplished. I couldn’t find the article I first read, but I found this one (Man Creates QR Code for Dad's Grave to Share His Incredible Life Story). Below are two current companies offering the service.
Quiring: Living Headstones QR Code
Soth, Amelia. Himmelsbriefe: Heaven-Sent Chain Letters. JSTOR Daily. June 30, 2023.
The Yussef Dayes Experience - Live From Malibu
Thank you for reading,
Kameelah 👽
Finally, while I do not organize my finances around paid newsletter subscriptions, wouldn’t it be cool if this wee little newsletter could allow me to take quarterly self-imposed writing retreats? Consider getting a one-year membership at $70 USD :)
How to cite this newsletter: Rasheed, K. (Year, Month Day). Newsletter Title. I Will (?) Figure This All Out Later. URL
The QR codes idea is so wild to me, but also beautiful? Thank you for sharing this bit about death rituals and how they’re evolving. Super curious about so much of this! ❤️