Cemetery Field Trip

Before class on Tuesday, September 14, you will need to visit the oldest burial gardens in Lakeland, three connected cemeteries called Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers. You will need to spend a minimum of a full 40 minutes inside the cemetery. These burial gardens are located less than ten minutes from Southeastern, at the corner of Ingraham Avenue and Parker Street (map). Parking is available across Ingram from the cemeteries, in the parking lot of the Polk County Government Center. I suggest that you enter the Tiger Flowers Cemetery entrance directly across from Everest University. You are responsible for arranging you own transportation, but I encourage you to carpool with other members of the class. 

The purpose of this trip is to "inform" your reading of C. S. Lewis' A Grief Observed. In particular, it may "illustrate" Lewis' discussion of a man caring for his dead mother's grave site in Chapter 2 (page 21 in my book). More generally, it should give you a quite time to reflect on death and on the book as a whole.

You will need to bring the text of A Grief Observed with you to the cemetery. You should arrive at the cemetery quietly and solemnly. This is a public place of grief. You need to show the utmost respect for the dead and for those still alive who have dead loved ones buried there. During your visit, I would like for you to spend most of your time walking around in silence, looking at the tombstones, and reading.  Please reread select pages and passages carefully and meditatively. This should be a "prayerful" event. It should also be an event that takes you deeper into the text and into life.

To be counted as "present," for this fieldtrip, you will need to post an extra post on your blog with the following statement: "I went to the Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers cemetery complex for this fieldtrip, and I stayed there for at least 40 minutes." Optimally, you will also post a picture of yourself at the cemetery. You may also want to add some reflections about your visit since extra blogging can boost your blog grade.

If visiting this specific cemetery provides some hardship, you may visit a different one providing that it is comparably old and large.

If you think that visiting a cemetery at all will prove too emotionally difficult for you, you may arrange in advance with me for an alternative activity.