And so it begins

On Sunday, I finally completed the transcription process for the interviews I conducted on death and the meaning-making people engage in around it. I typed a total of 179 pages in 11 pt Gill Sans, single spaced. Quite the undertaking.

I am now on page 11 of the paper I'm writing and am only just beginning. I will be diligently pounding away on my keyboard -- and then, if I do what is righteous, I will be deftly editing -- for most of the next few days. I anticipate turning in a complete draft or a significant chunk on Monday.

I am concerned that, even with good editing, this dog will be in excess of 30 or 40 pages. OK, the truth is that I'm concerned it will be in the neighborhood of 50.

Let me tell you something: For a two credit class, that shit just ain't right, man. It ain't right.

One of the reasons it's so long is that I'm weaving my personal narrative -- some of the aspects of my life story that have drawn my attention to this topic -- with several other substantial aspects of my study. Those include: what I learned from a review of psychology research; what I learned from "softer" sources, such as philosophy and mythology; stories and opinions about death from the interviews I conducted; and representations and/or discussions of death in poetry and literature.

The funny thing is that, in the end, I don't believe I'm capable of drawing any conclusions whatsoever -- except to note the multitude of ideas, opions and beliefs that people have about death, dying, life and the meaning of all of the above.

Kinda seems wrong to do so much work and write so many pages and not be able to draw any conclusions. But I guess that's what happens when you study, in a purely qualitative, phenomenological and subjective way, people's attitudes and meaning-making around the greatest mystery humanity has: death.