Día de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos Benchmark

Jake Ashenfelter

https://www.wevideo.com/hub#media/ci/510549127

English Paragraph:

1. Who is the person?

2. What did this person mean to you?

3. Why did you decide to create this sugar skull in remembrance of this person?

4. How does your sugar skull reflect this person?

5. How has “Dia de los Muertos” opened your mind up to celebrating the passing of loved ones?

Charles Ashenfelter was many different things to me even though I only knew him for the first few years of my life. The most important thing was that he was my grandfather. I always called him Pop, I’m not sure why but I just did one day and it stuck. Pop seemed to be an average man that just did the same thing everyday, but he was much more than that. He was a caring man that loved his family and spent all of his time providing for his family. He raised several kids, one of them being my dad who is the most important person in my life and I look up to more than anyone, so obviously he did a good job. However there are some things about Pop that I heard were not amazing. He had to work several jobs in order to provide for all the kids, so that meant he was around the house for them much. My dad's siblings would smoke and drink with their friends in the house and my grandfather didn’t have time to tell them to stop. When my dad was my age he was on the all star team for the city of philadelphia for high school football players, however Pop never went to see any of his games. My dad brings this up many times and tells me how much it hurts him that he didn’t come to any of them. It makes me appreciate that my dad comes to every single game of my life, even when he is sick or hurt. However, I never experienced this side of my grandfather. He was always so nice to me. He came to every baseball and football game I ever had. He took me golfing with him. He took me shopping with him. All I have are good memories of him. I’m thankful for the person that Pop was to me but it also disappoints me the way he was to my dad. Pop was the only person that showed me what it was like to experience death because he is the only person I was close to that passed away. Now, enough for all the ranting and getting off topic. What does my grandfather mean to me? I’m not really sure to be honest. My grandfather was always great to me but I only have so many memories from him. All I can remember him by are the things that people say about him. When I go golfing, I get greeted by everyone there and everyone tells me how great of a man my grandfather was and sometimes we even get to play for free or a discount. I listen to the stories that my dad says about him with him and with me. To me my grandfather is a man that cared a lot about me and cared a lot about his family. He may not have always been the best because he wasn’t always around, but the only reason he wasn't around is because he was working to provide for his family. The main thing that I remember my grandfather from is golfing, He volunteered there for the last couple years of his life. I would go there with him and find missing golf balls, then we would bring them back and try to sell them to the golfers for cheaper. So obviously my grandfather was somebody I loved and only had good memories with. I get upset that I forget about him a lot and don’t remember much about him, but that just makes me cherish the moments that I did have with him.

I decided to do my grandfather for this project because he was one of the only person in my life that passed away. Dia de los Muertos is a day to celebrate the dead and to honor those who have died. My whole life I have been sad and disappointed that my grandfather passed away when I was so young. However, I think it is good that I do this project on him because it is time I stop being sad about his passing and use this time to appreciate him and celebrate him. Instead I get to remember the good memories that I had with him. My sugar skull can reflect this person because of everything I put on it. The main thing I remember him by, as I said before, is golfing. This is where I had my best memories with him and I enjoyed it. I didn’t know how to represent golfing on a small skull like this so I remembered the hat that he always used to wear. Everytime I saw him he wore a hat for the golfing club that he went to so I decided to make that hat and put it on the skull. The other thing that I represented him by was his old white hair. I put this on here because this is another thing that I remembered him by. It was always really funny making fun of his hair because of how ridiculous it looked. The only other thing that I tried to represent him by was his favorite color which is why I painted the skull. I asked a few people what his favorite color was and I never really got a clear answer so I decided to put the three answers that I received onto the skull. Yellow, blue and red. I wish that I could have added a few other things to my skull but I couldn’t fit much else onto the skull. The same reason goes for the mask that I created. In the mask there are several different reasons that I drew what I drew. The first of which being the flowers. I drew the flowers to represents life and how nice my grandfather was. Another thing is the flower at the top. I made this one of the brightest points on the mask because it shows how intelligent my grandfather was since it is where his brain would be. I also put a golf ball in his mouth because I needed to show his love for golf somewhere since that is how I remember him the most.

Dia de los Muertos definitely opened up my mind to celebrating the passing of a loved one. Before learning about this, the time of year that Dia de los Muertos takes place would usually be me just celebrating Halloween. Instead, I took this time do remember some of the people that have passed and enjoy the memories I had with them. I never really thought about my grandfather much before Dia de los Muertos. Now I think that I will want to go visit him and remember all of the good times I had and celebrate.

English Eulogy:

1. Write an introduction that includes who you are

2. Write 1-2 sentences for each of the following categories

Reflecting the person:

1. Origen

2. Identification

3. Characteristics

Reflecting Yourself:

1. Location

2. Condition

     3)   Write a conclusion of 3-5 sentences.

Hello, my name is Jake Ashenfelter. When I was 7 years old my grandfather passed away. I loved him very much and will never forget him.   He was always smiling and made me smile as well. My grandfather was born and lived in Roxborough his whole life. He was a family man and everyone that knew him loved him. My grandfather worked in a factory his entire life. When he was not in a factory he would spend his time golfing. My grandfather was a kind and friendly man overall. He was funny, caring and humble. I will never forget my grandfather because of these reasons. Today I like to remember my grandfather in many different ways. I try to visit his grave because it will help me remember him and enjoy the memories more. I am not sad anymore about my grandfather passing away. Instead I remember everything we did with each other. I remember how much I love him and how much he loves me and I become happy.