ALASKA, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE WEST AND DIAGRAM OF A CASKET
Alaska is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., it borders the Canadian province of British Columbia and the Yukon territory to the east; it also shares a maritime border with the Russian Federation's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug to the west, just across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean, while the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest.
Alaska is by far the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the next three largest states (Texas, California, and Montana) combined. It represents the seventh-largest subnational division in the world. It is the third-least populous and the most sparsely populated state, but by far the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel, with a population of 736,081 as of 2020—more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. The state capital of Juneau is the second-largest city in the United States by area, and the former capital of Alaska, Sitka, is the largest U.S. city by area.
What is now Alaska has been home to various indigenous peoples for thousands of years; it is widely believed that the region served as the entry point for the initial settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge. The Russian Empire was the first to actively colonize the area beginning in the 18th century, eventually establishing Russian America, which spanned most of the current state. The expense and logistical difficulty of maintaining this distant possession prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$7.2 million (equivalent to $140 million in 2021), or approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km2). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.
While it has one of the smallest state economies in the country, Alaska's per capita income is among the highest, owing to a diversified economy dominated by fishing, natural gas, and oil, all of which it has in abundance. U.S. Armed Forces bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy.
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English periodical The Monthly Review, when he suggested the word as a hybrid, but condemned it as "pedantic". However, its next recorded use was in its present sense, by Robert Southey in 1809. Despite only being named early in the nineteenth century, first-person autobiographical writing originates in antiquity. Roy Pascal differentiates autobiography from the periodic self-reflective mode of journal or diary writing by noting that "[autobiography] is a review of a life from a particular moment in time, while the diary, however reflective it may be, moves through a series of moments in time". Autobiography thus takes stock of the autobiographer's life from the moment of composition. While biographers generally rely on a wide variety of documents and viewpoints, autobiography may be based entirely on the writer's memory. The memoir form is closely associated with autobiography but it tends, as Pascal claims, to focus less on the self and more on others during the autobiographer's review of their own life.
Arm – The arm is a part of the casket handle that attaches the handlebar to the lug or ear of the casket. It is secured to the outside of the casket with either a single or double lug.
Base Molding – This the molding along the lowermost edge of the body panels of the casket.
Bottom – It is simply the bottom portion of the casket. It generally consists of some type of interior padding so that the deceased appears comfortable in the casket.
Bridge – The bridge refers to the sides of the transverse cut in the cap (lid). These are the exposed sides of a two-piece lid in a half-couch casket.
Corner – The corner is an optional part of the hardware attached to the four corners of the body panels. Many casket companies offer the option to replace the standard casket corners with unique pieces to honor the deceased. These personalized corners can be removed before the burial if the family wishes to keep them as a memento.
Crown – The crown is the top portion of the cap or the lid. It is basically everything that covers the casket above the rim.
Extend over – This is a component of the casket interior that wraps over the head or the top body molding. The extend over is purely for aesthetic value.
Fish Tail – The fishtail is also called the pie. It is the wedge-shaped portion at the end of each crown that slants down.
Fold – The fold is also called the gimp. It is a strip of metal, plastic, or cloth attached to the inside of the panel. It covers the area where the roll is attached.
Handle – This handle is the part of the casket where pallbearers hold on to. It can also be called a bar or handlebar. The three types of handles are swing bar, stationary bar, and bail handle.
A swing bar is a moveable casket handle with a hinged arm, while a stationary bar is non-moveable. Both handles can be in full, individual, or single sizes.
Lastly, a bail handle is a single handle that combines the lug, arm, and bar into one unit. Bail handles are screwed to the outside sidewall of the casket.
Hinge Cover – A hinge cover, also called a skirt, is a component of the casket interior that covers the hinges. The hinge cover is usually the same color as the roll as it extends towards the body lining.
Hinge Piece – The hinge is a part that connects the cap (lid) to the body of the casket.
Inside Lid Flange – This is the inner rim that surrounds the roll.
Interior Panel – The interior panel is also called the head panel which is the inside portion of the cap (lid). The interior panel can be personalized. Many families choose decorative embroidered panels that are visible in open casket viewings.
Lug or Ear – The lug is a part of the casket handle attached to the casket body. Typically, there are 8 lugs per casket with 3 on each long side of the casket and 1 on each short side.
Overlay – The overlay is also called the throw or overthrow. It is the aesthetic covering that resembles a throw draped over the foot cap or inner foot panel of the casket.
Overlay Skirt – The overlay skirt is also called the apron. It is a lining attached to the undersurface of the foot panel or is sometimes part of the overlay (or throw). It extends downward into the casket covering the bottom portion of the casket.
Pie (Fishtail) – The wedge-shaped portion of the cap (lid) at each end of the crown
Pillow Box – A pillow box is where the pillow top is placed.
Pillow Top – A pillow is simply a cloth bag filled with soft materials in order to support the head of the deceased.
Rolls –The roll is also called the cove or puffing. It is the curved interior part of the casket that lines the rim (ogee) and surrounds the cap panel.
Tip – The tip is a decorative part of the casket handle. It covers the exposed ends of the handlebar.
Top Body Molding – Also called the body ledge, the top body molding is the part along the uppermost edge of the body panels.
Top Frame or Ogee – The top frame is also called the rim or ogee. It is a part of the cap that is shaped like a double curve or like an elongated letter “S”. The molding of the casket into these curves was done in order to use less material. Instead of keeping the lid resemble a big box, they designed it into the ogee. The molding of the rim comes in different ratios.
