sleepers. one of the things that we did catch while up there was this exhibit of human cadavers entitled "the universe within." this controversial display is the most mind blowing thing i've seen in a while. what a group of scientists have done is taken human bodies and cut them up. and then through the amazing process of plastination, they've preserved the bodies in malleable form to show you the insides. they exhibit more than two hundred pieces of the human body, exposing muscles, nerves, bones, brains, veins and everything in-between. it's pretty ridiculous.

at first, everything seems so fake, but then slowly you start to see the cadavers as real people. this might seem counter-intuitive, since i'd imagine that you usually are shocked at the sight of a dead person, and then eventually get used to seeing it as just an object. it was exactly the opposite for me. i started to see the bodies as being more living than dead. and it kind of tripped me out that all these bodies were chinese. just the slanted eyes were enough to make me uncomfortable to the point that i started feeling as if these bodies on display were somehow closer to me than it would be to a non-asian. stupid i know.

but really, seeing your people all dissected and torn apart, with visitors pointing and accidentally prodding their insides, kind of makes you uncomfortable. it's hard to explain the exhibit without actually experiencing it. imagine going into a room where people who kind of look like you are all dead, stuffed, and put on display. then imagine those models torn up and turned inside out. it was an interesting exhibit to be sure; educational to some and extremely fascinating for all. but it was a little too crazy. i saw the insides of dead people. and man, look at those smoker's lungs. ugh.