Feedback

(The Nice Ones)

Most e-mails I have received are very nice.  If you want to write me a nice e-mail, click on the "E-mail me" button at the bottom of the left button bar (yeah, yeah, you can e-mail me even if you don't want to be nice. I'm a big boy, and I'll only mock you mercilessly for anything you write that hurts my feelings).

I have received e-mail feedback from over 1,000 people writing from at least 41 of the US States (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington DC, and Wisconsin) and 39 other countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and Venezuela). I say "at least" because not everyone identifies where they are writing from, so I am sure the list could be extended.

Here's some of the nice (or simply entertaining) feedback I have received, in case you are really, really bored.  Because these people were nice to me, I corrected any spelling or punctuation errors I found, but the words are their own, since I'm not quite narcissistic enough to write my own complimentary feedback.

If you still are bored after this page, check out the chronological order of when I visited the graves.  Guaranteed to provide minutes of mindless, uninteresting entertainment.

[***My own comments are in green italics***]

At the suggestion of a friend, I paid your site a visit.  She described it as "a totally awesome site," but I thought I would see for myself.  I guess I couldn't find better words to describe it!

Your site is obviously well-planned and easy to maneuver;  the best of information would be "lost" if it were not for such planning and ease of use.

I bookmarked the site so that I can return.  So far, I have had time only to check some of the Presidents, some assassins, and a couple of architects.

Wonderful job!

- Tom

I just stumbled onto your site this morning while I was doing some research. I am amazed at how much interesting information and pictures you have. There isn't anything about your site I don't like. The topics are well defined and the pictures beautiful. A lot of history here and a lot of places I will probably never have the chance to see are at least pictured here.

Thank you for sharing your travel with the rest of us.

- Dale (Mooreland, Indiana)

Je suis un lyceen français et j'ai eu un expose sur rheinland pfalz a faire

je dois dire que ton site est super !!!!!

Pour illustré la parti des monument a voir dans mainz j'ai pris plein de photos qui m'on bien servi !!!

J'ai moi meme visité mainz c'est une ville tres belle et pitoresque.

Encore merci pour ton site.

Bonne continuation.

- Morgan (France)

Great site, great name. You really look like all the Reed's I ever knew.

Later,

Mike Reed (Phoenix, Arizona)

[I believe I have received e-mails from at least 5 different "Michael Reed"s, two more of those follow]

Your site is the best I've seen. My name, as you see, is the same, and I'm also 30 years old. But I haven't really been anywhere like you. Just some neighboring states. I just saw your site and thought it was cool. Keep up the great adventures. 

Thank You,

Michael Reed

I visited your web site because I was bored today and searched Google under my name, which is Michael Reed.  I thought I would email you to let you know that you have a very interesting site, and I commend you for all your travels to Europe.  I am jealous because I have always wanted to go to Europe but have never taken the initiative to do so.  I am 1/2 Irish and always wanted to check out Ireland and the Pubs.  Anyways good luck and continue to explore!! 

Sincerely,

Mike Reed

Hey, this is just to say that your site is great.. Nice pictures.

- Vander (Brazil)

Dear Mike,

This is the most profoundly beautiful site I have ever seen!!

Just what exactly do you do? Not that it matters, but would you have considered making them into post cards or selling them to tourism promotion offices?

I haven't yet gone through all your journal photos, but I had to write and say that what I have seen until now would want to make anyone travel to these destinations.

We, me and my husband, try and travel as much as we can. Spain, Turkey and Egypt we have done. They are beautiful places..

We live in Cairo, Egypt and we come from India.

Thank you for sharing,

Regards,

- Anjana (Egypt)

I accidentally came across your website and I was definitely thrilled to death! ;o)

I simply must commend you for a job well done...the photos are great and the text is witty (and hilarious!)

I totally agree with your reasons for visiting these places as I myself am a sucker for historical stuff.

Great job and hopefully you can feature some cemeteries in Asia as well! ;o)

Kudos!

- Ivan (Manila, Philippines) 

I think it is a masterpiece, because a man can only have so much time to travel to all of these places, and I think you've done a wonderful job doing what you enjoy.  Even if you've been kicked out, at least you attempted to do something that you set as a goal. The people who emailed you all those ridiculously jealous feedbacks are obviously too narrow-minded to see the true person you are portraying yourself to be on this website. You are good at your hobby. Keep up the great work!

P.S. - When I die, visit my gravesite... :)

- Corrine

I gotta tell you I love your site.  Your dedication to your research is very interesting.  All those people who bash you about your site can just eat crow. The things they say are dumb. I would like to see them put in the same time and effort you have. I just wanted to let you know there are people out there who appreciate your great work.

- Teresa

I too was amused by the negative feedback you received, and I am glad that you can let it "roll off your back."  I admired you for posting their comments, but I am sure you received some positive feedback at some point.  It's fascinating that you visited those places. The web-site is well organized with great photos and detail. Someone who criticized your comments on the occupants I enjoyed it for what it was; one's personal experience and impressions. If you had reported the "hard cold facts" alone, it would have been as interesting as reading a highway marker.

 - William

Screw those idiots that have nothing better to do than criticize! I think you've done a fantastic job, as I too love going to cemeteries. These critics are simply jealous they haven't been to any cemeteries like you have.  This site is fine the way it is. Keep up the great work!  Thanks for your site,

- Timothy (Daytona Beach, Florida)

I have spend the better part of four days viewing your website, The Cemetery Project.  Great work.  Friends and others have never understood that when I travel I always include cemeteries on my schedule of things to see and do.

I have a million comments but I will not even try at this moment. 

Just wanted to say "Credit where credit is due." 

- Charles (Detroit, Michigan)

I was trying to find some Germany castles at Google and suddenly I found your web site...

I have so many questions about the places you visited, but for a first email it is too much! Hehe Congratulations on your site! The pictures are amazing! (you helped me to improve my Da Vinci pictures folder). You seem to be a very interesting person!

 Have a good night!

- Rebecca (Brazil)

   Mister Mike, I share your enthusiasm for exploring cemeteries with the yet to be explored Pere-Lachaise in Paris at the top of my list.

Thanks for your efforts, especially the light-hearted approach to your detractors in the feedback section.

Carry on laddie! Oh, and don't sell my email address or you may find your name chiseled in granite.

- El Unkibo

[I believe this is the only death threat I've ever received for my site...lol]

Hey what's up. I just wanted to let you know that your site is absolutely intriguing. I found your site while searching on Google for pictures of the Pope. Google linked me to your religious graves and I was browsing your site until my eyes were burning, about 4 hours. I don't know what it is but I can't stop reading about the graves and stories that go along with them, especially the odd ones. Like Saint Catherine of Siena, with her finger and head (on display!) in a separate place from her body. The Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg has the nicest grave I've ever seen. Although Michelangelo's grave looks like it must be so fabulous in person. It just seems like these places are so spiritual and deep in feeling, it would be crazy to visit most of them. I hope this site is your pride and joy, because it's amazing. To think you were all over the world taking pictures of these graves. You're either really rich with a lot of time, or your site is a lifetime's worth of work.  Thanks a lot for your time.

- Christopher

I think your site is aMAzing!

Those on the feedback page don't know what they're talking about.

You're not sick for taking pictures of famous people's graves.

How can they call you sick? They didn't even see the pictures of you digging up the graves and...

oh wait...

um...

Your site is aMAzing!

- Danny (Chicago, Illinois)

I have to write a obituary for Robert Wilhelm Bunsen please help me I have no idea and its due tomorrow

- Missy

[I left this one completely unedited.  It's not really negative or positive feedback, but it is illustrative of requests that I get regularly that amuse me sometimes.  I also find amusing when people write to complain that their family members are not among the graves I have visited :-) ]

Dear Those Who Don't Get It,

For those who love history, this is our one chance to both honor the memory of the person and physically experience just a small part of their being.  I never met Abraham Lincoln and never have a been emotional about his death because I read about it in books.  However, make the drive to Springfield, and if you don't become emotional then you will never understand the value of what we do.  You simply will never understand the pain of Jackie Kennedy until you stand at the foot of her grave and think of the children she lost at such young ages, never mind the murder of her husband.  How many of you have stood a mere six feet away from the most important figures in world history?

Or bring it down to a more simple level.  How about the Dickinson family near where I live.  Their graves are normal 1930s-era markers.  What is heart-breaking is the row of nine small, heart-shaped stones with tiny little lambs on top, with each and every stone mourning the loss of yet another child.  Or how about the Civil War soldier in Cades Cove, Tennessee, who has "murdered by rebels" on his stone.  Clearly that was a statement he wished the whole world to read, not just the seven families that comprised Cades Cove in the mid-19th Century.

 PS: Always judge a city by how they feed their living and bury their dead.

- Bobby

I live on the Isle of Skye, where time doesn't really mean anything, but I am horrified to find I have lost 2 hours tonight browsing through your wonderful pictures.

Regards,

- May (Scotland)

I have to say your site is one of the best I've ever visited since I started into the internet. It is exquisite!!!!!! I've never in my life seen such work of art. I commend you for doing something most of us can't or won't. I really couldn't say enough about how much I've enjoyed the site. Fabulous work!!!!!.

Sincerely, a little ole housewife,

- Victoria (Florida)

[I must say I enjoy how reserved and restrained Victoria was with her praise of the site....lol]

While surfing the net, I stumbled upon your website and I must say that I find it a fascinating one at that!  I am a history freak, and I agree that studying the actual gravesites of people around the world teaches you so much about history. Being a South African with a relative young history (from a Western perspective), we do not have a lot of gravesites like Europe, for instance. Two weeks ago, I spent a week in London, and I literally walked from church to church (abbeys, cathedrals etc), marveling at some of the gravesites and contemplating their contents!

Kind regards

- Jannie (Johannesburg, South Africa)

My pleasure, your website is downright addicting. :-)

I admire you, this is one great hobby!! So cool to see someone that is actually documenting his travels and letting us share the experience with you. Very cool.

 Take care, and thanks,

- Bob

Hi

all the good pics!  I like them.

- Jieer (China)

[Having struggled for 2 years in Europe trying to learn French, I really appreciate when someone overcomes their fear of communicating in a language other than their own, and I thought this one was completely adorable!]