Closing Thoughts

Dying is hard and people cope in different ways.  Here's one:

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Feminist-Professors-Closing/131611/

Your Obituary (for 24-26 Apr 12)

Review the Preface and pp. 6-13 of Barry and The Death of Ivan Illyich.  What is the meaning of life?  What are you not realizing about life?  How might an examination of life inform your living?  Answer this question, in part, by thinking about your own obituary.  What do you need to do now in order to have that obituary?  Feel free to reference Barry, Palmer & Tolstoy in your response.

You + Philosophy + the Real World (24Apr12)

Philosophy in the world

Your lived experience

• What experiences in your life are hard to reconcile with our course material?  (Be specific in identifying the material).  Why is it hard?  What else could you do to square your thinking/philosophizing and your lived experience?

More Philosophy?

• Would you take an additional philosophy course if money/time weren’t factors?  Explain.

The Diving Bell & the Butterfly

What observations or questions do you have about the film?

April current events

*New* 22Apr12 Perhaps Joel Sparkle was right in general, just not about heroin. . .
 For a small group of researchers and their patients facing death, psychedelic drugs aren’t a hippie palliative. They’re a new way to approach the most dire time of life. http://nyti.ms/JkfNTQ

16April12 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/04/dying-green-explores-conservation-through-natural-burial.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=pbs In countries hardest hit by the downturn, including Ireland and Italy, small-business men and entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their own lives. http://nyti.ms/IFqjpf

Grapes of Wrath

I saw a production of Grapes of Wrath over the weekend at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.  It was a fantastic performance and I'll bribe you with extra credit (up to 5 points and you have to write a review of it).  You can rush (cheaper) student tickets an hour or two before the show.  I'll post some quotes from the play later this week, but I think the novel/play have much to say to a class like ours.

Ivan Ilych

What else do you want to say about Ivan?  He did not die well -- what steps can you take to die better?

Good Friday (for 2Apr12)

So, I would be remiss not to post this topic:
As appropriate, reflect on the meaning of Easter, death, new life, spring, etc.