{"id":58572,"date":"2013-12-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-political-science-graduates-contribute-essays-to-book-about-facing-death\/"},"modified":"2013-12-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-30T00:00:00","slug":"uri-political-science-graduates-contribute-essays-to-book-about-facing-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/12\/uri-political-science-graduates-contribute-essays-to-book-about-facing-death\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 political science graduates contribute essays to book about facing death"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tPolitical Science Professor Alfred G. Killilea is co-editor of

\n \u201cConfronting Death: College Students on the Community of Mortals\u201d<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 30, 2013 \u2013 Death. It\u2019s the only certainty in life, yet most avoid talking about the subject. It\u2019s simply too frightening to ponder.<\/p>\n


\nNow a new collection of essays by 溏心vlog免费B站 political science graduates brings death into the open and shows how mortality can unify people in today\u2019s troubled times.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cConfronting Death: College Students on the Community of Mortals,\u201d is a collection of 18 essays that explore how death can transform people and societies. The co-editor is Alfred G. Killilea, professor emeritus of political science at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n


\nKillilea, of Kingston, says the book is the result of essays he asked his students to submit for \u201cThe Politics of Being Mortal,\u201d a seminar he\u2019s been teaching for years about society\u2019s shifting views on death. As American politics withers from deep ideological divisions, Killilea says our mortality is a strong force for finding common ground.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cAt a time when our world seems to lack the moral and political will to confront enormous challenges to our planet and our very survival, confronting our common mortality may provide us with a powerful fulcrum for change,\u201d Killilea says. \u201cEnmities and enemies look a lot different when we are cognizant of the fact that we all will die.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nSome essays are strictly political, such as the ones about jihadist martyrs, child soldiers and the Nazis, who monstrously decided who was a human being \u2013 and who was not. Two essays examine suicide, including a well-trodden \u201csuicide forest\u201d on Mount Fuji in Japan, where \u201cnature guards\u201d patrol the woods searching for people considering suicide; another essay considers capital punishment from the perspective of a prison chaplain.<\/p>\n


\nOther essays explore death themes in the work of writers Kurt Vonnegut and Christopher Hitchens, who wrote searing articles about facing mortality as he battled esophageal cancer. He died of the illness in 2011. \u201cI\u2019ve often felt a sense of comfort that my life is finite, despite my fears associated with the actual death,\u201d writes contributor Danielle Dirocco in her piece about Hitchens. \u201cWhile many are threatened that we are merely a speck for barely a moment in time in the vastness of the universe, I find this fact to be awe-inspiring. I am proud that I am but one tiny element that makes up this amazing universe.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nOne essay looks at the evolution of the grim reaper from its origins in the black plague of the 14th century to its portrayal in Bill and Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey. Finally, one essay considers street gangs\u2019 attitude toward death, and another piece argues that climbing Mount Everest is a life-affirming experience, not a death wish.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cKirkus\u201d praised the essays, calling them lively and fascinating, despite the grim subject. The literary magazine singled out several essays, including Ashley Stoehr\u2019s piece examining Jane Goodall\u2019s research on chimpanzees. Her conclusion: death is \u201cnature\u2019s ultimate equalizer.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDylan Lynch, the book\u2019s other co-editor, also gets a nod in his essay about Vonnegut for pointing out that most people spend their days denying death, but are still crippled by the always-present fear of death. The book\u2019s message is that everything comes and goes, and that acceptance of death is key to living a rewarding life.<\/p>\n


\nA positive review also appeared in the literary magazine \u201cClarion.\u201d \u201cThat eighteen college students can write with such depth about community and mortality is impressive,\u201d the reviewer says. \u201cThis will definitely be a conversation starter.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHere are the contributors:<\/p>\n


\nAlfred Killilea received his bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his doctorate from the University of Chicago. He is the author of \u201cThe Politics of Being Mortal\u201d and is co-editor of \u201cEthical Dilemmas in Public Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nMax Cantor ’11, of New York City, is a student at the New York University School of Law.<\/p>\n


\nAlexander Colantonio ’11, ’13 (M.A.), lives in Smithfield. <\/p>\n


\nIlana Coenen ’13 lives in Providence. <\/p>\n


\nDanielle Dirocco ’09, ’13 (M.A.), of Narragansett, heads the graduate student union at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n


\nMargaret Frost ’11, of South Kingstown, works for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.<\/p>\n


\nLiana Goff ’11, of Fairfield, Conn., works on civil rights in New York City. <\/p>\n


\nAndrew Karanikolis ’10 lives in Wakefield. <\/p>\n


\nDylan Lynch ’10, ’12 (M.A.), of Pawtucket, is a law student at Tulane University. <\/p>\n


\nDan Magill ’12, of Portsmouth, is a graduate student in cyber forensics at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n


\nTess O\u2019Keefe ’11 is from South Kingstown and lives in Boston.<\/p>\n


\nSamantha Pettey ’11 (M.A.), is a doctoral candidate at the University of North Texas, focusing on American politics and research methodology. <\/p>\n


\nEli Roth ’11, of South Kingstown, works with at-risk youth in Boston.<\/p>\n


\nAshley Stoehr ’11 is pursuing her doctorate in fish physiology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.<\/p>\n


\nShelby Sullivan-Bennis ’11 lives in New York City and is a student at City University of New York School of Law.<\/p>\n


\nElizabeth Toppi ’11 is from Smithfield. <\/p>\n


\nChristopher Turco ’11 lives in Boston and is a student at New England School of Law.<\/p>\n


\nMorgan Zubof ’13 (M.A.), lives in Jamestown.<\/p>\n


\nPete Zubof ’13 (M.A.), lives in Jamestown and serves as an officer and a pilot in the U.S. Navy. <\/p>\n


\nTo buy the book, please visit the book\u2019s website at http:\/\/www.confrontingdeath.com. The book is also available on amazon.com. <\/p>\n


\nPhoto above: Alfred G. Killilea, professor emeritus of political science at the 溏心vlog免费B站. Photo by Nora Lewis\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Political Science Professor Alfred G. Killilea is co-editor of \u201cConfronting Death: College Students on the Community of Mortals\u201d KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 30, 2013 \u2013 Death. It\u2019s the only certainty in life, yet most avoid talking about the subject. It\u2019s simply too frightening to ponder. Now a new collection of essays by University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}