Walter Percy’s Lost in the cosmos and St Augustine’s City of God pose several very interesting questions about suicide. After re-reading both several times I believe I came to better understand each. Personally, I feel as though Percy’s Lost in the Cosmos is more understandable and relatable for my age group but the City of God poses a more common argument used when referencing suicide. In the City of God, Augustine introduces the topic of suicide through a particular instance in which women were killing themselves to avoid being raped by bandits. He states in the passage that “it is clear that no one had a private right to kill even a guilty man, then certainly anyone who kills himself is a murderer”. In this he essentially is saying that anyone who has killed themselves is guilty of murder.

When reading this piece I immediately connected this to 9/11. This connection I made came from a documentary I watched entitled 9/11: The falling man. In this documentary they follow the story of a man who jumped from the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The documentary states that as many as 200 people jumped from the towers that day. Of those that jumped, several have been unidentified. I found that the interesting part of the jumping man phenomenon is that those individuals were already at the face of death. I question if they were jumping in hopes of saving themselves or to commit suicide and in fact murder themselves.

Reading both City of God and Lost in the cosmos seem important to our literature because it allows us to see the many ways topics like death can be approached.

Marino, Gordon. “All Lives Matter vs Black Lives Matter.” University Library Off CampusLoginforLicensedResources,eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=6dcc7c6a2b9946b8a047672a53435b16%40sessionmgr4009&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edsgcl.431800428&db=edsglr. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

The passage is an academic journal that focuses on the Black lives matter versus all lives matter debate that has been trending in the media since the 2013 Trayvon Martin case. It speaks on the judgement and negative connotations associated with the name that in return result in the belief that the organization’s motive is to act as a terrorist organization or hate group. In this journal the author cites the Black lives matter mission statement and uses it as a foundation to explain how the have made their public statements. It discuss how activists interact with prime leaders to gain national attention. It sheds light on some major misunderstandings of the black lives matter movement that has brought rise to the contrasting All lives matter movement. It draws in past statistics and incidents that exemplify how all lives matter acts as a dismissing of the injustices faced by African American people.

This passage pertains to my research interest because it highlights the very purpose of my research. The article highlights an important misunderstanding that occurs within the Black Lives Matter movement. The idea that the black lives matter is saying that other lives don’t is the exact misunderstanding that gave life to the all lives matter rebuttal. The article also highlights specific statistics in the black male incarceration rate that are meant to provide proof of the injustices African Americans face in comparison to White Americans. The article also sheds light on another common response to the black lives matter which is “what about black on black crime”. It also mentions that because of these points BLM is labeled as a terrorist group. These points are important to the impact all lives matter has on black lives matter because they highlight why it’s able to dismiss BLM’s true purpose.

Initially, when reading Paradise Lost, much like my peers , I experienced quite a bit of confusion. The writing style took me for a bit of a whirl when I attempted to comprehend the reading. The first association I made between the reading and pop culture was the unforeseen features both have. Within the first few lines of the story there were several references to birth and babies. Words such as ” infant” and “laboring” were used to describe the birth of Death. Ideally, in society words referring to child birth and children are heavily associated with joy and happiness. In this case the words convey just the opposite by describing the birth of Death, Satan and Sin’s son. In this way the scene of the story provides some irony because it is contrasting to the common views individuals typically have about child birth.This relates to pop culture because at given moment one can believe  their actions or words will yield positive outcomes and they result in just the opposite. For example, Youtube has become very popular social media site internationally. With the creation of many Youtube videos has come the idea of the ” Clickbait” title. This in many case is a title that a Youtuber  will use to mislead the viewers into expecting a particular outcome in the video. Then the Youtuber will speak of something different then what the title alluded to. This much like the birth of Death in the story, takes a normally positive assumption or connotation and distorts it. Additionally, in the story Satan and Death have what Milton describes as a “Mexican Stand off” where both has weapons drawn and are prepared to kill each other.This is representative of moments in pop culture where the relatively unexpected outcomes occur.

Peer review can be help if those in the group choose to make the best of it. Peer review is something that can only give you as much back as you put in. If you put in the effort and come prepared with questions and information you can share or are willing to learn them the peer review should be beneficial. I personally feel that there is valuable lessons and information to learn from our peers. The additional insight on a topic can widen your perspective and allow you to better your own content.

This meme background implies that the phrase ” haters gonna hate” means that because haters will hate you shall remain care free as the individual is in the image.

The cat in this meme background exhibits carefreeness much like the one before it by strolling along. He has nothing in his hands allowing for even more of a stroll.

This meme background is the most different from the others. Much like the other ones he is strolling seemingly care free. The flower in his hand helps further the idea that he is care free and happy. His body shape implies that it seems as though he can’t be stopped therefore the haters hating do not affect him.