Hwk 56

Comments to others:
Sophia,
I like how you questioned your reader at first, then started to answer these questions throughout your essay. Your questions made me pause and think about an answer to each of them before reading on. I was interested in how a body decomposes; as a class we discussed different approaches to death such as burial, cremation and embalming, but we never really went into each approach to death and how it is played out. I think it would have been even more interesting if you had put in some pictures for each stage of decomposition. I was able to create pictures in my head while reading your paper, but I was curious to see what each stage actually looks like. I know some of these photos might have been disturbing to some viewers, but this is a natural way of death; there is nothing abnormal about it. Nice job.
Amber M.

Martyna,
I was interested in reading about the different stages that one experiences when they lose their loved one. Everyone approaches death differently and they may approach these steps differently as well. I feel like it depends on the person and how close they were to their loved one. The closer they were, the longer it will take for them to finally accept the death of their loved one. I didn’t know that there were so many steps involved within grieving for a loss. When I think about people who recently lost their loved one, I think of them crying for a couple of days then going back to their normal routine. After reading this, I was able to figure out that this is not the case. The grieving period is much more longer than I thought it would be. Now I realize that one cannot go straight to accepting the death of their loved one. They had probably spent a great amount of time with them; they shouldn’t be expected to move on with their lives right after a great loss. I think it would have been nice if you had added your own thoughts or personal experiences to the seven stages of grief. Otherwise good job.
Amber M.
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Comments from others:
From Arden:
I remember you telling me about your project. I was interested then and after reading it I think the project turned out really well. I liked how you made the piece very personal by writing about your views and practice based off of your own religion. You managed to take the piece a step deeper by a temping to learn about other religion aside form your own.

Your research strongly supports what you said "that religion does indeed affect the way one approaches death and his or her thoughts on the afterlife. " I think you could have improved this piece by comparing and contrasting the dominant practices in each religion. Similarities and differences.
Good job

From Protege (Brother):
I think you did a good job. I know you go to Madarsa every weekend, but reading this helped me understand some stuff you have learned from there. I think it was a good choice to compare what people from other faiths say about the afterlife and how they care for their dead. Our society is very diverse and it looks like you are interested in comparing and contrasting your thoughts to what others have to say. I think the verses from the Quran and Hadith were useful to show your readers where your thoughts are originally coming from. I would have liked to hear more about you and your thoughts towards the end.

From Mentor (Mom):
Amber,
Nice way to approach your project, I am glad that you were able to approach it by doing something other than a paper. I like how you used what you learn in madarsa and incorporated it within this project. After reading this I was able to have a better understanding of religion and how it helps shape someones thoughts. I didn't have much knowledge on how people from other faiths approach death or how it shapes their thoughts about the afterlife, but by reading your interviews I was able to learn a lot. It seems like those of the Catholic faith have the same idea of heaven and hell in the afterlife as we do. Those of the Jewish faith don't really have an idea about the after life. It would have been nice if you were able to do a couple more interviews with people from other faiths such as Budhism and Hinduism. Other than that you did a great job.
Mom