Survival

To survive is messy, elaborate, and layered. Survival conjures hills alive with survivalists, such misconstrued terms as "survival of the fittest," the defiance reflected in Gloria Gaynor's 1980s disco anthem "I Will Survive," and states of being "a survivor" of abuse, war, or rape. Survival's topicality extends beyond controversies around life and death expectancy to planned life termination, as well as the continuing fascination with suicide and now ecocide. Posing "survival" invites the question: What didn't survive?