SSA could not be possible without the generous support of Drs. Herbert A. and Betty Lou Lubs and the Science, Society, and the Arts Research Conference Endowment. We are deeply grateful!
Streaming Services and Responsibility in the Music Industry: Morality, Corporate Form, and an Alternative Model (Paper) Kathleen Sharpe It is no secret that the music industry is in crisis. Even streaming services, such as Spotify, the ubiquitous streaming platform, has never been profitable. Spotify currently awards one-tenth of a penny to artists per stream, while 80% of their annual revenue is spent on licensing and royalties to major record labels. In this article, I will advocate for a different business model for streaming platforms in which streaming services will work directly with the artists. I will discuss bringing value back to the music industry by altering streaming models. I will that giving larger amounts of revenue to artists is not only a better business model, but is in and of itself an act of corporate social responsibility. Finally, I will discuss what allows streaming services, such as Tidal, who do give more revnue to artists, to perform under this model, by discussing the corporate form.
The CSR of Private Prisons (Paper) Chloe Bilodeau I would like to write my paper about the Corporate Social Responsibility of prison labor. I will discuss both the positives and negatives of this type of CSR. I hope to come at this topic from both sides of the aisle but will ultimately propose that they do not engage in this practice. Many scholars find prison labor to be a human rights violation. Others find it to be a rehabilitative opportunity for the prisoners whereby they learn valuable skills. My audience for the paper would be a private corporation deciding whether to use prison labor. I found several scholarly articles about this topic. I may also discuss the evils of private prisons to persuade the corporation not to profit off of this enterprise.
Norfolk Southern: Behaviors and Events Related to Fraud Risks (Paper) Matthew Rickert An analysis of Norfolk Southern Corporations structured and unstructured data to determine possible and probable fraud schemes.
Corporate Social Responsibility in the Pharmaceutical World: An Alternative Approach (Paper) Hollie Webb This project came about through Professor Kish Parella's law seminar course, Corporate Social Responsibility. This paper will look at the social responsibility of pharmaceutical companies regarding drug pricing under the current predominant business model of shareholder primacy. I will analyze this through the case of Pfizer's price increase on its childhood pneumonia vaccine, showing how the shareholder model will inevitably continue to produce similar results. Finally, using Edward Freeman's stakeholder theory, I will suggest an alternative model and describe how that might look.
What is Home? (Creative Writing) Azmain Amin, Al Mubarak Adeliye, Joseph Kerr, JoAnn Michel, Dario Muniz, Sidney Sikes, Charles Snedaker, Katrina Spiezo, Kristina Stukalin Critical, creative and theatrical presentations exploring the immigrant experience and the many meanings of and concepts related to home, the loss of home, and the yearning of home.
Murder Mystery (Creative Writing) Ryann Carpenter As a group assignment in Calculus with Biological Applications, we created our own problem that has to be solved with calculus. Our problem involves intricate plot lines and creative details in order to capture the audiences' attention. To solve the problem, one must use several calculus methods like anti-derivatives to find the solution
Chinese Cinematic Experience (Paper) Yolanda Yang, Savannah Kimble By comparing movies shown in Chinese cinemas and their original version shown in the US, we have proven that a number of films are censored by the Chinese authorized institution SARFT. Our findings include: the main reason for censorship is the various cultural differences between China and the western countries; there are three main types of censorship: film clipping, film editing and eliminating from cinemas; the globalization trend has caused some films that were initially censored in China to become accessible in their full formats now; the growing of Chinese economy has resulted in Hollywood catering movies to Chinese audiences. Besides, we also interviewed local Chinese people and professors in Beijing, collecting their views of the movie censorship policies; thus, by observing how the policies has influenced people's life currently we could possibly predict the changes of the policies in the near future.
“Candle in the Wind”: Modern Material Culture and Iconography in American Cemeteries (Paper) Bryan D’Ostroph When one reflects upon a life they have lived, by whom or what do they want to be remembered? In modern American cemeteries, there has been a shift since the end of the twentieth century to memorialize one’s life through novel forms of gravestone iconography and material culture. This shift is somewhat of a paradox, as the specificity of the objects has decreased in scope while the variation has increased. By employing anthropological theory and case studies from the field, this research begins to look at how this paradoxical shift has changed social relationships in American communities and whether this has shaped a new form of solidarity amongst its members.
The Faeries of Tomm Moore's Song of the Sea: Ancient Roots and Modern Connotations (Paper) Alice Kilduff Tomm Moore’s animated feature Song of the Sea urges Irish audiences to return to their pre-Christian roots. Cultural revival not only gives Ireland a distinct identity in the post-colonial and post-Celtic Tiger age but also serves as an environmentalist strategy: given the animistic nature of druidism and the superstitions descended from it, the Irish cannot revive their culture without protecting the environment, and vice versa. In this paper, I discuss how the faeries are the central vehicles for this message in the film, harnessing Irish oral tradition that views the faeries as both the ancients and the intermediaries between nature and humanity. Moore takes stories and taboos about faeries and updates them, breaks them, turns the faeries into creatures with which humans must interact, whose survival depends on being remembered by humanity. Through interaction with faerie mythology, nature regains its sacredness, and a mandate for its protection is thereby created.
Heroes, Zombies, & Paranoia: American Film after 9/11 (Paper) Virginia Kettles My research paper looks at the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and its effects on American cinema in the years following the event. This draws specifically on films directly about 9/11, censorship of films with terrorist or twin towers imagery, the rise of escapism with fantasy epics, and the connection of increasingly-popular zombie films with the War on Terror.
Ambition in Italy: A Cultural Examination of the Transition Between School and Work (Paper) Diana Banks This presentation will explore the themes of ambition and motivation through the lens of a critical transition in emerging adulthood - the transition from school to the working world, where many young people face the smaller questions of, "What do I want to do" along with larger concepts of "Who do I want to be?". I investigated the factors of influence during this decision-making process, and went to Italy to understand how Italians and Americans feel differently about pursuing their "next step". My presentation will explore interview accounts to reveal insights about the Italian school system, the influence of cultural expectations, and methods of encouragement that affect motivation and ambition during this stage of life. These findings are relevant to the way we choose to guide young adults through the process of actively navigating their future, but explores a transitionary period that is felt and understood personally by all.
Engineering Community Development Bios and Water Filter in Belize (Digital Story) Ryder Babik, Walker Brand, Charlie Connellan, Bennett Hermann, Matt Lubas, Stephen McCaffery, Natalie Smith, Kennedy Wynn-Gibson My team and I of Engineering Community Development will be building a Bio-Sand Water Filtration system at a local elementary school in a Mennotite community through a local contacts with an organization called Basecamp Belize. This trip over Feb Break, we will be looking at maintence of a prior built filter, discussing the challenges of the build/ communication, and scouting out future projects in Belize- like a solar sterilization unit. We hope to partner our colloquium with other groups presenting on challenges/ experiences in Belize.
From Country to Campus: Covering Third-Year Housing through Digital Storytelling (Digital Story) Katherine Paxton, Kiki Spiezio, Caroline Sanders, Brandon Walsh, and several people who have already graduated This project, From Country to Campus: Third-Year Housing Shifts W&L's Storied Social Scene, was reported, produced and designed by 14 students who enrolled in a course taught for the first time in fall 2015 at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. The course, Multimedia Storytelling Design, attracted journalism, history, politics and English majors who wondered how The New York Times and The Guardian put together their Pulitzer Prize-winning interactive stories, Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek and NSA Files Decoded: What the Revelations Mean for You. Students went "behind the curtain" and learned basic web design and programming skills through HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and used other digital tools to imagine, design and create powerful, compelling interactive features with audio, video, graphics—and words—that are on the cutting edge of journalism and mass communications
From Dirt to Display Case: Archaeology of the Athenian Agora (Digital Story) Mason Grist I was a member of the excavations at the Agora of Classical Athens this summer; I learned a lot about Classical Greece, especially the Agora, during my work. The presentation will be an expanded version of a 30-minute presentation I have prepared for the Classics Department to be given September 22. Specifically, I will discuss the use of technology in the field today and how uncovering artifacts helps us in the greater goal of uncovering and understanding the space where some of the greatest statesmen in history once stood.
Get Out There (Digital Story) Harry Lustig I will be showing a video "digital story" of various travel and study abroad experiences with spoken voice overs from personal travel journals. The overall message is to have a positive outlook and to "get out there." I hope that this video will inspire others to get outdoors and reap its many benefits.
French Identity and Algerian Immigration (Paper) Jack McGee In this project, I examine the history of immigration from Algeria to France in the 20th Century. Discourse about immigrants from Algeria, a former French settler colony, offers a helpful case study to understand the construction of “French” identity in relation to colonial subjects. With the rise of the xenophobic far right in France, this paper will help contextualize that rhetoric within a larger historical trajectory. It will also help to connect current discourse on race and sexuality to former colonial policy. An exclusive notion of ‘Frenchess’ as white, secular, and sexually ‘modern’ formed during the colonial period and worked to create distance between France and its colonies beginning in the 19th Century. This paper will explore both the history of immigration from Algeria and the ways in which rhetoric about immigration creates an exclusive French identity.
Writing an Honors Thesis Through the Digital Humanities (Paper) Abdurrafey Khan Huon d'Auvergne is a Franco-Italian epic about a man and his journey into Hell. The epic poem survives in the form of four different manuscripts found across Europe as well as a digital edition. The project involves digitizing and displaying all four versions of the story side by side on a single website to make close reading and text analysis possible, and requires the application of several digital humanities techniques. This project will present these techniques and how they were used in order to create the website and a digital honors project.
A Tale of Two André's (Paper) Sam Gibson My paper examines two figures in the discourse on homosexuality, Marc-André Raffalovich who wrote on homosexuality around the turn of the century, and celebrated author André Gide, who wrote the controversial Corydon in 1924. Both men attempted to subvert the contemporary narratives about homosexuality both directly and indirectly; however, both of their works employ uniquely French vocabularies about sexuality in telling ways. Both Raffalovich and Gide attempt to construct a homosexual identity to fit compatibly with wider French society and its values of masculinity, virility, valor, and natalism. Gide, motivated by his unique personal morality, and Raffalovich, inspired by his profound Catholic faith, both seek to push back against the pathologizing discourse. In this way, we can use texts that were explicitly meant to challenge narratives about homosexuality to illustrate the structural influence of the very same political and social forces that undergirded the medical and moral repudiation of homosexuality.
The Burkini Controversy in France (Paper) John Dannehl Controversy erupted across France this past summer due to the banning of the burkini, a type of swimsuit worn predominantly by Muslim women. In several cities across the country, mayors banned the swimsuit, citing security concerns after the July 14th, 2016 terrorist attack in Nice. What began as a local issue in the French press quickly evolved into a national scandal, touching on issues of economics, national identity, religious expression, and feminism. This presentation will focus on a sub-theme of the burkini controversy, using a variety of articles from the French press and academic literature to explain how and why a simple article of clothing created such a lasting uproar in French society. Was it worth it to ban the burkini in the name of national security? Does the ban offer a larger commentary on the integration of French Muslims into contemporary French society?
Taming the Knights Templar: from Fighting Frescoes to Marian Murals (Paper) Aidan Valente This paper examines the historical, social, and religious contexts surrounding a set of frescos within the Templar chapels at Cressac and Coulommiers, France. By analyzing these frescos in conjunction with an examination of Templar history, I aim to offer insight into the reasons for the depiction of certain figures and events in these religious settings. Furthermore, I present a glimpse into the nature of the Templar order beyond the well-known Crusading knights in the Levant, and instead focus on its lay members in the West, particularly France. Thus, this paper touches on issues of art and patronage, Medieval culture and religion, European history, and more in a decidedly interdisciplinary approach.
Freedom and Movement: A Synthesis of the Philosophies of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre (Paper) Sesha Carrier Simone de Beauvoir uses an understanding of the connectedness of human beings throughout her 1947 work, Ethics of Ambiguity to argue that the human condition depends on an assertion of freedom throughout free “others”. In this claim, Beauvoir differs from some of her existentialist counterparts, namely Sartre, and their focus on the individualistic nature of existence. This essay contrasts Beauvoir and Sartre’s rhetoric on the individual to conclude that existentialism can respond to oppression through combining Sartre’s notion of the responsibility of consciousness with Beauvoir’s idea of freedom as movement. This synthesis provides an answer to how a free consciousness has the total responsibility of seeking out a constant disclosure of the world through free movement to combat oppression.
Everyday Shame (Paper) Rachael Miller Jean Paul Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness' describes what it means to have an experience of shame, both for the Self and the Other. Sartre uses this description as a launching pad to claim that far from providing its own justification for its existence, the Self is determined by the Other. Is this assertion, however, necessarily a reasonable one? In this essay, I demonstrate that the answer to that question is ‘no.’ By providing a more in-depth description of Sartre’s account of the interaction with the Other, I show that the shame the Self experiences is not a reflection of the Other’s judgement, but a conditioned response to the Self’s intentional wrongdoing. I then employ Martin Heidegger’s concept of Das Man in conjunction with Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon to ultimately assert that shame’s true origin is as a self-enforced and mutually-policed political tool meant to encourage complacency among citizens of a state.
Existentialism Paper Panel (Paper) Alex Farley Sartre’s construction of shame involves one subject temporarily reducing another to the status of an ‘object’; however, this subject still remains a free consciousness and is thus able to flip the dynamic on ‘the other’ to cast off shame. In contrast, with Fanon’s dynamic of oppression, in which subjecthood is destroyed, oppression cannot be reversed. This reversal, as explained by Gordon Lewis, is impossible due to the elevation of the oppressor to a God-like status. While Sartre’s construction is inadequate, he does make an important observation, that the emotion that one feels in the face of an eternal subject is fear. Combining this idea with Gordon’s duality of personhood yields the conclusion that in a society of oppression, shame is transformed to fear in oppressed individuals. I conclude by emphasizing the need of empowered individuals coming together to reform the status quo and embrace the role of being an ally.
Liberty and Justice for All?: How Different Constitutional Identities Produce Different Approaches to the Refugee Crisis (Paper) Chi Ewusi, Carmen Vetter, Erin Simmerock, Maressa Cuenca This is a four-person panel based off of comparative constitutional research initiated at the University of Giessen (Germany) and Strasburg, France in March 2016. This work was further complimented by the German Law Journal’s Home and Away series from Fall/Winter 2016. The panelists will discuss the histories and rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Germany’s Basic Law to show how the two countries, despite both being democracies, have fundamentally different identities that influence their responses to immigration and related issues like racism. The panelists will briefly touch upon the Schengen agreement (abolishment of borders in the EU) and how Europe—and America—currently struggle to uphold the ideals of globalism.
Goodbye Lenin, Hello AfD: The Effect of Communism on Individual Attitudes Towards Immigration (Paper) Matthew Carl Individuals’ attitudes towards immigration are deeply affected by the socio-political institution of the country in which they reside. Utilizing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, empirical findings demonstrate that former East Germans are statistically significantly 3.8-percent more likely to be very concerned about immigration in Germany than former West Germans due to residence in the communist regime of former East Germany. Further results indicate that the difference in attitudes converges slightly over time, and that former East Germans born in the communist regime drive the observed difference. Finally, level of trust and concern about crime in Germany are shown to be the most salient channels for differences in attitudes
Horatio Greenough's Washington: Exploring Jacksonian Era American Artistic Taste (Paper) Dylan Stroud The year 1832 saw a pivotal moment in the history American sculpture when the American government awarded Horatio Greenough (1805- 1852) the first federal commission ever given to an American sculptor. Working out of a small, abandoned church in the hills just outside Florence, Italy, Greenough completed his magnum opus in 1840. As a federal commission, this statue was to be an integral piece in the patriotic decoration of Washington D.C., the fast-growing American capital city, where it was to sit beneath the Capitol's rotunda. The American public rejected the sculpture and unceasingly disparaged its classical representation of Washington at the time of its unveil beneath within the Capitol and throughout the years that followed. Greenough’s public sculpture was openly considered a failure. This paper will explore Jacksonian America and the social developments that influenced a new American artistic taste that prevails until this day through analyzing Greenough's work.
Economic Modernization and Artistic Expression in the Dutch Golden Age (Paper) Bailey Brilley From the early 17th-century to its end, the Netherlands saw a period of industrialization and economic development unrivaled by its peer states of Western Europe. As it industrialized and expanded, the nation experienced an equally-unrivaled artistic revolution—economists and art historians alike refer to the period as the nation’s Golden Age. My paper draws a causative link between Holland’s correlated economic growth and artistic proliferation, explaining Golden Age painters’ divergent style as a sociocultural extension of economic modernization. It delineates the influence of the nation's macroeconomic development on (1) the Dutch painting market and (2) the period's distinct style.
Portrait of a Landscape: Changing Depictions of Early Modern Florence in Literature and Art (Paper) Sonia Brozak The Florentine urban landscape has long captured the imaginations of artists, writers, painters and sculptors. The home of the birth of the Early Modern, Florence and its skyline have acted as symbols for the birth in early modern thinking. As such, depictions of the Florentine urban landscape within literature and the visual arts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries divulge a shift in approach by artists and in understanding by the viewer to cityscapes as narrative devices. These shifts entail a change from linear depictions of space into complex narratives of mapping. In my research, I trace these shifts through some of the great literary works of the Renaissance such as Dante's Inferno and Boccacio's Decmeron. Looking that arc, I examine the way the visual arts follow this trend using frescoed depictions of the cityscape.
Political Liberty in Medieval Christian Thought (Paper) Ian Huyett Written for Timothy Lubin’s Law and Religion seminar, my paper surveys Christian jurisprudence and political philosophy from the late classical period to the 13th century. I studied – among other texts – the Digest of Justinian, the Policraticus of John of Salisbury, the Decretum of Gratian, and De Regimine Principum by Thomas Aquinas and Ptolemy of Lucca. My paper argues that, contrary to some modern characterizations of Christianity, medieval Christian thinkers did not understand their faith to be isolated from law and politics. Specifically, I argue that Christianity often functioned to circumscribe rather than undergird the state’s power. I focus on two principal ways in which it did so: first, by affirming a robust conception of political liberty which included the freedom to sin, and second, by providing that an oppressive government – in the words of the German monk Manegold – “releases the people from their duty of obedience.”
The Evolution of Special Effects (Paper) Maggie Waxter The rapid growth in the Italian Renaissance influenced many changes in the theater industry. More specifically the use of special effects, like 3D scenery and machines helped enhance the story unfolding on the stage. After these new developments breached the Italian stage the ideas were so exciting that they spread across the world. The new aspects helped add depth and make the setting and objects seem that much more real. Two men and one family in particular led the charge to design features that could draw the audience in. Sebastiano Serlio, Giacomo Torelli, and members of the Bibiena families were the first to start using three-dimension designs and machines to enhance theater special effects. Serlio’s work in three-dimensional art, Torrelli’s mechanized pole and chariot system, and the theatrical structures constructed by the Bibenas revolutionized the reality of special effects, and improved the model for theater structures worldwide.
Directional Empathy at Washington and Lee University: “Not Unmindful of Our Service Workers” (Paper) Tara Loughery, Elena Diller, Austin Frank, Riley Wilson Directional empathy, the ability to understand the perspectives of others in lower status, has consistently been shown to better relationships between individuals of different social positions. Moreover, this ability can be developed in various ways. In pursuit of improving campus dynamics, we examine how students’ service employment and community service develop students’ directional empathy towards service employees on Washington and Lee’s campus. We hypothesized that service employment and community service experience respectively would be more effective in developing directional empathy than having neither of these experiences. Though we did not find significant support for community service, we did find significant support for the effectiveness of previous service employment on directional empathy development. Finally, we hypothesized that service employment would be more effective than community service experience in developing directional empathy. Although we did not find significant support for this hypothesis, a promising trend in the data warrants further exploration.
Treatment of Low-Skilled EU Immigrant Workers in Denmark: A Copenhagen Photo Story (Digital Story) Keith Denning, Hermione Wang, Kellie Harra, Kelsey Park Low-skilled workers from other EU countries come to Denmark in search of better employment. Due to the welfare state and an excellent education system, most Danes have little incentive to take jobs in the construction and service industries, resulting in many of these jobs falling to low-skilled foreign workers. Low-skilled workers are under pressure to find work and therefore are willing to accept lower pay with worse working conditions. Hence, they are at risk of being treated unfairly by employers. This digital story will address the issue of the treatment of low-skilled EU immigrants by Danish firms through exploring the history of immigration in Denmark and looking at examples from three companies. We will examine facility services company ISS, pump manufacturer Grundfos, and metro construction firm Metroselskabet. The story concludes with an analysis of the actions by these three firms in the context of Danish society.
A Supply-Side Estimation of the Equilibrium Rate of Unemployment (Paper) Chris Curfman The continuously-falling headline unemployment rate over the past two or three years in the absence of a corresponding rise in inflation has led to uncertainty about the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the equilibrium rate of unemployment (ERU), the rate below which inflation is expected to begin to rise. For this reason, the ERU plays a key role in the setting of monetary and fiscal policy. This paper adds to the discussion on the matter by utilizing the Wage-Setting Price-Setting (WS-PS) micro-founded macroeconomic model, first created and employed in the 1990's, to analyze current macroeconomic conditions and estimate the equilibrium rate of unemployment in the US over the last 20 years, with a particular emphasis on the period since the Great Recession.
Their Voices: The Refugee Crisis in Greece (Digital Story) Maren Lundgren, Elissavet Chartampila Greece has seen hundreds of thousands of refugees pass through its borders, either to stay or to migrate further north to other European countries (Refugees/Migrants Emergency Response). This summer we spent one month in Thessaloniki, Greece where we undertook a project to look at the impacts the refugee crisis has had on Greece, as well as the impacts this crisis has had on refugees. We worked with two NGOs (Antigone and Oikopolis), visiting a refugee camp and providing activities to its inhabitants. We also spent some time conducting interviews with urban refugees and taking pictures. Our digital storytelling project, seen through a small sample of the pictures and interviews we collected, represents the stories of the people we met and worked with the aim of humanizing the refugee crisis.
Analyzing Omni-Channel Interaction (Digital Story) Phil Bennett I would like to present a project that explores the connections between digital and physical interactions. In detail, the project cross-references and correlates social media data and real life events to give meaning to the relationship between the digital and physical planes. This presentation answers questions like: how and why information flows through the web as it stems from its geographic origin; how and why videos become viral; and do articles and stories published in traditional news sources (print, television) have meaningful effect on how information is processed and retained by online agents (social media user)? Essentially the presentation and study addresses the cause-effect relationship between the digital and physical worlds, including how effective this process is and whether such models can be used to predict future events. Ideally, the presentation would be oral and backed by a PowerPoint that explains findings and guides further conversation.
Worse than a Thousand Deaths: The Afterlife of Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex, in Seventeenth Century Drama (Paper) Ben Gee, Hannah Palmatary, Cecelia Weingart This project, initiated under Professor Hank Dobin's guidance in the summer of 2015 alongside fellow prospective panelist Hannah Palmatary, contains a detailed look at the legacy of Robert Devereux in all kinds of literature since his ignominious execution in 1601 for rebellion against his sometime romantic interest, England's Queen Elizabeth I. As we studied and researched various "representations" of the Earl in art, literature, and eventually film and other medias as well, we incorporated these representations into a digital timeline that neatly chronicles the chronological and typological progression of works that impacted the Earl's multifarious and contradictory legacy - sometimes a fool or a ruffian, even a villain, and other times a heroic remnant of a chivalrous past put to rest with his downfall. The Earl's fascinating life and even more compelling afterlife are both examined in my study, which focuses on seventeenth century dramatic portrayals of Essex.
The Essex Timeline: A Thousand Times Worse Than Death (Digital Story) Cecelia Weingart, Hannah Palmatary, Ben Gee My focus within the project has been the performance of a play on February 7, 1601. By reading scholarly essays and watching film and television representations of the event, I explored the historical questions of the intentions behind the performance and the identity of the play.
Ambiguous Essex - Examining Morality in Children's Literature (Digital Story) Hannah Palmatary, Ben Gee, Cecelia Weingart The Earl of Essex’s dramatic rise to power and epic fall from grace in Queen Elizabeth I's court mark the Earl as one of the most fascinating characters in British history. Essex possessed a mercurial and ambitious personality which fueled his amorous, yet volatile relationship with Elizabeth. Given the dynamic nature of the Essex story and the man himself, Essex has been the subject of many imaginative historical and fictitious retellings. However, the characterization of Essex in these retellings differs drastically—from evil antagonist to loving hero, from laughingstock to gentleman to madman. Within the genre of children’s literature, the Earl’s ambiguous nature becomes crystallized, often taking the form of a morally abstruse character. This project aims to examine the moral uncertainty in representations of Essex in children’s literature and discuss the potential for and value of this type of character to enhance moral development in children.
The Storm Inside (Creative Writing) Andross Blenman I intend to read a short story I have written about a teenage boy. He is an outcast at his school and feels misunderstood everyone around him, even his family. After his latest incident at school he is once again betrayed another friend. This most recent betrayal is the final straw, and leads to the boy to discover a means to wreak dark vengeance upon those that have hurt him. This weapon is perhaps the most globally destructive force in the history of mankind, something no other human has been capable of taming in their life time: the weather. However, we shall see that even the destructive power of the weather pales in comparison to the storm that rages inside each and everyone of thus. Especially this boy.
AUGUST (Creative Writing) Win Gustin Written over the course of one month, AUGUST is an original four-part short story detailing four dinners with four different people, each with the implication that each person will never be seen again. Each part represents a different significant other calling back memories from months and years prior, and each part is its own ride of a mixture of bittersweet emotion, all written from my point of view compounded with memories of the past. The project is an exploration into sexuality, loss, acceptance, passionate emotion, and regret.
The Roles of Father and Mother in Rural Appalachian Society: A Study of Grundy County, TN (Paper) Alice Bradford Through the Leyburn grant, I conducted field work (including interviews and observation) in Grundy County, TN to analyze family life in rural Appalachia, specifically how the roles of mothers and fathers contributed to family stability, in a low-income, nearly-impoverished, low-employment region of the southern United States. I submitted my research (in full paper format) to Professor Goluboff, which included my original background research on Appalachia, statistical data, interview notes from 5 families, and a number of analyses and conclusions that I drew. I experienced many setbacks during my first attempt at field work (from which I have learned a great deal), and I am immensely passionate about this topic, as I have spent much of my life in rural Tennessee, and as I hope to potentially build upon this topic in a senior Anthropology capstone.
Time to Push: An Ethnographic Study of Reactions to Socially Unsanctioned Pregnancies in Gozo, Malta (Paper) Stephanie Chung This paper presents the results of an ethnographic study conducted over a period of three weeks in Gozo, Malta concerning responses toward socially unsanctioned pregnancies and forms of motherhood. Gozo is the second largest of the populated islands of the archipelago nation in which the Catholic religion has traditionally held strong influence. In Gozo, socially unsanctioned pregnancies fall into two major, although not exclusive, categories: teenaged pregnancies and pregnancies occurring outside the bounds of matrimony. The ethnographic research was done primarily through semi-formal and informal interviews with a variety of informants throughout the island of Gozo. The results gathered during this research drive me to suggest that while there are high levels of social stigma directed at women with socially unsanctioned pregnancies from both institutions and individuals, some attitudes might be changing as socially unsanctioned pregnancies become more common.
Do Beer Taxes Affect Birth Rates Among Teens and Young Women in the U.S.? (Paper) Lizzy Stanton Alcohol abuse among young people and underage drinking in the U.S. lead to many adverse outcomes, including unintended pregnancy. One potential way to limit alcohol abuse – and therefore its negative outcomes – is to raise the price of beer. I therefore use beer tax as a proxy for beer consumption, with a higher beer tax being associated with lower beer consumption. I build on previous literature by using state-level data to investigate the relationship between beer taxes and pregnancy outcomes. The paper contributes to the literature by providing the first analysis of the effect of beer taxes on overall birth rates, as well as number of births by race, marital status, and age of the father for 15-19 and 20-24 year old mothers. Results are forthcoming.
UnFeres of Them All (Paper) Ann Cox My research paper, UnFeres of Them All: Holding a Mirror up to the Genesis Test in Prenatal Injury Claims, explores the real life consequences of applying a military immunity doctrine to the modern military force, especially female service members. My solution suggests that the answer lies not in adopting a new standard or rejecting the Feres doctrine, but simply returning to the doctrine’s original rationales.
Pro-Thin Bias in the Media and Anti-Fat Prejudice (Paper) Kate Lesch, Katherine Worthington The present study investigates the relationship between pro-thin bias in the media and anti-fat prejudice. Past research has focused on how images of thin models affects women’s self-esteem and body satisfaction. Currently, data are being collected from sixty undergraduate, female students at Washington and Lee University. Participants are asked to view one of two sets of advertisements. In the experimental condition, they view three images of advertisements featuring very thin models along with two neutral images. In the control condition, the participants view five neutral, product-related images. After viewing the advertisements, participants will be asked to complete Crandall’s (1994) Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire. The results of this study will provide insight on how the pro-thin bias in the media not only affects women’s views of themselves but also their views of other people.
Intelligence and Adult Health: The Relationship between Achievement Test Scores and Adult Obesity Rates (Paper) Parker Pitts, Izzy Swanson, Carter Ware This paper examines the relationship between adolescent intelligence and adult health. We suggest natural intelligence, rather than education alone, contributes to better health as an adult. To test the effect of adolescent intelligence and test scores on adult health outcomes, we will use obesity (BMI at age 20 and above) as a quantitative measure of health in adulthood and ACT/SAT scores as a measure of adolescent intelligence. We propose ACT and SAT scores as an informative proxy of both natural intelligence and achievement among the United States population, an explanatory variable relatively under-researched in health economics.
"I can't believe what you did!" The Effectiveness of Conveying Anger with Pictograms (Paper) Audrey Dangler, Kelsey Jervis This study examined the role of pictograms in conveying anger in a text message. Secondary goals included exploring the difference between the effects of emojis and emoticons and how the level of ambiguity affects the presence of a pictogram. Ninety participants from a small, liberal arts undergraduate university were recruited (74 female, 15 male, 1 other) and completed a questionnaire measuring the ratings of anger of the sender of a text message. Results indicated that a text with a pictogram was rated as angrier than a text without a pictogram. An interaction effect was present for ambiguity and pictogram types. For ambiguous messages, texts with a pictogram were rated as angrier than texts without a pictogram. However, for explicit messages, no significant difference was found. Extending past research to include angry pictograms, this study further demonstrated that pictograms aid the interpretation of computer-mediated communication, but more so for ambiguous messages.
Perceptions of Gender Neutral Pronouns (Paper) Samantha Sharman, Jake Burnett, Alex Dolwick The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of gender neutral pronouns on processing speed. Previous research has examined the use of the singular pronouns “they/their.” The current research focuses on both the use of “they/their” and another gender neutral pronoun set, “ze/zir,” in comparison to gendered pronouns in order to see which type of pronoun is processed with the most ease. Currently, we are in the process of recruiting and testing participants. Participants read three paragraphs that differ on type of pronoun used. We will analyze processing speed and ease of use for both gendered and gender neutral pronouns. With recent increases in the number of people identifying as gender neutral, it is important to learn more about societal perceptions of language use.
The My Voice Project (Paper) Catherine Latour Society suffers from social anxiety in the form of public speaking. In my creative work, The My Voice Project, I evaluate the significance of being a confident public speaker and how our nation’s youth is largely deprived of the opportunity to become socially confident speakers. To combat social anxiety, I founded The My Voice Project, an elevenweek program that gives children the confidence they need to stand up for themselves. Over the past three summers I have developed a curriculum bound in a fifty-page manual. Currently, I am working to expand this project because of the significance it could have in empowering others. Through my presentation, I plan to describe my motivation, the project and the current results. In the future, I hope to determine the outcome of a more self-confident nation as I evaluate what I must do to further implement and how society will benefit from this program.
Racial Bias in News Coverage on Poverty in America: How Mass Communicated Stereotypes Influence the Public’s Perception of the Poor (Paper) Emma Derr Many scholarly sources have demonstrated that the media is largely responsible for how people perceive the poor, particularly in the context of racial bias. I seek to explain in more detail what this perception is and how it is perpetrated and exaggerated by the media. I also examine why people accept this perception. By analyzing many studies over long periods of time, I found that the media’s overrepresentation of urban African-Americans in discussions of poverty and emphasis of the undeserving poor has perpetuated negative racial stereotypes. These stereotypes strongly influence the public’s opinions of welfare. This biased media coverage is not effectively educating the public and is impacting public policy. In conclusion, there is a pressing need in American media to disseminate an accurate representation of its impoverished population.
The Constitutionality of Racial Safe Spaces (Paper) Andy Blanco I'd like to present on my law review note topic: the constitutionality of racial safe spaces. The 2016 academic year has seen the mushrooming of racial safe spaces: housing units, classes, and events at American universities that are segregated based on race. It's my view that this practice violates the equal protection clause. My presentation will be confined to describing the new phenomenon, the existing law, and my analysis under the Equal Protection clause. I would be interested in feedback on the legal analysis as well as hearing what any member of the university thinks about the propriety of this new practice.
Africa Speaks?: Issues of Voice, Race, and Revisionary History in Horror Films (Paper) Arlette Hernandez In the Western eye, Africa is more of an idea than a region. The continent is painted with tropes and understood through a lens of inaccuracy. To pull apart such misrepresentation, I analyze three films: The Night of the Sorcerers (1973), Panga (1991), and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005). I argue that these films interweave themes of possession, magic, and monsters with a legacy of colonialism, constructing terror from a fear of historical expansion, entrance into African spaces, and interactions with raced bodies. The threat in these films is not the mere existence of blackness, but rather the possibility of contracting blackness. Yet, while these narratives are influenced by a particular history, they also affect a new reality. These films act as a battleground between European and African voices, practicing a form of revisionary history that provides the Other with a form (or at least the opportunity) of agency.
A Neighborhood-Level Assessment of Migration and Concentrated Disadvantage in the City of Miami 1980-2010 (Paper) John Carmody This paper assesses the influence of migratory patterns on the concentration of disadvantage in Miami. To gain leverage over this multifactorial relationship, the paper utilizes neighborhood-level analyses. These neighborhood-level assessments segment the city into discretely bound social entities that exert durable effects on individual residents. Establishing boundaries that capture the richly diverse and influential social spaces defined as neighborhoods remains elusive. To account for these limitations, our observational study uses census tracts with careful consideration of historical “neighborhood” affiliations. Ultimately, this paper attempts to capture how migratory patterns in Miami determine shifts in concentrated disadvantage from 1980 to 2010. The design of this paper seeks to tease out the influence of these major migratory movements on the modern distribution of socioeconomic and health-related factors, using indicators of concentrated disadvantage and distribution of colorectal cancer in particular.
Engineering in Medieval Spain through Water (Paper) Matt Lubas During Semester Abroad in Alicante, Spain, with funding from John M. Evans fund for international experiences, I met with professors across Spain and visited many historic sites to understand the development in Engineering around the medieval century. This study focused on works in the water supply process, such as Aqueducts, Hydraulic Mills, Dams, types of wells, and some specific works/developments from the Moorish people. It also touches upon the relation of water engineering to geography, peace/war and history.
Argentinian Science against the Cold War Backdrop (1955-1976) (Paper) Lucy Cespedes This paper will explore the politicization of Argentinean science and the construction of the country’s scientific and academic community as “dangerous” by successive military governments in the 1955-1966 period. Context will be provided characterizing the “Golden Age” of Argentina’s science in the ‘50s and ‘60s, in sharp contrast to the obscurantism of the ‘70s. This issues can of course be related to a broader context. In particular, Argentina’s scientific policy can be analyzed against the backdrop of US foreign policy towards Latin America. Of special interest is the contact of US science institutions with Argentina.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act After 100 Years (Paper) Marta Vazquez I am writing my law review note about the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the legal problems that have emerged from its enforcement in the last 100 years. The issue is currently alive because the Circuit Courts disagree over whether the treaty criminalizes "incidental take", which are killings resulting from otherwise legal activities. This has a large impact on industries such as wind, solar and transportation, all of which incur some incidental takes. Despite the confusion over the MBTA's breadth, the Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing rules to authorize incidental take under the MBTA-a bold move considering the Act may not cover incidental take at all. The paper presents interesting issues relating to statute interpretation, environmental law, and administrative law, and of course, there are lots of migratory birds.
Clerking for "God's Grandfather" - Chauncy Belknap's Year with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr (Paper) Lizzy Williams When Chauncey Belknap clerked for Supreme Court Justice Holmes it was 1915-16, and the world of D.C. was alive with magic. Belknap wrote in a journal nearly everyday he clerked, beginning with President Wilson announcing he was remarrying, and covering a world of law, society, and brilliant minds. This summer, we will be publishing the culmination of 2.5 years of research into this diary. My participation in a panel, or a poster presentation would detail the world of 1915-16: legal issues, women's fight for the right to vote, WWI's eruption, and the many characters who went on to shape American life.
A Wonderful Life (Paper) Alexandra Seymour Even those we believe to be ordinary can lead extraordinary lives. This is something I realized as I completed my final project for Journalism 318 last semester, which was a profile of my father's life. Indeed, at 81 years old, he exemplifies strength and resilience. Listening to him recount his life story showed me in greater detail than I ever had been given before what a remarkable human being he is. Now, I'd like to share his colorful story with the W&L community.
USS Gambier Bay (Paper) Jackie Clifford This journalism piece is the account of one soldier's experience on the USS Gambier Bay, an escort carrier that sank during WWII in the Pacific theater. Researched through existing literature about the sinking of the ship and an interview with the solder, this literary journalism piece chronicles Albert Kubichek's experience as a seaman during the war and the battle that sank the ship.
J. D. B. De Bow: Promoter of the New South (Paper) Polli Noskova James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow, the editor of De Bow's Review (1846-1848), is best known for his work in promoting southern agriculture, industry and sectionalism. Branded one of the southern fire-eaters, a cohort of magazine and newspaper editors and writers best known for their staunch defense of slavery, but largely forgotten because of the didactic nature of his work, De Bow created an economic program for the South which became the basis of the New South Creed. This was a slogan promoted in the 1870 and 1880s urging the South to modernize, embrace industry, northern capital and immigration, all while maintaining a distinctive southern culture.
"God is the Perfect Comprehension:" Zelda Fitzgerald's Deposition in Context (Paper) Caroline Todd This paper was the result of a fall term independent study with Professor King in the art history department. For this paper, I examined the religious artwork of Zelda Fitzgerald -- wife of F. Scott -- and its context within her own biography as well as other twentieth century art movements and primary documents including an unpublished essay held in the Princeton University Special Collections department. Most specifically, I applied this analysis to her 1945 work The Deposition, a watercolor depicting Christ's descent from the cross. The field of Fitzgerald art historical scholarship is otherwise untapped, as no other literary critics or art historians have examined Fitzgerald's work in detail, especially that completed after her husband's death. With that in mind, my project had two goals: one, to pursue a topic with no precedent, and another, to counter fictional notions of the romanticized "Zelda" of pop culture fame.
Lethal Policing and Just-War: Building an Ethical Framework (Paper) John Juneau In this paper, I examine the current happenings of lethal policing in the United States from the perspective of the just-war tradition. Leveraging the principles of jus ad bellum and jus in bello I seek to answer two key questions: Is the use of lethal force by police is morally permissible in general? Is the racially disparate use of lethal force by police, as is the current reality, morally permissible? I find that lethal policing violates several properties of jus ad bellum or more extensive study is required to determine whether they are satisfied. Moreover, a case study of Eric Garner's death suggests that several properties of jus in bello are also violated by racially disparate lethal policing. Finally, I seek to reconcile the framework of just-war with Dr. Martin Luther King's philosophy of personalism in order to make my argument transferable across faithbases.
Innovative God-talk: Martin Luther King Jr., Delores Williams, and Creativity (Paper) Zach Taylor African American theologians often draw upon Martin Luther King Jr. as a source in the construction of black theology in the United States. King seems to offer much less, however, to what Delores Williams, a pioneer in womanist theology, calls the survival-quality of life tradition of African American biblical appropriation. I nevertheless contend that when we examine King's theology through a womanist lens, his emphasis on the role of creativity reflects its centrality in womanist thought. Moreover, we also discover in King creative techniques with respect to resistance and biblical hermeneutics that womanist methods build upon and correct, so that we refrain from uncritically advocating redemptive suffering and reject the static and inflexible interpretation of biblical texts. Ultimately, oppression necessitates creativity; the creative techniques of resistance and biblical interpretation are therefore tools used to overcome oppression, evident in the God-talk of King, Williams, and other womanists.
Justice in War: Kingian Philosophy on Contemporary American Conflicts (Paper) Alex Dolwick Martin Luther King, Jr. vehemently opposed American involvement in the Vietnam War. His theory on justice in war, while more radical in its opposition to all forms of violence, aligns well with traditional just war theory. These two theories can act as a measuring rod for determining wartime morality, and recent American involvements in the Middle East have failed these tests of justice. Instead of going into the War on Terror with just causes, the George W. Bush administration led a charge into Iraq and Afghanistan with sparse evidence that these wars would truly combat terrorism. And instead of fighting this unjust war justly, the American government exploited the Iraqi people for economic benefit while condoning brutal torture in prisons like Abu Ghraib. Americans must abolish the “us vs. them” approach to foreign policy in order to treat people around the world with the human dignity that King espoused.
Dignity in Housing: Lessons from NYC to Natural Bridge (Digital Story) Hannah Falchuk This creative digital presentation would combine lessons from a Shepherd Internship in New York City to insights from Campus Kitchen volunteering in Natural Bridge, Virginia. While this city and town may appear to have few similarities, I would like to draw on what I learned in homeless outreach around the city in application to a low-income retirement home in the Rockbridge County. In both locales, I have learned the challenges to finding and maintaining adequate housing. These challenges only begin with poverty and mental illness. The approach to helping people in either is likewise consistent across demographics: starting a conversation. This presentation will use anecdotes and information from my summer and school-year experiences to urge people to recognize the individuality of those often described in broad blanket terms and to recognize the unique and often-overlooked challenges of mental illness, which extend far beyond NYC and Natural Bridge.
Income Inequalities and the American Dream in Hollywood (Paper) Bobo Bors Income inequalities are soaring in the US, but the average American still seems to have a surprisingly optimistic view of economic mobility. Despite the well-documented inequality disparities in the US, Americans tend to doggedly believe in a myth as old as their country: the American Dream. The stubbornness with which these realities are dealt with is partially explained by the deceitful influence of Hollywoodian cinematography, which constantly reaffirms the supremacy of the American Dream. “Rags-to-riches” stories such as The Pursuit of Happyness are one type of such stories which perpetuate the idea that in the US all opportunities are always accessible to perseverant and moral individuals. It is necessary to understand how the social mobility ideas that are promised by the American dream are communicated in such an articulate fashion that they still remain characteristic for the country’s identity despite contradicting empirical evidence.
Virginia's Voter Identification Law and the Potential Disenfranchisement of Transgender Voters (Paper) Sarah Stovall Over the past twenty years, Virginia’s state legislature has enacted increasingly strict voter identification laws. Prior to 1996, a Virginia voter only needed to state their full name and address in order to be qualified to vote. As of 2013, a Virginia voter must present some form of government-issued photo-identification. Critics of strict voteridentification laws argue that photo-identification requirements tend to disenfranchise minority and economically-disadvantaged voters, but less attention has been paid to the impact that photo-identification requirements have on transgender voters. This article explores whether Virginia’s photo-identification requirement creates barriers to the ballot box for transgender voters. For instance, transgender voters face increased difficulty in acquiring a valid photo-identification that accurately reflects their gender identity and transgender voters may be more likely to experience intimidation or discrimination at the polls. This article also considers the availability of legal remedies for transgender voting discrimination.
How and Why the Stock Markets Got Trumped: An Analysis of Stock Markets’ Reaction to the 2016 Presidential Election (Paper) Edward Stroud The 2016 election of Donald Trump as President was undoubtedly a surprise result. During the months and days leading up to the election pundits and polls picked Clinton as the ultimate victor, even while the race did begin to tighten. Stock markets also seemed inclined to support this sentiment. Yet, as it became evident the morning of November 9th, Donald Trump would become 45th President. Markets reacted strongly as this realization set in. Pre-election expectations as well as immediate post-election reactions were based off of information available to markets at the time. Markets viewed a Clinton presidency as a more favorable financial environment than a Trump presidency for a variety of reasons. However, markets have since rallied behind the Trump victory as they grasp what his presidency and its policies could mean for the economy. Thus, the efficient markets hypothesis is useful in understanding pre-election market expectations and post-election reactions.
Anatomy of a Swing State: What 2016 Means for the Future of Battleground Politics in North Carolina (Paper) William Rhyne This paper examines the shifting political atmosphere in North Carolina from the Jesse Helms-Jim Hunt era to the election of Donald Trump. Minted for the first time as a swing state in 2008, the paper questions North Carolina's status as a swing state following the 2016 election and offers analysis as to the future political headwinds in the state.
Diagnosing Political Ignorance and How it Contributed to the Rise of Donald Trump (Paper) Austin Piatt There is ample data to show that education levels had a big influence on how people voted in this election – far bigger than in the past. Though education levels are not solely indicative of political ignorance, they share similarities. It is noncontroversial amongst political thinkers to say that American citizens are politically ignorant, what is disputed is whether citizens can avail themselves of certain epistemological “shortcuts” that allow them to sufficiently inform themselves for an election. This paper will also examine whether these shortcuts suffice in informing voters. Ultimately, I argue that political ignorance played a major role in deciding how people would vote in the 2016 presidential election and, in order to fully understand this election’s results, we must critically evaluate four other considerations: the education gap, the reliability of shortcuts, the exploitation of political ignorance, and the consequences of replacing pure political ignorance with flawed voter knowledge.
Communication Technology Revolutions and their Impact on Presidential Elections Ashley Faulkner My paper compared communication technology revolutions and their impacts on elections. I looked at the age of television with Eisenhower and Kennedy and social media with Obama and Trump.
Motivations to Use Psychological Therapies: A Cross Cultural Comparison (Paper) Batsheva Honig In the United States, for many, seeking psychological help is akin to admitting that they have a mental illness (Mendoza, 2015). In contrast, the prevalence of psychological therapies is widely accepted in Argentina (Alonso & Klinar, 2014). In comparing the two countries, we can gain a better understanding of the needs of young women and how culture influences attitudes towards mental health services. Previous research attributes stigma and cultural differences to the use and avoidance of psychological therapies (Digiuni et al., 2013). More work is needed to understand what motivates young women to use therapy. The current study investigates personal and norm-based motivations in the U.S. and Argentina. A model, wherein stigma acts as a moderator between the relationship of motivation and openness to therapy, is proposed. This study will provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of psychological therapy use, allowing for better understanding of mental health and therapy cross-culturally.
Music and Women: The Implications of Disparaging and Empowering Music (Paper) Jake Burnett The purpose of the current study is to investigate the impact that music, specifically lyrics in music, can affect women's self-esteem and identification as women. The current literature indicates that there are clear detriments associated with disparaging lyrics and objectifying images in music videos, but little research has previously been done on how empowering lyrics can be beneficial. The current study expands the research by including positive stimuli in addition to the customary negative stimuli. Participants are placed in one of 6 conditions across two variables. They listen to disparaging music, neutral music, or empowering music and either read along with the lyrics or exclusively listen. After listening, they complete a portion of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the State Self-Esteem Scale, and a modified version of the Collective Self-Esteem Scale. If data are significant, this will have implications for women about the music to which they listen.
Child’s Play: Why Is it Socially Acceptable to Decapitate Barbie? (Paper) Catherine Simpson Why do children like to torture their Barbie dolls? Barbie dolls are fashion and appearance focused dolls with unrealistic body proportions; imaginative play with Barbie leads to lower self-esteem and reduced occupational aspirations (Dittmar, Halliwell, & Ives, 2001; Sherman & Zurbriggen, 2014). Previous research suggests that children follow three types of scripts when playing with Barbies: familybased, glamour-based, and anger/torture-based (Kuther, 2004). However, with the relatively recent introduction of more diverse Barbie dolls and Barbie media emphasizing the idea that Barbie can be anything, it's possible that these scripts have changed, making Barbie into a more positive role model. Through focus groups with collegeaged women and pre-teen girls, I've investigated the possible causes of torture-based scripts as well as the prevalence of existing scripts based on Barbie media. Barbie has potential as a role model for girls, and the continued introduction of positive scripts through Barbie media may be beneficial.
Tracing the First Female Federal Circuit Court Judge (Paper) Jess Winn In 1934, Judge Florence Ellinwood Allen became the first woman appointed to a federal circuit court judgeship. She had previously served as the first woman justice on the Ohio State Supreme Court. Judge Allen went on to preside over the contentious Tennessee Valley Authority case. But she is still a mysterious figure. This research project focuses on understanding Judge Allen through her law clerks. Law clerks operate behind the scenes in many judges’ chambers. They help their judges by researching the law and drafting opinions. They gain a unique perspective on the judge. Judge Allen had several clerks throughout her tenure on the Sixth Circuit. This project involves finding her clerks or their relatives and collecting stories and other historical materials about Judge Allen. Then, I will write a piece about Judge Allen for an anthology of articles about judicial clerk.
Marguerite Duras's New Woman (Paper) Maddi Boireau The works of author Marguerite Duras have had an outstanding influence on today’s society and were a major addition to second wave feminism. Second wave feminism tackled issues ranging from sexuality, the workplace, and reproductive rights. Duras not only breaks women’s social mold but also creates a whole new narrative space for a woman to exist. In Duras's novels L'Amant, Les yeux bleus cheveux noirs, and L'amant de la Chine du nord, Marguerite Duras breaks the socially constructed definition of a woman and writes a new category for her. To prove this, I analyze four elements throughout all three novels: power and control gender binary; clothing and gender performance; Duras's undoing of marriage; and language.
