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Using Cleanth Brooks’ definition of poetry as "an experience rather than any mere statement about experience," as a provisional way of distinguishing between poetry and philosophy, this paper will examine the relationship between "statement" and "experience" in the poetry of Wallace Stevens. In "Sunday Morning", the poet weaves together two distinct voices in order to suggest a dialogue between experience and statement, poetry and philosophy. In this poem, the reader is given access to the thoughts and experiences of a fictional woman regarding the influence of religion on her life. While the woman mulls over her own beliefs and the ways they have impacted her life, the mysterious secondary narrator dives further into these ideas and provides direct statements of philosophy applicable not only to the fictional heroine of the poem, but to all of humanity. We may read the woman’s reflection on her religious beliefs as providing the literary foundation upon which the philosophical statements made by the mysterious, disembodied "other" narrator can build. However, the voices themselves are difficult to disentangle, and in this way "Sunday Morning" can be seen as reflecting the complexities of the relationship between poetry and philosophy for Stevens. By closely reading a passage from this poem, I will consider how the two voices present throughout the piece create an intensely complicated conversation between literature and philosophy.
Barbara Kruger is a postmodern, conceptual artist who uses large mediums and commercial items in her art. She highlights controversial issues, such as sexuality, gender, identity, and consumerism. Understanding how her two pieces, Untitled (I shop therefore I am) (1987) and Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face) (1981), commentate on these topics in relation to rhetoric, offers an interesting perspective. This perspective helps us investigate how she captures America’s postmodern, consumer culture through appropriation and uses rhetoric and visual representation to address issues of gender and identity.
The paper looks at the aesthetics of each art piece, relating the visual details to her main idea, and then views Kruger’s styles and meanings from a historical, theoretical, and feminist standpoint. The artist uses a simple color scheme: black, white, grey, and red. She takes appropriated images and puts words on top of them, which brings in a rhetorical aspect, making it conceptual. We then view these fascinating concepts through the historical lens of the 1980s and Jean Bauldrillard’s theories of consumerism from his book, Simulacra and Simulation. Then the paper brings the gender topics/issues to the forefront before comparing Kruger’s artistic rhetorical aspects to feminist rhetorical practices.
Barbara Kruger’s artwork embodies important concepts and asks important questions that continue to be discussed by society presently and will continue to be discussed in the future. Therefore, we must always analyze Kruger’s artwork if we desire to understand our personal perspectives concerning the real subjects in our lives.
Both traumatic brain injury and stroke result in the death of brain cells and the loss of associated functions. Although the brain cannot readily regenerate these lost cells, there is a part of the nervous system that can regenerate itself. This is the tissue in the nose responsible for the sense of smell - the olfactory epithelium. Specialized neurons within the olfactory epithelium sense odorants in the air and transmit signals to the brain that allow for the sense of smell. However, these neurons have a limited lifespan and continually die. Without replacement, the sense of smell would be lost forever. Fortunately, most organisms maintain their sense of smell throughout life, as cells divide and mature to replace the lost neurons.
Neuron regeneration in the olfactory epithelium is governed in part by the cell’s environment known as the extracellular matrix. Previous studies using olfactory epithelial cells have shown that extracellular matrix molecules can affect neuron adhesion, migration, and size of formed colonies. However, the ability of these molecules to enhance neuron regeneration has yet to be revealed. With guidance from my mentor, Dr. Barbara Murdoch, my research is dedicated to understanding when and where the extracellular matrix molecules are naturally found and how different combinations affect neuron production. My working hypothesis is that neuron production will be enhanced by a combination of the signaling molecules rather than each individually. If we can understand how neurons in the olfactory epithelium regenerate, these mechanisms could be applied to help restore lost functions.
The 2011 trial State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony and the 2013 trial State of Arizona v. Jodi Arias had a lot in common. In addition to taking over the headlines both during and after the verdict was given, both defendants were young women accused of murder. Rather than present concern with the verdict in either of these cases, I have chosen to examine how the prosecution in these trials constructed and presented these women. I have examined the prosecutor's closing arguments in each case in order to study if a similar strategy is used in both arguments. The statements were analyzed using both cluster analysis to identify key terms and examine the relationship with the words surrounding those terms, and ideological analysis to examine presented and suggested elements and identifying the ideologies present in the piece through these elements. Both the language and apparent ideologies demonstrated in the arguments were examined in order to determine what value assumptions concerning women were inherent to the arguments presented in the closing of each case. Based upon this analysis, I argue that the prosecutors' arguments in both State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony and State of Arizona v. Jodi Arias rest upon an anti-feminist ideology rooted in traditional expectations of female gender performance to hyper-criminalize the women on trial and appeal to the jury’s presumed conservative values as a method of yielding a guilty verdict.
Today, food labeling and advertising is a communication-related controversy based on several factors such as first amendment protection, a case involving rBGH labeling, and the Central Hudson Test. Food is more than a physiological need; it has now become a marketing business that subconsciously shapes our perceptions, while influencing our purchasing and preparation decisions. With increasing attention to media messages, liberal arts students from Eastern Connecticut State University provide an example of how this controversy has too contorted the way in which food labeling impacts their food perceptions and behavior. Food industries play an under qualified role in choosing what to place on their packages, one label that is commonly used is the word, “Natural”. This trusted label creates a confusing spin of different definitions according to industry, consumers and philosophy. Consumer fear and confusion are the seeds that ground the historical roots of the food industry in the United States, which have sprouted into dizzying aisles of attention grabbing food-like products. Food that was once established as “nutritional” by Dietary Guidelines eventually snowballed into “unhealthy” based on industrial influences and war. This paradigm of misleading consumers gave hall passes to competing food industries to market their new products as better, “healthier” and a necessary need, meanwhile leaving whole foods to collect dust. There are underlying factors that are negatively associated with labeling issues throughout the United States. Ultimately it is up to the public to decide between being media literate or falling victim to deceptive food labeling and advertising.
This is a continuation of the project "Deceptive Food Labeling and Advertising" by Summer Lily Egan.
This essay examines the multiple ways in which society takes control over the female body and how women, particularly young women, attempt to take back their autonomy. The essay argues that youth fiction authors write about larger societal issues in a manner that allows understanding among young men and women. Using YA fictions novels Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Letting Ana Go by Anonymous, Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott, and Scars by Cheryl Rainfield, this work uses the major theories of Michel Foucault, Susan Bordo, and Judith Butler to maintain that women take control over their bodies in destructive ways. The chosen novels illustrate potential traumas experienced by young women, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual objectification and eating disorders, as well as demonstrate how women respond to such trauma. Theories of gender, sexuality, identity, patriarchal society, and power are used to explain why young women face these traumatic experiences and provide a probable explanation for their detrimental actions. This essay provides awareness of larger societal issues surrounding female bodies as well as insight into patriarchal norms that work to take control away from women. The goal of this work is to provide a critical analysis of young adult fiction novels and their importance in examining Western society.
Sudden aspen decline (SAD) is present throughout the Western U.S. and Canada. Increasing temperatures coupled with drought in the early twenty-first century caused a rapid loss of aspen overstory cover and inhibited aspen regeneration. The effects of SAD on ground-dwelling arthropod communities has not been previously studied. Research in other habitats shows ground-dwelling arthropod diversity is most affected by disturbance and understory plant diversity. We conducted a study investigating the effects of three levels of SAD (healthy, moderate, and high) and a coppice harvest treatment (N=7/SAD level or treatment) on ground-dwelling arthropod diversity in the San Juan National Forest, southwestern Colorado. We established two pitfall traps every ten meters along a 50m transect (N=12 traps/site x7 sites/SAD level or treatment). Data collection occurred twice during the peak growing season, once in mid-June and once in mid-July. In addition, we quantified aspen stand characteristics, understory vegetation biomass and microclimate temperature data to correlate with ground-dwelling arthropod richness and abundance. It is important for land managers to understand the ecological impacts of SAD and coppice harvesting of SAD on ground-dwelling arthropods as this group constitutes a large proportion of biodiversity in aspen stands and thus the uniqueness of this vegetation type.
A young girl is transformed by a series of encounters with death. A lyrical short story.
Hunter S. Thompson is a unique, influential literary figure often set aside due to his rebellious and untraditional style of journalism. Despite his outsider standing in the academic world, separation from popular culture coupled with an immersion in the counter cultures of the sixties allows Thompson to comment on the traditions of his country in a way that no journalist, or novelist had done before. By placing himself subjectively inside of his stories, Thompson inserts readers into his reality and provides an experience that compels the audience to digest certain situations and environments from an untraditional perspective. In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson attacks popular culture by painting a morbidly realistic image of America in the early seventies, which accurately represents the emotions of youth of the time. This paper explores the essential narratives of Fear and Loathing and the metaphorical purpose of Las Vegas as a symbol for the rising influence of corruption, materialism, and militarism in contrast to the liberty and truth of the drug and youth movements of the sixties. Today, Thompson is mostly appreciated by the minority of citizens who remain connected to the cultures he supported throughout his work, though the elements of Fear and Loathing are unsettlingly relatable to the culture of America in the 21st century, and the issues addressed are American issues, which transcend the decades that have passed since the publication of this novel.