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Lust plays a large role in Edmund Spenser’s famous 1590 poem The Faerie Queene- this much Early Modern scholars can agree on. Surrounding the purpose lust serves in this didactic tale, however, there is a good deal of contention. Some academics argue that Spenser uses his lurid descriptions of lust to reveal to readers their own sinful preferences. Others claim that Spenser uses lust simply to attract an audience. The list of differing interpretations of the text goes on. But one overarching theme can be seen in all of these unique analyses of lust: each operates on the assumption that Spenser intended lust to be an entirely wicked force in his romance. In my essay, I seek to challenge this assumption. I believe that in order to create more nuanced theories regarding desire in Spenser’s poem, it is necessary to move beyond the tendency to take the evil of lust as a given. Thus, in my own research, I have attempted to keep an open mind regarding the nature of desire in The Faerie Queene. Through close analysis of the tale’s wealthy heroes, who channel their sexual energies toward a higher cause, I assert that Spenser proposes that lust can have a positive use when experienced by members of the upper-class. This means of understanding Spenser’s poem is innovative and unique, but it also proves to be illuminating.
English major Rachel Balzar hails from North Branch, Minnesota and is currently a senior. She hopes to attend graduate school to study Early Modern literature.
Keywords: Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, literature, lust
Web surveys have advantages over their paper counterparts in aspects such as lower marginal costs, flexible data management, reporting systems, and higher incidence rates. These advantages contribute to the growth of web surveys used in business, research, and other areas. However, as web surveys have become increasingly popular, respondents are more likely to experience survey fatigue. When survey fatigue occurs the quality of their answers deteriorate, and consequently the respondents lose patience and become increasingly prone to producing “straight-line” answers. Among many factors, obtrusive user interface design is an issue that can be easily improved by applying good user interface design principles.
This research studies the application of Gibson’s affordance theory and Fitts’s Law in web interface design, and examines whether they will improve the effectiveness and result quality of web surveys. Controlled experiments are set up to compare the interface alternatives in the following aspects: user response time, response quality, and user preference of either interface.
The research results indicate that there is an improvement in response time and response quality when the web survey interface adopts the Fitts’s Law and offers users appropriate affordances. In addition, the results also reveal that users might not be aware of the benefits of web form interfaces with better affordances over traditional ones without using them; however, most users can identify the benefits once they have used the interfaces with better affordances.
Yang Li is a recent Computer Science graduate from Truman State University. He is currently working in Boston, MA as a front-end web and user interface developer.
Keywords: web surveys, Fitts’s Law, computer science, user interface design
"The Second Nun’s Tale" by Geoffrey Chaucer is a tale that scholars agree to be the purest hagiographic narrative within the Tales. Although many scholars link the purity of this tale to Cecile’s divine being, the theme of alchemy has not yet been noted, in spite of the fact that the tale that follows "The Second Nun’s Tale" is "The Cannon’s Yeoman’s Tale," which directly addresses alchemical practices. With the practice of alchemy being to purify base metal into gold, I believe Chaucer uses the process within this tale to symbolize the purification of sainthood and martyrdom, to convey a spiritual form of alchemy. Some alchemical references have been noted in "The Cannon’s Yeoman’s Tale"; none, according to my research, have referred to alchemy as a symbol for Cecile’s purity within this tale. In my paper, I examine the relationship of alchemy and the alchemical colors to the theme of purity. In the alchemical belief of transitioning base metal into gold, transitioning can also be seen in this tale’s representation of the rites of baptism and of the transformation from believer into martyr. In this paper, I show how Chaucer uses alchemy as a metaphor in this tale for the process of purification, and demonstrate the importance of this tale to The Canterbury Tales as a whole.
Kelsey Long is a junior from Big Stone Gap, Virginia. She is an English major and plans to attend graduate school in English with the intention of eventually teaching on the college level.
Aphorisms, lying, and faulty logic abound in the works and life of Oscar Wilde. Characters who embrace these tactics, as Wilde does, possess a multifaceted sense of truth, giving them the ability to find truth beneath the façade of contradictions and develop a sense of individualism. People who insist upon thinking in a binary, either/or mindset, thus seeking fundamental truths, are unable to garner truth from Wilde's seemingly contradictory phrasing and reasoning. Drawing on a range of Wilde’s work from essays like “The Critic as Artist” and “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” to Wilde’s society plays and The Picture of Dorian Gray, I demonstrate that while Wilde and his characters may seem unknowable through the haze of aphorisms and faulty logic, it is only through these contradictions that they can be truly understood. Additionally, I highlight how Wilde’s use of aphorisms during his infamous libel trials reveal the binary nature of the judicial system and of society as a whole at that time. To appreciate the depth of Wilde, one must accept that there are always multifaceted truths and alternate interpretations, something that many of his characters and contemporaries fail to do.
Danica Leninsky is a graduating English and mathematics double major from Centreville, Virginia. She plans to pursue a career in which she can utilize both majors and to eventually pursue graduate study.
Keywords: Oscar Wilde, aphorisms, literature
Food is among the greatest building blocks of civilization—nourishing us while simultaneously defining our personalities, cultures and relationships. If we are what we eat, then what does food really mean? What do images of food within artworks say about an artist or the culture that surrounds him? This paper attempts to analyze the presence and meaning of images of food throughout the history of art by categorizing them into three separate modes of representation: food as allegory, food as body and food as a painterly signifier. It categorizes the history of food in art as an evolution characterized by a mounting disassociation of images with the physical characteristics of food and gluttony, indicating that as art modernized, food images took on wider, more esoteric and subjective meanings. From early tapestries of food as a gluttonous distraction and images of the Virgin Mary imparting wisdom upon Jesus by suckling him at her breast to Judy Chicago’s Dinner Table and Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans, the iconography of food has evolved with the history of art and changes in the role of food itself within Western society.
Chelsea Butkowski is a senior Communication and Art History major from Tonawanda, NY. She plans to pursue graduate studies in art history in order to prepare for a career in museum or gallery work.
Recently, the general public has become increasingly concerned with the antioxidant content of foods, due primarily to the many health benefits associated with a diet high in antioxidants. Numerous assays have thus been developed to analyze antioxidant content of foods. However, most are time-consuming and costly. This paper presents an electrochemical technique as a simple, sensitive and cost-effective alternative to traditional assays. In this study, aqueous extracts of organic, conventional and locally grown carrot, tomato, rhubarb, raspberry, strawberry, red, green and yellow bell pepper samples were analyzed by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Differences in principal peak potential (indicative of antioxidant activity) and peak area (indicative of antioxidant capacity) were statistically analyzed to determine the effect of growing conditions on nutritional composition. Effectiveness of organic, aqueous and solventless extraction methods was also evaluated. Aqueous extraction was found to provide the most effective extraction relative to antioxidant activity, while organic extraction was most effective relative to antioxidant capacity. Growing conditions were found to have little effect on antioxidant content. Limits of detection and quantitation were determined to be 1.9 x 10-4 M, respectively. This study showed DPV to be a sensitive and effective technique for antioxidant determination.
Emily Ervin is a senior chemistry major from Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Following graduation, she intends to pursue either a PhD in chemistry or a degree in dental surgery, eventually entering into the field of chemical/biomedical research.
The concept of genres is one that has evolved little since Aristotle wrote on the matter in his Poetics. As a result, critics have generally repeated the same song and dance, to the same ends, when dealing with genres and generic analysis of texts. For this reason, I have researched different ways of grouping texts together, with a particular focus on Structuralist theories of genre. These theories, especially those posited by Tzvetan Todorv and Thomas Winner, emphasize the use of formalist techniques as organizing principles for genres, instead of more general concepts such as theme, motif, or characterization. The second half of my research investigated particularly interesting and impactful techniques to organize genres around. The technique that stood out the most to me was Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotope, which relates the temporal and spatial relationships in a text. The final aspect of my research involved combining the particular Structuralist genre theories with Bakhtin’s theory on the chronotope, in order to come up with a new, more interesting definition for genre. I tested this definition by analyzing the genre of Chivalric Romance. In particular, I close read The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and demonstrated the ways in which it fit into the Chivalric Romance tradition. This result challenges traditional assumptions about the Romance genre, and leads to several interesting issues in cultural studies. Specifically, the issue of shared value systems between cultures that traditionally are thought of being dissimilar arises.
Sean Fischer is a junior English literature and mathematics major from Pittsford, New York, attending SUNY Geneseo in beautiful upstate New York. After graduating, he plans to attend graduate school in literature.
Keywords: chivalric romance, romance genre, literature, Skyrim
In this project is an interpretation of how the ideas of gender performativity and compulsory heterosexuality can inform our understanding of college hook-up culture. The focus is on the following questions: How do we use these hetero-gendered roles to make meaning of our experiences in hook-up culture? To what extent does the dominance of this script limit our ability to imagine alternatives to the hook-up? Through this analysis one can begin to address the problematic realities visible in hook-up culture, as well as recognizing the increased agency provided through these new social scripts. This project is an analysis of posts from a confessions website allowing students to write anonymously about their experiences within hook-up culture. These websites are a previously untapped academic resource calling for further investigation. Posts describing sexual encounters are coded for terms and concepts relating directly to gender, heterosexuality and the dominance of the hook-up script. Data is organized into groups reflecting the three most prevalent types of relationship referenced: long- term monogamous partners, long-term non-monogamous partners, and short-term non- monogamous partners. These encounters provide a wide diversity of experiences both challenging and upholding hegemonic ideologies of gender and sexuality. The hook-up script has in many ways increased sexual agency, but its dominance veils alternative scripts, severely limiting the choices of participants.
Kelly Avant is a Senior Gender-Women’s Studies major from Austin, Texas. She plans to serve the Peace Corps in Cambodia immediately following graduation.
Keywords: gender, sexuality, compulsory heterosexuality, Hook-Up Culture, confession websites
In 2006, 34% of adults in America met the criteria for Metabolic Syndrome (MetSyn), with men and women 40-59 years of age having triple the chance of meeting the criteria than younger adults (Ervin, 2009).
Purpose - The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on the symptoms of MetSyn in women 40-65 years of age.
Methods - Volunteers were solicited from Durango, CO and surrounding communities for participation in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to a study group (SG)(n=11) or control (CG)(n=11). All participants were measured for waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoproteins (HDL), and fasting glucose (FG). The SG exercised with body weight only four times a week for six weeks. Each session included three sets using the same exercises but with intensity increasing by speed of execution. The CG maintained their lifestyle and attended measuring sessions.
Results - Systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure did not statistically improve (p=0.121 and p=0.316 respectively). FG (p=0.784) and HDL (p=0.085) measures did not improve. Waist circumference did not significantly improve (p=0.148) yet there was improvement in the SG means. TG showed significant improvement (p=0.023).
Conclusion - Despite the change in TG as a result of this six-week study, HIIT did not significantly reduce all the symptoms of MetSyn in women 40-65 years of age.
Keywords: High Intensity Interval Training, metabolism, metabolic syndrome, blood pressure
Helpmate, a domestic violence agency in Asheville, NC, operates a secure shelter that is a home and a fortress, created by professional and volunteer advocates to assist women and children in regaining their agency through intentionality by moving past the role of victim into the role of survivor. By using the methodologies of cultural anthropology, a narrative will emerge from the visual representations of intentionality throughout the shelter. This ethnography depicts the vibrant and mundane details of a liminal space that is equal parts counseling center, office building, children’s playground, and family room—concealed behind barricades and security cameras. By giving voice to the lives of women and children affected by violence and the advocates that serve them, light can penetrate the shadows to reveal a visual narrative of healing, community, and intentionality.
Kenton Bell, from the Lake Norman area of North Carolina, is a senior at the University of North Carolina, Asheville majoring in sociology and anthropology. Kenton’s research focuses on the role of men in preventing violence against women. Kenton intends to complete law school and a Ph.D. in sociology.
Keywords: domestic violence shelter, intentionality, liminality, domestic violence
The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of a student loan bubble and analyze micro and macroeconomic remedies and policies that can be undertaken in such a bubble exists. In light of record amounts of student loan debt (recently passing the one trillion dollar mark), there has been much concern as to whether the value of a college education is worth the costs in tuition and interest paid on loans. If the actual value of a college education is much lower than the current value, then this has potential to be an asset-price bubble.
The paper begins by defining a bubble as an asymmetric deviation of the market price of an asset from its fundamental value over a period of several months or years, that inevitably leads to a significant reverse correction as seen by a fall in prices. The paper then uses data to calculate the value of college via an earnings differential between high school and college graduates and comparing it to the net cost of college to calculate a cost-earnings ratio. It then examine several other indicators, including cost-earnings ratio by degree, private-public education enrollment, and a potential bubble in for-profit colleges. It concludes that there is little evidence to support a bubble in student loans.
Marty Rogachefsky is a senior political science and economics major from Rochester, New York. He plans to teach high school math with Teach for America next year, after which he will attend graduate school and pursue a degree in public policy.
Keywords: student loans, college, university, education
The Mulatto by Seymour G. Link
Because my Mother thought
That a black sin
Was white if it was brought
In a White skin,
Because my father brought
At cost of pride
The lusthead that he sought
From a black bride
The god’s bestow on me
A life of hate-
A white man’s gift to see
A nigger’s fate
O, god who gave me sight
To see my lack-Dreams of a bitter white
And soul of black
Must I forever be
Slurred of two races?
Must I forever see
Kin of two faces? (Link 1929)
Keywords: poetry, Seymour G. Link, literature, poetry analysis
Historians have long paid attention to the crucial role played by Tudor and Stuart monarchs in determining and enforcing religious policy during the English Reformation. However, both Catholic and Protestant polemicists and victims of persecution also played decisive roles as arbiters of their own places within the complex matrix of English religious and political affiliation. Defining their relationship to legitimate sources of authority was a key strategy of both Catholics and Protestants. Of course, the English reformers and their Catholic contemporaries do not have a monopoly on the experience of negotiating with political authority. For example, Protestants in Germany, Switzerland, and France also engaged in claiming and defining more or less advantageous relationships to political powers and, in some cases, even developing their own structures of political authority. What makes the English Reformation unique is the interplay of volatile dynastic policy driven by particularly forceful personalities and coalescing confessional groups. The strains imposed by this context on both Catholics and Protestants are particularly evident in persecution narratives. Narratives of persecution, and critiques of them, reveal the high stakes and unique contours of the English Reformation landscape. Central to these narratives are a quest for legitimacy and legibility as true martyrs and victims of religious persecution. The success or failure of a narrative depends on the text’s depiction of the persecuted as obedient subjects of legitimate political authority and orderly participants in English society; at the same time, however, authors redefine the locus of legitimate authority and provide subtle commentary on Reformation policy.
Annie Morphew is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota Morris from Lakeville, Minnesota. She plans to pursue graduate study in early modern European history focusing on the English Reformation.
Keywords: Catholicism, Protestantism, English Reformation, England, religion
The saga of the northern spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest is the story of the American conservation movement. No bird has influenced policy and polarized a population the way the northern spotted owl did in the late 20th century. The owl makes its home in the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest – forests that have for centuries provided their human inhabitants with a sense of awe and more recently, a tremendous amount of high quality timber. As more and more timber was cut in the mid to late 1900s, so too was the habitat for the spotted owl. An environmental crisis arose that pitted a massive logging industry that fueled the regional economy against environmentalists who wanted to protect old growth forests. Eventually, scientists learned enough about the owl and its habitat to give environmentalists the momentum and evidence they needed to gain clout in political arenas and thus affect policy change. After years of research from both sides of the issue and failed attempts to find an adequate balance, policies such as the Endangered Species Act (1973) and the Northwest Forest Plan (1994) were implemented to protect the owl’s habitat. As a result, the fate of the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest was forever changed.
Adam Hager is a senior geography major from Roanoke, Virginia. He plans to pursue a graduate degree in urban and regional planning before working in community development.
The African swallowtail butterfly, Papilio dardanus is a remarkable species in that the females express polymorphism. This polymorphism is controlled by allelic variation at a single locus with at least 11 different alleles. Many of these morphs are mimics of either poisonous or non- poisonous model butterflies which reside in the same area. Historically, mimicry in P. dardanus species was studied substantially, however, due to the large abundance of studies in the past, current interest is no longer focused on mimic and model relationships but rather on the genetics behind mimicry. Yet, here we present the results of further studies on P. dardanus colour morphs that have been previously been deemed to be non-mimetic. To do so I conducted an investigation in which I analysed all available online databases, contacted private collectors and visited museum collections in order to obtain information on all existing P. dardanus morphs. With my research I was able to provide an overview of all currently known mimic and models of P. dardanus as well as proposing new models which seem to have more similarity to the P. dardanus morphs. I was also able to identify and describe a new morph of P. dardanus, which was named anthedoides due to its similarity to the prosed model Hypolimnas anthedon.
Vanessa Rice is a Biology major/Chemistry minor from Duchess, Alberta. She currently plans to pursue a career in medicine or pharmacy.
In 2011 when the Arab Spring spread to Egypt, thousands of men and women gathered at Tahrir Square in Cairo in mass protests that led to the forced removal of President Hosni Mubarak. The widespread emancipatory and populist fervor surrounding the subsequent post-revolutionary moment in Egypt was ripe with optimism for the future of a “democratic Egypt,” and the Arab Spring was heralded as a sign of the final stage of anticolonial struggle in Egypt’s quest for autonomy. However, with the consecutive rise and fall of the Muslim Brotherhood from the center of Egyptian politics, the return of a military-based authoritarian state, as well as the continuation of protests, it seems that these postcolonial promises were short-lived. The question remains: How did the seemingly “universal” calls for systemic change in Egypt that toppled a regime in 2011 fail to produce such transformations? Through the partial lens of the Muslim Brotherhood, we shall seek to expose and analyze some of the historically rooted tensions and contradictions that have proved to undermine the potential for systemic social and economic change in Egypt. More specifically, issues of gender shall serve as a primary focus of this analysis due to the inherent embeddedness of gender in political discourse. Furthermore, the problems that have arisen with regard to gender rights/politics in post-revolutionary Egypt intersect with broader issues of neoliberal practices, the authoritarian state, and postcoloniality, providing a nodal point of reference from which to expose some obstacles in the path toward systemic change.
Nikita Rumsey is a junior History and Spanish double major from Northport, NY. He plans to pursue graduate study in history, philosophy, or cultural studies.
This paper examines the evolution of Kant's thinking about God to try to come to a better understanding of exactly what he believed. By examining relevant primary and secondary sources, the paper seeks to give an account of a unity in Kant's personal belief in a God even alongside his changing philosophical views on the matter. Upon a careful elucidation of his principle works which refer to God, it becomes clear that liberating faith from the charge of being irrational was among Kant's highest priorities throughout his career. Kant's “Copernican revolution” opened the door for rational theism which traditional Enlightenment philosophy did not, a door through which Kant eagerly stepped.
❐ PDFKeywords: philosophy, Immanuel Kant, theism, faith
Common lands were once integral to the agricultural system known as the open field system in Britain. Commons were lands where the poor could hunt, forage, or graze their animals for sustenance. In the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century in Britain, the Parliamentary Enclosure movement privatized these commons. Though members of Parliament were more apt to preserve access to the commons, members of the British Board of Agriculture actively lobbied for enclosure. The Board of Agriculture saw a villager’s right to a common as a crutch that preserved idleness, that self-sustenance bred a class of people who were too lazy to take on wage labor. Reports to the Board of Agriculture describe an ‘Unruly independence and slothful behavior’ in villagers who supplement their income by gathering from the commons. In order to achieve their ultimate goal of enclosing all common lands for private use, the reports of the Board of Agriculture criminalize poverty, and recommend enclosing the commons as a cure for the immorality.
Chelsea Beresford is a senior history major.