New Jersey History (NJH - E-Journal)
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A Battle to the Wire: The Controversary Over Horse Racing and How the Industry Can Move Forward into the Future
No full textThe final race of the 2019 Breeder’s Cup was about to begin at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Under the glow of the looming sunset, horsemen, veterinarians, track management and fans alike held their breaths as the horses rocketed from the gate in a display of raw power and beauty. Under intense scrutiny from the California state government, Santa Anita had taken every precautionary measure possible to ensure that the biggest two-day event in racing would go off without incident. Thirty vets were assembled to observe horses during and after training in the week leading up to the Breeder’s Cup, and the race contenders were subjected to a vigorous pre-race veterinary examination before receiving the final “OK” to compete. A close friend of mine was forced to scratch his horse from competition after one such pre-race exam. Luis trained a horse named Imperial Hint, a five-year- old horse that had captured his last two races and was one of the race favorites in the $2,000,000 Breeder’s Cup Sprint Stakes. In the days leading up to the race, veterinarians discovered a slight tenderness in the horse’s coronet band, the junction between the hoof and hairline on the horse’s ankle, and forbade the horse from competing in that weekend’s event. Luis protested that he knew his horse better than anyone and that even the vets could see for themselves every morning that Imperial Hint was training soundly up to the race. However, the vet’s decision was irrefutable. In an instant, Luis and the horse’s eighty-year-old owner hung their heads in disappointment, their year-long dream of championship glory buried in the California sands
Visual Diaries: Towards Art History as Storytelling
No full textThis essay examines variants of what I refer to as "visual diaries" or thinking through images and written or oral language as important "worldmaking" exercises, essential for students of color, women, sexual minorities, or other marginalized subjects. I provide my reflections on assigning this dynamic and student-centered, practice-based assignment in my contemporary art courses at a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) of higher education and a summer art residency program unaffiliated with a university. Besides my reflections on my pedagogy, I also share student feedback from unsolicited testimonials and answers to questionnaires. I argue that visual diaries transform students into veritable storytellers of art history. Thinking of art history as storytelling empowers students to create the histories they deserve and may not see in the classroom. There can always be another story, another way of looking at seemingly the same set of assumptions (or "facts")
Aronofsky’s Take on Horror
No full textDarren Aronofsky’s filmmaking career is filled with disturbing, impactful, and oftentimes horrific movies. Although his films are more often labeled as mystery or drama, there are plenty of horror elements infused into his works. The particular subgenre of horror that fits his movies best is referred to as psychological horror. Psychological horror films most notably focus on the human characters as monsters rather than as something supernatural or an alien invader. This subgenre typically includes main characters with trauma, difficult situations for them, and extremely visceral emotional reactions used to instill fear and unease in the viewer. The three Aronofsky films this paper will focus on have each of these three commonplace occurrences for psychological horror movies, with additional shared qualities that help to solidify the works into the genre. Aronofsky has spent his career perfecting the craft, using his Harvard education to create movies that will not only scare viewers but also leave a lasting impact. Specifically, his films mother!, Black Swan, and Requiem for a Dream use techniques like surrealism, paranoia, and downfall of narrator(s) to create unsettling and terrifying psychological horror films
Ungrading in Art History: Grade inflation, student engagement, and social equity
No full textTraditional academic pedagogies require that professors assign students grades in a system that creates hierarchies of power of professor over student. This system assumes that grades serve as an intrinsic motivator for students to improve in an academic setting. Many studies suggest that professor-assigned grades do not function as assumed. This article explores one alternative to the traditional system, known as ungrading, a practice whereby students assign themselves grades after a semester of frequent feedback and reflective assignments. This study offers a thematic literature review of ungrading in many disciplines and a small study of ungrading in upper-division art history courses using both quantitative and qualitative data to determine effectiveness. We posit that in ungrading, students do not inflate their grades and they do take responsibility for their learning in a way that returns agency to students
Is Solitary Confinement Useful?
No full textImagine being placed in a small, narrow cell for long periods of time without any human interaction, just you and your thoughts. Segregated from prisoners, your mind starts to think of ways to escape this sufferable empty atmosphere. Is this form of punishment morally right? Are prisons promoting recidivism and death rather than rehabilitation by segregating individual’s? More importantly, do they expect inmates to be able to reintegrate into society easily knowing their mental state is fragile
Art History, Open Educational Resources (OERs), and Social Justice-Oriented Pedagogy: Adaptations to Introductory World Art History Survey Courses
No full textThis essay considers the social justice benefits of adopting OERs in an introductory art history survey course. Following the events of the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors have needed to reevaluate pedagogical approaches and teaching materials. Coupled with this present need to foster accessible and flexible courses, for decades art historians have observed the overrepresentation of white Western art and subsequent marginalization of global art in survey textbooks. Centering the need for a social justice-oriented pedagogy that recognizes global contributions to art history, I first reflect on the potential to adapt open educational resources (OERs) to disrupt status quo narratives that privilege Western art. Second, I discuss my adaptation of the open access textbook Boundless Art History by Lumen Learning in which I reformat the material to examine artwork across the globe in timeframe units. Finally, I conclude by reviewing student responses to a Google Forms survey about their experiences with OERs and positing additional benefits and further developments for open access course materials within introductory art history survey courses
Why Play College Athletics? The Motivations Behind Male vs. Female Rutgers-Camden Student Athletes
No full textThis study was conducted to reveal the motivations behind Division III student-athletes to participate in collegiate sports. A survey was sent out to all the student- athletes at Rutgers University-Camden. Eighty responses were recorded from both males and females. Descriptive statistics showed that, of the possible motivations the survey provided, playing collegiate sports because they genuinely enjoyed it was the greatest overall motivation. Descriptive statistics also showed a significant difference between males and females in the category of wanting to become a professional athlete. This information could be useful to coaches and athletic departments of Division III schools
Photogenic Power: A Brief Analysis of Iconic Depictions of Political Power
No full textIn his much acclaimed-yet-controversial text, political theorist Steven Lukes introduces a three-dimensional model of power. The first part of the model, hypothesized by Robert Dahl and monikered “decision-making power,” emphasizes direct and public exertion of power whereby one pressures another to engage in an act they would not have done otherwise. Baratz and Bachrach supplemented Dahl’s early theory with the second dimension—“non-decision-making power”—which constitutes the ability to redirect the agenda or conversation of public discourse; this dimension of power often takes place behind closed doors. The third face of Lukes’s model, that of “ideological power,” encompasses the ability to alter societal thoughts and desires, in some cases, even convincing people to yearn for things that may be against their own personal interests. Below and throughout the remainder of this paper, I will analyze two preeminent photographs in recent political history using Lukes’s three- dimensional model of power and other related theories
Further Developments in the Panel of Psychological Inquiry Method of Case Study Research: The Case of "Ronan"
No full textIn 2011 our research group published a pilot study—the Case of "Anna"—employing the Panel of Psychological Inquiry (PPI) Clinical Case Study Method. The present study—the Case of "Ronan"—is a second example of the PPI method in action. The Case of Ronan has a number of modifications in method compared to the Case of Anna. First, the Case of Ronan involves the evaluation of a more complex and controversial written case study of a 20-month old boy who was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and who was treated in a comprehensive therapeutic daycare center program where the core approach was based upon Greenspan’s (2009) "Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based" ("DIR"/ "Floortime") model. DIR/Floortime was originally developed for use by parents in their own homes, and the Case of Ronan demonstrates how a therapeutic pre-school environment can use DIR/Floortime as a model for most adult-child interactions in a pre-school therapeutic environment. In addition to the application of the PPI model to a radically different clinical diagnosis, there were modifications to the methodology itself including: (a) reduction in the number of judges from five to three; (b) having a key witness in the case testify remotely before the Panel; (c) the writing of a much more detailed judges’ opinion on the aspects of the case that most influenced their decisions; and (d) a further development of the logic of a quasi-judicial approach to clinical case studies in psychology. By examining how the civil law’s basic framework for proving causality in cases of personal injury (who did what harm to whom), the process by which knowledge claims that emerge out of clinical practice (who provided what benefit to whom) is further explicated