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A Grotesque Beacon of God’s Grace in “A Temple of the Holy Ghost”
Full text linkThe faith of Flannery O’Connor, a Catholic writer, creates a unique tension within her short stories, between the grotesque aspects of the natural world and the sanctity of the divine. Her work “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” exemplifies this tension as a young female narrator encounters an unexpected transformative experience after her two cousins see a “hermaphrodite”[1] at a local “freak show.” In “A Temple of the Holy Ghost,” Flannery O’Connor employs the hermaphrodite character as a vessel for the narrator to explore the mysterious virtue of purity as she matures both literally and spiritually. In doing so, O’Connor calls readers to adopt a perception of sacramentality upon the physical world
Prevention of Bank Failure and the Role of Social Media in Banking
Full text linkThe collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (California) in 2023 was the second-largest bank failure in US history. A lack of diversification (a higher number of customers were high-tech and healthcare venture capitalists) and a classic bank run (too many customers withdrew their deposits simultaneously) were considered the primary causes of that bank\u27s failure. Silicon Valley Bank’s case clearly illustrates that no bank is too big to fail, and there should be specific preventive measures to combat bank failures. As the backbone of the economic development of the vulnerable rural community, community banks certainly have no luxury to entertain a similar type of financial crisis. In this study, the opinions from two Eastern Kentucky regional community bank administrators were collected to address their banks’ responses to the 2023 bank closures. Each bank administrator went through a 40- to 45-minute interview to address information related to (1) the service type and customer portfolios of the bank, (2) the asset and liability management (ALM) practice of the bank, (3) expected regulatory changes and policies for mitigating risk, and (4) utilization of social media in banking. The administrators’ comments indicated the importance of diversifying the banks’ funds and income, engaging in the ALM process, preparing a contingency funding plan, and advocating for regulatory changes to prevent bank failures. Although the surveyed banks had unique social media approaches, there is still potential for widely utilizing social media platforms to educate customers about risk and to promote business incentives and opportunities for driving profitability
Linking the Past and the Future: Understanding How Pollutants Cause Corrosion During an Oddy Test
Full text linkArtifacts and artwork continue to tell a story long after a time or culture has disappeared. Preventive art conservation science involves careful and responsible management of the objects entrusted in the care of the museum staff to ensure environmental and display conditions do not cause damage so future generations can observe and learn about past cultures. An accelerated metal corrosion test, the Oddy test, has been used to help determine the suitability of display and storage materials. The Oddy test is subjective, so newer methods are being developed involving the use of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify specific pollutant molecules emitted from a sample. It can be challenging to link these two methods as they may generate differing results. The Oddy test may indicate the lead coupon was corroded by organic acids, but multiple organic acids may be detected during GC analysis. The focus of this work is to determine which types of acids act as pollutants. Volatile acids are known to corrode the lead coupon through direct oxidation of the metal by the acid at the surface of the metal coupon, but the impact of nonvolatile acids on the lead coupon is still inconclusive. Preliminary results confirm the mechanism of corrosion by volatile acids. In addition, a different pathway has been found for corrosion of lead catalyzed by the presence of a nonvolatile organic acid pollutant. Experiments to elucidate the mechanism for acid corrosion of lead in the Oddy test will be shared
A Feasibility Study of Creating a Model for a Dance Outreach Program in Chesterfield County Public Schools
Full text linkExposure to dance at a young age has many proven benefits for children and their communities, including healthier brain development, deeper cultural understandings, and higher rates of supporting the arts in the future. Unfortunately, most dance education options are costly, greatly limiting which families have access to the opportunity to allow their children to experience training in dance. Dance outreach programs, which focus on introducing dance to communities and children that may otherwise never have access to dance education, are one way the arts community is working to dismantle this elitism. Partnering with public schools is the most common way for dance outreach programs to reach children, yet many localities across the country do not have sustained dance outreach programs in their public-school systems. Chesterfield County in Virginia is one such locality, despite being surrounded by a thriving dance scene. This thesis analyzes and compares the models of different dance outreach programs currently finding success in other localities, including Richmond Ballet’s Minds in Motion and Kids Dance Outreach in Indianapolis. After considering the specific needs of Chesterfield County Public Schools, a dance outreach program model, that could be feasibly and sustainably incorporated into elementary schools in Chesterfield County, is presented
Shakespeare, Storytelling, and Science: An Exploration of the Relationship Between the Early Modern Scientific Movement and Shakespeare’s 17th-Century Works
Full text linkThe 17th-century scientific movement generated a “death of the metaphor” that reverberated across the literary landscape. The creation of the Royal Society in 1660 shifted the ways in which literature and art were represented and respected in Western society. Shakespeare\u27s works, believed to have been written from 1592-1615, show the growing relevance of the scientific and philosophical issues and queries that led to the formation of the Royal Society. A deep dive into Shakespearean metaphor and the scientific works that were causing shifts within Shakespeare’s world provides insight into the mind of an artist consumed and perturbed by matters of the natural world. In addition, Shakespeare’s characters repeatedly question the role that an individual plays within this rapidly changing world. This thesis seeks to unpack Shakespeare\u27s 17th-century plays, with Pericles, Twelfth Night, King Lear, and Hamlet serving as main sources of Shakespearean analysis. These texts provide a range in genre and span Shakespeare\u27s 17th-century canonical timeline
The Identity of “I’m sorry”: Perceptions of Apologies in False Confessions and the Influence of Suspect Gender
Full text linkApologies serve as a mediator between victims and wrongdoers to promote forgiveness and enhance moral perceptions, while ostensibly reinforcing the guilt of the offender. These effects are further tempered by the gender of the apologizer. Paradoxically, content analyses show that apologies are not uncommon in false confessions and may reinforce false judgements of guilt. The current experiment aimed to elucidate the role that suspect gender and gender stereotypes of apologies play in shaping observer perceptions of coercion and guilt within confession contexts. This experiment conformed to a 2 (suspect gender: woman vs. man) x 3 (gender expectations of the apology: no apology control vs. feminine apology vs. masculine apology) between-subjects design. I hypothesized that apologies would be perceived as more effective when the suspect’s gender and the apology type were congruent (e.g., a woman offering a feminine-styled apology). Additionally, I predicted that confessions would be viewed as less likely to be false or coerced under gender-congruent conditions and that verdicts would more likely be guilty when the suspect’s gender and apology type aligned. Contrary to expectations, the results indicated no significant effects of gender and apology type congruence on perceived apology effectiveness, perceptions of coercion, or guilt assessments. These findings challenge assumptions about the automatic influence of gender norms in legal contexts and highlight the complexity of decision-making processes in response to confessions
Looking Green: A Rhetorical Analysis of Greenwashing in Fossil Fuel Advertisements
Full text linkThe world’s leading oil and gas companies knew the impact of fossil fuels on climate change as early as the late 1970s. Despite this knowledge, the fossil fuel industry proceeded to invest money in publicly denying the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change. There is increasing hindrance by American consumers towards fossil fuels as the consequences of their extraction and production become more glaring and evident in the environmental destruction and consequences of climate change across the globe. Growing environmental concerns about the impacts of fossil fuels, like oil and natural gas, from the general public resulted in mass efforts by the fossil fuel industry to combat these concerns. These efforts include multi-million dollar advertising campaigns designed to communicate specific messages regarding fossil fuels to regain declining support from American consumers. Rhetorical analysis using cluster criticism and ideological criticism of fossil fuel advertising campaigns uncovers the rhetorical strategies of greenwashing to show how the fossil fuel industry uses advertisements to counteract growing environmental concerns and reinforce hegemonic ideologies. Greenwashing deliberately creates confusion among American consumers about the impacts of fossil fuels on the environment and contributes to greater attempts by lobbyists to limit legislation and discredit science
Echoes of Radicalization: The Political Right and The Internet Through the Lens of Moral Panic
Full text linkIn the past decade, the prevalence of social media has become a part of everyday life. Alongside this, these issues have gained a unique venue for discussing identity-based political issues that were not previously given mainstream attention and, ultimately, contribute to panic among portions of the American public. In this study, I conducted a digital ethnographic content analysis to explore how Reddit and X act as venues for discussions of transgender issues, immigration, and racial discrimination and how these issues have manifested in mainstream discourse. Using Stanley Cohen’s moral panic theory and grounded theory practices, I found that these spaces create a new language to discuss these issues, reinforce concerns and stereotypes, and follow a self-reinforcing chain of command to transmit information into mainstream media discourse. Ultimately, these findings lead me to conclude that future research must be done in broader issue areas and that policymakers need to be conscious of dog whistles to disrupt harmful legislation to marginalized groups
Gender and Sexuality in the American West: Forgotten Queer Histories of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Full text linkThe narratives of queer individuals are often overlooked in the construction of the history of the American West. This work focuses on the lives of queer individuals living in the American West during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. “The dearth of historical evidence should not be construed as the absence of it.”1 While finding sources that demonstrate queer historical experiences is difficult, nevertheless, their experiences significantly contribute to a more inclusive and accurate understanding of the history of the West. By examining a range of historical evidence through the lens of queer historical theory, this work reveals the forgotten stories of the early American West. In this paper, I analyze primary sources such as newspapers and pictures through the lens of queer theory to uncover stories and evidence of queer individuals living in the American West during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I frame my work within the context of secondary sources from other queer and American West historians. After conducting intense research, I concluded that frontier culture, gender population imbalances, and a lack of state regulation allowed queerness to thrive in the early American West until the end of the nineteenth century, when a significant cultural shift occurred. This paper highlights how these narratives challenge dominant heteronormative frameworks and enrich our comprehension of American identity. A queer framing of the study of American history specifically challenges traditional hyper-heterosexual visions of the American West while advocating for the integration of queer histories into broader historical discourses. The queer history created for this thesis compiles and analyzes stories of several queer individuals that supplement the field of American Western, which until recently has omitted, censored, or disregarded LGBTQ+ individuals in history. Ultimately, this paper aims to provide meaningful contributions to the study of American Western history with the creation of queer histories that can uncover some of the silences of history
