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Bound: A Few Treads
No full textWhat follows is a paean to memory, loss, wonder, worth, and belonging. When I first started my studies with the School of Letters in ’18, my vision for this thesis manuscript was a work that would focus entirely on my thirteen years of experience working on the Ohio and other rivers. During that time, I was fortunate to experience some of the last vestiges of a quickly vanishing river culture. I myself was a steamboatman, but through my time on the river I got to know shantyboaters, commercial fishermen, and wooden boat builders, WW II veterans, and a whole other cast of characters. The dearest among them was Joe Rafferty. I lived on his wooden hulled shantyboat for a month, and my essay on that experience was what I hoped to bind the rest of “the river book,” as I was calling it at the time.
However, as I progressed with material, I found it difficult to pair these other sketches of river life to the shantyboat essay. It just felt too different in character and tone color, and perhaps that was because it was an experience beyond observation and was truly transformative. Paired with this was my three decades of following and being a practitioner of traditional music. Over the years, my musical journey has taken me from an outsider, to being in the middle of a healthy traditional scene, and back to the fringes where fellow like-minded musicians are not in great supply. Why then be part of a tradition where most of your colleagues are a generation older than you, leading to the inevitable loss of your immediate community? This question and others, such as what does art look and sound like to the modestly abled, led to the greater introspection of this work, which is bound to the idea that all of us are given the opportunity to be in community with that which is greater than us.
Those questions, in addition to my deep friendship with Joe and the onset of dementia in his life, framed the essays that followed. I felt that this was no longer “the river book,” but in reality, a questioning of other ways of living in this world – a “different economy,” as Wendell Berry writes. So, while I am part of the essays, my intent was not to write a memoire. At best, it is a series of observations from an insider’s view, with the hope of bringing the larger question of what can I take from these observations to readers that have no experience with any of the subject matter. It is a work with gravity, but I hope it is also a work of affirmation.
Structure wise, I have taken inspiration from the great Japanese poet Basho’s “Narrow Road to the Interior” as well as traditional fiddle music. Most fiddle tunes consist of two sections, the A part and the B part. There are some Kentucky fiddle tunes that have three parts, labeled A, B, and C. While most fiddle tunes are played ABABABAB, these three-part Kentucky tunes keep returning to the B – ABCBABCBABCBABC. The B part is the hinge. My hope in this manuscript is that poetry is the hinge and, although the work begins and ends with poetry, it is not the same rigid architecture of the B in the fiddle tune context. But nonetheless, it is my hope that the poetry will link, in a more lyric voice, the essays
To Be Conquered or Conformed: The Racial Construction of the Qing Dynasty and Meiji Japan in the Western Mind Mid-Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century
Full text linkDuring the mid-late nineteenth century Western constructions of the Chinese and Japanese races were based upon the country’s willingness to conform to Western epistemology. The Qing dynasty in China, through the Self-Strengthening Movement, sought to forge a hybrid path to modernity that combined Western and Chinese practices while resisting foreign intervention. The Qing’s unwillingness to conform to Euro-American norms led them to be constructed through a lens of Oriental despotism which dismissed them as stagnant and uncivilized in the Western mind. In contrast, the modernization of Japan during the Meiji Restoration (1868) and its subsequent confirmation to Western epistemology allowed it to be constructed through a paternalistic lens as a civilized nation capable of progress in Western discourse. However, in the early twentieth century the rising military power of Japan signaled a threat to the race-based epistemology of the West and the hegemony of white Western powers; thus the Japanese were constructed as the ‘modern despot’ in Western discourse
Decoding Leaf Mimicry: Analysis of Boquila trifoliolata Leaf Morphology
Full text linkPreliminary observations suggested that Boquila trifoliolata leaves can adopt specific variations from physical proximity to neighboring plants with distinct characteristics. Morphological mimicry in B. trifoliolata was previously described by other researchers, but the qualitative nature of these descriptions is susceptible to potential observer biases. Thus, systematic quantification of this morphological mimicry remains under-explored. We hypothesize that if mimicry is occurring, it should be reflected in measurable shifts in overall leaf shape, lobe number, size, and position. In this work, we monitor the development of morphological variations in leaves through systematic recording and quantification of leaf shape parameters after exposure to model plants. To test this, leaves were imaged, and automated image processing was implemented to identify shape parameters that vary from the original (B. trifoliolata) to the models (neighbors) to the mimics (the resultant new morphs). We applied convex hull analysis to estimate defect length and depth, using contour points distal to the convex hull. This allowed for precise measurement of lobe location, depth, and quantity within defined parameters. This approach minimizes subjective interpretation and allows for precise comparisons between B. trifoliolata leaves, their neighboring models, and their mimicked morphs
Navigating Uncertainty: A Policy-Aware Approach to Diversification and Financial Stability in 2025
Full text linkThis paper constructs a diversified equity portfolio intended to handle the shifting economy and changing political administration at the start of 2025. With a backdrop of decelerated GDP growth, inflation above the Federal Reserve’s target, and policy shift under the Trump administration, the future is uncertain. Proposed tariffs, deregulation initiatives, and corporate tax incentives are all on the horizon. Using an investment strategy that accounts for this uncertainty is crucial. Our strategy involves first selecting five industries through rigorous macroeconomic analysis. By combining both cyclical and defensive sectors we intend to capitalize on potential areas of growth from the new administration while minimizing risk. We then look at market-leading index funds and select the three top holdings from each to represent the sector. Using CAPM alpha and beta values, as well as sector specific insights, we narrow down each sector to one holding. The weight allocations for the portfolio will be designated using Modern Portfolio Theory and the Sharpe Ratio. Using five year historical data, these will determine the optimal risk return tradeoff portfolio. By combining both current macroeconomic analysis and a model based approach, our portfolio is data backed with real world applications.Huarui Jin
Afternoon, Afternoon
No full textPoetry Collection -- AFTERNOON, AFTERNOON is a book about cycles. The central metaphor is a broken day-cycle, in which afternoon is followed not by night but by noon after noon. The book attempts to explore the fallout from undifferentiated repetition—of ecology, of interiority, of lineage, enriched by the metaphor of an unending day. The effects of a broken cycle depend on whether that cycle is a harmful or replenishing one. They can be directly opposed even while their shapes continue to rhyme
The LITS Latest: Library and Information Technology Services Newsletter, no. 7
No full textLITS Communications Tea