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Theatre for the People: Exploring the Need for a New National Theatre
Full text linkThe Covid-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the theater industry that have seen dozens of venues across the country laying off workers, shortening seasons, and even closing altogether. Costs have risen, audiences have been slow to return, and traditional sources of funding have dried up. What then, are theaters to do? By conducting an economic analysis and examining published and original interviews with theater practitioners, this essay explores this crisis as it has affected the regional nonprofit theater sector, specifically the members of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT). It concludes that LORT’s model is no longer sustainable because of its failure to engage and develop a supportive and diverse theater community of artists and audiences. Based on this research, I propose a new model for the theater funded by the government that brings together ideas from community-engaged theater, Broadway, 365 Days/365 Plays, the Federal Theater Project, We See You White American Theater, and the live music industry with the goal of rebuilding the theater community from the local level up to the national
Who Do Children Believe? Exploring Testimonial Injustice Toward Characters with Disabilities
Full text linkYoung children develop stereotypes and attitudes about others early in life, yet little research has examined how they evaluate knowledge-related exchanges involving individuals with disabilities—a process that may indicate early forms of testimonial injustice. This study investigated whether children (ages 5 – 7) are more likely to believe speakers with or without sensory and physical disabilities, whether the type of statement made by a speaker influences children’s belief preferences, and whether children anticipate epistemic bias from non-disabled listeners. A predominately White sample of sixty-four children viewed videos featuring two characters—one disabled and one non-disabled—making statements, and were asked to select which character they believed. Children showed no overall belief preference, but when characters made physical or action-related statements, they were significantly more likely to believe non-disabled characters. Additionally, children predicted significantly more often that non-disabled listeners would believe non-disabled speakers. These findings indicate that even in early childhood, children’s epistemic evaluations for themselves and other listeners are shaped by disability and statement type, highlighting the early emergence of epistemic biases and the need to consider disability in further research
Geographies of Deservingness: The Role of State Contexts in Asylum Court Decision Making
Full text linkThis paper examines how state-level conditions shape asylum adjudication, a process I situate within broader racial and economic hierarchies. Prior work shows judges’ demographics shape asylum decisions. Informed by legal realism theories, I argue judges are also influenced by local social, economic, and political contexts. Using judicial data, I analyze spatialized variables’ effects on asylum grant odds using logistic regressions and a random forest model. Affluent liberal states are found to have higher odds of relief, indicating that deservingness is defined differently across US societies. By bridging judicial behavior and geographic context, I offer empirical insights into asylum adjudication disparities
Galactic Building Blocks: Disturbed HI and Hierarchical Assembly in DDO 68 and NGC 5238
No full textUsing new HI spectral line imaging from the Very Large Array, I examine low-mass galaxies NGC 5238 and DDO 68. These are two unique dwarf galaxies with disturbed stellar morphology suggestive of a history of interaction events. I present an in-depth analysis of their HI kinematics, comparing gaseous and stellar structures, as well as a synthesis of the results of simulations constrained with these new HI data. I find that both galaxies have a highly disturbed gaseous structure that can be well explained through a history of mergers, making NGC 5238 and DDO 68 flagship examples of hierarchical assembly on the smallest of scales
Multifunctionality
Full text linkMultifunctionality is a project that explores the intersection of art and design through a versatile dining table that transforms into a gaming table. Built with accessibility in mind and using red oak for its warmth and grain, the table features a rolling tambour top that serves as a dining surface when closed and reveals a felt-covered gaming area when open. This piece was shaped by my needs and the desire to create a space for connection and shared experiences. This project reflects my broader approach to art – constantly exploring new materials and methods, driven by curiosity and a love of learning
Home on the road: Nomad place identities in the vanlife movement
Full text linkLiving in a van in America is often viewed negatively by wider society, indicating the vandweller is homeless and is living in a van as a form of survival. Yet, in recent years living in a van has become aspiration and desirable as more people discover vanlife as a means of escape from mainstream society to travel and enjoy nature all while posting on social media. The movement first gained traction in 2011 when Foster Huntington shared the first #vanlife post on Instagram, since then it has exploded in popularity creating a countercultural movement of mobile Americans living by their own agenda in vans and other vehicles. Using surveys and ethnographic interviews, this study investigates how mobility, place, and place identity influence vandwellers\u27 concepts of home while living in a van. Additionally, it explores the various experiences of, and reasons for, joining vanlife and the role social media plays in the movement. Three key themes emerged from the analysis: vanlifers identify as houseless not homeless, vanlife is viewed as a means of escape and pursuit of freedom, and social media has played a large role in the way the movement continues to evolve and possibly devolve in the future. Vanlife is a storied experience of leaving mainstream society in pursuit of adventure and freedom in the vast natural spaces of America, in a fundamentally placeless lifestyle vanlifers are challenging geographic concepts and creating new ideas of how place and mobility factor into one’s identity
Kain Tayo
Full text linkKain Tayo (“Let’s eat!” in Tagalog) is a sculptural installation inspired by the Filipino tradition of Kamayan—a communal feast eaten with one’s hands and served on banana leaves. Using found and discarded objects, the work reimagines a shared dining experience as a celebration of cultural memory, sustainability, and participation. Each piece mimics traditional Filipino dishes like lumpia and lechon, inviting viewers to touch, rearrange, and reflect on the meaning of value, waste, and connection. This honors project merges my background in Studio Art and Environmental Studies, transforming everyday scraps into a joyful expression of identity and storytelling
Falling in Line: The Model Minority Myth and Asian American Political Alignment
Full text linkThe “Model Minority” Myth portrays Asian Americans as uniformly successful, disciplined, and hard-working, often positioning their success as proof to minorities that systemic barriers can be overcome through individual effort. While some have celebrated this stereotype, it has also been weaponized to obscure systemic inequalities, reinforce racial hierarchies, and pit Asian Americans against other minority groups. Despite its pervasive influence, the impact of this myth on Asian Americans’ political party affiliation remains underexplored. This research attempts to answer the question of how the Model Minority Myth, anti-Black sentiments, and shared sense of groupness shape the political alignment of Asian Americans. Using data from the American National Election Studies 2020 Time Series Study, I find that while the Model Minority Myth, anti-Black sentiments, and shared senses of groupness dimensions align predictably with support for Trump in 2020, other sociocultural factors like personal experience, policy priorities, and view of the current state of national affairs muddy these relationships. Although anti-Blackness, more than the Model Minority Myth itself, strongly predicts affiliation with Trump; the Model Minority narrative encourages alignment with whiteness and individualism, molded by racial consciousness. By analyzing how Asian Americans’ political leaning reflects internalized stereotypes, racial positioning, and broader socio-cultural dynamics, this study provides insights into the intersection of race, identity, and political outcomes, highlighting the need for a nuanced understanding of Asian Americans’ political behavior
Cross-Sectional Household Heterogeneity in the Business Cycle
Full text linkResearch into the effects of business cycles often focuses on aggregate macroeconomic consequences. This paper explores the heterogeneous effects of business cycles on households at different wealth and income levels. I perform a Bayesian estimation on a HANK model to identify business cycle forces. Then, I decompose the business cycle shocks and transmission channels driving changes in household decision rules using variance and historical decompositions. I find the factors causing changes in consumption levels for households vary substantially across the income distribution and the factors causing changes in savings levels vary substantially across the wealth distribution. In addition, I find fiscal determinants, including transfers, spending, and taxes, are most impactful for low income and low wealth households while supply-side and monetary determinants, including markups and the interest rate, are most impactful for high income and high wealth households
The Effect of School Shootings on Academic Outcomes for Students of Varying Socioeconomic Status
Full text linkShootings in schools have risen dramatically over the last two decades and are one of the most pressing issues today. Between 2006 and 2016, Texas high schools suffered from 19 shootings and one fatality on school grounds. This study analyzes the impact of school shootings on educational outcomes for students of different socioeconomic status using public education data from Texas at the high school campus level. I first used matched difference in differences and matched triple difference in differences methods, however, these suffer from biases because of heterogeneous timing of treatment. To adjust for this, I include an event study analysis as the primary empirical method. I find that attendance rates, dropout rates, four year graduation rates, and enrollment are unaffected, but some evidence may show dropout rates increased after a shooting for the first two years. Students of different socioeconomic backgrounds are not differently impacted by school shootings, showing that any effects are widespread across the student body contrary to theory in psychology. Enrollment of economically advantaged students falls after a school shooting compared to economically disadvantaged students, showing potential mobility differences between the two groups. Overall, my findings suggest that little to no effects of school shootings on academic outcomes are detectable at the campus level