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Army Boyz: Join the Fight!
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/65dbeb3c-041a-45c4-b33a-f09251fe2b4c/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis is a work of anti-militarization propaganda through the medium of “art toys”. The nature of the exhibit “Army Boyz: Join the Fight” is a commentary on the predatory recruitment practices the United States Military employs against on high school-aged children, tied with modern and generational consumer habits. This thesis is heavily rooted in personal experience as a low-SES student and deeply entrenched in toy history. My creative work aims to question the Reed College bias against veterans, specifically those who were convinced to enlist while many of us received our acceptance letters. I attempt to build community through compassion and understanding of why someone would make a different life decision from many of our own. This thesis emphasizes that the true citizen’s enemy is the military industrial complex, not the veterans who fuel its machinations
Just Sitting: Ritual and American Zen in Portland
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/13d24150-2c4f-4e67-ad03-23b9ad4eabd1/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis is an anthropological exploration of American Zen, focusing on the Still Blossom Zen center in Portland, Oregon. It gives a practical account of how Zen Buddhism as a religion has adapted to the American context, how it is practiced in an urban setting, and what makes American Zen distinct as a category of practice by tracing a history of Zen from Japan, to America, to Portland, with attention to key teachers and lineage as well as the changes to practice and structure which distinguish it. Discussing the ideology of Zen, ritual is emphasized as the grounding of the religion, despite its often disputed role. Zen itself accounts for growth and emergent forms, an approach which is applied to the analysis of its ritual and practice. For my research, I did ethnographic work at a Zen center in Portland, doing participant observation for many morning services and several special ceremonies as well as a couple individual interviews with members of the community. I argue that American Zen is founded upon a denial of ritual, with regard to its historical background, while simultaneously centering it and relying on it as a mediating practice for understanding and embodying Zen’s abstract, existential ideals
I Was Blind, But Now I See: American History as Tragedy in Absalom! Absalom!
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/f4c8dece-624e-409b-af3a-312ff1c3276c/thumb/128.jpgIn this thesis, I analyze Faulkner’s 1936 novel, Absalom! Absalom! I will argue that Absalom! Absalom! is best understood as belonging to the genre of tragedy. Using theories of tragedy to analyze Absalom! Absalom! provides a framework for making sense of Absalom! Absalom!’s narrative complexity. The various elements inherent in these theories of tragedy reframe Absalom! Absalom! as a particular kind of experience of reading that steers the reader to understanding the tragedy of history
Zooming in on the Variety of Interleavings
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/453de6a1-4c42-42ea-a0f7-87dc3768828c/thumb/128.jpgWithin topological data analysis the possible epsilon interleavings between persistence modules are of the form of affine varieties. This thesis explores the possible progres- sions of these varieties in two dimensional interval persistence modules. We introduce some background on topological data analysis, including the Cˇech and Vietoris-Rips complexes, posets, translations, interleavings, and varieties. We investigate some simulated examples under some basic assumptions. Finally, we conclude with our findings and farther possible questions and areas of research
Intersecting Identities and Alcohol Harm Reduction: Gender Diversity, Race, and Protective Behavioral Strategies in Emerging Adults
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/2c98ee8b-ccf6-46c5-8217-d86827e23acb/thumb/128.jpgThis study examined how gender diversity and racial identity are associated with the use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) among emerging adult drinkers. Using a national sample of 273 participants aged 18-25 years (M = 22.24, SD = 2.04; 65.2% white; 33.3% gender diverse), I investigated identity-based differences in alcohol-related harm reduction behaviors. Participants completed a cross-sectional survey that included the Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey (PBSS-20), the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and the Collegiate-Simulated Intoxication Digital Elicitation (C-SIDE) task. Analyses tested for main effects and interactions between gender diversity and black indigenous people of color (BIPOC) identity across PBS subscales. Gender-diverse individuals (GD: trans, nonbinary, another identity) reported significantly greater use of Serious Harm Reduction strategies compared to cis-men. No racial differences emerged for PBS use in isolation. However, a significant interaction between gender diversity and BIPOC identity emerged for Limiting/Stopping Drinking strategies, such that BIPOC GD individuals reported lower PBS use than white GD or cisgender BIPOC individuals. This finding suggests that intersecting marginalized identities may compound barriers to engaging in protective behaviors. These findings underscore the value of intersectional approaches to alcohol harm reduction and highlight the need for culturally responsive prevention and clinical interventions tailored to identity-based risk contexts
Multicomponent Formulations of Dextromethorphan: Enhancing Antidepressant Therapeutics
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/9beac58d-79dc-4180-8828-4120b0645a77/thumb/128.jpgA novel pharmaceutical cocrystal composed of dextromethorphan (DXM), a central nervous system (CNS)-active antitussive with emerging antidepressant potential, and isonicotinic acid (ISO), a pharmaceutically acceptable coformer, was successfully synthesized and characterized. DXM exhibits poor oral bioavailability (~11%) due to extensive first-pass CYP2D6 metabolism, which limits its clinical utility for conditions such as depression and chronic cough. To improve its physicochemical profile, the DXM-ISO cocrystal was prepared using slow evaporation and liquid-assisted mechanochemical methods. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) revealed proton transfer and ionic hydrogen bonding between the tertiary amine of DXM and the carboxylic acid group of ISO, while powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) confirmed phase purity. Complementary characterization using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) demonstrated ionic interaction and a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio in solution. Thermal analysis by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and heating stage microscopy showed a sharp, reproducible melting point and improved thermal stability compared to the parent components. These findings highlight pharmaceutical cocrystallization as an effective strategy for enhancing the solid-state and pharmacokinetic properties of DXM without altering its molecular identity, supporting its potential as a reformulated CNS therapeutic
Intraspecific Variation in Fitness Under Acid Stress in Daphnia magna
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/d37808b3-cd6b-487a-9f27-a5103e071528/thumb/128.jpgFreshwater ecosystems are vital sources of biodiversity, ecological productivity, and human resources. However, acidification driven by direct deposition and climate change threatens these environments. Rising acidity alters chemical processes, impacting the physiology of all aquatic organisms. Intraspecies variation can influence how populations respond to such environmental stressors. Daphnia magna, a strong ecological interactor, serves as an ideal model for aquatic ecotoxicology research. This study characterizes the intraspecific acid stress response of three D. magna genotypes from Finland, Germany and Israel. Juveniles were exposed to a sublethal pH gradient (pH 8-6) for 10 days to assess variation in mortality, fecundity, body length and weight. Exposure to the highest level of acidity increased mortality across all genotypes. Fecundity was not affected by pH or geographic origin; however non-significant trends suggest a potential hormetic effect and origin-dependent threshold effect. Across treatments, Finnish D. magna were significantly larger and heavier than their German and Israel counterparts, revealing baseline intraspecific variation in growth. Generally, weight positively correlated with length across origin and treatment groups, with no significant interaction effects indicating that the relationship did not vary with acid exposure. Observed trends in Israeli D. magna suggest a heightened sensitivity to acid stress, potentially reflecting pre-evolved adaptions to high pH conditions in the other genotypes. These findings underscore the ecological relevance of intraspecies variation in predicting population-level responses to environmental acidification
Gone to Market: Arendt, Community, and Debt
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/c91caa7b-eb32-4ac0-b55e-61f3c52982ed/thumb/128.jpgHow can conceptualizing human rights in terms of human collectives aid our understanding of rights formulas? Given the highly complex nature of political relationships and communities as well as the human rights concerns which arise endlessly as a result, it can be quite difficult to imagine human rights as being entitlements relating primarily to individual actors. This is the basis behind Hannah Arendt's theory of the "right to have rights," which proposes that entitlement to human rights is solely and entirely dependent upon membership to a political body. However, Arendt did not define a 'political community' in any certain terms, and so this thesis examines the implications of political community conceptualized in terms of market and money relations, Using several theories on the social significance of money, credit, property, and debt from Stephanie Bell, David Graeber, Jeremy Waldron, and others, I put these writings in conversation with Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition in order to map a state theory of money and a theory of universal human debt-relations onto her concept of the right to have rights
Education’s Role in the Conservation of Southern Resident Killer Whales
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/3c6b0564-1c9f-4979-a979-ab9ed758bc50/thumb/128.jpgAs the apex predator of our world’s oceans, killer whales are extremely important in maintaining ecosystem stability. They also have cultural importance to human communities across the world. However, due to anthropogenic influences such as toxic chemical release, noise pollution, and overfishing/salmon habitat degradation, the killer whale ecotype along the coast of the Pacific Northwest (PNW), known as Southern Resident Killer Whales, are critically endangered. Local non-formal environmental education programs are addressing Southern Resident conservation, but to what extent are their programs contributing to the ecotype’s overall conservation? Interviewing leaders in four Southern Resident related education organizations and using inductive and deductive coding methods, Killer Whale Tales exhibited the strongest potential to contribute to Southern Resident conservation, with Orca Network and Orca Behavior Institute’s Bigg’s 201 next, and the Pacific Whale Watch Association last, despite still exhibiting promising characteristics. Communal collaboration, institutionalized learning, and well-trained leaders were shared qualities of all four programs that demonstrates positive action in support of the Southern Residents, while early onset action and an intentional measurement and reporting system were where organizations demonstrated the most room for improvement. Orca related environmental education programs in the PNW demonstrated a strong capacity to contribute to Southern Resident conservation
The Poison is in the Medicine: Illness, Refuge, and Humanitarianism in Paris, France
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/21f991e1-f5bc-4e0d-8b43-c886ea03e102/thumb/128.jpgIn 1998, the French government enacted a law that granted foreigners with serious illnesses residence permits in cases where their illness could not be treated in their domicile. The law was humanitarian in intent, meaning to protect the lives of those who relied on French healthcare and treatment, as deportation and a denial of entry in France would ensue serious consequences (most prominently, death). Counter to its humanitarian intent, the law came to incentivize illness, encouraging immigrants to become and remain ill to maintain legal residence in France. This thesis is an ethnographic analysis of a series of interviews with people who interact with this “Illness Clause”, including immigrants, doctors, lawyers, social workers, and NGO volunteers. Despite its incentivization of illness, the clause remains intact for two primary reasons: one, it anti-politically reinforces an ethnonationalist government logic without directly denying entry to migrants in need; two, it upholds an international image of France as a humanitarian state. The logic manifests in the complexity of bureaucracy that renders a prolonged waiting period, where migrants with illnesses are caught between the conditions of the past that led to their migration (i.e. illness) and the precarity of their future as they await papers. Furthermore, the state displaces care and relies heavily on civil society to look after migrants undertaking the process of applying for residence permits like those under the Illness Clause; NGOs are spread incredibly thin and must work with the system of dysfunction given the moral responsibility they feel towards migrants, normalizing the status quo despite disagreeing with it. Lastly, this thesis probes humanitarianism’s relationship with emergency, exploring how and why a crisis is necessary to enact change as well as the long-term consequences of these short-term decisions