Reed Digital Collections (Reed College)
Not a member yet
8045 research outputs found
Sort by
The Plan Is To Feel Bad: Reflections on I Made It Home Safely
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/76f56605-f643-4644-a8ed-dedf3fa05f64/thumb/128.jpgThrough the process of devising and documenting an original dance- theater production that utilizes improvisational dance forms grounded in partnering, intimacy and gendered relationships, both elements of my thesis – the live dance-theater production, I Made It Home Safely, and subsequent written thesis, “The Plan Is To Feel Bad” – open a conversation around how negative affect, born of violence and inherent to trans experience, can be survivable in community with each other. The production was guided by exploration of six affective states (hunger, fatigue, burnout, numbness, rage, and grief) and their manifestations in trans worlds, then developed into a story through collaborative theatrical techniques (devising and dramaturgy) and portrayed through Argentine tango and contact improvisation. My written thesis is a visual archive of production materials, including excerpts from my production notebook, design materials, behind-the-scenes and performance photographs, and production emails, interspersed with critical and personal reflections on the process of making and performing I Made It Home Safely. “The Plan Is To Feel Bad” takes a chronological approach to displaying archival material and integrating concepts from the production process of I Made It Home Safely to offer readers a coherent narrative that mirrors the creative process itself
Contentious Consumption: LSD Blotter Art Inside and Outside of the Museum Space
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/bdc92020-54b8-4637-b929-e2a50890bd09/thumb/128.jpgThis thesis explores the transformative role of fragmentation in blotter art and its parallels to spiritual art traditions. Initially, it examines how the perforation of blotter art, intended for portioning LSD doses, enhances the art’s consumption experience. Unlike the typical destructive connotations of dismantling art, fragmenting blotter art fosters a subculture among LSD users, bridging the artist-consumer divide through shared ownership and physical ingestion of the art. This act of consumption echoes other spiritual art practices, such as the Catholic Eucharist and the consumption of Byzantine icons for healing, where fragments of sacred artworks are ingested to embody a piece of the collective spiritual essence. The thesis then discusses the act of displaying intact blotter sheets in museum spaces, problematizing the idea that it is possible to understand the spiritual wonder of the LSD experience through purely visual consumption. The research highlights visits to the Institute of Illegal Images in San Francisco and The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in New York, two museums which showcase blotter art. The thesis contends that the aesthetic experience of viewing blotters in these spaces is on some level fundamentally unsatisfying, as it is different from the ego-dissolving spiritual experiences that oral consumption of blotter art can induce. The spiritual is subjective and personal, making it difficult to translate through any medium other than firsthand experience
Digitizing The Self
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/76eacb67-84d4-47f8-8653-7fff25eb0171/thumb/128.jpg"This thesis investigates the relationship between the human and AI machines. This project was created in light of Fiederich Kittler’s understanding of media as a mechanism to better understand our senses. Through models and metaphors provided by the media, we learn valuable information about the manners in which we choose to categorize or define our identities. We learn through projects like Lifenaut.com, Lil Miquela, and AARON that AI can not only allow us to better understand ourselves and our environment. But that these intelligent machines can embody aspects of our own personhood within. This thesis focuses closely how we input data within an AI machine and the outputs we receive because of it. I find that this thesis allows users and viewers of AI machines the ability to closely examine and investigate the many aspects of our identity or selfhood we choose to highlight. In addition to this, it becomes clear that throughout all the works, personhood was integrated into the machine AI inhabits both unconsciously and consciously.
Airline Profitability & Fleet Strategies in a Carbon-Tax Environment
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/ae833f4c-cdaa-47f8-b7ad-6e8aaecb24eb/thumb/128.jpg"The aviation sector is a significant contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions, and one that has been deemed hard to decarbonize. As the aviation industry grows, more emphasis has been placed on operating the most efficient aircraft fleets across all airline business models. Nonetheless, aviation-related airline emissions are increasing. This leads to the research question ""how can FSC/LCC carriers modify their fleet strategy to remain profitable in a carbon-tax environment?"" To answer this, I assess the impact of operating older and newer generation aircraft with a carbon tax derived from the European Union Emissions Trading System. I also analyze lost passenger demand from higher prices and compare that to savings in fuel consumption and in carbon taxes. This analysis has been done for two primary airline business models: full-service carriers and low-cost carriers. My research shows that low-cost carriers will struggle to remain profitable in a carbon tax environment whereas full-service carriers will be the most resilient. Furthermore, larger aircraft like the Airbus A321 NEO have the lowest carbon intensity per seat. As such, these aircraft will present the most value to airlines in minimizing carbon-related penalties. This comes with the caveat that airlines must be able to fill high-capacity aircraft to reasonable load factors. This research is important and relevant because it shows that airlines can survive and continue to operate with slim profit margins in the case of the introduction of carbon emissions taxes. Furthermore, it shows that a tax of $86 per ton of carbon dioxide is enough to disincentivize the operations of older generation A320-CEO family aircraft.
Returning to Repatriation: An Examination of the Evolving Forces Behind the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/fc5a5bc3-2b99-428c-b770-1fe32bafc410/thumb/128.jpgFor over thirty years, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act has guided the return of human remains and cultural items from Federal institutions to Indigenous communities in the United States. The law, widely referred to as NAGPRA, was the result of collaborative efforts between Native American tribes, academics, and U.S. government officials. Since its inception NAGPRA has been viewed as controversial; its proponents criticize it for lack of enforcement while those in opposition view it as a restriction of scientific knowledge and pursuits. Just as the foundational concepts of archaeological and anthropological theory and practice eventually led to NAGPRA, so to have new approaches led to attitudinal shifts among academics and museum officials facilitating a greater commitment to repatriation. Since 1990, attitudes and actions regarding NAGPRA have exemplified both sides of the argument as some repatriation processes between museums and tribes have been successful while others have never even begun. Resistance to NAGPRA has mainly come from academics and museum officials who claim the right to keep human remains and artifacts for study, citing the possibility for beneficial scientific discovery and upholding the idea that certain institutions have a responsibility to educate the public using such items. Supporters of repatriation respond to these claims with the history of abuses that Native Americans have faced since colonization because of such scientific pursuits. The arguments for and against NAGPRA have changed over time, contributing in part to the adoption of new regulations in early 2024 with the goal of greater compliance across the country from institutions small and large
Stoic Deliberation and Diet
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/7c5a0a66-89fb-43f7-bdb1-ae8af83ff18e/thumb/128.jpgIn this thesis I present and defend a puzzle is Stoic ethics about how the concerns of others factor into our personal deliberations. Stoic ethical doctrine commands us to make decisions based only on a personal and pragmatic maximization of value, while also prescribing self-sacrifice in various circumstances. Several attempts have been made at reconciling these seemingly incongruent theses, which I evaluate and ultimately reject. In evaluating the various solutions, I find that all come at the unacceptable cost of ignoring fundamental beliefs the Stoics had about deliberation that led to the emergence of the puzzle. The first section establishes that there is a genuine and serious indeterminacy in ancient Stoic ethics. The second section focuses on a concrete application of the indeterminacy argued for in the first section. The section investigates the question of whether a Stoic should be a Vegetarian. To answer this question I differentiate between ancient and modern interpretations of Stoicism, as well as absolute and flexible forms of Vegetarianism. I argue against the absolute form of Vegetarianism and present reasons to doubt the flexible Vegetarian theses. Ultimately I leave open the rational possibility for a Modern Stoic to be a flexible Vegetarian provided that they are convinced it is the best diet ethically and nutritionally
Testing for Fairness: A Different Condition for Consensus Algorithms
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/d232c1b0-c745-4339-97c3-4f8572e549ef/thumb/128.jpgThe goal of a consensus algorithm is for many different nodes communicating with each other across a network to reach agreement. In the context of blockchain protocols, this means all participating nodes must enter transactions into the blockchain in the same order. However, the complexity of consensus algorithms creates a greater need for thorough testing to ensure correctness. In order for these algorithms to be correct there are two essential conditions which must be satisfied, and many testing tools continuously monitor these conditions to determine if a bug in the algorithm has been found. In this work we discuss a different condition we called fairness. Fairness ensures that all messages getting sent through the network are processed in roughly the same order they were received, which helps ensure that certain messages aren’t being delayed unfairly or processed out of order. First we define and discuss fairness, and then we provide a simple program that can monitor a network of nodes and check if the algorithm satisfies fairness
The Effect of Federal Disaster Relief on State-Level Income Inequality
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/df420a79-152b-41c7-948b-35df90bf2d1f/thumb/128.jpgAs climate change intensifies disasters, the way governments respond can put wealth in the wrong hands. In this article, the allocation of FEMA aid towards disaster declarations is scrutinized for its impact on the income distribution. Panel data is compiled from IPUMS state income distributions, FEMA's public disaster declaration summaries dataset, and Conway \& Rork (2012). A partial adjustment model approach is used to analyze the impact of federal disaster relief on the Gini coefficient. Results, though biased by autocorrelation, indicate that FEMA aid, particularly aid allocated towards hurricane declarations, tends to be inequitable
Pragmatic Disassociation: Georges Sorel and Mikhail Bakhtin
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/d3334415-8424-41dc-9673-9a7c3b34bd69/thumb/128.jpgOn the whole, this thesis presents a comprehensive outline of the core tenants of Georges Sorel’s philosophical system. It first establishes Giambattista Vico’s constructive epistemology as a grounding for Sorel’s work and as a counterpoint to Cartesian Rationalism. Sorel criticizes La petite science for the ways in which it functions to place limitations on the discourse of dogmas, and for the substitution of the scientific model for the phenomenon it describes. I propose affective historiology as a preliminary measure to advance an historical method rooted in sensory human experience and subjectivity. From there, I criticize the Doctrine of Progress for its linear conception of time and its tendency to induce an apathetic attitude towards political action. I propose Sorel’s revolutionary myth and Mikhail Bakhtin’s descriptions of the contemporaneity of the novel as alternatives to the belief systems of the status quo. In the final chapter, I develop Sorel’s critical system to describe the mechanisms of dogmatic discourse. I then put forward Bakhtin’s notion of mythological dissociation as a methodology for introducing new modes of thought
“A much-needed reminder of how important writing is to me”: The Impact of Utility and Attainment Value Interventions on Creativity and Motivation for Poetry Writing
No full texthttps://rdc.reed.edu/v1/resources/a4cc4909-957c-46d6-9698-a020a640be6f/thumb/128.jpgWhat motivates people who write poetry as a hobby to write? How might their motivations be harnessed to help them write more frequently and creatively? The present thesis sought to increase the frequency and creativity of hobby poets’ writing using a behavioral intervention from Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT) that aimed to highlight the usefulness and relevance of poetry-writing to participants’ everyday lives and personhood. Participants (n = 306) wrote poems and reported their baseline/intended writing frequency before and after undergoing a values-based quote intervention (utility or attainment) or a control condition. Intended writing frequency, poem creativity, intrinsic motivation for poetry-writing, utility value, and intrinsic value did not differ significantly by condition. Unexpectedly, attainment value was significantly lower in the utility value intervention compared to the attainment value intervention and control groups. While the predicted differences by condition did not emerge, participants did report wanting to write significantly more frequently at the end of the study compared to their baseline writing frequency across all conditions. These results, in combination with a non-systematic review of qualitative responses, suggest that being reminded of high pre-existing value may be what drives the motivation to write, as poetry-writing is already high in value for those who choose to engage in it. Therefore, it may be that values need not be heightened for hobby poets to increase the frequency with which they intend to write and the creativity of their poems. Rather, a reminder of their values and/or a cost-reduction intervention targeting the initial cost of developing a consistent writing practice may be more effective