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Functional Ecology of Calling and Mating in the Cricket Species (Acheta domesticus and Telogryllus commodus)
Get PDFWhole organism performance traits are measures of an organism’s ability to complete dynamic functions relevant to fitness within the contexts of both sexual and natural selection. Performance capacities are subject to allocation based life history trade-offs, but are also frequently implicated in signaling via visual or auditory displays, many of which are sexually dimorphic. But although performance traits are known to influence the outcome of male combat interactions, the effect of performance on mating interactions is poorly understood. Recently, the invertebrate neurotransmitter octopamine has been shown to affect performance expression in house crickets independent of the underlying morphology, raising the possibility that performance traits can be manipulated by altering the pharmacological milieu by simple dietary supplementation or, in the case of crickets, by antennae removal. I used these approaches to test for and demonstrate functional role of a performance trait, bite force, in determining the course and outcome of mating interactions in Acheta domestic house crickets. I also found that blocking octopamine receptors with an antagonist (epinastine) significantly affects courtship call structure. Based on manipulation of the neurotransmitter octopamine, I found that dampening octopermegenic receptors affected male calling effort and the dominantly expressed frequency of courtship calls during mating interactions. Finally, I showed that antennae removal alters the relationships among overall calling effort; lifespan; and metabolic rate within Telogryllus commodus crickets
The Freedom to Express Yourself : The National Park Service and the African Diasporic Roots of Black Dance in New Orleans
Get PDFIn partnership with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, my project entitled “African Dance in New Orleans: The Roots of Black New Orleans Dance” exhibit will focus on the African diasporic roots of Black traditional dance practices within New Orleans’ African American community. This project aims to diversify the public and political expressions of Black dance in New Orleans. It argues that the study of dance forms and practices uncovers narratives and fragments of African and African American cultural history in New Orleans that are impossible to glean from other sources. This thesis will support three modes of African diaspora dance retentions and cultural practices expressed in New Orleans’ dance communities. With the help of oral histories from African Dance and Drum companies, Black Masking Indians, social aid and pleasure club members, and participants from New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park artist-in-residence musicians. As an exhibit, my project will support the historical narrative of African dance and African cultural continuity in New Orleans through the National Park Service. As an ongoing public history project, this project will support the current efforts to understand African cultural practices in Black New Orleans dance
One Body and Another
Get PDFWith poetic influences such as Lucille Clifton, specifically her poem “begin here,” and Ai Ogawa, specifically “Twenty Year Marriage,” this manuscript pays homage to mentor poets and people who have survived abuse, isolation, self-doubt, mental disorders, and addiction. This manuscript is for the otherwise voiceless, rightfully afraid, and forcefully silenced beings. There are also minor motifs consisting of the, sometimes, complex relationship between father and daughter, life after abusive love, and living with eating disorders. These themes are reflected in the poems throughout this manuscript not only in subject matter but in poetic craft such as playful use of otherwise strict poetic form, experimental use of white space, persona, the musical syntax of specific words, and intentional and surprising line breaks. Due to the subject matter of this manuscript, a trigger warning is advised for those who feel as though they can not submerse themselves into poems of these experiences
New Orleans’ Spanish Fort After the Civil War: Reconstructing a Lost Historical Geography of Racialization and Contested Space
Get PDFThe site known as Spanish Fort, which lies in crumbling ruins along the shore of New Orleans’ Bayou St. John, is most often remembered as a colonial military site. However, for the last two centuries, since the end of the Civil War, it has played another important role in the city’s history, as a site of recreation. It served a crucial role in shaping racial relationships and debates over public rights in the city, one tied intimately to the shifting nature of the city’s physical geography. Through analysis of historical records and archaeology of the site, and utilizing theories of public rights, geography, and memory, this paper uncovers this lost history of Spanish Fort as a contested, racialized space of recreation in which negotiations over public rights played out in a spatial microcosm, as well as the processes which have acted to bury these important stories, both literally and metaphorically
“Something to Be Watched”: The Southern Gothic as Cultural Myth and the Nation’s Racial Spectacle
Get PDFToday, much scholarship on the Southern Gothic concerns itself with assessing the genre as a set of tropes confined to particular texts. This approach fails to consider how the Southern Gothic has transcended the text and infiltrated the cultural consciousness. In this thesis, I analyze William Faulkner’s 1936 novel, Absalom, Absalom!, centering on Faulkner’s idiosyncratic critique of the Southern Gothic, especially its colonial origins and use of spectacle. I apply this lens to New Orleans tours and their marketing materials, paying close attention to the spectacle in the story of enslaver Madame LaLaurie. Finally, I consider how the genre’s tropes influenced public policy and media coverage regarding Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Through this analysis, I aim to situate the Southern Gothic as more than an inert set of tropes, showing instead that this pliable genre performs cultural work that carries critical implications for race relations in the United States
The Influence of Advanced Math Course Enrollment in Potential First-Generation Students
Get PDFThere is limited research on potential first-generation college students’ K12 experiences. The enrollment in advanced math coursework while in high school is a crucial factor for such prospective college completion and success. Potential first-generation students, however, are more likely to enter college without advanced mathematics coursework. This grounded theory study utilized math literacy (Moses & Cobb, 2001) and notions of additive schooling (Valenzuela, 1999) to explore the reasons behind potential first-generation students’ enrollment decisions in advanced math courses. Data collection included semi structured interviews and demographic survey data of potential first-generation students. Findings indicate that the school counselor functions as the main influence behind the enrollment decisions of potential first-generation students. The study concludes by recognizing a need to examine school counselor and math teacher practices