American Popular Culture Commons^™

Wronski, Genevieve Elissa, B. 1980 (Fa 544), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 544. Paper titled "The Monkey Walk" written by Genevieve Elissa Wronski in which she documents Brian Greever's ape imitation performed at social parties. Includes colored illustrations and video.

Buttram, Nora Agnes (Crump), B. 1944 (Fa 539), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 539. Paper: "How Pig Store Goft Its Name" in which Nora Buttram relays how a community general store in Edmonson County, Kentucky received its name. The brief paper is based on an interview with William Barbee of Smiths Grove, Kentucky.

Jones, Latasha, B. 1985 (Fa 540), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 540. Project in which Latasha Jones records information about a "Reaper" tattoo that her cousin, Christopher Lee Bragg, had tattooed on his left side. She discusses the views of her family about tattoos and/or marking the body and her personal desire to get a tattoo. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Includes an illustration of the "Reaper" tattoo.

Pannell, Jennifer Lynn, B. 1985 (Fa 541), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 541. Project in which Jennifer Lynn Pannell discusses the childhood punishment of having your mouth washed out with soap. She interviewed her grandmother Shelby Pedigo and her boyfriend Matt Hougtaling about this experiences. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Breedlove, Andrew, B. 1987 (Fa 557), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click of "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 557. Paper: "The Thin Line Between Reality and the World of Warcraft" in which Andrew Breedlove examines the popular role playing game. He includes his paper with illustrations and notes, interviews on compact discs with two friends who participate in World of Warcraft, and indexes to the interviews.

Threlkeld, Matthew Kohl, B. 1985 (Fa 538), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 538. Matthew Kohl Threlkeld records an urban legend told by Daniel Houghton about running a marijuana operation from a fast food restaurant. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Doyle, Kathina J., B. 1990 (Fa 537), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 537. Project in which Kathina Jo Doyle executed a cultural analysis of the hope chest, a physical piece of furniture (chest) or a collection of items that a young woman assembled for her future household. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Includes colored illustrations and a transcript of an interview done with Doyle's maternal grandmother Beatrice Firkin.

Trout, Allan Mitchell, 1903-1972 (Mss 346), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 346. Correspondence and writings relating to the career of Allan Mitchell Trout, political reporter and columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Includes letters from readers, written mostly on the occasion of his retirement, collections of Trout's "Greetings" columns, speeches and articles, historical memorabilia, correspondence relating to the Allan M. Trout Collection at Western Kentucky University, and messages of sympathy to his wife after Trout's death.

Walking Box Ranch Custodianship Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending January 10, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Walking Box Ranch

• UNLV provides stewardship of Walking Box Ranch (WBR) by providing a caretaker who oversees the property, facilitating use of the property by researchers and educators, developing a use and research policy for the property, and coordinating these activities with BLM and in accordance with TNC restrictions.
• UNLV currently addresses security issues for the property through the presence of the caretaker and two Metro Officers who reside on the property in two recreational vehicles.
• UNLV provided SilverState Analytical Laboratories with a ranch water sample; results indicate that the water has elevated concentrations of arsenic and iron.
• Historic items in the NE …

Moody, Thomas Newton, B. 1938 - Collector (Sc 2406), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2406. Newspaper clippings relating to the 1879 wedding of Anna D. Moody at Mammoth Cave's underground Bridal Altar. Includes image of Mrs. Moody and bill for lodging at the Mammoth Cave Hotel.

Reed, Ashlee Catara, B. 1986 (Fa 548), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text papers (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 548. Contains three papers: “Permanent Wave Machine,” “The Hot Comb” about African American hairstyling, and “The Telephone Switchboard,” about an early switchboard on display in Barren County, Kentucky. Includes color illustrations. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Christian, Callie Elizabeth Holmes, B. 1980 (Fa 550), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text paper (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 550. A recipe for "Momma's Chocolate Pie" and a description of "The Color Game," a swimming pool game played by Christain Holmes during her childhood. This project was completed as a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

When Predator Becomes Prey: The Gendered Jargon Of Popular Culture, Melissa R. Ames

Melissa A. Ames

Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century the vernacular of popular culture has been bombarded by sexualized terminology. Although these terms are often formed with humorous intent, their staying power and use as cultural descriptive categories is both intriguing and disturbing. Also troubling is the fact that the majority of these new terms, such as puma (a thirty-something female “dating” a younger male), cougar (a forty-plus female “dating” a younger male), and MILF (“mother I’d like to fuck”), are restricted to the female gender alone. This article analyzes the etymology of these terms, their use in popular culture (ranging …

First-Year Library Mentorship Opportunities, Crystal Goldman

Crystal Goldman

The first-year experience at any university library sets the foundation for the future relationship between the new faculty member and the library as a whole. Not only is the librarian being acculturated to the organization, but he or she must decide if the library and university will provide a supportive environment for his or her career goals. In this probationary process, the tenured librarians evaluate their tenure-track colleagues’ professional progression and merit.

Many libraries institute a formal first-year mentoring program in order to facilitate the immersion of new faculty members into the organizational culture of the library and university. There …

Women & Language: Essays On Gendered Communication Across Media, Melissa R. Ames

Melissa A. Ames

The present volume of essays examines women's communication as it has evolved historically across multiple mediums. Part I explores how women became "gossip girls" and the important role of gossip in the perception and practice of female communication. Essays in Part II cover the convergence of oral and written communication in women's literature. Gendered performance in such arenas as salsa dance, Dr. Phil and the Internet is examined in Part III, and essays in Part IV discuss women's communication in the technology-rich 21st century. This excerpt features the introduction and one essay from the co-editor.

First-Year Library Mentorship Opportunities, Crystal Goldman

Faculty and Staff Publications

The first-year experience at any university library sets the foundation for the future relationship between the new faculty member and the library as a whole. Not only is the librarian being acculturated to the organization, but he or she must decide if the library and university will provide a supportive environment for his or her career goals. In this probationary process, the tenured librarians evaluate their tenure-track colleagues’ professional progression and merit.

Many libraries institute a formal first-year mentoring program in order to facilitate the immersion of new faculty members into the organizational culture of the library and university. There …

Preface: Monsters And Mormons, Terryl Givens

English Faculty Publications

In the nineteenth century, Mormonism seemed grist for everybody's mill. Humorists like Artemus Ward and Mark Twain made hay out of polygamy; conspiracy theorists like Thomas deWitt Talmage imputed President Garfield's assassination to the Mormons; pseudo-memoirists like "Maria Ward" recounted their seduction, imprisonment, and torture at the hands of Mormon mesmerists; the Republican jump-started their political party with a promise to expunge the Mormon "relic of barbarism"; and pulp fiction writers and serious novelists alike fueled sales with stories of bloodthirsty Danites, lecherous elders, and grief maddened Mormon wives who murdered competitors.

Metalepsis In Fan Vids And Fan Fiction, Tisha Turk

English Publications

No abstract provided.

Neighborhood Blogging: How Localized Websites Are Redefining Community, Maryanne Engelbrecht

American Studies Senior Theses

In the last ten years, blogs have become an extremely popular and influential outlet for writing. Even more recently, there has been an influx in the creation of local, community blogs. These blogs focus on a particular area or neighborhood and serve as an interactive local newspaper for the community’s residents. These websites are unique in that those who frequently read and comment on them are not just members on an Internet community, but (in most cases) are also residents of a physical community as well. In his book, Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson determines that communities are social constructs, …

So You Think You Know Dance?: Popular Dance And Cultural Identity On Television, Eleni Koutroumanis

American Studies Senior Theses

Dancing has reached new levels of popularity in America due to its publicity in new television shows over the past seven years. These shows have changed the image and ways of dance world, but more importantly the shows have brought dance into the Public Sphere and allowed the excluded to comment on, and in a way join, the dance world. Furthermore, these shows are bringing forward commentary on subaltern counterparts of two levels. One is dance culture, and those who make dance what it is today, being acknowledged in a greater public. The other refers to subaltern counterparts of a …