Digital Commons Network^™

And Your Eyes Open, Benjamin Yusen

The Hilltop Review

This piece explores the realties of dreams, and the blurring of dreams and reality.

World Upside Down, Kevin Fitton

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

Pollination, Lauren Coyne

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

784 Grams, Stephanie A. Kurzenhauser

The Hilltop Review

This poem elucidates my experience of grief and loss in response to breast cancer and a bilateral mastectomy without reconstruction.

Two Poems, Lauren Coyne

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

How To Make Cemetery Tea, Lauren Coyne

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

All For The Glory Of God: Reconstructing The Jesuit Perception Of Odawa Female Identity In New France, 1660-1675, Eric Morningstar

The Hilltop Review

The relationship between the French and the Odawa was a tumultuous one when compared to other Native-French relationships. This can be largely attributed to the European misperception of Odawa cultures and fierce independence. This was especially true in their dealings with women. When the French Jesuits arrived as missionaries to the Odawa, they found little cooperation with their mission to convert the “savages” to Christianity. Eventually, they came to view the vulnerable women, primarily mothers and widows, as their doorway into influencing the larger Odawa population. They could play on the desperation of these women, then use them as examples …

Challenging Colonialism Through Religion: Connections Between Colonialism, Power, And Religion In Colonial Uganda, Ruth Aardsma Benton

The Hilltop Review

In the late nineteenth century, Christian beliefs and European ideas spread among the people of present-day Uganda through increasing British involvement in this region and the work of Christian missionaries. However, some Ugandan people also used these ideas to challenge and critique European society and the colonial system itself. This paper explores two ways that this happened. In the case of the Malakites and Bayudaya, a stricter interpretation of the Bible and Christian beliefs led them to see European Christians as hypocritical and to question parts of the colonial system such as European medical care. As demonstrated by Ignatius K. …

The Volition Of Faith And Appreciation Of Pragmatism And Existential Contributions, Sterling Courtney

The Hilltop Review

Propositions of belief depend on some degree of factual basis. Philosophical arguments vary as to whether certainty is necessary to form beliefs which can lead to compelling faith. Furthermore, if faith is a criteria for salvation, the volition of faith would be fundamental in ones’ culpability for having faith. Idealism represents the antithetical position of pragmatism and involves factual accounts in which to base beliefs, however, this paper intends to provide various considerations for pragmatic and existential philosophies by examining concerns of William James, Blaise Pascal, Soren Kierkegaard, and others. I.e., “Pascal’s Wager” is a philosophical idea used to demonstrate …

A Sublime Death: Shock And Awe, Olivia L. Moskot

The Hilltop Review

Death has the almost paradoxical capacity to appear larger than life. It chills with its permanence and astonishes as it stands before us—great, terrible, and vast beyond comprehension. The obscurity of death cries out for grief to answer, and it is that very sensation of astonishment that triggers and also lingers over the process of grief that has gone unexamined for too long. I believe there is a familiar name to put to that sensation that will aid future research. That is, we may be justified in calling that sensation awe. In this paper, I thoroughly examine the relationship between …

La Figura De La Mujer En El Burlador De Sevilla, Maria Isabel Lozano Becerro

The Hilltop Review

Abstract

The battle against machismo in favor of equality is currently the order of the day. Society is more cognizant that men and women must have equal rights and responsibilities, and while we still have a long way to go, we are gradually gaining the equality that the majority want. Four hundred years ago, however, this was not the case. When El burlador de Sevilla was first published in 1630, gender roles were considerably more clearly defined. Both women and men were required to possess particular attributes that, if not met, resulted in the person's marginalization.

In this work we …

Black (Muslim) Lives Matter: African American Muslim Social Activism, Jacob C. Riccioni

The Hilltop Review

Over the past eight years, the Black Lives Matter movement has advocated for marginalized communities within the African American population and called for police brutality and anti-black racism to be abolished. With the rise of Black Lives Matter in contemporary society, I am left wondering, do African American Muslims support the Black Lives Matter movement? There is no simple answer for African American Muslim leaders and laypeople because the Black Lives Matter movement supports LGBTQ+ rights, which some Muslims do not condone, and some rallies have broken out into riots. Religious leaders and scholars are split between supporting Black Lives …

The Moral Significance Of Empathy: A Scottish Sentimentalist Perspective, Xiaolong Wang

The Hilltop Review

Which feature of human nature accounts for moral motivation? From a Scottish Sentimentalist perspective, the answer lies in our fellow feelings: empathy, the capacity for sharing what other people feel; and sympathy, the capacity for feeling concern for other people’s well-being. Recently, disagreement has emerged within Scottish Sentimentalism on which of the two fellow feelings does the real work in motivating moral acts. Paul Bloom famously argues that sympathy is sufficient for moral motivation with the help of theory of mind (or often called mind reading), and thus concludes that empathy is not necessary from a Scottish Sentimentalist perspective. I …

Notes From The Editor, Listiani Eran

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

The Hilltop Review, Vol 13, No. 1, Spring 2022, Listiani Eran

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

The Star-Gazer, Jennifer Kean

The Hilltop Review

“The Star-Gazer” is modeled loosely on the Old English poem “The Wife’s Lament.” This medieval elegiac composition expresses beautifully the tensions that attend unrequited or abandoned love. It is awkward: there are clearly contrasting sentiments for the absent lover. It is frustrated and distressed: the reasons for the lover’s truancy are unclear to the reader, and presumably to The Wife. It is confused: The Wife does not understand why her partner has put physical and emotional distance between them, and the nature-imagery reflects how open-ended heartbreak can suspend, or even immobilize, personal growth. In my composition, I experiment with the …

3.14.21 - Spring, Clayton Meldrum

The Hilltop Review

This poem, written in one sitting on a Sunday morning, is a reflection not only on the transition between the physical seasons, but on the condition of the authors heart, moving from a personal season of hurt and cold bitterness (winter), on the way towards one of happiness and warmth (summer). But there is the season in between - spring.

Age Of The Universe, Sydney Sheltz-Kempf

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

How To Be Held, Andrew Collard

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

As I Go Along..., Ivylove M. Cudjoe

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

Systematic Review Of Transition Assessments For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder From Early Intervention To Special Education, Akrum Hassan Eidelsafy, Katherine Lalonde, Starla Scott

The Hilltop Review

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), their families, and teachers face many challenges during the transition from early intervention into public education. One tool that may facilitate and streamline this transition is the use of a comprehensive transition assessment. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic literature review on peer-reviewed kindergarten transition assessments for children with ASD. The systematic literature review yielded six studies that met inclusion criterion. Within those six studies, 20 assessments were analyzed by reviewing the (1) type of assessment, (2) assessment timeline, and (3) use of assessment results. The results of this …

Mentalités And The Search For Total History In The Works Of Annalistes, Foucault, And Microhistory, Jason U. Rose

The Hilltop Review

In this brief essay, the links between the Annales, the works of Michael Foucault, and microhistory are analyzed through the theoretical lens of histoire des mentalités (mentalités). Common threads that link these approaches include the willingness of using outside fields of analysis as well as the willingness to work with vagueness in search of those who Foucault calls, “lost people.” Relatedly, each of these groups and individuals are willing to analyze all aspects of the historical record to fully understand the minds, cultures, and histories of past people. The key to recognizing the relationship of these approaches involve knowing and …

Justifying Advocacy Of Patients’ Belief Diversity W/ Support From William James’ Lectures On Pragmatism: A New Name For Some Old Ways Of Thinking, The Variety Of Religious Experiences & The Will To Believe, Sterling Courtney

The Hilltop Review

Abstract:

Predating monastic healthcare in the Middle Ages (Siraisi, 2019), spirituality and/or religion have been unified with healing, caring for the sick and consoling the dying, as documented by historical writings as early as c.3000 BCE-c.500 BCE in Mesopotamia and followed by coinciding accounts from c.750 BCE-c.280 BCE Greece and Rome (Mann, 2014). Via philosophy and science, a movement towards secularization has been perceived (as the Renaissance faded and the scientific revolution led into the Age of Enlightenment), therefore creating a dichotomy between treating the physical body separate from the metaphysical soul. In the early 1900’s, Abraham Flexner discredited any …

Delusional Mitigation In Religious And Psychological Forms Of Self-Cultivation: Buddhist And Clinical Insight On Delusional Symptomatology, Austin J. Avison

The Hilltop Review

This essay examines Buddhist forms of self-cultivation and development that enable a psychosocial capacity for emotional, cognitive, and behavioral adjustment by improving an individual's characteristic mode of interaction within the world. First, we will consider the religious form of self-cultivation seen in the context of Buddhism and its desire to remove delusional perspectives through developmental practices. In this, we will consider the cultivating function of clinical psychology through the therapeutic application of cognitive restructuring techniques as a form of cultivation. Next, considering psychological self-cultivation, training, development, and education concerning the treatment of schizophrenia and its characteristic criterion of delusions. Further, …

The Macroeconomic Impacts Of Entitlements, Ateeb Akhter Shah Syed, Kaneez Fatima, Riffat Naseer

The Hilltop Review

The worries expressed by Alan Greenspan that the long run economic growth of the United States will fade away due to increasing burden of entitlements motivated us to empirically investigate the impact of entitlements of key macroeconomic variables. To examine this contemporary issue, we estimate a vector error-correction model to analyze the impact of entitlements on the price level, real output, and the long-term interest rate. The results show that a shock to entitlements leads to decrease in output and lends support to the assertion made by Alan Greenspan. Several robustness checks verify that the results remain unchanged qualitatively.

Freedom Or Responsibility? On The Unreason Of Public Reason, Mitchell L. Winget

The Hilltop Review

Abstract: This article argues that the public reason tradition of political normativity is flawed. As a result, I argue for a politically normative approach that rationally justifies morally legitimate political power for democratic political societies from outside the paradigm of public reason. To this end, I propose that neo-Aristotelian virtue theory lends us such a framework. Furthermore, I’ll defend this framework against the objections that such a theory of political normativity is unreasonable and anti-democratic.

The Effect Of Respondent Race And Sex On Police Use Or Threatened Use Of Force, Viola L. Sawyer

The Hilltop Review

This study examines the interacting effects of race and sex on police use of force. Survey data drawn from the Police-Public Contact Survey were used to conduct a binary logistic regression to assess effects of different configurations of self-reported race and sex identities, respondents age, and absence of deference to authority on self-reported police use or threatened use of force in interactions with police officers. Results indicate that the multiplicative effect of respondents’ race and sex overall, had a statistically significant relationship with the likelihood of reporting police use or threatened use of force in police-public contacts. Additionally, age, overall, …

Notes From The Editor, Jessica M. Rocheleau

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

The Hilltop Review, Vol 12, No. 2, Spring 2021, Jessica Rocheleau

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

The Work Of The World, Mark C. Joslin

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.