Digital Commons Network^™

Sweetbriar: I Wound To Heal, Megan Foster

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This work questions the societal disconnect between the readiness of human emotion and the restraint with which we discuss it. As the well-to-do ladies of the Victorian era would gather flowers to create tussie-mussies and nosegays to adorn themselves and send messages, the pieces of the MFA thesis exhibition Sweetbriar: I Wound to Heal divulge intense realities through the palatability and presentability of a flower’s beauty. The flowers in this work (as with Victorian Flower Language) act as signifiers for greater emotional concepts. Harebells for grief. Peonies for shame. Gorse for anger. Each flower/emotion in this exhibition is connected directly …

The New Monumental Era: Daniel Webster And The Commemoration Of Compromise In The Age Of Disunion, 1853-1865, Michael James Larmann

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Professional Paper 1:

This professional paper is an in-depth analysis of a statue of Daniel Webster erected in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1859. Daniel Webster was a congressman for Massachusetts who became a controversial figure after he spoke in support of the Fugitive Slave Law as part of the Compromise of 1850. This paper analyzes the Daniel Webster statue and argues that the fractured politics of Union politicized public commemoration in the late antebellum period after the Compromise of 1850. This paper furthermore analyzes one of the first debates surrounding the public commemoration of a controversial historical actor with close ties …

Fabrications, Molly V. Rivera

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The objects that surround us tell a story of our past, and act as physical stand ins for a person, place, or experience no longer present. My work explores the significance of objects and how we use them to preserve our memories and make them tangible. Memory is ephemeral and changes over time, simultaneously growing weaker and stronger. I use clay to accentuate this relationship, visually depicting both preservation and decay.

Inspired by my personal narrative, I recreate specific objects of significance by hand. This results in subtle variations of the original, much like the changes in our memory over …

Median, Amy Petit

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Median reflects my observation of changing forms of communication in the digital age and how that affects personal interaction, expression, and the value that we assign to objects. The sculptural objects in this exhibit stem from my formative experiences of frequent relocation, as well as a professional background in the fast-paced technological world. These factors, combined with contemplative and repetitive sculptural practices, help illustrate the anxiety and discomfort that can accompany rapid advances in communication practices. My research situates my work within contemporary art by drawing on the relevance of indexical signs, reliquaries, current discussions of communication in the digital …

"Perhaps," She Said, "Looking Itself Could Be An Antidote.", Sarah Moore

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Depressive-Rumination On Prospective Memory, Mark Primosch

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Depression is related to prospective memory (PM) impairment. However, the research on depression-related PM impairment remains inconclusive. No study to date has taken into account the possible effects of depressive-rumination, which is known to impair executive functions underlying PM. The current study addresses this gap in the literature. Participants: Participants were grouped according to self-reported depression severity per the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II). Fifty-five individuals with low (BDI-II < 8), 17 individuals with moderate (BDI-II 9-18), and 16 individuals with high (BDI-II > 19) symptoms of depression were included in the study. Method: Participants completed demographic and trait and state rumination questionnaires. Participants within each …

Where I Come From/Where I Am, Dean Ramsey Foster

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This story begins in the Midwest, among the everyman. A story lived by many. Where you go to “work” so that you can go “up north” and to “the lake.” This story is set in the cities of West Michigan, and on the banks of the world’s longest freshwater cost line. A place that is remembered through the souvenirs collected along the way. Where the color of the water, and the smell of the air, can release a flood of memories for those indoctrinated by this story. A place where I spent 26 years, living the story, working, going up …

Literature Meets Biology: An Evolutionary Approach To Literary Studies, Samantha Reneé Dwyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The following thesis engages with the relatively young development in literary studies, called evocriticism, which uses scientific perspectives to look at literature. It first gives an overview of the current state of English departments and their decline in numbers, budgets, and cultural relevancy, mostly due to outdated modes of literary criticism and theory. It then introduces evocriticism as a new paradigm for studying literature. Literature and the arts are studied as human behaviors with possible adaptive benefits. Individual texts are interpreted through a scientific lens, using the theory of evolution to find cultural and biological human universals that can help …

The Role Of The Cb1 Receptor In Learning, Memory And Anxiety-Like Behaviors, Loretta Lynn Bolyard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Several lines of evidence support a role of the endocannabinoid (eCB) system in cognition and anxiety. This study explores cognitive processes and anxiety-like behaviors in wild type (CB1+/+) and CB1-receptor-deficient (CB1-/-) mice of differing ages. Differences were observed between CB1+/+ and CB1-/- mice in a Morris Water Maze acquisition task. Furthermore, CB1-/- mice did not display deficits in extinction during reversal learning. In the Light-Dark Box and Suok tasks, the CB1-/- mice demonstrated greater anxiety-like behaviors relative the CB1+/+ mice. No differences were observed in the Open-Field task, suggesting that the observed behavioral differences may be related to anxiety rather …

Remember Gay Victims: An Exploration Into The History, Testimony, And Literature Of The Persecution Of Homosexuals By The Third Reich And Their Effect On A Queer Collective Consciousness, Paul D. Vestal

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The persecution of homosexuals by the Nazis under National Socialism during the Second World War has historically been ignored and almost completely erased. However, within the past two and a half decades a significant number of historical, academic, sociological, and literary inquiries and works have uncovered this once forgotten past. Because of these investigations, the anti-homosexual actions inflicted upon gay men by the Third Reich have the ability to impact the continual creation of a queer collective memory and consciousness. Unfortunately, many queers do not know the historic connotations and denotation of the pink triangle—a symbol worn by homosexual males …

Factors Affecting Attention To And Retention Of Low-Impact Messages On Trailside Bulletin Boards, Timothy P. Hammond

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.