Digital Commons Network^™

Things I Never Told You, Ayanna Battle

Senior Projects Fall 2022

I had a very interesting experience studying composition at Bard. The year that I was supposed to moderate into composition was the year that COVID hit; and because of COVID, I spent the next two of my four years at Bard studying remotely, 15 hours away in Atlanta, Ga. Though I was still able to study composition with Joan Tower through weekly virtual meetings, I never experienced the “rites of passage” that a typical young composer experiences. I never had to search for musicians to play my pieces for a moderation concert; I never had to analyze the different schedules …

Wisdom Of Nature: Finding Tao In Water, Ziyu Xu

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

In Its Comfort And Disquietude, Julia M. Larberg

Senior Projects Fall 2022

“Love is as love does. Love is an act of will - namely, both an intention and an action. Will implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.” - M. Scott Peck, as read in All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

Over the past year and a half, home has been on my mind. I’ve been questioning its definition and location, how it comes to be, what it consists of. I’ve been asking if a definition of home exists.

In this pursuit, I read books about love and communication. I asked strangers how they …

Daughters Of The Commandment And Their Mothers: An Ethnographic Exploration Of Bat Mitzvahs In Metro Atlanta, Maya E. Lavender

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Setats Detinu, Felicia Elizabeth Flores

Senior Projects Fall 2022

One in four American adults has had a sibling incarcerated.

1 in 10 women have been raped by an intimate partner.

On any given night, approximately 41,000 unaccompanied youth ages 13-25 experience homelessness.

76% of child abuse perpetrators were a parent to their victim.

I felt so alone. The moment my brother was arrested, my ex-boyfriend raped me, I was a homeless child who ran away from my family, and my father abused me, I felt othered by society. My brother was a criminal, but he was my beautiful, passionate, kind, protective rock. My ex-boyfriend was a rapist, but he …

Between Space And Time: Conceptualizing Memory In The Archival Novel, Samantha Nicole Schwartz

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

魔道祖师: An Exploration Of Characterisation And Character Dynamics Between Two Cinematic Adaptations, Allegra Tsao Robinson

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

The In-Between Times, Abraham C. Shenk

Senior Projects Fall 2022

I have grown up around cameras. My parents are documentary filmmakers. Early on, I understood how a photograph can capture reality. As a child, I also spent time in my grandfather’s darkroom, watching him as he went through the process of printing negatives. I watched as the images emerged in the chemicals. It seemed magical to me. A gnarled tree limb, a snow drift, a strange image emerging out of a series of torn papers on a wall. I remember him explaining the steps of making a picture. However, it was only when I arrived at Bard College that I …

Creativity As Potential: Humanity’S Most Important Trait Reimagined, Jess M. Berkun

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

When Words Fail: Towards A Subversive Account Of Gender Theory, James Toomey

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

What Happens In The Goldilocks Zone?, Ava M. Lee

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

My Translation, Sandra Capellaro

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

A collection of autobiographical stories which arc from growing up in Germany in the 1980s to immigrating to the U.S. as an adult. Some of the stories also delve into my mother's experiences and how the repercussions of World War II have shaped her life.

Is Transphobia Conditional? The Effects Of Coming Out Before Or After An Interaction, Cam R. Goldberg

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Knowing when to come out is an important decision in the lives of transgender people, especially as doing so can put them at great risk of hate crimes or aggressions. Coming out, however, can also bring a feeling of freedom and foster a community more openly. A friend or child coming out is different than a stranger coming out to you, and this may change how you feel towards this person’s queerness. A person you do not know is already in an out-group so you may be more likely to jump to negative conclusions about them. This is compounded if …

Why Did You Come To Study In The United States? Analysis Of The Phenomenon Of Modern Chinese Students Studying In The United States, Beitong Liu

Senior Projects Fall 2022

The occurrence of Chinese students studying in the United States is becoming increasingly prevalent, and the factors that drive Chinese students to study abroad are changing with time. This senior project, after the explicit framework for the history and development of modern Chinese students studying in the United States. I use Push-Pull Factors to explore some of the important factors that influence Chinese students' decision to study abroad in the present day. For instance, I argue that significant internal Chinese push factors include the pressure of the gaokao, the education difficulties caused by the hukou, and the comprehensive service of …

How Lyrics Influence The Effect Of Music On Emotions Regarding Differences In Musical Training, Keyan Ivy Wu

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing of Bard College.

The Cultural Blueprint Of Laotian Society From The Contexts Of Traditional And Modern Music, Nandi Ampone Woodfork-Bey

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies and The Arts of Bard College

Abandonada, Luiz Emanuel De Castro Moura

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Divisions of Arts of Bard College

How Aesthetics Shape Our Ethics: Exploring Nazi Germany, The Soviet Union, And Digital World, Nika Kokhodze

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Every day, we encounter numerous amount of images, films, news and propaganda. The different forms and manifestations of aesthetics haunts our lives daily. What if I told you that Aesthetics has immense amount of power? This project aims specifically at that as it explores authoritarian states and the liberal democracies alike. How could the moral compass that we all cherish and hold dearly be predicated and shaped by something so remote as aesthetics? Exploring through examples from the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and the digital world we all live in, one might find some answers and the right questions to …

How Lyrics Influence The Effect Of Music On Emotions Regarding Differences In Musical Training, Keyan Wu

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing of Bard College.

Evolving, Yuhao Zhang

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Looking Into The Meaning Of Vaporwave: The Internet’S Favorite Genre Of Music, Thelonious Spike Kelly-Rossini

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College. An Ethnographic look into Vaporwave as a genre, and the politics surrounding it and it's online community.

Navigating The Tide: Localism, Transnationalism, And Historiography In Zhejiang Chao, Sijin Gao

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Apotheosis, Kira L. Hansen

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Apotheosis invites the viewer to explore the both tensions and the joys of gender expression, love, sex and sexuality, the natural and the constructed worlds, and the body.

The Washington Consensus: Conceptions Of Power And Failure In Argentina, Samaira G. Wilson

Senior Projects Fall 2022

By holding great economic power over smaller states and justifying it by saying they are helping modernize them, the U.S. leaves many countries cleaning up a mess they helped make. The Washington Consensus failed systematically largely because of its failure to understand development in developing countries. The objective of these policies were to increase GDP in Argentina, yet economic growth favored the wealthy which led to more poverty, inequality and unemployment. The responsibility to promote democratic and equitable development, as well as sustained increases in living standards, was completely neglected. Why did U.S. policy fail to deliver on its goals? …

Wanderer, Yu Wu

Senior Projects Fall 2022

I am a person who easily falls into bewilderment

I love the natural state of people on the streets

I love to observe parents pampering their children, lover kissing, elder couples relaxing, women laughing, men confusing, and even puppies wagging their tails

I love this realness, even if they are not related to me at all

People's live are flowing frame by frame along the roads of New York

Intersecting, colliding

I was like a fish with no destination

Swimming around

The camera is my detector

Searching for my own past, present, and future in others

Wandering, Wandering

This is …

Towards A Revised Approach To Designing From The Outside In: Contextualizing The Preliminary Proposal For The Fourth Addition To Bard College Library, Aidan Galloway

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Before creating the new, architects are faced with the existing. An enormous oak tree might be within the bounds of the site you’ve been hired to build a house on. Do you cut it down, or leave it? A tall brick building might be next door. Do you imitate its scale, its materiality, its style, or do you create something that looks entirely different?

These kinds of questions, while perhaps always fundamental to architecture, were especially pertinent in mid-to-late-twentieth century debates surrounding “context” as architects like Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown challenged the conventions of “orthodox” Modern architecture. “Frank …

Karaoke Is The Best Medicine: The Immeasurable Value Of Hospital Recreation Workers Through The Early Twentieth Century, Fiona Rose Lacedonia

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Blue Girandole & The Grand Hotel: Reconsiderations Of Sodom And Gomorrah In Proust's À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu, Emma West Alcorn

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

The Gold Standard And Fiat Money System, Khawaja Mohammad Mudasser

Senior Projects Fall 2022

This paper explains two world monetary orders, the Gold Standard and Fiat Money. The paper argues that the Fiat Money system is better than the Gold Standard system because the Gold Standard system increases risk of deflation and restricts economic growth unlike the Fiat Money system. The paper discusses history of both monetary regimes, policy mechanism under both systems and economic outcomes. The paper states the policy and framework for exchange rates and trading under both regimes. It also discusses monetary policy and gold/capital flows under both of the systems.

Camp Counselors' Views On Volunteerism, Emotional Work, And The Transition To Adulthood, Kayla Jane Mcnamara

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.