Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Our National Shame, Christopher R. Fee

English Faculty Publications

I spend a lot of time with my students working at soup kitchen and homeless shelters, and each winter, when it gets really cold and dark, my thoughts more often turn back to Dick. Dick died on Jan. 31, 1988. He was a veteran who served in Germany in the 1950s and was a graduate of St. John's University in New York, where his father has been an Engligh professor.

Dick had completed most of the work for his MBA during a career which included positions at Procter & Gamble, Federated Department Stores, and National Cash Register. At the time …

Larry Marschall, Professor Of Physics, Musselman Library, Laurence A. Marschall

Next Page

In this issue of Next Page, Professor of Physics Larry Marschall tells us about the many influential authors (and a musician!) who inspired everything from his career path, to his political involvement and how he raised his children.

Megan Adamson Sijapati, Associate Professor Of Religious Studies, Musselman Library, Megan Adamson Sijapati

Next Page

In this new Next Page offering, Associate Professor of Religious Studies Megan Adamson Sijapati divulges her old school methods of keeping track of what to read next, as well as which book recently replaced Steinbeck's East of Eden as her go-to book for giving as a gift.

Michael Birkner, Franklin Professor Of The Liberal Arts And Professor Of History, Musselman Library, Michael J. Birkner

Next Page

In the latest edition of Next Page, Franklin Professor of the Liberal Arts and Professor of History Michael Birkner shares why he connects with Richard Russo’s work and which amazing book he has given away as a gift in recent years (hint: it’s not an Eisenhower book!).

“An Imperialism Of The Imagination”: Muslim Characters And Western Authors In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Robin K. Miller

Student Publications

This paper specifically discusses the cultural attitudes that made writing fully realized Muslim characters problematic for Western authors during the 19th and 20th centuries and also how, through their writing, certain authors perpetuated these attitudes. The discussed authors and works include William Beckford's Vathek, Lord Byron's poem “The Giaour,” multiple short stories from the periodical collection Oriental Stories, one of Hergé's installments of The Adventures of Tintin, and E.M. Hull's novel The Sheik. Three “types” of Muslim characters emerge in these works: the good, the bad, and the white. All three reflect Western attitudes towards the East as a place …

John Commito, Professor Of Environmental Studies, Musselman Library, John A. Commito

Next Page

In this edition of Next Page, Professor of Environmental Studies John Commito reveals his love for all things Maine and why his neighbors don’t believe he reads half of what he says he does.

Lessons In Tourism, Emily A. Francisco

Student Publications

A section poem in four parts that examines a number of experiences from the perspective of a female traveler, addressing themes such as dislocation of self, the remaking of identity, and the nature of female otherness within the global community.

Shieldmaiden, Allison A. Taylor

Student Publications

"Shieldmaiden" is a poem that examines J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series from a feminist perspective, focusing on the character of Éowyn and her influence on female readers of Tolkien's novels.

The View From The Front, Kathryn M. Gittings

Student Publications

A creative piece detailing the personal and public history of a small Pennsylvania town, specifically dealing with its crimes and their effect on the collective memory and atmosphere of the area.

Amy Dailey, Assistant Professor Of Health Sciences, Musselman Library, Amy B. Dailey

Next Page

In this next edition of Next Page, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences Amy Dailey shares with us which article she recommends to students for a better understanding of the health care crisis in America along with her mild fascination with dystopian literature and books about mammograms.

Jack Ryan, Vice Provost, Musselman Library, Jack Ryan

Next Page

In this first edition of Next Page, Vice Provost Jack Ryan shares with us his reading habits, book recommendations, and which returning television show will likely soak up a solid eight hours of his reading time.

Everything, Hannah M. Frantz

Student Publications

This is a memoir piece that details a tumultuous period in my life between departing for my study abroad experience in Rwanda and Uganda, struggling with what I encountered there, and then attempting to reintegrate into the same life prior to my departure. Specifically, it focuses on my time in northern Uganda, and a women I met in an IDP (internal displaced persons) camp who really made me think about what my role should be both there and at home. This piece explores a number of themes including guilt, blame, and, ultimately, a certain amount of forgiveness.

What Makes A Monster And What Makes A Man? Exploring The Relationship Between The Creator And The Creation In Three Gothic Novels, Veronica B. Rosenberger

Student Publications

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray all tell tales of both men and monsters. Identifying which characters fit into which category, however, requires further analysis. Each story presents its own interpretation of the creation process pursued by very different creators and yielding very different creations. Victor Frankenstein is motivated by pride, scientific curiosity, and the hope of healing the human faults to build a huge creature out of corpse parts that becomes so ugly in life that no one can treat …

Just Another Girl, Julia D. Marshella

Student Publications

A non-fiction piece that explores the causes of the author’s depression while in college. While she is able to pinpoint specific events that have led to her unhappiness, she realizes that accepting her life in spite of these obstacles will allow her to move forward.

Cold And Calculating, Kathryn E. Slezak

Student Publications

This nonfiction essay investigates the relationship between eye contact and power in different situations. It brings up the idea that animals and humans are less different than often thought to be, and how body language is transcendent. It uses this underlying theme to investigate the author’s changing relationship with her father.

“Under The Seams Runs The Pain”: Four Greek Sources And Analogues For The Modern Monster In Anne Carson’S Autobiography Of Red, Joshua M. Carmel

Student Publications

This work seeks to explore the monster figure in its evolution from the Classical to the contemporary literary canons. Using Geryon, a three-headed and red-hued monster, as the central figure and Carson’s 1998 verse novel Autobiography of Red, it evaluates the underpinnings of the alienated “other” and attempts to shed light on its role in modern society.

Red Rose, Sara Lauren Purifoy

Student Publications

Red Rose follows the narrator’s innermost thoughts and feelings of abruptly being immersed into a culture very different from her own. While hiking with her brother, a second year environmental Peace Corps volunteer, to visit the home and garden of a Nicaraguan native, she reflects on the changes she sees in her brother and her inability to communicate in a foreign country. She struggles to overcome her feelings of linguistic isolation while still being fascinated by the culture around her. The piece ends on a lovely image of universal understanding.

Being [T]Here, Dustin B. Smith

English Faculty Publications

When you awoke from the dream, in your early thirties, you knew, as you’ve never known anything else in all your seventy-plus years, that what you’d found was real. The dream began with you sitting in a church, head bowed in prayer. Your eyes opened slowly, and you noticed that you were wearing brilliantly colored, beaded moccasins. You stood abruptly, pushed open the mahogany gate that separated the pew from the center aisle of the church, and began to run. The dream then proposed a seemingly endless and entirely quotidian set of difficulties in The City, and led eventually to …

She's A Brick House: August Wilson And The Stereotypes Of Black Womanhood, Amelia Tatum Grabowski

Student Publications

In his Century Cycle of plays, August Wilson tells ten distinct stories of families in or linked to the Hill District, an African American community in Pittsburgh; one play taking place in each decade of the twentieth century. Through these plays, Wilson's audience sees the Hill District and America evolve, while prejudice, oppression, and poverty remain constant. Many scholars argue that sexism provides a fourth common factor, asserting that Wilson portrays the female characters in the male-fantasized, stereotypical roles of the Mammy or the Jezebel figure, rather as realistic, empowered, and complex women. However, close examination of the women with …

Theatre Of The Mind: Hardy The Dynasts And The Question Of Form, Suzanne J. Flynn

English Faculty Publications

This essay analyzes Hardy’s rarely discussed epic-drama, The Dynasts, especially in relation to trends in the early twentieth-century drama. Hardy’s work is a hybrid of epic, drama, and lyric and was, at the time, thought to be unstageable.