Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Giving Birth To Self, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

In GIVING BIRTH TO SELF, the author, using the techniques of "thought-runs," meditates on Marquez's statement that "human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them to give birth to themselves. The focus in this essay is then on context and use, the "where" and the "how" of self. Where do representations of self, oneself and that of the other, typically occur in written texts and how does the author use self: how does it perform?

The Fascination Of The Unfinished, Abandoned And Wrecked, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

The unfinished, abandoned (e.g., ruins), and wrecked provoke a strong reaction in such diverse persons as antiquarians, artists, writers and journalists. One can say that the UAW cause the new thing to appears. They are "news." In this book are a collection of unfinished MSS. The author invites the reader to, if not finish them, at least continue the ideas of each

What If...? A Counterfactual Thought Experiment, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

A Counterfactual though experiment on the effects of smog, not so much on us, as on the unborn. If the harmful genetic effects of smog are lethal to unborn generations, what will happen to our values and traditions? A response to recent (February 2014) program on KUED called "The Air We Breathe."

Movie: "Fury." A Representation Of Altruistic Sacrfice And Just War Theory, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

All religions, as well as much fiction and many philosophies, employ a language to create the realities we want and to open the wonders elsewhere—that is, to go beyond a representation of the here and now to what may lie beyond the here and now. Names for such a "place" include "utopia," "the transcendent," "heaven," "paradise," nirvana," "peace" and the like and are embodied in the scripture of all religions and in secular works like Plato's Republic, Sir Thomas More's Utopia and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. As a linguistic artifact, the wonders elsewhere appear chiefly by means of modal verbs, "should," …

Polyvocal: Poems, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

In this text "polyvocal" has three general meanings. In one, after its etymology, it has the sense of "many voices." In another, it means, after the quote above, "many things," i.e., many subjects and concerns. Thirdly, it presupposes the existence of "many forms," the possibility of a poet writing in many styles, couplets, terza rima, fourteeners, blank verse and so on. POLYVOCAL in short, attempts to break the boundaries of the "univocal," the one voice, one subject, one style, one way of writing poetry. Writing polyvocally makes one anonymous, absent from the text. By contrast, writing univocally puts one on …

Shots In The Dark: The Presence Of Absence In Imaginative Literature (Iw), Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Western metaphysics and IW can be described as a search for "first" presences, not absences. With the exception of philosophers like Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Aristotle, writers like Lord Rochester (John Wilmot), Jonathan Swift and Philip Larkin, no one, to my knowledge, has taken absence as a "first" and consequently as also a "last." This essay is a modest attempt to open the door, if only a crack, for investigations into the metaphysics and meaning of absence as a means of creating, and understanding an interesting IW—from the perspective of the presence of absence as "first" and as "last."

Becalmed: A Modest Contribution To The Vast Literature On Cannibalism, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

A 10 minute play. 3 characters. A yacht out to win a sailing race is becalmed. The crew is starving. They decide to eat one of them. But they must first electioneer who shall be chosen to be eaten. Play ends with one of the crew asking the audience to decide who should be eaten

On The Benefit Of Sleeping In: An Exercise In Epistemological Irony, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Irony, as an Archimedean Point, is perhaps the most efficient way to reveal human delusions and downright stupidities. Three factors go into the construction of such a Point: 1) a standpoint independent of the subject; 2) a view of the whole, not the part, of the subject and 3) an inside view of its agency—who and what brought the subject into being and how did it terminate. "ON THE BENEFIT OF SLEEPING IN: AN EXERCISE IN EPISTEMOLOGICAL IRONY" exemplifies the above.

When Death Intercepts Life In Imaginative Writing, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

The representation of death in imaginative writing is a "virtual" (as opposed to) an actual death. It always occurs in the context of a "virtual" (represented) life. In this text the author examines some of the ways death "intercepts" life in such writing. The subject is a vast, perhaps inexhaustible, one. The richest source, one the author dos not mine, is Shakespeare's interceptions of life by death.

Extending A Geographic Lens Towards Climate Justice, Part 2: Climate Action, Claudia Radel

Claudia Radel

There has been a recent increase of interest within the academic literature on the justice issues posed by climate change and the human responses to its present and forecasted effects. In two parts (here and in a previous article), we review and synthesize the recent literature by asking what climate justice concerns have been identified within three related realms: (i) the characterization of climate change itself and the assignment of responsibility for that change; (ii) the differential or uneven impacts of climate change; and (iii) the actions taken to address the problems associated with climate change, including both mitigation and …

Using Tragedy, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Describes how three groups of people use tragedy: readers, writers, critics. Some effects are criticism of institutions, emotional effects, political, historical changes.

Existential Vertigo, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

A MICROPLAY OF THE ABSURD. Two mountaineers out to summit a mountain in record time and win a prize. The logic of space is complex, as students of geometry can attest; yet people deal with it intuitively most of the time and have little trouble understanding it at the level of concrete operations. This play is absurd because it depicts a kind of confusion about space that people are not liable to fall into.

Pollyvocal: Short Stories, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Most fiction writers write (or attempt to write) in a univocal voice (or "style"). Hemingway's voice differs from Faulkner's, Carver's from Fitzgerald's and so on. Difference, it seems fair to say, helps to establish their identity. By contrast, this collection of stories embodies an attempt, over the last 55 years or so, to write in the polyvocal. One can see this "attempt" as an "interruption" of the old by the start of something "new." The voice of each story, with the exception of #1, interrupts that of a preceding one—just as the birth of a child invariably interrupts the voices …

Hemingway And Normal Fallibility, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Representing failure is common in literature. It is one of the major ways one keeps the plot going on and increasing in complexity. Hemingway's particular type of failure can be called "normal." It is the kind of failure that can happen to anyone. Thus it becomes an important part of his depictions of reality. the 'way things are."

Undergraduates And Topic Selection: A Librarian’S Role, Kacy Lundstrom, Flora Shrode

Flora Shrode

Research shows that undergraduate students struggle with the initial stage of the research process, mainly identifying and defining a topic. Little current research addresses how undergraduates engage in this process, including how and where they seek help. The results of focus groups indicate that students have individual and varied methods for topic selection, but that many of them choose topics based on their perception of a few major characteristics, mainly perceived ease, pleasing the instructor/following the assignment, personal relatability and/or interest, and the ability to locate sufficient resources to research a topic. Many students identified their instructor as a person …

An Interstate Runs Through It: The Construction Of Little Rock's Interstate 630 And The Fight To Stop It, Darcy Pumphrey

Darcy Pumphrey

Completion of the first mile of Interstate 630 (I-630) occurred in 1969. However, demands from organized community groups and litigation delayed completion of the full seven-and-a-half mile route until 1985. While the freeway resistance movement in Little Rock did not stop the construction of I-630 – it did gain influence over many key decisions within the planning and construction process.Through an examination of the construction of I-630, this thesis advances the basic understanding of the elements of an organized freeway revolt and serves as a guide for other communities as they navigate their own freeway planning efforts. In order to …

Frenchifying The Frontier: Transnational Federalism In The Early West, Keri Holt

Keri Holt

The antebellum West was a hotbed of literary activism. Western presses published more than one hundred local newspapers and literary magazines from the late 1820s through the 1850s. Cities such as Vidalia, Lexington, Marietta, New Orleans, and Cincinnati were thriving literary centers, boasting numerous bookshops, libraries, theaters, and literary societies, including the Semi-Colon and Buckeye clubs of Cincinnati, where members exhibited their western pride by discussing the work of local authors while drinking beverages from buckeye bowls.1 The “West” at this time was located much closer east and south than the West we know today. It encompassed, roughly, the states …

The Impact Of Undergraduate Research, Joyce Kinkead

Joyce Kinkead

No abstract provided.

The Mona Lisa Effect, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

A short play about the effect of the theft of Leonardo's Mona Lisa from the Louve in 1911. Many people, including Franz Kafka, came to see the black space where it once hung. The idea for this piece comes from two sources. One is the theft of Leonardo's Mona Lisa in 1911 (missing for two years) and the heightened attraction this caused. The other source was the author observing masses of tourists frequenting the Louve solely (?) for the purpose of being in the area where the picture is hung but without being able to penetrate the crowd to see …

Nowhere Man, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

One act play. 2 characters. Migrant farm workers waiting for a farmer to show up. The play is dedicated to Mark Wyman, author of the book HOBOES. The first performance of the lay was by FirstStage LA.

Exercises In Magic Realism, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

With magic realism one infuses the secular, mundane, world with the almost supernatural. As such magic realism is a literary version of transcendence (akin to prayer, rituals and the like)

A Happy Employee Is A Productive Employee, Erin L. Davis

Erin Davis

No abstract provided.

Mystery At Mesa Verde, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Short story: This story takes us back to the time Mesa Verde was inhabited by the Anasazi. The mystery involves a final footprint (larger than a humans) in the snow. What does it mean? Who made it? Where did it come from? The main character is Qlp, a character in an earlier story of mine (Published in the literary journal WEBER).

Hemingway The Fifth Column And The Dead Angle, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

No abstract provided.

Gathering Leadership Momentum Across Great Distances: Creating An Online Community Of Practice, Erin L. Davis, Danielle Theiss-White

Erin Davis

At the 2007 Mountain Plains Library Association Leadership (MPLA) Institute, held in New Mexico, USA, eight academic librarians formed an online multi-state, multigenerational community of practice. MPLA is a twelve-state library association within the United States. Using Google Groups™, the members formed an online environment called the MPLA Community of Practice for continuing development of the leadership skills presented at the Institute. These early-career librarians represent diverse educational backgrounds and work in libraries serving varied populations with differing disciplinary emphases.

The group meets monthly with each member preparing and facilitating online discussions, complete with personal assessments, topical readings, and questions. …

From Sagebrush To Subdivisions: Visualizing Tourist Development In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 1967-2002, Clint Pumphrey

Clint Pumphrey

Historians have long recognized the tendency of communities to embrace tourism when extractive practices like agriculture, mining, and ranching fail as a dominant economic strategy. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a prime example of this phenomenon in the American West. From its origins as a Mormon farming community in the late- nineteenth century, the valley evolved into an extensively developed tourist mecca by the end of the next. While this industry was initially supported by hotel-dwelling auto tourists, by the 1960s wealthy second-home buyers began to descend on Jackson Hole, buying up scenic property and constructing vacation homes. Over the next …

Apropos Doors, Janus And Tristram Shandy, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Examines the use of doors in Laurence Sterne's famous novel, Tristram Shandy. Argues that Sterne uses doors in the Shandy household to make salient issues of class, social function and age.

Betweenning: The God Of Experience, Cognition And Composition, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

In this book "between" or "in-between" appears as the PATER FAMILIA of terms like "middle," "center," "intersection" and the like. Book describes how "betweenning" is a major way language users create order (and disorder) in experience, thinking and communication.. Specimens of Betweenning range from Plato, to Aristotle to modern authors, novelists, essayists, poets and so on. Many of the author's titles listed on this web-site have Betweenning as their foundational unit.We are, in walking, standing, sitting always BETWEEN two (at least) things.

Ten Poems, Gene Washington

Gene Washington

Poems on various subjects

Information Professional Or Caretaker Of "Old Stuff", Daniel Davis

Daniel Davis

Do archivists emphasize their role as technicians with specialized skills and knowledge or do they emphasize their role as sort of "semi-pro" historians? This debate has been around since the 1930s and is not likely to be decided any time soon. My argument is that young archivists cannot afford to take an either/or approach and must incorporate elements of both paths or risk obsolescence and/or continued low salaries.