Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Jump Magazine, Victoria Troxler

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Jump is an online life stage magazine for women, focused on the transition from college life to the real world. The magazine’s target audience is women ages 19 and 25 who have recently graduated from college or will soon graduate. These women are interested in a luxury lifestyle and current trends, but also value budgeting and their careers. They are also newcomers to real world. The Jump answers the questions about home décor, cooking, fashion, beauty, and budgeting in a simple way that is tailored to their stage in life.

Each department of The Jump – musings, home, eat, …

The Small Overlooked Hindu Street Temples Of Madurai, Elina Berzins

Honors Capstone Projects - All

When I first walked around downtown Madurai, down its narrow and dusty streets that led into more lanes and alleys, I noticed a trend of small street temples that were usually built outside stores and apartment houses. When I asked an older man who sat next to a one of these temples that was modest in size and consisted of a Ganesha, Hindu elephant god statue, he told me that as a Western woman, I shouldn’t waste my time studying these small insignificant temples. He insisted that I focus on the grand and large Meenakshi Temple, which Madurai is famous …

Uncommon Action: An Interdisciplinary Arts Performance On Ally Involvement, Rachel Dentinger

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This instrumental and dance performance, titled “Uncommon Action: An Interdisciplinary Arts Performance on Ally Involvement”, was designed to raise awareness about bullying and becoming an active ally in the event of bullying. Sixteen student musicians and a team of production assistants were enlisted to produce this interdisciplinary program that was over a year and a half in the making. This production is a unique artistic effort where the classical musicians will also perform as dancers while playing, similar to what is seen in performances by marching bands, drum corps, Stomp, Barrage, Blue Man Group, etc.

The musical piece, commissioned from …

Bernard: An Illustrated Children’S Book, Hansol Kim

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My Capstone Project is an illustrated children’s book titled, Bernard, that I authored and illustrated. It is a 32-page full color illustrated book following the adventures of a bear named Bernard, as he explores what it is like to spend a day in a human town. The idea behind the story was imagined during a serendipitous moment and expanded into a full narrative.

During the creation of the Bernard, I learned the importance of elements such as the rhythm and structure of the children’s book. Wielding a pencil and paper, I explored how little or how much was …

Jewelry Inspired By Stem Cells, Nina Matsumoto

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The representation of living organisms has a long history in jewelry. Since jewelry is intended to be worn on the body, it has the faculty to materialize what typically remains unseen below our skin. Creating this body of work aims to entice public curiosity and educate them in current stem cell research, as it is a promising avenue of medicine that could cure many diseases, rather than treat their symptoms.

The jewelry I made is a glimpse into the body revealing microscopic stem cells, which are essential to our existence. Current research has shown the potential for immense advancement in …

The Light Princess: An Illustrated Fairy Tale, Amanda Shaffer

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Fairy tales teach children important life lessons, and The Light Princess by George MacDonald is no exception. The main lesson taught by this story is that one needs a balance between gravity and levity, or that there can be no true happiness without knowing sadness as well. This fairy tale is aimed at slightly older children, around age ten, so they might begin to understand this lesson. Younger children would not be able to understand this as well, but it may stick with the older kids. I feel that this is a particularly important life lesson, and my illustrations try …

Molière’S Le Misanthrope, Ian B. Carlino

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My Capstone project is a French-to-English translation of about 1,100 lines of Molière’s Le Misanthrope. I chose that play because I was interested in exploring translation theory and the act of translating — not because I wanted to contribute some revolutionary new work to the numerous translations of it that already exist. I had never tried to translate, so I wanted the project to be an exercise in the work.

I began by selecting the parts of the play I thought to be most significant and helpful in giving a feel for what the play means. The plot was …

A Mother's Love: A Screenplay, Marie Hankinson

Honors Capstone Projects - All

A Mother’s Love is a sixty-eight page feature-length dramatic screenplay. The story attempts to answer the following question: How far should a mother go to ensure her child’s overall happiness and acceptance in the world? In the screenplay, Emily is the mother of Aden, a child with autism. Aden’s autistic condition is about in the middle of the autistic spectrum. When a new doctor recommends putting Aden on an experimental treatment that promises to eliminate Aden’s autistic symptoms, Emily agrees to follow the program. Although the revolutionary treatment begins to radically ease Aden’s autistic symptoms, the drug comes with severe …

The Forgotten Chancellor, Lorne Fultonberg

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Every past chancellor of Syracuse University has had something named for him. Every chancellor except for one.

The Forgotten Chancellor examines the administration of John Corbally, the only past chancellor without a campus namesake. Does SU’s eighth headman actually create a lasting legacy in his 18 months on campus? And most importantly, does he deserve anonymity?

The project took on the form of a documentary, using pictures and sounds to truly transport the viewer back to Syracuse in 1968-1971.

The story relied on the people who were there to retell it and bring it to life. The search for eyewitnesses …

Carrying Oxygen, Jaimie Gerst

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Carrying oxygen is a daily struggle for many who are constant oxygen users. From the moment of prescription to continuous portable oxygen therapy, ones life has changed. Every time an individual has to leave their home, they depend on having their form of portable oxygen therapy with them, in addition to other necessary items needed throughout the day.

Currently, many oxygen carriers do not fit the needs of their user. After talking to people using oxygen, doctors, distributers, and therapists, it became clear that there are several issues with current oxygen tanks and carriers. Oxygen cylinders are predominantly used because …

Red Rope Magazine: A Sustainable And Creative Model For A Magazine For Chinese Students In The U.S., Kexin Zheng

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Last year, China surpassed India for the first time and became the leading country of origin of all international students studying in the United States. With the increasing number of students from China, American students are getting used to the amount of Chinese faces on campus, and the growing Chinese community has created a comfort zone for the newcomers to live a familiar life within their native language. However, the fundamental issue lies in the need for a stronger sense of empowerment.

Red Rope magazine, with red symbolizing happiness and rope symbolizing binding, will be the first general-interest magazine in …

Suitcase Magazine, Victoria Wolk

Honors Capstone Projects - All

For my Honors Capstone Project, I chose to create an original magazine. Our campus has many publications, but there is no travel magazine for students to contribute to. I decided to create a campus travel magazine, one that would focus on trips in the general area of Syracuse. I want to be a magazine writer and editor in the future, so this project was a great way for me to gain experience in the field.

I asked friends to help with writing some of the articles, taking photographs, creating original artwork, and helping me to design and layout the magazine …

Transmission - A Radio Series, Marc Sollinger

Honors Capstone Projects - All

‘Transmission’ is a serialized radio drama released via podcast. It consists of ten episodes, ranging from 8-30 minutes in length. It is fully voiced, with music and sound effects. The plot concerns a lone astronaut who finds himself stranded on an alien world. At first, he is completely alone, but soon discovers that the planet is both inhabited and post-apocalyptic, with tribes of nomadic, human-like creatures moving through the ruins of a once great civilization. The astronaut must uncover the mystery of what happened to this alien world, while also surviving the many dangers that lurk in the ruins. The …

An Investigation Of Lesser-Known Environmental Issues In The United States, Amy Lipman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This Honors Capstone Project focuses on lesser-known environmental issues in the United States, mainly on the East Coast. The topics at hand are nuclear waste storage at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, racism in the workplace at the Savannah River Site, mountaintop mining in West Virginia’s Appalachian mountains, and the ramifications of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania and how they apply to the future of the practice in New York.

This project consists of four mini-documentaries totaling 45 minutes in length. To put the first three pieces together, I reviewed interviews and conducted research on the subjects, wrote and …

Modern Libertarian: Philosophy An Uncertain Lineage, Ian Ludd

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This study examines the true nature of libertarian political philosophy, avoiding reductive arguments and attempting to present these positions in a holistic manner that cuts to the core of what distinguishes this philosophy as being unique. The study then challenges the libertarian claim that many highly praised and well-respected historic political and economic philosophers are their philosophical antecedents.

The study examines the political philosphies of Classical Liberal thinkers and well-respected economists, presenting their positions in the same holistic manner and avoiding any selective quoting that serves only to oversimply the complexity of their arguments. The challenge of the study will …

Does Menstruation Hinder Women's Empowerment? Working Toward Social Change In South India, Sarah Walton

Honors Capstone Projects - All

With so many challenges facing education today, it is difficult to think about any more potential problems kids around the world have to deal with. However, as I came to realize during a semester abroad in South India – one problem might be messier than all the rest. And, it only affects girls. Menstruation often limits a girl’s ability to go to school for a variety of reasons. This paper documents some of those challenges girls face in regard to cultural taboos and social stigmatization, a lack of knowledge or historical misunderstanding, as well as the fact that for many …

“Vicariously” - Short Film, Kaylee Karlik

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This film helped me to fulfill something academically, and allowed me to do something challenging and out of my comfort zone. Academically, I wanted to have the effect of a “jointed perception” experience. I wanted to explore the basic idea of what Synesthesia is, or how I interpret it. Synesthesia is a psychological phenomenon that means jointed perception of the senses. So when one takes something in by sight, sound, feel, taste, touch, one actually experiences it in another sense. I thought everyone could relate to this phenomenon in some form, even if not clinically diagnosed. When I learned about …

The Front Yard Economy, Jillian Iles D'Onfro

Honors Capstone Projects - All

I decided to write a longform, magazine style article about yard sale culture in America, especially as affected by the Great Recession. I wanted to humanize the devastation wrought by the economic downturn through my in-depth examination of the emotion and meaning involved in—and inherently a part of—yard sales. My story explores an important social issue through the personal lens of the (sometimes agonizing) choices we make as we decide what to keep and what to let go when a life transition spurs us to host a yard sale. It also reflects on the catharsis that can come from seeing …

Being Somali Bantu In The City: A Look At The Life Of A Somali Bantu Student In The Syracuse City School District, Bailey Nay White

Honors Capstone Projects - All

“Saturdays with Egal” is a documentary for the Capstone thesis “Being Somali Bantu in the City: A look at the life of a Somali Bantu student in the Syracuse City School District. The film focuses on Egal Adan, a Somali Bantu, fourteen-year-old refugee. It is a story about my relationship with Egal as a tutor and mentor. “Saturdays with Egal” also delves into the adversity he has had to overcome and his accomplishments in school, sports, extracurricular activities, and at home despite his hardships.

I chose to create a documentary because of the organic relationship it creates between viewers and …

Prospects: An Original Tv Pilot, Kevin Slack

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My capstone project is a television pilot script about the trials and tribulations of a minor league baseball team’s front office. Following around the new general manager and his various colleagues and colorful characters around the ballpark, the show, tentatively titled Prospects, is meant to be optimistic and warm-hearted, but still with a bite of humor and cynicism.

For the composition of this piece, I initially used the free screenwriting software Celtx, as well as your standard tools of writing: pad and pen.

My goal for this project was to create a quality ensemble-driven show that, while centered around the …

Smart Kids The Documentary, Hannah Louys

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Smart Kids was a program, started in 2009, that was created as a joint venture between the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the School of Education at Syracuse University. Professors and students from these two schools worked with kids from Syracuse elementary and middle schools, teaching them how to use cameras and video editing software to tell their own stories. The goal of the program was to aid urban education reform, but more so than that, to truly give kids a voice when it comes to their education.

My job, when it came to this project, was to …

The Uncertainty Of National And Cultural Identity In Salman Rushdie’S East, West And Midnight’S Children, Tress Klassen

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This project involves the examination of two works by Salman Rushdie: a short story collection, East, West and a novel, Midnight’s Children. Looking at these texts through a postcolonial lens, I analyze Rushdie’s writing in terms of its relationship to the academic debates of the period and the historical context that grounds the works. Throughout the paper, I analyze Rushdie’s portrayal of the relationship between culture, nationhood, and identity, while also focusing on different aspects of the works in the project’s two chapters. In the first, I examine the relationship between postcolonialism and magical realism in East, West, …

In-Group Bias—Coloring Public Opinion And Spurring Public Backlash: A Comparative Analysis Of Affirmative Action And Title Ix, Samuel Joseph Knehans

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Movements were two parallel rights revolutions in American history. Each spurred noteworthy social change for a disadvantaged group, through affirmative action for African Americans and through Title IX programs for women. However, when one looks at the college enrollment data, it becomes clear that these programs achieved success at different rates—at least in higher education. This thesis is an attempt to explain why these seemingly analogous programs produced such disparate results. It attempts to answer the question: Did in-group bias influence public opinion and public backlash in the form of Supreme Court litigation, impacting …

Girls’ Education, Child Marriage, & Gender Justice: A Study Of Balika Shivir Educational Camp, Rajasthan, India, Nira Pandya

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Girls’ education has long been considered a significant indicator of a girl’s age at marriage in India. Based on this idea, policymakers in India have designed or supported various expensive programs to eliminate child marriage in the country. Using a feminist lens, this paper explores one such intervention, Balika Shivir, an adolescent girls’ residential camp, located in the village of Lunkaransar, Rajasthan, in Western India. I focus specifically on my interviews with girls in this camp, highlighting their reflections on a number of issues dealing with education, culture, and agency in connection with their experiences at Balika Shivir. The …

Kemalism: A Revolutionary Ideology And Its Islamist Opposition, Juliann Merryman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

“Kemalism: A Revolutionary Ideology and its Islamist Opposition” seeks to define the Kemalist reform period as a revolutionary movement. During the 1920s and 1930s, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his authoritarian government undertook a series of sweeping social and political reforms. This paper seeks to establish these reforms and the underlying Kemalist ideology as a revolutionary ideology. Using a functionalist perspective, the essay illustrates the various crises that faced the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A number of reform efforts failed to effectively address the entirety of Ottoman societal ills.

The rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the …

The Cartoon Lady, Laura Jungreis

Honors Capstone Projects - All

“The Cartoon Lady” is the biography of Bunny Hoest, a longtime cartoonist. The biography aims to tell the story of Bunny’s life and how she entered the cartooning world, as well as the history of cartooning and its future. Bunny’s story is used as an example and a vehicle to explore issues in cartooning, such as ownership and advancing technology.

This project preserves a history. Bunny is the subject of the biography because she is a pioneer in the industry as a strong, female figure. The text demonstrates her significant role in cartooning history as well as the resilience of …

Art Activism And Digital Technologies, Christina Sterbenz

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The following represents a critical, long-form journalism narrative, exploring the emerging relationship between art, activism, and digital technologies such as social media. These 3,000 words explore the concept using the lens of two large non-profit, social art organizations: The AIDS Quilt and the One Million Bones Project. The former, now an international endeavor, catalogues life in the age of AIDS through a community-driven patchwork quilt intended to raise awareness and funds for HIV/AIDS and allow all those affected by the disease a creative coping strategy. The latter began as a small art installation in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a goal …

Green Sisters: Bringing Spirituality And Environmental Awareness Together At Homecoming Farm, Marisa Decandido

Honors Capstone Projects - All

“Green Sisters: Bringing Spirituality and Environmental Awareness together at Homecoming Farm,” addresses the topic of the “green sisters” movement and its presence at Homecoming Farm, a Community-Supported Agriculture project located in Amityville, New York. The green sisters movement, started in the 1980s in Caldwell, New Jersey, entails groups of Catholic nuns who are beginning to pursue “Earth ministries,” and dedicating their lives to environmental education and practicing sustainability. One example of this is found at Homecoming Farm, where the Sisters of Saint Dominic in Amityville created an organic farm in 1992 to nurture the surrounding community in body and spirit. …

Branding And Web Design For Inkululeko: With Freedom Comes Hope, Allison Clark

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My Honors Capstone Project is entitled “Branding and Web Design for Inkululeko: With Freedom Comes Hope.” I worked with a Syracuse native, Jason Torreano, who recently started up an education nonprofit in Grahamstown, South Africa. This program is called Inkululeko, which, in the local Xhosa language, means “freedom.” The organization seeks to combat the inequalities in education that are a result of Apartheid in South Africa. They operate under the belief that anyone deserves a quality education, and that education is the key to success in a place where people have been denied it for so long.

This project allowed …

The Jewelry Of Eleonora Di Toledo In The Official 1545 Portrait By Bronzino, Laura Marsolek

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In 1545, Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo de’ Medici Duke of Florence, sat for her state portrait by Agnolo Bronzino. Bronzino depicted Eleonora in formal attire adorned with many jewels. This thesis examines both the iconographic significance of her jewelry and the methods of jewelry construction. Divided into three chapters, this investigation looks at Medici symbols within the jewelry design, alterations to the jewelry in portrait replications, and the techniques used in the creation of the jewelry.

In the first chapter of this thesis, I discuss Medici imprese (a familial emblem or coat of arms) integrated into the …