American Popular Culture Commons^™

Shirley, Latrel, B. 1989 (Fa 543), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 543. Paper titled "The Bible Time Capsule" written by Latrel Shirley about Lisa Gail (Morrison) Shirley's Bible and the ephemera stored in it. Includes colored illustrations.

Wronski, Genevieve Elissa, B. 1980 (Fa 544), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 544. Paper titled "The Monkey Walk" written by Genevieve Elissa Wronski in which she documents Brian Greever's ape imitation performed at social parties. Includes colored illustrations and video.

Buttram, Nora Agnes (Crump), B. 1944 (Fa 539), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 539. Paper: "How Pig Store Goft Its Name" in which Nora Buttram relays how a community general store in Edmonson County, Kentucky received its name. The brief paper is based on an interview with William Barbee of Smiths Grove, Kentucky.

Breedlove, Andrew, B. 1987 (Fa 557), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click of "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 557. Paper: "The Thin Line Between Reality and the World of Warcraft" in which Andrew Breedlove examines the popular role playing game. He includes his paper with illustrations and notes, interviews on compact discs with two friends who participate in World of Warcraft, and indexes to the interviews.

Jones, Latasha, B. 1985 (Fa 540), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 540. Project in which Latasha Jones records information about a "Reaper" tattoo that her cousin, Christopher Lee Bragg, had tattooed on his left side. She discusses the views of her family about tattoos and/or marking the body and her personal desire to get a tattoo. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Includes an illustration of the "Reaper" tattoo.

Pannell, Jennifer Lynn, B. 1985 (Fa 541), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 541. Project in which Jennifer Lynn Pannell discusses the childhood punishment of having your mouth washed out with soap. She interviewed her grandmother Shelby Pedigo and her boyfriend Matt Hougtaling about this experiences. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Trout, Allan Mitchell, 1903-1972 (Mss 346), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 346. Correspondence and writings relating to the career of Allan Mitchell Trout, political reporter and columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Includes letters from readers, written mostly on the occasion of his retirement, collections of Trout's "Greetings" columns, speeches and articles, historical memorabilia, correspondence relating to the Allan M. Trout Collection at Western Kentucky University, and messages of sympathy to his wife after Trout's death.

Doyle, Kathina J., B. 1990 (Fa 537), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 537. Project in which Kathina Jo Doyle executed a cultural analysis of the hope chest, a physical piece of furniture (chest) or a collection of items that a young woman assembled for her future household. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Includes colored illustrations and a transcript of an interview done with Doyle's maternal grandmother Beatrice Firkin.

Threlkeld, Matthew Kohl, B. 1985 (Fa 538), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 538. Matthew Kohl Threlkeld records an urban legend told by Daniel Houghton about running a marijuana operation from a fast food restaurant. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Walking Box Ranch Custodianship Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending January 10, 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Walking Box Ranch

• UNLV provides stewardship of Walking Box Ranch (WBR) by providing a caretaker who oversees the property, facilitating use of the property by researchers and educators, developing a use and research policy for the property, and coordinating these activities with BLM and in accordance with TNC restrictions.
• UNLV currently addresses security issues for the property through the presence of the caretaker and two Metro Officers who reside on the property in two recreational vehicles.
• UNLV provided SilverState Analytical Laboratories with a ranch water sample; results indicate that the water has elevated concentrations of arsenic and iron.
• Historic items in the NE …

Moody, Thomas Newton, B. 1938 - Collector (Sc 2406), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2406. Newspaper clippings relating to the 1879 wedding of Anna D. Moody at Mammoth Cave's underground Bridal Altar. Includes image of Mrs. Moody and bill for lodging at the Mammoth Cave Hotel.

Reed, Ashlee Catara, B. 1986 (Fa 548), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text papers (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 548.  Contains three papers:  “Permanent Wave Machine,” “The Hot Comb” about African American hairstyling, and “The Telephone Switchboard,” about an early switchboard on display in Barren County, Kentucky. Includes color illustrations.  This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Christian, Callie Elizabeth Holmes, B. 1980 (Fa 550), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text paper (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 550.  A recipe for "Momma's Chocolate Pie" and a description of "The Color Game," a swimming pool game played by Christain Holmes during her childhood.  This project was completed as a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Metalepsis In Fan Vids And Fan Fiction, Tisha Turk

English Publications

No abstract provided.

When Predator Becomes Prey: The Gendered Jargon Of Popular Culture, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century the vernacular of popular culture has been bombarded by sexualized terminology. Although these terms are often formed with humorous intent, their staying power and use as cultural descriptive categories is both intriguing and disturbing. Also troubling is the fact that the majority of these new terms, such as puma (a thirty-something female “dating” a younger male), cougar (a forty-plus female “dating” a younger male), and MILF (“mother I’d like to fuck”), are restricted to the female gender alone. This article analyzes the etymology of these terms, their use in popular culture (ranging …

Neighborhood Blogging: How Localized Websites Are Redefining Community, Maryanne Engelbrecht

American Studies Senior Theses

In the last ten years, blogs have become an extremely popular and influential outlet for writing. Even more recently, there has been an influx in the creation of local, community blogs. These blogs focus on a particular area or neighborhood and serve as an interactive local newspaper for the community’s residents. These websites are unique in that those who frequently read and comment on them are not just members on an Internet community, but (in most cases) are also residents of a physical community as well. In his book, Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson determines that communities are social constructs, …

Beauty And The Barbie Doll: When Life Imitates Plastic, Alexandra Gaudio

American Studies Senior Theses

My project will consist of three major parts. I want to take a brief look at how the hegemonic ideals of feminine beauty in the United States have evolved over the past fifty years, since Barbie was introduced in 1959. Also, I will go through a history of Mattel’s Barbie doll, including the development of the doll and some of its many different manifestations over the years. Then I will use these two components to investigate the relationship between exposure to the doll and young women’s perception of beauty, as well as other potentially subconscious ideals they may internalize from …

Peter The Nurse And Teresa The Politician: Exploring Gender Norms And Discrimination In The Workplace, Alex Filippo

American Studies Senior Theses

Due to gender socialization, people of today’s society expect males and females to be intrinsically different. Thus, many careers are dominated by a single gender. In my thesis I explore the consequences that those who are employed in professions that defy gender expectations, i.e. a male nurse and a female politician, deal with. It is common for a man in a female dominated profession to face discrimination. The converse is also true. However, the discrimination each person suffers differs according to his or her gender. The negative discrimination that for instance, a male secretary experiences is most strongly generated by …

Performing Femininity: Rae Bourbon And Christine Jorgensen Onstage, Taylor Riccio

American Studies Senior Theses

Drag performers and transexuals exist on the margins of the two gender binary. By existing on these margins these performers use both their physical bodies and humor to lampoon and subvert the gender binary and broaden the understanding of how gender is performed. Two performers, Rae Bourbon, a female impersonator, and Christine Jorgensen, a transexual who became a performer, placed their marginalized bodies on the stage and by doing so they heighten the subversion and critique of gender inherent in their performances.Gender is a normalizing force that dominates human interactions. Kessler and McKenna open their work on gender with the …

There’S No Crying In Baseball: Feminization, Sport, And Spectacle In The All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League, Dan Murphy

American Studies Senior Theses

My thesis focuses on the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Specifically, I explore aspects of femininity within the league and why Phillip Wrigley, the league’s first owner, and other league owners chose to accentuate femininity. In my research, I focus on certain features of the league, such as the league’s beauty school, player’s uniforms, sexuality, and race. I believe these and other factors played a role in how the league decided to market itself to Americans. Additionally I focus on how different members of the media wrote about the league. In writing about the AAGPBL, journalists from local …