Digital Commons Network^™

Serious Music With Bea Witkin: An Upper West Side Audio Walk, Megan Hattie Stahl

Theses and Dissertations

Serious Music with Bea Witkin is a site-specific audio walk on New York City’s Upper West Side produced by Megan Hattie Stahl. This immersive, musical documentary explores and extends the life and work of composer Beatrice Witkin (1916-1990). Across four stationary chapters and three walking interludes, participants follow a one-mile route from Riverside Park to Straus Park by way of Witkin’s longtime residence on West End Avenue. Through guided narration, archival music, interviews and recordings of contemporary musicians sight-reading a 1985 string quartet piece by Witkin, Serious Music invites listeners to consider where music begins and ends.

Witkin, who graduated …

Activism Within The Music And Recorded Sound Archive, Julius Tanner

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the integration of applied ethnomusicology within the recorded sound archive of the New York Public Library. The process of repatriating recorded sound through community engagement lead to the development and eventual reparative work of outdated subject headings and other descriptive language within the archive. This thesis also explores how cultural preservation of similar non-physical fields such as naming conventions within linguistics and the development of gastronationalism combats globalization and ultimately colonization.

Structures Of Feeling: Zoe Leonard And The Photographic Archive, Anika Zempleni

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Zoe Leonard’s work with photographic archives. Focusing on three of Leonard’s archive-based projects—The Fae Richards Photo Archive (1993-96), You see I am here after all (2008), and In the Wake (2015-16)—this thesis argues that these works are connected through frameworks of feeling and subjectivity.

Aesthetics And Hidden Orientalism In Chicago's Nickerson Mansion, Julie Treumann

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers new research on the Sitting Room at the Nickerson Mansion, an 1883 Gilded Age-era house in Chicago, IL. As a rare extant example of neo-Islamic interior design, it provides a new lens on Orientalism in American domestic architecture and a new perspective on Mrs. Nickerson, a little-known female tastemaker of her time.

Equity's Garden, Nicole A. Barreras

Theses and Dissertations

Equity’s Garden is a narrative-driven video game that explores fairness and communication through the framework of a community garden. Players take on the role of the director of a garden's allocation committee, responsible for distributing planting spaces among neighborhood residents. Through branching storylines, players navigate the consequences of their decisions.

You Get That From Me, Robyn Duncan

Theses and Dissertations

You Get That From Me is a mixed-media, collage-based film that integrates personal portraits, allegorical maps, and digital collages with spoken narration to craft a stylistic memoir of a pivotal period in my life: the transition from childhood to motherhood.

“The Centrality Of ‘Life’ For Johannine Ethics”, Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

Jan van der Watt has described ethics as rational and systematic reflection on actions that are deemed positive or negative. Basic questions involve the point of departure and the aim of ethical action. He rightly identifies God as the authoritative center for Johannine ethics and makes two observations that warrant further development. First, as the point of departure, “God is the living God (6:57), the God who is life and gives life,” and Jesus too “is and brings life.” Second, in “line with the task of Jesus, the aim of believers is to give, sustain, and promote life.” “Promoting life …

Transpersonal Philosophy Grows Up: A Clarification Of Ken Wilber’S Most Recent Updates To His Theoretical Framework, Ritske Rensma

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

The fact that there are multiple phases to Ken Wilber’s theoretical development has been widely recognized, with Wilber himself arguing that his works can be divided into four distinct phases (1983/2001). Students of Wilber’s work later added a fifth and final phase, which is said to begin in 2001. What has received hardly any scholarly attention, however, is the fact that Wilber still made major changes to his theoretical framework several years after the beginning of phase 5 in Integral Spirituality (2006), and that it is only after the publication of this book that his thinking really reaches a steady …

Unitlessness: Highlighting The Trans-Discursive Qualities Of Nondualism And Implications For Psychological Terminology, Christian U. Krägeloh

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Nondual awareness has recently gained increased interest in broader psychological research. In meditation contexts, it reflects the dissolution of subject and object, while in Maha_ya_na Buddhism, practitioners aim to develop insight that leads to awareness of nonduality in everyday-life situations. Traditionally, teaching of nondualism employed paradoxes to prompt nonconceptual inquiry into reconciling dualistic contradictions. To offer an approach to communicate nondualism to a modern audience of psychology researchers, the framework of unitlessness is introduced here, which differentiates between linguistic characteristics (units) and experiential phenomena (unity), both within an enveloping ineffability (unitlessness). This type of nondualism is trans-discursive, as it acknowledges …

Rodcon, Program, 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. Rod Library.

RodCon Documents

No abstract provided.

Locating The Archangel Saint Michael In Michelangelo Buonarroti’S The Creation Of Adam, Ana Vega

Art and Art History

This thesis asserts that Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam contains an unrecognized interpretation of the Archangel Saint Michael, thereby enriching Leo Steinberg's foundational analysis of the fresco's theological intricacies. Building on Steinberg's identification of the "glider" figure as a possible visual allusion to Michael, this study contends that Michelangelo intentionally integrated the archangel to symbolize themes of divine protection, judgment, and cosmic justice. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, the thesis draws from a range of biblical and apocryphal texts, including Revelation and The Assumptions of Moses, to illustrate that Saint Michael's traditional roles, as the protector of paradise, defender of the …

Arden 2025, Elizabeth Woods, Maddie Ginter

The Arden

An amalgamation of creative student works. Items contained include, but are not limited to, art, photography, short stories, prose, poetry, and other avenues of creative composition.

“You Shall Be As Gods”: Xenogears, Gnosticism, And Gaming On The Mystical Marketplace At The Turn Of The Millennium, Alexander Sutton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis explores the role of Christian Gnosticism in the Japanese role-playing video game (JRPG) Xenogears, developed by Square Co. Ltd. and released in Japan and the United States in 1998. In tracing its historical context, development, and localization I argue that Xenogears is an important text in the history of mediated religion in global popular culture. In comparing the game’s narrative against ancient Christian Gnostic texts such as The Apocryphon of John, The Reality of the Rulers, and the Gospel of Judas, I show how the game harmonized, mediated, and reproduced ancient Gnostic mysticism for its players to emulate. …

Not Forgotten, A. Sue Russell, Rochelle Scheuermann, Amanda Allen

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Shoes Up High, Charlotte Smith

Intertidal

No abstract provided.

Forever With My Yellow, Zoe Goldstein

Intertidal

No abstract provided.

Editor Bios, Editor Bios

Intertidal

Intertidal Vol. 3 Editor Bios

Cosmic Redemption And Christology: The Timeless Christ-Hymn Of Colossians, Rinah Fiol

Beets Paper Contest

The letter to the Colossians, a nominally Pauline letter whose authorship is disputed, presents an intricate message about the supremacy of Christ and the cosmic reconciliation He mediates. Specifically, it contains a beautiful Christ-hymn in Col. 1:15-20, which holds critical implications for viewing the identity of Christ and the scope of redemption. In examining scholarly conversations on the language and message of the Christ-hymn, these questions can be more fully understood and applied to Christian life regardless of time and place.

Culture Of Disease: A Historiographical Review Of The Black Death, Jack Bamford

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay ………………………………2

II. Document Selection ………………………. 22

III. Textbook Critique…………………………...32

IV. Original Textbook Entry…………………... 36

Childhood Trauma And The Emergence Of Precognitive Abilities: A Correlational Study, Kirsten Cameron, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This study addresses the scientific tendency to misattribute the higher levels of belief in extra-sensory perception (ESP) of adult survivors of childhood trauma to cognitive errors when they may be a result of actual experience with ESP. Dissociative tendencies may contribute to precognition, which would be an adaptive skill for children living in unpredictable and traumatic environments. This study investigated the correlation between self-reported childhood abuse and neglect and precognitive abilities in 227 adults. The participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, comprising subscales measuring emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and physical and emotional neglect, and completed four online tasks measuring …

Gen Z Sexual And Gender Fluidity In Us Scripted Television, Traci B. Abbott

English and Media Studies Faculty Publications

This essay addresses the rise in sexual and gender-fluid characters in scripted US television targeting the Gen Z audience (born 1997–2012), based on their moniker as the “queerest” generation, with over 20% of younger US and international respondents identifying as LGBTQ in polls, the majority as sexually fluid (bi/pansexual) or non-binary (genderfluid/genderqueer). By analyzing six series (2019–2023) marketed as “authentically” Gen Z, I argue this shift invests in Gen Z’s “hip” attitude towards such fluidity the same way Caldwell argues that 1990’s diversification of the televisual audience produced a “programming agenda…that cultivates and rewards distinction in ethnic, racial, and class …

Debating Member-Checks Of Exceptional Human Experiences, James Houran, Everton De Oliveira Maraldi, Beth M. Houran

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This integrative essay reflects on member-checking and engaged research approaches in the study of exceptional human experiences (EHEs)—subjective accounts that often challenge conventional views of consciousness and physical reality. Member-checking, or inviting research participants to review data or interpretations, can improve credibility by aligning research with their lived experience. While benefits include transparency and insight, risks include confirmatory bias, emotional distress, power asymmetries, and logistical complexity. The evolving nature of EHEs further complicates participant validation. We therefore advocate a six-level "fit-for-purpose" system to balance rigor with ethical care and responsiveness. We also explore digital, asynchronous, and AI-assisted strategies to enhance …

Teaching In The Transpersonal Paradigm, Christopher M. Bache

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article explores the transpersonal dynamics of teaching by presenting two core themes of The Living Classroom: 1) the synchronicities and energetic resonances that radiated invisibly around me as my spiritual practice deepened over time and 2) the “learning fields” that surround well-taught courses—fields of collective consciousness that can trigger new insights and powerful transformations in our students.

Millennium School: An Experiment In Transpersonal Education For Early Adolescents, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article describes the design, curriculum, culture, and values of an experiment in transpersonal education for young adolescents, the Millennium middle school in San Francisco, CA. The overarching design of the school was to help children exiting the latency period of child development, who exhibit the rudiments of Wade’s Authentic consciousness or Maslow’s Self-actualization motive stage, consolidate that level rather than losing it, as the vast majority do, because of social pressures that make earlier stages of development more adaptable in most contemporary societies. Early adolescence is a time when peer pressure, individuation from the family, and puberty are strong …

Teaching For Transpersonal Learning, Paul F. Cunningham

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article addresses the “why,” “what,” and “how” of teaching for transpersonal learning. Why transpersonal education is relevant for addressing modern social problems and the global ecological crisis, what it is like to teach for transpersonal learning, and how transpersonal learning becomes transformative are discussed. Three promising options in technology and consciousness studies for transpersonal learning—transpersonal media, multistate studies, and entheogenic education—are described and the challenges of introducing transpersonal education into academic settings and assessing educational (student) learning outcomes are reviewed. The relevance of Mezirow’s Transformation Theory to transpersonal educational psychology, with special attention to ecological perspective transformation, is then …

The Mockingbird - 2025, Department Of Art And Design, East Tennessee State University, Department Of Literature And Language, East Tennessee State University

The Mockingbird [magazine]

• 9: Editor’s Note – Briana Presley & Erika Perez Cortazar
• 11: appalachia forever – AQ Hanna
• 12: To the Little Pink Schoolhouse – Raylee McKenzie
• 14: 423 – AQ Hanna Winner of the Mockingbird Prize for Nonfiction
• 18: Chicken Liver Surprise – Alexander Brown Winner of the Mockingbird Prize for Poetry
• 20: Amanecer de hígado de pollo (Spanish translation by Adrian Band-Villaronga and Savannah Ledford) – Alexander Brown
• 22: On Childhood – Hayden Cogdell
• 29: bourbon & branch whiskeys, a collaboration with my mother – TaKya Hughes
• 31: The Remaking of Mrs. Brown – DominiqueSnedeker
• 43: Appalachian Women – Caitlyn …

Donald Griffin, Scientific Revolutions, And Reclaiming Humanity’S Place In The Living World, Paul Waldau

Animal Sentience

Donald Griffin’s work revolutionized cognitive ethology and continues to challenge human exceptionalism by emphasizing rigorous, unbiased inquiry. His legacy calls for a deeper recognition of humanity’s place within the broader animal community, urging interdisciplinary approaches that bridge science, ethics, and cultural traditions to foster a more inclusive understanding of life.

Shedding, Emerging; A Rebirth, Christina Van Dueck

English and Creative Writing | Senior Theses

This thesis is a collection of poems; divided into two parts, the first section intimately explores physicality and essence through graphic writing, inspired by Emerson’s work that is deeply rooted in transcendentalism, idealism, and the divinity of nature. The second part of the collection breathes life into the first through an introspection of naturalistic elements based on linguistic tactility. Inspired by Emily Dickinson, this collection embodies complex celestial imagery to display the abstractness of presence and detachment. Both collections comment on the interconnectedness of human nature in its rawest form and seek to encapsulate a soulful display of the innate …

Coeval 2025, Amy Holmberg Editor, Trina Warkentin Editor, Sadie Buteyn Fiction Editor, Emily Costa Fiction Editor, Katelyn Bierma Nonfiction Editor, Michael Harjo Poetry Editor, Lauren Groff Poetry Editor, Tiana Higgins Art Editor, Bright Holst Design Editor, Elizabeth Caneday Contributor, Abby Chalmers Contributor, Kaleb Cramer Contributor, Malachi Fox Contributor, Jayda Francis Contributor, Chloe A. Harvick Contributor, Amelia Keillor Contributor, Kade Nystrom Contributor, Elle Pehrson Contributor, Alyse Petersen Contributor, Eleanor Schuebel Contributor, Kailey Tan Contributor, Elizabeth Turner Contributor

Coeval

On behalf of the Coeval editing team, we proudly present the 2025 issue of Bethel University’s Coeval Literary magazine. As you read through this journal, you will find poetry, prose, fiction, and visual art about the beauties and hardships of life. Together, Bethel University students and faculty contributed to make this magazine happen. We loved reading each submission and viewing every art piece. More than anything, we look forward to what students will continue to create! Thank you for reading.

Sincerely, Trina Warkentin and Amy Holmberg

Cover Art: Places to Be by Natalie Enos

Sci-Fi: An Anthropology Anthology Of Other Worlds, Kailey Rocker, Genevieve Frank, Miranda Lile, Meridian Ondrejka, Nyhan O'Sullivan, Leo Plunkett, Lukas Schmerse, Percy Schneider, Iris Roxanne Shykula, Sophia Weiss-Priebe

Sci-Fi: An Anthropology Anthology of Other Worlds

In this magazine, student authors at Lawrence University explore the relationship between science fiction and ethnography. While different in terms of content, writing style, audience, and author, the two genres share an important objective: to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. In exploring human variation and the diversity of cultural knowledge, anthropological accounts (ethnography) challenge the anthropologist and the reader to understand that their perspective of the world around them is one among many. Likewise, science fiction presents a world with its own logics that simultaneously comfort and estrange the reader. While science fiction and ethnography offer an …