Digital Commons Network^™

Full Issue

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

No abstract provided.

Florals, Iksita C. Nallapaneni

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Artist Statement

"Many artworks mimic the artist or the life they have led, and the same can be said for this one. 'Florals' depicts my growth and change over the past two transformative years. I have learned that the sun continues to rise and set regardless of life's circumstances, and sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to stop and enjoy the flowers. Life moves too quickly to not be present in the moment, and I hope this piece inspires others to do the same."

Beneath The Sea, Beyond The Sky, Thaily Jeanty

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Author Statement

"As a writer, everything I experience serves as inspiration. 'Beneath the Sea and Beyond the Sky' began with an image where the sea and sky shared the same blue, appearing to merge yet never truly meeting. This mesmerizing sight mirrored the emotions of desire and acceptance—feelings I had deeply experienced. The contrast between longing for connection and accepting its impossibility became the heart of my piece."

The Artists Is A Sadist, Brianna Calderon

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Artist Statement

"'The Artist Is A Sadist' explores the intersection of artistic creation, suffering, and control. As someone balancing a rigorous science curriculum, research demands, and external expectations, I grew frustrated when art was dismissed as a ‘break’ or an ‘easier’ pursuit. Cause in reality, creativity is difficult—creation is painful, even cruel, but it’s a necessary cruelty. This piece depicts a girl stabbing herself in the abdomen like a martyr while maintaining composure, ready for an audience that underestimates the discipline and depth of art. Through this work, I wanted to confront the uncomfortable truth of being a student torn …

Cultivating Smiles On The Frontier: The Making Of Brazil’S Soybean Capital And Community Building In Sorriso, 1980-2020, Nathalia Francio Cocenza

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the transformation of Sorriso, a small municipality in Mato Grosso, Brazil, into one of the world's leading soybean producers, placing its local history within the broader context of global agricultural and economic shifts from 1980 to 2020. Sorriso represents the unique convergence of local, regional, and international forces that reshaped Brazil's agricultural landscape. This study critically examines the political, environmental, and social dynamics that positioned Sorriso at the forefront of soybean production, illuminating the town's transition from a remote frontier settlement to a global agribusiness hub.

Through a detailed analysis of previously unstudied archival sources, interviews with …

Review Of Viri Dignitatem: Personhood, Masculinity, And Fatherhood In The Thought Of John Paul Ii, Christine Falk Dalessio

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Obstetric Fistula Prevalence Among Internally Displaced Women In Sub-Saharan Africa, Kyli Fox Soug

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Obstetric fistulas are rare in the West but common for women in the Global South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Fistulas are caused by prolonged or obstructed labor which forces downward pressure on the baby’s head and the mother’s pelvis. This pressure creates a non-natural opening in the genital region. Fistulas cause leakage of waste and therefore are often accompanied by unwanted odors. As of 2021, the prevalence of obstetric fistulas was 2 million women in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and 3 in every 1000 women of reproductive age in the world have a fistula. In the …

Our Mothers In Science, Alexis Bass

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Flight Of The Clipped Wings, Thaily Jeanty

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Author Statement

"'Flight of the Clipped Wings' delves into the emotional journey of struggling with mental health issues and the stigma that often surrounds them. The pressure to conform to societal norms is a constant struggle, especially when fear of discrimination is at play. The pet birds represent two contrasting aspects: Charlotte symbolizes freedom and hope, while Cassiel embodies isolation and loneliness. These birds act as foils to one another, reflecting the tension between societal expectations and personal non-conformity. The piece aims to raise awareness by immersing readers in this complex experience."

Behind The Painting, Aries Calderon

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Artist Statement

"'Behind The Painting,' is a representative piece on how messy how felt when it came to my junior year of my college year. I always had this idea that once college ended, it was only a straight-forward path from here, or so I grew up to believe if I continued to follow down this path my parents have paved for me. You would think being in this position of stability, it would be easy for anyone to just listen and do everything blindly as you are guided towards success, but it turned out to be the most hurtful …

Mutualistas: La Sociedad Auxiliar De Mutua Beneficiaria, Antonito Colorado, 1937-1994, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

Mutual Aid Societies proliferated in the American Southwest during a period of rapid social change, 1880-1930. In Hispanic towns, these societies were referred to as mutualistas, with a large number concentrated in the San Luis Valley of Colorado and rural counties of northcentral New Mexico. One of the men’s organizations, La Sociedad Protección Mutua de Trabajadores Unidos (SPMDTU), started in Antonito, Colorado, and quickly spread to other communities of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico and eventually to a few mining towns in Utah. With a tri-state model in place, women formed their own mutual protection societies: Sociedad Protectora …

Conjuring Realities: Southern Supernaturalism And Race From The Antebellum Era To The Early Twentieth Century, Dylan T. Kobus

Theses and Dissertations

Conjure practices in the nineteenth-century American South, such as “Hoodoo” or “Voodoo,” are commonly portrayed as primarily “black” beliefs or entrenched in “Africanistic” cultures. For the enslaved, their black spiritual systems, including conjure, were a powerful tool of resistance against the white enslaver. Black conjure practitioners established themselves as an affordable and pervasive medical alternative to often ineffective or harmful professional medicines for black and white Southerners, regardless of class. In this way, conjure challenged the authority of racial capitalism and destabilized the perceived moral and intellectual superiority of whiteness. Moreover, by examining legal documents, newspapers, fictional literature, and oral …

Awareness And Practice Methods For Musicians With Invisible Disabilities: Insights Gained From Playing The Flute With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Jessica Pelltier

Theses and Dissertations

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that presents significant physical and mental challenges for musicians, particularly in instrumental performance. These challenges may include chronic pain, joint instability, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. While such symptoms are associated with EDS, they are not exclusive to it and are also common among individuals with other invisible disabilities, such as fibromyalgia, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), celiac disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This study explores the experiences of flutists with EDS and other invisible disabilities, focusing on the coping strategies and adaptations they use …

The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Living With Hiv On Cardiovascular Health And Cardiometabolic Disorders In An African Population: An Analysis Of The Indepth Community In Rural South Africa, Samuel Gavi

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been shown to be associated with cardiometabolic disorders (CMDs) and poor CVH; however, in Africa, this has not been well studied. Cardiovascular health (CVH) is an important measure of risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) developed by the American Heart Association (AHA). With the increasing prevalence of CVD in Africa, CVH is a potential upstream prevention approach. Africa also has the highest prevalence of HIV, and an increasing prevalence of comorbidities associated with it. Various mechanisms have been investigated to explain the relationship between CVD and chronic HIV infection. This study explores the potential relationship …

Unveiling Injustices In Theodore Dreiser's “An American Tragedy” And Susan Glaspell's “A Jury Of Her Peers”, Athena Maria Dotsikas

Theses and Dissertations

Crime and its representation in new age media is seeping into every avenue of discussion nowadays. The influence of crime is most notably evident in literature, where real cases inspired fictional novels and short stories that explore social issues and injustices. Since the 16th century, true crime has captivated human curiosity while also shedding light on the United States legal and justice system. Ultimately, true crime narratives provide a deeper understanding of human psychology and the reasons behind a number of gruesome and horrific incidents. This thesis investigates how Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy and Susan Glaspell’s A Jury of …

Sensing Others, Alissa Reed

Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I notice how we listen and respond to animals, both through marine bioacoustics studies and rhetorical theory, and consider how we might develop new ways of noticing and interacting with animals. I hold together rhetorical theory, marine bioacoustics studies, and my observations nest sitting sea turtles to see what kind of multispecies ethic emerges from messy encounters with nonhuman others – specifically, with sea turtles nesting on the beaches of the Outer Banks in the Summer of 2020. By confronting the unavoidable moments of indecision, and even possible violence, inherent to encounters with nonhumans others, even and …

Birth Of Inspiration: York County, South Carolina, The Setting That Inspired The Clansman, Zachary Alan Lemhouse

Theses and Dissertations

In 1905, Thomas Dixon, Jr., published his controversial novel The Clansman. Monopolizing on racist sentiments held by white southerners, Dixon’s narrative contributed significantly to the perception of the Lost Cause myth and defense of white supremacy in America. The novel, and its subsequent adaptations as a play and the film Birth of a Nation, was inspired by actual events that occurred in Dixon’s ancestral home of York County, South Carolina. Located in the northernmost region of South Carolina’s Piedmont, York County played host to a struggle for civil rights during the Reconstruction Era that garnered national and international …

Emotional Landscapes: St. Teresa Of Avila And The Spiritual Journey, Jillian Louise Breeden

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the writings of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) through the methodological lens of the history of emotions, arguing that her mystical accounts represent a crucial yet understudied contribution to our understanding of early modern emotional frameworks. Through close textual analysis of Teresa's major works, this study demonstrates how her detailed articulations of spiritual ecstasy, divine love, and religious melancholy offer unique insights into both the religious and secular emotional landscapes of Counter-Reformation Spain. Teresa's innovative emotional vocabulary, which combined traditional Catholic devotional language with embodied metaphors and spatial conceptualizations, allowed her to navigate the complex ecclesiastical politics …

The Penn Center’S Impact On Rural Health Through Midwife Programming In 20Th Century South Carolina, Kathryn Addison Greenberg

Theses and Dissertations

The Penn School of the Sea Islands provided an education to thousands of rural, Black South Carolinians over the twentieth century. Northern missionaries including the founders of the Penn School, Laura M. Towne and Ellen Murray, taught and provided healthcare to the residents of the Port Royal Experiment through the Civil War and into Reconstruction. With the arrival of Rossa Cooley and Grace House, the Penn School put emphasis on auxiliary programing including midwifery training institutes held in conjunction with Dr. Hilla Sheriff and the South Carolina Department of Public Health’s Division for Maternal and Child Health. With the goal …

2025 Illinois Shakespeare Festival Program, School Of Theatre, Dance, And Film

Illinois Shakespeare Festival

2025 Season. The Professional Theatre and Illinois State University, Ewing Theatre. A Midsummer's Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde.

Climate Fiction Of The Anthropocene, Joseph Paul Ferguson, Cassandra Tytler, Peta J. White, Susan Oliver

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

No abstract provided.

Post-Anthropocene Provocations: Human-Sized Scholars’ Rocks, Cronenbergian Flesh Caves And Zen Garden Design Cues For A Future Proof Re(Image)Ining, Brenton Rossow, Darren Tynan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This research explores concertinaing past, present and future interventional creative and pedagogical practices to address the challenges of the Post-Anthropocene era. We argue that the Post-Anthropocene is marked by biotechnological entanglements, environmental violence and digital overstimulation. The discussions herein critique a hyperattentive achievement society characterised by a scattering of attention, a near-constant screen-mediated stream of digital material and tasks and the commodification of leisure time. Enlisting Byung-Chul Han’s concept of hyperattention and themes and motifs from David Cronenberg’s films, the authors propose “FUTURE PROOF re(image)ining” as a collaborative Cli-Fi narrative concept. The project reimagines objects from an initial art installation …

Acting Religion: Analyzing The Aids Crisis Through A Religious Lens, Anya Thaovan Nguyenkhoa

Voces Novae

No abstract provided.

Extractivism And Water Crisis In The Moroccan Draa Oasis: Global South Reflections On Responsibility And Resistance, Ahmed El Khatabi

Journal of Maya Heritage

Abstract. The Draa Oasis in southeastern Morocco is experiencing severe water scarcity, driven by climate change and intensified by the expansion of watermelon agribusiness and desert tourism. This article explores how external investors, empowered by national agricultural policies, have disrupted traditional water governance systems rooted in collective management. Through ethnographic fieldwork involving interviews, focus groups, and spatial mapping, the study examines the socio-environmental consequences of groundwater depletion and land commodification. It argues that investors fail to assume ethical accountability for the ecological degradation they cause, despite being aware of the oasis’s fragile ecosystem. Meanwhile, local communities and civil society actors …

Policy Analysis On Million Hearts 2027, Cardiovascular Health, Priyanka Gera

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

The Hospital Chaplain, Zachary Berman

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

I’M A Doctor, Not A Dj, Kasi Garcia, Derick Goff

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

My First Spikes, Deepika Dilip

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

Hospital Poem, Meganne Vasey

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.