Digital Commons Network^™

Towards An Indigenous Climate Epistemology: Bringing The Newa Literary Tradition Of The Swasthani Vrata Katha In Conversation With The Festival Tradition Of The Macchindra Nath Jatra, Shangrila Joshi Dr.

Critical Humanities

This paper brings into conversation two Newa cultural traditions to articulate notions of climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation, to illustrate how ways of knowing, ways of being, and ways of governing are inherently linked. These articulations offer a framework for developing what the author calls an Indigenous Climate Epistemology. The two cultural traditions reviewed include: a 17^th century Newa literary tradition that advocates for keeping oil in the ground, and that instructs ordinary people to engage in ritual acts seemingly designed to develop personal and community resilience; and a 1700 year old annual community festival designed to avert catastrophes …

The Radical Potential Of Ecopoetics: Ecological Intimacy In Forrest Gander’S Twice Alive, Thomas Storey

Critical Humanities

Ecopoetics is a contested term, one defined by its capaciousness. Through its focus on deep ecology, it draws together the world system and the individual, the collective and the singular, and the global and the placed-based within its dialectical framework, without resolving any of these oppositions. Instead, the apparent contradictions underlying ecopoetics offer productive material for a poetic praxis that aims to foreground the complex connections that string together nature, culture, politics, and society. Forrest Gander’s Twice Alive engages with these contradictions in an attempt to foreground the intimacy of ecological thinking, and its basis in personal connections that are …

“Housekeeper”: The Application Of Barbara Ketcham Wheaton’S Methodology To A Year In The Life Of Honor Moore’S Recipe Columns, Carol Keating

Journal of Franco-Irish Studies

Honor Moore was an Irish food writer who started writing a daily recipe column for the Belfast Newsletter in 1946, “Cookery Hints” written under her nom de plume, Housekeeper was published until 1963. In her personal collection there are scrapbooks of cuttings of her columns. Moore’s 1952 scrapbook, comprises recipe columns from each month of that year as well as cuttings she saved from other newspapers and magazines. Barbara Ketcham Wheaton’s structured approach to reading historic cookbooks was applied to Moore’s columns for this study; using the categories of ingredients, the cook’s workplace, the meal, the book and worldview. The …

Time To Go, Sophie Graham

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

INT. ANDREW’S ENTRY WAY - EVENING

LAUREN (early twenties) puts a key and a silver, diamond-studded letter “A” necklace on the counter. As she starts to leave, ANDREW (late twenties) walks in the door with takeout. Lauren freezes. Andrew kisses her and puts the food on the counter. He stops and inspects the discarded necklace.

Steve Jobs And Disclaimed Paternity, Stewart Justman

Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications

Steve Jobs, the revered techno-visionary and co-founder of Apple, once said that at the age of 22, “I knew I wasn’t ready to run a real company. But Apple was my baby, and I didn’t want to give it up.” The actual baby born when he was 23 was another matter.

Evanescent - Issue 6

Evanescent

Evanescent: A Journal of Literary Medicine is the journal of the Eakins Writing Project, which also sponsors the Drs. Theresa and Charles Yeo Writing Prize. The Eakins Writing Project is supported by the Jefferson Center for Injury Research and Prevention, located in the Department of Surgery of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.

Contents:

10 - From the Editors

11 - Basketball: Youth to Older by Dr. Charles Yeo

13 - A Follow-up from the Editors

14 - Prism by Yazan Bader (Third Place Winner)

17 - Reflections on Shards of Glass by Ana Maria Lopez

19 - The Dragonfly’s Journey by …

Does Non-Idealism Entail Particularism?, John Lawless

Faculty Publications - Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Writing Climate Change: Science Knowledge In Creative Forms; Part Two: From Reading To Writing, Lytton Smith

Climate Change and the Individual, 2025-26

This lesson explores how a short creative piece by Ada Limón, U.S. Poet Laureate, draws on climate science knowledge to engage readers informationally, imaginatively, and emotionally. Students will reflect through discussion and/or writing on both the scientific methodology and the questions of equity and justice her poem raises. Finally, students will engage in a guided writing prompt where they research science knowledge around climate change and use what they find to shape their own short creative pieces (100-300 words), based in that science.

Writing Climate Change: Science Knowledge In Creative Forms; Part One: Understanding Science Stories, Lytton Smith

Climate Change and the Individual, 2025-26

This lesson explores how a short creative piece by Ada Limón, U.S. Poet Laureate, draws on climate science knowledge to engage readers informationally, imaginatively, and emotionally. Students will reflect through discussion and/or writing on both the scientific methodology and the questions of equity and justice her poem raises. Finally, students will engage in a guided writing prompt where they research science knowledge around climate change and use what they find to shape their own short creative pieces (100-300 words), based in that science.

Benedictine Art And Design: How Color Psychology Can Positively Influence Department Enrollment, Claire Pauline Fink

Theses

This thesis examines how design strategies informed by color psychology and experimental aesthetics can be used to strengthen the visual identity and recruitment efforts of the Benedictine College Art & Design Department (BCAD). Following the recent addition of Graphic Design as a major and the department’s name change in 2021, there has been a noticeable gap in public awareness and printed promotional materials tailored to prospective students. Grounded in theoretical frameworks, such as D. E. Berlyne’s optimal arousal theory, and supported by survey responses from current Art & Design students, this project identifies key needs in marketing to prospective students. …

Through A Mother's Eyes: The Psychology Of Color, Katie Kutz

Theses

This project investigates the intersection of color psychology, maternal experience, and visual perception through a series of five artworks. Using a qualitative methodology, this project draws upon interdisciplinary research such as neuroscience, marketing, art history, and personal experiences as a mother. This work explores how sensory changes during pregnancy and postpartum influence the emotional perception of color, and how this can be represented in art. Inspired by artists that have explored the theme of motherhood such as Mary Cassatt, Käthe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Jenny Saville, and Alice Neel, this project uses an emotionally charged approach to depicting motherhood. Color changing …

Elisabetta Sirani’S Timoclea: Baroque Agency And The Aesthetics Of Feminine Rage, Shaylen Grace Gardner

Theses

This thesis examines Timoclea Kills the Captain of Alexander the Great (1659) by Elisabetta Sirani as a foundational example of feminine rage within the Baroque period. By framing Timoclea’s violent act not as an outlier or solely reactive gesture, but as a deliberate, composed assertion of power, Sirani constructs a model of feminine agency that defies patriarchal expectations of female submission and passivity. Through interdisciplinary analysis grounded in feminist theory, formal visual analysis, and retrospective cultural studies, this research argues that Sirani’s Timoclea exemplifies the Baroque’s strategic use of socially acceptable iconography to veil explicit challenges to gendered expectations. This …

Ai Questions; "The Ai Tea", Sally Brown

Artificial Intelligence Exhibit

This section includes a series of questions related to AI and the exhibit content, as well as button designs by WVU students and Art in the Libraries committee members, a list of the exhibition sponsors, and information on the exhibition launch panel.

Artificial Intelligence In Education, Sally Brown, Jill Woods, Mohamed Hefeida, Jennifer Sano-Franchini, Megan Vendemia, Erin Brock Carlson, Megan Leight, Gangqing Hu, Nicole Fuller

Artificial Intelligence Exhibit

This section explores the intersection of AI and education, including an overview of WVU's AI statement and submissions from WVU faculty, classes, students, and staff on AI related projects.

Issues That Ministers Identify As Factors Contributing To Anxiety And Depression, Heather Sawtelle

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Although mental health is an emerging topic within the church community, the stigmatization of mental illness within ministers’ lives can create a myriad of personal beliefs that can lead to shame and discontent in ministers’ lives. Many ministers have daily stressors that compromise their mental health, and these stressors can contribute to depression or anxiety. This study defined mental health issues and described mental illness’ influence on ministers’ lives and the factors that contribute to mental health issues. This health condition, described as mental illness, involves significant changes in thinking, emotion, behavior, distress, and problems functioning in social, work, or …

Full Issue

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

No abstract provided.

Crochet Fairy Batman, Sammantha Lopez-Guarin

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Artist Statement

"The dark knight, the man, the legend, Batman only with a little bit of flare and a lot of style! Coming at you in all shades of pink and a tutu, he's here to help you."

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 …

Queer Inclusion In Libba Bray's Beauty Queens: The Case For Lgbtq Ya Literature, Kayla Michelle Crumbley

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a time sensitive case study on the nature of Libba Bray's novel Beauty Queensand it's placement as both a metacognitive novel and discourse in the nature of queer acceptance in the publishing and media landscape of the 2010s and 2020s. This includes focusing on contextualizing the book in the changing landscape of queer acceptance and visibility in the media over the last 20 years through the lens of the inclusion in YA and how that manifest in the 2010 and 2020s book bans on LGBTQ YA fiction. The novel highlights the wider need for LGBTQ YA …

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 …

Camp In The Kitchen: Feminism And Craft In Liza Lou's Beaded Worlds, Aurora X. Bell

Theses and Dissertations

Kitchen (1991–96) was the first major work of art by American artist Liza Lou. It is an installation of a life-size kitchen in which every surface and object is covered in glass beads. Kitchen, which Lou refers to as a monument to women’s unsung domestic labor, received considerable critical attention and drew the artist into ongoing conversations around the relationship between “fine art” and “craft” and about the role of feminism in the art of the 1990s. In contemporary interviews, however, Lou expressed discomfort with the label of “craft” as well as with feminist art that she considered “didactic.” …

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.

The Miseducation Of Model Minorities: The Gospel Of ‘Schoolvation’ And The Myth Of The Schooled Society, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The ‘model minority’, the phenomenon of some ‘minority’ communities (or some members within them) achieving social and economic advancement despite encountering the difficulties of assimilating into a mainstream society, is often described as a myth, especially as one of the central problematics in Asian American studies. Usually, the modern use of the word myth is pejorative: the model minority in this sense refers to a false empirical description of some minorities and should be quantitatively disaggregated and qualitatively debunked. In this article, I want to explore the model minority as another kind of myth, in the classical sense of mythos, …

Religious Beliefs, Cooperation, And Evolutionary Mechanisms, Nicole Fellice Ko, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Religion is an organized system of spiritual beliefs, practices, and rituals that often involve a sense of the divine (Schilbrack, 2022). An evolutionary mechanism is an evolved set of traits that interpret environmental inputs and generate behavioral responses that enhance survival or reproductive success (Li et al., 2018). Cooperation refers to the act of individuals or groups working together to achieve a shared goal or mutual benefit (Alós-Ferrer & Garagnani, 2020).

Still I Lie Here, Rachel A. Taylor

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Artist Statement

"This photo was captured in the forest of Providence, North Carolina, while spending time with nature. Staring into the water I felt a stillness; and peace rolled over me. Later on that same hike, I saw a sign that the trail I was standing on, was soon to be demolished. The forest would be turned into yet another roadway. That evening, I joined many other locals in a petition to stop the deforestation of Greenways in North Carolina.

I often think about that forest, and the peace I received that day. And even in the face of a …

Star Girl, Roseline Jean-Pierre

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Artist Statement

"The world is so vivid and bustling with art. I just hope to capture it all before my heart. I am just a photographer with a keen eye. I want to capture everything I see, art is all around me and it's hard not to notice so I flick a picture and hope that my work shows it."

Saccharine, Alessandra Alvarez Coke

Digressions: Literary & Art Journal

Author Statement

"This poem is about longing and yearning, specifically as a queer woman. In friendships between queer women, the lines between platonic and romantic partnership often get blurred and distorted. Specifically 'Saccharine' explores these complex feelings of guilt, loyalty, and love in an undefined relationship, where the affection is assumed to be unreciprocated."

Gender Representation Of Composers In Recommended Wind Band Literature And Prominent Performances, Devon Alexis Gray Porter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to evaluate gender representation in recommended literature in wind band repertoire and prominent performances. I collected data from music lists approved by the National Band Association (NBA) state chapters, programs from the Midwest Clinic and College Band Directors National Association, music vendor catalogues, the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, and Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) Music Performance Assessment (MPA) past performances. I evaluated names of composers to determine the male-female ratios and quantities for recommended works from these sources. I conducted further analysis to determine if trends existed in the relationships between composer …

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 …

As Iron Sharpens Iron: Intentional Near-Peer Mentorship In The Collegiate Applied Studio, Morgan Smith Owen

Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate students struggle to adjust to the expectations of university music programs. Mentoring programs are consistently cited as tools to build social capital and academic success, but there are few documented studies of mentoring applied directly to the traditional model of conservatory music instruction. Effective near-peer mentoring can build musicianship skills and develop accountability, establishing stronger practice routines and easing the transition to collegiate music study for younger students. This case study examines three models of mentorship to identify ways to create an intentional mentorship program within the applied studio, regardless of scale or specific form of instruction.