Volume 104, Number 1 - Spring 2026, The Alembic

The Alembic

Cover "The Stars are Screaming in the Field Outside my Apartment" by Hale Mueller

The Snake, Jacqueline Lombardo

The Alembic

No abstract provided.

Meet The Editors, The Alembic

The Alembic

Editors-in-Chief Maddie Aylward Andrew Hilton Managing Editor Olivia Gleason InDesign Manager Jenna Gomez-Nieto Business & Social Media Coordinator Kristina Spence Editorial Staff Kate Blackwell Ella Bloom Alyssa Caneira Sophia Caneira Seth Chaffee Terence Connors Sarah Debian Meghan Gracey Ian Gualtiere Sara MacKinnon Finn Heller Maeve McWilliams Audio Production Manager Sara MacKinnon Audio Production Staff Claire Cunningham Luca DeLucia Faculty Advisor Emily Pittinos

How Visual Art In Fatty Legs And A Stranger At Home Deepens The Understanding Of Historical Atrocities And Colonial Violence Inflicted On Indigenous Children In Residential Schools In The United States And Canada, Beth Rocco

Student Theses

“I can fix my own hair,” I protested in Inuvialuktun, but she held tight and, with the same motion a bird makes to pull a piece of flesh from a fish, clamped the jaws of the shears down on my braid and severed it” (Pokiak-Fenton 31). This scene in Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton, was a deep cut into the soul of a child. The first slash was being taken away from her parents and family. Next was chopping off her hair, a symbol of identity and tribal pride for Indigenous people. The children began their residential …

Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt: Examining The Female Gothic In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Bram Stoker's Dracula, Delaney Harrington

Ex Sapientia Loqui

This paper establishes characteristics of the Female Gothic subgenre, traces the origin of the fiction subgenre throughout the years, and applies these characteristics to argue that Frankenstein and Dracula should be considered prime examples of feminist literature. I analyse the characters of both novels, as well as the authors' respective intentions and social contexts.

Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt: Examining The Female Gothic In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Bram Stoker's Dracula, Delaney Harrington

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

My paper explores the ideals of the Female Gothic subgenre present in Frankenstein and Dracula. Both are feminist works, though they go about this in unconventional ways. I analyze the characters as well as the narrative and context of these stories to prove that they espouse feminist ideals. These novels are perhaps two of the most famous in the gothic genre, and they have the potential to be mislabeled. My paper warns about the dangers of mislabeling these stories and argues for their feminist interpretations.

Code-Switching Practices In The Nile Delta: A Comparative Study Of Linguistic Fluidity Among Gen Z And Gen X Efl Learners, Wesam Khairy Morsi

English Language and Literature

This study investigates code-switching as a form of linguistic fluidity among Egyptian EFL learners, focusing on how language practices are shaped by proficiency level, socio-cultural background, and generational positioning. Drawing on a convergent mixed-methods design, the research combines survey data from 154 participants with semi-structured interviews conducted with speakers from Generation Z and Generation X. Rather than treating code-switching as a random or deficient practice, the study situates it within established sociolinguistic theories that view language choice as socially meaningful, ideologically loaded, and deeply connected to identity construction. The findings reveal that advanced learners, particularly younger urban speakers, tend to …

Death And The Uncanny: Freud, Grief, And The Horror Of Inevitability In Ari Aster’S Hereditary And Midsommar, Courtney Michelle Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This thesis explores how Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019) create ongoing discomfort among viewers through their shared focus on death and the tensions between fate and freewill.

Using Freud’s concept of the uncanny as a lens, this thesis argues that these films are disturbing because they introduce familiar horrors in a newly unsetting way, forcing audience members to confront deep rooted fears of grief, loss, and the lack of control.

By repeatedly forcing his audience and characters to confront death and the illusion of agency, Aster successfully creates the prolonged anxiety and dread felt by many viewers of …

Peeling Back, Katelynn M. Humbles

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

KUCC

Kutztown University Composition Conference

Kutztown University Composition Conference (KUCC)

Theme: “Writing Your Way Home”

Monday, April 14, 2025

Call For Presentations

For many, the most significant place in life is their home. It is where we withdraw and rest. It is where we feel safe and loved. But home is more than just a physical space—it's an idea, a feeling, a crucial part of one’s identity. Writers have spent their careers envisioning different ideas of home, just as we do. We also have the power to shape the kind of home we create for ourselves and others.

This year, …

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire: Female Directors Subverting The Male Gaze, Josephine Ebersole

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

No abstract provided.

A Unique 21st Century Relevant Analysis Of Carter G. Woodson’S The Mis-Education Of The Negro And Teacher Occupational Resilience, Nadrian D. Antoine

Virginia English Journal

This article offers a contemporary analysis of Carter G. Woodson’s The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933), emphasizing its enduring relevance to 21st-century educational challenges and the emerging framework of Teacher Occupational Resilience (TOR). Woodson’s central argument that American schooling functions as a system of psychological conditioning that marginalizes Black identity, history, and agency remains strikingly applicable in modern debates on culturally relevant pedagogy, systemic inequity, and digital‑age misinformation. The article explores Woodson’s critique of leadership, the omission of curriculum, and the reproduction of miseducation by credentialed yet culturally detached Black professionals. It then connects these insights to TOR theory, which …

Beyond Trends: The Potential Influence Of The Ela Teachers Of Tiktok, Heather Lynn Wright, Lauren May

Virginia English Journal

This paper describes a study on content from secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers of TikTok and their potential influence on future teachers. There were two research questions: (1) What information is being dispersed through TikTok specifically for secondary ELA teachers?; (2) What connotations about secondary ELA teaching are implied implicitly or explicitly through the tone of the TikTok creator? TikToks were examined through a three-part framework, considering the constructs of performances (Goffman, 1956), stickiness (Zott et al., 2000), and affinity spaces (Gee, 2004). Using a systematic approach, 50 secondary ELA TikTok accounts were identified and the top 20 …

Apprenticing Towards Deeper Learning In The Ela Classroom: Using Young Adult Literature To Support Students’ Mastery, Identity, And Creativity, Julianna Kershen, Kacy M. Price, Nynke Wimp, Evie Jackson, Kaitlin Rogers

Virginia English Journal

This practitioner focused article highlights the perspectives of pre-service teachers and undergraduate researchers investigating the kinds of learning interactions and instructional decisions that result in deeper learning outcomes for high school students. Deeper learning outcomes are often described as 21^st century skills, including mastery learning, support of holistic and scholarly student identities, and the ability to engage collaboratively with critical and creative problem-solving skills. The authors suggest a series of young adult literature texts that can serve as springboards into project-based learning opportunities that provide authentic and real world-connected activities, iterative cycles of learning, peer-peer collaboration, and in-depth disciplinary …

Letter From The Editor's Desk, Cinde Wollenberg

Virginia English Journal

No abstract provided.

2026 Kutztown University Composition Conference Program, Engtlish Department,Kutztown University Of Pennsylvania

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

The annual KU Composition Conference is sponsored by the Department of English, and includes student presentations from across campus.

Yellowjackets And White Hoods?!: The Mistreatment Of Bipoc Characters, Suki Shepherd

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

In 2021, a psychological horror television series inspired by Lord of the Flies, reimagined as a high school girls' soccer team, was released. The highly skilled team from Wiskayok High School is on the way to the national championship game when their plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness. With both a teenage timeline and an adult timeline, the show switches between the girls' desperate survival and descent to madness in the woods and modern times, where the truth of how they made it out starts to be revealed.

Interview With Orca Award Winner Paul Olson, Unl English; Literature, Curricular Reform, Great Plains Studies, Mark A. Griep, Paul A. Olson

UNL ORCA Interview Series

Paul Olson was awarded the ORCA in 1984. He was born in 1932 in Washburn, Wisconsin. During his youth, his family also farmed in Nebraska and South Dakota. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. Next, he earned a master’s in English from the University of Nebraska, had a Fulbright fellowship to spend a year at London University in England, and earned his doctorate in medieval and Renaissance studies from Princeton University in New Jersey. In 1957, he joined UNL as an assistant professor of English and was soon promoted to full professor. One of his …

They Write Themselves: Romancing The Vampire Of Lighthouse Landing, Dezi Vaile

Masters Theses

Many fantasy creatures have dark pasts; supernatural, often disturbing, stories that have been tossed in a sauce of romance to appeal to a wider palette. While vampires are typically regarded as creations of nightmares, these creatures of the night have been no exception to this cycle. Although legends of blood suckers far predate the birth of Bram Stoker, Dracula is arguably the most enduring and important example of vampire literature. By beginning with Dracula, alongside earlier works like The Vampyre and Carmilla, we will track what has and has not changed within the genre of vampire literature. With the passage …

Rhetorical Strategies In Writing-Based Suicide Prevention: A Qualitative Study For Navy Chaplains And Command Leadership In Region East, Herode Jean-Vilien Thomas

Masters Theses

Suicide prevention remains a critical challenge within military environments, particularly in operational settings where communication between leaders and service members often occurs under conditions of stress and urgency. While the United States Navy has implemented numerous prevention initiatives, limited attention has been given to the role of written communication as a relational and persuasive tool in crisis response. This study examines how rhetorical strategies influence writing-based suicide prevention communication within Navy Recruiting Command Region East. Drawing on classical rhetorical theory and contemporary communication research, the study explores how tone, clarity, message structure, and audience awareness shape the effectiveness of crisis …

Generative Ai As Artificial Audience, Chrystina Scoglietti

Distinguished Student Scholarship Collection

This paper examines generative artificial intelligence as a distinct communicative development that reshapes rhetorical practice and composition pedagogy. Situating generative AI within a historical framework of communicative revolutions—including primary orality, literacy, and secondary (digital) orality—the paper argues that generative AI constitutes a new form of literacy rather than a mere extension of digital media. By producing near‑human language and creative output in direct response to user input, generative AI functions not only as a compositional tool but also as an artificial audience to which rhetoric must be tailored. The analysis explores how this shift challenges traditional assumptions about audience, persuasion, …

Sinclair Lewis Society Newsletter, Vol 34, No. 2, The Sinclair Lewis Society

Sinclair Lewis Society Newsletter

"Following Up with Conrad," review-essay on Writers Like Us: My Life with Sinclair Lewis, by Barnaby Conrad, with Barnaby Conrad III, by Frederick Betz

Teaching "He Loved His Country" by Shaun F. Richards

In Memoriam: George Capsis by Sally E. Parry

Inside the Network of American Foreign Correspondents in Interwar Europe: A Review of Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War, by Deborah Cohen. Random House, 2022. by Bernhard Wenzl

A Dr. Martin Arrowsmith: 2003 by Samuel J. Rogal

Palmer House Sold

Famous Last Words From Sinclair Lewis by Tad …

Irotas 2026 Version 2, English Department- Winona State University

Irotas

Irotas is an annual student journal of the arts created and published by Winona State University students. Irotas is a sibling journal to the Satori Student Literary Magazine. This is the Irotas created in 2026. there are three versions of the 2026 Irotas. This is a 2026 issue version 2.

Authors: Marissa McClure, Alysen Endres, Mandie Schmidt, Holly Foss, Allen Wedekind, Sarah Schmidt, Calista Escobar, Linda Moua, Jacinda Lundeen, Caleb Reed, Ella Page, Kendra McClure, Cora Waterman, Benjamin Hagen, Amity Collins, Mazin Abdel-Magid, Libby Crum, Elizabeth Tischler, Elly Herrick, Kat Beekman, Lupema Celis Castillo, Linda Hang, William Mahowald, Lydia Domale, …

Irotas 2026 Version 3, English Department-Winona State University

Irotas

Irotas is an annual student journal of the arts created and published by Winona State University students. Irotas is a sibling journal to the Satori Student Literary Magazine. This is the Irotas created in 2026. there are three versions of the 2026 Irotas. This is version 3.

Editors: Allen Wedekind, Callie Sahlstrom, Camden McDonald, Charlie Lund, Dylan Jackson, Elena Armstrong, Eva Hodnick, Jade McElmury, Jenifer Frick, Kendra McClure, Linda Hang, Linda Moua, Lydia Domaille, Reagan Roesler, Sarah Huderle, and Shaela Eriksen

Authors: Sarah Huderle, Kylee Binning, Lupema Celis Castillo, Kira Kainz, Elizabeth Tischler, Calista Escobar, Caleb Reed, William Mahowald, Linda …

2026 Greenleaf Review-- Better Days (No. 39), Sigma Tau Delta

The Greenleaf Review

No abstract provided.

Icarus’S Fall: Villainization In Wicked, Star Wars, And The Untamed, Laura Renfroe

Honors Theses

When looking back on the most beloved, yet infamous, villains of popular culture, one can note an abundant rise of prequels and backstory-driven media exploring the paths that villain characters take that lead them to their tragic fall. Some of those stories include John M. Chu’s Wicked, George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and Chen Jialin and Zheng Weiwin’s The Untamed, each of which explores protagonists who are labeled as “wicked” and depicted as fallen to the “dark side.” While these characters are often studied in existing literary research, there have yet to be explicit ties …

Iraqi Students' Engagement With English In Indonesia: Language, Identity, And Adaptation, Nirwana Nirwana, Yanty Wirza, Mutakhirani Mustafa, Muhlis Muhlis

The Qualitative Report

English as a lingua franca in higher education enables international students to participate in the global academic community. However, for Iraqi students in Indonesia, the use of English is not just a means of communication, but also part of identity negotiation, social adaptation, and cultural integration. This study explores how Iraqi students experience acceptance, resistance, and adaptation in using English in academic and social environments in Indonesia. The three-dimensional narrative inquiry framework (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) is used as the primary analytical lens to explore how participants' experiences unfold over time, across relational contexts, and within specific physical and institutional …

Where Did Her Torch Glow Go?, Josephine Smith

FUSION

This project is a short video presentation with accompanying written reflection connecting the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, a poem about immigration to the United States, to modern events regarding immigration in the country.

An Adaptation Of The Yellow Wallpaper, Carla M. Sanz

FUSION

This project includes a 3-dimensional adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," highlighting struggles with mental health and women’s empowerment amid patriarchal oppression. The use of a 3-D model of the story gives the viewer a visual representation of the narrator’s mental and physical decline. Representative elements of this decline include the use of a chest and a string stretched across the “ceiling” of the room, which visually convey the narrator’s feeling of being trapped. In addition, the room's tainted appearance and the visual of a woman in the walls allow the viewer to imagine the narrator's mental, emotional, …

“Neither Living Nor Dead”: From Nazgûl To The Sídhe In Tolkien's The Fellowship Of The Ring (1954), Noelia Ramos

Journal of Tolkien Research

This study explores the influence of Celtic supernatural folklore, particularly the banshee tradition, on Tolkien’s depiction of the Nazgûl in The Fellowship of the Ring. Using W.B. Yeats’ Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) and the Celtic Twilight movement as a comparative framework, it analyses “A Short Cut to Mushrooms” and “A Knife in the Dark”, focusing on liminality, spectral presence, and supernatural dread. These parallels are further contextualised through reference to early Irish texts The Táin Bó Cúailnge and The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, central works within the Celtic literary compilation known to Tolkien …

Voice And Pain: Representations Of Disability In Adaptations Of “The Little Mermaid”, Ace Molloy

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 story, “The Little Mermaid,” is a popular fairy tale that has been adapted several times by writers, filmmakers, and game developers. It is one of the few fairy tales with explicit portrayals of disability; the mermaid in the tale is nonspeaking and experiences chronic pain, as well as being a mermaid—a nonnormative figure who is aligned with disability. This paper looks at the ways that the mermaid is portrayed in literary, film, and new media adaptations from a disability-justice perspective. Examining multiple representations of the character, I argue that while feminist adaptations erase her disability and …