Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: There Goes The Neighborhood, Feliciana Lopez-Goodman

The Utah English Journal

Rhea’s motives seem simple—save her best friend from eviction and stop the neighborhood from falling apart. As is true for all complex characters, there is more to Rhea, Zeke, and Malachi as they create a fake gang in their South LA neighborhood of Kofa Park. In Jade Adia’s debut novel There Goes the Neighborhood, gentrification is front and center as three teenagers take on the responsibility of saving their neighborhood and their chosen family.

Kendrick Lamar Brings New Literature To The Ela Classroom, Chris A. Peck

The Utah English Journal

Until April of 2017 I was only mildly aware of Kendrick Lamar. I had listened to and enjoyed songs like “Alright” and “Swimming Pools” but had little experience past these songs. After his album D.A.M.N. came out, I began to see several posts regarding the importance of this album, many responses by professors and teachers I knew well and trusted.

Co-Creating A Community Of Learners Through Interactive Read-Alouds Of Expository Texts, Kari Allsup

The Utah English Journal

I am reading aloud Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead (Johnson, 2013) to a group of 7th grade students. The text describes the larva stage where a young jewel wasp feasts on the cockroach’s insides. As I read, there are scattered exclamations of “ewwww,” “sick,” and audible gasps. I stop reading to dig into these reactions.

Sentence Detective: Investigating Sentence Structure To Support Reading Comprehension, Rachel Knecht

The Utah English Journal

Jacob was honest about his usual reading strategies. Like Jacob, readers with a history of reading difficulties may deal with challenging, long, or unfamiliar sentences by skipping or stumbling over them (Nomvete & Easterbrooks, 2020; Vaughn et al., 2022). But, Jacob offered another strategy— Sentence Detective. Over the past six weeks, Jacob had learned how to use Sentence Detective, a strategy for breaking sentences down into meaningful, more manageable parts. Although skipping or skimming may have been his go-to strategy for sentence-level comprehension, he now had another tool to try out.

The Connection Between Zermatt And Vail: How A Swiss Alpine Village Influenced The Creation Of A Colorado Village And Ski Resort In The Rocky Mountains, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

When one hears the places “Zermatt” and “Vail” we tend to think of skiing. Both are known worldwide for great skiing and beautiful mountains. While Zermatt has existed for centuries, Vail only became permanently inhabited by people after World War II. Zermatt did not become a well known place until the nineteenth century when adventurers sought to climb the Matterhorn, and then it became a popular tourist destination. However, Zermatt influenced the creation of the village of Vail, thanks to a man named Peter Seibert who spent time there and wanted to create a European Alpine style ski village in …

Laina Farhat-Holzman: Distinguished Iscsc Author, Incisive Thinker, Fearless Commentator, Innovative Leader, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

It is a sad duty to report that a luminary who was long associated with this journal and with the leadership of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman, has died.

Ccr Style Guide For Submitted Manuscripts, Carolyn Carpentieri Potter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews: Family Style: Memories Of An American From Vietnam, Derick Marchant

The Utah English Journal

Do you ever eat a meal so intertwined with memory that each bite transports you back to the moments surrounding it? For me, it’s paella. The rice dish seasoned with saffron, paprika, and lemon juice puts me right back in small apartments in Spain with my legs under a blanket-covered table, a heater blasting on my legs, laughing and shelling shrimp with Spaniards. I can’t eat paella without craving the company that surrounded me in those warm Spanish apartments. In Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam, Thien Pham chronicles his family’s immigration story via vignettes centering around his …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 53, 2025: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Improving Small-Group Discussion Through Literature Circle Activities, Reilly Ryan

The Utah English Journal

Consider the following scenarios in which I’ve given students a platform to discuss “high-interest” topics: “Class, I want you to discuss whether you think school should start one hour later than it currently does. I’m going to set a timer for three minutes, and I would like you to continue your discussion during the entire time.” If school start time seems too educational, I might offer an even more accessible topic such as “What is the greatest movie of all time?” or “Where is the best place in town to get a hamburger?” The pleasing cacophony I hear immediately after …

Moving Beyond Summary, Susan E. Anderson

The Utah English Journal

The due date. That dreaded day when 50% of my students have worked their way through the writing process and are ready to turn in their essays ON TIME. They chose topics, researched, organized, wrote rough drafts, edited and revised repeatedly, peer-reviewed, more editing and more revising, cited their sources, formatted, and even applied the hanging indentation to their works cited page. And as the other 50% trickle in their late papers clearly lacking some of these important steps, my next responsibility begins: I start to read 175 essays. With my rubric ready to start assessing, I see a frustrating …

The Uses And Challenges Of Teaching Writing With Artificial Intelligence, Tom Henry

The Utah English Journal

Computers and Composition recently noted: “In less than a year, ChatGPT hit 100 million weekly users which made it the fastest-growing consumer Internet application to date. The ease, practicality, and ability to compose both in text and multimedia has made generative AI technology (like ChatGPT) ubiquitous” (Ranade and Eyman, 2024). Popularity aside, the question should be asked: Can students use AI ethically? A white paper from UNESCO puts forth the proposition that “Technology is never ideologically neutral… New generative AI models and utilities are no exception” (Giannini, 2023, p.3). Collating these claims, there are tasks where AI is ethical and …

Facilitating Dialogue: Leveraging Classroom Literature To Navigate Critical Conversations With High School Students, Kaylee Smedley

The Utah English Journal

The quotation refers to the Contemporary American Thought (CAT) class, a high school course in Chris Crutcher’s Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, where Moby and his classmates navigate complex and controversial issues under Ms. Lemry’s guidance. Encouraged to discuss meaningful topics like children’s rights, war, social class, abortion, and religion, they research, debate, and explore nuances, ultimately drawing scrutiny from parents, the community, and the administration (Crutcher, 1993).

Talent, Passion, And Teaching Writing: A Teacher’S Reflection, Kelley Paystrup

The Utah English Journal

Which comes first, the passion to write or the talent? Every school year I share examples of my written work with my classes, and every time I hear students tell me they can’t write like that; they will never be that talented. I respond that I’ve had more practice and experience than they have, and I earned a Master’s in Writing and Rhetoric, so they shouldn’t compare. I wonder if I should show them my work since it’s discouraging for so many.

Book Review: Something Like Home, Kimberly Stewart

The Utah English Journal

Something Like Home is a poignant exploration of resilience and adaptation. Laura, the protagonist, finds her life disrupted when her parents are forced into a drug rehabilitation program and she must navigate a new environment with an unfamiliar aunt and school. Her initial resistance to accepting this change forms the central conflict of her journey.

Book Review: How To Become A Better Writing Teacher, Merry Gravett

The Utah English Journal

Carl Anderson and Matt Glover’s book How to Become a Better Writing Teacher is an excellent tool to have in your toolbox as a writing instructor. Whether you have a 20-year career in teaching writing or you’re still completing your degree and student teaching experience, this book can provide insight into and impetus for your growth as a writing teacher.

Book Review: Simon Sort Of Says, Sarah Strachan

The Utah English Journal

Nothing ever really changes in Grin and Bear It, Nebraska. Since the town is a research site for the SETI program (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), there is a ban on internet and cell phones that makes getting news from the outside world a little slow. For 12-year-old Simon O’Keeffe, that sounds perfect. Having survived a school shooting two years earlier, Simon has spent far too much time in the spotlight and longs to fade into the background in this new town where no one knows his past. However, blending in proves challenging with his accident-prone Catholic deacon father, his quirky …

Book Review: The Faint Of Heart, Hailey Christensen

The Utah English Journal

Is it better to experience negative emotions with the positive, or to not feel at all? The Faint of Heart, a graphic novel by Kerrilyn Wilson, takes place in a society where scientists have discovered how to successfully remove the human heart without killing the patient. Once a heart is removed, it is placed into a numbing solution, which effectively eliminates the patient’s ability to experience emotion. The procedure quickly gains popularity, and people flock to the hospital to have their heart removed, in an effort to escape feelings of grief, pain, and stress, only to inadvertently remove positive emotions …

Book Review: Remember Us, Lauren Ratliff

The Utah English Journal

Brooklyn in 1990 is all about rapid gentrification and rising social tensions. For Sage, a young black girl growing up in this setting, life is all about change. Her community, her friendships, and even her view of herself are all shifting. Sage questions if she fits into the evolving version of Brooklyn that she sees rising up all around her. Due to her newfound awareness of socio-economic divides as well as rising racial tensions in her neighborhood, she grapples with feelings of losing the only place she’s ever called home. Happy memories of Brooklyn and her community feel disconnected from …

Russia’S Geopolitical Civilizational Narratives And Strategic Direction In The Contemporary Multipolar World Order, Sharyl Cross, Igor Okunev

Comparative Civilizations Review

This article sets forth the foundations for recent geopolitical civilizational narratives in Russia that are influencing Moscow’s contemporary foreign policy behavior and the future direction of the Russian “civilizational state” in the global multipolar world order. This article is not intended to provide justification for Russia’s foreign policy choices and actions, but rather the purpose is to explain Moscow’s official geopolitical narratives, and thus to provide a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the considerations informing Russia’s foreign policy behavior.

Vladimir Putin has been at the helm of leadership in Russia exerting unparalleled influence as President and Prime Minister since …

Christopher Dawson And The Challenges Of Interdisciplinary Studies, Joseph T. Stuart

Comparative Civilizations Review

The following interview was conducted by Ms. Bibi Pelic, the Director of Communications for the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations. The recording is available on the ISCSC YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-hS2SdoZc

How Companies Heal And Maintain Health: A Unique Function Of Corporate Museums In Japan, Aki Kinjo

Comparative Civilizations Review

Capitalism is embedded in our civilization. Despite its faults, weaknesses, and sins, modern civilization cannot prosper without capitalism. Companies are the engine of capitalism. Yet, just like humans, companies make mistakes, sometimes gross. How do companies overcome unforgivable mistakes? This paper argues that corporate museums in Japan play an important role in helping companies heal from their sufferings, recover, and maintain organizational health.

I deploy a cultural approach to management, analyzing corporate museums as a platform for conveying explicit and hidden narratives. A cultural approach to Japanese management helps us understand why Japan has so many corporate museums, well …

Good Practice For All Sentence Frames To Support Multingual Students In The Ela Classroom, Genevieve Palestino

The Utah English Journal

The struggle to meet student needs is an ever- present concern for all teachers. Besides English 9, I teach English Language Development (ELD), and I frequently find myself in conversations with other teachers about how to support our school’s multilingual (ML) population. One thing I try to emphasize in my conversations with teachers is that most “extra steps” for MLs are best-practice strategies that will benefit all students. A strategy that can be especially beneficial for students is leveled sentence frames.

Thinking And Writing With Ai As A Dialogue Partner, Jon Ostenson, Johnny Allred

The Utah English Journal

When generative AI burst onto the public stage in late 2022, it took many of us by surprise. After we had time to see what chatbots like ChatGPT were capable of, they filled many writing teachers with a sense of dread. Some of us realized that assignments we had relied on for years would no longer work because they could easily be completed by a chatbot. All of us worried about how this new technology would influence our students’ writing and the way we taught writing.

Me Between The Lines: An Intertextual Search For Self, Jamie Jo Porter

The Utah English Journal

In the winter of 2023, I noticed a general struggle among my AP Literature students to connect and identify with characters and events we were reading about in class. Upon further investigation, I realized that this wasn’t because my students weren’t reading relatable texts, but more because they were still developing a sense of self; in their search for identity, they were not seeing pieces of themselves reflected in the world around them. As a teacher, it pained me to realize that my students weren’t even anticipating that there were things out there in the world that they could relate …

“Charles? We Don’T Have Any Charles In The Kindergarten”: Our Professional Responsibility To Compassionate Self-Reflection, Ben Inouye

The Utah English Journal

Shirley Jackson’s immortal “Charles” recounts the mischievous deeds of Charles, a character created by the equally naughty Laurie. His mother, the narrator, blames her son’s poor behavior on Charles’ influence. She is blissfully unaware that her son is the reason for the kindergarten chaos; she is all too quick to begin searching for the most “haggard” face in the PTA crowd–unable to fathom that she might be the mother responsible for Charles. Such delusion!

As I was pondering the narrator’s lack of self-awareness, I found myself thinking: Oh crap, is that me? Am I the teacher who can’t be honest …

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

From Sonvilier To Canada To Illinois: A Remarkable Swiss Emigration Story, Jeanette Bowman Borich

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Author and genealogist Laurence Overmire stated, “History remembers only the celebrated, genealogy remembers them all.”¹ His words resonate as we consider the 1821 Swiss emigration to the Red River Settlement (in today’s Manitoba, Canada) followed by their subsequent emigration to the Galena, Illinois, area. Three recently published books on the history of Galena’s earliest days as a city² make no mention of the Swiss Red River families as early pioneers.³ A fourth book,⁴ Le Canada et les Suisses by E. H. Bovay, also relatively recently written, tells a different story. Genealogical research about one’s ancestors and …

Why Can’T I Be Forgiven? Review Of Literature On Scrupulosity Among Latter-Day Saints, Camron Angell

Student Works

Scrupulosity is a debilitating mental illness that has become more well known the Latter-day Saint community recently. Scrupulosity is a subset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that focuses on spiritual issues (McClendon, 2023). Scrupulosity is multifaceted and has cognitive, genetic, and biological causes (Abramowitz & Jacoby, 2014; McClendon, 2023; Siev et al., 2020). Scrupulosity is defined by intense anxiety that is soothed with rituals such as excessive prayer, confession, and other religious actions to calm anxiety and fear of God (Abramowitz & Jacoby, 2014; Allen et al., 2015; Weir et al., 2014). Scrupulosity is mainly treated using cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) …