Digital Commons Network^™

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 12, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 10-11, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 9, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 8, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 7, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 6, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 5, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 3-4, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 2, 2015, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

Identity Performance In Roleplaying Games, Danielle Nielsen

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

This article argues that roleplaying games have the potential to challenge, encourage, and subsume the privilege of the stereotypical gamer, one who is white, male, and heterosexual. Though roleplaying games as they are currently designed are neither ideal nor perfect, the article contends they embrace feminist programming strategies and offer those who do not want to play a straight male avatar the opportunity to develop and explore identities through characters in ways that other genres do not. Roleplaying games extend the privilege of representation to other gaming demographics, giving players the opportunity to “play who they are” in the digital …

Yes/No Means No/Yes: (Non)Consensual Rhetoric, Paul Walker, Joshua Adair

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Ex-Actly As I Thought: The Unbecoming Of A Mormon Man, Paul Walker

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Yes/No Means No/Yes: (Non) Consensual Rhetoric, Paul Walker

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Operation Nudge: How Non-Sovereign Organizations Gain Quasi-Sovereign Powers To Solve Public Choice Problems, Kelly Grenier

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Captain Crunch, Tony the Tiger, and Toucan Sam are watching you. Particularly, they are watching children. With their eyes gazing downward at a 9.6 degree angle, these characters make eye contact with individuals to encourage feelings of friendliness which will in turn increase the sales of the product. It is not that we are "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs," but rather that we are being covertly nudged to buy these products (Musicus). Cereal companies are not the first to figure this out; we are nudged all day long. Our behaviors are encouraged and discouraged through choice architecture. We take the stairs …

The Steward In Statesmanship: Taking Responsibility For The Most Important Things, Timothy L. Simpson

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Even though the American Framers self-consciously designed a system of government that did not depend on an enlightened statesman being at the helm, this paper argues that they believed statesmanship was not only compatible with republican government, but that it could act as a kind of antidote to some of the ailments most likely to afflict it. Scholars today generally dispute this suggestion. They m:gne that statesmanship is, in several important respects, positively antithetical to important democratic ideals. Having surveyed those objections, this paper argues that the contemporary understanding is flawed because it rests on a misconception of democracy and …

The Evolution Of Kentucky's Constitutions: A Comparison Of The Original And Second Constitutions, Ashley Taulbee

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Timing is everything, especially to a developing state. This paper highlights the changes that time required Kentucky to make in order to gain her statehood and then ensure that she would continue to prosper as time . passed. Kentucky gained a lot of wisdom during her first fifty-eight years ranging from how to elect our Governor to whom this state should remain loyal to -- a question that in 1792 was quite conflicted. Reviewing the two documents that began shaping Kentucky into the state she is now is just one of the ways to appreciate this beautiful and unique Commonwealth. …

Thomas M. Keck, Judicial Politics In Polarized Time., Paul Foote

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Book Review. Thomas M. Keck, Judicial Politics in Polarized Times. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press Books, 2014. 352 pp. ($77.27 cloth, $23.40 paper).

Honors Day, 2015, Murray State University

Honors Day Programs

Honors Day Programs, Murray State University. (Digitization and metadata processed by Madison Erwin.)

Learning From The Swets Fallout, Christine Ferguson

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

New column editor, Christine L. Ferguson, provides her first installment of the Balance Point column focusing on the fallout of the Swets bankruptcy in September 2014. This installment outlines the consequences for libraries and reactions of publishers after the bankruptcy and discusses lessons learned by libraries and other subscription agents. Several subscription agents interviewed discussed the issue of financial stability; the responsibility of libraries to understand the holistic financial health of their vendors is also discussed.

From The Editor, Peggy Pittman-Munke Ph.D.

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Journal of Contemporary Rural Social Work

Volume 7, Number 1: Special Issue

2015

From the Editor-in-Chief: Peggy Pittman-Munke, Murray State University

Social Action Meets Social Media: Environmental Justice In West Virginia, Debra Hunt Young, Samantha Teixeira, Helen Hartnett

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This article presents a case study of a community organizing effort known as Citizens Actively Protecting the Environment (CAPE). Led by rural West Virginians in response to the Elk River chemical spill of 2013, this environmental justice movement was novel in that it harnessed social media, specifically Facebook, to catalyze advocacy and change efforts in a rural area. The literature on environmental health disparities and environmental justice in rural communities is reviewed. Then authors describe how resident-led organizing in rural areas was effective in promoting environmental justice. Details of the CAPE project are presented, as well as ways social media …

Social And Environmental Justice And The Water-Energy Nexus: A Quest In Progress For Rural People, Karen V. Harper-Dorton Ph.D., Stacia J. Harper

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Access to affordable and reliable clean water and energy is necessary for economic development, health, and well-being of all people worldwide. Unavailable, unaffordable, or unreliable water and energy resources represent social and environmental injustices that disproportionately burden poor people, especially those in rural areas. Furthermore, there is an inextricable link between water and energy: clean water requires power for delivery and sanitation, and power production requires large amounts of water. This water-energy nexus connects two vital resources for humanity with more attention to economic concerns than to human or environmental issues. This paper addresses social and environmental justice issues that …

Ecology And Social Justice: A Course Designed For Environmental Social Work In Rural Spaces, Arielle Dylan

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This article describes a course developed by the author that responds to the stated social justice aims of the social work profession. If social workers are to advocate successfully for environments conducive to the general welfare of all people, promote social justice, equitable distribution of resources, and just environmental management, environmental social work scholarship needs to move beyond theorizing and suggestions itemizing broad responses, and provide instead illustrative examples of interventions and alternative practices. The trend in very recent years of environmental social work scholarship has done just this. Education, in particular in the classroom setting, provides an opportunity to …

The Slow Violence Of Climate Change In Poor Rural Kenyan Communities: “Water Is Life. Water Is Everything.”, Jennifer L. Willett

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Climate change is the most pressing global environmental problem and the most unyielding worldwide environmental injustice of our time. Although some social workers have begun to address climate change, this literature is centered on its generalized impact, rather than its specific effects on vulnerable populations. As a concept, slow violence offers a frame to understand the slow occurring effects of climate change on the global poor. This study used an ethnographic approach to examine the effects of climate change on two poor rural Kenyan communities. Findings discussed include the consequences of droughts, the connection between droughts and deforestation, failed governmental …

Rural Community Transition And Resilience: What Now For Social Work?, Jonathan Scherch

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Rural communities, like all communities, face myriad social, economic and ecological challenges as they endeavor to resolve precarious dependencies on critical, energy-intensive and supply-chain extensive resource systems. With increasing impacts of climate change and related incidents of human and more-than-human displacements, including losses of life and habitat, rural communities have become beset with frequent, prolonged and persistent recovery and coping obligations. The progressive resolution of injustices will need to occur in the face of serious ecological stressors. Designing for and increasingly demonstrating social work practices that prioritize the multi-modal skills of sustainable living may well be the most effective means …

Book Review: Transforming Places: Lessons From Appalachia, Katherine Perone

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Book Review: Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia Stephen L. Fisher & Barbara Ellen Smith 2012 Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press 322 pages Softcover: $ 27.00 Kindle: $14.00 ISBN-13: 0252078381 ISBN-13: 978-0-252-07838-5

Contemporary Rural Social Work - 2015 (Volume 7, Number 1)

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Contemporary Rural Social Work - 2015 (Volume 7, Number 1: Special Issue)

Full issue

From The Guest Editor, Pamela Casey Twiss Msw, Ph.D.

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Journal of Contemporary Rural Social Work

Volume 7, Number 1: Special Issue

2015

From the Guest Editor: Pamela Casey Twiss

Book Review: Learning Native Wisdom: What Traditional Cultures Teach Us About Subsistence, Sustainability, And Spirituality, Kala Chakradhar

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Book Review: Learning Native Wisdom: What Traditional Cultures Teach Us about Subsistence, Sustainability, and Spirituality Gary Holthaus 2012 Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky 266 pages Paperback, $25 ISBN-10: 0813141087 ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-4108-4

The Theological Foundations Of Religious Liberty In The Thought Of John Locke And James Madison, Edward M. Yager

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Religious liberty is an important human right supported by both religious and secular m:guments. This work explores John Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration and James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance and identifies a common theological or religious argument supporting religions liberty as the requisite means to satisfy the duties of conscience to the Creator. Since individual duty and accountability to God is a shared premise among theistic faith traditions, this approach to advancing religions liberty and religious pluralism may have broader appeal and utility to reformers in faith traditions not especially responsive to secular arguments.