Digital Commons Network^™

Cradle To Cage: Confronting The Premature Institutionalization Of The Children Of The Incarcerated, Jen Fell

Theses and Dissertations

American prisons are swollen and distended. Over 2 million Americans sit in jail or prison today. About 2/3 of the incarcerated are parents. They parent approximately 2 million children in America today who are separated from mom or dad because of incarceration. Their children suffer from poverty, inconsistency in caregivers, separation from siblings, reduced opportunity to health and education and increased risk for substance abuse, alcoholism and incarceration themselves. Children of the incarcerated are seven times more likely than their peers to become incarcerated as adults.Many of these children are unable to visit their parents. Over half the mothers in …

Walk 14 Blocks, Bryant Mark Dameron

Theses and Dissertations

Walk 14 Blocks is a document that describes my two-year investigation of simulation in everyday life. It describes how I examine both simulated places and the tools of simulation. I explain the key elements relating my work to simulation; experience, language, and the video monitor. I trace how I have utilized these elements in several works that led to my thesis exhibition titled Evidence.

Beyond Narrative, Jacob Adam Joseph Dodd

Theses and Dissertations

My graduate film at Virginia Commonwealth University, "Nunna Mia e la Barca," explores the traditions behind narrative and documentary film construction. With this project, my goal was to blend narrative story telling techniques - for example continuity editing - with that of documentary approaches in order to communicate the story of my Italian grandmother, Nunna, and her journey on the Andrea Doria in 1956. These documentary approaches focus more on the specific details of Nunna's American home as I have experienced them growing up. Everything in the motion picture frame has been lit, composed, rehearsed, and edited as in any …

Reviving The Seventies, Aimee M. Huber

Theses and Dissertations

Design Analysis of the VCU Mainstage production process for The Nerd The comedic farce, The Nerd, written by Larry Shue and directed by Drew Fracher here at VCU, is the production I intend to analyze in terms of the scenic design process. From the initial conception of ideas, to their development through collaboration, to completion of construction, and ultimately, opening night, I plan to breakout my process step by step. I'd like to communicate the transformation of a literary play into the three-dimensional world in my mind.I. Introduction A. Overall description of process as it applies to this particular interaction …

Professional Theatre In The Academic Theatre Setting, Hartwell Keith Hight

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to discuss the dynamic of continued employment for the theatre instructor. Surprisingly, very little is written about continued employment for the theatre instructor. In the present study, the terms instructor and teacher carry the same meaning. Because theatre builds successful human beings, a theatre program must allows students, graduates, and other interested candidates the opportunity to work closely with experienced professionals in their field.

Reunion: A Journey Through History, Symbolism, And Fear, Vanessa Laure Fassie

Theses and Dissertations

The contents here in examine the artistic process undertaken by Vanessa Fassie to create the mixed media work, reunion. The subjects of fear, archetypal symbolism, personal and collective histories were examined through research, archival evidence, video, sound, movement, and installation. reunion, examines not only the powers of personal and collective histories through the symbolic language of archetypes, but also how fear manifests and evolves through time. The culmination of this work was the creation of an installation within the Anderson Gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University. This Thesis was created through the use of Microsoft Word 2004.

The Cross Empowerment Of Singing And Acting, Stephanie C. Dean

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis details my process in teaching a class I devised, entitled, "Singing for Actors and Acting for Singers," in an attempt to develop a pedagogical bridge between singing and acting. In this thesis, I discuss the need for creating this course and evaluate how effectual it was. Additionally, I detail my research, curricular development and students' responses to the material.

The Art Of Collaboration In The Classroom: Team Teaching Performance, Jenna M. Neilsen

Theses and Dissertations

The Art of Collaboration in the Classroom: Team Teaching Performance is a co-written master's thesis which records our research in the field of team teaching as it relates to theatre education at the university level. It is our intent that this text be used as a tool for helping universities and teachers decide if a collaborative teaching model is right for their courses. A portion of the text is research-based, examining the scholarly writings which have preceded our work. In Chapter 1, we compiled a set of definitions, in the hopes of codifying the language used within this document as …

Transitions: Starting The Second, Full Circle, Mary Colleen Vreeland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will focus on the transitional influences that have led me to start the second circle of my professional life. It is an open and honest exploration of the back-story of my life and the academic and professional influences that led me to seek a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. With no parallels and therefore no excuses insinuated, I will be open and dissect more of myself as the whole focus of the thesis in hopes of offering clarity to myself and other mature and disabled students seeking to become a better teacher and artist.

Pedagogical Fusion, David Maurice White

Theses and Dissertations

During the five semesters that I have been at VCU I have learned a great deal from the courses that I have been enrolled in but I have learned the most through my experiences as a Teaching Assistant. These experiences have been so valuable because of the wide range of subject areas in which I have been involved and the diverse instructors that I have assisted. Although I hesitate to use the word "problem" I feel that there is a tendency in teacher training for a student to latch onto one professor and model their teaching practices after that one …

A Life In Words, Thoughts, Ideas, Images And Movement, Randy Houston Mercer

Theses and Dissertations

I know it is my core, my purest nature to incessantly question myself and everything around me; as we pertain to the universe. As Robert Wilson suggests "I will always ask 'What is it?' before telling you what it is." My goal is to present you with some tools with which to approach your craft, your life, your uncertainties. And though I may not always be the best example, I still wish to encourage all that read this or spend time with me to see this craft/business and indeed your life as a great, happy adventure; guided by love. Because …

Gentleman Johnny Plays War: John Burgoyne And The Blockade Of Boston, Catherine Ann Peckinpaugh Vrtis

Theses and Dissertations

John Burgoyne, a British general during the American Revolution, is best known for his defeat by the Continental Army at Saratoga. In addition to serving as a general,Burgoyne was a playwright. While in Boston during the blockade following the Battle ofBunker Hill Burgoyne combined his interests, writing a satire of the war. The Blockade of Boston, Burgoyne's play, was first presented as an afterpiece to a production of The Busybody on January 8, 1776 (Silverman 292).Accounts of the performance differ in detail, but the central event is consistent: during the performance a soldier walked out on stage and announced that …

Within And Without, Shane Robert Rocheleau

Theses and Dissertations

Within and Without is a document which illustrates my personal and artistic research into the nature of the postmodern conception of the self: that self is unfixed, multiple, and reactive. It explicates my myriad and explorative approaches to photographic portraiture. Furthermore, it indicates many of my theoretical and artistic references and how I have applied my lessons both as an artist and a researcher to maximize the effect of my concepts within the formal and aesthetic confines of my photographs. Finally, this document explains my own beliefs concerning the nature of self and how a synthesis of my influences has …

Working Italy’S Passage: The Italian Army And The Allies’ Hopes For It In The Co-Belligerency, 1943–1944, Kate Betts-Wilmott

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In World War II, when Italy surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, the Italian prime minister offered all that was left on Italy’s meager resources to the Allies to help fight the German forces in Italy. Three years of war, as part of the Axis, not to mention the catastrophic mismanagement of the armistice with the Allies left Italy materially exhausted. Italy was only able to equip and field one brigade, the 1st Italian Motorized Brigade Group that they increased to a corps several months later, the Corps of Italian Liberation (CIL), despite teh fact that the Italian Army …

Cuban Femininity And National Unity In Louisa May Alcott's Moods And Elizabeth Stoddard's "Eros And Anteros", Nina Bannett

Publications and Research

This book chapter compares the depictions of Cuban women in Louisa May Alcott's first adult novel Moods (1864) and Elizabeth Stoddard's short story "Eros and Anteros" (1862). Both writers configure a love triangle between an Anglo man and two women, one Anglo and one Cuban. In both texts, the Cuban woman is rejected as an unsuitable choice for an Anglo man. Alcott’s and Stoddard’s decision to re-value the Anglo woman as the more appropriate choice can be read as a rejection of the popular nineteenth-century political doctrine of manifest destiny and, at least with Alcott, of the United States’s dependence …

Charles B. Blackmar: Professor, Judge, Chief Justice And Charlie, Michael A. Wolff

Missouri Law Review

This eulogy was delivered by Michael A. Wolff, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, at the funeral service for Judge Charles Blackmar, who died January 20, 2007, at the age of 84.

Pop Goes The Worship: The Influence Of Popular Music On Contemporary Christian Music In The Evangelical Church, Patrice Risi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Worship music has always existed in church liturgy. The early Roman Catholic Church reserved music for an exclusive group of composers and performers. In rebellion, the common people worshipped privately with prayers in their own vernacular, to secular tunes. Martin Luther's Reformation during the Renaissance solidified worship as a congregational experience and marked the beginning of the Protestant Church. As Europeans and Africans migrated to colonial America, two different streams of music culture developed with interplay between sacred and secular influences. These two streams converged in the 1970s at the point of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), which imitated the music …

Seeking Closure: Japanese Manga And Re-Imagining Word War Ii, Concetta Marie Bommarito

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

I discuss Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen and Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira manga (Japanese comics) series in light of theoretical approaches to comics and graphic novels that were developed by Will Eisner and Scott McCloud. Chapter one summarizes the fusing of traditional Japanese scroll art and Western comics that would create manga and describe the cultural conditions after World War II that drove this fusion. The chapter also describes the principle of closure that this form relies so heavily on. Chapter two discusses how manga have directly dealt with the repercussions of World War II; it is focused primarily on Barefoot Gen. …

Three Essays On Bankrupt Firms, Surendranath R. Jory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This dissertation analyzes the valuation of bankrupt firms in three essays: (I) The long-run performance of firms emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy; (2) An empirical analysis of the performance of equity offerings by prior bankrupt firms; and (3) Do acquisitions ofbankrupt assets benefit the shareholders of the acquiring firms? The first essay examines the long-run performance of firms emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Once a firm files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it has to file a disclosure statement with the bankruptcy court. The statement details the company's current state of affairs and the factors that led to bankruptcy. The company …

The Vessel: The Connection Of Pottery And Earth Consciousness, Maltiben Dave Turnbull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The Vessel: The Connection o f Pottery and Earth Consciousness, addresses the topic of Earth Consciousness through an exploration of the crafting and use of clay vessels among three indigenous cultures, from parts of the Southwest United States, and those from parts of India and Africa. Earth Consciousness is the awareness that the Earth is a conscious living being and that one is connected to the Earth through every cycle of one’s life. Myths of creation describing the existence of clay and pottery before the origin of human beings are present in these cultures, some of who also believe that …

Cross-Examination Earlier Or Later: When Is It Enough To Satisfy Crawford?, Christopher B. Mueller

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Tower Clock 2007, Tower Clock

Tower Clock Yearbooks

No abstract provided.

Head Lines Of The Extra Ordinary: Collisions And Miracles, Kathrine Leone Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

"Head Lines of the Extra Ordinary: Collisions and Miracles" is a language-driven 15-story fiction collection that experiments with intertwining the traditions of oral and written storytelling. Within these stories, ordinary people step up to the extraordinary because of an unusual occurrence that requires a moment of change. Several of the stories within the collection take their premise from actual news headlines. To lend cohesion to the collection, multiple stories contain one or more reappearing characters.

Building Cosmopolitical Solidarity From The Antigone: A Return To The Chorus, Rebecca L. Mccarthy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

“Building Cosmopolitical Solidarity from the Antigone.” takes an in-depth look at how the Antigone by Sophocles has been used by social movements and social/politically concerned playwrights, theorists and activists as either a tool for discursive and performative resistance, or as a way to reinforce status-quo state rule since at least the Enlightenment to present day. I argue that Sophocles’ characters Creon and Antigone are not ideal images for social movements who seek a cosmopolitical democracy. Rather it is to Sophocles’ Chorus and the Watchman that we must turn when proposing democratic cosmopolitanism. Thus, a new communication approach is proposed: a …

Projecting The Results Of State Smoking Ban Initiatives Using Cartographic Analysis, Donna Arlene Gilbreath

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Because tobacco smoking causes 430,000 U.S. deaths annually, wide-reaching smoking bans are needed. Bans reduce cigarette consumption, encourage cessation, protect nonsmokers from second-hand smoke, and promote an attitude that smoking is undesirable. Therefore, bans may prevent future generations from suffering many smoking-related health problems. The federal government has not implemented widereaching smoking bans so it falls on individual states, counties, or communities to devise appropriate smoking policy. To date, smoking policy has been determined by legislators, who may have conflicts that prevent them from acting in the publics best interest. However, this method of implementing smoking policy may be changing. …

Anesthesia And The Thermal Injury Patient: A Current Literature Review, John Hoscheid

Theses and Dissertations

Problem and Purpose: A major burn is one of the most devastating physiologic and psychologic insults known (McCall & Cahill, 2005). The 2007 American Burn Association fact sheet estimates that each burn center has approximately 200 admissions each year and that the other 5,000 hospitals admit approximately 3 burn injuries on average per year. The recent approach to move some burn care to the rural setting will have a major effect on the rural anesthesia practice. The purpose of this study was to enhance the Nurse Anesthetists ability to care for the burn patient.

Conceptual Framework: This literature review study …

Maybe, Kara Canal

Theses

Maybe consists of an installation space embracing three video projections, each presenting the viewer with a series of distilled moments. Every connected element in the installation provides an opportunity for engagement with the intangible memories of adolescence. The video pieces present fragments of narratives and invite viewers to fill in the gaps with their own memories, reflections and experiences. The point of view of the camera in each video positions the viewer as a voyeur—and as such the viewers are granted the opportunity to pause, consider and reflect, and hopefully realize something new about themselves while participating in the actions …

The Process Of Using Superplastic Forming To Create Medical Components, Daniel Lee Thomas

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

In the present work superplastic forming (SPF) is used as part of a process to create medical implants out of titanium. SPF is a forming process which offers many advantages over conventional forming processes. It allows for greater complexity in shape as well as the ability to work with difficult to form metals such as titanium which is a key metal in the biomedical field. SPF has been used extensively in the aerospace and automobile industry, however in recent years it has been shown to be a viable means in creating medical implants. The current process involves manipulating CT scans …

Confidence And Willingness Among Preservice Teachers To Use Technology To Support Learner-Centered Strategies That Address The Diverse Needs Of Students: A Multimedia Experience, Junko Yamamoto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the change in preservice teachers' attitudes towards using technology to meet the needs of diverse students as noted by the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*S) III. B. This research included two interventions: a research paper assignment and a hands-on practice using technology to assist students with special needs. The study took place within the coursework in an instructional technology class offered for preservice teachers. After the pre-intervention survey was collected on the 10th week of the semester, the instructor explained the research paper assignment for assisting students with special needs …

The Documentation And Preservation Of Art-In-Architecture Of Michigan: The Section Of Fine Arts Projects, Cheryl Ann Chidester

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The Section of Fine Arts’ Art-in-Architecture program created public and permanent cultural artifacts that expressed and recorded American beliefs, values, and stories for future generations. Many of these artworks have been saved. Sadly, others have been neglected, mistreated, or forgotten. This project focuses on The Section’s post office art installations in Michigan. The Section of Fine Arts, one of FDR’s New Deal programs of the Depression era, operated under the auspices of the Treasury Department. The program utilized symbols of the common man to tie together a nation’s scattered and often isolated communities, to promote a common heritage and purpose, …