Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Two Worlds And In Between: Becoming Goth In The Virtual Spaces Of Tiktok, Marlie Unger

Honors Projects

This research explores how the initiation processes of goth subculture have changed with the introduction and implementation of social media. Using a textual analysis of social media content from TikTok, this research identifies themes present in the virtual community that provide greater insight about how someone becomes goth and the factors which influence the transformation. I highlight the importance of subcultural capital in its creation of a social hierarchy and the goth status of members which fall under the categories of "elder goth," "seasoned goth," and "baby bat." Furthermore, this research examines how commodification, education, and gatekeeping influence the lines …

"Exploring The Cuckoo's Nest:" A Study On American Fiction And Mental Health, Emily Smeds

Honors Projects

This is a study on American fiction and mental health. The project discusses the short stories "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, "Careful," and "Where I'm Calling From" by Raymond Carver, and the novels One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. All of these works are discussed in how they relate to and portray the psychological disorders of schizophrenia, depression, substance abuse disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Still Lending You The World: The Toledo Lucas County Public Library In The 21st Century, Cade Clem

Honors Projects

This research paper focuses on how the Toledo Lucas County Public Library (TLCPL) has adapted to the 21st century, with an emphasis on the impact of digital materials and the Internet. This paper looks at these changes primarily through three lenses: official policies, services and programs, and internal culture. This paper uses quantitative data to determine if TLCPL has maintained overall growth in areas such as number of cardholders, customer counts, circulation, computer usage, and program attendance. These numbers show that, while not always maintaining growth, TLCPL has adapted quite well to the 21st century, bringing in record high numbers …

Still Lending You The World: The Toledo Lucas County Public Library In The 21st Century, Cade Clem

Honors Projects

This research paper focuses on how the Toledo Lucas County Public Library (TLCPL) has adapted to the 21st century, with an emphasis on the impact of digital materials and the Internet. This paper looks at these changes primarily through three lenses: official policies, services and programs, and internal culture. This paper uses quantitative data to determine if TLCPL has maintained overall growth in areas such as number of cardholders, customer counts, circulation, computer usage, and program attendance. These numbers show that, while not always maintaining growth, TLCPL has adapted quite well to the 21st century, bringing in record high numbers …

Love Is Real & I Just Had Some For Dessert: Legacies Of Communal Care & Compassion In Asian Diasporic Women's Food Writing, Miki Rierson

Honors Projects

In this project I work to recover influential yet often erased Asian American female immigrant chefs and food authors from the mid-twentieth century to the present, situating their contributions in a deep-rooted tradition of diasporic women who used cooking as a means of communal agency and care. Immigrant Asian cookbook authors and chefs have long faced internal criticisms from their own diasporic communities of either inauthenticity or engaging in “food pornography,” to use writer Frank Chin’s term—a line of criticism that Lisa Lau has elaborated on as “re-Orientalism.”Though these criticisms should not eclipse the works themselves, I discuss and counter …

Puritan Patriarchal Construction Of American Sexual Morality And Woman's Worth: A Daughter's Response, Savannah Mather

Honors Projects

While modern conceptions of Puritanism regard it as an artifact of American history, whose woman-killing theologies are long buried and forgotten, the bible in my father’s closet and the recently leaked Supreme Court draft to overturn Roe. Vs. Wade would argue otherwise. Cotton Mather’s favorite book Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion outlined both the ideals and detriments of the Anglo-American female identity. In this text, white women were taught to absolve themselves of the “nakedness” in dress Puritan settlers associated Indigenous people with. A woman’s ability to align herself to the ideals of chastity determined her own and her …

Data Ethics: An Investigation Of Data, Algorithms, And Practice, Gabrialla S. Cockerell

Honors Projects

This paper encompasses an examination of defective data collection, algorithms, and practices that continue to be cycled through society under the illusion that all information is processed uniformly, and technological innovation consistently parallels societal betterment. However, vulnerable communities, typically the impoverished and racially discriminated, get ensnared in these harmful cycles due to their disadvantages. Their hindrances are reflected in their information due to the interconnectedness of data, such as race being highly correlated to wealth, education, and location. However, their information continues to be analyzed with the same measures as populations who are not significantly affected by racial bias. Not …

Old Industries, Old Conflicts: The Significance Of American Epic Novels, Arturo Alcazar

Honors Projects

This essay focuses on three American epic novels: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and Underworld by Don DeLillo. More specifically, the essay examines the themes of ambiguity, redemption, good and evil, isolation, and violence as they are depicted in these three novels and what they indicate about America and its people and society.

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? A Marxist Analysis Of "Hamilton" And Its Relationship To The Broadway Economic System, Alana Ritt

Honors Projects

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mega-hit Hamilton: An American Musical has been both a critical and academic darling since its premiere in 2015. A historical retelling of America’s inception through the eyes of an oft-ignored founding father, the musical weaves together a diverse cast and hip-hop musical stylings in order to tell the story of “America then, as told by America now.” While many critics and scholars alike have praised the musical for putting an exciting and accessible twist to American history, others have argued that the musical is not nearly as “revolutionary” as it claims to be. This essay is designed to …

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? A Marxist Analysis Of "Hamilton" And Its Relationship To The Broadway Economic System, Alana Ritt

Honors Projects

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mega-hit Hamilton: An American Musical has been both a critical and academic darling since its premiere in 2015. A historical retelling of America’s inception through the eyes of an oft-ignored founding father, the musical weaves together a diverse cast and hip-hop musical stylings in order to tell the story of “America then, as told by America now.” While many critics and scholars alike have praised the musical for putting an exciting and accessible twist to American history, others have argued that the musical is not nearly as “revolutionary” as it claims to be. This essay is designed to …

"The Most Insistent Subject Of Popular Music": An Exploration Of Romeo And Juliet Music Adaptations And Their Expressions Of Modern Cultural Issues, Gabrielle Sheets

Honors Projects

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1597) has been persistently popular throughout history, especially in the modern production of popular music releases. People are often widely familiar with Romeo and Juliet’s usage throughout music. However, the reasoning behind the adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is relatively undiscussed. Romeo and Juliet is a leading symbol of tragic romance, an ever-present topic in popular music. Romeo and Juliet’s canonical qualities lead music artists to adapt the original play since it permits access to an audience that is familiar with the contexts of Shakespeare’s tragedy. This essay also provides a clear definition of “adaptation,” requiring …

The Soviet And American Wars In Afghanistan: Applying Clausewitzian Concepts To Modern Military Failure, Artur Kalandarov

Honors Projects

This paper evaluates the validity of three concepts from Carl von Clausewitz’s On War as they relate to contemporary military conflict. Utilizing the Soviet and American Wars in Afghanistan as case studies, the paper also offers a model for comparative conflict analysis by expanding upon Clausewitz’s culminating point concept. It argues that – despite limitations to Clausewitz’s theory of war – his concepts of culminating points in military operations, mass and concentration, and changing war aims provide useful insights into counterinsurgency military failures. Chapter One identifies the Soviet and American culminating points. Concluding that the concept of a culminating point …

Steam Vs. Stem: A Study And Program Proposal For Monticello, Micaela Deogracias

Honors Projects

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and art programs have long been struggling for dominance in the education system. This fight overshadows the fact there are synergistic educative capabilities when these two schools of thought are combined, allowing scientific and artistic persons to work in tandem and be exposed to a wider variety of problem-solving options and opinions. This study aims to focus on museum education practices specifically and how implementing STEAM programs (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) versus STEM could raise the perceived value of arts in society, as well as create a more enriching educational experience by …

American Dream Gone Wrong: Patricia Highsmith’S Dark Suburban Domesticity, Katie Liggett

Honors Projects

This thesis explores how Patricia Highsmith’s novels, The Blunderer and Deep Water, critique the American suburbs and show how the American Dream is more of a fantasy, than a realistic goal that people can achieve. Her novels reveal how the American dream becomes unattainable, or one’s pursuit of it somehow goes wrong, leaving their lives unfulfilled and them resentful. Furthermore, I argue that the American Dream, itself, goes wrong for some individuals, and the pursuit of this unrealistic Dream can lead individuals to trouble in their personal or professional lives. Ultimately, through my analysis of Highsmith’s texts, it becomes …

Where Woman Is Her Center: Interrogating Morality And Spatiality In The Works Of Joan Didion, Hannah Nicole Martin

Honors Projects

This project outlines new and expansive critical categories for discussing Joan Didion’s work through an interrogation of Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and earlier personal essays using an interplay of close reading and affect theory. This paper seeks to help move the critical conversation in new directions by shifting the focus towards an analysis of Didion’s unique spatialization of memory, articulated through her use of particular details. Divided in two parts, the first section of this paper discusses The Year of Magical Thinking while the second engages in a dialogue with the critical voices surrounding Didion, as well as …

The American Political Mindset: The Relationship Of Exceptionalism And Cynicism In Public Opinion, Anya Kaiser 3068310

Honors Projects

This research investigates the pervasiveness of both political cynicism and American exceptionalism within American society. Throughout history, there has been an interaction between the public's feelings of American exceptionalism and cynicism in the United States, starting at the nation’s founding and continuing into recent times (Chaloupka, 1999). As an inter-disciplinary and mixed-methods study, this research utilizes both a nationally representative quantitative data-set and a qualitative analysis of Allen Ginsberg’s (1959) poem “America,” a cultural representation of the relationship between American exceptionalism and cynicism. Using the American National Election Studies’ 2012 survey on trust in government (N = 5,914), I examine …

"This Aggression Will Not Stand": The Coens On Masculinity, Evan Kelly

Honors Projects

This research examines the constructions of masculinity within the films of Joel and Ethan Coen. Through textual analysis of three film, Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), and The Big Lebowski (1998), three key themes emerge: masculinity as performance, children and family as ego extensions, toxic masculinity personified, and children and redemption through rejection of hegemonic masculinity. Comprehensively, the paper seeks to prove the Coens uniquely construct masculinity as a performance which can override public policy and interpersonal prosperity. This research serves several functions. First, it recasts the Coens as cutting-edge progressive filmmakers, despite their protestations to the contrary. What we …

Free To Play/Pay To Win: Consuming Competition Through Online Gaming In The Neoliberal Age, Brandon Jones

Honors Projects

This project examines online gaming in the context of decades of deregulation and privatization. In the piece, I examine American culture’s infatuation with the value of competition through a historical and hegemonic scope. Throughout the piece, I make connections between online gaming and the illusion that the populace must compete for unnecessarily scarce resources. The goal of this project is to illustrate how micro-transactions in online gaming is not beneficial for the consumer, but rather coercive reinforcements of the spontaneous philosophy of competition prevalent in the Neoliberal age.

Found In Translation: An Analysis Of Popular American Film In Spain, Emily Dushek

Honors Projects

This research examines American popular film in Spain with the aim of understanding if and how removing a popular text (such as a film) from its original language and socio-cultural context and translating it for consumption in a different language and culture affects the interpretation of the film. The study delves into the very successful 2012 films The Avengers (Joss Whedon) and Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino) and uses textual analyses and comparisons of the original English and the translated Castellano Spanish versions of the films, specifically focusing on the translations, as well as analyses of film reviews and critiques written …

An Unchained Analysis Of Racial Tension In America, Moriah Angott

Honors Projects

Modern race issues stem not only from the past but also from a lack of understanding and empathy for each other. How we talk about race will not only inform how we are able to move forward as a society, but it will also say a great deal about how we are evolving as human beings. It is important, and has been recognized as such, that black Americans have the freedom to grapple with that past, to understand it, and to feel connected to those ancestors who suffered in order for the foundation of this country to be built. Is …

There Will Be Violence: A Critical Analysis Of Violence In The Works Of Cormac Mccarthy, Matthew L. Robinson

Honors Projects

This discussion of McCarthy’s use of violence in his western novels will focus primarily on the books Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West and No Country for Old Men.

Both novels feature antagonists who use war and violence to impose a new societal order. They fail in the end – they cannot succeed so long as there are individuals who refuse to conform to a widespread acceptance of violence that follows Judge Holden’s doctrine of war. In McCarthy’s novels, violence is used to impose a new order of existence. The opposition of individuals cause these imposed …

The Exploration Of The Health Care Systems Of The United States And Belize Including A Cultural Analysis, Laura Hughes

Honors Projects

Health systems throughout the world may have a profoundly different, or extremely similar structure. A well-known, industrialized nation, the United States has an unusual system, which Shi and Singh (2008) describe as “unnecessarily fragmented” (p. 2). Highly unusual for a developed country, this system does not guarantee access to medical care for all of its citizens. On the other hand, a small Central American country more known as a vacation hotspot, Belize ensures health care for all inhabitants of this tropical nation. How can these major differences affect health outcomes? What could these two vastly different countries have in common …

The United States And Spain: A Comparison Of Cultural Values And Behaviors And Their Implications For The Multi-Cultural Workplace, Jessie Kooyers

Honors Projects

As globalization becomes increasingly relevant, international business environments are more culturally diverse than ever before. Ethnic diversity in the workplace provides many opportunities for enrichment, however, many managers and employees remain ill-equipped for the task of evaluating, understanding, and maximizing the power of a multi-cultural workforce. Using social psychologist Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this piece seeks to uncover, define, and explore the key cultural differences that exist between the United States and Spain, specifically as they impact business engagements, workplace interaction, and intercultural management. It also provides some general guidelines for conducting cross-cultural negotiations between the two cultures.

Warning! You Are About To Enter "The Friend Zone": College Students' Experiences With The Friend Zone And Perceptions Of Fictional Characters In Friend-Zone Roles, Ashley Chapman

Honors Projects

People are put into “the friend zone” when they want to pursue a romantic relationship with a friend but find that their friend wants only a platonic relationship. With this research I (a) estimated the frequencies of heterosexual college students' having put an opposite-sex friend into the friend zone and having been put into the friend zone by an opposite-sex friend, (b) examined the emotions associated with these friend-zone experiences, and (c) explored college students' perceptions of characters navigating a friend-zone experience as depicted in two short video clips. Discussion focuses on results concerning the ubiquity of friend-zone experiences, the …

A "Peculiarly American" Enthusiasm: George Bellows, Traditional Masculinity, And The Big Dory, James W. Denison Iv

Honors Projects

A “Peculiarly American” Enthusiasm: George Bellows, Traditional Masculinity, and The Big Dory investigates the portrayal of masculinity in the oeuvre of the much-lauded yet enigmatic American painter George Bellows (1882-1925). Rather than relying on Bellows’ urban works for source material, a significant portion of this investigation is conducted via a case study of Bellows’ 1913 panel The Big Dory, a scene of fishermen pushing a boat into the North Atlantic off Monhegan Island, Maine that the artist painted during a sojourn on the island in the months after his involvement in the landmark Armory Show in New York. The …

Who We Are: Incarcerated Students And The New Prison Literature, 1995-2010, Reilly Hannah N. Lorastein

Honors Projects

This project focuses on American prison writings from the late 1990s to the 2000s. Much has been written about American prison intellectuals such as Malcolm X, George Jackson, Eldridge Cleaver, and Angela Davis, who wrote as active participants in black and brown freedom movements in the United States. However the new prison literature that has emerged over the past two decades through higher education programs within prisons has received little to no attention. This study provides a more nuanced view of the steadily growing silent population in the United States through close readings of Openline, an inter-disciplinary journal featuring …

"Play Along" With The Authors: Half-Life 2, Bioshock, And Video Game Narrative, Samy Masadi

Honors Projects

Applies narrative analysis to two story-based video games, Half-Life 2 and BioShock, arguing that such games combine traditional narrative elements in innovative ways. Includes discussion of narratology, ludology, and game narrative theory.

Kindness: Two Stories, Art Middleton

Honors Projects

Presents two stories that, while differing in style, share themes of identity and loss and explore grotesque characters at critical points of change and acceptance in their lives. "I Go There Too" is a bildungsroman piece; "Did I Live" is a work of historical fiction, set in 1865 at the scene of the burning of the Barnum Museum and featuring Anna Swan, the giantess of Nova Scotia.

You Gotta Move: Three Short Stories, Lori Freshwater

Honors Projects

A collection of three short stories -- My Daddy Could Have Been Mac Davis, Petrichor, Going to See the Blues -- set in the South. Though thematically tied through the symbolic importance of food and the senses, the stories feature characters of different ages and from very different backgrounds. Nonetheless, all three characters are faced with a point in their lives when they must choose to break free in a search for identity or to remain where they are.

Y = Mx + B(Eauty), Chris Dollard

Honors Projects

A collection of twenty poems that are thematically concerned with family dynamics and history, childhood, relationships, addiction and rehabilitation, wanderlust, mortality, and the concepts of ugliness and beauty. These motifs and themes are framed by a speaker who is coming of age in contemporary America. While largely informed by the free verse narrative, this collection attempts to form a synthesis of contemporary American poetic styles.