Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Contentious Bond: The Mother-Daughter Relationship, Amelia Hapgood

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

It is a tale as old as time: a mother and daughter, struggling to understand and outdo the other, not realizing the uniformity between them. They are duplicates, coded with the same DNA. The daughter strives to become more than her mother, and her mother watches and witnesses everything that she could have become. It is a battle for power, to be seen and verifiable. They bicker, yell, and cry, often unable to find common ground. Greta Gerwig coined this concept perfectly in her film Lady Bird, where the featured mother and daughter cannot do anything but scream at …

Shifting Mindsets: The Second Wave Of Feminism In Brian Friel’S The Freedom Of The City, Jennifer Tenner

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In Brian Friel’s The Freedom of the City, Elizabeth Doherty (Lily) is a mother of eleven children who stumbles into the Guildhall, along with two young men, after a peaceful civil rights protest turns sour. During the hours spent in the Guildhall, Lily is subject to demeaning and oppressive comments. From the reporter Liam O’Kelly to Michael and Skinner, each of them makes quick assumptions about Lily without letting her speak, leading her to believe that she never had “an experience, an event, even a small unimportant happening been isolated, and assessed, and articulated”. However, over the course of …

The Reinterpretation Of The Round Shaker Barn: How Patriarchal Values Changed The Doctrine, History, And Architecture Of A Religion, Caroline Johnson

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

The Shaker Round Barn in Hancock Massachusetts has long been studied for its historical significance and insight into the life and beliefs of the nearly extinct religion. Within the discipline of art history, it is one of the only Shaker buildings discussed in entry-level architecture classes, portrayed to be the physical personification of the Shaker faith. The current narrative of the Shakers has simplified not only this particular structure but the entire religion, down to a few distinguishing characteristics: their name, which came from their exuberant worshiping practices; their founder, Mother Ann Lee, being the female reincarnate of Jesus Christ; …

Sui Sin Far Vs. Dehumanization, Hannah Swenson

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In 1882, Chinese immigrants were deemed by Congress to be a corrupting influence in America; thus the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, barring Chinese laborer immigration and the naturalization of Chinese immigrants. Their foreign cultural customs made them “unassimilable,” and their strong work ethic and acceptance of extremely low wages “rendered them an economic threat and thus targets of racial violence”. In 1889, the United States Supreme Court upheld the act, stating that Chinese immigrants were “‘a different race . . . dangerous to [America’s] peace and security’”. Subsequent laws further marginalized Chinese residents, depriving them of legal rights and …

Contradictions, Emily Orton

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

The Woman Song, Olivia Sorenson

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

The People God Made, Starly Pratt

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Thoughts On Silence, Gaps, And Saturdays, Elizabeth Webb

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Red, Elizabeth Petersen

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Peter Pan wears green. I would watch him on the static TV screen, promising him, under my breath, that I wouldn’t grow up. It was a sincere secret between Peter and me. I would be the Wendy who stayed faithful. He would come for me. But that all changed when the red appeared one day.

I'M A Tomboy, Elizabeth Boyer

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

That summer, like many other summers, my cousins went camping. I wanted to join them despite my family of homebodies. My cousins were a family of athletes, and I believed standing amidst them might prove me as tough. I said I belonged there.

Elegy Of A Student Mother: On Miscarriage, Emily Lefevre Smith

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Dear baby,

It is amazing how much a single word can change one’s life forever. For me, it was a word on a test that I read alone in the bathroom on a Friday night in October. I was kneeling on the ground, trembling and praying that, just maybe, I would get lucky this time. Deep breath, shaking hands reaching forward, eyes opening with fearful anticipation to see what fate had dictated the test would say.

The Onus Of Belonging: A Woman’S Perspective, Emily Richael

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

In the fall of 2022, the BYU philosophy department offered a new feminist theories course. After a YouTube video attacking the course received nearly eight thousand views, a professor from the Global Women’s Studies program offered to stand guard outside the door on the first day of class.

Time To Go, Sophie Graham

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

INT. ANDREW’S ENTRY WAY - EVENING

LAUREN (early twenties) puts a key and a silver, diamond-studded letter “A” necklace on the counter. As she starts to leave, ANDREW (late twenties) walks in the door with takeout. Lauren freezes. Andrew kisses her and puts the food on the counter. He stops and inspects the discarded necklace.

Front Matter

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

The Untold Story Of Amy Beach, Alissa Dorman Ruff

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Minerva Teichert Award 2024

Honorable mention

I discovered the music of Amy Beach by chance while deciding on a program for an upcoming recital. While perusing the internet for repertoire, I stumbled upon a piece of hers entitled “Dreaming” from her Four Sketches, Op. 15. I was instantly entranced! I fell in love with the Brahmsian harmonies, the lulling triplets, and the yearning melody on the spot. I was also shocked that, as a piano performance major with several semesters’ worth of music history classes, I had never heard of her before. Intrigued, I visited the library to find her …

Marimba Spiritual— Minoru Miki, Anna Judd

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Minerva Teichert Award 2025

Honorable mention

Marimba Spiritual (1984) by Minoru Miki is a staple piece of marimba literature that is highly regarded amongst marimba players all around the world. The male composer, Minoru Miki, often wrote his pieces with one person in mind: Keiko Abe. Ms. Abe is considered one of the most virtuosic marimba players and is an inspiration to not only up-and-coming female marimbists but to all young musicians pursuing marimba performance. Minoru Miki saw and respected what Keiko Abe had to offer, and wrote many pieces either dedicated to her or written for her to play. …

Full Issue

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Entr’Acte By Caroline Shaw, Elizabeth Thorup

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Minerva Teichert Award 2024

Winner

Caroline Shaw is one of the most prominent up-and-coming composers of our day, so playing her music felt relevant and exciting.

Feminine Fragility, Megan Bentley

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Mother, Megan Bentley

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Take My Joy, Abbie Calhoun

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Botanical Blue: The Legacy Of Anna Atkins, Zoë Kate Leatham

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

You Glow Girl, Kyli Fox Soug

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Katherine Philips And Aphra Behn: Differing Approaches To Male Authority Inside And Outside The Private Sphere, Sophie Hirtle

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Susa Young Gates Award 2024

Winner

The mid to late 1600s were a time of intense societal change in England as a result of the English Civil War and the abdication and restoration of the English monarchy. During this time of religious and political upheaval, those who had historically been silenced found more opportunities to speak up regarding recent changes. This was the case for Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn, two female writers who had their own distinct views on the recent political and religious upheaval. In past studies concerning these two women, there has been a trend of either …

Obstetric Fistula Prevalence Among Internally Displaced Women In Sub-Saharan Africa, Kyli Fox Soug

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Obstetric fistulas are rare in the West but common for women in the Global South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Fistulas are caused by prolonged or obstructed labor which forces downward pressure on the baby’s head and the mother’s pelvis. This pressure creates a non-natural opening in the genital region. Fistulas cause leakage of waste and therefore are often accompanied by unwanted odors. As of 2021, the prevalence of obstetric fistulas was 2 million women in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and 3 in every 1000 women of reproductive age in the world have a fistula. In the …

Wearing The Pants: Patriarchal Breeches Roles In Oroonoko And The Rover, Emmalee Collyer

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Oroonoko and The Rover, or, the Banished Cavaliers are set in very different locations with a variety of colorful characters. Oroonoko features a split plot set in Suriname exploring the relationships between commerce, slavery, and marriage; whereas The Rover features the collision of three women and a group of cavaliers at Carnival in Naples. But these seemingly disparate plays do have something in common; both are popular adaptations by arguably progressive playwrights. Thomas Southerne adapted a novel by Aphra Behn into Oroonoko, and Aphra Behn adapted Thomas Killigrew’s Thomaso, or The Wanderer into The Rover. Both Southerne and …

Our Mothers In Science, Alexis Bass

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Oh To See Me Like You Do, Tala Alnasser

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

I have no perception of how I look, and I mean this in the literal sense. I get complimented for the eyes and smile of my mother and the wit and curiosity of my father. It is not that I don’t believe in their beauty. I do—in fact, if I could tell my ten-year-old self that people find me beautiful, she might not believe it.

Mental Palace, Emily Orton

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

It was a beautiful mess—until you burned it all down and expected me to rejoice in the flames. Every small detail crumbles beneath my feet. Every reminiscent piece of the picture I could once comprehend. All of it, reduced to the ash of what once was. Lost. Gone. And now I’m expected to rebuild it into what they deem it to be. I don’t like this new feeling. The smell of it burns my nostrils. It’s unfamiliar, devoid of every precious memory that once held it together. The concrete and plaster now sealed by the alms of everyone else’s wishes.

Waiting, Kennedy Kleinman

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

I was six years old when a well-intentioned neighbor told my mom about a diet her daughter had started that she believed I should also try. She said, “It really works, you just have to wait.”