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Articles 5581 - 5610 of 8611

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

A Wild Weekend In Sports, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2009

A Wild Weekend In Sports, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was one of those weekends of sports gluttony, especially if you were fixated on a television set, intent on catching every bit of drama you could find. And indeed there was much to find. Hockey, basketball, tennis, golf, NASCAR, baseball, horse racing, and who knows how much else if you have access to the worldwide network of sports channels available from every corner of the universe. As for me, this weekend was extraordinarily full of sport as I was a bit under the weather and looking for escape from the realities of physical irritation.

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The Death Of Nick Adenhart, Richard C. Crepeau Apr 2009

The Death Of Nick Adenhart, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For all us fans the opening of the baseball season is one of the first signs of spring. The teams have ended training in Arizona and Florida and are now ready for the long grind of the regular season. April is full of optimism and hope. It is the time of renewal, a time to begin again as an equal in the standings. Reality will set in eventually for all but the very best, hopes will fade, champions will be crowned, and then the following spring it will begin again.

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Dick's Fantasy Sports: Ncaa, Yankee Stadium, And The Cubs, Richard C. Crepeau Apr 2009

Dick's Fantasy Sports: Ncaa, Yankee Stadium, And The Cubs, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past few weeks I have heard and read a lot of very interesting things coming out of SportsWorld.

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Time For The Us To Get Serious In The Wbc, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2009

Time For The Us To Get Serious In The Wbc, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In case you haven't heard, and apparently many in the United States have not, Japan is the World Champion of Baseball for the second time running. No, they did not win the World Series, they won the World Baseball Classic, and for the second time in as many tries the United States did not make it to the finals. If this were basketball the outcry in the United States would be deafening. In fact, there is no outcry.

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Fsu And Bobby Bowden Are Mildly Slapped, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2009

Fsu And Bobby Bowden Are Mildly Slapped, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past several months Florida State University has been preparing to face the music in its latest athletic scandal. Now that the NCAA has made its ruling, FSU officials don't seem to appreciate the tune that the NCAA is playing. However, there is little doubt that many FSU athletes, with the proper academic counseling, could name that tune, although it might take more than three notes

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The Commercialization Of College Sports, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2009

The Commercialization Of College Sports, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

At the 2009 NCAA Convention in January the president of the organization, Dr. Myles Brand, gave his State of the Association Address. The subject was the dangers of commercialism in intercollegiate athletics. Reading Dr. Brand's address on the brink of the annual epidemic of March Madness is, to the say the least, a mind-blowing exercise. It is either the product of unfettered chutzpah or incredible naïveté. The tone and content of the address offer considerable evidence of each.

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A-Rod And Steroids, Richard C. Crepeau Feb 2009

A-Rod And Steroids, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Just when it seems that the drug issue in sports is about to slip out of the headlines, and just when it seems that the revelations about steroid use in baseball are coming to an end, something happens. This time an Olympic Gold Medal collector is photographed filling those massive swimming-developed lungs from a bong. Then the man who was going to remove Barry Bonds from the top of the home run charts and make any asterisks irrelevant is hung out to dry by another leak of confidential information from a sealed grand jury report.

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Super Bowl Xliii, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

Super Bowl Xliii, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is time once again to enter the days of the Roman Numerals when excess becomes the norm, hyperbole is accepted as standard English, and the rich demonstrate in no uncertain terms that they are, and you are not. It is also the time when the middle class, those 85% of Americans who identify themselves as such, do their best to wallow in excess.

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Objectification Of Children, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

Objectification Of Children, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

To say that sport is a central institution in American life would be a gross understatement. The obsessive hold that sport has on Americans is obvious to anyone who spends more than five minutes examining the culture. As we approach the mid-winter festival of the Super Bowl such an obsession seems self-evident.

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Race And The Bucs, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

Race And The Bucs, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As the nation prepares for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States (I have not seen that referenced as Henry Aaron's number), I am struck by how much has been written about the changes in American society that have prepared the United States for this moment. There have been articles about how the music industry has transformed the way in which Americans think about African Americans. The New York Times today has a piece on how American film has contributed to the transformation of American society. There have been numerous comments on the significance …

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The Bc$; Football's (Non) Diversity, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

The Bc$; Football's (Non) Diversity, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

There is something so right about college football this year. On January 2, nearly a week before the so-called BC$ National Championship game, there is a legitimate national champion already in place. On the 2nd of January in some bowl game somewhere Utah stomped all over Alabama. You will remember the Crimson Tide from earlier this season when they were ranked by several experts, computers, and their fans as Number One in the nation. We know that Utah is the national champion, not because they rolled all over the Tide, 31-17, but because they are the only undefeated team in …

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Decisive Moments In Fiction, Janae Corrado Jan 2009

Decisive Moments In Fiction, Janae Corrado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I approach artmaking with a sense of intrigue, portraying the human condition as seen through my own eyes. The results that surface are female forms combined with subliminal subjective symbolism--a fusion of my personal experiences and influences created through a partially subconscious process. I use this artistic process to help me understand myself and I dare my viewers to seek their own answers within the implied narratives I choose to paint.

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Fabric Architecture: Body In Motion, Daniela Cosovic Jan 2009

Fabric Architecture: Body In Motion, Daniela Cosovic

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Making a dress, creating an object for someone else is a simple act of giving to another person. I did not want to decide between an object to wear and one to hang on the wall, so I gave you both, and movement in between. Take a dress off of a wall. Wear it. Put it back on the wall. Repeat it, or not. There is balance in movement of an object between a person and the wall. It is this quietness of balance amongst the sound of movement that I am seeking in my work.

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My Mind Is A Hole In The Universe, Glen Gramling Jan 2009

My Mind Is A Hole In The Universe, Glen Gramling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today, science and creative fiction are closer than ever. The current unified theory of physics is bringing parallel worlds and infinite realities into the light of truth, proving that we have the creative power to build worlds with grandiose landscapes, uncanny characters, and miraculous events that exists throughout the vast plane of reality. My life experiences become a skewed alternate reality absorbing all of my thoughts, fears, and fascinations without control. As I glimpse into my own mind, I record the imagery of my imagined worlds and chronicle its events. I am not conceptualizing; I'm not asking what if. I …

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Deep Within, Caberbe Joseph Jan 2009

Deep Within, Caberbe Joseph

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a contemporary photographer, I focus most on light and color to bring out the uniqueness of my images. Photography is about lighting and I manipulate lights to raise questions in my viewers. Manipulating light is my way of being curious about how it may change mood physically and emotionally. Inspired by classical paintings, I have developed a body of photographs that can be admired by anyone. Although the main focus of my work is light and color, this body of work is also intended to empower those with little confidence in themselves and those who have been rejected, abused, …

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Dimensions Of Identity, Alice Kramer Jan 2009

Dimensions Of Identity, Alice Kramer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Imagination and fantasy environments created by writers and artists have always drawn people into their worlds. Advances in technology have blurred the lines between reality and imagination. My interest has always been to question the validity of these worlds and their cultures and to transcend the evolving virtual dimension by fusing it with what we perceive to be reality.

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Perceptions Of Cuteness And Beauty, Danielle Jones Jan 2009

Perceptions Of Cuteness And Beauty, Danielle Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Upbringing and psychological make-up inspire individual norms for beauty and cuteness. The mannerist approach in my work is a product of the figural liberties found in cartooning, illustration and art history. By altering facial and bodily features, I relate the proportions of an infant to cuteness and innocence. However, I tailor the photographs to empower the subjects all the while mirroring trends in contemporary pop culture. I'm interested in themes of everyday life, vitality and emotion placed in obscure, imaginary or exaggerated venues. I fictionalize subjects of my reality to compel viewers to identify with and fancy emotions, circumstances, moods …

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Capes And Diapers, Henry Schreiber Jan 2009

Capes And Diapers, Henry Schreiber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

By fusing classical imagery with passions and vicissitudes of the contemporary world, I create images that are technically sound yet riddled with both overt and subtle humor. These paintings are intended to illuminate the futility of guilt and frustration we encounter in the struggle for identity and meaning by arousing laughter, indignation, curiosity, and finally recognition.

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Color Psychotherapy And Painting In The Satellite-Expanded Field, Katherine Urban Jan 2009

Color Psychotherapy And Painting In The Satellite-Expanded Field, Katherine Urban

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My work deals with the subconscious pairing of colors from an instinctively chosen color palette into molded forms. My emotions drive these pairings. As I visualize these different emotions, I ask the viewer to formulate their own perceptions and connections (both physical and emotional) in relation to my own. This allows the viewer to explore the emotional twists and turns of my imagination by their own unique associations in correspondence. Painting allows me to visualize the inner depth of my imagination. My work becomes concrete through the subconscious pairing of colors and shapes and evolves with viewer interaction.

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Cuban Jam Sessions In Miniature: A Novel In Tracks, Diego Rincon Jan 2009

Cuban Jam Sessions In Miniature: A Novel In Tracks, Diego Rincon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is the collection of a novel, Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature: A Novel in Tracks, and an embedded short story, "Shred Me Like the Cheese You Use to Make Buñuelos." The novel tells the story of Palomino Mondragón, a Colombian mercenary who has arrived in New York after losing his leg to a mortar in Korea. Reclusive, obsessive and passionate, Palomino has reinvented himself as a mambo musician and has fallen in love with Etiwanda, a dancer at the nightclub in which he plays—but he cannot bring himself to declare his love to her. His life changes when he …

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Crashing Against The Wood, Jessica Ryan Jan 2009

Crashing Against The Wood, Jessica Ryan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this collection of short stories, the characters struggle to recover equilibrium in their lives that have been turned upside down. They struggle against one another, against change, and against the loss of loved ones. No matter what bonds hold the characters together, the underlying tension of change and reaction permeates their relationships and threatens what they know to be true. A theme of discontent runs in these stories. Something beneath the surface is not right, and the characters struggle to climb out of the mess their lives have become. Some of them have been stifled, like the narrator in …

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Middle Ground: A Novella And Collection Of Short Stories, Laurie Uttich Jan 2009

Middle Ground: A Novella And Collection Of Short Stories, Laurie Uttich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This collection of fiction - a novella and a collection of short stories - focuses on the commonality of the human condition. While we create separations for ourselves by focusing on distinctions such as, religion, class, gender, and race, we are, I believe, spiritual beings sharing a human experience. My work tends to explore these distinctions and our motivations for embracing them. In the novella, Middle Ground, two sisters in alternating narrative voices share the story of their parents' struggles with separation, sobriety and cancer. Their voices, as distinct as their perspectives, explore the landscape of a family, the borders …

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The Flats Of Paradise, Pamela Baker Jan 2009

The Flats Of Paradise, Pamela Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Flats of Paradise is a collection of personal essays exploring the interconnectivity between humans, land, identity, and belonging. Through the perspective of my experience as a nurse, these essays probe the friction created when borders rub up against each and the comforts gained through connections both spiritual and physical. "Avoiding the Stepladder," for example, examines a near lightning strike on a mountain in relation to the potential pain caused by the human need for touch. "The Dust Trail," a meditation upon various traditions for disposing of the placenta (burning vs. burying), also looks at the problem of finding home …

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Of Gods, Beasts And Men: Digital Sculpture, Brian Salisbury Jan 2009

Of Gods, Beasts And Men: Digital Sculpture, Brian Salisbury

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My most recent body of work explores the synthesis of my influences, interests and life experiences into imagery of common themes: The expression of dynamic figures and forms and colors in digital 3d space, cinematic composition, and vibrant color, expressed through a semblance of Aztec culture and wildlife. My sculptures of nature and ancient culture are created using contemporary digital art creation technologies and techniques. I examine the art and religion of the Aztecs and the universal search for understanding and purpose in the world and the forces around and beyond us.

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The Natural Order Of Things: Stories, Gene Albamonte Jan 2009

The Natural Order Of Things: Stories, Gene Albamonte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Natural Order of Things is a collection of unrelated short stories that focuses on the love, despair, happiness and sorrow prevalent in relationships. Another common thread is how the lack of communication between family, friends and lovers can create burdens that, in some cases, are simply too heavy to lift. Some of the stories have a humorous voice while dealing with those burdens. Many others deal with the complexities of those emotions in a more somber tone. These fictional stories are completely unrelated to each other, and yet they all aim to shine a light on life's conflicts--and on …

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Fuzzy Robots: Utopian Ideals, The Immortalization Of Youth, And The Innocence Of Childhood., Elizabeth Caps Jan 2009

Fuzzy Robots: Utopian Ideals, The Immortalization Of Youth, And The Innocence Of Childhood., Elizabeth Caps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ideals, aesthetics, forms, and concepts have resurfaced in various cultures throughout time. I am interested in the idea of the recurring themes that exist in the collective unconscious. I create monolithic figures that exhibit these archetypal qualities. Heavily influenced by film, animation, video games, and contemporary art, I create figures and paintings that are manifestations of my subconscious. These manifestations personify utopian ideals, the immortalization of youth, and the innocence of childhood.

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A Burkean Method For Analyzing Environmental Rhetoric, John Stewart Jan 2009

A Burkean Method For Analyzing Environmental Rhetoric, John Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The work of Kenneth Burke provides a method of rhetorical analysis that is useful in terms of bringing features of texts to the surface that are not readily apparent, such as how they produce identification in their audiences, and in revealing rhetorical factors related to but outside the text, for example the authors' motives. Burke's work is wide-ranging and open to many interpretations, so it can be difficult to apply. This study condenses some of his more important concepts into a simplified method which has several practical applications; it focuses on how Burke's theories can be applied to analyzing environmental …

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Of Spanish Cows, Wild Boars, Unpredictable Weather, And Other Oddities, Lydia Sanchez Jan 2009

Of Spanish Cows, Wild Boars, Unpredictable Weather, And Other Oddities, Lydia Sanchez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this collection of connected stories, the inhabitants of the imaginary Mediterranean village of Marcenac struggle with daily situations that often take allures of a farce, simply because they occur in Marcenac. The stories explore the influence southern France's Roussillon region has on people, the way the proximity of the Spanish border and the Mediterranean shapes the inhabitants of Marcenac's daily lives, and the influence of the climate. Often, the Tramontane, the region's predominant wind, becomes a character. While some of the stories are told from a collective point of view, others reveal the inner thoughts of children and adults, …

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Fast-Track Land Reform And The Decline Of Zimbabwe's Political And Economic Stability, Ryan Groves Jan 2009

Fast-Track Land Reform And The Decline Of Zimbabwe's Political And Economic Stability, Ryan Groves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Once the breadbasket of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe has undergone a radical transformation presently characterized by ever increasing rates of HIV and AIDS, low population growth, acute food shortages, radically decreasing life expectancy, hyperinflation, and insecurity of life and property. Additionally, the growing brutality of political and electoral oppression has engendered significant domestic, regional, and international condemnation of the Zimbabwean government. News media, human rights organizations, and foreign governments have all voiced their concern for the rapid deterioration of Zimbabwe. This thesis analyzes the course of Zimbabwe's economic, political, and social decline between its independence in 1980 and 2005. While popular …

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Outside The Circle: The Juxtaposition Of Powwow Imagery And Cherokee Historical Representation, Dana Brumley Jan 2009

Outside The Circle: The Juxtaposition Of Powwow Imagery And Cherokee Historical Representation, Dana Brumley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the juxtaposition presented by the Eastern Cherokee's struggle to present an accurate historical representation of 'Cherokee' against the backdrop of the more lucrative 'Tourist-ready Indian', influenced by powwow imagery. The thesis gives a brief history of the contemporary powwow, discusses the debates surrounding its intrinsic value to American Indians as historically representative, and then examines the shared elements of Cherokee and powwow history. There is an analysis of the influence of powwow imagery on notions of Cherokee history and its correlation to the expectations of visitors to the Cherokee Reservation. Thus, the author argues that the …

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