Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Delving Into Multicultural Literature With Inquiry, Juan Gonzalez

Honors Theses

This paper argues for the use of multicultural literature in the classroom, and puts forth a unit plan that uses critical literacy in an English 11 classroom, though it can be readapted to fit other grade levels. Bishop (1990) describes multicultural literature as a set of windows, that people use to view the experiences of others, and mirrors, that reflect and validate peoples’ experience, a core principal in this paper. Critical literacy is comprised of four dimensions (Lewison, Flint, & Van Sluys, 2002) that allows for analyzing literature in a different and meaningful way. The final part of this paper …

A Scholarly Fictional Narrative Portraying The Stigma That Surrounds Mental Illness And Its Place In Literature, Adrianna Robinson

Honors Theses

The purpose of this scholarly fictional narrative is meant to reveal the struggles that individuals with mental illness go through, not only in their personal lives, but also with their place in society. I lay out research around the stigma that surrounds mental illness first, defining both public and self-stigma in relation to mental illness. I also briefly mention Girl, Interrupted and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to show how authors have addressed the stigma that surrounds mental illness in literature in the past. The research is an important part of understanding why I write the fictional narrative the way I do, …

Tales From The "Bad Ras", Narisse Martin

Honors Theses

The life of a Resident Assistant is anything and everything except dull. From training to duty nights, to suitemate mediations and the end of a contract, each day is a story that most others rarely understand, if it is even believed. From these experiences came a collection of short stories, fictionalized accounts of what it is like to be a Resident Assistant in the average American public university.

For four RAs, the stories of their Residence Life incidents are day in the life for them, even if not the day in the life they expected at the start of the …

Impulse Graduating Presentation Of Erzsi Bernath, Erszebet Bernath

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Feed The Birds, Haley Ellis

Honors Theses

These birds, the gulls, crows, starlings, sparrows and pigeons here swarming the gallery, are each considered to be pests, whether due to their invasiveness as a species or by their sheer number. We see them in flocks in parking lots. We chase them away but we're still followed by them, and we find them to be nuisances. However, they would not behave this way if they hadn't adapted so well to our behavior. They live alongside us, and they live like us, always searching for the easiest way to a quick meal. It's the small, seemingly insignificant actions we take …

Precarious Positions Of Femininity In Contemporary Literature: A College Course Creation, Ireland Atkinson

Honors Theses

In an effort to understand college instruction, I created a collegiate literature course and its logistical materials. This process manifested in the creation of a syllabus, schedules, assignments, and a teaching philosophy statement. With the title “Precarious Positions of Femininity in Contemporary Literature,” the course is in an interdisciplinary format that explores gender and women’s studies with literary scholarship as its medium. All of the texts are not only written by female authors, but also address women’s issues and the precarious positions their femininity puts them in. With a focus on the intersectionality and the diversity of the female experience, …

Wild Freedom, Elizabeth Field

Honors Theses

Wild Freedom, A Fable is a work of utopian fiction that explores themes dominant in Western culture and offers more nature-centered, holistic ways of being. The fable is written from six different perspectives in order to explore diversity among gender, race, sexuality, ability, age, and other identities. This writing style was chosen because acknowledging and listening to diverse perspectives is essential to the creation of a just and equitable society. The ideas presented aim to break away from harmful dualisms dominant in Western culture, for example those that value culture over nature, the mind over the body, and the masculine …

The Laureate; 16th Edition, Nicholas Alti

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

The Effectiveness Of Music Therapy To Reduce Agitation Among Persons With Alzheimer’S Disease, Caroline Mazon

Honors Theses

According to the Alzheimer’s Association (2016), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is diagnosed every 66 seconds resulting in this disease being the 6^th leading cause of death in the United States. Among other signs and symptoms, agitation is one of the most challenging symptoms that patients and caregivers must try to control using nonpharmacological therapies or prescribed pharmacological treatments. Among many professions, music therapy has been used to specifically lower the levels of agitation in AD patients. Live music, “sing a long’s”, using instruments, and listening to a song of the patients’ choice have all been shown to reduce agitation behaviors …

1984: Book Arts As A Driver Of Thought Expansion, Kelly Brandon

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Taino Revival, Carla Sofia Zorrilla Baquero

Honors Theses

The Taino people were the first known inhabitants of La Hispaniola. They started a foundation of culture for the Dominican Republic that currently lives in the museum, El Museo del Hombre Dominicano. This museum is one of the most important promoters of our identity to the world, which means that how it looks and what is in it is ultimately how we present ourselves to the rest of the world. Which is why, as an effort to protect our identity and heritage, I propose this revamp and rebrand.

Reifying Digital Histories, Ed Ryan

Honors Theses

The use of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat is rooted in nowness. Most users rarely think about the long-term aspects of their relationship with the networks to which they belong, instead focusing on an ever-refreshing interface filled with fresh content. But what happens to this content when it is removed from its familiar digital context? Do the archived interactions, updates, tweets, and other pieces of our digital histories take on new meaning when placed onto a physical substrate? Using the form of the book and my personal Twitter archive, I have addressed my own digital history, looking specifically …

Amayra Short; Touch Of Shadow (Creative Writing, Fictional Short Story), Jessica Blandford

Honors Theses

Born in a small village near Del Marah, Teagan, abandoned by her mother, arrives on the steps of the orphanage. Her gifts express themselves in unexpected ways as she is taunted by those around her. Manifestations of her dreams become reality in the stone halls and calls the attention of the Reverend Mother, the woman responsible for purging the land from Darkness. Fearing for her life, Teagan is forced to leave behind the only life she has ever known. All the while the Forbidden God calls to her from the Shadows. Contained is a short story of fictitious work, any …

Western Michigan University’S Department Of Dance Marketing Plan, Cassandra Hartline

Honors Theses

The following report constitutes the formal marketing plan for the department of dance at Western Michigan University. This plan is intended to synthesize all of the marketing related information pertinent to Western’s dance department and provide easy one step access to this material at any time. The other purpose of this plan is to dictate the primary objectives the department is looking to accomplish through implementation of marketing tactics.

The first primary objective includes increasing visibility of the department of dance as a whole to both our primary and secondary target audiences; the second objective is to create innovative marketing …

Measuring Quality Of Life For Shanghai’S Floating Population Employed In Urban Renewal Sites, Jacob A. Watkins, Gregory Veeck

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Chinese internal migrants continue to struggle to obtain social and economic equity in some of China’s largest cities. Shanghai, China’s largest city, houses one of the largest floating populations in the country. As city officials and the CPC continue to spend on urban renewal sites in the city proper, new opportunities may be emerging for migrant workers. These sites contain hundreds on new commercial and service based businesses that could potentially provide stable employment for rural-to-urban migrants in Shanghai and influence migrant quality of life as well as provide the means for migrants to remain in the city long-term. This …

Wmu Interior Design Students Place At Msu Design Charrette, College Of Education And Human Development

Family and Consumer Sciences News

Allyson Dykstra, Shannon Stockelman, and Ashley Walters recently participated in the Michigan State University (MSU) Interior Design Student Organization’s Interior Design Charrette.

The Unifying Power Of Education, Keagan Potts, Jenji Learn

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

• Without Expertise or Experience: Philosophizing When Your Students Know You Know Nothing
• Segregated Students — Segregated Society: The Primacy of Education in Ending Hate
• Combatting Emerging Resegregation: Teaching Those in Power to Empower

Partnerships 2: An Archaeological Partnership With The Religious Of Niles, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project aims to build an active partnership with the religious community of Niles. Given the importance of Catholicism at Fort St. Joseph, the Project has reached out to one of these communities, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish, to explore their potential interest in collaboration.

Partnerships 1: Community Partnerships In Niles, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Community partnerships inspired by the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project have the potential for mutual benefi­ts when community groups collaborate around shared interests.

Good Looking In The Dark: A Narrative Across Three Mediums, Aimee J. Valentine

Dissertations

Good Looking in the Dark: A Narrative Across Three Mediums is a single story presented in three distinct formats: short story, stage drama, and graphic narrative. This project is an exploration of the creative process and its relation to medium, reader anticipation, participation and response. Reflecting my position that narrative meaning is made primarily in the dark space of the reader’s mind, the story selected for this project is one that takes place almost entirely in the dark. In Good Looking in the Dark, two strangers are locked in a closet and engage one another without seeing the other—just …

The Bended Tree, Graeme Shields

Masters Theses

The Bended Tree is a multi-movement, 40-minute cantata for chorus, organ, piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, violin, and percussion. It explores timbral, textural, and harmonic development within loosely a symmetrical form divided in the center by 30 seconds of silence. The text for the cantata stems from a series of Lutheran hymns and Biblical passages, set to original music.

In the interest of facilitating flexibility for performances, the movements are written so that they can be performed individually, in any subset, or in the piece’s entirety. The instrumentation is also variable: the core ensemble is comprised of chorus, piano, and …

Eudemonic Care: A Future Path For Occupational Therapy?, Charlotte L. Royeen, Franklin Stein, Alivia Murtha, Julie Stambaugh

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The core tenets of occupational therapy date to ancient Greece. Philosophers and physicians alike promulgated that quality of life, or “eudemonia,” is at the center of both ethical and medical concern and can be attained through healthful engagement in meaningful occupation. In more recent times, there has been a strong call to return to the powerful implementation of the eudemonic moral philosophy in health care practice, especially in occupational therapy. Searches of recent occupational therapy research show that integration of wellness initiatives into rehabilitative treatment sessions can have a profound impact on the physical and emotional healthfulness of people with …

Lori Sims, Piano, 3/23, College Of Fine Arts

School of Music Faculty Recitals

• LORI SIMS, Piano

March 16, 2017: Scholarly Speakers Series, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Trans*+ing Classrooms and Schools: The Pedagogy of Refusal as Mediator for Learning Under a Trump Regime

Putting Gender Revolution into Practice: A Workshop with sj Miller

February 27, 2017: Ellis Series Scholar Sj Miller Lecture And Workshop, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series: sj Miller

February 26, 2017: New Film Premiere For Department Alumni Chuck Bentley, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

What High School Students Want To Know About Music: An Information Literacy Instruction Course For A High School Music Camp, Michael J. Duffy Iv

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

This program will present the results of a case study of an information literacy course offered to high school students during the SEMINAR High School Summer Music Camp at Western Michigan University in July of 2016. The curriculum of the course is geared toward the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, the information literacy standards of the American Association of School Librarians for grades K-12, and informed by the MLA Information Literacy Instructional Objectives for Undergraduate Music Students. Teaching this course offers an opportunity to teach pre-collegiate information literacy skills, and to demonstrate the potential of our information resources in the …

Playthings In Early Modernity: Party Games, Word Games, Mind Games, Allison Levy

Ludic Cultures, 1100-1700

Why do we play games—with and upon each other as well as ourselves? When are winners also losers, and vice-versa? How and to what end do we stretch the spaces of play? What happens when players go "out of bounds," or when games go "too far"? Moreover, what happens when we push the parameters of inquiry: when we play with traditional narratives of ludic culture, when we rewrite the rules?

An innovative volume of fifteen interdisciplinary essays at the nexus of material culture, performance studies, and game theory, Playthings in Early Modernity emphasizes the rules of the game(s) as well …

Haunted Houses: A Directorial Exploration Of Expressionism, Jose Martinez-Chavarria

Honors Theses

The purpose of “Haunted Houses: A Directorial Exploration of Expressions” is to demonstrate the effectiveness of my directorial skills in staging a drama on stage with both an objective and subjective reality. The play Haunted Houses by Kathryn Schultz-Miller served as the chosen work whose staging would implement the common expressionist staging strategies of abstraction, simple and flexible blocking, nonrealistic lighting and a strong emphasis on visuals and stage images. The following thesis provides a detail directorial book containing the blocking, scenery, props and creative concepts used in this original production that allows it to be recreated if desired. A …

February 6, 2017: Buff Visit Next Ellis Series Event, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series, WMU Faculty Keynote Lecture: Allen Webb