Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Will Anyone Play With Me? Building Resilience Through Community Play With Transgender And Gender Diverse Young Adults, Lee Lebeda

Expressive Therapies Theses

The recent increase in anti-trans legislature in the United States has negatively impacted the mental health of transgender young adults nationwide. Current research suggests that creative expression in a group setting may be uniquely suited to help transgender people combat the negative mental health effects of internalized anti-trans messaging. Based on this research, a community engagement project was designed for transgender young adult participants to explore resilience building through drama therapy-informed community play. Three play-based support groups, facilitated by a drama therapy graduate student who identified as a peer to the participants, were offered to transgender young adults in their …

Black Somatic Liberatory Practices: The Africanist Aesthetic In Psychotherapeutic Movement Observation, Ebony Nichols

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

This critical ethnographic qualitative study explored Black body-based healing practices and coping strategies used to resist and titrate the impact of racism and oppression. It also examined how Black individuals use their bodies to regulate their nervous systems to heal and cultivate liberatory practices. Grounded in theoretical frameworks such as Black Psychology, African Indigenous Healing Systems, Liberation Psychology, and Critical Race Theory, this research investigated the intersections of Black Aesthetics, Psychology, and the body through the lens of the Africanist Aesthetic. The study employed interaction analysis and reflexive thematic analysis to analyze non-verbal and verbal data collected from two focus …

Disaster Resilience And Normalization: Facing Facts, Naomi Zack Phd

Publications and Research

Disaster resilience requires acknowledgment and preparation to be normalized or integrated into normal life. But denial without preparation normalizes disaster by  leaving it out of normal life. In Disaster Resilience and Normalization: Facing Facts, Naomi Zack explores the normative and factual dimensions of a Climate Change Paradigm, through a global scope. Apart from the normative issues of who is responsible and who should pay for mitigation, the facts of Rising Average Earth Temperatures and more Intense and Frequent Disasters must still be faced.

But facing those facts has always been voluntary for powerful signatories to the 2015 Paris Climate …

09.15.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

• NIH Common Forms
• ORED Field Fest

Steiner And Jung On Esoteric Knowledge, Katherine T. Ziemke Mst, Jd, Phd Candidate

Journal of Conscious Evolution

For centuries, humanity has been accumulating complex knowledge, systematically building increasingly intricate mathematical and scientific models by accruing predictable circumstances or facts, often designated as theories or laws. This essay proposes that there is a hidden well-spring of ideas or knowledge beyond the methodical accumulation of such mathematical and scientific knowledge, from whence the source that inspired the basis of this knowledge might have originated. Carl Gustav Jung and Rudolf Steiner believe there is an abundance of such knowledge that lies hidden in plain sight and available for a vast expansion of human awareness. In this essay, I take a …

Biophobia And Pet Ownership: Can Having A Pet Mitigate Our Fear And Aversion Towards Nature?, Alexia Barrable

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Biophobia, which we defined as fear, disgust, or aversion toward natural environments or organisms, has received little empirical attention when compared to biophilia, despite its implications for human and planetary wellbeing. This mixed-methods study explores the relationship between pet ownership, biophobia, and nature connectedness among 373 English- speaking adults. Quantitative findings reveal that (M = 26.4) exhibit significantly lower levels of biophobia than non-pet owners (M = 30.1; U = 5179, Z = -2.95, p = .002, R = 0.27), although no significant differences in nature connectedness were found across pet ownership (U = 7033, Z = 0.31, p = …

Book Review Matthew Pearl’S Save Our Souls: The True Story Of A Castaway Family, Treachery, And Murder (2025). Ny: Harpercollins, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Like many works of the fiction genre Robinsonade (castaway drama and/or comedy on a deserted island or distant planet), Matthew Pearl’s well-researched narrative written in an authoritative archival prose, describes the actual fate of the Wandering Minstrel shipwreck and its survivors in 1887 in the Midway Atoll.

State Sexual Violence At Carceral Institutions In Iowa: A Position Paper, Chikako Inoue

Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics

No abstract provided.

Editorial Vol11/1: "Eyes Wide Open", Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam: Holmes Rolston Iii, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Interview With Dr. James Paruk, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Dr. Paruk is an associate professor in the Biology Department at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, in Standish, ME. He is a senior scientist at the Biodiversity Research Institute’s Loon Center for Conservation.

Postscript: A Historical Interlude, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Ravens fly in circles above our heads. Coyote peers from the hedge but dares not. Kachinas have not danced. The awelos tried but youth went their own way.

American Letters: H. L. Mencken, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

American Letters: H. L. Mencken. From Prejudices (Fourth Series). 1924 NY: Alfred A Knopf XI. On The Nature of Man (1, pgs. 197, 198), The Animal That Thinks.

American Letters: Will Cuppy, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

American Letters: Will Cuppy. From How to Become Extinct. 1941/1983 Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. How to Become Extinct (pgs. 102, 103) The Dodo

Bonding With Earth: Hyperbole, Metaphor, Or Fanciful Teleology?, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

At a mere glance, the notion that humans could (should strive for?) bond emotionally with an entire planet, Earth, sounds hyperbolic at best and psychologically unsound at worst. For although humans might be motivated to act in ways that pass for “bonding,” perhaps assisted by intentions and sentiments to care for a whole planet, the question remains: Which notion of Earth are they really investing all their emotions in? Important to psychologists would be to inquire whether incomplete, idealized, oversimplified, or fantastic notions of “Earth,” or bonding, turn out to be transference-love-like, platonic, overidealized forms of affect, which seldom develop …

Life Goes On, But Better, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

" … During a solar flare* An exchange between two telegraph operators during the Carrington Event, the most intense solar flare recorded to date (September 2, 1859. Boston Evening Traveler)."

Table Of Contents September 2025 Vol11/1, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Self-Transcendent Experiences As Promoters Of Ecological Wellbeing? Exploration Of The Evidence And Hypotheses To Be Tested, Amy Isham

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

In recent years, much has been written on the role of different mental states and their potential to influence our way of thinking and, perhaps more importantly, the way we act. With the recent acceleration of environmental and mental health issues, alongside the limited effectiveness of existing interventions, an exploration of new approaches to deliver transformative change is required. We therefore explore the emerging potential of a type of mental state known as self-transcendent experiences (STEs) as a driver of ecological wellbeing. We focus on four types of STEs: those facilitated by experiences of flow, awe, and mindfulness, as well …

Poem: At Castle Island, Lake Superior By Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

"Here in my native inland sea/ From pain and sickness would I flee/ And from its shores and island bright/ Gather a store of sweet delight. [...] Far from the haunts of men away/ For here, there are no sordid fears,/ No crimes, no misery, no tears/ No pride of wealth; the heart to fill,/ No laws to try my people ill.

“Pride And Despair”: Denethor’S Struggles Against His Self-Woven Death, Ali Mirzabayati

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper examines Denethor, Steward of Gondor, as a central figure illustrating the interplay of pride, fear, and mortality in The Lord of the Rings. It analyzes how his Númenórean heritage, grief over the loss of his sons, and obsession with control shape his decisions, leading to passivity, mistrust, and self-destruction. Drawing on Northern literary traditions, including the Danes’ prayers to the Gastbona in Beowulf and Boethian reflections on pride and despair, the study situates Denethor’s downfall within a broader cultural and philosophical context. By exploring how his fear of death undermines judgment and heroic potential, the paper highlights …

Dedication, R. J. Lambert, Randall W. Monty, Sarah Warren-Riley

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

Shortly after this special issue had gone to press, we lost our friend, collaborator, and co-editor, Ms. Kymberly Morquecho.

Introduction To Special Issue On Unjust “Permission Structures” In/As Technical Communication, R. J. Lambert, Randall W. Monty, Kymberly O. Morquecho, Sarah Warren-Riley

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

The term “permission structure” has been popularized to describe a specific rhetorical strategy whereby communicators use the audience's existing beliefs and values to persuade them to change their original positions and/or take actions they otherwise would not. Even in its popular uses, permission structuring may be usefully understood as a form of technical communication by which audiences are strategically persuaded to accept or reject complex policy, scientific, and legal topics. However, scholars must resist popular jargon outpacing and superseding the use of technical concepts and critical discourse. Taken together, the seven articles in this special issue potentiate multiple critical, pedagogical, …

Illinois State Wind Symphony: September 14, 2025, Dr. Anthony C. Marinello Iii

School of Music Programs

This is the fifth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

September 14, 2025

Sunday Afternoon

5:00 p.m.

Wind Symphony: Marinello Iii, Conductor; September 14, 2025, Dr. Anthony C. Marinello, Iii

School of Music Programs

This is the fifth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

September 14, 2025

Sunday Afternoon

5:00 p.m.

Fishing The Trout Pond At Dusk, Hilary Russell

Appalachia

No abstract provided.

I Went Climbing Today, Chris Kalman

Appalachia

No abstract provided.

Song Of Air, Todd Davis

Appalachia

No abstract provided.

April, Noah Davis

Appalachia

No abstract provided.

Just Description, Elizabeth Bradfield

Appalachia

No abstract provided.

Loon Lake Hex Hatch, Michael Garrigan

Appalachia

No abstract provided.