Robin Van Meter, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science/Studies and Biology. Dr. Van Meter researches the effects of environmental pollution on amphibians and reptiles and teaches a range of courses including Applied Ecology, General Zoology, General Biology II, Conservation, and Wetlands Ecology. Her current scholarship investigates the effects of pesticides and fertilizers on juvenile leopard frogs….
Category: Volume XXV
Finding Bigfoot in Modern-Day American Society: How Sasquatch Has Become a Marker for American Consumerism
By: Adahne Hemp. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “Here Be Monsters” Stories of the “Wildman” have been interwoven in native North American culture for centuries. Over time, these legends have mutated from authentic folklore to fabricated first-hand accounts of hairy beast-like men known as Bigfoot, or Sasquatch. Seemingly legitimate reports and sightings of…
The Effects of Capitalism on American Health
By: Maggie Witham. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “The Raw, the Cooked, the Processed” The average American has been coerced into an extremely unhealthy diet by the dominating companies in the food industry. Bombarded with advertisements for fried, sugary, and processed foods, people tend to gravitate to these unnatural products and ignore the…
“Dark Humor” and the Facilitation of Hatred
By: Elizabeth Collins. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “The Power of Language Ideologies” 1. Introduction Although social media outlets such as Reddit promote participatory media practices which provide grounds for productive, democratic discourse, these sites also have the potential to foster discourses of hatred against marginalized groups, especially given the anonymity these sites…
Thought Control in Brazil and Parable of the Sower
By: Rian Van Tassell. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “Dystopia on the Page, Stage, and Screen” “Until one of them becomes a leader most will follow, or a tyrant most fear.” (Butler 103). In reading dystopian novels, one may begin to wonder why a character makes certain choices or realize that sometimes characters…
The Hypocrisy of the So-Called Individualist Teen: An Exploration of the Changing Theme of Individuality within The Faculty
By: Katherine Porter. Throughout modern media, teens have been depicted as constantly raging against the machine, sticking it to the man, and dodging from society’s harsh grip, all in an attempt to try and become their “true self”. One of the most popular themes represented in modern high school films is this idea of the…
Making and Breaking a Family in “Wiseguy”
By: Sarah Bowden. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “The Business of Organized Crime” Wiseguy is a detailed portrayal of the mafia as seen through the eyes of Henry Hill, who was part of a mafia for over twenty years. Between the everyday crimes and the routine killings, the mafia members had each other’s…
Defending Children and Infants in Medical Care Decisions Made by Their Parents
By: Elizabeth Lilly. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “The Ethics of Care” I. Introduction Most people would agree that parents always want the best for their children and would do anything to keep them alive, well, happy, and healthy; but what happens when that isn’t the case? What happens if a parent wishes…
The Difficulty of Being Good
By: Saoirse “No man-made law ever, no matter whether derived from the past or projected onto a distant, unforeseeable future, can or should ever be empowered to claim that it is greater than the Natural Law from which it stems and to which it must inevitably return in the eternal rhythm of creation and…
Dance in Nazi Germany
By: Caroline Cox. Written as part of the course “Dance History: Concert Dance” In the early 20thcentury, prior to the election of Hitler as chancellor in 1933, Germany built the roots for today’s modern dance style. With the sensation of Ausdruckstanz, or Expression Dance, prolific choreographers such as Rudolf von Laban and Mary Wigman got…
We Are Our Own Demise: the Risk of Ignorance in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Red Badge of Courage, and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
By: Annalie Buscarino. Written as part of the course “Intro to American Literature” “Don’t run no resk,” Jim warns Huck in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Ironically, both Jim and Huck, among other renowned literary characters, actively court risk into their own lives.The characters of the books The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain,…
Closing the Gap: The Positive Impacts of Women’s Representation in American Legislatures
By: Mai Do. Written as part of the course “Women in Politics” Gender parity in American legislatures has yet to become a reality. Less than twenty percent of members of Congress are women.[1]Even Democratic stronghold states like California, where some might expect better representation for women in the state legislature, has a state legislature that…
The Ineffable Self and Memory in “Mrs. Dalloway”
By: Emily Holt. Literature has the ability to act as a vehicle through which the effects of consciousness can be explored. The limitations and influences of individual consciousness inherently prove to be obstructions in the pursuit of a true connection with another being; sharing thought and experience within the context of what it means to…
The Inspiration for Social Change
By: Eman Simms. Written as part of the course “Renaissance Drama” For centuries, theatre has been a centerpiece for expression. Whether used as a means of conveying religious ideology, moral character, novel ideas, or just pure entertainment, theatre has become an antique artform that has gained exceptional appreciation as well as numerous amounts of criticism….
“Let Us Speak Our Love”: Romance and Eroticism in the Lyric Friendship Poetry of Katherine Phillips
By: Shannon Neal. Written as part of an independent study based on research conducted with Professor Elena Deanda, of the Modern Languages department, at the British Library in the summer of 2017. Seventeenth century poet Katherine Philips (1632-1664) is well known as foundational in the tradition of poetry written between women. Her lyric romantic friendship…
Senior Recital
By: Michael DeMaio. Senior Capstone Experience in Music Acknowledgments First and foremost, thank you to the professors in the music department—Dr. Schweitzer, Dr. Leupold, Dr. McCollum, Dr. Thomas, Dr. Wharton, Dr. Brower, Dr. Park, and Professor Winter—for believing in me and pushing me beyond what I thought was my fullest potential. A big thank you…
Rediscovering Empathy: Arguments for the Eco-Feminization of Traditional Masculinity
By: Dan Teano. Bridging the Gap What’s stopping man from getting closer to nature, practicing empathy towards animals, and considering their environmental costs to others (Tang and Luo, 2016) are both personal and societal forces. On an individual level, man thinks of himself as a “machine” in relation to nature (i.e. a lumberjack), and nature…
Featured Artist: Tatiana Baughman
From the artist: “In January 2018 I was very fortunate to join the Least of These Ministries in their missions trip to Barahona in the Dominican Republic. My mother and I, even my younger brother, were to document the work of the ministry as they provided food and sermon for the Dominican people in the…
Featured Artist: Rachel Frebert
My work is centered on abstraction and experimental practices through the use of unconventional materials. Dreams: Pastel on rolled paper. Experimental drawing developed in ART 350 Advanced Studio Drawing Spring 2018. Eternal Sunshine: Mixed Media-Acrylic Paint, Acrylic Inks, and Gel Medium on Canvas. This work was donated to the Annual Delaware Heart Ball to raise money for the…
Featured Artworks
“Four Heads” by Picabo French “Untitled” by Meredith Kenton
Contributors 2018
Volume XXV Sarah Bowden ’21 is a writer, English major, creative writing minor, and potential premed student. Her family is far less violent than the mafia family in Wiseguy. She thanks Michael Harvey, in whose seminar Business of Organized Crime she wrote “Making and Breaking a Family,” for teaching her about more than just organized crime. She plans to use what she learned…
Washington College Review 