Theses (2015)

The American road narrative, a personal story told through physical movement, is derived from a long line of written journey pieces from all around the world, which simply started as flat retellings of voyages. The personal accounts in these more contemporary American travel stories have either positive (redemptive) or negative (contaminative) outcomes, but what has more significance is the overarching theme of rebellion, and its place within normativity.

Photographs are a dominant medium in GQ magazine. Photographic content in this serial publication contains both men (generally shot from the female gaze) and women (generally shot from the male gaze). In this study I examine the representation of masculinity in images from GQ, drawing on photographs from different issues and historical moments, featuring a variety of different men. Specifically, this study seeks to understand the impact of these images on homosexual male readers. What emerges from this visual typography is a hyper-idealized portrayal of the male body. Through a media effects audience studies approach, this project demonstrates a correlation between reader interaction with such images and occurrences of Body Image Disturbance (BID) in homosexual males.

Many times in my own experience as an undergraduate science student, I've felt the disappointing feeling of inadequacy. This sentiment of inadequacy developed from both my inability to memorize and retain large amounts of material, and my mind's failure to conceptualize theory. Though I was able to perform well on assessments, I frequently was left feeling a sort of disconnect between content and context. Additionally, I often felt anxious when required to demonstrate my knowledge and experiences, as I believed that I didn't have the necessary skills to do so. Feeling that these were my own inadequacies, I never paused to reflect on the accepted practices of science education and the flaws within the system. Entering into a secondary science classroom in the fall of 2015 as a student teacher at Mount Alvernia High School, I brought with me the familiar teaching techniques that I had experienced within the science classroom. These techniques included lecturing, presenting theory, requiring memorization, and assessments that evaluated a student's ability to repeat facts and demonstrate knowledge that just scratched the surface of understanding.

During Fall 2014, I completed my general education practicum in a fourth grade classroom at the Amos A. Lawrence School, where I put my past four years of coursework into practice. In my classroom, I assisted in establishing a collaborative classroom community that values and supports diversity and delivered instruction through a variety of different methods to promote active participation and inclusion of all learners.

The United States currently faces a health crisis. Many of these underlying health issues are linked to the food American's consume. Large food corporations hold great power in determining what food is available and at what cost. The connection between health issues relating to diet and the role of food corporations in producing and distributing food leads to the question of to what extent are Big Food corporations liable for the foods they produce in a court of law. This study compares the precedent of tobacco litigation to food corporations.