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Is a critical studies essay that I created during October of 2021. Within the essay, I discuss the events leading up to the 1986 case of Wygant v. Jackson School Board, analyze the supreme court decision, and consider the effects the decision has had on racial equity since. The case was to determine if layoffs of minority teachers was permitted by the Collective Bargaining Agreement that the school board had signed with the union. Ultimately, the case is a good starting point for understanding how racial bias in the courts can appear.
Is a critical studies essay that I created during October of 2018. This essay covers the basic history of vaccines and anti-vaccination movements, demonstrating the contiguous use of misinformation by anti-vaxxers and how damaging this can be on a society due to the reality of herd immunity. More so than ever now, we are all living in a world in which the forces talked about in this essay affect our lives daily. Even before the advent of the misinformation storm that we now live in, there was a clear and present danger to our society’s collective education in science.
Is a critical studies essay that I wrote during early April of 2021. My analysis of Maxine Kingston’s The Woman Warrior seeks to demonstrate the non-binary nature of her writing, using sections of her book to show the interactions of archetypes and their effect on Maxine’s life. I was interested in how a soul is considered by the text, as there is a regular polymorphic quality to the soul within the work. The dragons are a representation of this unknowable soul that we must all traverse, learning its hills and valleys, its crags and crinkles.
Is a critical studies essay I created in May of 2019. This essay explores the ongoing debate between essentialism and social constructionism via the memoir of Janet Mock in Redefining Realness. I challenge both sides of the debate by my use of this trans woman’s complex narrative. Janet Mock’s life cannot be defined by either philosophy, meaning that they are both applicable at certain times. I show just why this is and more within this essay.
Is a short essay in which I analyze an interview I conducted with a Biomedical Chemistry Researcher during my undergraduate education. I look at the professor’s understanding of other disciplines and how they relate. I show the need for expanded programs encouraging interdisciplinarity between STEM, social sciences, art, and humanities within universities. I demonstrate that the professor’s beliefs about knowledge are similar to physicists who were researched during the 1980s by anthropologists.
Is a short essay in which I dissect the delicate political situation of the Ukraine in association to the tragedy at Chernobyl. In recent years, Babushkas who lived in the exclusion zone before the nuclear meltdown have returned, defied the government’s wishes, and surprised scientists. The Babushkas are changing the way long term radiation exposure is understood, though they are still degraded by the Ukrainian government. Come read my take on it! [Link DOCUMENTARY]
Is a critical studies essay that I wrote in February of 2021. Having read The Tempest by William Shakespeare, I analyzed an ill-studied scene in the fourth act in which three Roman goddesses appear due to Prospero using Ariel’s magic. I looked at the spiritual consequences of this scene and its connection to the cyclical nature of colonialism. I posit that William Shakespeare was partially, even unconsciously, creating a dialogue about the colonizing practices of Britain and the ways in which Britain was colonized by Rome.
Is a critical studies essay I wrote in May of 2019. The essay covers the use of queerbaiting in popular media, other forms of misrepresentation of queer peoples, and modern usage by certain celebrities. I also discuss the implications of this practice on wider culture, paratext, and the internal lives of queer people.
Is a critical studies essay I wrote in February of 2021. Using Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih and the concepts of dominant hegemony/the subaltern by Antonio Gramsci, I analyzed the in-between state of the altern held by Mustafa Sa’eed in the above novel. I also draw ties between the state of Jews during the middle-ages in Europe and how this altern status is felt in the modern day. Mustafa Sa’eed’s life, detailed in the novel, follows this delicate status brilliantly, depicting the limited upward mobility of BIPOC individuals in Western societies.
Is a short essay in which I demonstrate how the futile and overly costly security theatre surrounding American society led to the implications we have felt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I use the concept of Medical Noir created by Joseph Masco to explain this interaction, showing how our world has similar elements to the genre of noir via the rampant misinformation and uncertainty present in all situations stressful for humans.
Is a short essay in which I discuss a legal case in which a white family maintained their prior adoption of a Navajo child. I connect this case to other ways in which Indigenous genetics have been used against these communities by white people.
Is a short essay in which I discuss the benefits and drawbacks to scheduling app/website Doodle. I use my experience of living in a laterally structured, anarchic community to help define the importance of consensus and ensuring the presence of everybody at decision moments in a society/community.
Critical Studies
Is a critical studies essay that I created during my last semester of undergraduate studies. It details the history of the White Eagle Lodge and takes a critical look at this obscure religious institution from Britain. The essay dissects how the White Eagle Lodge’s actions are consistent with older missionary movements and asserts that these modern cults that appropriate indigenous imagery and ideology for consumption by white people are ultimately a continuance of the colonial era into the neo-colonial era (where we find ourselves today).
A section containing my scientific work from undergrad that I feel most proud of. There are two papers: one concerning the conservation of salamanders in changing habitats and the other concerning management of riparian wetlands in the Western U.S.A. I also reflect upon my experience of science and how it continues to affect my life, my art, and my soul.
A biweekly podcast examining the diverse myths of our world. Join me, Echo Cain, as I tell these myths and discuss their cultural heritage their implications on a people, and what may have led a people to write the myths they did. We'll consider small folktales and epic poems within the same month, placing an emphasis on equity amongst story. We'll ask what myths say about gender, sexuality, race, religion, and class to better center our understanding of the ancient world and its effect on the modern one.
Listen... Do you hear the first word?
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