Strange Stranger: A Visceral Skin Glaze Exploration into the Neurodivergent Sensory Experience

Sam Lucas Sam creates ambiguous figurative objects predominantly in clay. Her creative practice draws on her experience of being a neurodivergent woman today, by exploring aspects of her own unique neurotype. The visceral glaze exploration pieces were the precursor to the final forms for her body of work called ‘Strange stranger’ where she is exploring the weight and awkwardness of being in the body, the pain this alienation can cause, and ironically the beauty and humour that results from this diversity. The surfaces of the pieces were attempting to describe the interoceptive, exteroceptive and alexithymic confusion that can occur at times with incongruent sensory experiences. The skin qualities are of skin crawling, goosepimples and sweaty and clammy skin, as a bodily visceral responses to overwhelming social experiences. These objects may make you stop and stare, out of curiosity and inquisitiveness. You might be slightly confused, bemused, unnerved, and perhaps disturbed by their uncanny nature and relentless resistance to conform. Sam creates objects that are more about being than being seen. They are frozen moments in time and the position of the work is unfixed, both grasping out at the world and bound to itself, caught as if in a game of ‘cat and mouse\u27 yet with nowhere to hide from the inevitable and perpetual anxiety, only the humour can save you

A Comprehensive Approach for Addressing E-Cigarette Use in High School Students

The prevalence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among youth has increased at an alarming rate. More teenagers are falling victim to the adverse physical and mental effects of e-cigarette use despite the attempted implementation of various prevention and intervention programs. Teenagers are influenced to use e-cigarettes by their peers, social media, and e-cigarette advertisements. Schools and parents need to work together to end the teenage e-cigarette use epidemic. The comprehensive e-cigarette prevention program will seek to increase the knowledge of e-cigarettes, raise awareness of the harms of nicotine addiction, and build positive peer support influences. The overarching objective of this project will be to develop and provide an implementation guide for all high schools to use the evidence-based e-cigarette prevention program to reduce teenage e-cigarette use and promote healthier alternatives

Changing Prejudice Against Minority Groups: The Role of Self- and Group-Affirmation

According to self-affirmation theory, prejudice towards minority groups represents defensive reactions that individuals may exhibit to cope with threats to their ingroup. Affirming participants’ important values, reminding them of important personal or collective successes, attenuates defensive reactions such as prejudice and discrimination. A distinction is first made between self-affirmation, accomplished by recalling values that are meaningful to the individual, and group-affirmation, achieved through the recall of values important to an ingroup (e.g., family, nation). Inconsistent results were obtained in studies using self- and group-affirmation manipulations for reducing prejudice. The aim of this article is to examine factors that can increase the efficacy of these interventions. We argue that individual factors such as differences in value orientation can influence the effect of self-affirmation on intergroup attitudes. In contrast, the effect of group-affirmation on reducing prejudice may be hampered by cultural factors such as the normative context in which the intervention is implemented. Limitations of actual studies and future directions are discussed

Anatomy of a Book

Shows examples of the physical parts of a book for material culture analysis

Equipping Adult Educators for Successful Adult Training

Career and technical education or skilled trades training is a sought-after path to a new career or career advancement for the non-traditional student/adult learner (Bellare et al., 2023). However, studies have shown that adult students do not feel that their institutions understand their needs as adult learners and feel a lack of support (e.g., van Rhijn et al., 2023). Many adult learners have commitments that are more pressing than their education, therefore, adult learners may choose to go to trade school to gain a skill fast and earn a sustainable wage (Bellare et al., 2023). Further, although most teachers of adults in skilled trades are typically educated or certified in their field of study and have a passion to share this knowledge with those they teach (Burns et al., 2005), skilled trade instructors do not have a foundational understanding of how adults learn and adult students’ unique needs (Williams et al., 2018). This project examines adult learners’ needs and profiles adult skilled trade instructors. Utilizing adult learning theories such as, andragogy and VARK learning theory, this project creates short and quick learning modules for adult skilled trade instructors who teach in post-secondary institutions specifically in skilled trades. Adult educators would benefit by engaging with these modules as formal supports to help them be more effective teachers of adults in their skilled trades classrooms (Blake et al., 2023)

Stimming as a Form of Autistic Aesthetic Experience, Neuroqueering Landscape

Sam Metz is an artist based in Hull who creates work that engages with the concept of ‘neuroqueering’. They create sculptural installations that incorporate both film and animation while exploring body-based responses to ecology. As a neurodivergent artist and curator with sensory processing differences, Sam creates work in non-verbal ways that begin and end in movement and embodied interactions without recourse to traditionally privileged verbal and written forms of communication. Recently they created a series of work called ‘Porosity’ which looked at embodied sensory relationships to the Humber Estuary, with a focus on stimming and ecological perception. Sam, through their work with professionals aims to create a shift in perception away from negativity around stimming and neurodivergence. For instance, working with trainee medical students to encourage creative activities that support stimming. Yorkshire Sculpture Network 2022 Drawing as Stimming, Necessity supported research, 2021-23 British Art Network Emerging Curator 21/22 Nominated recipient of Henry Moore Foundation Award 202

No Longer On Fire

Capturing the poetic, lyrical essence of the ethereal universe, the pencil portal births whispers of the self in these Sourcedoodle collections, beginning as intuitive drawings and revealing their deeper essence through digital wizardry, healing art comes through for remembering the soul\u27s purpose. A journey to gently collect the fragmented parts of a broken self. Like little souls dancing, each image has a story, a capturing of energy, an anchoring of light intensity, a glorious weaving of fluidity and a playful curiosity. A permission to be whole & a celebration of source discovering embodiment underpins this spiritual quest for discovering existence beyond the unique perceptions of the mind, to bring wholeness and belonging to those isolated from a world of ‘normal’. - Bibi Ay