Aphrodite

Aphrodite is a novella that tells the centuries-long story of an immortal woman destined to guide soulmates to find each other and fall in love. She has a unique ability to see special cords that anchor soulmates to each other, each one ranging in shades of pale pink and deep red, depending on how close the soulmates are to falling in love. The story jumps to different couples that the protagonist, Aphrodite, has helped over the many years she has been around doing this, including a couple from Eighteenth Century Florence, Italy, another about a pair of star-crossed lovers in the antebellum Southern United States, and the next, roughly sixty years later taking place in the Philippines. The final two sets of soulmates include one who finds love in Chile in the 1900s, and the other Australia in our present day. Aphrodite is destined to help others find love for what seems like eternity, but never find it for herself, which is an internal struggle she navigates as she guides soulmates to their fated love for hundreds of years. In this way, Aphrodite is most obviously a story about love, but it is also about the absence of love, that primarily manifests because of the obstacles that so often get in the way when trying to find it

That’s The Secret: It All Hurts

“That’s The Secret: It All Hurts” is a chapbook of disability poetry based on the daily experiences of the poet, who lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia, Complex-PTSD, and Type II Bipolar Disorder. It covers the lived experiences, including symptoms, triggers, and grief, utilizing a variety of poetic forms. Some of these include a “disjointed pantoum,” acrostic, free verse, and blackout poems using state disability application forms and legislation from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The material thus far is deeply emotional, showcasing the rawness that is part and parcel to the American Disabled experience. But it also aims to communicate that experience powerfully to audiences unfamiliar with such experience

Increasing Empathy in Healthcare Personnel Using Simulations

Healthcare personnel who demonstrate empathy with their patients are able to facilitate better recovery times and more efficient treatment plans. While empathy levels are difficult to measure, things like self-report scales and participants’ statements can help to gauge a person’s level of empathy. This literature review was conducted to explore how simulations can affect empathy, especially in healthcare personnel who provide for special populations like those who are affected by dementia, obesity, or poverty. The research concludes that having medical staff participate in simulations increases the amount of empathy they feel for that population, which then allows them to reflect that into their care plans. The simulations provide a deeper level of understanding, along with knowledge into everyday life with the condition

Courting the Court: Understanding the Power of the Supreme Court through the History of Abortion

Looking at the history of abortion in the legal and political sphere through the lenses of Rober Dahl, David Adamany, and William Lasser shows the views of the Supreme Court being predominantly shaped by elite policy scholars and the institutions of which they are a part. These views are nurtured outside the political mainstream and come into force when realignments bring new ideas and personnel into the policy crafting arena