The Value of Your Life by the Numbers Crowdfunded Medical Debt

For centuries, components of culture from Pacific Island States have been commodified in various forms of media within the cultural tourism industry. In recent years, though these media representations have shifted away from encouraging direct colonial exploitation, cultural tourism efforts still pose complicated questions about the amount of agency Polynesian individuals have how they are represented. While tourism is a significant sector of the economy in Pacific Islands Countries (PICs), it’s important to consider whether or not Polynesian people have the economic and social freedoms to influence how they share their culture rather than having it be offered up for colonial consumption. This paper will examine the economic and colonial histories of various PICs in order to understand what role tourism plays in Polynesian Island-State economies. Ultimately, while it significantly contributes to local economies and development work, cultural tourism often fails to offer individuals social and economic agency in sharing cultural elements

Continuum Model of Faceted Ice Crystal Growth in Cirrus Clouds in 1 Dimension

Ice crystals in cirrus clouds exhibit stable faceted growth and roughening which affects reflectivity. A numerically stable modelling system of partial differential equations representing the thickness of ice surfaces over time may assist in describing these features. A sinusoidal relationship between total thickness and water vapor deposition on the surface of ice crystals was observed experimentally; the modelling equation for this relationship was applied to the system in order to develop a one variable model. The developed one variable models continue to exhibit numerical instabilities prior to a Fourier Transform. Stable limit cycles of ice growth were observed in the two variable model

Culturally Responsive Education, The Panopticon, and Cultural Wall: A White Teacher’s Reflection on Identity

The dynamics of White teacher identity are analyzed through the tenets of Foucault\u27s Panopticon, as a physical and metaphorical structure for knowledge and power. The Panopticon illustrates the complex manifestation of White vigilance and societal position permeating even teacher identity. This study delineates a White teacher’s identity and the unconscious barrier, cultural wall, that impedes full consideration of their identity and their ability to connect with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study serves to add to current literature to promote dialogue about the need for better pre-service and professional development regarding reflective practices for teachers working with multilingual and multicultural learners

Impacts of Cultural Competency Training on Patient Outcomes

The collaborating provider is Malcolm Reed, OTR/L who works at an outpatient clinic with the Office of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Tacoma, WA. The outpatient clinic that Malcom practices in is a multidisciplinary rehabilitation setting that provides therapy services of PT, OT, SLP, and chiropractic care treating a wide variety of diagnoses. Mr. Reed believes there is a growing need for a strategy to provide effective culturally competent care at the VA, particularly for the African American population. The need to provide care to the increasingly diverse veteran population guided student researchers to conduct a literature review asking if cultural competency training for healthcare providers at the VA is associated with improved patient outcomes. Full text reviews of 10 journal articles revealed qualitative and quantitative data on patient’s perceptions of cultural competent care, 2 cultural competency training outcomes studies, and patient health outcomes related to MDD, diabetes, HIV, health behaviors, and medical adherence to treatment recommendations. Studies reveal that culturally competent practices can positively influence patient outcomes via the interaction between patient engagement in health promoting behaviors and provider interpersonal skills and sensitivity. Knowledge translation efforts consisted of synthesizing the data into a PowerPoint presentation to deliver to healthcare providers at a virtual interdisciplinary meeting at the Office of the VA in Tacoma, Washington. A live and recorded presentation disseminated results from the literature review and an infographic with evidence-based recommendations for best practice was provided to attendees and VA interdisciplinary email recipients. To quantify the efficacy of knowledge translation efforts, a pre- and post-survey was offered to attendees of the live presentation. Results indicate that participants improved in their understanding of the influence of culturally competent practices upon the healthcare outcomes in ethnically diverse populations. They expanded their definitions of cultural competency to include aspects of client factors not explicitly intertwined with identity, culture or background. Provider’s identified the role of interpersonal skills that build trust and improve communication as important elements of cultural competency. Providers expressed increased interest in accessing literature regarding the efficacy of cultural competency upon patient outcomes. Future recommendations include expanding studies that measure the efficacy of cultural competency trainings on patient outcomes in healthcare settings in and outside of the VA. Such studies should be large-scale and conducted on ethnically and culturally diverse populations. Effective knowledge translation efforts indicate that cultural competency trainings may improve provider confidence and stimulate provider interest in furthering their cultural competency knowledge and skills

Lady Liberty: Mother of Exiles, Breaker of Borders

Lady Liberty: Mother of Exiles, Breaker of Borders Rhea Shinde (University of Washington) Comments by Micah Beardsley (Puget Sound) Chair: Ainsley Feene

Big Parcels: Modernist Planning in Washington State History

In anthropology’s spatial turn, cultural anthropologists directed portions of their attention to the spaces in which human habitation takes shape. This article concerns the large planned spaces configured in the Modernist era of the twentieth century. Utilizing a fieldwork-based methodology that draws on the ethnographic toolkit, analysis compares and contrasts three large planned spaces located in Washington State: the former site of the Northern State Mental Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, the location in central Spokane at which Expo 74 was hosted, and the rural location of the never-completed Satsop Nuclear Facility near Elma, Washington. Our analysis suggests the singular use for which these sites were once constructed poses challenges for reconfiguring them to contemporary use. Notably, those sites with interconnections to nearby communities, and those that conjure or draw upon a broader social memory of place, have fared better in their path to the present

Supererogationism and Anti-Realism

Supererogationism and Anti-Realism Rylan Garwood (University of Washington) Comments by J.J. Alvarez (Puget Sound) Chair: Mei Pacheco-Leong Supererogatory acts are said to be ethically good but optional. One intuitive objection is that, if an act is truly good, then it should be obligatory. Contemporary defenders of supererogatory acts argue that this is not so, as morality would become too demanding. Additionally, the more common strategy is to argue there are non-moral reasons that may override moral reasons. In this paper, I will sketch some worries with these strategies. I will argue that, since supererogationists deny that moral reasons are overriding, their position is open to anti-realism. Thus, if one wishes to be a moral realist, one ought to believe that morality is overriding and that there are no supererogatory acts

The Trail, 2023-04-12

https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/the_trail_2022-23/1001/thumbnail.jp