The Hierarchy of Motherhood in Adoption: Literary Narratives of Kinship, Maternal Desire, and Precarity

How have women’s (in)ability to reproduce, (un)desire to mother, or essentialist understandings of birth mothering, biomothering, or adoptive mothering been represented in literature? Narratives of adoption and mothering can trouble the boundaries of reproduction, reveal cultural anxieties surrounding the idea of maternal desire, and, thereby, invite transgressions of the definitions and boundaries of moth- erhood. Investigating the portrayal of adoption and mothering in literature opens up what Denise Cuthbert, Kate Murphy and Marian Quartly consider, “a much needed critical space for thinking about the family and mothering in non-essentialist ways which challenge the dominant script of family and motherhood” (412). When examining a selection of literary works—including Jackie Kay’s novella length poem “The Adoption Papers,” a selection of short stories from Elyse Gasco’s collection Can You Wave Bye Bye Baby, Zona Gale’s story “Adoption,” and the fictionalized memoir by Jennifer Gilmore, <em>The Mothers</em>—which characterizations of “mother” perpetuate, and which challenge dominant normative definitions of womanhood, and bio-essentialist notions of mothering? Structures of inequality and economics, lingering binaries of who can and should mother and the construction of “good” and “bad” mother can also place adoptive and biological mothers into a position of precarity. In deconstructing all these narratives, the reader can reflect on the tensions in the perceptions of adoptive and birth mothers and question attendant notions of attachment, suitability, and authenticity: in particular, the assumption of maternal desire for all women, the places of precarity for birth mothers and adoptive mothers, and hierarchical notions of “real mother.

“Look What You Made Me Do”: A Rhetorical Analysis of Taylor Swift’s Persona

Humans have found countless ways to create and consume media. Particularly, the world loves to consume music. With the variety of music available at any given moment due to streaming services and radio, musicians now must compete harder than ever for their popularity. An artist now must create something new and exciting that sets him or her apart from every other artist, highlighting the importance of novelty. One artist who used novelty as a key to her success is Taylor Swift. Using image and roles from the concept of persona and Standpoint Theory, I created a theoretical framework to rhetorically analyze Taylor Swift’s novelty throughout her career. I then selected three albums for analysis, and included four songs, at least one live performance, and one music video from each album to answer my research question: How do rhetors create novelty in the music industry? Through my analysis, I found that by setting up a simple persona at the start of her career, Swift proactively created space for her persona to change. Swift then was able to incorporate changes into her image and roles, making both subtle changes to show how she has matured and major changes to show that she is gaining new understandings of life and fame. Swift’s use of persona creates novelty in the music industry as she shows that musicians do not need to completely change who they are but can establish themselves through their rhetorical persona and changes to that persona

Don't take the high road : tartanry and its critics

An historically and critically sound - and contemporary - evaluation of tartan and tartanry based on proper contextualisation and coherent analysis. This critical re-evaluation of one of the more controversial aspects of recent debates on Scottish culture draws together contributions from leading researchers in a wide variety of disciplines, resulting in a highly accessible yet authoritative volume. This book, like tartan, weaves together two strands. The first, like a warp, considers the significance of tartan in Scottish history and culture during the last four centuries, including tartan's role in the development of diaspora identities in North America. The second, like a weft, considers the place of tartan and rise of tartanry in the national and international representations of Scottishness, including heritage, historical myth-making, popular culture, music hall, literature, film, comedy, rock and pop music, sport and 'high' culture. From Tartan to Tartanry offers fresh insight into and new perspectives on key cultural phenomena, from the iconic role of the Scottish regiments to the role of tartan in rock music. It argues that tartan may be fun, but it also plays a wide range of fascinating, important and valuable roles in Scottish and international culture

Catch a Rising Star, February 5 – 22, 2003

Catch a Rising Star showcased the 3rd year Performance Critiques and the 2nd year Dance Critiques, as a true collaboration of creativity. As part of their curriculum, each student was assigned the task of creating a showcase for their singing and dancing talents. For Catch a Rising Star, the Directors have taken the best of the best and created this extraordinary unique show, full of diverse musical styles and dances. Director: Rod Maxwell Choreographer: Stephen Greig Musical Director: Steve Thomashttps://source.sheridancollege.ca/faad_visu_uniq_theatre/1055/thumbnail.jp

Catch a Rising Star, February 6 – 23, 2002

Catch a Rising Star showcased the 3rd year Performance Critiques and the 2nd year Dance Critiques, as a true collaboration of creativity. As part of their curriculum, each student was assigned the task of creating a showcase for their singing and dancing talents. For Catch a Rising Star, the Directors have taken the best of the best and created this extraordinary unique show, full of diverse musical styles and dances. Providing a showcase for the talents of some of Canada\u27s most promising performers has become a tradition with Sheridan’s Music Theatre Department. A song and dance revue that is a reflection of student-developed work. Theatre Sheridan students go on to work professionally across Canada, the United States and on international tours, but right here in Sheridan Hall is where they get their start. Catch a Rising Star is a dynamic song and dance revue featuring work developed from the students\u27 self-directed projects. The students choose work to showcase their special talents or challenge themselves to perform to new heights. Either way, it is an enjoyable evening of electric variety. And when they\u27re famous, they were seen here first! Director: Rod Maxwell Choreographer: Stephen Greig & Gillian Saundershttps://source.sheridancollege.ca/faad_visu_uniq_theatre/1082/thumbnail.jp

Lost and Found in Translation

Panel: Lost and Found in Translatio