The literary kiss: gestures of subterfuge

A complex, polyvalent phenomenon, the kiss, once embedded in a literary text, is first and foremost a cipher to be decoded. Texts effectively expose its many-sidedness: not merely its potentially seductive power or ostensible expression of affection, but, no less compellingly, its risky demeanors, its capacity to establish dominance, to terrorize, to subdue, to belittle, to ingratiate, even to infuriate. Variously bestowed, retracted, avowed, disavowed, meaningful, meaningless, the kiss can become, as it does in the work so named by Kate Chopin, a multi-layered form of contrivance, the incarnation of tempting, albeit ultimately invidious, non-realities. Though, perhaps, not manifest at first blush, a careful reading reveals that each occasion marked by the “joining of lips” yields an odd sequence of awkward and oft deleterious, consequences: motion is superseded by motive, candor by disingenuousness—all in an unending slew of backward and forward slippages. Thus is engendered the metaphorization of an altered reality—structured all but exclusively upon the relentless deceits it proffers. Jubilation and despair come and go, as though wholly inter-changeable; acceptance and rejection, promulgation and rescission are converted into mere variants of the same gestures of ambivalence, if not of travesty. One might thus conclude that the kiss adopts significance worthy of note only as a metonym for and of factitiousness, vacuity and thinly-veiled distortion. Chopin’s script adeptly explores the multifarious comportments and consequences of the kiss: an act fashioned as a “weapon” of dubious value, as a tactical strategy, as a play-act borne of ulterior objectives and, which, as such, deftly prostitutes itself, willingly, nefariously. In the given context, the kiss-act lays bare the heroine’s ostensible “liberation” to be more imagined than real. Her would-be triumph over gendered subjugation exists, if at all, as but an ill-conceived romantic daydream—destined to slake gradually into a woeful destiny of loneliness and imprisonment. Chopin’s brief narration center-stages betrayal, challenges authenticity and valorizes consummate illegitimacy

Radio Continuum Emission at 1.4 GHz from KISS Emission-Line Galaxies

We have searched the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters (FIRST) and the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) 1.4 GHz radio surveys for sources that are coincident with emission-line galaxy (ELG) candidates from the KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey (KISS). A total of 207 of the 2157 KISS ELGs (~10%) in the first two H-alpha-selected survey lists were found to possess radio detections in FIRST and/or NVSS. Follow-up spectra exist for all of the radio detections, allowing us to determine the activity type (star-forming vs. AGN) for the entire sample. We explore the properties of the radio-detected KISS galaxies in order to gain a better insight into the nature of radio-emitting galaxies in the local universe (z < 0.1). No dwarf galaxies were detected, despite the large numbers of low-luminosity galaxies present in KISS, suggesting that lower mass, lower luminosity objects do not possess strong galaxian-scale magnetic fields. Due to the selection technique used for KISS, our radio ELGs represent a quasi-volume-limited sample, which allows us to develop a clearer picture of the radio galaxy population at low redshift. Nearly 2/3rds of the KISS radio galaxies are starburst/star-forming galaxies, which is in stark contrast to the results of flux-limited radio surveys that are dominated by AGNs and elliptical galaxies (i.e., classic radio galaxies). While there are many AGNs among the KISS radio galaxies, there are no objects with large radio powers in our local volume. We derive a radio luminosity function (RLF) for the KISS ELGs that agrees very well with previous RLFs that adequately sample the lower-luminosity radio population.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal (April 2004); 23 pages, 16 figure

The Kiss Catalog

The kiss catalog is a journal of all of the kisses, [she then whispers to me] was it all that we had in the apartment, or that we had total [referring to our apartment from the previous year, I nodded my head at this point to affirm that it was all we had in the apartment], that we had in the apartment, #sisterhoodofbullen211 [this was a hashtag we often used on social media when we did stuff together and posted about it], um, of the six girls that, uh, were roommates together freshman year, plus three other adopted roommates. Um, it includes details of MY first kiss and a lot of kisses of other people: boyfriends and stuff like that. Highly confidential, for girls eyes only [she laughs a bit at this part]. Uh, it’s some fun times, it documents all the emotions we were feeling, which sometimes you forget as you look back, so it was fun

Book review: the history of the kiss! the birth of popular culture by Marcel Danesi

How should we make sense of the iconic act of the kiss? How and when did it become a vital sign of romance and love? In this book, Marcel Danesi argues that the romantic kiss had its origins in the medieval court ritual. He aims to explore how the kiss emerged in the context of adultery and non-traditional amorous relationships. He takes the reader through medieval poetry and romance literature to modern paintings, movies, and pop songs, arguing that its romantic incarnation signalled the birth of popular culture. Catherine Hezser finds that The History of the Kiss is too light on analysis and lacks a convincing argument to make it useful for academic reading

The Kiss of Death

AbstractThe programmed cell death (PCD) of neurons is generally thought to be cell autonomous and not to require a death signal from other cells. A recent study by Marı́n-Teva et al., in this issue of Neuron, brings this theory into question and suggests that neighboring microglia actively participate in the PCD of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum

'The Kiss': The Obscene Off The Scene

Using William Heise’s The Kiss, from 1896, as a starting point, I created an experimental essay film, also called The Kiss, to expose and question our conception of obscenity. Comparing both films and the resulting reception of their audiences, and the history of obscenity, I strive to provoke a reflection on how our conception of morality affect artistic creation in today’s internet culture