Two Poems

Poetry by Scott R. Honeycut

Beautiful Day. Pleasant Walk: Walking and Landscape in the Works of Eswick Evans, John D. Godman, Elizabeth Fries Ellet, and Bradford Torrey

Throughout the nineteenth century, walking for leisure and for spiritual endeavor in America correlated with the rise of literary romanticism. This burgeoning fashion of pedestrian travel, coupled with an impulse to experience the ever expanding nation, spawned a new and enduring subgenre in American letters – the walking text. Many scholars consider Henry David Thoreau and John Muir to be the century’s greatest literary amblers and naturalists; while their catalogs of walking literature are foundational, they are not exclusive. “Beautiful Day. Pleasant Walk: Walking and Landscape in Works of Estwick Evans, John D. Godman, Elizabeth Fries Ellet, and Bradford Torrey” aims to establish the importance of several underappreciated nineteenth century American pedestrians and landscapes. In addition to analyzing the development and importance of walking texts throughout the century, this dissertation also considers the geographies over which the authors traveled. The northern grounds of Ohio’s forgotten Great Black Swamp (Evans) and Philadelphia’s bucolic Wissahickon Creek (Godman), team with the southern worlds of rural Antebellum landscapes (Ellet) and Civil War battlefields (Torrey) to create a compelling map of nineteenth century America. Finally, through first-hand, authorial accounts this study discusses each terrain’s historical contexts as well as their current conditions

The Lush and the Barren: Nature in William Bartram’s Travels and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

“The Lush and the Barren: Nature in William Bartram’s Travels and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road” seeks to understand the connections between these two seemingly disparate texts. The works exist on binaries of the environmental paradigm – Travels presents a fecund landscape; The Road envisions a scorched one. “The Lush and the Barren” considers these works as being two faces on the same coin of the southern American terrain. Positioned between each text, haunts the environmental destruction of a small town in East Tennessee called Copperhill. Destroyed by copper smelting in the early twentieth century, the land surrounding Copperhill for many years resembled a moonscape. The desolate ground of Ducktown Basin looms and has become more than a razed corner of Tennessee; it possesses symbolic resonance and serves as crossroads between two moments in the history of America: Travels looks back beyond the age of written memory to a time when the land was flocked in so-called virgin wilderness, and The Road that points ahead to an apocalyptic future, where the countryside is completely destroyed and burned to cinder. If Copperhill provides a glimpse into two worlds, an echo stone from which the imagined and the unimaginable commingle, then two literary works, William Bartram’s Travels and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, function as mythical road maps from out of the garden and into the desert of our own destruction. “The Lush and The Barren” holds up these three landscapes and muses on the possible destiny of America

Dehydrin-Like Proteins in Soybean Seeds in Response to Drought Stress during Seed Filling

There is no information on accumulation of dehydrin proteins during seed development and maturation of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in response to drought stress. Our objective was to study accumulation of dehydrin-like proteins in developing soybean seeds in response to drought stress. A greenhouse experiment and a field experiment were conducted. In the greenhouse experiment, three treatments were imposed on soybean plants after beginning of linear seed filling (R5): well-watered (WW), gradual stress (GS) imposed before severe stress, and sudden severe stress (SS). In the field treatments were irrigation (I) and nonirrigation (NI) (rainfed) conditions imposed from R5 to R8 (mature seeds). Greenhouse results indicated dehydrin-like proteins (28 and 32 kDa) were detected 18 d after R5 (R5.8) in developing seeds from drought-stressed plants but not in seeds from the well-watered plants. In the mature seeds, dehydrin-like proteins (28, 32, and 34 kDa) were detected in seeds from drought-stressed plants as well as the well-watered plants. In the field, dehydrin-like proteins accumulated similarly under irrigation and nonirrigation conditions, with the first detection for dehydrins (28 and 32 kDa) at 22 d after R5 (R6). Accumulation of dehydrin-like proteins was maximal in seeds harvested at 43 d after R5 (seed physiological maturity)

Evolutionary Trends of the Pharyngeal Dentition in Cypriniformes (Actinopterygii: Ostariophysi)

International audienceBACKGROUND: The fish order Cypriniformes is one of the most diverse ray-finned fish groups in the world with more than 3000 recognized species. Cypriniformes are characterized by a striking distribution of their dentition: namely the absence of oral teeth and presence of pharyngeal teeth on the last gill arch (fifth ceratobranchial). Despite this limited localisation, the diversity of tooth patterns in Cypriniformes is astonishing. Here we provide a further description of this diversity using X-ray microtomography and we map the resulting dental characters on a phylogenetic tree to explore evolutionary trends. RESULTS: We performed a pilot survey of dental formulae and individual tooth shapes in 34 adult species of Cypriniformes by X-ray microtomography (using either conventional X-ray machine, or synchrotron microtomography when necessary) or by dissecting. By mapping morphological results in a phylogenetic tree, it emerges that the two super-families Cobitoidea and Cyprinoidea have followed two distinct evolutionary pathways. Furthermore, our analysis supports the hypothesis of a three-row dentition as ancestral for Cyprinoidea and a general trend in tooth row reduction in most derived lineages. Yet, this general scheme must be considered with caution as several events of tooth row gain and loss have occurred during evolutionary history of Cyprinoidea. SIGNIFICANCE: Dentition diversity in Cypriniformes constitutes an excellent model to study the evolution of complex morphological structures. This morphological survey clearly advocates for extending the use of X-ray microtomography to study tooth morphology in Cypriniformes. Yet, our survey also underlines that improved knowledge of Cypriniformes life traits, such as feeding habits, is required as current knowledge is not sufficient to conclude on the link between diet and dental morphology

Maternal Serologic Screening to Prevent Congenital Toxoplasmosis: A Decision-Analytic Economic Model

We constructed a decision-analytic and cost-minimization model to compare monthly maternal serological screening for congenital toxoplasmosis, prenatal treatment, and post-natal follow-up and treatment according to the current French protocol, versus no systematic screening or perinatal treatment. Costs are based on published estimates of lifetime societal costs of developmental disabilities and current diagnostic and treatment costs. Probabilities are based on published results and clinical practice in the United States and France. We use sensitivity analysis to evaluate robustness of results. We find that universal monthly maternal screening for congenital toxoplasmosis with follow-up and treatment, following the French (Paris) protocol, leads to savings of $620 per child screened. Results are robust to changes in test costs, value of statistical life, seroprevalence in women of childbearing age, fetal loss due to amniocentesis, incidence of primary T. gondii infection during pregnancy, and to bivariate analysis of test costs and incidence of primary T. gondii infection. Given the parameters in this model and a maternal screening test cost of$12, screening is cost-saving for rates of congenital infection above 1 per 10,000 live births. Universal screening according to the French protocol is cost saving for the US population within broad parameters for costs and probabilities

The Brahmin in Appalachia: Allen Ginsberg’s 1967 Visit to East Tennessee State University

In April of 1967, political activist and American poet Allen Ginsberg, infamous for his involvement with the Beat literary movement and his provocative poem Howl, visited the campus of East Tennessee State University during a tour of American colleges. Ginsberg was invited to campus by English professor and public relations director David McClellan. Ginsberg’s reputation as an open homosexual and his association with the counter-culture and anti-war movement proceeded him. As a result, the university’s upper administration grew nervous about the prospect of Ginsberg’s visit and promptly cancelled the event. The reading, however, still occurred at an off campus venue and the incidence has become part of the university’s literary lore. By employing McClellan’s unpublished, archival letters about the reading and its repercussions, my presentation will explore how Ginsberg’s visit exposed the conservative inclinations of Appalachia during in the 1960s, and how one visionary professor, under threat of professional disaster, attempted to improve the culture and intellectual life of campus during that tumultuous decade

The Education of Charles Wright: Kingsport, Tennessee, as Poetic Homeland

Charles Wright, the current Unites States Poet Laureate, was born in Pickwick Dam, Tennessee, on August 25, 1935. He spent his formative years, however, living on Old Stage Road in Kingsport, Tennessee. As a result, many of his early poems feature the landscapes of the city and the surrounding countryside. “The Education of Charles Wright: Kingsport, Tennessee, as Poetic Homeland” will visually explore several specific literary landmarks – his childhood home, Bays Mountain, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – as it seeks to orient the audience with the dynamic power of Appalachia in the poet’s youth. Wright’s poetry has evoked many views: from both difficult and introspective, to mystical and transcendent. By sharing images of Wright’s Kingsport alongside his verse, I hope to illustrate how small town Appalachia can take on poetic and even mythic qualities when couched within the context of powerful poetry. Finally, though Charles Wright was named Poet Laureate, he is still fairly obscure in his childhood hometown. By presenting in Johnson City, I hope to shed light on the role that the Tri-Cities played in molding the mind of one of the new century’s most important poetic voices

The Druid and the City: Exploring Cincinnati’s Ancient Tree Groves

The Druid and the City: Exploring Cincinnati’s Ancient Tree Groves Over the past 200 years, most of the forestland in the eastern United States has at one time either been logged for timber, cultivated for agriculture, or developed into urban and suburban spaces. Though millions of wooded acres still exist in national forests and preserves, very little of that land should be considered undisturbed or old-growth. Given these realities, it may be surprising to learn that pockets of very old trees, or groves, still survive in American cities and suburbs. A few of these remnant ancient groves thrive within miles of the burgeoning metropolis of Cincinnati. “The Druid and the City: Exploring Cincinnati’s Ancient Groves” will discuss the histories of two of these plots: Caldwell Preserve and California Woods. Using archival photos in concert with early written responses to each wood, “The Druid and the City” will trace the preservation of these unique terrains as it tells the story of the people who acted to preserve the places for future generations to study and enjoy. In addition to reviewing the past of these groves, “The Druid and the City” will explore their importance to Cincinnati’s local outdoor community as well as the forests’ connection with the greater Appalachian region