Condom Distribution-Who is Benefiting?

I am confident that if we took the time to ask why so many teenagers are sexually active today, we would discover the solution is not a simple one. Shannon Kelley is a sophomore at James Madison University. She is majoring in Dietetics and wrote this essay in the Spring 2000 semester in GWRIT 102

Leadership to Address Sexual Education in Schools

This paper will take the strategies ofleadership proposed by Bennis and Nanus (1985) in application to sexual education in schools. The severity and significance of the sexual health of youth will be shown, with an emphasis on contributing risk behaviors and ideologies. An overview ofthe current state ofteenage pregnancy and sexual disease incidence will be included. Next, the factors that contribute to the disparities of sexual health in youth will be addressed. These factors include: race, parental and peer support, participation in a sexual education program, and current policies on sexual education. A discussion about the relation ofthe factors to participation in risky sexual behavior will be included. The paper will conclude by applying the leadership strategies ofBennis and Nanus to develop innovative and effective sexual education in schools. The four strategies proposed are attention through vision, meaning through communication, trust through positioning, and deployment of self through positive self-regard and the Wallenda factor. Applications for future health educators will be discussed to help assist in development of sexual education programs

The King\u27s Coral Body: A Natural History of Coral and the Post-Tragic Ecology of The Tempest

This essay presents a natural history of coral, an animal that was once thought to be a plant that transformed into stone upon exposure to air. According to Ovid, Perseus propagated the first coral when he rested the Medusa\u27s severed head on a bed of freshly harvested seaweed. When the seaweed petrified, nymphs gathered its seeds and filled the ocean with forests of coral (gorgonia). According to the lyrics of Ariel\u27s second song ( of his bones are coral made ) in The Tempest, Alonso\u27s corpse offers this stunning alternative to decay: a wondrous constancy whose ontological status is unclear. After considering coral\u27s taxonomic indeterminacy in Aristotle, Pliny, and Linnaeus, this essay historicizes coral in a wide variety of Renaissance contexts, including lapidaries, the global trade of Mediterranean coral to southern India, portraits of Christ as a child, and the garden sea grotto. Drawing upon these various contexts, the essay argues that King Alonso survives the post-tragic ecology of The Tempest due to a dehumanizing, yet elevating bond with coral

Amber, the Heliades, and the Poetics of Trauma in Marvell\u27s \u27The Nymph Complaining

This essay recovers the cultural and historical significance of Baltic amber and introduces a new, untragic model of female subjectivity and trauma in Andrew Marvell’s “The Nymph Complaining for the Death of Her Fawn.” Given amber’s impact in European economic history, I argue that its Ovidian origin in the Heliades’ tears is significant, for these trees ironically create a superior, imperishable resin that exceeds that of healthy, nonweeping trees. Renaissance poets who refer to the Heliades’ amber tears expand our understanding of the period’s configurations of mourning by validating symptoms of trauma often seen as unnatural or pathological

Getting on the Map: A Case Study in Digital Pedagogy and Undergraduate Crowdsourcing

This case study describes my experience implementing a digital writing assignment in a traditional undergraduate literature classroom at Fairfield University while in a pedagogical partnership with The Map of Early Modern London, an award-winning, peer-reviewed digital humanities mapping project housed at the University of Victoria. I argue that crowdsourcing opportunities can offer a way for faculty at small liberal arts colleges and universities to increase digital literacy among their students. I suggest that such assignments be framed with supporting undergraduate coursework. I then offer a series of preparatory steps and suggestions on how to modify an existing course in ways that meet student learning outcomes pertaining to digital literacy

New Sheriff in (Down)Town?: Business Improvement Areas and the Regulation of Public Spaces: A Case Study of Seattle, Washington

This study examines Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) in Seattle, WA. While the literature on BIAs continues to grow, interestingly, very few studies have been performed on BIAs in west coast cities, as the mass preponderance of the BIA literature body within the United States has focused on east coast cities. Thus, the first purpose of this study is to provide a comparative analysis of Seattle BIAs. This analysis describes the formation, organizational structure, geographic size, budget size, and service programming of each BIA in Seattle. In addition, this thesis also briefly assesses the accountability, the democratic nature, and the potential of BIAs in Seattle to engender or exacerbate inequalities within the urban landscape. The second purpose of this thesis is to examine Seattle\u27s largest BIA, the Metropolitan Improvement District (MID), and its projects, programming, and partnerships. I argue that that the MID is a significant apparatus in the continued privatization of public spaces and creation of pseudo-private spaces in Seattle. My analysis suggests that the MID increasingly has set up and rolled out innovative regulatory mechanisms through increasingly complex partnerships with the municipal government to manage downtown public spaces in an effort to remake the city for passive consumption rather than allow for active participation and appropriation. Those outside of achieving this goal are deemed problematic, seen as an anathema to redevelopment scheme and therefore must be regulated or removed. This exclusionary focus limits outside individuals\u27 - more commonly homeless persons - right to the city by truncating their ability to move through and make use of urban public space. In addition, the MID also is focused on regulating demonstrators and other participants engaged in political actions

Self- and Informant-Perceptions of Psychopathic Traits: Do Attitudes Predict Behavior Beyond Personality Ratings?

Recent empirical evidence suggests that psychopathic individuals are capable of accurately self-reporting on their personality style and externalizing behaviors; however, little is known about their attitudes toward those traits and behaviors. The present study examined the convergence of self- and informant-reports of psychopathic personality traits as well as antisocial and prosocial externalizing behaviors among a sample of undergraduate roommate dyads (N = 164). Further, analyses explored the attitudes toward psychopathic traits, including judgments of psychopathic traits as normal, socially desirable, and advantageous to the self or others, and potential variations in attitudes according to the rater’s own psychopathic trait severity. Results indicated moderate to strong correspondence between self- and roommate-reports of psychopathic traits (i.e., boldness, meanness, disinhibition). Within perspectives, psychopathy ratings were significantly associated with reported antisocial behavior (e.g., physical aggression) and prosocial activities. Psychopathy ratings from the reciprocal perspective, however, generally demonstrated little incremental utility in predicting outcomes. Concerning value judgments, boldness in particular was viewed favorably; however, only attitudes toward meanness and disinhibition demonstrated responsiveness to psychopathic trait severity, with those relatively elevated in such traits holding more approving views. Contrary to hypotheses, incremental utility of these attitudes was not generally observed. Overall, the present findings suggest that psychopathic individuals do possess insight into their core personality traits, but may have distorted views concerning the value of these characteristics

Classrooms and Minefields

Graduate school is a time of personal and professional challenges and changes. Engaging in personal reflection about your identity and your goals can help you make sense of these changes. Set and enforce your own personal and professional boundaries to protect all the parts of your identity; learn to recognize your own triggers and prioritize your own self-care. Create a set of lifelines—people and resources you can be vulnerable with and can turn to for both personal and professional challenges. You will need different lifelines to help with different problems such as identity whiplash or the many landmines you may hit. Recognize that each lifeline person will offer you a different set of responses