Racism in America's Churches: A Closer Look

A noteworthy but often overlooked social phenomenon in America today is the harboring of racist ideologies, conscious or unconscious, by church members who also hold to the Christian belief of love for all humankind. This paradoxical coexistence of logically contradictory ideologies is manifested in the segregation of church congregations, as well as in the personal lives of church members all over our nation, including Robeson County, North Carolina. My focus will be upon white racism, the exercise of prejudice and discrimination by white people toward people of color, particularly blacks. Certainly other types of racism exist, such as blacks toward whites, but I have chosen white racism as the object of my study in the interest of a workable topic and because of my perception of it as more pervasive and more readily observed than the other types. I became interested in this topic by observation of some white citizens of Robeson County who, while pillars of their respective churches, exhibited highly racist attitudes. I was compelled to understand how these people could justify their actions within the framework of their religious belief and commitment. Also of interest to me were the historical processes involved in producing segregated churches, particularly in the Baptist churches of Robeson County. My findings on these two issues are the main substance of this paper

America, the Beautiful! America, the Diverse!

Article addressing the diversity in Americ

Editing: A Plausible Career Choice

This project aims to explore the plausibility of editing as a career choice and what that career would entail by examining available research and by consulting with those already in the profession. Further, the research also seeks to examine the different methods through which an individual can enter the profession and the level of satisfaction professionals experience as it may correlate to the method of entry and to their salary. Other goals of this research include ascertaining which methods of entry prove most useful, along with what degrees would be most beneficial, if any. The study was conducted using a simple, twelve-question survey containing questions related to the overall research and was targeted towards editors working for different publishing companies. The study provides useful information about editing and the tasks involved, even though the results of the survey were not as complete as hoped due to a lower response rate than anticipated. With further research and more responses from people in the field, this study could provide even more beneficial information not only about editing, but also about the best methods of entering the field

Mr. Bayard Rustin: Let My Work Speak For Me!

An article on the life of Mr. Bayard Rustin, the father of the 1963 March on Washington

Diversity Within the Academy: Where Is the Balance?

Higher Education is experiencing demographic changes within its student populations. Students of color in the near future will be the majority at many colleges and universities. However, the hiring or inclusion of faculty of color at our colleges and universities are not mirroring the students of color population. If Universities, especially institutional leaders, are serious about the success of their students, careful planning, strategic change, and a real commitment are necessary

Feeding Your Mind, Freeing Your Mind

My presentation addressed how any man who has the desire and will to obtain a college education, can

Food for Success: Promoting Summer Feeding Programs for School Children in Robeson County, NC

Robeson County is ranked #1 in poverty in North Carolina, with 1 in 2 children living below the poverty line (Census Bureau, 2014). Thirty-four percent of children are living in food insecure homes (Feeding America, 2014). Food insecurity presents negative consequences for children’s health, behavior, and academic performance in school. Free and reduced lunch programs provide meals for low-income children during the school year, but not during summer months. Summer feeding programs aim to fill the gap, providing children with nutritious food over the summer. With such high child poverty and food insecurity rates in Robeson County, are current summer feeding programs meeting children’s needs? What barriers and obstacles do current and potential feeding sites face in their efforts to effectively feed children in Robeson County? To answer these questions, I conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with the Board of Education, Public Schools of Robeson County, current feeding sites, potential feeding sites, and NC House Officials. Findings revealed there are not enough summer feeding sites in the county to meet children’s needs. Barriers and challenges included food allergies, picky eaters, while some children asked for extra food to take home, parental involvement, promotion, and transportation. Possible solutions on how to resolve problems of access to summer feeding sites to help feed the children in Robeson County are addressed

Working In an Organizational Culture of Fear

To have an authentic conversation on how to effectively lead in a culture/climate of fear.Offer solutions to succeed and possibly dismantle the culture/climate of fear

Homeopathic potential of medicinal plants in fighting microbial overgrowth found in canine otitis

AbstractCanine otitis, commonly known as a canine ear infection, is a frequent issue inveterinary medicine. The condition is typically caused by bacterial or fungalimbalances within the microbiome of the ears. Although antimicrobial treatments forthese overgrowths are available, a veterinary visit is required, treatment can beexpensive, and antibiotic resistance is a potential concern. In fact, during a recentsurvey, 48% of owners stated that they would be willing to attempt an at-home,natural remedy using easily-sourced ingredients before visiting their local veterinaryoffice. The current project aimed to build on existing research to determine theviability of at-home treatment options for canine otitis, using supplies and methodseasily accessible and reproducible for the average pet owner. Several common plantswith known medicinal properties were used to create crude extracts and infused oilsusing household supplies. These extracts were then applied to pure cultures ofStaphylococcus pseudintermedius and Malassezia pachydermatis (two of the mostcommon microorganisms to cause infection) to determine whether each extractinhibited pathogen growth and to allow for comparison between the different extractpreparation techniques. It was anticipated that the crude extracts would have a moresignificant inhibitory effect than the infused oils but that both had the potential tosuppress microbial growth. Of all the medicinal plants tested, clove was the mostsuccessful at suppressing the growth of S. pseudintermedius but had no effect on M.pachydermatis. Meanwhile, when garlic was extracted at 36 °C for a 24 hr period, itshowed minor inhibitive properties when tested on both microbes. Future studiesmay include varying the concentrations of the extracts used and comparison betweeninhibitory zones of extracts against routine prescriptive medicine

Psychopolitics: Peter Sedgwick’s legacy for mental health movements

This paper re-considers the relevance of Peter Sedgwick's Psychopolitics (1982) for a politics of mental health. Psychopolitics offered an indictment of ‘anti-psychiatry’ the failure of which, Sedgwick argued, lay in its deconstruction of the category of ‘mental illness’, a gesture that resulted in a politics of nihilism. ‘The radical who is only a radical nihilist’, Sedgwick observed, ‘is for all practical purposes the most adamant of conservatives’. Sedgwick argued, rather, that the concept of ‘mental illness’ could be a truly critical concept if it was deployed ‘to make demands upon the health service facilities of the society in which we live’. The paper contextualizes Psychopolitics within the ‘crisis tendencies’ of its time, surveying the shifting welfare landscape of the subsequent 25 years alongside Sedgwick's continuing relevance. It considers the dilemma that the discourse of ‘mental illness’ – Sedgwick's critical concept – has fallen out of favour with radical mental health movements yet remains paradigmatic within psychiatry itself. Finally, the paper endorses a contemporary perspective that, while necessarily updating Psychopolitics, remains nonetheless ‘Sedgwickian’