The Sage in Harlem

Originally published in 1984. The Sage in Harlem establishes H. L. Mencken as a catalyst for the blossoming of black literary culture in the 1920s and chronicles the intensely productive exchange of ideas between Mencken and two generations of black writers: the Old Guard who pioneered the Harlem Renaissance and the Young Wits who sought to reshape it a decade later. From his readings of unpublished letters and articles from black publications of the time, Charles Scruggs argues that black writers saw usefulness in Mencken's critique of American culture, his advocacy of literary realism, and his satire of America. They understood that realism could free them from the pernicious stereotypes that had hounded past efforts at honest portraiture, and that satire could be the means whereby the white man might be paid back in his own coin. Scruggs contends that the content of Mencken's observations, whether ludicrously narrow or dazzlingly astute, was of secondary importance to the Harlem intellectuals. It was the honesty, precision, and fearlessness of his expression that proved irresistible to a generation of artists desperate to be taken seriously. The writers of the Harlem Renaissance turned to Mencken as an uncompromising—and uncondescending—commentator whose criticisms were informed by deep interest in African American life but guided by the same standards he applied to all literature, whatever its source. The Sage in Harlem demonstrates how Mencken, through the example of his own work, his power as editor of the American Mercury, and his dedication to literary quality, was able to nurture the developing talents of black authors from James Weldon Johnson to Richard Wright

Soil experiment

An experimental procedure was devised to investigate the effects of the lunar environment on the physical properties of simulated lunar soil. The test equipment and materials used consisted of a vacuum chamber, direct shear tester, static penetrometer, and fine grained basalt as the simulant. The vacuum chamber provides a medium for applying the environmental conditions to the soil experiment with the exception of gravity. The shear strength parameters are determined by the direct shear test. Strength parameters and the resistance of soil penetration by static loading will be investigated by the use of a static cone penetrometer. In order to conduct a soil experiment without going to the moon, a suitable lunar simulant must be selected. This simulant must resemble lunar soil in both composition and particle size. The soil that most resembles actual lunar soil is basalt. The soil parameters, as determined by the testing apparatus, will be used as design criteria for lunar soil engagement equipment

Hemingway and the Black Renaissance

A shared language of American modernism : Hemingway and the Black Renaissance / Mark P. Ott -- Hemingway's lost presence in Baldwin's Parisian room : mapping Black Renaissance geographies / Joshua Parker -- Hemingway and Wright, Baldwin and Ellison / Charles Scruggs -- Knowing the recombining : Ellison's ways of understanding Hemingway / Joseph Fruscione -- Free men in Paris : the shared sensibility of James Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway / Quentin Miller -- Hemingway and McKay, race and nation / Gary Edward Holcomb -- Cane and In our time : a literary conversation about race / Margaret E. Wright-Cleveland -- Rereading Hemingway : rhetorics of whiteness, labor, and identity / Ian Marshall -- "Across the river and into the trees, I thought" : Hemingway's impact on Alex la Guma / Roger Field.Item embargoed for five year

Forged in Injustice : The Gothic Motif in the Fiction of Ernest Hemingway and Richard Wright

Influence study focusing on the authors’ similar thematic preoccupation with dread and isolation in an impersonal world. Scruggs compares Hemingway’s use of gothic conventions, including unexpected violence, terrifying absurdity, and meaningless suffering, in In Our Time, To Have and Have Not, and “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” to Wright’s Native Son (1940), Black Boy (1945), and The Outsider (1953)

Looking for a Place to Land: Hemingway’s Ghostly Presence in the Fiction of Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison

Influence study on how each author adapted Hemingway’s existential theme of “a man alone” in their post-Harlem Renaissance writings. Scruggs focuses on their efforts to define their own independent places in American fiction through revision of Hemingway’s themes of violence, loneliness, and search for refuge found in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” “The Killers,” In Our Time, A Farewell to Arms, and To Have and Have Not

Recovery from the Great War: Pastoral Space in J. L. Carr’s \u3cem\u3eA Month in the Country\u3c/em\u3e and Ernest Hemingway’s Big Two-Hearted River

Compares Hemingway’s short story to Carr’s 1980 novel, noting similarities in each author’s use of the pastoral tradition to heal the psychological trauma of World War I. While both protagonists make their separate peace with the war, their distinct identification with place, Hemingway’s sacred river and Carr’s enduring English village, point to vastly different themes. For Carr, the redemptive memory of the past gives his protagonist strength to face the future but for Nick Adams the past points to a future haunted by menace and death

Charles (Eugene) Scruggs

Dr. Charles (Eugene) Scruggs, professor of French at the University of South Florida, speaks about the university in the early 1970s and the evolution of the campus. Dr. Scruggs also discusses the progression of the World Languages Department and the development and success of the university\u27s Study Abroad Program

A Feasibility Study of Just-in-Time Asthma Self-Management Intervention

Quality asthma care requires not only an initial diagnosis, but long term follow up care and education on long term control. Preventable symptoms continue to reduce the quality of life for chronic asthma sufferers and place an unnecessary burden on emergency services and the health care system at large. A mobile health (mHealth) solution is proposed to effectively improve outcomes for patients while ultimately reducing the overall burden of mismanagement on the healthcare system as a whole. The Just-in-Time Asthma Self- Management and Intervention (JASMIN) system provides a way for a patient or user to track, self-manage, and interact with his/her overall treatment plan and empowers the patient or user to take charge of his/her long term asthma control. The JASMIN system incorporates both hardware and software components in the form of a mobile hardware device and an internet-based application. A portable device designated Prototype1 was developed to meet the requirements to be utilized by a target population of young children and adolescents who might not own smartphones or mobile devices. An additional web based application was also developed for users including adolescents and adults. The device, Prototype1, incorporated a peak flow meter, push buttons, GPS location, particulate matter, temperature, humidity, and light sensors, as well as the associated hardware required for a real time connection to a network. Such a device enabled a pilot project in which real time data collection would be possible for users without smartphones or other similar services. The web application component of the JASMIN system would enable users including children, parents, teachers, as well as healthcare practitioners a system that could act as a record of adverse events associated with asthma, a digital journal that is updated automatically, as well as a resource for intervention as the need arises. Such a system may address persistent problems associated with improving care for chronic asthma sufferers by addressing the needs of being real time, having information on managing symptoms when that information needs to be presented, and provides a way for users to intervene and manage their symptoms when not in the presence of healthcare professionals

Charles (Eugene) Scruggs

Dr. Charles (Eugene) Scruggs, professor of French at the University of South Florida, speaks about the university in the early 1970s and the evolution of the campus. Dr. Scruggs also discusses the progression of the World Languages Department and the development and success of the university\u27s Study Abroad Program