An Assessment of Alternative Strategies for Increasing Access to Legal Services

Since the late 1930s, lawyers have argued that their services are not used to the fullest advantage by a large segment of the population. More recently, other concerned groups such as trade unions and consumer organizations also have become convinced that there is an underutilization of lawyers\u27 services, and that it is important to increase access to such services. As a result, attempts have been made to develop alternatives to the traditional methods of providing legal services that to date have proved inadequate in meeting the legal needs of the public. Legal clinics have proliferated, prepaid legal services plans have been inaugurated on a wide scale, and the organized bar has attempted to revitalize its lawyer referral services. All of this has been done, however, without a complete understanding of why people do or do not use lawyers. This Project examines factors said to affect utilization of legal services by analyzing the results of a national survey conducted between 1973 and 1974 by the Special Committee to Survey Legal Needs of the American Bar Association and the American Bar Foundation (ABA-ABF Survey). This analysis reveals that lawyer use depends principally upon three factors—the number of times a person has experienced a legal problem, whether a person owns real property, and whether a person has personal contacts with a lawyer. These findings are then used to evaluate the potential of several alternative legal delivery systems for increasing lawyer use. The Project concludes that closed-panel prepaid plans and legal clinics have the greatest potential for increasing lawyer use, though both may have only a limited impact

Combating Comprehensive School Garden Program Implementation Barriers in High Need Areas

In recent years, school gardens have taken hold in education curriculum across the country. Research has found that though these programs are becoming more popular, they are often implemented in areas of higher socioeconomic class. Low-income school districts struggle to find staff with adequate time to develop school garden programs. This project will help to open the doors for more rural areas to host school garden programs. Through an analysis of current research, compilation of a resource bundle, and creation of a guidebook, this project will provide educators with the tools that are necessary to implement a well-integrated garden. Where higher socioeconomic areas might be able to afford a garden coordinator salary, lower socioeconomic areas will be able to utilize this toolkit to self-start a well-integrated program. I will be focusing on my hometown elementary school, Taft Elementary, as a model school. First, I will be gathering resources on outdoor classroom management, lesson and curricula planning, and a Text set for literacy integration. From there I will be designing guidebook that will contain tips for seasonal care of a garden in the harsh climate of the Oregon Coast, calendars for planting in the garden, and many more sources that teachers can use to implement a school garden program. I will also be analyzing current research on the topic to make well informed decisions about resources to include

2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Graduation Speech

2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Graduation Speech, Commencement Speech. Video of the speech available at https://wou.edu/include_files/iframe_apps/graduation/2019/commence19_welcome_students.mp

American Audiences on Movies and Moviegoing

A unique perspective on half a century of American cinema—from the audience’s point of view. Tom Stempel goes beyond the comments of professional reviewers, concentrating on the opinions of ordinary people. He traces shifting trends in genre and taste, examining and questioning the power films have in American society. Stempel blends audience response with his own observations and analyzes box office results that identify the movies people actually went to see, not just those praised by the critics. Avoiding statistical summary, he presents the results of a survey on movies and moviegoing in the respondents’ own words—words that surprise, amuse, and irritate. The moviegoers respond: “Big bad plane, big bad motorcycle, and big bad Kelly McGillis.”—On Top Gun “All I can recall were the slave girls and the Golden Calf sequence and how it got me excited. My parents must have been very pleased with my enthusiasm for the Bible.”—On why a seven-year-old boy stayed up to watch The Ten Commandments “I learned the fine art of seduction by watching Faye Dunaway smolder.”—A woman’s reaction to seeing Bonnie and Clyde “At age fifteen Jesus said he would be back, he just didn’t say what he would look like.”—On E.T. “A moronic, very ‘Hollywoody’ script, and a bunch of dancing teddy bears.”—On Return of the Jedi “I couldn’t help but think how Mad magazine would lampoon this.—On The Exorcist A refreshing antidote to dry statistical summary, Stempel’s entertaining tome offers a different perspective on a half-century of American cinema. —American Cinematographer A highly charming and provocative study of audiences. —American Studies Deflates ‘artistic’ opinions about directors by using box-office grosses and audience response as a measuring rod. —Choice A sprawling look at the last fifty years of American movies and how audiences responded to them. —Cineaste Does something that most academically oriented cinema-related books don’t: he gets in touch with the magic of the movies. —Creative Screenwriting Obligatory reading for serious film goers and film makers alike. Written with charm and style, this book gives the audience perspective on movies as no other book has done. Insightful. —David Brown A fascinating glimpse into history. —Express Books In drawing our attention back to the audience, he has rendered a service by reminding us that a reciprocal relationship exists between the filmmaker and audience. All too often we tend to ignore the latter. —Film & History The results reflect the ideas of anyone who has ever sat down with an overpriced combo of popcorn and soda: some movies are great, others are stinkers, and when it comes right down to it, the opinions of professional critics don’t amount to a hill of beans. —ForeWord A great idea for a book. —Lexington Herald-Leader In this book, ordinary people talk back to the screen, describing early movie-going memories, family nights at the drive in, growing up with movies in the early days of television, and loving and hating movies in the 1960s. Other topics include the always popular subject of sex in the cinema . . . and the our changing response to movies as we age. . . . . Lively, divergent reactions to classics and box-office hits are also included. —Library Journal Stempel draws upon his considerable expertise to examine the complex relationship between the audience and the movies. . . . Very highly recommended and unique reading for students of film history and American popular culture. —Midwest Book Review Gives voice to the audience. —Plushttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_film_and_media_studies/1006/thumbnail.jp

What is the Meaning of Plain Meaning

The American approach to construing texts (statutes, regulations, contracts and documents generally) stresses decision through determining the “plain meaning” of the document based on the court’s reading of the text. Where the court finds plain meaning on the face of text, it generally refuses to consider additional contextual information or extrinsic evidence of meaning. Notwithstanding its status as the dominant approach to interpretation, the plain meaning concept has not been well defined or operationalized. Despite judicial confidence in the plain meaning approach, courts have wisely been willing to sidestep it and eschew the rather clear facial meaning of text when doing so would produce bad decisions that undermine the purpose underlying the written instrument or result in disproportionate forfeiture of rights. Unfortunately, these instances tend to be regarded as mere exceptions to an otherwise unquestionable rule rather than a serious indictment of the approach and a brief for reducing undue deference to text, excessive confidence in human ability to read text correctly, and resolution of disputes on the basis of document text alone