\u3cem\u3eThe Chronicles of Narnia\u3c/em\u3e, and How C.S. Lewis Created Christian Fantasy Fiction

C.S. Lewis was a pioneer in combining the ideas of fantasy and Christian literature, before the fantasy genre alone was even acknowledged. Christian fantasy fiction, as a fiction sub-genre, can be identified as a piece of fiction with fantastical mythology and themes, with the addition of imagery and values drawn from the Christian tradition. Christian fantasy fiction attempts to use the mystical plot elements from fantasy, with recognizable Christian ideals, and meld them in such a way that they actually reinforce each other. This thesis explains how C.S. Lewis used this new genre to allow readers of all ages to understand spiritually abstract ideas

Etherotopia or a country in the mind: bridging the gap between utopias and nirvanas

Joyce Hertzler concludes his History of Utopian Thought with the phrase ‘Utopia is not a social state it is a state of mind’. Other utopian scholars would argue that the truth is exactly the opposite, that utopia is a purely social matter. There seems to be a false dilemma here where one must choose between two, seemingly conflicting, schools of utopian thinking: social utopias and private ones. In John Carey’s words, ‘Whereas most utopias reform the world, some reform the self’. He says of the later that these ‘solitary utopians are Robinson Crusoes of the mind, inventing islands for themselves to inhabit’ and that they are very unlike ‘normal, public-spirited utopians’. In this essay Christos Callow Jr explores the potential of a utopia that reforms both world and self and proposes Etherotopia as its name.N/

Engineering the Cambrian explosion: the earliest bioturbators as ecosystem engineers

By applying modern biological criteria to trace fossil types and assessing burrow morphology, complexity, depth, potential burrow function and the likelihood of bioirrigation, we assign ecosystem engineering impact (EEI) values to the key ichnotaxa in the lowermost Cambrian (Fortunian). Surface traces such as Monomorphichnus have minimal impact on sediment properties and have very low EEI values; quasi-infaunal traces of organisms that were surficial modifiers or biodiffusors, such as Planolites, have moderate EEI values; and deeper infaunal, gallery biodiffusive or upward-conveying/downward-conveying traces, such as Teichichnus and Gyrolithes, have the highest EEI values. The key Cambrian ichnotaxon Treptichnus pedum has a moderate to high EEI value, depending on its functional interpretation. Most of the major functional groups of modern bioturbators are found to have evolved during the earliest Cambrian, including burrow types that are highly likely to have been bioirrigated. In fine-grained (or microbially bound) sedimentary environments, trace-makers of bioirrigated burrows would have had a particularly significant impact, generating advective fluid flow within the sediment for the first time, in marked contrast with the otherwise diffusive porewater systems of the Proterozoic. This innovation is likely to have created significant ecospace and engineered fundamentally new infaunal environments for macrobiotic and microbiotic organisms alike

How adolescent boys who play travel hockey perceive their experiences influencing self-esteem.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine how boys who play travel hockey perceive their experiences influencing self-esteem. This study used three boy\u27s adolescent aged minor hockey travel teams to identify experiences that influenced their levels of self-esteem. Primary sources included a review of relevant self-esteem literature, the responses to Harter\u27s Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC), and interview responses from research participants. The SPPC and the interview process identified several areas where their experiences affected their self-esteem. Social acceptance, athletic competence, coaching, parents, and team try-outs were the significant factors identified by the travel hockey players as affected by their hockey experiences. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .C35. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-01, page: 0062. Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

Recovering the Bideford Witches

Drawing on his new book, The Last Witches of England: A Tragedy of Sorcery and Superstition (Bloomsbury, 2021), John Callow explores the changing reputation and modern-day memorialisation of the three ‘Bideford Witches’, who in 1682 became the last group of women in England to be executed for the crime of witchcraft