Propaganda, Patriotism, and News: Printing Discovered and Intercepted Letters In England, 1571–1600

In this article I propose that the relatively few intercepted and discovered letters printed during the reign of Elizabeth I fall chiefly into three categories: they were published as propaganda, as patriotic statement, and as news reportage. Although Elizabeth and her ministers published intercepted and discovered letters on a strictly ad hoc and contingent basis, the pamphlets and books in which these letters appear, along with associated ideo-logical and polemical material, reveals determined uses of intercepted and discovered letters in print. Catholics likewise printed intercepted letters as propaganda to confront Elizabeth’s anti-Catholic policies through their own propaganda apparatus on the continent. Intercepted letters were also printed less frequently to encourage religious and state patriotism, while other intercepted letters were printed solely as new reportage with no overt ideological intent. Because intercepted and discovered letters, as bearers of secret information, were understood to reveal sincere intention and genuine motivation, all of the publications assessed here demonstrate that such letters not only could be used as effective tools to shape cultural perceptions, but could also be cast as persuasive written testimony, as legal proof and as documentary authentication

Libelous Letters in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England

Outside of legal history, studies of early modern libel have focused on libelous verse and are concerned with the literary and politico- historical features of the material. 1 I hope to both add to and diverge from this body of scholarship by exploring libelous letters, tying the legal ramifications of letters deemed libelous to a more extensive perception of their cultural meanings. Drawing my evidence from court cases, printed and unprinted alike, I explore defamation lawsuits with an eye to the form, function, and meaning of libelous letters in early modern English culture: the relationship between material libel and spoken slander, between public dissemination and private circulation, between defamation and reformation, and between criminal libel and cultural critique. Most broadly, I argue that in letters deemed libelous, the personal and the social—and, in other circumstances, the personal and the political—converge. Letters—typically private, personal documents— were distinctly and deeply informed by sociopolitical processes, especially when certain letters were prosecuted as libelous. A dynamic interrelationship developed among the intention, composition, delivery, reception, interpretation, and prosecution of such letters.2 More specifically, I argue that letters, as a species of written discourse distinct from oral verbalization, were often exploited expressly for their textual properties, among them a documentary character and (compared to oral verbalization) relative permanence. In addition, the conventional paratextual and nontextual elements of letters, such as signature, sealing, and delivery, were purposefully managed by letter writers. The increased use of letters to articulate complaint, compose satire, and inscribe emotion led to a proliferation of libelous letter cases and, in turn, led to complications in determining what, legally speaking, constituted a libelous letter—especially considering letters forged in another’s name, anonymous letters, letters that intended reformation instead of defamation, and letters that aimed at religious, social, or political critique rather than at seditious libel

Behind the Scenes

Behind The Scenes is a creative, non-fiction thesis that delights and amazes the reader from behind the scenes of a funeral home. Often, funeral homes and funeral directors are criticized via newspapers, television broadcasts, and magazine articles. But, seldom is a reader allowed to enjoy tales from a funeral director\u27s perspective. So, Gary Schneider, a licensed funeral director and freelance writer, opens the doors and welcomes the reader inside his Victorian funeral home, Rudy-Rowland, the second oldest funeral firm in Kentucky. This time, however, the public is allowed past the viewing room, as the reader gets into the hearts and the minds of Schneider and his staff. From a comedy of a cat funeral to the seriousness of Schneider burying a best friend, the thesis could be considered a bitter-sweet compend of tantalizing tales. Said Dr. Frank Steele of the work, I especially like the way the organization yields up a comedy-pathos polarization. I expect that being a funeral director gives your life a certain thrust that alternates between extremes. And Schneider shares those extremes with his readers. From tears of overwhelming grief to unbelievable comedy, Schneider attempts to entertain the reader while sharing the seriousness of the business. Undoubtedly, few have ever read, shared, or heard such honest, straightforward accounts from behind the scenes of a funeral home. Therefore, it is Schneider\u27s intent to illustrate to the reader that a good funeral director must understand people and know how to be sympathetic. But a good funeral director must also know how to live, love, and laugh before he can properly prepare himself to bury the dead. Now, if you will, let\u27s go Behind The Scenes

Women Letter-Writers in Tudor England by James Daybell (review)

In 1684 Jean de La Bruye`re wrote that women letter writers ‘‘find at the tip of their pens expressions and turns of phrase that often, in men, are the result of long searching. . . . they have an inimitable way of putting words together that seems to come naturally.’’1 Are letters by women indeed more natural, more effortless, and more emotionally attuned than men’s? By contrast, others throughout literary history have demonstrated a ‘‘long-term prejudice against women’s letters’’ as ‘‘of no importance’’ (8), author James Daybell writes, and in doing so he illustrates the other extreme to which women’s letters have been put: they have been either idealized or neglected. With Daybell’s book, however, we can finally test the validity and accuracy of such valuations of women’s letter writing, for what Daybell has researched and composed is a thorough study of women’s letters and letter writing that, in historical and literary scholarship, has been long overdue; and the scope of his work enables him to claim authority on women’s letter writing precisely because of the impressive range of his book

The Determinants and Impact of Property Rights: Land Titles on the Brazilian Frontier

This paper provides new empirical results regarding the demand and supply of title, its impact on land value, and its effects on agricultural investment on Brazilian frontiers. We use survey data from 1992 and 1993 from the state of Par  with data on the characteristics of the settlers, land tenure, land agencies involved, land values, and investment. We then turn to census data from the Brazilian agricultural census from 1940 through 1985, with observations at the municipio (county) level to examine the development of property rights to land in the southern state of Paran  during the agricultural boom between 1940 and 1970 and in the Amazon state of Par  during the period of rapid migration to the region after 1970. By examining frontiers we can follow the rise in land values, the increase in the demand for title, and the response of government. The empirical findings support the predictions of the theory regarding the effects of title and investment on land value, the role of expected change in value on demand for title, and the contribution of title in promoting investment. Governments, however, have not exactly followed the predictions of the analytical framework in supplying title. Political and bureaucratic factors play an important role in the government response to demands for title. This result suggests that researchers must pay special attention to the complex political process by which property rights are assigned in studying the emergence of tenure institutions.

Soul-full Teaching

The study is a qualitative research study done with the purpose of exploring how seven teachers at a mid-southern, state-supported, urban research university perceive their spirituality to inform their teaching philosophy. The researcher discusses the increased attention noted in educational literature, in recent years, with respect to the relationship between the spirituality of teachers and the ways in which they think about, and engage in, teaching. The heart of the study is based in his exploration of these concerns with seven teachers in higher education in regard to six areas of inquiry: What do these teachers in higher education think about their spirituality and/or religion? What do these teachers in higher education think about the processes of teaching and learning? How do spirituality and teaching come together in the cognitive processes, the affective experiences, and the actions—that is, in the person—of each of the participants? What are the perceptions of these teachers with respect to the factors that have enabled them to reach, or not to reach, their students in ways that promote growth and development? What kinds of experiences have manifested these learning and developmental exchanges? And what can be learned about the connections between spirituality and teaching based on the perceptions and experiences of these seven teachers in higher education? The researcher details the unique story of each professor with respect to these six questions and summarizes the common perspectives of the participants in regard to these concerns. He concludes that the experiences and perspectives of these seven participants indicate that spirituality is an important frame of reference through which some teachers see, experience, and interact with the world, which, in turn, informs their teaching. This type and degree of influence differs from one person to the next, but the composite picture presented in the stories of these seven professors attests to the fact that spirituality does inform the teaching of some teachers in higher education. The researcher concludes by suggesting that the institution of higher education would do well to find ways of building on this important resource in its midst

The cosmology dependence of weak lensing cluster counts

We present the main results of a numerical study of weak lensing cluster counting. We examine the scaling with cosmology of the projected-density-peak mass function. Our main conclusion is that the projected-peak and the three-dimensional mass functions scale with cosmology in an astonishingly close way. This means that, despite being derived from a two-dimensional field, the weak lensing cluster abundance can be used to constrain cosmology in the same way as the three-dimensional mass function probed by other types of surveys.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJL. Figure 1 modified, unchanged conclusion

Using practice effects for targeted trials or sub-group analysis in Alzheimer\u27s disease: How practice effects predict change over time

OBJECTIVE: To describe the presence of practice effects in persons with Alzheimer disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to evaluate how practice effects affect cognitive progression and the outcome of clinical trials. METHODS: Using data from a meta-database consisting of 18 studies including participants from the Alzheimer disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) and the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) with ADAS-Cog11 as the primary outcome, we defined practice effects based on the improvement in the first two ADAS-Cog11 scores and then estimated the presence of practice effects and compared the cognitive progression between participants with and without practice effects. The robustness of practice effects was investigated using CDR SB, an outcome independent the definition itself. Furthermore, we evaluated how practice effects can affect sample size estimation. RESULTS: The overall percent of practice effects for AD participants was 39.0% and 53.3% for MCI participants. For AD studies, the mean change from baseline to 2 years was 12.8 points for the non-practice effects group vs 7.4 for the practice effects group; whereas for MCI studies, it was 4.1 for non-practice effects group vs 0.2 for the practice effects group. AD participants without practice effects progressed 0.9 points faster than those with practice effects over a period of 2 years in CDR-SB; whereas for MCI participants, the difference is 0.7 points. The sample sizes can be different by over 35% when estimated based on participants with/without practice effects. CONCLUSION: Practice effects were prevalent and robust in persons with AD or MCI and affected the cognitive progression and sample size estimation. Planning of future AD or MCI clinical trials should account for practice effects to avoid underpower or considers target trials or stratification analysis based on practice effects