Wish You Were Here: Representing Trans Road Narratives in Mainstream Cinema (1970-2016)

When Christine Jorgensen stepped off a plane in New York City from Denmark in 1952, she became one of the first instances of trans celebrity, and her intensely popular story was adapted from an article to a memoir and then a film in 1970. Though not the first trans person recorded in history, Jorgensen's story is crucial in the history of trans representation because her journey embodies the archetypal trans narrative which moves through stages of confusion, discovery, cohesion, and homecoming. This structure was solidified in memoirs of the 1950-1970s, and grew in popularity alongside the booming film industry in the wake of the Hays Production Code, which finally allowed directors, producers, and writers to depict trans and gender nonconforming characters and their stories on-screen. From Jorgensen’s adaptation came the often medically focused films of the 1970s, which turned more exploitative and violent as the trans character became a criminal, killer, or monster in films of the 1980s and the early 1990s, and made especially popular through the creation of Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. For the rest of the 1990s and into the early 2000s, the rise of academic gender theory along with the activism by trans writers and scholars led to more progress in academic sphere, some of which was only minimally represented on-screen in popular films. In this era of film-making, the trans character often became a misunderstood and misrepresented comedy figure and a temporary joke who would soon fade by the end of the film. In the current age of the transgender tipping point, trans characters are more visible than ever before, in both popular media and independently produced films, but as I document in this dissertation, there is still a large gap from the real-life event which may have sparked the story, and what is represented on the mainstream film screen itself, especially when created by cisgender writers, directors, and producers. In this dissertation, I argue that the array of trans experiences represented on the popular Hollywood screen derive much of their cultural signification from historical events occurring around the same time period of the film, such as Jorgensen's flight and return, the rise of drag culture in the 1990s, or the trans YouTube community in our current era. I use film adaptation theory and trans history to examine how those producing and consuming the film have read—or misread—its original source. I then trace the meanings that these films have created within the popular culture, and how their circulation has helped—or hindered—trans understanding in a broader social and political world. I also argue that each one of these popular films uses the archetypal trans narrative structure of confusion, discovery, cohesion and homecoming, which then fundamentally links these stories to the American cultural ethos of freedom, transformation, and independence, especially when these narratives involve travel in some way, such as Jorgensen's first flight. This dissertation explores the intersection between the American road narrative and the trans travel narrative as expressed by trans authors and does so as a way to integrate more gender diverse representation into the American cultural canon, as well as document the important role trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people have had on American history and popular culture

Construction cost analysis of new/refurbished hotel & motel properties

The main thrust of this study was to acquire a bank of information on construction activity for the United States for 1992-93. It includes a statistical evaluation of construction costs for new hotel properties, properties who have made addition, and properties who have made renovations in 1992-93, with a breakdown of specific regions of the US. The literature review contains many articles on this topic, as well as many related subjects. This study also attempts to identify some agencies who are currently providing grant funding to individual developers. The study used Descriptive Statistics to obtain a consensus from a list of General Managers and Owners of hotel properties. This research study evolved out of a partnership agreement between American Hotel & Motel Association, Smith Travel Research Co., and Rochester Institute of Technology. The results of this study will be made available to the hospitality industry, as a reference to future hotel developmen

The effects of sociological theories of poverty on job training programs

This thesis is an exploratory study of the effects of two job training programs for the poor in Portland, Oregon. It seeks to illustrate that training programs are designed around certain theoretical conceptions or models of poverty and that these theoretical conceptions ultimately have a strong effect on the enrollees in programs designed on the given theoretical model. Two general theoretical models have been extracted from the literature. The first is the Culture of Poverty model and the second may be called the Closed Opportunity Structure model. The culture of poverty model posits that the poor are unable to escape poverty because of certain cultural aspects of their conditions which inhibit them from taking advantage of increased opportunities when they are offered them. Some of the major aspects of the culture of poverty are: (1) The poor do not share the values of the dominant culture, e.g., that hard work brings rewards, and deferring immediate gratification also produces future rewards; (2) The poor do not participate fully in the major institutions of the society; (3) The inability to take advantage of increased opportunities is learned through the parents; and (4) This inability tends to perpetuate the culture of poverty. The closed opportunity model, on the other hand, posits that the poor do indeed share the values of the dominant culture but that they have been denied the opportunity to realize these values, i.e., the poor do not defer gratification because even if they did so their chances of receiving a future reward are low. The closed opportunity structure model sees the problems of the poor as being grounded in the larger society as opposed to being inherent deficiencies of the poor themselves. I have selected two programs for this study on the basis of their subscription to one or the other theoretical models discussed above. Portland Residential Manpower Center (PRMC), an urban Job Corps camp, was chosen because its program design conforms to the culture of poverty model in that it attempts to resocialize the trainee so that he may better fit into the society; conversely, the Portland New Careers Project was chosen because it subscribed to the closed opportunity model in that it does not see these socialization attempts as necessary, but rather, it places its trainees in social service positions with various governmental agencies and provides them with education which, hopefully, will enable the trainee to move into a more professional position at the agency. The study then attempts to describe the effects of each of these programs on its enrollees. The method of direct observation was chosen for several reasons: (1) The exploratory nature of the study; (2) The absence of a clear cut hypothesis to test; (3) inadequate statistical data available which would give me answers to the kinds of questions I had asked. The findings indicated that the two programs had very different effects on the enrollees. PRMC, because of its highly structured character and complete program of socialization, produced a high degree of distrust of the program on the part of the trainees. PRMC\u27s socialization attempts were seen as largely unnecessary by the trainees and they felt that these attempts interfered with the primary task of skill training. New Careers, on the other hand, lacks a highly structured program. Aside from being expected to put in time at the placement agency and to attend his classes, the trainee is left largely on his own. This almost complete lack of structure has made it exceedingly difficult for many of the trainees to progress in the program because they have few guidelines for their training. The New Careerist learns what is expected of him through trial and error. The findings of this study suggest that social scientists should be aware of the consequences of their theoretical models on the people these models attempt to deal with. Both programs studies exhibited deficiencies which, in varying degrees, are the result of the theoretical models upon which the program is based

Extracellular Vesicles as Mediators of Cellular Cross Talk in the Lung Microenvironment

The human lung is a complex tissue subdivided into several regions that differ in size, function, and resident cell types. Despite years of intensive research, we still do not fully understand the cross talk between these different regions and diverse cell populations in the lung and how this is altered in the development of chronic respiratory disease. The discovery of extracellular vesicles (EVs), small membrane vesicles released from cells for intercellular communication, has added another layer of complexity to cellular cross talk in the complex lung microenvironment. EVs from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, or sarcoidosis have been shown to carry microRNAs, proteins, and lipids that may contribute to inflammation or tissue degeneration. Here, we summarize the contribution of these small vesicles in the interplay of several different cell types in the lung microenvironment, with a focus on the development of chronic respiratory diseases. Although there are already many studies demonstrating the adverse effects of EVs in the diseased lung, we still have substantial knowledge gaps regarding the concrete role of EV involvement in lung disease, which should be addressed in future studies

Matthew Arnold: The Heroic Dimensions of Man's Best Self

During Matthew Arnold's lifetime England was in permanent transition: the emergence of a modern industrial society, the new science and liberalized Christianity, and the democratic and humanitarian movements. To be a writer during this time required a curious and precarious balances an alternation of steadfastness and change. Arnold's moving back and forth between the traditions of romanticism and rationalism does present a challenge to the contemporary reader; no single or systematic approach can be applied to his works. An examination of a selection of Arnold's poems, written predominantly between 1845 and 1857, shows the author's reassessment of man's place in the new cosmology as necessitated by the scientific and technological advances of the century. The poems selected also suggest movement away from the romantic concept of the greatness of the past and yesterday's larger-than-life hero toward an acceptance of the best life as represented by the present generation of men. Arnold's theory, that the best self or right reason manifests itself in heroic men, in leaders, and confirms ordinary men, is found throughout the poems studied

The Words Change Everything: Haunting, Contagion and The Stranger in Tony Burgess’s Pontypool

In 2018, O Canada’s lyrics were made gender neutral. This change comes at a time when certain key public figures refuse to use gender neutral language. The linguistic tension and ideological divide within Canada creates a haunted feeling around certain minority groups, leaving everyone feeling out of place. This article examines how viral ideas and word choices spread through media technologies via the ‘word virus’. We use the figure of the zombie to show how the word virus becomes bad ideology, one that spreads and takes over certain spaces and enacts the presence of the insider/outsider. To reflect on ‘word viruses’ gone awry, we borrow and build on scholarship from the emerging field of hauntology made popular by Jacques Derrida and Avery Gordon. Ultimately, we present Tony Burgess’s horror novel Pontypool Changes Everything turned Canadian horror film Pontypool as a speculative case study, since Burgess’s texts suggest that what is more infectious than the zombie-outsider is the insider’s own language, which identifies and labels the outsider. By positing a possible cure for the word virus within Pontypool, the film adaptation suggests that the ways in which we cease becoming infected with bad ideas is not to stop speaking or isolate ourselves through quarantine, but deliberately seek out the stranger in order to challenge and change the meaning of words

Inhibition of neutrophil apoptosis by PAI-1

Increased circulating and tissue levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) are often present in severe inflammatory states associated with neutrophil activation and accumulation and correlate with poor clinical outcome from many of these conditions. The mechanisms by which PAI-1 contributes to inflammation have not been fully delineated. In the present experiments, we found that addition of PAI-1 to neutrophil cultures diminished the rate of spontaneous and TNFrelated apoptosis-inducing ligand-induced apoptotic cell death. The effects of PAI-1 on cell viability were associated with activation of antiapoptotic signaling pathways, including upregulation of PKB/Akt, Mcl-1, and Bcl-xL. Although urokinase-plasminogen activator receptor, lipoprotein receptor-related protein, and vitronectin are primary ligands for PAI-1, these molecules were not involved in mediating its antiapoptotic properties. In contrast, blocking pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein-coupled receptors and selective inhibition of phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase reversed the ability of PAI-1 to extend neutrophil viability. The antiapoptotic effects of PAI-1 were also evident under in vivo conditions during LPS-induced acute lung injury, where enhanced apoptosis was present among neutrophils accumulating in the lungs of PAI-1-/- compared with PAI-1+/+ mice. These results demonstrate a novel antiapoptotic role for PAI-1 that may contribute to its participation in neutrophil-associated inflammatory responses. © 2011 the American Physiological Society

Suppression of the c-erbB-2 gene product decreases transformation abilities but not the proliferation and secretion of proteases of SK-OV-3 ovarian cancer cells

The overexpression of the c-erbB-2 oncogene product has been reported in approximately 20–30% of human ovarian cancers and has been correlated with a poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients. To investigate the function of p185c-erbB-2 in human ovarian cancer cells, a c-erbB-2-specific single-chain antibody (scFv-5R) was expressed in the c-erbB-2-overexpressing SK-OV-3 cell line using a retroviral expression vector. Eight individual clones expressing the single-chain antibody were isolated. These clones have a prominent retention of the cell surface p185c-erbB-2. In this study we compared the proliferation rate, the anchorage-independent growth, the secretion of matrix metalloproteases and of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator. The clones expressing the c-erbB-2 single-chain antibody, the control cells harbouring the empty vector and the parental SK-OV-3 cells they all had similar proliferation rates in the presence of 10% serum and secreted similar amounts of matrix metalloproteases and of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator. However, the expression of the c-erbB-2 oncogene product offers a strong growth advantage under serum-reduced conditions with 1% serum. In contrast to the parental SK-OV-3 and empty vector control cells, the scFv-5R-expressing clones were not able to grow anchorage-independently. These findings suggest that c-erbB-2 enhances transformation abilities of SK-OV-3 ovarian cancer cells without affecting the secretion of proteases and the proliferation of SK-OV-3 ovarian cancer cells in the presence of high concentrations of serum. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig