You\u27re Gonna Be Ok: A System to Control the Uncontrollable

This is a written defense to accompany the MFA Thesis Exhibition You’re Gonna Be Ok, an installation encompassing video, and other sensory components. This defense provides background for the artist’s motivation to make this work, along with a theoretical framework used to construct the installation. Accompanying photos, video, and PowerPoint are also included to give reference and documentation of the installation event

A Guide to Disability Statistics from the National Health Interview Survey

The purpose of this paper is to examine the information on the population with disabilities in a nationally representative survey conducted by the National Center on Health Statistics called the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The paper provides a description of the disability information available in the NHIS and how the data may be used to assess the employment, economic well being and health of the population. Descriptive statistics from the 2002 NHIS public use files are used to illustrate the type of analysis that will be useful to researchers and policymakers

UNCANNY NORTH AMERICA IN CONTEMPORARY HORROR FILMS: AMERICAN MARY, MANIAC, AND THE INVITATION

This article examines contemporary examples of the uncanny in horror films from North America. Three films are analyzed: American Mary (2012), Maniac (2012), and The Invitation (2015). These three films use the uncanny to examine contemporary issues, such as body-modification surgery and murder/suicide cults. Thus, the films utilize a familiar method to invoke the feeling of the uncanny in the viewer while dealing with tropes not common to the horror genre. These three independent films invoke feelings of unease without the use of common tropes of the genre, such as vampires and zombies. The methodology employed is a Freudian critical theory base to look at the manner in which contemporary horror films employ the idea of the uncanny to address contemporary issues. While Freud himself developed the idea of the uncanny utilizing works contemporary to his time, most especially E.T.A. Hoffman’s “The Sandman,” his theory applies to works of horror decades later. For example, the trope of dolls, which is key to Freud’s argument in “The Uncanny” (1919), still produces the same feeling in the audience nearly one hundred years later. The conclusion is that Freudian theory remains a viable method to examine horror films

The United States of California: Ninth Circuit Tips the Dormant Commerce Clause Scales in Favor of the Golden State\u27s Animal Welfare Legislation

In November 2018, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 12, the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. This law requires in-state and out-of-state farmers to provide additional living space for egg-laying hens, breeding pigs, and calves raised for veal by 2022 if the farmers wish to continue doing business within the state. In response, North American Meat Institute (NAMI), whose members account for approximately 95% of the country’s output of various meat products, filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking a preliminary injunction against Proposition 12’s enforcement. NAMI contended Proposition 12 violated the Dormant Commerce Clause, a legal doctrine stemming from Congress’s commerce powers under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, prohibiting states from passing laws discriminating against interstate commerce. Ultimately, the district court declined to grant NAMI’s request for a preliminary injunction, which the Ninth Circuit affirmed was not an abuse of judicial discretion. The Ninth Circuit correctly held Proposition 12 does not clearly discriminate against interstate commerce. However, the Ninth Circuit erred in holding the law was not extraterritorial legislation because this decision contravened Supreme Court decisions prohibiting states from regulating conduct occurring outside of their borders. As a result, the Ninth Circuit decision opens the floodgates for California to enact similar legislation essentially controlling the national economy. The best solution to this issue, particularly regarding animal welfare reform, is for Congress to establish national guidelines that meaningfully improve the lives of farm animals while prohibiting individual states from controlling the conduct of the other forty- nine state actors

The Impact of Flexible Seating on Academic Performance within an Elementary Classroom

This study examined how the implementation of flexible seating in an elementary classroom impacted academic achievement. The focus for this study was to determine if allowing students the opportunity to choose the type of seating they use is more beneficial than having every student sit in traditional seating arrangements of desks and chairs. Data was collected through pre- and post-tests via the STAR Reading and Math assessments, and analyzed in a Google Sheet. This nine-week study took place within two 3rd grade classrooms, with a total of 38 participants, in a small school in west-central Minnesota. The results of this study indicated that flexible seating did have a positive impact on academic achievement as the students that used flexible seating, when looking at the averages and medians, showed more growth than their traditional seating counterparts