Claro Volume V, 2014

Claro

An Interdisciplinary Multi-Modal Scholarly Journal Volume V 2014

Acknowledgments The Claro Staff Would Like to Thank:

The Contributing Students, whose scholarly pursuits exemplify the best of RRCC’s interdisciplinary achievements and commitment to excellence.

The Contributing Instructors, whose innovative assignments and discerning tastes provide Claro with quality content year after year.

The MGD Lab, which was indispensable in the production of the journal, namely due to the aid of design-gurus Kristina Robbins and Rich Myrup.

The Comm Lab, whose facilities and tutors allowed many of the presenters in this issue to refine their works for Claro’s conference, REDTalks.

City Image, who periodically consulted with the design team and printed the physical manifestation of Claro.

The RRCC Foundation, whose grant made the initial issue of Claro a reality.

The Claro Award Committee, who gave graciously of their time in choosing three conference participants to receive Best Emerging Scholar Presidential Awards.

Creators of Clarity Staff

Founder & Editor Stina French Assistant Editors Lauren A. Smith Michael Kipp Marketing & Outreach Coordinator Nicole Schlesinger Layout & Formatting Lead Michael Kipp Design Duo Lauren A. Smith Michael Kipp

What Is Claro?

Claro is the interdisciplinary scholarly journal of Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado. Claro houses the exceptional academic work of RRCC’s student body, spanning genres and disciplines to emphasize creative, multi-modal scholarship. Taking it one step further, Claro also offers expanded content online, featuring student videos, digital stories, audio projects, webpages, and more. Each Spring at RRCC, Claro hosts an associated academic conference: REDTalks. Those who contribute to Claro, as well as those who present their work at the conference, are given a unique undergraduate opportunity to bolster their resumes, gaining firsthand experience in translating academese to a public platform whilst simultaneously serving as an active audience for their peers in other disciplines. In this spirit, Claro’s legacy continues with this, our 5th volume.

Expanded and Multi-Modal Content Online In the following pages, a dagger (†) beside titles and piece names symbolizes full or enhanced content available in the online version of the issue at rrcc.edu/claro.

Enhanced content and expansions include complete essays, videos, comics, color versions of images, and more.

Claro Compendium I The State and Statements of Art The pieces in this chapter speculate on the state and statements made by and of various art works, our attitudes toward them, and the potential meanings inherent within the works as they stand.

Rust Never Sleeps: The Importance of Impermanence † ariel youngblood 2 - 5

In this visual analysis essay, a photograph of a derelict statue becomes a study of the tension between artifice and decay.

The Knowledge Network: Peeling Back the Palimpsest † lauren a. smith 6 - 16

Lonnie Hanzon’s installation in the main entrance to Red Rocks Community College is the subject of this visual analysis, which highlights the piece’s intricacy and symbolic elements.

And You Are Afraid of Me † maria hatcher 17 - 20

Hatcher explains how Thomas Williams’s oil painting encapsulates the experience of the injustice against black males throughout America’s history.

II Art as Advertisement The two pieces in this chapter illustrate art’s ability to convey messages both political and social.

The CDC: Taking a Bite out of Popular Culture †gianna dejulio 22 - 26

DeJulio shows how the CDC has effectively appropriated the zombie craze in recent advertisements to urge people toward emergency preparedness.

Fracking PSA †evan spaanstra 27

By combining an older piece of art with a contemporary message, Spaanstra hopes to convince his audience to support fracking as an important step toward energy independence.

III Visualizing History This chapter visually depicts the course and contextual causality of a variety of movements and moments in history.

The Great African Genocide † nathan mills 30 - 35

Mills exposes the atrocities of the Rwandan genocide and its roots in the 19th-century Belgian colonization.

Denmark Reacts 1940 - 1945: Non-Violent Resistance to Fight the Violent Nazi Invasion lisa casady 3 6 - 43

Casady details the ways in which Denmark responded to the Nazi occupation, which included helping the majority of Danish Jews escape to Sweden.

The Race to the Final Frontier † kendryn gates 44 - 50

Gates explores the Soviet-versus-American competition that fueled the space-race through iconic imagery and analysis of some of the era’s prominent missions.

Second-Wave Feminism † danielle smith 51 - 57

Smith catalogs the major developments and importance of second-wave feminism, including the first legal contraception pill, the 1968 Miss America protest, and Roe vs. Wade.

IV Contested Identities This chapter examines the effects of marginalization and the struggles to self-define various subcultures and minority groups.

Fitting the Princess Mold † mikayla klas 60 - 76

This essay questions the limiting, traditional conception of princesses and the connected narrative of good-versus-evil that pits the princess against the female villain character. The accompanying comic, “Princess Material,” reenvisions these stereotypes with its own twist on happily ever after.

Empowerment of Women natalia aramovich 77 - 82

This piece showcases the socio-political and economic changes women experienced in the 1920s via poetic verse and blackand-white imagery from the era. It highlights the empowering changes for women and the advances in societal norms.

Player Two † alexis ramirez 83 - 87

The heroine of this comic is lauded for saving the entire population of a planet, that is, until she’s discovered to be female. Without referencing it directly, this comic confronts the misogyny of the social-media attacks on feminist-blogger Anita Sarkeesian.

Gypsy Culture in Modern America: A Look into the Extravagant Lifestyle of an American Co-Culture joseph cardello 88 - 93

Cardello’s analysis of the television show, My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, discusses how the Romanies see themselves and want to be seen by the gorger, or outsider.

V Marked This chapter studies the visible and invisible ways we are marked by accidents, abuse, and even science.

Silentium Raptus hilarie nelson 96 - 111

Nelson seeks to raise awareness of the sexual abuse of males, while arguing that our popular conception of females as the only real victims leads to less men reporting sexual abuse and seeking help.

Scars: Along Our Bodies and Within Our Minds † xandra armenta, claudia banuelos, hannah hernandez, korie quint, paul songer, samantha vitez 112 - 127

This project explores the ways we’re marked by life, and how these marks reveal the human experience along the spectrum from comedy to tragedy.

The Evolution of Humanity’s Power to Evolve † ethan plaehn 128 - 145

Using multiple genres, Plaehn explores both sides of the controversy over the genetic engineering of human DNA, arguing that change is inevitable, but that we should carefully consider the direction that such modification takes.

VI Reaching for Health In this chapter, Physician Assistant students present their rural-health outreach proposals.

Characterization of Healthcare Need and Potential Solutions in a Population of Community-College Students in Southeastern Colorado grant nichols, jasmine wells, craig wood, crystal zitterkopf 148 - 155

This paper discusses the need and feasibility of a health clinic at two rural Southeastern Colorado community colleges.

Behavioral-Health Access for Huerfano County, Colorado kristen munks, nick orchard, kristina searls 156 - 161

This proposal discusses the barriers to behavioral healthcare in rural Colorado, including lack of access to care, the associated stigma, and a lack of anonymity in rural areas, and proposes some unexpected and low-cost solutions.

VII Ethical Eats This chapter examines the health and ethical considerations of our culture’s consumption habits.

Eating More: Are We Supporting the Economy or Making it Worse? dakota sorensen 164 - 169

Sorenson argues that our government should focus more on obesity prevention rather than treatment, as the latter is much more costly than the former.

Trick or Treat? † rachel rockenfeller 1 70 - 1 7 7

Rockenfeller presents the multiple contradictory opinions surrounding GMO foods and urges consumers to avoid them until more studies are done to ascertain their safety.

Ethically Sourced Ingredients Ease the Food Conscience hannah thomas 178 - 182

Chipotle’s practice of using ethically sourced meat impresses Thomas almost as much as its delicious flavor. This piece illustrates how Chipotle isn’t just a restaurant, but a business bridging ethics and profitability through their ingredient sourcing.

VIII Plants, Projectiles, and Waterworks In this chapter we examine water-quality assurance and plant operations; water at work within modern agriculture; and construction and experimentation with potato projectiles.

Unearthed: The What to Why of Aquaponic Gardening lauren a. smith 184 - 193

Smith argues that nature has already shown us the best way to grow: mimic the Earth’s own symbiotic ecosystems.

Jar Tests nicole bratsos 194 - 20 6

This report analyzes a raw-water sample from Golden, Colorado’s Visitor Center by simulating full-scale plant operations with jar tests to determine the optimal chemical dosage for settling and removal of floc.

Analysis of Total- and Free-Chlorine scott thomas 207 - 216

Quality Assurance/Quality Control processes were used to test the free- and total-chlorine residuals in tap-water samples to make sure they did not exceed the EPA’s maximum residualdisinfectant level for chlorine.

Physics 211 Semester Project: The Potato Cannon † robert coleman, tyler haga, jake sawaya 217 - 228

Using kinematic modeling and data analysis, this project examines the best design for a potato canon and chronicles the results.

IX Warnings from the Past to the Future This chapter draws awareness to an array of issues spanning the local and global landscape, in the hope that our current generation will take the steps necessary to fix them.

Think Before You Borrow † jordan reeh 230 - 246

With so many students drowning in debt due to the everincreasing cost of college, Reeh warns students to fund their education wisely and gives information on how to do so.

The Biggest Irony of Democratic India: Child Labor † prakriti jha 247 - 250

Jha’s lyrical essay argues that children should be in school, not the junk yard, by carefully analyzing a photograph. Please also visit our website to watch her video on the same topic.

Generation of Hope: A Look at Today’s North Korea † emily johnson 251 - 266 This multi-genre project discusses the human-rights violations in North Korea—including modern-day death camps—that are often overshadowed by the nuclear crisis.

X Online-Only Content † In this chapter, we display the online-only, multi-modal content. Please visit rrcc.edu/claro to access these additional works. Within you will find project websites, presentations, videos, audio, and more, showcasing innovative modes of academic exploration.

American Indian Culture Assimilation & Activism rebecca rivera Rivera’s website presents the culture and history of Native Americans, focusing specifically on the issue of forced assimilation.

Driverless Cars: Does the Rapid Progression of Technology Threaten Our Economic Future? rita erickson This Prezi explores the many complicated ethical and financial issues surrounding the production and use of autonomous vehicles.

China josh adams Adams reminisces about his study-abroad trip to China, and what it revealed about China’s rich cultural, architectural, and financial past, present, and future.

Metamorphosis brian carlson Carlson’s video affirms the positive relationship between nature and self-actualization.

Adventures in the Digital Atmosphere hannah terrell Terrell traces her personal technological history, asserting that our devices broaden our ability to create and to experience life more fully.

The Road to Get Up and Go sydney holder Here, Holder presents a mural she painted at a Pediatric Orthopedic Clinic and through it, discusses the nature of art to inspire and heal.

Not Giving Up vina le Le’s video provides a personal look at the courage it takes for an artist to perform, especially when the performance doesn’t go according to plan.

The Biggest Irony of Indian Democracy: Child Labor prakriti jha Jha’s video argues that children should be in school, not the junk yard. Please also see Jha’s essay on the same topic in chapter 9.

Disappearing Giants tori malek Malek’s video brings acute awareness to the plight of Asian and African Rhinos.

I The State and Statements of Art

Rust Never Sleeps: The Importance of Impermanence by ariel youngblood † “ ‘Value’ is a relative term that erodes like everything else ...

Thesis: The purpose of the photograph is no longer an issuance of beauty, but to provoke questions of value and unattainable permanence.

Argument: The grid created by the carved and cracked lines of the concrete wall and the faded brick is repeated in the grid of the closest sculpture’s broken torso. These similarities show the fragile nature of both the creations of man and of man himself and their shared inevitable deterioration. It’s a strange mix of idealization and realism: the melding of opposing Roman styles and the means of intended protection without resilience.

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Rust Never Sleeps: The Importance of Impermanence The idea that an image or a replica of yourself has the ability to withstand the test of time and will forever make an impression on the world is a foolish assumption. This holy-grail aspect of art has led viewers down a guided path of tribute and historical appreciation, while the artwork’s temporary nature and means of production go overlooked by audiences. Less is discussed about how the replicated nature of art attempts to maintain the connection with the past when the meaning of the piece in the moment can create more of a stir. T.S. Eliot seemed to discourage relying on historical affectations and encourage the use of personal input when he wrote, “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.” Art is what you put in and expand upon to make it meaningful. Even the Romans imitated and blatantly replicated Greek sculpture without hesitation. And eventually, those adopted techniques took a new form as Roman Expressionism.

Photography continues and enhances this art of theft by replication, unabashedly using another person’s work to build upon and create something intimately inspiring and beautiful.

At first glance, it is clear that the photographer created a beautiful image of the grave scene. The curved figures of the statues stand out against the rigid containers and the industrial building of the background. These lighter, smoothed forms of the statues resemble an innocence in contrast to their somber surroundings. Your eye is drawn down from the harsh lines of the cold backdrop, to the comforting natural shape of the bowed wooden coverings, then proceeds to follow their sloping organic lines as they complement and protect the sculptures.

This provides the audience with a sudden inclination to be concerned with the intentions and degeneration of the art, due to its poor state. The purpose of the photograph is no longer an issuance of beauty, but to provoke questions of value and unattainable permanence.

The makeshift, ill-fitting containers imply the photographer appears to have caught the sculptures in an unplanned transit, leaving a scene of destruction, possibly brought on by a disaster.

A society will go to great lengths to save artwork during times of natural or conflictual calamity. Despite the origins of its stolen, or replicated, nature, art has come to represent a long history of culture and identity that people try to preserve during times of hostility, especially those due to incompatible interests and imposed-upon ideals. As depicted by the debris on the ground, even the building, which is built for endurance, is crumbling.

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This photograph may be the last glimpse of these temporary elements of history: a chance to pay our last respects. The photographer attracts this attention by his/her use of the tilted diagonal angle of the bodies and the viewer’s compulsory close proximity to the subjects. With the sculptures in the immediate foreground, setting the scene for the wake, the viewer, or an attendee, becomes a part of the image and is enveloped by the haunted scene. The grid created by the carved and cracked lines of the concrete wall and the faded brick is repeated in the grid of the closest sculpture’s broken torso. These similarities show the fragile nature of both the creations of man and of man himself and their shared inevitable deterioration. It’s a strange mix of idealization and realism: the melding of opposing Roman styles and the means of intended protection without resilience.

The sculpture’s realism is shown by the hollowness of the figures’ cheeks and how the carvings show weight in their skin and age in their faces. Yet the physique of one of the statues paints a different picture: an ideal body image with impeccable abdominals, oversized, sturdy hands, and a chest and arms any man over thirty would envy. This disconnect could be attributed to the way Romans would mass-produce their in-demand sculptures. To save time and maximize profits, the artists created a shortcut. The sculptor would carve a new head to resemble the request of the patron, and would then connect the bust to an already completed neutral base, as shown through an idealistic lens. Naturally, the patron would have no complaints, as he would be more concerned with the permanent, historical significance of the artwork in relation to the actual man than the realistic, temporary representation of his short-term, mutable form.

This is the nature of marble. Although more difficult to obtain and to sculpt, it is its understood permanence in the world that many found to be enchanting. Sculptures provided the means to maintain your status throughout future generations, not only during your lifetime. Art became the most likely medium for achieving these lofty, narcissistic goals. Today, we have added the method of photography to this list of immortalizing methods.

Although it can prolong the fated end of a memory, person, or object, we know that permanence is only a ruse. As demonstrated in the photograph itself, destruction is unpredictable and unavoidable, and our attempts at permanence are incompatible.

As a result, deterioration is our only constant. Where does value fit into a world not suitable for any longevity? The photograph shows attempts at preservation of homage, of history, and of beauty, but beauty has proven to be the least likely element to survive. The draped covers fall heavy on the sculptures, re-hardening and cringing after the beating from

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Works Cited Eliot, T. S. The Sacred Wood. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1928. Print.

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the rain. In this photograph, our idea of value now embraces the morbidity of life, and shifts from weighing the significance of historical context to the significance of admiration for the momentary reflection of our own personal experiences. “Value� is a relative term that erodes like everything else. The only true evaluation of a subject consists in a single instant, then will be built upon until the value diminishes, buried under thought.

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The Knowledge Network: Peeling Back the Palimpsest by lauren a. smith † “Yet like Alice’s looking glass, this mirror goes much deeper ...

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THE KNOWLEDGE NETWORK

The steps, crunchy and slick, are ice half-eaten by aquamarine salt. The temperature has plummeted below hyperbole, landing at a literal -8 degrees Fahrenheit. But the doors are in sight and you will yourself to walk faster, hindered as you are by the twenty-pound textbook in your bag. You pass below the arch and through the poorly placed “Smoke-Free Zone” beside the steps around which the smokers are huddled. You’re almost there. When the doors open, they do so slowly, a single second off from the moment you had expected they would, as if their old eyes cannot quite see like they used to, as if they had missed your initial approach and now parted apologetically. So you wait that extra second, you wait and walk inside, still condensed into yourself from the cold. Your class starts soon and you move quickly across the soggy doormat and onto tile tortured by road filth. Looking down and thinking ahead, you do not notice the mammoth mural of wood and paint that watched you work your way inside, you do not glance at its etched faces, or offer a thought to its odd empty places or open arms. But you did once.

You looked when you first entered the school and approached the main office for enrollment, before acts of academia ate up your attentions, before the walls and what they hold became nothing save the shell that kept the chill off your mind. Yet even absent your gaze, the art remains, and the art speaks.

It says, “I am the Knowledge Network,” but it does not explain. It waits for you to ask, to stare and wonder, to work your way through the vines and water, the hidden holy symbols and haunting handwriting. I asked it what it meant, and it spoke of potential and connection, of knowledge and the paradox of being broken but whole. The Knowledge Network is comprised of so much symbolism and complexity that it is eclectic enough to encapsulate the diverse interests of an entire student body by personifying learning itself. However, the nuances nestled into each layer will not yield to the idle surveyor, but instead require excavation by an attention to detail and passion for discovery equal to the artist’s own. So take a moment with me and sit, on the floor or a couch, in sight of the world you’ve walked by too often. Your class can wait.

When you first saw it, when you first stopped and stared, what did you think? What is that? Wow! What am I looking at? Is it student art? Who made it? The answer to all of these is Lonnie Hanzon. A Colorado artist, creator, and self-declared maximalist, Lonnie Hanzon forges work so detailed that to delve deeper into it comes with the risk of drowning. When he made the Knowledge Network, he drew on the students, the campus, and the connectivity of information for his subject matter. He created a network, and appropriately, did so with a team of Claro

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more than twenty others, and a template of 65 panels and 455 paintings. At first glance, this network seems to be the grid, the spread of panels both linking and permanently separating the parts of the painting. It seems to be the engraved lines that mimic the protruding lines of the room’s architecture, creating what Hanzon calls “self similarity,” etching the room permanently into the installment, declaring that it could not belong anywhere but here. It seems this way because the school is the network and thus, the Knowledge Network is a reflection of the school. Yet like Alice’s looking glass, this mirror goes much deeper.

In “Ways of Seeing,” John Berger states that “[a]n image is a sight which has been recreated or reproduced” (9). What Hanzon was attempting to recreate was the product and act of education. As he stated, “Learning is a series of networks, places, accesses and path-throughs. Life is not linear. Learning is not linear. Knowledge is a series of parts to a puzzle, a weaving, a circuit board” (qtd. in Public Art Archive). The puzzle pieces of this installment are embedded in the work’s palimpsest nature.

A palimpsest is typically a piece of paper scraped clean of text and written over once more. In this case, it involves etchings, carvings, monotype facing, and multiple paintings layered and merged into a visual text as singular as it is plural. The most obvious piece of this multi-tiered puzzle, and arguably the most important, is life.

When first staring up at the towering 26 by 24 feet of paneling, our eyes push past the parts and the leaves to look at a titan: a Vitruvian. Achieving its inception as a study in proportions, the Vitruvian Man was the brainchild of Leonardo da Vinci. The Vitruvian of Red Rocks stretches beyond the confines of a simple anatomical study. Built of seeming bark, its russet, textured form balances and embraces the painting, appearing to grow, rather than stand, with a twisted cavern of roots and vines taking the place of its legs. This places an emphasis on the process of growth, of putting down roots to nourish yourself. Yet these roots hover, unattached, suggesting perhaps the student who has yet to choose a field to call home, or even hinting at the fact that you do not need to remain still to grow.

The latter gains credence with

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a closer look, for camouflaged beneath the vines and rocks, the dirt and darker spectrum of the painting’s lower half, are the Vitruvian’s seemingly missing legs, etched and embedded, spread as its arms to support the whole.

This combination of roots and legs leads to the notion that life and learning go through cycles; sometimes you settle in to nourish yourself, other times you move and explore what lies before you.

But however impressive and chiseled, what is a body, without a brain?

Above the beautiful-barked musculature of the Vitruvian’s torso watches a head wreathed in twists of swarthy hair. Its face is deeply ingrained, more so than almost any other element in the installment. This face watches, solemnly, furrowed in focus.

Around its neck curve the thick coils of snakes (mostly easily tracked by their tails, tucked into the roots), stretching up to crown the Vitruvian and its branches with the near-kiss of twin snake heads. In many cultures, most notably in Asia, the serpent is a symbol of wisdom. Even in the West, where the snake has been vilified to Biblical proportions for its garden antics, the creature represents the concept of claiming knowledge for oneself. The tree-like structure of the Vitruvian also creates a lovely “Tree of Knowledge” metaphor.

In light of these elements, the depiction of two snakes, intertwined through and atop the Vitruvian’s core form all the way to the branches above, may well signify the ascent of wisdom through humanity, and the concept that though its source is out of reach, residing always ahead of the student, growing towards it is both inevitable and necessary in the pursuit of knowledge. If the snakes are there to teach, though, then the antlers are present to defend what is taught. For the informed mind is capable of protecting itself.

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Defended and informed though the Vitruvian may be, its face is not the only one watching within the work.

Turn to the left. Note the blue prism-like shape that seems disembodied, unrelated to anything as it hovers beneath the Vitruvian’s lower arm. Note the salmon lines engraved around it.

That is an eye. Travel down along the fleshy color and you’ll find a nose and sculpted lips, facing the school’s entrance to the left. To go up, the line leads you around and down the other side, following the curve of this face’s skull.

The outline of this second face contains within it the Vitruvian and heart of the picture; it contains the Knowledge Network. This implies that within each of us lies a network of our own, growth in synapses instead of branches. All the connections, all the power, reside within our minds, a fact felt more poignantly when you realize that the core of the sculptural painting is shaped like the brain stem. Inside the second face’s head, the Vitruvian forms with the round of its rooted-region and the spanning dome arced across its arms the most elemental part of a mind. In metafashion, the Vitruvian not only houses a mind, but was spawned from pieces puzzled out by a brain just as bold and brilliant as the installment. When looking at the colossal form of the whole Knowledge Network, it RRCC

Leonardo da Vinci began his Vitruvian man as aforementioned, as an attempt to study proportions with geometry.

Hanzon seems to have taken that concept and contorted it into a visual metaphor, geometrically dividing the installment in order to connect its proportionate subjects in a way that constantly redirects focus. Because of this, the installation’s physical layout is perhaps as unique as the work as a whole. The grid of 65 panels is far from regular with boxes all varying in size, location, and level. By placing viewers on an uneven terrain, it allows our eyes to walk over the uneven path of education, falling into gaps and tripping over subtle segments we missed the moment before.

This disjointed journey is important because failing and getting lost are just as much a part of learning as bending the spine of a book. What’s more, the spread of the tiles is such that areas are incomplete, with edges unfinished and elements of the imagery missing or halved. This portrays the continual nature of knowledge; it is not stagnant but grows and moves. It is an ever-evolving entity, a palimpsest of awareness and information, which is perhaps the ultimate message of the piece: we never stop collecting knowledge. And when collecting, where better to keep your secret treasures than in boxes and shelves? Clearly, Hanzon agreed with the sentiment when hiding a trove of animals and symbols throughout the network.

THE KNOWLEDGE NETWORK

becomes apparent that capturing every line and edge of every box and shelf will take an effort that must be matched by interest and time.

While there are several animal faces throughout the piece, perhaps the most notable is the wolf’s. Blended into the bark of the Vitruvian’s belly, is a wolf, sketched grey, half-formed, half-hidden, with hungry yellow eyes engaging any viewer who happens upon the forest dweller’s face hunting across the wood.

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Often representative of desire, passion, and appetite, the wolf naturally calls the Vitruvian’s stomach home. Though here it hunts for knowledge, the wolf may also represent the danger of baser needs. Yet, always in balance, there is another at play who keeps the wolf from carnal acts.

Beneath the wolf’s snout sits Buddha, eyes closed in contrast to wolf’s unending stare. The Buddha meditates, embraced by the wood and sharing its hue, illustrating the unity of man and his spirituality, his quest for enlightenment.

Hovering above the water and root system, the Buddha sits atop the Vitruvian’s ambiguous genitalia.

His peculiar position puts him between the wolf and the Vitruvian’s sex, poising the desirous canine’s snout where it might feed on spirituality rather than sexuality.

However, even the Buddha is aided in separation from the genitalia by a bisectingshelf, blocking wants from a meditative mind. This divide is likely necessary because the Buddha is a man like any other and knows the risks of temptation.

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The perseverance and inner peace communicated by the Buddha’s visage make him a well-known icon amongst religious and nonreligious individuals alike. Perhaps an even more universal set of symbols though, involves those associated with language itself.

Of the hundreds of paintings layered over the wood, many are monotypes of Lonnie Hanzon’s journals. Displayed backwards, in keeping with the da Vinci theme set by the Vitruvian, they add another flavor of mystery to the piece. Seemingly indecipherable due to their reversed and transcribed nature, the text at once speaks of academia and the unknown. They are knowledge as of yet unattained. The sculpture is a network of knowledge and its textual foundation emphasizes this more clearly than any other element of the painting. Without language, the transmission of knowledge becomes more complex than the knowledge itself.

By building his work on the backs of words, Hanzon seems to encourage both the collection and communication of knowledge.

Yet while both the piece and the language may be manmade, there are natural elements represented which are not.

The Knowledge Network was carved and painted upon segments of wood, and as such, it is fitting that its primary subject matter be a variation of that wood’s source: namely a tree. In this case, the humanoid tree is a multi-limbed and many-branched Vitruvian. Surrounding it is a wealth of natural imagery. In addition to the aforementioned animals, streams run Claro

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down from either side, watering the roots of the man-tree and adding light and energy to the thematic earth tones that ground and strengthen the piece.

Above that, shaded by the Vitruvian’s arms are examples of local flora and fauna surrounding the school, in addition to its landscape, once more linking Red Rocks to the Knowledge Network and etching the reflection of one upon the other even deeper. While there is much to be said for the external elements of the campus captured in the installment, perhaps more curious is the installment’s location within the campus itself.

The main entrance of Red Rocks Community College is typically the first place newcomers to the school go, and thus it contains the elements of their first impressions.

The entryway sets the mood for all those yet to enter the school. Within it, we find areas to sit, a dirty welcome mat, open access to the rest of the campus, the door to the campus police, a grandfather clock, a map, 14 |

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and the help desk. Above the help desk hangs the Knowledge Network. The front desk area is the place you go when you’re lost or need answers. It is the symbol for answers, signifying a place where one can find the help they seek. By placing the Knowledge Network above the help desk, it redoubles the connectivity of artwork, stressing the wisdom it houses. Within the sculptural painting, as previously noted, there are numerous messages speaking of the balance of life, intelligence, awareness, science, language, and education as a whole. However, like the help desk, to find these messages and to get the answers we want, we must ask. In dealing with art, we ask with our eyes and our time, we ask by devoting attention to the piece, and examining it from different angles and in different lights. We move in closer to catch the symbols, and stand back to see yet more.

In the course of writing this, I have stared at, stood before, sat in front of, squinted at, oogled, introduced others to, and generally studied the Knowledge Network in person no less than a half dozen times, and I’m still staring at the pictures. I don’t think I’ll ever stop staring. If I had to take one thing away at the end, one piece of insight or grand epiphany, it would be this: change.

Every time I have examined this installment, I have seen “This silent Vitruvian, both grown something new. Whether in and made, complete yet forming, passing, or gazing fervently stands with its sharp angles and or climbing the stairs for a fresh foliage as a masthead for different perspective, I find the school, an invitation exposing myself faced with a new purpose: Enter here and discover. sight, a new meaning. Every Enter here and learn. Enter here time I take a friend before and you will change forever it, they point out something because you will learn to see.” that catches their eye, something I missed. The Knowledge Network exists to change. This artwork represents the college so completely that it seems almost impossible. This silent Vitruvian, both grown and made, complete yet forming, stands with its sharp angles and fresh foliage as a masthead for the school, an invitation exposing purpose: Enter here and discover. Enter here and learn. Enter here and you will change forever because you will learn to see.

We’ve spoken for some time now, and I’ve shown you what I see, but that’s only the beginning. Stay a while longer. It’s time for you to look, time for you to see. Go on, make a connection. The network is waiting.

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Works Cited Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. 1972. New York: Penguin Group, 1988.

7-34. Print/Online.

Public Art Archive. “The Knowledge Network: A Palimpsest.”

Public Art Archive. N.p. N.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014 Sloan, Shawn. Untitled, Author in front of Knowledge Network. 14 Feb. 2014 Watts, Jon. Untitled, Knowledge Network Shoot. Feb. 2014.

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And You Are Afraid of Me by maria hatcher † “He said she clutched her purse when he stepped onto the elevator ...

Thomas Williams’ oil painting, And You Are Afraid of Me tells a story of the injustice African-American males have endured throughout America’s history. The problems they faced then are some of the problems they continue to face today. AfricanAmerican males have had to deal with acts such as burnings and lynching in the past, to brutality and being killed by authority figures in America today.

Thomas Williams is a 49-year old African-American artist who was born in Chicago and is not well-known to most of America. He received his formal education at Chicago’s American Academy of Art where his love of painting flourished.

Thomas Williams started painting at the tender age of 12, after comic books had piqued his interest in the ability of the pictorial to convey meaning and further a narrative. His influence and greatest affinity has always been with the proponents and masters of Realism and the Baroque Period (Tom Joyner Foundation).

† online content

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I was able to interview Thomas Williams via email and telephone conversations. During my conversation with Thomas, I asked him why he created the painting and what his inspiration for the painting was. He states, “I came up with And You Are Afraid of Me last year [2013] at an artist talk. A fellow artist was discussing an incident he had on an elevator with a white woman. He said she clutched her purse when he stepped onto the elevator. When I heard this I got pissed so I stood up and spoke about how we should be scared [of African Americans] because [of] what was done to us slavery, lynching, burning, beating and a host of others. I wanted to inform people through art and history what was done to African Americans, but remind America that African Americans were and [are] the victim of American crimes.

Thus the idea was born, but I couldn’t come up with a pose or how to get my message across. I would work on multiple sketches to help my vision. I was discussing my idea with another artist who suggested hands up and shortly after that Michael Brown was murdered. And the painting was born. I finished it last week.”

[Week of October 6, 2014] (Williams).

I chose his work because the oil painting And You Are Afraid of Me spoke to me as an African-American mother who loves and worries about her sons on a daily basis. My oldest son said something I never thought I would hear from him: “All the things happening to African-American males today makes me apprehensive about walking out my front door.” It was “My oldest son said something I disheartening hearing never thought I would hear from my son say these words. him: ‘All the things happening to My husband and I left African-American males today Baltimore to get away makes me apprehensive about from the negativity of the walking out my front door.’” atmosphere and brutality of the police so our children could have better opportunities. While looking at this painting, I could feel the power of this piece of artwork and wanted to write about it. It speaks of things that have happened in the past in America and some of these things are still going on today.

And You Are Afraid of Me is artwork that is poignant, relevant, and valid today in America. Thomas Williams depicts a young man holding his hands up with the date 1619 in bold print on one arm and the word “present” on the other arm. The date 1619 represents the date Africans were bought to the shores of America as slaves. In the lower-left corner under the 1619 arm, is a picture of an African-American male being burned on a pyre. Burnings and lynchings of Blacks were common in America after Reconstruction (the period immediately following

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On the other arm of the young man in the painting is the word “present” in bold print and under the arm in the lower right corner are pictures of what is happening in America today. One picture is of 43-year old Eric Garner of New York who was choked to death by police because he sold single cigarettes from “The artwork of Thomas Williams the sidewalk in July 2014.

And You Are Afraid of Me shows the The other photo depicts social injustice African-American the killing of an 18-year old men endured in the past and are young man named Michael still grappling with today.”

Brown, who was shot six times in August 2014 by a Ferguson, MO police officer (Williams). Whatever happened to the police motto, To Serve and To Protect? This motto must not apply to people of color. These photos show just a little bit of the injustice African-American males receive in this country. There are numerous stories and pictures of Black males being harmed or killed by authority figures. These photos are sobering, and powerful, a testament to the sad state of affairs in the United States of America today.

AND YOU ARE AFRAID OF ME

the Civil War during which the United States sought to rebuild the South physically, politically, socially, and economically) (“Reconstruction”). The picture next to it depicts the lynching of three people. “Lynching was an undeniable part of daily life, as distinctly American as baseball games and church suppers.

Men brought their wives and children to the events, posed for commemorative photographs, and purchased souvenirs of the occasion as if they had been at a company picnic” (Blacks, Picnics and Lynchings). These pictures show man’s inhumanity to man.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three Black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Individuals of color have a disproportionate number of encounters with law enforcement, indicating that racial profiling continues to be a problem. A report by the Department of Justice found that Blacks were approximately three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white motorists. African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police (Kerby).

The artwork of Thomas Williams And You Are Afraid of Me shows the social injustice African-American men endured in the past and are still grappling with today. These photos are a drop in the bucket and show some of the atrocities faced by Black males from the very people who are supposed to serve and protect them as members of American society. There are many other Claro

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instances of injustice, so many that it is embarrassing to show.

It has always been and continues to be open season on AfricanAmerican males in the US. And You Are Afraid of Me is true to its nature, it tells the truth of what Thomas Williams feels inside of himself as an African-American male. Thomas Williams’ motto is one of peace, love, and justice. This is something which seems to be in short supply for Black males in America.

Works Cited Kerby, Sophia. The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States. Center for American Progress, March 13, 2012. Web. 21 Sep. 2014. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/ 2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-aboutpeople-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/.

Williams, Thomas’ Email interview, October 14, 2014, Telephone interview, October 17, 2014.

Blacks, Picnics and Lynchings, January 4, 2004. Ferris State University. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. https://www.ferris.edu/news/ jimcrow/questions/jan04.htm.

Tom Joyner Foundation.

Interview with Thomas Williams. February 8, 2014. Web. 10 Oct 2014. http:// tomjoynerfoundation.org/thomas-williams/.

“Reconstruction.” Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, 1999. Print.

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II Art as Advertisement

The CDC: Taking a Bite out of Popular Culture by gianna dejulio † “the word ‘zombie’ actually originates from West Africa and was the name of a snake god worshiped in religious practices in both Africa and the West Indies ...

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† online content

THE CDC

A ghastly image. A girl peers at you from behind a barrier, piercing you with an eerie gaze. Her skin is pale, her hair lank and dingy. Dirt is caked under her nails and smeared upon her skin. The use of shadows, darkness, and cool colors projects a sense of foreboding and morbidity. The implied “Her skin is pale, her hair lank and rough texture of the barrier dingy. Dirt is caked under her nails adds to the coarse essence and smeared upon her skin.” of the piece. What else hides behind this barrier?

The fact that we can only see a small portion of this girl adds an ominous sense of mystery to the piece. The overall impression that the image bestows upon its audience is one of uncleanliness and malevolence. In the center of the poster the message is clear, “DON’T BE A ZOMBIE/BE PREPARED.” The previous description is not that of a movie poster, nor an advertisement for the latest television drama. In 2011 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saw an opportunity to capitalize on the rising popularity of the undead and developed a campaign, incorporating zombies, to advocate for emergency preparedness. This poster is a product of that campaign. There is nothing comforting in this image. It is not meant to bestow upon the viewer a sense of security, but instead it is rather meant to awaken and possibly even frighten its audience with its message of preparedness.

The CDC “works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety, and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S.” (“Mission, Role, and Pledge”). It is a national government institution that is charged with many duties in regards to public health, as well as emergency preparedness and response. Typical emergency scenarios in which the CDC could be involved range from bioterrorism attacks to natural disasters to outbreaks of disease.

The CDC not only focuses on being prepared itself in the event of an emergency, but also urges the public to be prepared.

While a plague of the undead would certainly be an emergency, the word “zombie” actually originates from West Africa and was the name of a snake god worshiped in religious practices in both Africa and the West Indies. The word later went on to refer to a human corpse that has been reanimated by means of voodoo or other supernatural forces. In the present, we most often associate the word “zombie” with an undead creature that exhibits a characteristic need for devouring human flesh (“Zombie”). The creator of the poster obviously wants us to associate this piece of work with the undead, but could this phrasing be interpreted another way? One could argue that the implied meaning of the Claro

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phrase “don’t be a zombie” could just be the author’s way of saying “do not be stupid; don’t be an automaton.” While this implication may be insulting to some, it certainly deserves consideration.

If the message were not printed so clearly on this poster, would we still see a zombie-like undertone? The girl who is featured in this picture is certainly not the picture of health. We see pale skin: is this caused by an overall lack of sunlight, or is there an illness wreaking havoc upon this girl’s body that we as the viewer are not privy to? Her hands are smudged with dirt and filth accumulates underneath her fingernails: what is the reason for her uncleanly appearance? I believe we can safely rule out the possibility that she has been gardening, due to her overall paleness and sickly appearance. What we can “In 2011 the Centers for Disease see of her hair is also dirty, Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as unkempt. The eyes saw an opportunity to capitalize that stare out at us from on the rising popularity of the the image are surrounded undead and developed a campaign, by dark, bruised skin, and incorporating zombies, to advocate wrinkles that carry an almost sinister quality. This for emergency preparedness.” image is no doubt dark and a bit frightening. The only points of the piece that are not drab and dreary are the CDC logo and information located on the very bottom of the poster. But are there other emotions that are at the forefront when analyzing this picture? This viewer feels an almost comic element when considering this piece. The CDC, “the national public health institute of the United States” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is showing that they are essentially “hip and with it” by using pop-culture references in their ad campaign.

Zombies have become increasingly favored in popular culture lately. In recent years we have seen the revival of zombie “flicks” such as Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil, and 28 Days Later. We have even seen the emergence of a new genre of movies, “zomedies” (zombie comedies), which include films like Zombieland and Shawn of the Dead. The Walking Dead is consistently one of the most watched primetime shows in America (De Moraes), as well as being “the most watched drama in basic cable history” (“The Walking Dead”). Set in a world plagued with a disease that has turned the majority of the population into flesh-eating “walkers,” the show delves into the lives of a group of survivors striving to make a life in this hostile new world. The undead are also appearing more often in literature, with books such as Max Brook’s parody The Zombie Survival Guide and novel World War Z.

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THE CDC

Obviously not everyone is going to find this poster as enthralling as zomedy fans. There are people who will view this image and not even know what a zombie is; the message may be completely lost on them. There are others who will see this as a waste of taxpayer funds. “What is the point in using our hard-earned money by creating this ridiculous campaign?!” they may ask. This campaign is meant to draw in people who would otherwise ignore pleas to be prepared in the face of catastrophe. People with a certain sense of humor, both young and old alike, can look at this poster and think, “Well, that’s creative.” Others, like myself, look upon this poster and exclaim, “That’s ingenious!”

Now, you may be asking yourself, “What is the logic behind this poster? Where is the practicality in preparing for a zombie emergency?” The director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, Dr. Ali S. Khan, claims, “If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack” (“Zombie Preparedness”). The CDC advocates for US citizens to make a plan, get an emergency kit, and be prepared to face the hardships associated with any type of disaster or emergency. What should one do in order to prepare for such events? It is recommended that all people have emergency rations of water and nonperishable food readily available in case of an emergency. Other items that are highly suggested are first-aid kits, medications, tools, spare clothing and “Now, you may be asking yourself, bedding, as well as copies ‘What is the logic behind this of important documents poster? Where is the practicality in (driver’s license, passport). preparing for a zombie emergency?’”

The only thing that may hold higher value in a zombie apocalypse versus a natural disaster or pandemic is having access to a multitude of weapons (which some will argue would come in handy in the state of any emergency, but that’s a topic for another time and place). Next: the plan. All families should have a prearranged meeting place close to home and one away from home in case they are separated prior to or during an emergency. Again, this would be important in the case of any sort of emergency.

While the use of a pop-culture icon in a campaign developed by a government organization is not common practice, in this instance it is certainly turning heads. Would this poster, with the message “MAKE A PLAN BE PREPARED,” have caught as many eyes if instead of a zombie it had depicted a forest fire or tornado? This observer doubts it.

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Works Cited “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Wikipedia.

Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

De Moraes, Lisa. “TBS Snaps USA’s Yearly Streak With Demo Viewers, But ‘Walking Dead’ Is King Of The Cable Universe In 2013 (GALLERY).” Deadline.com. N.p., 14 Dec. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

“Mission, Role and Pledge.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

“The Walking Dead.” Www.amctv.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

“Zombie.” Dictionary.com.

Feb. 2014.

Dictionary.com,

n.d.

Web.

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“Zombie Preparedness.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 Feb. 2014.

Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

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Fracking PSA by evan spaanstra †

My PSA is trying to convey pathos by convincing the “flag flying” portion of our population to get behind the cause and support it at nearly any cost. I chose the famous painting of George Washington and his men crossing the Delaware during the War of Independence. My reasons are simple. For starters, I’m hopeful that people will make the correlation between General Washington’s fight for independence and the ongoing “fight” for America’s need for energy independence. Furthermore, I attempted to insert some quiet humor by presenting a kairotic issue with a relatively old piece of art. Perhaps this is a long shot, but I’m also hoping a portion of people will unconsciously notice that the boat is heading towards the left of the frame as if symbolizing an effort to reach across the political landscape for a profitable cause. Finally, I believe that this ad would be best received in magazines with a focus on things like the geopolitical landscape and engineering.

Works Cited Leutze, Emanuel. www.college.columbia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

† online content

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III Visualizing History

The Great African Genocide by nathan mills †

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THE GREAT AFRICAN GENOCIDE

“The Belgium colonists used primitive methods to determine the ‘whiteness’ of Hutus and Tutsi ... As a result, Tutsi people gained unfair social and economic advantages.”

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NATHAN MILLS

“‘The graves are not yet full!’”

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THE GREAT AFRICAN GENOCIDE

“Special AIDS-infected rape squads were formed by Hutu militia in an effort to destroy the Tutsi future.

This was the first time in history that disease has been used as a means of genocide.”

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NATHAN MILLS

“The racism and inequality introduced by Belgium imperialists has created a lasting ethnic conflict in Rwanda that may never be resolved.�

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Works Cited Dean White, “An African Holocaust,” History Today 64, no. 6 (June 2014): 40-46.

THE GREAT AFRICAN GENOCIDE

“The aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide resulted in the near annihilation of the Tutsi peoples.”

“Genocide in Rwanda.” The United Human Rights Council. The United Human Rights Council, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_ rwanda.htm.

“Rwanda Genocide of 1994.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. http:// www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1762747/Rwandagenocide-of-1994.

“The Rwandan Genocide.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/ rwandan-genocide.

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Denmark Reacts 1940-1945

Non-Violent Resistance to Fight the Violent Nazi Invasion

by lisa casady †

On April 9th 1940, the German Nazi’s invaded Copenhagen, Denmark by dropping nonthreatening propaganda leaflets out of bomber planes. The leaflets were written in a mix of Danish and Norwegian language. The propaganda deceptively warned the masses that the Nazi’s were coming to protect the people of Denmark from the British and the people of Denmark were not to resist Nazi orders while negotiating with the government of Denmark. During the occupation of Denmark, from 19401943, life in Denmark was relatively peaceful, which allowed time for the non-violent resistance groups to help the Jewish people escape to Sweden and gain strength.

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† online content

DENMARK REACTS

King Cristian X of Denmark on his daily ride through Copenhagen on his birthday, September 26th 1941. King Christian X believed all Danes were equal and supported the non-violent resistant movement underground and refused to support antiJewish legislation. King Christian spoke against the German occupation, was taken prisoner and held in the royal palace by the Nazis from 1943 to 1945. The King of Denmark died in 1947.

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LISA CASADY

Danish resistance groups held secret meetings at local shops to organize their plan of resistance and attack against the German occupation.

The underground nonviolent Danish resistance groups sabotaged German factories that supported the anti-Jewish legislation. The groups performed this type of resistance in response to the Nazis beginning to violently invade Denmark during 1943.

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DENMARK REACTS

Heinrich Himmler with his daughter. Heinrich Himmler was head of the SS and very close friends with Hitler. Heinrich believed in creating a master race through founding the idea of Lebensborn (fountain of life). During the occupation of Denmark, Heinrich and Hitler encouraged the Nazis to impregnate women of the Aryan race. Some of the women of Denmark were taken by force and others chose to join out of fear.

“The underground nonviolent Danish resistance groups sabotaged German factories that supported the anti-Jewish legislation.�

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LISA CASADY

The resistance groups blew up railways that were transporting German goods and Jewish people to concentration camps and death camps. By blowing up the railways, they could slow down the process and help Jews to escape.

The Danish Police Force still had control over the harbor and were able to save 95% of the Danish Jews by secretly transporting them to Sweden and hiding them underground.

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DENMARK REACTS

On may 5th, 1945 the Germans backed out of Denmark.

Among many other forms of celebration, the Danes revel by burning the Nazi flag.

“The Danish Police Force still had control over the harbor and were able to save 95% of the Danish Jews by secretly transporting them to Sweden and hiding them underground.”

Personal Reflection The pictures above only give a small glimpse of the trials and tribulations the Jewish Danes and Non-Jewish Danes encountered during the German occupation. The people of Denmark were invaded and forced to succumb to the German occupation, but were able to resist because of warnings by German officials, Jewish Rabbis, and the general public who were willing to put their lives on the line in order to fight for the rights of humanity. Although there were minimal effective acts of defensive violence against the German occupation, the people came together as a whole to resist through non-violent action.

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for Jewish people, but for humankind. This movement, along with many other non-violent resistance movements, left behind a legacy and example for how to deal with current situations all over the world. Many people are in the process of researching the outcome of nonviolent resistance movements in order to prove nonviolence is the most effective way to fight against violence. We may never get rid of violence. But if we are able to resist viciousness by following and being a part of nonviolent resistance, we may be able to prevent and minimize these horrific tragedies from repeating themselves in the future.

“Denmark’s non-violent resistant movement stood up not only for Jewish people, but for humankind.”

Works Cited “Christian X.” Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 15 November 2014.

“Rescue and Resistance in Denmark During the German Occupation, 40-45.” OSU-School of History, Philosophy, and Religion. Youtube, 9 September 2014. Web. 5 November 2014.

“Danish Resistance during the Holocaust.” Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Hans Holmskov Schlüter & C.L H.E.A.R.T, Copyright 2007. Web. 19 November 2014.

“The Happiest (And Saddest) Countries In The World.” Forbes.com.

Forbes Staff, 9 January 2013. Web. 15 November 2014.

“Hitler’s Men: Heinrich Himmler.” Illustrated History: Relive the Times: Images of War, History, WW2. Blogspot.com, March 2010.

Web. 12 November 2014.

“The Lebensborn Project Was One of the Most Secret and 42 |

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Terrifying Nazi Projects.” War History Online. Google Images, 13 January 2013. Web. 17 November 2014.

“Non-Violent Struggle.” International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict. Conflict Research Consortium, 20 July 1999. Web. 12 November 2014.

“Opprop Denmark. PNG 15.” Wikimedia Commons. Google Images, 15 September 2012. Web. 17 November 2014

DENMARK REACTS

“Nonviolent Resistance.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 30 March 15. Web. 15 November 2014.

“Sabotage 1940-1945.” Danmarkshistorien.dk. Niels Wium Olesen, 2 March 2012. Web. 15 November 2014.

“The Success of Nonviolent Civil Resistance.” TEDxBoulder.

Youtube, 4 November 2013. Web. 10 November 2014.

Wruble, Mattia. “Danish Resistance in WWII.” Wordpress.com. 20 October 2012. Web. 17 November 2014.

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The Race to the Final Frontier by kendryn gates †

“It was the idea of the ‘Balance of Terror’ ... that really spurred the Space Race.”

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† online content

THE RACE TO THE FINAL FRONTIER

“Out of fear of creating an uninhabitable world ... the conflict between the US and the Soviet Union was forced to be played in other ways.”

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KENDRYN GATES

“ ... Vostok I ... sent the first man, by the name of Yuri Gagarin, into space.”

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THE RACE TO THE FINAL FRONTIER

“In 1969, with the launching of the Apollo Missions, the United States had won the Space Race.”

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KENDRYN GATES

“ ... 13,200,000 miles away from Earth, the crew radioed in ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem here.’”

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THE RACE TO THE FINAL FRONTIER

“The only way that Americans can reach the moon is ... Russian craft.”

Works Cited: Photographs The A Team. 1969. NASA. Mail Online. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Apollo 11- Earth Rising. 1969. Encyclopedia Astronautica. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Apollo 13. 1970. Apollo 13 in Pictures (NASA). JSC Features. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Apollo 13 Reentry Photos. 1970. Auckland, New Zealand. Apollo 13 Re-entry Photos. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Arms Race. N.d. Pink Panthers. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Gagarin Suited for the Job. 1961. National Geographic. National Geographic. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Gagarin's Ride. N.d. National Geographic. National Geographic.

Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

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KENDRYN GATES

Grissom, Virgil I.: Grissom and Young inside Gemini III. 1965.

NASA. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Laika: The Space Dog. N.d. Space Rocket History. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Men of the Year. 1983. Time Magazine, New York. National Security Archive. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Shepard Flies Freedom 7. 1961. Project Mercury; NASA. APOD. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Sputnik. 1957. Sputnik. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Welch Daily News. 1957. Coalwood, WV. Sputnik. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

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Second-Wave Feminism by danielle smith †

1960 – FDA approves Enovid This was the first legal contraceptive pill. Originally it was only prescribed to married couples. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that unmarried people should have access to it as well.

Women now had unprecedented control over their fertility.

“‘Each suburban wife struggles with it alone.’”

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DANIELLE SMITH

1963 – The Feminine Mystique “Each suburban wife struggles with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—'Is this all?”

1964 – The Civil Rights Act The Civil Rights Act made it illegal for employers to discriminate based on "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” The word “sex” was added at the last minute in an attempt to make the bill fail. It passed anyway. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created to enforce the new law.

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SECOND-WAVE FEMINISM

1966 – NOW founded Betty Friedan and Dr. Pauli Murray attended The Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women.

They believed that the EEOC was not doing enough to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964. NOW was founded later that night in Friedan’s hotel room.

The reason NOW was needed was because the EEOC was allowing sexist employment practices to continue. Men and women still had separate “help wanted” sections in newspapers.

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DANIELLE SMITH

1968 – Miss America Protest About 400 feminists attended the 1968 protest. Women were protesting the objectification and sexualization of the contestants as well as the impossible standards of beauty being promoted. Protesters carried signs, threw traditionally feminine objects into a "Freedom Trash Can," and crowned a live sheep "Miss America" and paraded it around.

“Protesters ... threw traditionally feminine objects into a ‘Freedom Trash Can,’ and crowned a live sheep ‘Miss America’ ... “

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SECOND-WAVE FEMINISM

Miss America 2014

“Men and women still had separate ‘help wanted’ sections in newspapers.”

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DANIELLE SMITH

1973 – Roe v. Wade In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled that the decision to terminate a pregnancy is protected by a woman's right to privacy. This decision effectively equated privacy with sexual autonomy. This would influence later decisions such as Lawrence v. Texas.

“In 1975 the Supreme Court ruled that the decision to terminate a pregnancy is protected by a woman’s right to privacy.”

Why should you care?

Second-wave feminism has completely changed the way that women are treated in our society. Women can now pursue their own ambitions rather than being confined to the home.

Many of the issues that this movement brought to light, such as the depiction of women in the media and abortion, remain controversial topics.

Works Cited “ACLU History: The Roe v. Wade Era.” American Civil Liberties Union.

American Civil Liberties Union, 1 Sept. 2010. Web.

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“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” National Archives. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. Duffett, Judith. “Miss America 1968: As It Happened.” Veteran Feminists of America. Veteran Feminists of America, 12 June 2008. Web. “The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.” American Astronomical Society Committee on the Status on Women in Astronomy, n.d. Web.

SECOND-WAVE FEMINISM

Buttar, Aliya, and Sheraden Seward. Embryo Project Encyclopedia.

Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Center for Biology and Society, 25 Sept. 2013. Web.

“Founding: Setting the Stage.” National Organization for Women.

N.p., July 2011. Web. Sorensen, Anne Scott. “Three Waves of Feminism: From Suffragettes to Grrls.” Gender Communication Theories and Analyses. By Charlotte Krolokke. N.p.: Sage Publications, 2006. 1-23. Print.

Photos http://jwa.org/sites/jwa.org/files/now_1966.jpg http://assets.makers.com/Letty%20Cottin%20Pogrebin%20 Two%20Sides%20of%20Betty%20Friedan.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5c84EtsUcHc/TkYY_IGMw1I/ AAAAAAAAKi4/4hWDP9hYf_s/s640/%255BBottlecontaining-oral-contraceptive-Enovid%255D-NYWTS--...painting-artwork-print.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Lyndon_ Johnson_signing_Civil_Rights_Act,_July_2,_1964.jpg http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/e8/23/16/ e82316da35beadaa4ff78c53932f7efe.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXaNj-F2jhw/TzMkyTFoh_I/ AAAAAAAAESs/gBgDN8LVfz4/s1600/roe-v-wade1-e1279633405530.jpg http://cds.library.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/RA/ NCraig/gifs/Jobs.gif http://www.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/photo_ galleries/regular_galleries/2264-miss-america-2014/ photos/1379341913_miss-new-york-zoom.jpg Claro

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IV Contested Identities

Fitting the Princess Mold by mikayla klas †“ ... what happens when the fairy tales cause more damage than good? ...

As little kids we often ask for a bedtime story, something with adventure, romance, magic, and a happy ending. What we truly ask for is a fairy tale. In fairy tales a peasant can become a king.

Fairy tales show that children do not have to cower in adversity, or wait around for fate to choose their paths. They show that no

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When I was little, I loved the female princesses for their dainty figure and possession of true love, but I adored the power that the evil villains had to make their dreams come true. This caused a conflict of interest; I wanted to be beautiful and get a prince, but I didn’t want to have to wait for him to save me. I also

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situation is hopeless, or that they can change who they are and how they are viewed, as long as they are determined and have faith. They also have a sense of mystery and wonder that, as we grow older, the real world starts to lose. It nurtures our creativity so we can imagine that we are the heroes and heroines of our own tale. Fairy tales have been a huge part of a child’s development and are constantly told as bedtime stories or played on a TV to soothe a savage child; yet what happens when the fairy tales cause more damage than good?

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didn’t want to be evil, ugly, and alone, so I made the choice to be a princess.

I looked up to Disney princesses, and came to realize if I wanted to join their ranks, I must have the slender princess figure. However, I wasn’t slender but rather a slightly muscular child; I could never become a princess like this! I tried my best to get my body slimmer through exercise and eating right, but by age 10 I knew I had to take extreme measures. That began my journey into anorexia. I ate very little and lost a lot. I didn’t lose just weight, I lost muscle and the strength to move forward. I was put on a diet to fatten me up, which lead to another eating

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The classic fairy tale revolves around a young, slender, beautiful woman (our princess) and usually her quest to rise above some form of submission. In order to rise above, she must receive help from her dashing prince, a fairy godmother or some

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disorder, bulimia. Luckily bulimia didn’t last long as I found out that throwing up on a regular basis would destroy the beauty of my teeth and cause loss of hair. Princesses are just as readily known for their beautiful smile and luscious locks. In the end the need to obtain the princess figure nearly destroyed my life and the need to follow in her subservient footsteps lost me a great deal of confidence. Which is why I began dissecting the tale.

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other mystical being. Generally, the prince comes to rescue this princess from the predicament she has fallen into and they fall madly in love and partake in true love’s first kiss. They then live happily ever after, having vanquished the evil foe or foes. What is wrong with this classic fairy tale? It can be brought down to three corrupted ideas: true love, ideal beauty, and princesses being subservient. However, modern-day fairy tales are slowly evolving to fight these misconceptions.

One thing that these modern fairy tales have in common is the growth of the princess. Where in the beginning she is usually naĂŻve and uncertain of who she is, she blossoms into a strong confident woman ready to take on the world. In this manner,

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fairy tales are good for a child’s self-esteem. If only fairy tales could tie in more positive aspects instead of a select few.

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Soman Chainani’s book, The School for Good and Evil, is a prime example of an evolving tale to fight these misconceptions.

Chainani creates a villain named Sophie, who is a slender girl with long, curly, blonde hair and dazzling eyes with a princess counter-part named Agatha, who is a frumpy young lady with thick black hair. The two couldn’t be more different from our typical fairy tale set up, and yet the tale makes sense. While Agatha may feel she fits the evil role because of her appearance, her inner workings scream “princess.” She is the author’s way of

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commenting on the fact that this misconception leads perfectly decent girls into thinking they ought to play the roles of villains simply because they don’t fit the role of the stereotypical princess.

Meanwhile, beautiful Sophie with a heart of coal feels as though she deserves to be princess. We can interpret that today young girls believe as long as they are beautiful they deserve to get everything they want regardless of how black their soul may be.

The author adds yet another twist by creating guardians (who watch after the two schools) who are not as they seem. By this I mean the guardians who are good were once evil and those who are evil once good. She shows us that appearance can be deceptive and not everything should be taken at face value. This

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Maleficent retells the classic tale Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the dreaded villain, Maleficent. In Maleficent the female leads are not the same submissive or misunderstood characters; they are rewritten as bold and in Maleficent’s case, wronged by a boy she thought she loved.

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is an important lesson to hold close to the heart. By telling her tale in this way she shows us that true princesses don’t rely on beauty but rather kindness to get their happily ever after. She isn’t the only one to evolve a fairy tale; Disney’s Maleficent also mixes up our classic fairy tales misconceptions.

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The added twist is that Maleficent provides the young, beautiful Aurora, with “true love’s” kiss, which rids us of that nasty stereotype of love at first sight. According to Elizabeth Danish, a child psychologist, this stereotype leads women to wait for a man “that fits the image of ‘Prince Charming.’” This can lead to marital problems later on because the woman did not in fact find a “Prince Charming” (Danish 12). While Disney fights to change true love’s first kiss (in the romantic sense), Dream Works makes the romantic kiss a little more realistic in the movie Shrek.

In Shrek, our princess, who is well aware of her character’s stereotypical role, has been cursed to become an ugly ogre each

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night the sun sets. Her curse, like all other classic fairy tale curses, can only be broken with true love’s first kiss. She, like Sleeping Beauty’s Aurora, awaits her princely rescuer to bestow this kiss and break the spell. When a hideous ogre, Shrek, and his noble stead, Donkey, come instead, her happily ever after receives a twist. She falls in love with Shrek, receives her true love’s kiss from him, and turns into a hideous ogre (just like Shrek!) for the rest of her life. She doesn’t understand how she could still be ugly upon receiving the kiss and tells Shrek, “I don’t understand.

I was supposed to be beautiful.” When he responds with, “But you are beautiful,” it leaves us as a viewer feeling complete with the

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power of love. And for once, we know this true love was found and developed rather than thought of as love at first sight.

Unfortunately the tale doesn’t eliminate the idea of beauty found in all fairy tales.

While Shrek shows us you don’t have to be a slender, beautiful, waif of a princess to receive that happily ever after, it can be interpreted that ugly can only have ugly. This tells little girls that if they aren’t average princess “beautiful,” they will not get a handsome prince, but they may be able to find an equally unattractive “prince” of their own. While the idea behind it was pure, the message didn’t entirely come across the way it was intended.

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In addition, with all of the lovely, young maidens in fairy tales, one ogre isn’t going to make much of a difference. Even the newly beloved tale, Frozen, doesn’t entirely eliminate the beauty ideal. Disney’s Frozen provides us with a princess who, while slender and beautiful, doesn’t have the flawless skin. Our princess, Anna, has freckled checks and carrot orange hair that makes her almost pass as an atypical peasant. She has a more simplistic beauty than the classic fairy tale beauty we’ve come to expect. However, her sister, Queen Elsa, fits the classic beauty with her flawless skin, slender figure, and gorgeous locks quite nearly making Anna’s simplistic beauty unimportant. After all, the true female lead of the story is our Queen Elsa. So the stereotypical fairy-tale beauty hasn’t been defeated.

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According to statistics found in Lindsey and Lexie Kite’s article, “No Prince Charming Can Conquer Your Body Image Battle,” over 90% of women are dissatisfied with their physical appearance (4). They found that this is commonly due to social media cramming down our throats the idea that women can only be beautiful with their new product, diet, or exercise machine.

But who defines the ideal body image? The simple answer is every single one of us.

According to Kuykendall and Sturn, “fairy tales define women as [powerless] beautiful objects…powerful women are generally ugly if not also evil. [An] exception to this rule is wise women or fairy godmothers [differing in the fact that] they are not truly human” (39). So while Frozen and Maleficent have made powerful princesses, they are not yet without their beauty or stereotypes.

In Hayes article, “Am I Too Fat To Be A Princess? Examining The Effects Of Popular Children’s Media On Young Girls’ Body Image,” researchers analyzed several different sources of children’s media. What they found was “good characters often are depicted as beautiful and thin, and attractiveness is associated with sociability, kindness, contentedness, and success.

In contrast, ‘evil’ is linked more readily to obesity, cruelty, and general unattractiveness” (415). It is no wonder that little girls who have the slightest bit of pudge begin to question whether or not they are too fat to be a princess. In a statistic revealed by the Kite sisters, we discover that “two thirds of adolescent girls wish they were thinner…[when only] 16% are actually overweight” (4). This tells us that girls are developing unhealthy body images that, as in my case, lead to eating disorders. While the quest for ideal beauty ruins a child’s body, subservience breaks a child’s spirit.

Children’s training into subservient relationships begins in fairy tales. According to Kuykendall and Sturn’s article, “We Said Feminist Fairy Tales, Not Fractured Fairy Tales!” many states require fairy tales in a child’s learning curriculum and the “cultural norms [expressed] in fairy tales play a large part on the socialization process of the child who reads them” (38). This means that the gender roles in fairy tales teach children a skewed view of appropriate behavior in society. If the princesses are only destined to be beautiful brides serving their husbands, this doesn’t set a positive example for little girls.

One of the real questions is if fairy tales are focused on children, why must women must remain subservient? That is answered quite nicely in Mathew Johnson’s article, “The Little Princess Syndrome.” In it, a study found that little girls tend to reject fairy tales that “attempt to alter the traditional gender

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From many of my sources and my own examination, I have come to realize that more often than not our female leads are slender, delicate creatures who are waiting for a strong prince.

However, the subservient aspect is rapidly declining in modern fairy tales: Frozen is a good example of this. Disney’s movie Frozen is more about the quest of two sisters to overcome a frightful power and come to rule a united and strong kingdom.

The female leads are both incredibly strong on their own and the male characters equally strong, but not overbearing. In this manner we are shown that women (in this case, Elsa) can be strong and capable, but a woman who fears her own strength and lacks control is often feared and persecuted. You can see Disney attempting to release that subservient attitude the princesses typically have, but it is still deeply rooted in our culture.

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roles” (36). This tells us that the gender roles in society have become so deeply rooted that even small children can tell when something doesn’t fit the norm. How can we alter these roles that have been passed down for so long if children can tell when something isn’t “right”?

Another thing Frozen does well is getting rid of what Do Rozario refers to as the “femme fatale.” “Femme fatale” is a powerhungry woman, the antagonist, set on ruining our princess’s life.

Once the “femme fatale” is eliminated, it gives our princesses a chance to become powerful. Without the “femme fatale,” women can stand united and equally among men, instead of resting by their feet as lowly servants.

Yet corrupted views on beauty, gender roles, and true love isn’t all that plagues fairy tales; ever try re-watching fairy tales as an adult? They hint at sexual innuendos so that the adult audience can be entertained as well. While the children may not get it then, it can corrupt the fairy tale for them later on. It also implies our childhood princess was not as pure and innocent as we thought.

A prime example of this is when, in The Little Mermaid, Ursula hints at the importance of body language. The way she phrases it is that a beautiful woman who talks too much is a bore, but one who understands “body language” and is silent is much more interesting. This insinuates that a woman isn’t sought after for her mind, but rather for her body. Little girls may not get it at the time, but as Ursula’s catchy tune settles in their minds, the seed is planted.

This mindset sets women up to fail when we interpret and use it in our day-to-day life. If men only care for a woman’s body, as long as a girl “puts out,” she can be loved by her ideal man. This is not something I would want my children to grow up believing.

When one believes this, it sets a girl up to become a beautiful sex Claro

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object instead of a person. It decreases a woman’s morals if she believes that a good body is the only way to a man’s heart.

This becomes true even of our modern-day fairy tales. In Frozen, when Elsa becomes assured of her powers and more confident in herself, she goes from the straight-laced queen to a sexy, confident woman. This change, while good for her character development, shows young girls that in order be confident you must dress sexy. Granted, our princess Anna stays with her more reserved wardrobe, but no one really adores her as much as our powerful Queen Elsa.

Another such sexualization of a female lead is Maleficent.

Our dear princess Aurora may still dress in a reserved manner, but the truly powerful lead is Maleficent. Maleficent, in her fight scene, is dressed in a tight, black suit with heels, and though, when her fight is over, she wears a more modest outfit, the moment we come to idolize her is when she battles for her beliefs.

What these modern fairy tales also imply is that you can either be powerful, confident, and sexy or you can be brave, a little naïve, and get yourself a man. This shows that truly powerful and confident women are still feared by men. While our princesses are not as weak as they once were, they still aren’t more powerful than their love interest.

In Frozen, the ending shows Elsa ending up alone; while quirky, yet normal, Anna has a romantic interest, Kristoff. Does this mean that Elsa is alone? Or could this point back to a popular saying, “I don’t need a man, I am a strong and confident woman”?

Whatever the case, the same pattern occurs in Maleficent.

Maleficent thought she had love, but was scorned by her lover.

In the end, although she knows who she is, she ends up without a romantic pursuer. Her only possible choice is the crow man she once saved, Diaval. While Diaval is a sweet character, who would be a perfect companion to Maleficent, the relationship doesn’t seem to be anything but platonic. Meanwhile young, naive Aurora gets a chance to pursue the handsome Prince Phillip whom she met in the forest. This leaves us to wonder will men only accept women who are still naïve and trusting of the world? Does this mean that women who have suffered through hardships are to remain alone and in the best-case scenario end up with a higher level of confidence?

It appears that in order to achieve their happy ending, these stronger women must give up something. Elsa had to share her power with the entire kingdom. She could no longer just use it for sisterly fun now that the entire town knew of it; it had to be a gift for everyone. In addition, I no longer really felt Elsa was 74 |

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It does not seem entirely fair that our powerful female protagonist would receive a seemingly lesser happy ending.

Although it was our second female leads that in the end changed the views of our lovely first ladies, it seems unfair that one should receive a better ending. It indicates that if you become a villain for even a moment, you are almost unworthy of that powerful happily ever after ending that the entirely pure receive.

In this manner, you have to be a perfect person and never really stray from the path. There still is an air of perfection around our princesses that makes it hard for a normal person to achieve.

Those who stray from the path of good but eventually right it will still receive their happy ending, but it will be a little less perfect than the consistent do-gooders. It is almost as if the price they paid for their increased confidence and knowledge was the loss of points towards their happy ending. Why is it that this occurs when we as humans so rarely stay on the path of good? How can it be that even with the growth of female empowerment in fairy tales, the path of princess towards her happy ending is still unattainable?

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the queen, but rather a temporary queen holding the throne for her more beloved sister, Anna. Maleficent too seemed less empowered at the end of the movie. When she gave away her crown as former Queen of the Moors to Aurora (whom she thought of as a daughter), we as an audience were glad about the happy ending, yet it felt too easy and forced. This became especially so when we saw the young Prince Phillip standing amongst the crowd of fairies. It seems that in order for these two powerful women to have their own happy ending, they had to make the second female lead’s happily ever come first. So while Frozen’s Anna and Maleficent’s Aurora seemed overwhelmed with joy, our powerful female leads had to be content that their “family” received a happily ever after.

Are we expected, as in Shrek, to search for a counterpart of equal attractiveness and purity? Or are we to put up with the stereotypes and try to fit the mold of princess and find our Prince Charming? Or do we rise above these stereotypes and become a strong, empowered woman who doesn’t expect any sort of romantic relationship? Or should we abandon fairy tales altogether and stop looking into them for a deeper meaning?

These are questions that will continue to inflict us as modern day women, for even the most confident of us still hold uncertainties of the future that lies ahead. It is hard to say how these new changes to the tales will affect the minds of our future generation.

One thing is for certain, fairy tales contain the wonder of our childhood. They are magical tales that help us grow but must be treated with caution, as they have negative ideas lurking below Claro

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the surface. Until a fairy tale is rid of the cliché beauty and truelove stereotype and subservience is eliminated, women will never truly stand on equal ground with men; making us unable to develop into strong princesses.

Works Cited Chainani, Soman, and Iacopo Bruno. The School for Good and Evil.

New York: Harper Collins, 2013. Print.

Danish, Elizabeth. “Influence of Fairy Tales on Children.”

Influence of Fairy Tales on Children. Health Guidance, n.d. Web. 12 June 2014.

Do Rozario, Rebecca-Anne C. “The Princess And The Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, The Function Of The Disney Princess.” Women’s Studies In Communication 1 (2004): 34.

Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 June 2014.

Frozen. Dir. Chris Buck. Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2014. Film.

Hayes, SharonTantIeff-Dunn, Stacey. “Am I Too Fat To Be A Princess? Examining The Effects Of Popular Children’s Media On Young Girls’ Body Image.” British Journal Of Developmental Psychology 28.2 (2010): 413-426. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 17 June 2014.

Johnson, Matthew. “The Little Princess Syndrome.” Natural Life 136 (2010): 34. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 26 June 2014.

Kite, Lindsay, and Lexie Kite. “No Prince Charming Can Conquer Your Body Image Battle.” Beauty Redefined, 12 June 2012. Web. 16 June 2014.

Kuykendall, Leslee Farish, and Brian W. Sturn. “We Said Feminist Fairy Tales, Not Fractured Fairy Tales!.” Children & Libraries: The Journal Of The Association For Library Service To Children 5.3 (2007): 38-41. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 June 2014.

The Little Mermaid. Dir. Ron Clements. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 1989. VHS. Maleficent. Dir. Robert Stromberg. Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2014. Film.

Shrek. Dir. Andrew Adamson. DreamWorks Home Entertainment, 2001. DVD. Sleeping Beauty. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 1959. VHS.

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Empowerment of Women by natalia aramovich †From Instructor Linnie Pawlek: Natalia was asked to choose a period in US History and discuss if the era was disempowering or empowering for women. Natalia chose to focus on the 1920s. Through poetry, she discussed the empowering changes that women experienced in politics, economic opportunity, and advances in societal norms.

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Economic Empowerment of Women in the 20’s Between the years 1920 and 1929 The nation’s wealth had doubled, everything was going fine The time was roaring, activities far from boring and the economy was soaring Without word of a warning there would eventually be financially mourning Mass production and mass consumption Advertisement seduction and money eruption Illegal plays and recurring corruption—with minor business reconstruction An economic upsurge when consumers emerge The target market you ask? Young, white, female and middleclass A big time for inventions with modernized intentions Massive new media and radio broadcasting To sell ideas and goods for customer grasping Home appliances and electricity now seem everlasting Into the city people flocked where new automobiles rocked With a nightlife that never stopped because the homelife bubble was popped So when it came to the lady, more privileged if white, Deemed lesbian or crazy if she put up a fight And hell she’ll still go through to get equal rights The minorities took the blue-collar jobs as people came to the city migrating in mobs If her race was privileged she moved to pink-collar jobs Each woman slowly upgrading but discrimination robs Opportunity from those who are socially stratified Because those in power find ways to stay satisfied With new ideas in place and the culture fast pace—the woman could start to embrace Economic independence if she stayed in the race But when the Stock Market Crashes in 1929 You better spend your last penny on a bottle of wine

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EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

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Social Empowerment of Women in the 20’s Ladies of the 20’s; both the era and the age Where bold and unconventional proceed to set the stage A new freedom for the woman and her voice Where her vote and her dress was of her choice With fashion on the social scene Her skirt went up and her shirt went down She dazzled like a rebellious queen She defied societal expectations all around But with courage as her means By day she worked a job in town But her nightlife wasn’t just in her dreams Speakeasies and jazz music bound The modern white woman taking on new extremes A flapper they called her—her own standards she declared High heels and makeup and that cute bobbed hair Though unmarried there were other reasons to stare Her look was a statement but her attitude had flair She took on smoking and drinking without a care Kinda like the men could do anywhere New products, consumption, leisure and more Expressive through fashion when she walked through the door Quite cavalier about prohibition Scarce became her inhibition She acted upon her own conditions And assumed her own position Empowerment took on a new form As each woman would challenge the social norm Sexually liberated as moral codes changed To their mother’s generation this all would seem strange But to maintain a flapper lifestyle She needed to have money for a while And enough free time to go a little wild Before her life became about her husband and a child

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Political Empowerment of Women in the 20’s

Though many women’s organizations disbanded After the 19th amendment landed Not even 1/3 of women voted Maybe they were on their periods too bloated But the League of Women Voters Were political promoters of protective legislation like the Sheppard-Towner Act To cease erecting another political handicap Yet The Equal Rights Amendment was rejected So how could women stay protected?

With perseverance as our friend, the 19th amendment was a start not an end And to a 20’s woman it wasn’t just the right to vote It was a chance to steer their own boat Down whatever river they choose Because it was time for individualism to cruise

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At the turn of the century men had new fears As they watched new morality supercede separate spheres Woman Suffragists made a victory at last In August of 1920 a new law had passed Giving women the right to vote you bet your ass Yet there was still segregation between race and class Now with a legal voice, women had more choice in matters in public affairs Women’s opinions weren’t noise or reserved just for the boys Because equality means that we share

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Works Cited "18 Fabulous Photos of Famous Flappers." Mental Floss. Accessed December 1, 2014.

"1920S Flappers." - Life123. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.life123.com/beauty/fashion/flappers/1920sflappers.shtml.

Buhle, Mari Jo, and Terry Murphy. "The Jazz Age." In A Concise Women's History, 370-379. Pearson Education, 2014.

"Flapper." The Ultimate History Project. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/flapper.html "Flappers Working - Viewing Gallery." Flappers Working - Viewing Gallery. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://galleryhip.com/ flappers-working.html "Roaring 20's." US History in Review 1920's. Accessed December 1, 2014.

Photos http://ushistoryinreview.wikispaces.com/file/view/Life_ Magazine_Roaring_Twenties.jpg/146388469/Life_ Magazine_Roaring_Twenties.jpg. http://mentalfloss.com/article/30856/18-fabulous-photosfamous-flappers.

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Player Two by alexis ramirez †To best explain the criticism and attack on feminism in gaming, I chose to create an original comic book explaining the struggles of women in gaming through a narrative that imitates a classic video-game scenario. I thought this would be the best medium to explain the heroic side of feminism because of the art and story style that surrounds video games. While video games take on a wide range of art styles and story-telling techniques, I

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thought the stylized cartoon-like format would reach the target audience the best, as well as others attracted to the simplistic and colorful look reminiscent of classic video-game culture.

The target audience is anyone in or interested in the gaming community, but specifically female gamers and anyone familiar with the controversial Gamergate hashtag, a name given to the series of online misogynistic threats directed towards a group of women in the gaming industry. Since then the topic has become a heated debate between individuals in gaming with many now referring to it as the manifestation of the current conflicts in gaming culture. While this comic does not explicitly mention the Gamergate controversy, it’s worth mentioning because it serves as a current example of the topics covered in “Player Two.�

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The individual being focused on in the story and the hero being defended is based on media critic and feminist Anita Sarkeesian, who uses insightful video blogs and informative speeches to inform gamers about harmful tropes against women. The research conducted about Sarkeesian will add important points to the story and truthful facts about the issue of anti-feminism in gaming, supporting the logos and ethos of this argument.

This research includes facts drawn from Anita’s video blogs and speeches, accounts of the crude attacks and violent harassment towards her and other women activists, and public opinions about both sides of the argument. All of this will be referenced in the comic in the form of a story plot element, usually simplified or turned into an allegory to fit the story’s environment and tone.

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The story itself will mirror in visual and literary form the classic video-game scenario of a warrior fighting for peace and justice in a fantastical setting such as outer space. The hero, covered in powerful-looking armor, arrives to save natives of a small planet from an evil goon. After the enemy is defeated, the natives thank the hero, but also assume the hero is male.

Suddenly a large pink bow appears on the hero’s helmet, revealing that the hero is actually female. Now the creatures who praised the hero before revoke their praises and order that next time a male warrior come save them. This would reflect the status quo gamers and developers have for male protagonists, as well as the assumption that female characters must have markers of their sex, such as large pink bows. Sarkeesian’s video, “Ms. Male Character,” looks at this trope in extended detail and that’s where I drew the message from. Next the warrior protagonist

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PLAYER TWO

will venture the cosmos once again looking for creatures to save, not discouraged by what had just occurred. She lands on another small planet, once again being attacked by brutish monsters. She takes action to defeat the monsters, but is then accused of being a monster herself for fighting back. She is then bombarded with attacks that resemble crude words and violent threats specifically directed towards her until she is forced to leave the planet. This represents the large accumulation of sexist attacks and threats women like Sarkeesian received on social media after speaking up about misogyny in video games.

She soon finds herself alone on a small asteroid, trying to distance herself from the attackers. The bow on her head is raggedy and torn. Her discouragement would have the audience feel the kind of frustration women in similar situations have and solidify the pathos of the message. Then someone approaches her from behind. It is another space warrior, sporting a pastel purple bow just as damaged as hers. Then another arrives fitting the same criteria, and soon the asteroid is entirely populated with an army of these space warriors. This is a representation of female gamers and others affected by sexism and misogyny banding together to offer support and bring attention to the issues at hand. The comic ends with the protagonist continuing her mission to protect the galaxy, accompanied by her newfound allies. All the plot elements and visuals contained in the story will offer some insight on the real struggles of women in the gaming community, and aim to better improve the image of individuals like Anita Sarkeesian as heroes rather than villains.

Works Cited Liss-Schultz, Nina. “This Woman Was Threatened With Rape After Calling Out Sexist Video Games—and Then Something Inspiring Happened.” Mother Jones. Foundation for National Progress, 30 May 2014. Web. 5 Nov, 2014.

Sarkeesian, Anita. “Ms. Male Character.” Online video clip.

Youtube. Youtube, 18 Nov, 2013. Web. 5 Nov, 2014.

Steadman, Ian. “Tropes vs Anita Sarkeesian: on passing off antifeminist nonsense as critique.” New Statesman. New Statesman, 27 Aug, 2014. Web. 6 Nov, 2014.

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Gypsy Culture in Modern America:

A Look into the Extravagant Lifestyle of an American Co-Culture

by joseph cardello “On the bow of the dress alone there were 14,000 Austrian Swarofsky crystals ...

Abstract This paper takes a look at the co-culture of American society known as “Gypsies” or the “Traveling ethnicity” via examination of the Reality TV series My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding. They have many titles for themselves, throughout the show mostly referring to themselves as “Romanies.” The purpose of this paper is to examine how this co-culture views themselves and how they want to be perceived by the “gorger,” or those who do not belong to this ethnic minority.

Keywords: Gypsy, ethnic minority, gorger Gypsy Culture in Modern America Gypsy culture can be seen all around the world, and it is one of America’s many co-cultures. In the television reality series My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, we take a look into not only weddings held by American Gypsies, but also into their lives and their culture as a whole. Whether exaggerated or not for the program is uncertain; however, the extreme lifestyle portrayed by this program is blatantly distanced from standard American norms. The in-group seems to take the pressure of hegemony from the dominant culture and use it as fuel to flame their desire to be seen as who they are and what they represent. Differences between the gender roles, in individualistic pride and the process of growing up, are all portrayed in a way that may be shocking for the average viewer.

It can be said that Gypsies are largely misunderstood. While most have somewhat of a preconceived notion that being a Gypsy is an ethnicity, that is not necessarily true; in fact most of the in-crowd, including those on the show, refer to themselves as “Romanies.” This could be to escape prejudice that has fallen onto the term, “Gypsy,” which has built up over the passage of time where discrimination has taken place. This can be easily 88 |

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An economic gap is made evident in My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, where some families live in elegant mansions that anyone would be blessed to live in. The members of these families explain that it may not be expected for such a home to be a “Gypsy home”; however, their desire for a large, gaudy image has helped to motivate them into making the money to be able to support such a lifestyle. On the other hand, we have other families who may live in a trailer home or trailer park, which may be seen as more typical of the “traveler.”

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understood when we realize the country in question is built around Anglo-centrism, which Martin (2013) has described as the infiltrated strict social norms of English-speaking peoples and Anglo-American culture. Belton (2005) explains that gypsies are in fact a “traveling ethnicity” who have become recognized as the ethnic or racial groups that they are today by social generation.

The reality is that these groups originated in India, but presently represent groups from many countries all over Europe, with heaviest populations in East Europe, such as Romania, England, and even into the United States. Thanks to traveling ethnicities and minority groups similar to Gypsies, we know America as the melting-pot that it is today, a place where the assimilation of various cultures and ethnicities into a cohesive whole can be seen.

Whether coming from a poor or very well-off family, one thing seems to always ring true: gaudiness is vital. This stems from the Romanies trying to be even better than “gorgers,” a term they use for the outside crowd: the non-Gypsy. This could be because Gypsies have always been forced into a small, repressed ethnic “Whether coming from minority which has been heavily a poor or very well-off discriminated against. Powell (2008) family, one thing seems compares it to minorities such as gays to always ring true: and lesbians or Blacks and Latinos; in gaudiness is vital.” some instances, they are being forced out of communities due to fear of the unknown. Fitting with their loud, raucous lifestyle, it’s easy to understand the tight-knit proxemics which this group displays.

They are a playful people. Whether it’s helping them or not, they certainly keep up this image on the show.

The television series shows cases of 4-year olds’ birthday parties, to birthday parties of 15-year old girls—an age where a Romany girl starts to look for a man, to actual weddings. In all scenarios, the girls seem to portray similar qualities. As Sondra Celli, who appears on the program and is a Gypsy dressmaker located in Boston, Massachusetts, puts it, they “look like Claro

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prostitutes.” This is due to the fact that for a Romany girl to marry at 17 is the standard; in some families, this may possibly even be considered late. The girls are sun-tanned to a very dark bronze and have heavily applied make-up, as well as big, puffed-out hair. This is to “ ... in gypsy culture, attract a man; in gypsy culture, gender gender roles are rigid.” roles are rigid. It is the goal to attract a man so that a girl can live out the dream of cooking and cleaning for her husband. In fact, many girls of this culture will quit school typically around puberty to start to prepare for this life (Marushiakova, 2013). Power distance can be clearly assessed in this co-culture, as we see the men as the dominant figure of society, taking charge of their families, reducing their wives to something similar to a housemaid. This is seen in the second episode of the series where Priscilla, 12-year old daughter of a low-class Gypsy family, proclaims that she’s “bored” and “[hasn’t] accomplished anything in the day” if she hasn’t spent it “on [her] knees scrubbing the floors.” In instances such as these, the Feminist Theory would likely tell us that to be female in the Gypsy society is to be the underdog; where quitting school early is encouraged as to never catch up to or surpass the male counterpart.

This is where the Romany girls make an attempt to defend their identity. While it may be true that they dress in an overly provocative way, they all seem to echo the same claim: it’s no more and no less than to attract their future husbands. This is what makes them who they are. Outsiders may misinterpret their looks and judge them as having a wanton lifestyle; however, this in fact couldn’t be further from the truth. All of the girls who appear on the program seem to exhibit the same values, the main theme being having no serious contact with boys until marriage.

This goes to the extent that a Romany girl’s first kiss must be up at the altar in front of her family on her wedding day. The innocence factor, which they try so desperately to exude, may also be a way to distance or better themselves from gorger girls, as this is a core symbol of their identity. As the Romany boys of the program put it, “gorger girls are for having fun with and Romany girls are for marrying.” Ideologies of the outside community appear to be heavily morphed, with sexism being particularly rampant, seeing as gorger girls are given a lower status regardless of their actual state of being.

During the program we meet one girl name Shyanne who is 17 and portrays many if not all of the Romany stereotypes. On her segment, she is getting married. Even though she is a beautiful young girl who takes heavy care of her image, she claims never to have dated, or even to have been kissed. She makes the claim that

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As stated by all of the parents of the children on the show, more often the mother than the father, image is everything.

This is made clear time and time again as we see each of the Romany girl’s scenarios. The dressmaker for Gypsies, Sondra Celli, is not a Gypsy herself. As such, she pokes fun at their gaudy lifestyle from time to time, “the typical Gypsy mother giving something of the reaction will call on a Wednesday of the common audience of the and want an enormous, program, highlighting the extent fully laced dress covered of gaudiness and loudness each in rhinestones from end to Romany girl wants for her dress. end by Friday morning.”

Celli has been making dresses for this co-group of society and knows very well what their expectations are: the biggest dress she can make in the smallest amount of time. As Celli puts it, the typical Gypsy mother will call on a Wednesday and want an enormous, fully laced dress covered in rhinestones from end to end by Friday morning.

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if she were to ever want to marry a real Romany boy, which she so eagerly does, that she would have to stay a virgin at least until marriage. Shyanne’s mother, Chrissy, is vehement on keeping a squeaky-clean image for her daughter. As Marushiakova (2013) puts it, a girl under Gypsy culture must be pure to easily enter marriage within the culture. This is confirmed by Michael, the groom of Shyanne, as he states, “I need a Romany girl who is pure. I could never get into a marriage with a girl who has already been used.”

Shyanne’s dress was no exception to this. She specifically asked for the flashiest dress possible and that was just what she got. As intricate and expensive as it was to create, the dress itself would probably be laughable to any gorger who didn’t know any better about the Gypsy demands. Shyanne ordered her wedding dress hot pink, in her words, “like Barbie.” To anyone outside of this culture, the color choice is bizarre and a bit unexpected, especially with the Gypsy obsession with female purity. On the other hand, the Barbie pink may have reflected the bride’s young age. In addition to the striking color of the dress, it was bedazzled to an extreme most people have never seen. This is just what the family wanted: a dress like no other. On the bow of the dress alone there were 14,000 Austrian Swarofsky crystals. To top off the dress was an entirely bedazzled, two-feet tall tiara that could barely balance on Shyanne’s teased-out hair.

Probably the most shocking part of Shyanne’s wedding is not the craziness which is the ceremony, but the relationship

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between her and the bridegroom itself. She met her husband-tobe, Michael, at a cousin’s birthday party. As Shyanne’s mother, Chrissy, puts it, Romany girls tend to go crazy with talking up boys at parties, as parties are the sole time and place where mingling with boys is allowed. Shyanne confirms this by saying she fell hard for Michael the “moment [she] saw him.” Since the two live states away from each other, a total of 8 hours, they had been furiously communicating via text message and typical online dating methods, such as video chatting on Skype. Despite the fact that they have only met each other in real life one time, and have only been talking long-distance for months, the two still agreed on biting the bullet with each other and taking the other’s hand in marriage. This could be seen as an extreme case of high-context styles of communication between the sexes, with superfluous exchanges of words being viewed as unchaste.

Due to this, Michael’s parents didn’t want to attend the marriage ceremony. In what is described by Shyanne as typical aggressive-male Gypsy behavior, some of the family members from Michael’s brothers to uncles had been harassing Shyanne, calling her phone up until the morning of the wedding saying that if they go through with the wedding that they would make the trip to the ceremony to give a good “whooping.” While it’s partially understandable, as such a fast wedding may be seen as ludicrous to anyone in our modern day, their fighting words are a clear manifestation of the aggressiveness exerted by the Gypsy men; as Shyanne puts it, they are “like bulls.”

The wedding itself was described as a huge success by Shyanne and all of her family. Most likely what they mean by this is that it certainly was big, loud, and gaudy. However, from outside or gorger perspectives, the wedding seemed awkward.

Not only did the families not know each other, but even the bride and bridegroom did not know each other and it was obvious. Shyanne didn’t even “Shyanne didn’t even want to kiss her husband, which not want to kiss her only showed her innocence and young husband, which not age, but the fact that she barely knew only showed her him. This is a clear indication of why it innocence and young is so rampant in the Gypsy community age, but the fact that to marry one’s own second or third she barely knew him.” cousin (Belton, 2005). After the wedding, Chrissy was seen repeatedly letting her daughter know that “sex isn’t allowed, even if you’re already married.” This shows how marriage itself is placed above all, where racing to the kitchen is vital, and placed in importance above romancing one’s own husband. This is reinstated by Celli the dressmaker, who said that after this grandiose ceremony

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comes the inescapable fate of endless cooking and cleaning: the life of a Gypsy wife.

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Co-cultures such as the one portrayed in My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding are seen with such a shrewd eye of the larger population of America as the norms are so vastly different.

Where in our greater American society, we stress getting to know our marriage partners very well before jumping into anything, we see the opposite in the Gypsy culture where they will marry with a stranger, just as long as they’re able to show off how young and beautiful they are to all of their family and fellow neighbors.

Unfortunately the Gypsy co-group does have many prejudices and obstacles to overcome, and what’s more unfortunate is that this program may have added fuel to the flame. However, at the same time, those represented on the program make it clear that they want to keep their culture going and it’s important for them to have their own identity. If one thing is certain, it’s that ethnic minorities have the right to continue their way of life without the interruption of hegemonic attack from the mainstream culture.

References Belton, B. (2005). Gypsy and traveller ethnicity: The social generation of an ethnic phenomenon. London: Routledge.

Martin, J. N. and T. K. Nakayama, (2013). Intercultural communication in contexts. New York: McGraw Hill.

Marushiakova, E., & Popov, V. (2013). ‘Gypsy’ groups in Eastern Europe: Ethnonyms vs. professionyms. Romani Studies, 23(1), 61-82. doi:10.3828/rs.2013.3 Powell, R. (2008). Understanding the Stigmatization of Gypsies: Power and the Dialectics of (Dis)identification. Housing, Theory & Society, 25(2), 87-109. doi:10.1080/14036090701657462

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Silentium Raptus by hilarie nelson † “though I have just washed my body, I still feel dirty ...

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† online content

Him: Another morning.... These days they all feel the same.

As I drag myself out of bed I can’t help but wonder why; why I even keep going. It’s all a blur, but it’s not long until I find myself in the shower. I stand there letting the water pour over my head, yet I feel numb. My body lifeless but my mind full of questions.

How did I get here? Why me?

SILENTIUM RAPTUS

Vulnero Her: The covers surrounding me were perfect as I awoke.

Once again, I left the night unturned, a frozen statue. I couldn’t move then, either. Perhaps my body is remembering. A shutter escaped my lips as I stared at the ceiling. No, not today. I can’t face the world today. What if someone finds out? I stared at the ceiling for another hour before forcing myself out.

Her: My legs are heavy. Walking to the bathroom requires energy I do not have. Don’t look in the mirror. Do not look in the mirror. Please don’t look in the mirror... I glance anyways. There she is: The used, dirty, worthless human staring back. I always knew these things happened, but I never thought this could happen to me… If I were better, it wouldn’t have. The tears sting as my eyes swell. I hate the image in the mirror. No longer the youthful image I remember so well. Hideous.

Him: I finally come to after realizing that the water has run cold. Pulling myself out of the shower, I go to look in the mirror, but it’s steamed over. I try to wipe the water off with my hand but it just smears. Looking back at me, I see a distorted reflection of my drawn face. I was so young, so full of life, yet now I look tired and worn. I can’t stand the sight of myself; though I have just washed my body, I still feel dirty.

Her: I can’t wash away the memories. I can’t wash away the fear. I scrub, but I still feel dirty. The steam from the shower reminds me of the sweat that had poured down my face. I see The Face staring back and I can’t breathe. Get out! Get out! Get out!

Him: While getting dressed, I decide to skip breakfast and go straight for what I want the most: the bottle of Jack. Some call it happiness in a bottle, others call it liquid courage; it’s my only comfort. It’s not even noon and I can already feel the effects of my companion clouding my mind, and as my mind wanders, I can’t help but think about what happened. The way I was touched....

How powerless I was to stop what was happening and no matter how I screamed or fought, there was nothing I could do to make it end.

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Her: No matter how many clothes I put on, I still feel naked.

Can people tell when they look at me? Can they see what The Hands did? Can they see how helpless I was? That I still am…

Him: Why am I so weak? Why was I not stronger!? Somehow I seem to have found my way to the mirror again, my reflection this time ever so clear. Those eyes that stare back at me... Are they even me? Of course they are me! Pathetic, weak, broken me!

Her: I’m frozen at the door. I can’t bring myself to turn the knob. I have to open it. I have to go into the world again… It’s been too long since I’ve been outside… Just open the... My chest begins to cave in on itself. A pressure builds to the point where breathing is a dream. Hyperventilating. I can’t breathe.

Him: It’s only after I take a moment to breathe that I realize the reason my reflection looks so broken is because the mirror has been smashed. I look down to find my hand dripping blood onto the floor, but I don’t care, I welcome the pain. It is in some way a reminder that for whatever reason I am still alive.

Her: Run. I run to the bathroom and swing open the cabinet door, pausing only for a moment for my reflection to scream back at me. I fumble the bottle before putting two capsules in my hand. No, two isn’t going to work. More. I need more. I do not count how many land on my hand before I swallow. Please, make It go away.

Him: To the cabinet I go to find yet another bottle to comfort me, and having gotten more of that which I find so sweet, I set myself down in front of the television. I look out the window to realize it’s dark now....

Her: The effects of the pills begin to sink in. Tears stream down my face as I scrape myself off the bathroom floor. It’s dark now. I failed again. Maybe tomorrow I will do better. I wish I could do better… I’ve been damaged... No one wants someone who is ruined. I see The Face again. Why did you hurt me? I can’t be hurt like that again...

Him: Where has the day gone? Oh well, It doesn’t matter; I no longer matter. I have been tarnished... Nobody wants me... I will remain alone, becoming better and better friends with “Jack.”

For Jack would never hurt me as others have.... I can’t be hurt like that again....

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Ut Sciatur Rape was part of human history long before the modern era. Yet over the years, rape is something that has been vocally contained. Rape frequently occurs in society today; however, the victimology is broader than the typical conception of who victims are.

According to the Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties, “Every two minutes someone in the US is sexually assaulted” (“GET THE FACTS”). Out of the people who are sexually assaulted, at least ten percent are males. One in every thirty-three males, and one in every six females, is the victim of either attempted rape or completed rape in his or her lifetime.

80% of victims are sexually assaulted when they are under the age of thirty. The number of sexual assaults per year could be much higher; these numbers only account for the 39% of rapes reported to police (“GET THE FACTS”). When choosing a victim, most rapists claim gender is not significant to them. Instead the assaults were an expression of power, an act of retaliation, and an assertion of their strength (Male Rape: Offenders and Victims, Groth, Burgess). “While the majority of these crimes are committed by male offenders, an estimated six to fifteen percent of these sexual assaults can involve female perpetrators” (When Men are Raped, Vitelli).

Men are less likely to report sexual assault to the authorities, thus leaving the majority of male rapes unreported. According to Vitelli’s article, approximately 90-95% of males who are Claro

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raped do not report it. Vitelli asserts that a stigma against male rape victims in society has caused many rapes to go unreported, as many people believe that men cannot be victims of sexual assault. This leads some men to treat sexual assault as just another physical attack and fail to seek further support (When Men are Raped, Ohio State University). In the article When Men Are Raped, further myths surrounding male rape include: [M]en cannot be raped, real men can defend themselves against rape, only gay men are victims and or perpetrators of rape, men are not affected by rape (or not as much as women), a woman cannot sexually assault a man, male rape only happens in prisons, sexual assault by someone of the same sex causes homosexuality, and if a victim physically responds to a sexual assault he must have wanted it.

Due to coverage on rape focusing on female victims, it is possible for these myths to persist (When Men are Raped, Vitelli).

Many men feel guilty describing their experiences of rape for fear that they enjoyed it due to an erection or ejaculation during the rape, just as this has caused many people to believe that men enjoyed the experience (When Men are Raped, Ohio State University).

“Problems in treating the male rape victim include the reluctance of men to report sexual assault, lack of facilities for helping men, and lack of knowledge about the phenomenon” (The Male Rape Victim, Calderwood).

According to Nicholas Groth and Ann Burgess, “The impact of rape on the male victims was similar to that on female victims, disrupting their biopsychosocial functioning” (Male Rape: Offenders and Victims, Groth, Burgess). Male victims are more likely to be physically abused throughout the rape and to sustain more physical trauma than female victims (Male Rape Victims: None Institutionalized Assault, Kaufman et al). Killpatrick reports that rape victims are 13.4 times more likely to have a major alcohol problem and 26 times more likely to have a major drugabuse problem. He also shows that 33% percent of rape victims say they had seriously contemplated suicide compared to 8% in non-rape victims and that rape victims are 13 times more likely to have attempted suicide than non-rape victims. He adds that one third of all rape victims will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) sometime in their life. They are also 5.5 times more likely to have PTSD than those who are never victims (The Mental Health Impact of Rape, Killpatrick). “Many survivors display signs of PTSD, reporting episodes of panic attacks, insomnia, nightmares, physical pain, loss of appetite, flashbacks of the rape, and more” (When Men are Raped, Ohio State University).

One form of PTSD faced by many rape victims is Rape Trauma

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Rape is prevalent in modern society; male or female, each case should be taken individually. “Male survivors of rape will experience a similar range and intensity of trauma as women survivors… Thus when dealing with men, you should accord them the same respect, empathy and understanding as you would women” (When Men are Raped, Ohio State University).

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Disorder (RTS). RTS consist of two phases, the acute phase and the reorganization phase. The acute phase can last one day to a week after the attack and consists of the victim experiencing a complete disruption of their lives while they respond to the fear of death which they had experienced. The reorganization phase can last any amount of time and consists of the victim reorganizing their lives and learning to cope again (Emotional and Psychological Impact of Rape, University of Illinois at Chicago).

Regardless of gender, men and women suffer similarly.

Silentium Raptus “I want to scream but all I hear is my short, raspy breaths.

I want to say something, but the words won’t come out. I feel violated and isolated. I need help, but there is no one to go to. I can’t speak...”

Unfortunately, this scenario is one with which many people deal. To make it worse, it does not stop after the incident. Less than 10% of rapes will be reported, leaving victims unable to speak even after the assault. My campaign, Silentium Raptus, is Claro

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named for the Latin word for “silent” and the Latin word raptus, from which “rape” is derived, meaning “to snatch, to grab, to carry off.” It aims to carry off the silence of rape victims. In other words, it advocates them to speak up. However, my campaign goes much deeper than that. It also looks at who a victim is, specifically how male and female rape victims are similar. It aims to stop the bias against male victims to illustrate that a victim is a victim regardless of gender. This campaign is targeted at collegeage individuals because that is the age range at which most rapes take place.

My narrative piece, Vulnero (Latin for “hurt”), was one of my favorite pieces to create. It took the form of a short story which compares two rape victims. Written in the style of two journals, the male and female victims take the reader through each of their struggles. It demonstrates that regardless of gender, a rape victim struggles with similar issues. I chose this comparison style because it allowed my readers to empathize with both victims as they went through their day. After my initial research, I knew I wanted to create a piece that showed what male victims dealt with. I originally wanted to do this by writing a poem; however, I decided a short story would better portray my characters. This had led to a different problem: I’m not a male. I had research on my side, but it would not help me show the emotions of a male victim. This caused me to ask Grady Howell for help. His previous knowledge of PTSD and its effect on sufferers gave the piece a raw feeling that it had previously lacked. With his help, an emotional, thought-provoking piece came to light. I inserted phrases that hinted at the character’s ages and how much time had passed since the attack. I purposefully left the characters’ ages and the time that has passed since the attack slightly ambiguous so more people could relate to the characters. There is no exact amount of time a victim will be dealing with effects such as PTSD. I wanted to leave room for a wider audience of victims.

My informative piece, Ut Sciatur (Latin for “to make known”), was the hardest piece to create. It took the form of an academic research paper because it was the best way to provide the necessary information. I left it on the short side to accommodate my audience. College-age students do not enjoy reading twenty-page papers, so I wrote it in a way that they would not get bored halfway through. Looking back, my audience would have benefited more from a brochure or pamphlet. This paper is laid out in a way that allows my audience to accept or reject the information. This choice also benefited my audience. This paper also goes into further detail of what a male rape victim goes through after the assault, which is similar to what a female goes through. I originally intended to address rape-awareness

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campaigns—how they work, who they target, and whether or not they’re effective; however, that changed after my persuasive and narrative were created. The topic grew into its own beast, addressing instead how a victim is a victim. This would later allow me to create a campaign that would advocate for male and female victims. These challenges and changes turned the entire campaign into something that can effectively be used in the real world. This piece alone taught me the most about how different pieces of a campaign affect the entire product. This was the hardest paper, but it taught me the most.

My persuasive piece, Similis (Latin for “similar”), was challenging and fun. I knew from the beginning that I wanted

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to do something with visual images to evoke emotion in my audience. I wanted to give my viewers a face to a subject that rarely has one. This took form in a small poster campaign. I chose this sub-genre because posters can be placed around campuses, posted online, and shared from person to person. This allowed me to have a platform that can spread. I took images of a male, a female, and then both together. This allowed me to again compare how the victims are similar. I brought in Madalyn Nelson and Grady Howell to be my models. I played with lighting to show the hurt in each victim. The words on each poster were challenging, but eventually came to evoke the necessary action and emotion in my readers while still giving information. I had a problem with location of references. I decided to leave the references out, so they would not detract from the images. The hardest challenge was the lack of proper equipment. The photos were taken on a cellphone and the lighting was done with a lamp and blanket. Finding proper outfits for my models was also challenging. Surprisingly, there is not a “set outfit� for people who are depressed, scared, or suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. All of the editing was done on a cellphone with an app. This posed a significant problem when it came to revising the piece. I ended up not revising the posters because of the software I had used to create them. In order to do any editing, I would have had to take the original unedited shot and recreate what I had made. This forced me to leave the posters as is. If given the proper equipment, I would have liked to expand the campaign with more models and better editing software.

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SILENTIUM RAPTUS

Deciding the order of the pieces proved harder than expected.

All of the pieces were written in ways that complement each other, so the order did not ultimately matter.

For the final campaign, I chose the narrative first to evoke emotion, the informative second to educate my readers, and the persuasive final so my audience could have a face to the campaign. Having the persuasive in the end also gave my audience an opportunity to report a rape. I did not want to leave my audience feeling helpless in the end. The campaign was designed so that each piece could be put in a different order to accommodate the audience.

I had many different ideas for the packaging of the final product. I settled on a plain, brown memory box. I chose this box because just as people will put memories/pictures into a box, hide them under a bed and forget about them, rape is not talked about.

In fact, most victims try to forget as if they were putting it in a box and hiding it under a bed. I chose the plain color of the box so it was non-gender specific. Rape is not a pretty subject wrapped in pretty paper with a bow, so the plain box was chosen to portray this. When the box is opened, a plain paper folded in an odd way can be taken out. This is the narrative. It’s folded in a weird way because it is the difficulty a victim has to deal with. Thus it’s not pretty, folded neatly, or cared for. It’s hard to open in the same way it is hard for victims to talk about what their emotions. Next are a couple papers folded in half. This is the informative. It’s folded in half the same way one may fold a speeding ticket or doctor’s note. This indicates that the information is easily read but would rather not be. Lining the bottom of the box are face-down pictures. These images are the persuasive. They’re face down Claro

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so they are not seen unless purposefully taken out. The posters are asking people to report rape, which will not happen unless people choose to do so. It also shows how people will not see the victims of rape unless they reach out to them. I did not stop with the memories box. I also brought in two picture frames. One is of a smiling college guy and the other is of a smiling female. They appear happy on the outside; however, when one takes the back off the picture frame, many images fall to the floor. The images behind the smiling male are dark pictures of the same guy alone, scared and hurting. The images behind the happy female are also sad, lonely, and hurting. The images behind the frame portray a very different person than on the front. These images show that people never truly know what is going on with a person. The same is true with rape victims. They may seem perfectly fine on the outside, but they are struggling on the inside.

When I began this project, I had no idea it would become a powerful, engaging, and potentially life-changing campaign. I would love to take this campaign to different college campuses so it can impact a wide audience. I can see it spreading all over the nation to empower victims and non-victims alike. Anyone can make a difference and it is our responsibility to make that difference. We can give both male and female victims a voice. As more victims speak up, the less new victims there could be. We can take away the silence of rape victims.

Works Cited: “Vulnero” Kilpatrick, Dean G., Ph.D. “Mental Health Impact of Rape.”

Mental Health Impact of Rape. National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

Rothbaum, Barbara O., Edna B. Foa, David S. Riggs, Tamera Murdock, and William Walsh. “A Prospective Examination of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Rape Victims - Springer.”

Journal of Traumatic Stress 5.3 (1992): 455-75. A Prospective Examination of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Rape Victims Springer. Springer Link, 01 July 1992. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

Vitelli, Romeo, Ph.D. “When Men Are Raped.” Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. Media Spotlight, 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

“Web Info on Sexual Assault and Abuse.” UIC Campus Advocacy Network. University of Illinois at Chicago, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

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Groth, Nicholas A., Burgess, Ann W. “Male Rape: Offenders and Victims.” PsycNET. American Psychology Association, n.d.

Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Kilpatrick, Dean G. “Mental Health Impact of Rape.” Mental Health Impact of Rape. Medical University of South Carolina, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

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Works Cited: “Ut Sciatur” Calderwood, Deryck. “The Male Rape Victim.” The Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality 53-55 21.5 (1987): n. pag. PsycNET. American Psychological Association. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.“GET THE FACTS.” Get the Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

Kaufman, Arthur, Peter Divasto, Rebecca Jackson, Dayton Voorhees, and Joan Christy. “Male Rape Victims: Non Institutionalized Assault.” The American Journal of Psychiatry 221-223 137.2 (1980): n. pag. PsycNet. American Psychological Association. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Vitelli, Romeo. “When Men Are Raped.” Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. N.p., 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

“Web Info on Sexual Assault and Abuse.” UIC Campus Advocacy Network. University of Illinois at Chicago, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

“When Men Are Raped.” Ohio.gov. Ohio State University Rape Education and Prevention Program, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Annotated Bibliography: “Silentium Raptus” Calderwood, Deryck. “The Male Rape Victim.” The Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality 53-55 21.5 (1987): n. pag. PsycNET. American Psychological Association. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

This journal publication describes the reluctance that male rape victims have against reporting the incident. It also goes on to describe how male rape victims generally receive greater injuries than female victims. I found this article to be a credible source as it is part of a well-known journal.

“Community Outreach.” - Rape Crisis Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

This article was very useful when researching other awareness campaigns. It outlines the difficulty that victims have when discussing their experiences and that there is help for them. I found this to be a credible source as it is published on the same site as the “Get the Facts” article, which has excellent references.

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I found it helpful when looking at how other awareness and outreach campaigns were organized when comparing it to my own.

Davis, Lillian. “Men Can Be Victims Too, the Stigma Associated with Male Rape.” Mod Vive. N.p., 19 July 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

This is an interesting article as it shows how people react to male rape victims versus female rape victims. This article shows that although female rape victims are often judged harshly and asked derogatory questions regarding their situations; male rape victims are looked at in an even more harsh light being as they are usually the perpetrators of such crimes. I found this article to very well-written. Yet the credibility of this one is questionable being as it does not list references for its data and the credibility of the site it is posted on is unknown. Yet I found this article to be intriguing as it brings to light the differences by which male and female rape victims are judged.

“GET THE FACTS.” Get the Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

This is an excellent site for getting statistics on rape and sexual assault. It is a list of the age, sex, and race of the victims, as well as the trauma they suffered as a result. I found this to be a credible source being as it is a .org and contains a list of very credible sources for the data listed. I found it helpful when writing my informative due to the sheer volume of data.

Groth, Nicholas A., Burgess, Ann W. “Male Rape: Offenders and Victims.” PsycNET. American Psychology Association, n.d.

Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

This is a small yet interesting bit of information that relates how the symptoms of rape are similar between males and females. Yet the number of reported cases is much lower in men. I found this site to be credible as it comes from the American Psychology Association and is well-cited. I found it helpful as it reaffirms much of the information that I had previously discovered.

Johnson, Cindy, and David Johnson. “Acceptance of Male Rape Myths among College Men and Women - Springer.” Acceptance of Male Rape Myths among College Men and Women - Springer. N.p., 01 Aug. 1992. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

This is yet another small article that shows how different genders view male and female rape. This one shows what each gender believes about the differences between male and female rape and which one they believe to be more impactful. I am

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uncertain of the credibility of this source being as it is a .com and there are no references listed.

This article discusses the mental effects of rape on its victims.

It compares victims of other crimes to victims of rape and the mental-health problems that follow. These problems can include PTSD and substance abuse. I found this to be a credible source as it is a study published by a university. It helped give me insight into some of the mental and physical problems that victims of any crime suffer after the trauma has occurred.

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Kilpatrick, Dean G. “Mental Health Impact of Rape.” Mental Health Impact of Rape. Medical University of South Carolina, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

“Male Survivors - Rape and Sexual Abuse Survivors Message Board and Chat Room.” Male Survivors - Rape and Sexual Abuse Survivors Message Board and Chat Room. N.p., 2007. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

This is a support site that outlines some of the statistics on male rape and the psychological effects it has on the victim. It also outlines the legal definition of sexual assault on gay and bisexual men as being a hate crime and offers places where victims may find support. I found this to be a credible source because it is an entire site dedicated to helping rape victims and even lists the phone number for RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) for additional help. There are also several links to other help sites that can be accessed from here showing that the site has the general best interest of the victims at heart.

This source was useful to me because of the multiple help sources that it contains and the statistics in the article itself.

Mitchell, Damon, Richard Hirschman, and Gordon Nagayama.

“Attributions of Victim Responsibility, Pleasure, and Trauma in Male Rape.” Taylor & Francis. N.p., 11 Jan. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

This was a study published in the Journal of Sex Research that showed how victims are blamed for certain portions of the rape and how pleasure during the rape affects the victim. I found this source to be credible as it was a scientific study. It helped me as it was yet another look at the psychological and physical effect that rape has on its victims.

Rochman, Sue. “Silent Victims.” Silent Victims. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

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on his way out of a park and the difficulties he has suffered since.

I found this to be a credible source as it is a .org and lists multiple book references from which it obtained its information. I found this story to helpful when writing my narrative as it gave a reallife account of the image I was attempting to portray.

Scarce, Michael. “Male on Male Rape.” Google Books. Perseus Publishing, 1997. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

This was an excellent source as it was an entire book published on the topic of male-on-male rape. It covers just about everything from the actual rape itself to the mental effects on the victim afterwards. It even included a real story of a male rape victim. I found it very helpful in creating pretty much every part of my project, from my narrative to my persuasive.

Vitelli, Romeo. “When Men Are Raped.” Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. N.p., 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

This is an interesting article that talks about the myths surrounding male rape. It discusses why it is that many people believe male rape to be impossible or highly unlikely. I found this to be a credible source since it is written by a Ph.D. who has his own private practice. This article helped me in creating my persuasive piece as it showed me how it is that the public tends to view male rape victims compared to how they actually are or feel.

“Web Info on Sexual Assault and Abuse.” UIC Campus Advocacy Network. University of Illinois at Chicago, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

This publication is part of the University of Illinois Chicago campus advocacy in which awareness is being brought to the side of male rape. Though it also shows the female side of the equation, it focuses on how to specifically help male rape victims as it attempts to describe their mental state after the crime has occurred. I found this site to be very credible being as it is part of a university site. I also found this site to be very helpful when delving into the mind of a man, and what he thinks after such a violent crime has occurred.

“Web Info on Sexual Assault and Abuse.” UIC Campus Advocacy Network. University of Illinois at Chicago, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

This article specifically discusses the connection between rape and Rape Trauma Syndrome and PTSD. It talks about the likelihood of a rape victim to have PTSD or RTS and what that means for the sufferer. I found this to be a credible source being

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“When Men Are Raped.� Ohio.gov. Ohio State University Rape Education and Prevention Program, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

This article discusses much of that which I had already found through my research. Yet something that caught my attention what that it stated that men who are gay or of color are considered to be at higher risk for rape. I found this to be a credible source as it was put out by the Ohio State Government at Ohio State University. It helped me realize that, even though all men are raped, specific groups are still targeted even in this criminal sense.

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as it is published by a university. This article helped me as it gave me more insight into what exactly it is that afflicts rape victims in the mental sense.

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Along our bodies and within our minds

by xandra armenta, claudia banuelos, hannah hernandez, korie quint, paul songer, samantha vitez †

Introduction by Instructor, Lisa Schneider “Scars” is one of the most thoughtful and artfully arranged submissions I received for the photo essay I assigned my students in ENG 121. The objectives of this project were manifold: First, I wanted students to continue practicing their analytical skills as they critically examined the topic of identity and the body.

I gave the students the following questions to prompt their initial brainstorming.

Identity • How do you define identity? Do you define it by yourself or do external forces define identity?

• What makes us who we are? Where we live, our religion, race, class, gender?

• What unique experiences make people who they are?

• What roles do people play in their lives that help define them?

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Body • What are some aspects of our bodies that shape who we are? Weight? Fitness? Food choices?

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Think about how the body shapes identity.

• How are our bodies represented in advertising, and in art and literature?

• What attitudes do we have about bodies? What are ideal bodies?

• How do illnesses and addictions get treated in our society?

What about physical disabilities?

Second, I hoped students would further refine their understanding of rhetorical principles. They were encouraged to create a work that made a unified argument through a balanced visual and textual presentation. Students developed working thesis statements that were refined as they collected photos and encountered their topics with greater depth of thought. Students also discovered that they needed to consider what kinds of rhetorical appeals they would emphasize to increase their ability to connect with their audience. A project like “Scars” potentially could alienate some of its audience because of its intensity and rawness of emotion. Students learned that they had to anticipate the reactions of their audience. The photo essay was also an excellent site for further exploration of organizational strategies.

Students were encouraged to consider the following questions: Which photos should come first? How much text should they include? How many photos? What should be included in the introduction?

Third, students were working in groups; thus they were gaining a better understanding of the virtues and challenges of collaboration. Throughout the semester, students were peer reviewing each other’s work and this assignment allowed students to be more invested in the final product of the group and what each individual could contribute. The usefulness of collaboration extends far beyond the walls of the composition classroom into one’s domestic, work, and social life.

The students in this group did an amazing job with their project and showed a real critical engagement with the topic and a real understanding of composition in the 21st century.

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The Evolution of Humanity’s Power to Evolve by ethan plaehn † “With genetic engineering, we will be able to increase the complexity of our DNA, and improve the human race ...

-Stephen Hawking

A Take on the Development of Genetic Modification in Human DNA and its Consequences for the Future • Introduction • Encyclopedia Entry • Short Story • Advertisement • Writer’s Statement • Works Cited • Bibliography

† online content

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Introduction Change is inevitable. The world is fueled by change and innovation. Usually, change occurs by chance. Nature runs its course and humans are there for the ride. But once and awhile, the human population takes the wheel and dictates its own destiny.

Genetic modification has the chance to become one of these phenomena. In the past few decades, evident in the occurrence known as the Green Revolution, humans have successfully modified plants and other organisms, known as GMO’s. Our society realized that after thousands of years of being subject to the whims of Nature, we had the potential to change the greatest thing of all: ourselves.

Genetic engineering in humans is a challenging frontier.

Our bodies and personalities are built the way they are, in part, because the DNA in our individual cells holds the blueprints for their design. All genes in the sequence of DNA have a purpose.

They are the blueprint for proteins, microscopic building blocks for the human body. Sometimes, parts of the DNA sequence are different than those in other humans, and this causes the variance between humans we see every day, such as different hair color and body height. However, these changes can be harmful to the body, and cause diseases such as mitochondrial disease and sickle cell anemia (“Human,” “Genetic Inequality”). Scientists have been looking to genetic modification as a way to fix the imperfections found in the human race. But the methods and technology behind genetic engineering are still in development.

The human genome has over 25,000 different genes in its DNA sequence (“All”). One mistake, and scientists will cause an even greater problem for humans to deal with.

This genre project is intended to diffuse information about genetic modification in humans to the public. Genetic modification and its purpose in the universe evokes passion from supporters on both sides of the spectrum. As the science is a relatively new discovery, people will cling to the wildest accusations about genetic engineering and form their own opinions off of incorrect assumptions. The following genre project serves the purpose of presenting information in a clear and precise manner, in order to let the audience make their personal, informed opinions about genetic engineering. The project consists of three genres, a narrative piece, an informative piece, and a persuasive piece. The narrative piece depicts the story of a young boy who is genetically modified at birth, and the problems and benefits he faces throughout his life, much like the characters in the movie Gattaca (“Gattaca”). The informative piece details the most prevalent methods of genetic modification being studied by scientists. These methods include gene therapy,

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We can’t be afraid of change. This change that we humans are bringing about has the potential to give us great power over the laws of Nature. How we use that power is yet to be determined. There are many arguments for and against genetic modification (“Genetic Engineering”). Proponents of personal genetic information have even gone so far as to propose a genetic bill of rights (“Genetic Bill”). But there will come a day when we humans, not as separate countries or races, must stand together as one to decide on how to use the power of genetic modifications.

It is everyone’s duty to learn what he or she can about genetic engineering so that when the time for a decision comes, we can make a rational and ethical choice. People may think that genetic engineering humans is the stuff of science fiction, but in reality, the science may be here sooner than they think.

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mitochondrial DNA transfer, and stem cell research (“What,” “Human”). The persuasive piece demonstrates the political and social strife that could arise from genetic modification, and the divisions that will come between people in the future.

“People may think that genetic engineering humans is the stuff of science fiction, but in reality, the science may be here sooner than they think.”

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Encyclopedia Plaehnnica Genetic Engineering in Humans Article

Related

Content

Contributors

Alternate title: human genetic modification Written by Ethan Plaehn and The Editors of Encyclopedia Plaehnnica Last updated 10-25-2014 Genetic engineering in humans is a quickly developing science that has the potential to revolutionize biology. Genetic engineering has been a science utilized by humanity since time immemorial. The farmers of Mesopotamia hand-selected seeds from stronger and healthier plants to improve farms. And in recent years, modern farmers have been experimenting with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to develop plants and crops that yield more, grow faster, and are resistant to insects and bugs. Now, scientists are looking toward a new subject: the human race. Recent discoveries about the human genome and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) have led scientists to believe that they can alter the DNA sequences in human cells to make humans resistant to disease and to fix chronic illnesses. The technology for such ventures is not fully developed as of yet, but the science behind the theories is very clear on what can be accomplished.

What is DNA? DNA is the blueprint of the human body. Every nucleus in every cell that composes the human body contains the same copy of that subject’s particular DNA. DNA holds instructions for the creation of structures and functions that occur in the human species. Proteins and mechanisms inside the cells read the DNA in order to construct parts of the body, and to enable certain functions. Every copy of DNA consists of a special pattern of four different nucleotides, arranged differently in every human so that no two blueprints are alike. Most humans have similar sequences in the long line of DNA that provide vital functions like a beating heart, but certain sequences are different, resulting in different appearances and talents. The Human Genome Project is currently working on mapping out the sequence of

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Two large developments occurred in the study of DNA and genetics.

Gregor Mendel, using pea plants, studied the inheritance of traits and the occurrence of dominant and recessive genes in DNA. Scientists Watson and Crick studied the structure of DNA, and discovered the helix structure that allows the lengthy DNA strands to coil up and sit in the nucleus of a cell.

These scientists expanded the fields of genetics as scientists realized that they could influence the patterns of DNA. These developments propelled the idea that humans could alter genetic material.

DNA, or genome, in a human body to determine where certain parts come from. Humans have about 20,000 to 25,000 genes. A full understanding of the human genome is necessary for genetic manipulation in humans.

Various Methods of Human Genetic Engineering Gene therapy is a method of genetic engineering that revolves around mutated DNA. The mutation of DNA and genes in a cell occurs frequently in human subjects. When DNA is mutated, the Claro

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nucleotides, or building blocks of DNA, are in a different order than what they should be. Usually, these mutations are harmless, and result in the variety we see, such as hair color and height.

Sometimes these mutations occur in parts of the genome that dictate specific bodily functions or that build certain internal systems. These mutations can result in chronic disease or disorders that can have a negative impact on a person’s life. Gene therapy involves replacing or inactivating the mutated gene. A healthy copy of the gene could be used to replace the mutated one, and as the cell divides and multiplies, the healthy gene is spread throughout the body. Alternatively, the mutated gene could be inactivated, rendering it useless, as long as it does not dictate a function necessary for human survival. Gene therapy is currently being tested on diseases for which there are no cures.

Mitochondrial DNA transfer is a more specific method of modification, aimed at helping mothers pass on their own genes to their children. Mitochondria, an organelle in human cells that is responsible for making energy the body can use, carries its own DNA, called mitochondrial DNA, or mDNA. The mDNA has far fewer genes than the DNA found in a cell’s nucleus, but mutations in mDNA can lead to life-altering diseases that affect metabolism, as the mitochondria are very important to human metabolism. Mothers with mDNA diseases cannot have biological children, as the faulty mDNA is passed down after fertilization of the egg. So, they must adopt a child or use a donor egg. With mitochondrial DNA transfer, however, mothers get the chance to pass on their genetic information to their children. A donor egg is stripped of its nuclear DNA, leaving only the mDNA in the mitochondria. The fertilized egg from the mother also has its DNA removed, and this DNA is put into the nucleus of the donor egg. Thus, the mother passes down her own genetic information, while the donor provides the healthy mDNA for the future child.

The FDA currently bans Mitochondrial DNA transfer, and no human trials have been conducted as of the present.

Stems cells are another genetic modification method that could be used for patients requiring organ transplants. Stem cells are cells that are not specialized. They don’t have a specific function, like a muscle or bone cell. They can develop into a variety of different cells, based on what specific DNA and genes of the genome that is read and exploited by the cell. They exist as embryonic stem cells and somatic, or adult, stem cells. Embryonic stem cells exist at the beginning of fertilization, eventually developing into specialized cells. Somatic stem cells help repair parts of the adult body. Since stem cells can divide and multiply like other cells, and they have the ability to specialize, scientists believe that new tissues and organs can be grown from a few

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Humans first began dabbling in the science of genetic engineering back when civilization was starting to evolve. In the cradle of life, Mesopotamia, ancient farmers would handpick seeds from the strongest and healthiest crops in order to plant them in the next season. This process would select the best genes for the plants and provide a stronger and healthier crop in the next year. Ancient Mesopotamians were inadvertently modifying the genetic makeup of their crops in order to make them better by removing the poor genes and naturally selecting the better genes. stem cells in a laboratory. Patients requiring organ transplants would no longer require a donor that is compatible with their body, because a new kidney or heart could be grown from their own body’s stem cells.

Obstacles for Human Genetic Modification Genetic engineering in humans has a long way to go before it becomes an accepted procedure. Many people in the scientific world oppose genetic modification for its ethical and social implications. The science behind the different methods is sound, and the theories have foundation, but technology still needs to be developed in order to conduct the delicate procedures required in altering DNA. Extracting DNA from a nucleus in order to transfer it to another cell is a technology in its early stages, and there is no good method of harvesting stem cells in order to do massive testing and research with them. The biggest obstacle, however, is the human genome itself. The human genome consists of 20,000 genes, each one controlling a different aspect of the human body.

Scientists need to understand where every gene is in a string of DNA, as well as what each gene does. If they don’t understand the job of a gene, then changing the gene could have unforeseen

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consequences. The Human Genome Project is still researching the genome, but a full documentation of DNA is a long way off.

Genetic modification in humans has been the stuff of science fiction for years, but now it is a developing science that could change life on Earth. It remains to be seen which type of genetic modification, if any, will take the forefront in this niche.

Contributors http://www.genome.gov/10001772 http://www.geneticengineeringinhumans.com/ http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetic-inequalityhuman-genetic-engineering-768 http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/pageDocuments/ YN3RBRQ4GO.pdf http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/therapy/genetherapy Short Story: “The Best Intentions” Rachel and Chris left their son’s 30th birthday party at 9:00 in the evening. There were still plenty of his friends in attendance, but it was getting late for the elderly couple. They congratulated their son on earning a promotion at Parsons Engineering, his place of work, and left the house while their son began explaining the finer points of being a Chief Financial Officer to his friends.

As Chris started up their BMW, he remarked, “Well, David seems to be getting along well. He seems to have his life under control.”

Rachel answered tartly, “Of course he does. We raised him well.” Chris laughed at the comment, and Rachel smiled. David’s parents’ parenting skills had nothing to do with the success and vitality that filled David’s existence. It was all in the genes, Rachel reflected.

When Rachel and Chris had learned that they were pregnant, they were ecstatic. They had always wanted a child. When meeting with a doctor at a local hospital, he gave them an ultrasound and announced that it was a healthy baby boy. But then the doctor threw a curve ball at the perspective parents. He introduced them to a relatively new concept. Gene therapy. The Food and Drug Administration had recently approved it, and only a few medical establishments were offering the treatment at present. The doctor explained that parents could make 144 |

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certain choices in the selection of their child’s DNA sequencing and genes; therefore, the child would not be bound by random DNA selection. The greatest benefit from this therapy would be immunity to a number of diseases and illnesses, but other choices could be more selective, like the color of the baby’s eyes or its maximum height. After considering the option for a number of days, David’s parents decided that the gene therapy could be very beneficial to their child’s life. They agreed to go through with the operation, and a few months later David was born. He was one of the first genetically modified humans ever to come into existence.

David’s childhood was a blessing to his parents. Parenting classes had prepared Rachel and Chris for a couple years of torment that comes with raising a baby boy. But these parenting classes did not factor in gene therapy. Rachel had stressed minimizing the gene that promotes individual thinking and creativity, and promoting the gene that controlled behavior, so David followed his parents’ instructions and requests to the letter.

No toddler had ever been so obedient. While other young children threw tantrums and talked back to their parents, David was quietly obeying his parents’ every request. Chris had also seen the potential in the revolutionary gene therapy, and had requested that David’s genes supporting brain growth be enhanced and the genes causing muscle growth to be stimulated more than usual.

So, as David grew up, he took the most advanced courses offered at each school he attended. The elementary school he went to as a child had to start a Gifted and Talented program for first graders so that David’s intellect could be developed at his young age. In addition, their son was a prodigy on the field. David excelled in cross-country and track, and went to state competitions in every season during high school. And of course, he never got sick or contracted a disease, which was the very reason David’s parents had chosen gene therapy in the first place.

And as David continued to grow, his life only seemed to improve. David graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder with a master’s degree in accounting after just four years of study, and a few months later he obtained a job as an accountant for Parsons Engineering. He soon ascended to the top of the finance sector of the company, after just five years of hard work for his superiors. The firm decided to promote him to Chief Financial Officer, a very prestigious position (which occurred on David’s 30th birthday). And all the while, his parents watched with glee as their boy dominated everything he did.

“Do you ever regret it?” The question jarred Rachel out of her contemplation and back into the present.

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“Regret what?” Rachel inquired.

“Genetically modifying David. You know, the gene therapy?

Did we take the chance for a normal life from our son before he was even born?” Rachel was astounded.

“How could you say that?” she shot back. “Look how easy it was to bring him up. At how successful he is in his career.

What more could we ask for?” Chris waited a few minutes before answering.

“Well, remember all those broken bones during his freshman year of high school? It seemed like every few months David was breaking a leg or an arm. He was a great track runner for a while, but the injuries kept reoccurring and he finally had to stop. He couldn’t play sports in college because we didn’t want him to get injured again.”

Rachel said, “Well, we didn’t ask for stronger bones, right?

Only strengthened muscles. We didn’t think of everything.”

“Exactly!” Chris shouted. “I asked for stronger muscles, but his genes didn’t produce stronger bones to support the increased stress. We brought those injuries on him.” Rachel sat quietly for a while.

“Maybe,” she said. “But look at how successful he is! He just got promoted! And we were the ones who decided to give him a more developed brain.”

Chris thought a little bit and replied, “But he was only brilliant in science and math. He almost failed every writing class he ever took, and his college application essays were atrocious. David only got accepted to CU Boulder because of his ACT scores and GPA. He should have easily gotten into Stanford or MIT.” “And why is that?” Rachel asked.

“I think it’s because we minimized the creativity gene in his DNA. He was really obedient as a child, but he is only good at following directions. That is why his boss likes him so much.”

Rachel sighed and said to Chris, “Honey, I don’t regret anything. Maybe there were a few unforeseen repercussions, but we had the best intentions, right?” Chris looked at his wife and saw the exhaustion that had seemed to grow in her pupils.

“Yes, the best intentions,” he commented, turning the conversation inward as they finished the drive home.

A few weeks went by, and everything was fine, until David called his parents. Chris picked up the phone, expecting a report 146 |

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“The doctor said it isn’t normal for a 30 year-old man to break a perfectly healthy femur,” David cried to his parents. “Is something wrong with me?” As Chris looked up from the phone and at his wife, he saw her mouth the words, “The best intentions.”

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on the great new occupation David had. But David had terrible news. Parsons Engineering had just fired him from his new position, on account of his failure to lead those below him. In addition, to let off steam from this unforeseen circumstance, David had thrown his parents’ caution to the wind and had tried running a 400-meter race for the first time since high school. But instead of successfully completing the lap, David broke his right leg 100 meters into the race.

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Context: The year is 2115, and natural births are now frowned upon as an ancient practice from a less civilized time. Genetic modification before birth has become a safe practice for parents to use on their unborn children. A new political and social organization has arisen to promote natural childbirth without the use of genetic mutation. This group is called the Society for Natural Births. The following newspaper advertisement is a promotion by the Society for Natural Births, calling for a return to natural births.

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“ ... there should be no doubt that in the future, human DNA will be the product of our own ingenuity.”

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Writer’s Statement It can be hard to accept change. Our society thrives on the belief that as long as everything remains as it is, then our lives will be filled with nothing but happiness. But during my short existence on this Earth, I have come to the realization that the only thing in life that doesn’t change is the fact that life changes.

All around us change occurs. The Earth spins on its axis and around the sun, and the seasons come and go. The sun and the moon swap places in the sky, and yet life still goes on. Political turmoil, social strife, and technological inefficiency turn the wheels of change. Today, human society is on the brink of one of the biggest changes it has ever experienced. With the evolution of genetic modification since the dawn of civilization, we as a society have gotten ever closer to harnessing the power of God and creating our own genetic material. Soon, a day will come when we as a species must decide how we utilize this newfound power. This multi-genre project will deliver clear and concise information on what genetic engineering in humans really entails.

The dissemination of information is key to the survival of our species. That is the purpose of this multi-genre project: to present readers with prudent information on the subject of genetic modification in humans. Genetic engineering is a relatively new science. The technology behind it is revolutionary, and scientists are still unsure about what genes control what functions in our body (“All”). There are over 20,000 genes in the human genome, and scientists need to know what functions they are altering before they start dabbling in human DNA (“All”). However, it is common knowledge that one day, genetic modification within humans will be a reality. Information is crucial to acceptance, and this multi-genre project serves the purpose of compiling relevant information for my audience to digest. The Encyclopedia Entry details the intricate process of how DNA functions in the body, and discusses three prominent forms of genetic modification: stem cell research, mitochondrial DNA transfer, and gene therapy (“How,” “What,” “Human”). The Short Story, based on plot elements from the movie Gattaca, extrapolates current beliefs in the scientific community about the benefits and consequences of gene therapy, and how careful planning could be the key to successful modification (“Gattaca,” Darnovsky, “Genetic Engineering”). The Advertisement explores a different side of genetic modification, and the possible political and social divisions that can arise once genetic modification is common practice. Researchers warn us that taking antibiotics for our illnesses only makes the bacteria stronger, as the cells that are immune to the drug live on and multiply (“Bacteria”).

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THE EVOLUTION

Based on this fact, it is logical to assume that eliminating the potential for humans to be hosts with genetic therapy will cause bacteria and viruses to mutate and change, becoming new diseases that we have no cure for. Each genre piece serves to offer different information. The informative genre discusses the scientific information, the narrative genre details possible biological outcomes, and the persuasive genre predicts other consequences of genetic modification. The information genre is at the beginning of the project because it lays down a scientific basis for people to understand what DNA is and how it works.

This allows the readers to contextualize the information in the narrative and persuasive pieces, as they are based on conjecture and logical conclusions.

The primary audience for my multi-genre project is anyone who does not know a lot about genetic modification. I don’t care if my readers support genetic modification or would rather see natural birth remain the prominent form of genetic creation.

I just want to spread information about genetic engineering so the public can make an informed decision on whether or not to accept genetic modification. I don’t want to put my personal opinions into the text of the project. That is how I establish my credibility and ethos. Readers don’t want to be bombarded with personal opinions. By seeing that I am simply addressing the current facts about this new science, I establish my ethos and readers will be more likely to accept the information I present.

My ethos is present throughout all of my genres, but appeals to logic and emotion are located in specific genres. The Encyclopedia Entry utilizes appeals to logos by presenting facts in a logical and concise manner. The Short Story and Advertisement appeal to the emotions and sentiments of the readers, making them think inwardly about their own choices and the effects they could have on others. The entire project is tied together through logical progression, starting with the informative piece and ending in the persuasive piece. Transitions between the genres present factual information about the history of genetic modification, beginning with the ancient Mesopotamians and culminating with the new technology we are developing every day (“A Brief”).

Because I am trying to diffuse information to the public, my greatest appeal is the appeal to logic, because logical information has the greatest impact on a society that thrives on knowledge.

It can be hard to accept change. But change is an inevitable part of life. In fact, change is a driving force behind genetic inheritance. The DNA in human cells goes under a great deal of random modification before it starts building an actual human (“How”). When a sperm fertilizes an egg, there are 8.389*10^8 possible combinations of the 23 chromosomes found in the Claro

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human cell’s nucleus (“How”). That randomness is what gives the human population of 8 billion people its incredible variability.

But we as a society fear randomness. We fear uncertainty and its possibilities. That is why genetic modification is so important to us as a society. We have the potential to eliminate one of the biggest uncertainties we experience at the beginning of our lives.

And it is our job as a society to decide whether or not to utilize this power to its fullest potential. It is my hope that this project provided information to its readers so that they can make an informed decision about genetic modification in humans, when the time comes. It can be hard to accept change, but we need to accept that we are just along for the ride.

Works Cited: Introduction “All About The Human Genome Project (HGP).” All About The Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project, n.d.

Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Gattaca.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Bill of Rights.” Genetic Bill of Rights. Council for Responsible Genetics, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Engineering In Humans.” Genetic Engineering In Humans. Genetic Engineering, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering.” Nature.com.

Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Human Genetic Engineering Current Science and Ethical Implications.” Council for Responsible Genetics (n.d.): n. pag.

Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“What Is Gene Therapy?” Genetics Home Reference. Genetics Home Reference, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

Works Cited: Writer’s Statement All About The Human Genome Project (HGP).” All About The Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“A Brief History of Genetic Modification.” GM Education. GM Education, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

“Bacteria Evolve Resistance More Quickly When Stronger Antibiotics Are Used.”Bacteria Evolve Resistance More Quickly When Stronger Antibiotics Are Used. PLos Biology, 23 Apr. 2013.

Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

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Darnovsky, Marcy. “Genetically Modified Babies.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Bill of Rights.” Genetic Bill of Rights. Council for Responsible Genetics, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Engineering In Humans.” Genetic Engineering In Humans.

Genetic Engineering, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

THE EVOLUTION

“Gattaca.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering.” Nature.com.

Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“How Do Genes Work?” The Tech Museum of Innovation. Stanford at the Tech, n.d. Web. “Human Genetic Engineering Current Science and Ethical Implications.” Council for Responsible Genetics (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“What Is Gene Therapy?” Genetics Home Reference. Genetics Home Reference, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

Bibliography All About The Human Genome Project (HGP).” All About The Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“A Brief History of Genetic Modification.” GM Education. GM Education, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

“Bacteria Evolve Resistance More Quickly When Stronger Antibiotics Are Used.”Bacteria Evolve Resistance More Quickly When Stronger Antibiotics Are Used. PLos Biology, 23 Apr. 2013.

Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Darnovsky, Marcy. “Genetically Modified Babies.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Gattaca.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Bill of Rights.” Genetic Bill of Rights. Council for Responsible Genetics, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Engineering In Humans.” Genetic Engineering In Humans.

Genetic Engineering, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering.” Nature.com.

Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

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“How Do Genes Work?” The Tech Museum of Innovation. Stanford at the Tech, n.d. Web. “Human Genetic Engineering Current Science and Ethical Implications.” Council for Responsible Genetics (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“What Is Gene Therapy?” Genetics Home Reference. Genetics Home Reference, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

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VI Reaching for Health

Characterization of Healthcare Need and Potential Solutions In a Population of Community-College Students in Southeastern Colorado

by grant nichols, jasmine wells, craig wood, crystal zitterkopf Introduction College students are a vulnerable population with regards to healthcare due to constraints on both affordability and access, particularly among self-supported students or those with marginal transportation access. Accordingly, many large colleges and universities provide on-campus healthcare services to students. Such an approach has also been used in junior colleges and community colleges, but is far less common in these institutions. However, in rural areas, these institutions may be the only institutions of higher learning located in any kind of proximity to the communities they serve; therefore, a full spectrum of students may attend. This research proposal examines the need for and feasibility of a multi-institutional health clinic at two community/junior colleges located in rural southeastern Colorado: Trinidad State College (Trinidad, CO) and Otero Community College (La Junta, CO).

Specific Aim #1: Determine need and interest for a sharedstudent health clinic in Trinidad State College and Otero Community College.

These colleges, all part of the Colorado Community College System “College students (CCCS), collectively serve as the primary are a vulnerable institutions of higher learning in population with southeastern Colorado. The healthcare regards to healthcare needs of this population have not been due to constraints studied systematically. The proposed on both affordability research will determine the health and access ... “ insurance enrollment status of this population, as well as other economic and socioeconomic factors pertinent to healthcare utilization.

Additionally, the research will gauge interest in a student health clinic funded by student fees within this population.

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This portion of the study will examine the costs and practical aspects of implementing a multi-campus clinic in these institutions. These campuses are not individually large enough to justify a full-time medical provider at each campus; however, a provider-support staff team that rotated between campuses might be far more feasible. We will develop a cost estimate for implementing a student health-clinic system that takes into account both start-up costs (costs associated with establishing the physical space and durable goods for the clinics) and ongoing costs of running the clinic (personnel and soft goods).

Background and Significance Access to healthcare is vital throughout one’s lifespan, and no less during attendance of college. Students must be reasonably healthy to successfully pursue their studies, and adequate access to healthcare removes a large stressor and impediment to success for the student population. College students suffer higher rates of un-insurance than the general population, according to the United States Government Accountability Office (2008).

Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act allowed young adults of up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans; however, this is not germane to students with deceased or uninsured parents, or for students older than age 26. In addition, remaining on one’s parents’ health insurance, should they possess it, is at the parents’ discretion rather than compulsory.

Finally, simply possessing some manner of health insurance does not mean that healthcare is accessible for an individual; high deductibles, co-insurance, and scheduling or transportation factors can still discourage students from obtaining needed healthcare.

CHARACTERIZATION OF HEALTHCARE

Specific Aim #2: Determine infrastructure and staff costs associated with starting and maintaining a multi-campus clinic in these institutions.

Accordingly, many institutions of higher learning attempt to ensure or improve access to healthcare for their students.

Some institutions within Colorado - for example, the University of Colorado-Boulder - require proof of health insurance to be enrolled as a full-time student. This can be considered as part of the cost to attend the institution. Other large institutions, such as the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, do not require health insurance for enrollment, but do offer amenities such as a student (group) health insurance plan, which may be less expensive than individual insurance plans. Such approaches may work well in larger institutions such as the aforementioned, but are impractical for smaller institutions such as community Claro

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colleges, both for budgetary reasons and economies of scale, and for the fact that a higher percentage of students are part-time students.

A student healthcare clinic is present in the majority of larger colleges and universities; however, this arrangement is far less common in smaller institutions and two-year institutions. Specifically within the state of Colorado, the focus of our proposed research, student health clinics have been implemented in several of the campuses of the Colorado Community College System. Of the 13 campuses in the system, student health clinics have been implemented in four: Lamar Community College (Lamar, CO), Pueblo Community College (Pueblo, CO), Red Rocks Community College (Lakewood, CO and Arvada, CO), and Northeastern Community College (Sterling, CO). Notably, with the exceptions of Northeastern Community College and Lamar Community College, the campuses with student health clinics are located in sizable metropolitan areas.

The need for a student healthcare clinic is, of course, not lesser in the rural campuses, but the dual challenges of smaller student population size coupled with geographic remoteness contribute to the lack of student health clinics in many of Colorado’s community colleges.

A student healthcare clinic offers many advantages to students. Uninsured students can obtain basic primary medical care for minimal or no out-of-pocket cost. In addition, an oncampus clinic is invaluable to students in its offering of medical services that can be utilized while students are on campus during the workday. This is helpful both in terms of busy students’ time, as well as the transportation challenges faced by some students.

The geographic area in which our proposal is framed is extremely rural. La Junta is located on the agrarian eastern plains of Colorado, while Trinidad is located in a semi-mountainous area near the New Mexico border. La Junta has a population of 7568 and Trinidad has a population of 9096. The closest major metropolitan area (Pueblo, CO) is over 60 miles northwest of La Junta, the closer of the two cities to Pueblo.

The junior colleges located in these towns have the following enrollments: Otero Community College: 1823 students (916 fulltime, 907 part-time), Trinidad State: 1916 (976 full-time, 940 parttime). The student population for our target geographic region is quite large: 3739 students (1892 full-time, 1847 part-time). These two institutions are primary centers of higher education in southeastern Colorado.

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Otero County, Otero Community College, La Junta, CO: •

28.7% Medicaid enrollees

•

17.0% uninsured

Las Animas County, Trinidad State College, Trinidad, CO: •

21.5% Medicaid enrollees

•

17.0% uninsured

Clearly, this research proposal targets a medically underserved population residing within a medically under-served geographic area. The specific aims described below will increase knowledge of the specific healthcare challenges facing community-college students in southeast Colorado, as well as achieve insight into the pragmatic aspects of one potential mechanism for increasing access to healthcare for this population: a student-fee-funded student health clinic.

CHARACTERIZATION OF HEALTHCARE

Health-insurance coverage in the two counties in which the proposed institutions are located is below the average for the rest of the state of Colorado. According to the Colorado Health Institute (2013), statewide, 13.7% of Colorado residents are enrolled in Medicaid, while 15.5% lack health insurance entirely.

Correspondingly, the estimated breakdowns for counties in which the institutions reside are:

Research and Design Methods Specific Aim #1: Determine need and interest for a shared student health clinic in Trinidad State College and Otero Community College.

Rationale This section of the study will be largely based on survey research. It will provide information regarding the degree of medical need of the population of full-time and part-time community college students at Otero Community College and Trinidad State Junior College, a large portion of the college student population of southeastern Colorado. The healthcare coverage status and needs of this population have not been studied in detail previously. The particular need for healthcare services in this population and other healthcare-related challenges facing this population will be examined.

Methods This research will be survey-based. An anonymous survey regarding health-insurance coverage, healthcare utilization, Claro

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and desire for a student-fee-funded healthcare clinic will be administered to students of the two community colleges. Several different approaches could be employed, with permission of the college administrations and provision of student contact information. The survey could be sent via e-mail, postal mail, conducted via telephone or in-person on each campus. The response rate for each of these modalities has been studied, with phone surveys having the highest response rate, but postal surveys being the most cost-effective (Sinclair et al. 2012).

Because this research will involve human subjects, approval for the proposed research will be needed from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the CCCS. The junior colleges in which the proposed research is to take place do not have independent IRBs, so they fall under the umbrella of the CCCS’s IRB. A copy of the proposed survey is attached below (Appendix A).

Specific Aim #2: Determine infrastructure and staff costs associated with starting and maintaining a multi-campus clinic in these institutions.

Rationale Initial infrastructure and equipment costs can be a big hurdle to starting up a medical clinic. It is our proposal that these costs be largely compensated using grant money. As for annual staff salaries and operational costs, this will be compensated from money out of student fees. Currently, student fees at Trinidad State College are $64 and Otero Junior College are $120. Red Rocks Community College (RRCC) has a $20 student health fee, which all full-time students automatically pay. Part-time students have access to the health clinic as well if they opt to pay the $20 to the registrar office. A $20 student-fee increase is a minimal fee as many other colleges charge up to $35 per student to run their health clinics. It is reasonable to raise the student fees by $20 in order to cover all costs associated with the health clinics. Of course, any student fee increase must first be passed by student government and a student survey of interest may be necessary as well.

Methods Infrastructure and equipment startup costs can be estimated using the RRCC costs. The cost of RRCC’s renovation of the building and clinic space was $120,000. Assuming the student body has space that it is willing to give to the health clinic, the Otero and Trinidad clinics should be slightly less costly since less space and one less examination room is anticipated for these

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Salaries will need to be paid for: a medical director, physician assistant, two part-time medical assistants, and a clerical assistant. It is estimated that the medical director salary will be $36,000, the physician assistant salary will be $75,000, the two medical assistants will be $35,000, and the clerical assistant will be $15,000. Transportation costs may be another $7,000 per year. This brings the annual salaries and transportation costs to $169,000.

Therefore, the startup costs may be about $230,000 in total, which would be funded through grants. Annual costs for salaries and supplies are projected to be $189,000 and will be funded by a $20 student fee increase for every full-time student.

CHARACTERIZATION OF HEALTHCARE

clinics. Roughly $100,000-110,000 should be sufficient for both clinics. Startup equipment should be no more than $15,000 per clinic. Operational costs for medical and office supplies are estimated to be around $10,000 per clinic.

However, costs will have to be verified for the specific geographical region in which the study is taking place. A first step will involve meeting with administration to determine whether there is a 500-square foot or greater space on each campus that could serve as a student health clinic. If so, bids will be obtained from local general contractors to determine the actual cost of renovating building space for each clinic.

Budget •

Print-services costs: $2,000

•

Travel costs: (traveling to and from La Junta, CO, and Trinidad, CO) $2,000

•

Hiring an architecture firm to evaluate the feasibility of clinic construction: $10,000

•

Costs for iPads (4) to entice student participation in survey: $2,500

•

Estimated overage costs: $8,500

•

Total budget for feasibility study: $25,000

Timeline •

November: Finalized questionnaire

•

December: Survey students at each community college

•

January: Present results to student government and administration assuming there is a need Claro

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•

February: Obtain quotes for structural design of clinics and finalize budget

•

March: Student government vote to increase student fees

•

April: Apply for grants for startup costs

References Colorado Health Institute. (2013). The uninsured and underinsured. Retrieved from http://www.coloradohealth institute.org/data-repository/detail/the-uninsuredand-underinsured.

Jaynstein, J. (2014, October 7). Personal Interview. Sinclair M, O’Toole J, Malawaraarachchi M and Leder K. (2012). Comparison of response rates and cost-effectiveness for a community-based survey: postal, internet and telephone modes with generic or personalized recruitment approaches. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 12:132. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-12-132.

United States Government Accountability Office. (2008).

Most college students are covered through employer-sponsored plans, and some colleges and states are taking steps to increase coverage. (GAO Publication No. GAO-08-389). Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08389.pdf.

Appendices A. Questionnaire 1. Do you currently have health insurance? (Y/N) 2. If so, which of the following describes the type of insurance you have? a. Private insurance, in my or my immediate family’s name. b. Private insurance, I’m on my parents’ policy. c. Medicaid d. Medicare or Medicaid/Medicare e. CICP (Colorado Indigent Care Plan) 3. Do you have any chronic medical issues that have been diagnosed by a medical provider (high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. (please specify if other)? (Y/N) 4. Do you have any chronic mental-health issues (depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc.) that have been diagnosed by a medical provider? (Y/N)

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5. Do you currently have a regular medical provider that you see (MD/DO, PA, NP)? (Y/N) 7. What is the deductible insurance coverage?

amount

for your

health-

a. $3,000 or greater b. $1,500 - $3,000 c. $500 - $1,500 d. < $500 e. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know 8. What is your living situation? a. I live with family other than parents.

CHARACTERIZATION OF HEALTHCARE

6. How many times a year do you see a medical provider?

b. I live with my parents. c. I live with a spouse or other partner. d. I live alone. e. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a regular living situation.

9. Suppose a student healthcare clinic were available on campus 1-2 days a week, that provides free care but medicine, lab work, and procedures would still have a cost. Would you be interested in this if it resulted in an increase to your tuition of $50 a year? (Y/N) 10. Suppose a student healthcare clinic were available on campus 1-2 days a week, that provides free care but medicine, lab work, and procedures would still have a cost. Would you be interested in this if it resulted in an increase to your tuition of $100 a year? (Y/N)

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Behavioral-Health Access for Huerfano County, Colorado by kristen munks, nick orchard, kristina searls “Rural Americans are significantly less likely to receive specialized behavioral-health treatment than their urban counterparts.”

Introduction Behavioral-health disorders, in one form or another, affect approximately 20% of Americans without preference to rural or urban populations (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). The World Health Organization (2008), reported that mental illnesses are the biggest health burden in North America, especially because they result in the loss of many productive years of life. While the rate of behavioralhealth disorders does not vary between rural, suburban, and urban populations, the access to and the quality of behavioral healthcare is lacking in rural areas. Rural Americans are significantly less likely to receive specialized behavioral-health treatment than their urban counterparts. However the rate of generalized medical care and human services (school or spiritual counselors) is equal when comparing rural and urban populations. It is important to note that rural residents not only face a geographical barrier in their access to behavioral healthcare but a psychological barrier as well. Many Americans, especially those in rural areas, still attach a stigma to seeking care for behavioral-health concerns. This, coupled with the increased lack of anonymity in rural areas, leads to an even lower percentage of people willing to seek behavioral healthcare (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011).

Huerfano County Information

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•

County Population (2013): 6,519

•

White (2013): 89%

•

Hispanic or Latino (2013): 34.7%

•

Per-capita income in past 12 months, 2008-2012: $23,387

•

Median household income, 2008-2012: $32,754

•

Persons below poverty level, 2008-2012: 0.8%

RRCC

Existing Healthcare Options in Huerfano County Spanish Peaks Behavioral Health Centers: Based out of Pueblo, this private group has a location listed as “Rural Services,” located in Walsenburg, CO. “Clients living in Las Animas or Huerfano Counties receive outpatient care at their local Spanish Peaks Behavioral Health Centers in Trinidad or Walsenburg respectively. Both children and adults are seen in an outpatient setting in these offices. Staff at the two centers provide emergency services and screening for hospitalization when needed.” Services provided include: individual, couple, and family therapies, substance abuse, play therapy for young children.

BEHAVIORAL-HEALTH ACCESS

According to the Huerfano County Public Health Website, there currently exist services such as Veteran’s Services, Child Protective Services, and Adult Services. There are currently no listings of local resources for psychiatric, mental health, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or sexual-abuse services. Phone numbers provided on the county website include the National Child Abuse, National Domestic Violence, and National Substance Abuse Hotlines.

Spanish Peaks Medical Center - Hospital and Main Campus: This facility in Walsenburg consists of a state veteran’s retirement home, emergency department, in-patient unit, laboratory, and basic radiology services. The current medical providers consist of four physicians and 2 mid-level providers.

La Veta Clinic: As an extension of the Walsenburg office with service for the La Veta community, this clinic offers well-child checks, annual physicals, chronic care, and osteopathic medicine.

Outreach Clinic: The Spanish Peaks Outreach Clinic is an off-campus, outpatient, safety-net clinic that provides health and wellness programs to the under-served population. This clinic offers opportunities for the community to receive free or low-cost services that encourage healthy living through early screening and prevention programs that promote healthy lifestyles. Mental-Health Care: free mental-health care to individuals and families.

Methods The purpose of our research proposal is to help introduce behavioral healthcare into rural areas where the care is severely lacking. Nick Orchard spent a rotation in Walsenburg (Huerfano County) and witnessed firsthand the intense lack of behavioral healthcare in the community and noticed the extent the patients Claro

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suffered because of it. Our proposal is to have the current midlevel providers, specifically one Physician Assistant from each practice, join the Association of Physician Assistants in Psychiatry and attend their week-long CME conference annually.

This helps the physician and mid-level providers in each clinic to easily refer their patients to the PA with whom they are already comfortable and trust who will be at their own clinics. This will also be convenient for patients and will eliminate their costs for travel to seek adequate behavioral healthcare. We also believe that patients will be more likely to utilize the services at a clinic that they are already familiar with, which is another reason for an established PA from that practice to complete this task. It would be preferred that the PAs chosen from each practice become a member of the Association of Physician Assistants in Psychiatry be fluent in Spanish. Many people who live in Huerfano County are Spanish-speaking and we believe that a Spanish-speaking provider for their behavioral-health needs would be convenient, although not necessary, and would also eliminate the cost of a translator. Lastly, we believe that most PAs would be excited by this opportunity, and it would not be difficult to find a provider from each clinic who would be interested. They would be receiving a free membership to the Association of Physician Assistants in Psychiatry, be able to gain knowledge on behavioral healthcare, receive a free trip to the location of the annual CME conference, as well as earn CME credits.

One PA from each of these Huerfano County clinics will complete our research proposal: La Veta Clinic 908 South Oak Street La Veta, CO 81005 Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center Specialty Clinic 23500 U.S. 160 Walsenburg, CO 81089 We specifically chose these clinics within Huerfano County because they mark a large geographical distance across the county, with one located in Walsenburg and the other in La Veta.

We also chose Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center Specialty Clinic because it is Spanish-speaking and may have a large population attending the clinic already.

Because 24-hour access to care is not always an option for patients, especially in rural areas, we seek to refer to existing emergency after-hours services through the local 911 system and Emergency Department of Spanish Peaks Regional Medical Center. As an adjunct to these services, our proposal would

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allow for 24-hour, on-call consultation with the emergency department if necessary for patients under care of our program.

The money we would be asking for this research proposal would be minimal and highly cost-effective. Below is a list of estimated costs for each PA annually.

BEHAVIORAL-HEALTH ACCESS

A supervising physician relationship must be established and maintained for the existence of this program and care. Our goal is to initiate and maintain a professional relationship with one of many psychiatric groups that currently exist in the Pueblo and Colorado Springs areas. Because of the current state of easeof-access technology, we believe that off-site consultation with this group can be professionally and consistently maintained throughout the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence. Also, due to proximity to these metropolitan areas, physician access to Huerfano County is unimpeded, when necessary.

Estimated Annual Costs:

Task Association of Physician Assistants in Psychiatry membership CME airfare transportation

Cost $35.00

$500.00

CME room & board

$1,000.00

Total

$1,535.00

The breakdown of these costs would obviously be dependent on the location of the CME each year but we think our estimate is fair for most locations across the United States. Based on this estimate we calculated that the requirement for each Physician Assistant would be $1,535.00 annually, making the total for two PAs to be $3,070.00. We believe this is a fairly low amount of money to help PAs in Huerfano County become more efficient and knowledgeable in behavioral healthcare.

The effectiveness of this research proposal will be evaluated by looking at questionnaires from primary-care providers prior to implementing our proposal at 6 months and 1 year into the project, looking at whether this helped their practice become more efficient and comfortable with treating mentalhealth patients. We will also provide satisfaction surveys to patients at the primary-care site and obtain their opinions

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on whether they have used the services, and if so, whether they felt they had a good behavioral-healthcare experience.

Discussion Barriers to behavioral-healthcare access are a substantial problem for the United States as a whole, but especially for rural America. Untreated mental-health issues can spiral out of control. Our mission through this proposal is to up-skill the providers currently working in Huerfano County, leading to increased accessibility to behavioral-health providers. As the PAs in these clinics become more educated and practiced in behavioral-health disorders, they will be able to recognize and treat behavioral-health issues at the onset of patient symptoms or when they first seek care rather than waiting for a needed intervention down the line.

The implementation of this program has several benefits that outweigh the small cost. It allows the patients to utilize providers and clinics they are already familiar with through their other primary-care needs. It allows for increased patient autonomy, which will hopefully lead to more people seeking help for their behavioral-health needs.

We will seek funding for our proposal from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. They are currently working on multiple projects to determine how to provide adequate behavioral healthcare to areas of rural America in the most efficacious way possible. We would work with the USDHHS from the implementation of our project onward in order to put any analytical procedures into place that would help them collect the necessary data. We would then allow them to perform any analysis on our program that would aid in their mission to increase behavioral-health access to rural Americans.

References Huerfano County Government. (2012). Social Services. Retrieved from www.huerfano.us. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nonprofit Organization | Snellville, GA.â&#x20AC;? Association of Physician Assistants in Psychiatry | Snellville, GA. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014. <http://www.psychpa.us/>.

Sawyer, D., Gale, J., & Lambert, D. (2006). Rural and frontier mental and behavioral health care: Barriers, effective policy strategies, best practices. Waite Park, MN: National Association for Rural Mental Health, 66-70.

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Spanish Peaks Behavioral Health. (2014). Services, Resources, Locations. www.spanishpeaks.org.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). Rural Behavioral Health Programs and Promising Practices. Health Resources and Services Administration.

World Health Organization. (2008). The Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update. Switzerland.

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Spanish Peaks Medical Center. (2014). Clinics, Specialty Care. www. sprhc.org.

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Eating More:

Are We Supporting the Economy or Making it Worse?

by dakota sorensen “The price index for fruits and vegetables increased by nearly 40% over a period of twenty-seven years starting in the late 1900s ...

With America being among the richest of nations, it is no surprise that there is an amazing surplus of food. With so much excess food, many temptations and dangers follow. Obesity is a tremendous problem in America, with nearly 35% of adults being obese in the U.S. (“Obesity and Overweight”). This problem is especially prevalent among lower-income Americans, as they tend to have to stretch their budgets to include healthy eating. Meanwhile, the American government dumps a grand amount of money into care for obesity sufferers. With healthy foods being nearly out of reach for the poor, it is surprising the government has not noticed the disturbing gap between the cost of preventing obesity and the cost of dealing with the aftermath.

The American government spends money trying to fix the effects of poor dietary nutrition, but does not spend nearly as much trying to help people eat healthier. If the government were to provide healthier foods to the poor at lower prices, it would see a decline in the cost of obesity and an increase in healthy citizens.

In America the cost of obesity and obesity-related diseases is staggering. Nearly $190 billion was spent in 2005 (Cawley and Meyerhoefer). This amount was estimated using an instrumental variable approach involving the body-mass index of a child and is considered highly accurate by Obesity Prevention Source (“Economic Costs”). With this sum of money being channeled into treating obesity and obesity-related diseases, it makes one wonder what goes into preventing obesity. The answer is: not much. The main source of food aid for low-income Americans comes from SNAP, aka food stamps. However, the government only spends $75.7 billion on distributing and paying for food stamps. The gap between the cost of obesity and the cost of feeding the poor is much too large. It seems that we spend more resources on licking our wounds than on trying to avoid being wounded at all. Obesity Prevention Source phrases it best: “The Bottom Line: Prevention is key to trimming obesity’s high costs.” By doing a little extra preliminary work, we can effectively curb obesity costs and prevent some of the life-threatening diseases associated with 172 |

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obesity as well. The USDA released a study showing that nutrition education among SNAP recipients can lead to healthier choices.

If the SNAP benefit were to be increased or if an instructional class were offered for free to SNAP participants, there should be an increase in healthy choices among lower-income Americans.

Furthermore, studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between SNAP benefits and nutrition, especially among children (“SNAP and Obesity”).

The opposition to my argument might say that not all poor people eat unhealthily. Some might say that there are many campaigns against obesity held in the United States.

Alternatively, someone might say that campaigns against obesity may be occurring, but they are not picking up much favor. Even the campaign led by First Lady Michelle Obama was only a minor step towards preventing obesity (“Economic Costs”). They simply do not have enough momentum to make headway against obesity as of yet. And yet others might say that obesity is not a problem that can be solved because people will continue to eat however they want. Basu Sanjay, MD, PhD, stated, “It’s really hard to get people to eat their broccoli. You have to make it really cheap, and even “If the SNAP benefit were then, sometimes people don’t know to be increased or if an what to do with it” (qtd. in Waldron). instructional class were In my opinion, no one intentionally offered for free to SNAP eats unhealthily; we eat what we participants, there should enjoy, which our brain tells us to be an increase in healthy eat more of. However, low-income choices among lowerAmericans do not always have income Americans.” the choice between eating healthy and eating whatever is available to them. This is due to having a highly restrictive budget and in many cases several mouths to feed. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) determined that low-income and foodinsecure Americans are more susceptible to obesity. They found this to be due to a lack of resources, inaccessibility to healthy food, less opportunities to exercise, limited access to health care, and others (“Why Low-Income and Food Insecure People are Vulnerable”). At the end of the day, they will lean towards cheaper foods because they can get more for their money. These cheap foods tend to be junk food, which is often given to kids to keep them from being hungry. The obesity rate for children in the U.S. was 30.1% in 2010 (“Obesity and Overweight”).

The economic and national-health problems that come with obesity are troubling enough, but a greater worry is that obesity rates are on the rise. Obesity Prevention Source states that obesity costs are rising and by 2030 they could increase by as much as Claro

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66 billion per year. In the 2011-2012 period, the CDC found the obesity rate for adults age twenty and over to be 35.1% while the obesity rate for children and adolescents age two through nineteen was 48.1% in 2009-2010 (“Economic Costs”). Cawley and Meyerhoefer determined that obesity raises the cost of expected medical expenditures by nearly 150%. What all of this means is that as obesity increases, so does the cost to both the individual and the government. Already one third of all children and adults are obese; if the problem increases, it could cause a national financial crisis. Obesity could become so great a problem that stock traders start trading stocks for obesity clinics.

One main issue of obesity and obesity prevention is what to eat and how to get it. Fruits and vegetables have been cited as the best combatants against obesity due to their high nutritional value and low caloric impact. However, it warrants being mentioned that fruits and vegetables are often expensive to buy and prepare, thus low-income Americans go for the less expensive junk food. Fred Kuchler and Hayden Stewart report that there is a 40% difference in the “However, it warrants price index of fruits and vegetables and being mentioned that the price index of junk food (Kuchler fruits and vegetables 8). One study estimated the average are often expensive to retail price of fifty-nine different fruits and found that prices ranged from buy and prepare ... “ twenty-six cents per pound to up to seven dollars per pound (Stewart 10).

Yet the price of junk food remains consistently cheap and highly convenient due to already being prepared. It is a shame that junk food seems to be the life line when paradise is on the next aisle over. Due to so little government budget being spent on food stamps, the average value is incredibly low at a $1.40 per person per meal (Dean and Rosenbaum and Weinstein). What do lowincome Americans do with their meager budget? They spend it on the cheaper junk food of course. Low-income Americans need to be able to access healthier foods, and the government may be the only way to make that a reality.

Another factor relating obesity and fruits and vegetables could be that Americans simply do not eat them all that often.

Environmental Nutrition states that a 2010 study shows that only 6% of Americans achieved their designated consumption of fruits and vegetables (“Newsletter of Food”). This same source mentions that the CDC called upon schools, restaurants, and work-sites to do a better job providing fruits and vegetables. The heart of this issue is that Americans do not get enough fruits and vegetables. However, is this because of choice or are they simply too expensive to eat with any amount of frequency? It could also

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be a product of laziness, which is another factor in obesity causes.

A study conducted by The Salt shows: “Seven of the 10 states with the highest rates of obesity were in the bottom tier for fruit and vegetable consumption” (Aubrey). If food stamps increased in value, or if the price of fruits and vegetable were lowered, then healthy foods would become much more accessible. We should then see a much lower rate of obesity, especially if nutritional classes were implemented. In an interview by Western Farm Press, Elizabeth Pivonka, Ph.D., R.D., president and CEO of Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) said, “Fruits and vegetables are literally the cheapest form of health insurance you can buy.” She also says that eating fruits and vegetables is “a sound investment in long term health” (“How Much”).

Finally, not all people can eat however they wish. Due to financial circumstances or personal reasons, they will eat because they need to, not because they want to. It is these people who need more options to be able to make the choice between healthy eating or, if they so desire, continuing to eat junk food.

Give them the option is all I ask; if we cannot make the change ourselves, then perhaps it is time for the government to step in.

We as a people can only campaign so much in our town or city; the government can change the entire state or nation.

The opposite has also been said about fruits and vegetables; that they are easily accessible with a little bargain hunting or even none at all. One such opposing source states that the cost of 154 produce products is less than twenty-five cents per serving size by 1999 dollars (“Yes, You Can”). They also state that the price of fruits and vegetables remains somewhat unchanged.

This, however, is not true.

The price index for fruits “‘High prices for fresh fruits and and vegetables increased vegetables are associated with by nearly 40% over a higher Body Mass Index (BMI) in period of twenty-seven young children in low and middle years starting in the late income households.’”

1900s, as shown in a study

by Kuchler and Stewart.

Furthermore, a study by Dave DeFusco linked high prices in fruits and vegetables with higher body fat in children. He says, “High prices for fresh fruits and vegetables are associated with higher Body Mass Index (BMI) in young children in low and middle income households.” Even though fruits and vegetables are cheap by the serving, when feeding several hungry mouths, the price begins to add up. DeFusco also noticed a 17% increase in the price of fruits and vegetables between the years 1997 and 2003.

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With the government spending so much on obesity welfare but so little on preventing it, it is little wonder why Americans are in such poor shape. The difference in government spending on obesity costs and preventing obesity leads to a deficiency of nutrition in the poor. With the healthiest foods being relatively the most expensive and meager amounts of aid going to those who need it, obesity will continue to be an issue. If the price of those healthy foods were dropped even a little or if the benefit from SNAP were to be increased, we might see an influx of healthcraving Americans achieving a healthier life style. Obesity rates would be reduced and the cost of obesity would be lowered significantly, both for the government and for consumers.

Perhaps, with all that healthcare money being freed up, they can use it to purchase more fruits and vegetables.

Fighting obesity could be just the tip of the iceberg in whipping America into shape. It could also serve as a reminder that, even if we do not want government intervention, sometimes we just need it. With a healthier America, citizens might find themselves a little happier, and they will certainly be spending less on healthcare.

Works Cited “America: The Food Stamp Nation.”

Demonocracy.info, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.

Demonocracy.info.

Aubrey, Allison. “Fruit And Veggies Linked To Lower Obesity Rates In New State Fat Rankings.” The Salt: Eating and Health. 18 Sep. 2012. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

Cawley J, Meyerhoefer C. “The medical care costs of obesity: an instrumental variables approach.” Journal of Health Economics.

31(1):219-230. 2012. Print.

Dean, Stacy and Rosenbaum, Dottie. “SNAP Benefits Will Be Cut for Nearly All Participants In November 2013.” Cbpp.org.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. N.p. 2 Aug. 2013. Web 7 Oct. 2014.

DeFusco, Dave. “High Cost of Fruits, Vegetables Linked to Higher Body Fat in Young Children.” American.edu. School of Public Affairs: American University. 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

“Economic Costs.” Obesity Prevention Source. Harvard School of Public Health, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

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Kuchler, Fred and Hayden Stewart. Price Trends are Similar for Fruits, Vegetables, and Snack Foods. Diane Publishing, 2008. Print.

“Newsletter of Food, Nutrition, and Health, The.” Environmental Nutrition. Belvior Media Group. 34.3 (2011): 1-1. Print.

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“How Much Do Fruits and Vegetables Actually Cost?” Western Farm Press 33.6 (2011): 24. Business Source Premier. Web. 6 November 2014.

“Obesity and Overweight.” CDC. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

“SNAP and Obesity: The Facts and Fictions of SNAP Nutrition.”

SNAP to Health. Aetna Foundation and the CSPC. N.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

Stewart, Hayden, et.al. “How Much Do Fruits and Vegetables Cost?” Economic Information Bulletin 71. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 2011.

Government Printing Office Catalog. Web. 6 November 2014.

“Study Shows Strong Nutrition Education Can Lead to Healthier Food Choices by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Recipients.” United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service. USDA. N.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.

Waldron, Patricia. “Study shows banning soda purchases using food stamps would reduce obesity and type-2 diabetes.” Scope.

Stanford Medicine. 02 Aug. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2014.

Weinstein, Deborah. “Time to Tell the Truth about Food Stamps.”

Huffington Post. Huffpost News. 06 Nov. 2013 Web 02 Oct. 2014.

“Why Low-Income and Food Insecure People are Vulnerable to Overweight and Obesity.” Food Research and Action Center. Food Research and Action Center. N.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

“Yes, You Can Afford to Eat Healthfully.” Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter. 22.7 (2004): 8-8. Print.

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Trick or Treat? by rachel rockenfeller “The information provided in these labels is only skin-deep ... “

“Trick or Treat?” Every Halloween we hear this common saying. It is followed by the handing out of candy, and the smiles of excited children. The sweet joys that come from candy convince us of its innocence, but as we know, candy can have many health problems associated with it. Like with candy, many are concerned with the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods.

While they seem innocent, studies have tested the theory that genetically modified foods are harmful to human health. Despite the reassurances by the FDA that genetically modified foods are safe, these studies have found both potential and known risks to human health in relation to GMOs. So are genetically modified foods a trick or a treat?

In recent years, GMOs have become known as a miracle crop.

Advertisements made the GMO agricultural technique sound wonderful. The idea of more for less was intriguing. As Ashutosh Jogalekar wrote in his article, “Scientific American Comes out in Favor of GMOs, and I Agree,” GMOs have the potential to help prevent world hunger by giving more crop yields for the same work as previous crops. Along with extra yields, GMOs were also said to reduce the need for toxic herbicides and pesticides prevalent in agriculture. Although these were strong reasons to accept GM agriculture, the companies who manufactured GM seeds continued by stating that genetically modified crops could have the potential to cure diseases by adding a sequence of DNA resistant to a particular disease (Jogalekar). With this method, lives could be saved (Jogalekar). Advertising quickly led GMOs to their role as a major player in agriculture. Ryan Beville demonstrates this in his blog, “How Pervasive Are GMOs in Animal Feed?” when he provided a graph (see Fig. 4). In this graph, Beville shows that, since before 2000 until now, there has been a large increase in certain GM crops. The alarming rate of increase in the production of corn, soybeans, and cotton demonstrates that GM crops have almost replaced non-GM forms of these plants (Beville).

GMOs’ popularity as a crop has not been supported by everyone, however. In recent years, GMO production has become the subject of controversy. Whether it be the known or 178 |

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TRICK OR TREAT? Figure 4: Beville, Ryan. “How Pervasive Are GMOs in Animal Feed.” gmoinside. org.

Ryan Beville. 16 Jul. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

the proposed risks of GM agriculture, genetically modified foods have come under attack. People who are for or against GMOs make the subject of genetic modification seem more of a political struggle than a cause for humanity. As Jogalekar writes, “I always find it depressing to hear citizens of developed countries railing against the supposed evils of GMOs from the luxury of their airconditioned living rooms while a farmer in the developing world would likely donate an arm for a GMO crop if it’s going to bring him greater yields and put food on his family’s table.” People who are for or against genetically modified foods tend to want to gain support for their cause rather than focus on the needs of individuals, or the health concerns associated with GMOs. The necessity for seriousness, however, is important. There are many legitimate concerns in regards to genetically modified foods. If GMOs are to be accepted, society needs more reliable evidence supporting their safety.

In today’s culture, GM crops play a major role in agriculture.

It is reported that 88% of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified (Beville). However, although GM crops make up a large percentage of crops grown, the majority goes to uses other than human consumption. Beville writes that “Of the two largest GMO crops in the United States, 98% of soy and 79.5% of corn goes directly into feeding animals and fueling cars in the US.” The remaining percentage used for human consumption is very basic. The Federal Drug Administration states in their article, Claro

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“Questions & Answers on Food from Genetically Engineered Plants,” that most of these products are used as basic ingredients such as “cornstarch in soups and sauces, corn syrup as a general purpose sweetener, and cottonseed oil, canola oil, and soybean oil in mayonnaise, salad dressings, cereals, breads, and snack foods” (FDA).

Many desire to know which foods contain genetically modified DNA. To obtain this knowledge, the FDA says that people can contact them. Although the FDA will inform customers which foods contain GM products, they also encourage “voluntary labeling that provides consumers with this information” (FDA). The information provided in these labels is only skin-deep, however. The risks from GM agriculture extend much greater than can be explained by just putting a label on a product.

The chemicals used in GM agriculture (primarily glyphosate and Roundup) are a topic of great debate, as they could present a significant health risk. Those who support genetic modification do not deny that herbicides and pesticides are unhealthy.

However, those who favor GM agriculture insist that genetic modification can benefit society by decreasing the need for herbicides and pesticides. Ben Miflin, author of “Arguments in Favor of Genetically modified Foods,” writes that by adding DNA that makes a plant resistant to herbicides and pesticides, there has been a decrease in the use of the chemicals. While less is better, these chemicals are still toxic. On the other hand, those who are anti-GM believe that GMO agriculture increases the need for these toxic chemicals. Joseph Mercola states in his video, “Genetically Modified Organisms-Myths and Truths,” that, because of pollination, the increase of chemical-resistant weeds has brought about an increase in herbicides and pesticides.

Whether the chemicals used in GM agriculture have increased or not, they have been linked to several health problems. In their article, “GMOs & The Case for Precaution,” Green America presents the compelling story of Viviana “...although GM crops make Peralta and her experience with up a large percentage of the chemicals used on GM crops. crops grown, the majority “Argentinian mother Viviana Peralta goes to uses other than had to rush her daughter Ailen to a hospital after agrochemicals were human consumption.“ sprayed on GM soy from planes near her home. The baby had turned blue and Peralta was suffering from respiratory problems” (“GMOs & The Case for Precaution,” 15). While this story centers around the chemicals used on a GM soy field, the risks are the same for any

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genetically modified crop using these chemicals. The respiratory problems linked with these chemicals offers a strong argument, but there are still other concerns about the effects of these chemicals. Robin Mather adds in her article, “The Threats from Genetically Modified Foods,” that “eight international scientists cited study after study linking glyphosate to birth defects in birds and amphibians, as well as to cancer, endocrine disruption, damage to DNA, and reproductive and developmental damage in mammals, even at very low doses.” One of these studies was conducted by Argentinean Professor Andres Carrasco. In his study, Professor Carrasco found “Several studies have exposed that when he “injected frog and many potential health risks to chicken embryos with 2.03 mg/ be associated with genetically kg of the chemical glyphosate,” they developed “malformations modified foods.” of the craniofacial and neural crest type, which affect the skull, face, midline, and developing brain and spinal cord” (qtd. in “Roundup and Birth Defects”). Although his study is not accepted as valid evidence, due to the fact the glyphosate was injected into the animals, it does provide frightening evidence of the potential risks (Robinson). It is especially concerning, because of the fact Professor Carrasco injected a dose that was “ten times lower than the maximum residue limit allowed for GM plants” (Robinson).

These findings are enough to make anyone nervous. Why would we want to risk subjecting ourselves and our children to the kind of deformities that could result from such potentially dangerous chemicals? If this damage could happen to animals, it is not unreasonable to assume it could also happen to humans.

Several studies have exposed many potential health risks to be associated with genetically modified foods. While some of these studies have been performed with other crops, many have used genetically modified corn and soy. Due to their place in our culture’s food supply and their position as two of the main GM crops, corn and soy provide useful tools in judging GMO’s future effects on the health of our society.

Many of these studies result in depressing findings. Those studies performed on animals have found many serious health problems. Green America found that studies performed on animals showed that GM corn could cause organ damage (15). Jeffrey Smith continues this argument in his article, “Protect Yourself from Genetically Modified Foods,” when he writes that “rats fed GM corn had problems with blood cell formation.” Smith also states that mortality rates in farmyard animals increased in those animals fed genetically modified corn. While these studies only show the effects of non-human study subjects, there has also Claro

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been a study performed on human test subjects. Smith writes that “The only human feeding study ever conducted showed that the gene inserted into soybeans spontaneously transferred out of food and into the DNA of gut bacteria.” In the same study, scientists tested these findings further. They found that the promoter, the power switch of a gene (Jaimison-McClung), of genetically modified foods may “unintentionally switch on other genes in the DNA-permanently” (Smith). The study also theorized that this promoter could “switch on dormant viruses embedded in the DNA or generate mutations” (Smith). This idea is continued by the theory that DNA injected into a plant has the ability to react with the human body creating a genetically modified human cell (Smith). This theory presents a concerning topic. If GM products are so prevalent in our food, then how does this idea of a GM human cell bode for our culture’s health? Do we all have GM cells in our bodies?

Aside from these studies, there are many other theorized risks to GM foods. While these are just theorized, if they become reality they could have a major impact on human health. In recent years, there has been a concern that genetically modified DNA can be passed to humans without them eating GM foods directly.

It has been proposed that genetically modified food traces can be passed from the animals fed GM food to humans through meats and dairy (Beville). This suggests that the products of animals who have eaten GM animal feed contain genetically modified DNA (Beville). Therefore, the humans consuming these products also consume genetically modified DNA without even knowing it (Beville). The most concerning part about this argument is that, if GMOs do prove to be dangerous, there is no way of knowing which food products contain genetically modified DNA. Although most of these studies try to prove the harmful qualities of genetically modified foods, some do not. Jon Entine wrote in his article, “2000+ Reasons Why GMOs Are Safe to Eat and Environmentally Sustainable,” that studies have shown that DNA from genetically modified foods cannot be integrated with the DNA of a human. One study supporting this was that of Alessandro Nicolia. Nicolia, an applied biologist at the University of Perugia, and his team studied the theory that genetically modified DNA can integrate with human DNA (Entine). This study states that it was impossible for this to happen. Nicolia’s team recorded that all genetically modified DNA is broken down at some point in the digestive process; making it impossible for any GM DNA to combine with that of a human (Entine).

This provides comforting results. Many supporters of genetic modification also argue that these findings have no grounds. As Saul Of-Hearts said in his blog, “A Hippie’s Defense of GMOs,”

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nature has the potential to alter a plant’s makeup, but because it happens naturally it does not receive the criticism of GMOs. This idea demonstrates that perhaps there is more to this controversy than just food, and suggests that this is an attempt by both sides to discredit the other. The FDA has stated that all foods must pass the same safety laws as any other non-GM food, and that they check the food carefully before releasing it to the market.

They also assert that nutrition and the risks from genetically modified foods are no different than those foods not genetically modified (FDA). Entine supports this when he writes, “All GM crops are tested against a database of all known allergens before commercialization and any crop found containing new allergens is not approved or marketed.” Combined, these arguments greatly support that genetically modified foods are safe. Perhaps there is less to worry about than we have been led to believe.

While there is disagreement in all areas of genetic modification, the subject of pollination is one of the biggest controversies. Those who support and oppose genetically modified foods agree that pollination is a problem. Vancouver Sun states in their article, “What Are GMOs and Why Are They Here?” that genetically modified traces can be passed to other plants by pollination. Entine says that pollination has been recognized as a problem, but that steps “While there is disagreement in are being taken to prevent all areas of genetic modification, this from happening. He the subject of pollination is one also states that DNA being passed from one plant to of the biggest controversies.” another through pollination is nothing new, and that it has been seen in the past with plants that are not genetically modified. While this seems harmless enough, there are many disadvantages to this. For example, a genetically modified corn crop could transfer that altered DNA sequence via pollination to an organic corn crop.

However, this is not the only concern. Vancouver Sun also states that genetically modified pollination leads to chemical-resistant weeds. If the weeds in a farmer’s field become resistant to the chemicals used to control them, then there is a chance that the weeds could overwhelm a farmer’s field.

Because pollination can contaminate non- GM crops, all our food could soon be genetically modified. If GMOs are proven to be harmful, then nature could be destructive to human health.

Pollination offers a useful tool, but it can also cause harm if something dangerous is introduced into nature. Our culture must be cautious when using GMOs.

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Despite the many reassurances of its safety and potential for good, many cannot help but feel that genetically modified foods are a threat to society. Perhaps they are. Much evidence seems to scream that GMOs are a threat to human health. However, GMOs require several long-term studies before we can condemn the idea. After all, there are people in third-world countries who view these crops as a godsend. However, the health risks that are possible from these foods are great. Even if they can feed millions, what are the benefits if they will cause intense suffering and fatal illness in the future? We need time to conduct studies to judge whether these foods are safe. If these studies show GMOs to be completely safe, then and only then should we use them. Without this data, we are, as Dr. Robin Bernhoft puts it, “conducting the biggest, most uncontrolled feeding experiment in the history of humanity” (qtd. in “GMOs & the Case”). Genetically modified foods are not the treats we were led to believe. Perhaps there is a place for GMOs in the future, but now is not the time. There are other, safer ways of feeding the world.

Works Cited “GMOs & The Case for Precaution.” Green America. Jan.-Feb. 2014.

Pages 12-22. Print.

“What Are GMOs and Why Are They Here?.” Vancouver Sun. 01 Mar. 2014: A7. eLibrary. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

Beville, Ryan. “How Pervasive Are GMOs in Animal Feed.” gmoinside.org. Ryan Beville. 16 Jul. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Entine, Jon. “2000 + Reasons Why GMOs Are Safe To Eat and Environmentally Sustainable.” forbes.com. Forbes. 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

FDA. “Questions and Answers on Food from Genetically Engineered Plants.” fda.gov. FDA. 7 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Mar.2014.

Jogalekar, Ashutosh. “Scientific American Comes Out in Favor of GMOs, and I Agree.” scientificamerica.com. Scientific America. 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Mather, Robin. “The Threats from Genetically Modified Foods.” Mother Earth News. 01 Apr. 2012: 42. eLibrary. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Mercola, Joseph. “Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)-Myths and Truths.” Online video clip. You Tube. You Tube. 20 Sept.

2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

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Miflin, Ben. “Arguments in Favor of Genetically- Modified Crops.” agbioworld.org. AgBioWorld. 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Saul Of-Hearts, “A Hippie’s Defense of GMOs.” slate.com. Slate. 25 Jul. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Smith, Jeffrey M.. “Protect Yourself from Genetically Modified Foods.” Total Health. 01 Aug. 2005: 23. eLibrary. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

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Robinson. Claire. “Roundup and Birth Defects.” scribd.com. Scribd.

June 2011. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.

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Ethically Sourced Ingredients Ease the Food Conscience by hannah thomas “‘Wanna go to Chipotle?’ I ask, though I mean it more as a declaration than a friendly suggestion ...

It’s Friday night. I’ve just walked in the door and, after a long day at work, pouring cappuccinos and double-tall, extra-hot, nofoam lattes, I am famished. B-lining it to the kitchen, I rip open both doors on the refrigerator. I quickly determine that there is absolutely, positively nothing to eat. It might be more accurately stated that I’ve already decided I won’t find anything appetizing.

Besides, I worked hard today and I deserve a delicious meal prepared by someone other than myself. I look over at Derek, my boyfriend, but he already knows what I’m about to say.

“Wanna go to Chipotle?” I ask, though I mean it more as a declaration than a friendly suggestion.

We hop in the car and head down the main road a few blocks to our neighborhood location. I push through the front door and am already sinking into my happy place. The music is vibe-y, as usual, and I dig the industrial décor, from the galvanized steel sculptures on the wall to the raw wood tables, bolted to the floor with metal piping and exposed nuts and screws. We head toward the counter, behind which is a row of smiling faces waiting to custom-prepare my culinary creation. I put in my usual order: three soft-flour tacos piled high with a healthy serving of black beans, carnitas (delicious, tender slow-roasted pork), hot salsa, fresh cheese, perfectly textured sour cream and crisp, shredded Romaine lettuce.

We settle up and head for a seat at the bar-style seating along the front window. I pick up the first taco and sink my teeth into it, letting the salsa and sour cream drip down my chin. The combination of flavors rocks my pallet. It doesn’t take me long to get to the last bite, which is just as good as the first. If I knew I wouldn’t be uncomfortably full, I’d go for seconds. I enjoy each ingredient, but the one that stands out most is the carnitas. Its peppery flavor and juicy tenderness always leaves me wanting more, while inducing a wave of nostalgia about a time in my life before my love affair with Chipotle began.

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When I moved from Nashville back to Denver in 2004, Chipotle was the very first restaurant at which I ate. My dad picked me up from the airport and we headed straight there.

Because Chipotle had not yet reached Tennessee, there was a particular novelty to the experience. I was feeling melancholy about leaving my Southern “When I moved from Nashville life behind, but the food back to Denver in 2004, Chipotle and atmosphere of the was the very first restaurant at place quickly brightened my spirits. Since then it has which I ate.” been my favorite comfort food. My family had dinner there at least once a week while I was still in high school. Friends and I would go there in the evenings to grab a burrito and socialize. I lived downtown on my own for a while after high school, and there was a location on a corner a couple blocks from my apartment. I often went there by myself for lunch or dinner and enjoyed eating alone, listening to the atmospheric music, and staring out the window at passers-by on Colfax Ave. Even though I immediately fell in love with the place, I began to love Chipotle even more as I learned about the culture of the company, and what it stands for. Several months ago we went in for our weekly fix, and something new caught my eye. They now had three waste bins instead of one. Each of the three was labeled with pictograms of what waste should go where. Chipotle was now utilizing recycling within the restaurant. I “He built his company from the couldn’t believe it. Never ground up, implementing ethically before had I seen recycling and environmentally sound options in a casual fast-food practices along the way.” place, or any restaurant for that matter. Not long after that, I stumbled upon Inside: Chipotle, a documentary profiling the company and its founder, Steve Ells. He built his company from the ground up, implementing ethically and environmentally sound practices along the way. One element that has improved substantially as a result is the slow-roasted pork that is Chipotle’s carnitas.

Eventually, Chipotle became the biggest restaurant purchaser of naturally raised meats. According to Joel Stein’s 2012 article, “The Fast-Food Ethicist,” this rise to the top started when Steve Ells realized pork was the lowest-selling item on the menu. The quality of the pork was not great, and the customers had noticed.

Apparently, Ells took a trip to see how his suppliers were raising the pork he was buying. It wasn’t pretty. “Ells got freaked out when he saw the pig-confinement lots used by the supplier that Claro

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had been providing Chipotle’s pork” (Stein). He decided that some serious changes needed to be made. This initial realization led Ells to transform his company into one that consistently provided only the freshest ingredients. To accomplish this, he began strictly purchasing humanely raised food items. Shortly after, Ells discovered Niman Ranch. Anna Kuchment reports in, “A Chain That Pigs Would Die For,” how “Ells grew interested in serving more eco-conscious ingredients after reading about and then visiting Niman Ranch, one of the oldest American producers of humanely raised meat.”

Journalist Bo Burlingham discusses how Niman Ranch started as a 200-acre farm in Bolinas, California, in 1977, by Bill Niman and Orville Schell. They were convinced that raising animals in a humane and environmentally sound manner greatly improved the quality and taste of the end product. After a few decades, endless hurdles, and several strokes of good fortune, Niman Ranch has grown by leaps and bounds. It became famous for the high quality of its meat, being regularly purchased by some of the biggest names in California restaurants. Hearing of this, other entrepreneurs began calling Niman, wanting to do something good for the environment and to become part of the company (Burlingham).

Niman Ranch grew to be a massive cooperative with over three-hundred farmers who raise hogs in twelve states. The farmers must meet very particular standards in order to sell their pigs to Niman Ranch, who will generally pay 15-20 percent more The strict standards than the market average (Kummer). practiced at Niman Ranch As reported by food writer Korby are what inspired Ells to Kummer, “Niman Ranch sells begin obtaining his pork no animals that have been given from them. antibiotics, and forbids the use of animal product in feed. It also mandates adherence to strict rules from the Animal Welfare Institute, which requires time spent either in pastures or in straw-bedded pens.” The strict standards practiced at Niman Ranch are what inspired Ells to begin obtaining his pork from them.

Another major supplier of Chipotle’s pork is the picturesque farming town of Jefferson City, MO. The town is located near the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, and is home to Heritage Acres. Also a cooperative of local farmers devoted to humanely raising pigs and being environmentally aware, Heritage Acres supplies 7 percent of Chipotle’s pork (Kuchment). The hogs here are treated to pens that are generously layered with hay, plus plenty of access to the fresh outdoor air. The pigs are spared the

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The greatest benefit derived from Chipotle sourcing its pork, as well as its other meat, from local farmers and environmentally sound cooperatives like Niman Ranch and Heritage Acres is that these farmers are able to stay in business. They can continue the farming practices their families have carried out for the last century. Without the business that Chipotle provides, these estates would have had to shut down or sell out to a major factory farm. Chipotle declares on its website, “When we began working with Niman Ranch, they had about 55 pig farms in their network.

Now they have over 650 naturally raised pork-producing family farms.” Keeping local farmers in business is a notable positive outcome of running a restaurant that serves patrons free-range, humanely raised pork.

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usual practice of tail clipping and heavy injections of antibiotics (Kuchment). Because Ells was so disturbed by the practices of his original meat suppliers, finding places like Heritage Acres was instrumental in reshaping the culture of his company.

Even if I had not learned the source of the pork in my beloved Chipotle tacos, I honestly would probably continue going there because the food is always good. Now that I know that the pigs are raised, as it states under “Food with Integrity” on Chipotle’s webpage, “in a humane way, fed a vegetarian diet, never given hormones and allowed to display their natural tendencies,” I am all the more thrilled to support their business.

I loved Chipotle from the start for the flavor and atmosphere.

The more I learned about the company, the deeper that love grew.

Steve Ells is not just about the bottom line, making as much money as possible. He is willing to spend more on ingredients in order to provide patrons with the highest-quality ingredients, yet it’s not all about us. Ells wanted to do what was best for the environment, the animals, and in turn, the farmers who raise them. It speaks volumes that, unlike other companies, Chipotle recognized its flaws and proceeded to correct them, no matter the cost. More restaurants should take their cues from Chipotle.

They have proven that it is possible to do the right thing, while prospering at the same time. There is a huge consumer base praising Chipotle for its ethical practices, ready and waiting for others to follow suit.

Works Cited Burlingham, Bo. “No Compromise.” Inc. Vol. 31 Issue 6 (2009): 4044. Academic Search Premier. Web. 07 Sept. 2014.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. Web. 7 Sept. 2014. “Food with Integrity.” http://www.chipotle.com.

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Inside: Chipotle. Bloomberg, 2013. Film.

Kummer, Corby. “Principled Pork.” Atlantic Vol. 294 Issue 2 (2004): 153-58. Academic Search Premier. Web. 07 Sept. 2014.

Kutchment, Anna. “A Chain That Pigs For.” Newsweek Vol. 151 Issue 19 (2008): 45-46.

Would

Die

Academic Search Premier. Web. 07 Sept. 2014.

Stein, Joel. “The Fast Food Ethicist.” Time Vol. 180 Issue 4 (2012): 40-44. Academic Search Premier. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.

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VIII Plants, Projectiles & Waterworks

Unearthed:

The What to Why of Aquaponic Gardening

by lauren a. smith “When you get right down to it, gardening is an experiment ...

Introduction The unity of life is systematic. All around us and within us thrives a connective collective, life and death, growth and decay fueling each other in a seamless cycle. A fruit bat snatches a date, devouring it whole. The seeds slip through the bat’s digestive tract and pass into fertile waste, allowing them a nutrient-rich germination. The plant grows, and the process, with a bit of light and water, begins again. In this way, animals and plants create symbiotic ecosystems. As inspiring as it is simplistic, the foundation of mother nature’s design gave humanity the blueprint for a better way to cultivate plants: aquaponics.

Aquaponics: Defined According to The Aquaponic Source, “Aquaponics is the cultivation of fish and plants together in a constructed, recirculating ecosystem utilizing natural bacterial cycles to convert fish wastes to plant nutrients. This is an environmentallyfriendly, natural food growing method that harnesses the best attributes of aquaculture and hydroponics without the need to discard any water or filtrate or add chemical fertilizers” (What “Simply put, aquaponics is is Aquaponics? a.). Simply put, the creation of a closed aquaponics is the creation of aquatic ecosystem.” a closed aquatic ecosystem. In this system, the grown plants gain their nutrients not from soil, but from water enriched by the excrement of the fish, crawdads and other animals in water tanks and media beds. The cycle solidifies due to the addition of a tank that takes the nutrient-depleted water from the plants and uses it to grow food for the fish. Thus, outside input is greatly reduced when compared to traditional gardening.

Of course, the gardener does influence the ecosystem they created, both by cultivating it and culling it. In the latter case, it should be noted that, “[t]his is a system of agriculture for growing the plants [and] fish we want to consume” (Bernstein, 2011, p.1).

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The Ancestry of Aquaponics Crowning a single source with the creation of aquaponics would be akin to calling one man responsible for the inception of agriculture. The truth is that aquaponics systems were the work of centuries of human ingenuity, trial, error, and a retrospectively obvious exposure to the ecosystems they resemble. That said, the first known instance of an “The truth is that aquaponics aquaponics-like system cropped systems were the work up in the culture of “the [Aztecs, of centuries of human who] raised plants on rafts on the ingenuity, trial, error, and surface of a lake in approximately a retrospectively obvious 1,000 A.D.” (What is Aquaponics? a.). exposure to the ecosystems In more recent times, the specific aims of aquaponics and the notion they resemble.” to combine various established forms of agriculture is widely attributed to Dr. James Rakocy at the University of the Virgin Islands, who, in the 1970s, first considered researching plants as a natural filtration system (What is Aquaponics? a.). However, the two primary systems combined to create aquaponics were already well-established.

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edible marine life is what truly sets it apart from other forms of gardening. The essence of aquaponics relies on a natural balance of organisms from plant life to bacteria, worms, and fish. While this system seems intuitive at first glance, it still managed to elude botanists and gardeners for longer than one might think.

Hydroponics and “aquaculture” are the proud, though perhaps a bit begrudging, progenitors of aquaponics. “The term ‘hydroponics’ literally means ‘water working,’” (Bernstein, 2011, p.3) and it is the source of the “ponics” in aquaponics.

Hydroponics is the umbrella term for soil-less growing, meaning that technically aquaponics is a sub-genre of hydroponics. “In both methods, the plants’ roots are constantly bathed in highly oxygenated, nutrient-rich water, and both see growth rates far above those found in soil-grown plants” (Bernstein, 2011, p.3).

However, if aquaponics has a strong paternal resemblance to hydroponics, it has an equally strong maternal resemblance to aquaculture.

It is from the word “aquaculture” that aquaponics receives both the watery side of its name and its nature-based roots.

Aquaculture focuses on the cultivation of aquatic animals, and some plants from both marine and freshwater environments.

These environments can be natural or artificial. On the natural side, aquaculture is older than one might expect, with its roots Claro

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running back to fifth century China (Bernstein, 2011, p.6). Even back then people realized the potential for creating easily accessible environments in which livestock was raised and culled rather than being forced to hunt for it in the wild. This process has only been refined with time. Ultimately, it inspired the mutually beneficial growing methodology for marine life and plants now known as aquaponics.

How it Works: A Conceptual Summary The general setup of an aquaponics system, much like a child to its parents, owes its fundamental structure to hydroponics and aquaculture. And just as offspring evolve from the necessary adaptations of their parents, so too did aquaponics evolve into something more than a mere hybrid.

To begin, as in hydroponics, there is a closed-water system comprised of one or more containers, which vary in size, type, and complexity based on the specific style of system and the growerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. The location of these tanks will, again, vary based on the needs of the grower and the suitability of their chosen environment. For instance, in Colorado, the odds of finding a successful outdoor aquaponics system are incredibly slim due to our erratic, and often times harsh weather patterns.

Once a location is chosen and the tank(s), plumbing, and lighting are installed, fish can be added. This happens shortly after the water temperature, oxygen, and pH are adjusted to suit the requirements of the chosen species. Talpia are one of the most common choices for aquaponics systems due to their rapid growth rates and environmental resilience, but again, individual needs and wants vary. For those who seek to sell their fish as a measure of population control or for outright profit, it would be wise to consider what buyers in their area want and whether or not it is worth the expense to accommodate them; some fish are more trouble than others. However, trouble or not, fish are necessary for the system to function, as their waste provides the nutrients essential for plants to grow. That said, these nutrients are not ready-made for plant consumption; they must go through a middleman first.

Here attention turns to the grow beds. Grow beds contain a gardenerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chosen media (anything from shale and lava rock to gravel and expanded clay). These porous and often permanent media house not only the plants, but the vital nitrifying bacteria.

These bacteria are the aforementioned middlemen responsible for transforming part of the waste into plant food. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[S]olid waste is collected in a filtration system and allowed to decay and release the nutrients. The ammonia is broken down by nitrifying bacteria

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to nitrites and then to nitrates. The nitrates and other nutrients produced from the decay and nitrification, are perfect for plants” (What is Aquaponics? b.). The two bacteria pivotal to this process are known formally as nitrosomonas and nitrospira. Conveniently, the nitrates they produce are byproducts of their consumption of ammonia, “The two bacteria pivotal to this so they simultaneously process are known formally as clean and enrich the water, nitrosomonas and nitrospira.” though it should be noted that this makes them just as dependent upon the fish as the plants are on both. Incidentally, the media beds also serve to clean the water, trapping large particulates before they make it to the plants. This filtration makes the media a fantastic habitat for yet another member of the aquaponic neighborhood.

Composting red worms both thrive in aquaponic media beds and ensure that the plants and fish thrive as well. Introduced only recently to the system, the worms took the place of the previous options for the disposal of solid waste: clean it out constantly, or filter it before it reaches the grow beds and then clean it out. Worms simplify things for gardeners. “Not only do they break down and digest “Composting red worms both the solid waste and dead thrive in aquaponics media beds root matter that plants and ensure that the plants and fish slough off, but in return they give us another one of thrive as well.” nature’s perfect fertilizers.

The waste from worms is called worm castings or vermicompost, and when it is steeped in water it becomes an incredibly potent fertilizer [known as] ‘vermicompost tea’ or ‘worm tea,’” which suppresses plant diseases, parasitic nematode, and insect pests (Bernstein, 2011, pp. 178-179). So now that the environment is primed for pushing the plants to their peak, what comes next?

Planting would be the obvious answer. Once the ecosystem is primed (i.e. the ammonia has been fully cycled), plants may be added to complete the system. The plants are planted in either a media bed, or set on a raft (a floating system that lets the plants’ roots drift directly in the water, as with hydroponics), the water for which is preferably filtered through a media tank (lest the copious benefits touched on above be lost). Not only do they utilize and encourage the production of the nutrients the rest of the system creates for them, but plants are also part of the process that keeps everything else alive. By drawing nutrients out, they represent the last step in cleaning the water before it is cycled Claro

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back to the fish. In some systems, after the water moves from the primary plants—those desired as produce by gardeners—it filters into one final tank, in which a plant designated specifically as fish food grows. For this, duckweed is favored by aquaponic gardeners due to its speed of growth, protein content, and filtration abilities. With the addition of this final tank, the aquaponics system is self-sustained. The fish, bacteria, worms, and plants all symbiotically feed each other. Humans? Well, we’re just here to help the process along.

Why is Aquaponics Preferred to its Parents?

Hydroponics: With aquaponics, the risk-factors associated with the potentially dangerous chemicals necessary for hydroponics disappear with the necessity of them. These expensive and complex chemicals are replaced by the cost of feeding fish, which provide the growth chemicals naturally, and in the case of duckweed, at almost no cost. The absence of chemicals has the added bonus of removing the need to dump the nutrient solution periodically. In hydroponics, the nutrient and salt build up can become toxic to plants and must not only “With aquaponics, the risk-factors be monitored but carefully associated with the potentially disposed of as it is a toxic dangerous chemicals necessary chemical waste product. Yet for hydroponics disappear with in aquaponics, the goal is the necessity of them.” to find a nitrogen balance just like those that occur in organic ecosystems, making the water a pivotal component of the garden, not an eventual toxic byproduct (Bernstein, 2011, p.4). The same water will be used without flushing (barring mishaps) continuously, only ever needing to be topped off to account for evaporation and plant uptake. This is the same situation found in comparable, naturally occurring ecosystems.

The fact that aquaponics creates a legitimate ecosystem means that it is an organic process. This is reinforced by the fact that additives unbalance and erode the system. Pesticides put on the plants poison the fish; growth hormones and antibiotics fed to the fish harm the plants.

Aquaponic growing is less time-intensive, as it doesn’t require the constant maintenance of hydroponics with chemicalbalance monitoring, alterations, and additions. After the initial balance is achieved, “[y]ou will need to check pH and ammonia once a week and the only other check—for the nitrate level—can be run monthly” (Bernstein, 2011, p.5).

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Aquaculture: UNEARTHED

There are two fundamental differences between aquaponics and aquaculture, which make aquaponics preferable. The first is that modern aquaculture predominantly deals with the cultivation of aquatic animals. To enhance the productivity of that cultivation, the Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) came into being. This highly efficient system encourages and enables a farmer to densely pack living fish together in proportionately limited spaces. The downside to this is that in the event of power failure, oxygen deprivation will rapidly kill the fish. These densely packed tanks lead to the second problem: waste. More fish equals more waste, but unlike in an aquaponics system, aquaculture waste is truly wasted. By mechanical, chemical, or biological means, the filtration in an RAS removes the waste as it would any other harmful byproduct. In aquaponics, the waste from fish is one of the key elements to sustaining not only balance, but life and growth within the system (Bernstein, 2011, p.7). The reason aquaculture failed to grasp that concept is because of its focus.

This second key difference revolves around the fact that aquaculture is designed primarily to raise and cull fish. Plants are a side notion at best. In aquaponics, plants are arguably the initial focus. Many aquaponics systems are designed with permanent aquatic residents in mind (there are numerous decorative systems available on the market that favor ornamental fish like koi). As such, making sure the plants grow is the first priority, yet by proxy, it also tends to ensure that the fish do, as well. This leaves it up to the aquaponics gardener as to whether or not they wish to harvest fish. Should they choose to, aquaponics is uniquely suited to accommodate the production of plants and fish.

Traditional Gardening: Aside from the reasons already covered, and those that will be touched on below, aquaponics greatly minimizes the risk of pest, disease, and general contamination or interference. So long as the gardener is vigilant, knows what to watch for, and keeps a closed system, these traditionally fatal elements can be reduced to nuisances at best. This is especially true when one is operating indoors.

Assuming indoor or greenhouse aquaponics are being utilized, the weather is no longer a problem; you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lose your crop to the manic moodswings of Colorado or its unseasonable frosts. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, seasons will no longer hold permanent sway over growing cycles. In an aquaponic garden, crops can be grown Claro

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year-round and utterly out of season and climate. The bold gardener with the right setup could have bunches of bananas swaying above them with just a bit of persistence and a touch of know-how.

Perhaps the most appealing reason to switch from traditional gardening though, is that aquaponics is by far and away less physically intensive and demanding once the system is in place.

Building it might be a chore, but afterwards, the knee-knotting, back-breaking, arthritis-aggravating work of traditional gardening could be greatly reduced.

The General Benefits of Aquaponics The greatest boon of aquaponics is its customizability.

Aquaponic gardening is incredibly easy to adjust to personal needs. It can be set up on a large scale, fueling an entire community, or on a small scale, a mere handful of pet fish feeding an herb garden in a decorative table. This versatility allows “It can be set up on a large scale, the gardener to purchase fueling an entire community, or on no more than the needed a small scale, a mere handful of or desired equipment. pet fish feeding an herb garden in a Coupled with the ease of decorative table.” use and set up of the smaller systems, this minimizes the likelihood that harvests will be wasted because one can more readily gauge the projected harvest outcome. By that same token, the adjustable scale of garden size, as well as the rapid harvests, make aquaponics a viable replacement for large-scale agriculture in areas either incapable of sustaining it or where it does more harm than good.

For instance, in food-desert communities—areas lacking accessible, nutritious, and affordable food—aquaponics can prove a vital lifeline. This is because many food deserts, contrary to the implications of the name, are actually in low-economic urban and suburban areas, far from the presumed middle-ofnowhere. In such places, the idea of traditional agriculture is impossible on a scale large enough to alleviate the problem.

However, aquaponics requires only the equipment, plants, fish, and a suitable building or part of a building (even a basement can work), not nutrient-rich and expansive soil. This means aquaponics could not only wipe out food deserts, but also repurpose many of the abandoned buildings that litter them as well. Beyond food deserts, aquaponics can offer everyone a chance to eat healthier by removing the number one excuse that stops them: money.

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Aquaponics is disproportionately affordable both in regard to time and money. After initial expenses are taken care of, the amount of money going in can be rendered irrelevant by the amount of food coming out. If aquaponics systems grew in frequency of use, the health epidemic in this United States would likely begin to abate because better food and more of it allows us to fuel better bodies and more of them. That goes for plants as well as people.

Aquaponics, in helping to protect plants from pests, allows gardeners to keep more of their harvests due to the absence and/or reduction of these outside pests and diseases, assuming, as aforementioned, that the gardener is vigilant in taking the previously discussed countermeasures to combat them. One such countermeasure is the addition of predatory insects, which strengthens and protects the desired ecosystem naturally, rather than with manufactured chemicals. This is all part of the closesystemed package of pros.

The closed system of an aquaponic garden also uses a comparatively small amount of water when measured against the excess necessitated by other methods of gardening. This is because aquaponics is a recirculating ecosystem that “retain[s] its water by recirculating it rather than allowing it to drain off into the water table” (Bernstein, 2011, p.2). This recirculated water, running beneath growth media or rafts, also preserves another dwindling resource.

Soil is something farmers have been abusing and overusing since the dawn of agriculture. Failure to rotate fields, overrotation of crops, and use of pesticides have all played a hand in loss of soil nutrients and fertility. Soil-free gardening is the tagline of aquaponics and The closed system of an aquaponic has a wealth of benefits. garden also uses a comparatively By using water and mediasmall amount of water when bed growing, we remove measured against the excess the issue of depleting necessitated by other methods soil nutrients, of which our current agricultural of gardening. practices, particularly in the US and China, are nearcriminally guilty. In fact, the standard practices have caused so many problems—like the mid-western dust bowl—that new studies seem to pop up every year about the impending worldwide food shortage looming in response to constant crop rotation, Genetically Modified Organisms, and overuse of pesticides (Larsen, 2012).

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Limitations While, as aforementioned, the cost of maintaining an aquaponic garden is more than manageable and often even profitable, the cost of getting started can be daunting. Equipment, plants, animals, construction, building fees, and hired gardeners when dealing with bigger setups, can put a damper on even the brightest green thumb’s desire to see the project through—as can finding a place to put the thing.

From small gardens to big ones, location, as with housing and summer parking, is key. Sometimes a closet works, and sometimes there isn’t an outlet near enough for the lighting. The larger the garden, the greater the issue of space becomes. Once the right, or at least right enough space is found, maintaining it becomes the next concern.

As aquaponics exists in the form of man-made ecosystems, an aquaponic garden suffers from that same fragility. If pests or diseases manage to slip into the closed system, despite your best efforts, they can contaminate, alter, or outright destroy it. Thus it is necessary to carefully screen all seeds, water, animals, and transplants into an aquaponic garden. Unfortunately, the nature of many diseases and pests can be quite subtle, so the gardener’s success may be limited by their knowledge or access to the appropriate information. Luckily, there are many resources available online and in print, such as theaquaponicsource. com and Bernstein’s much-quoted Aquaponic Gardening, to help fledgling gardeners avoid the pitfalls of pests, parasites, and infectious diseases. While there are some things a gardener never wants in their garden, there are others they cannot have no matter how much they want them.

At this time, aquaponics cannot support all plant varieties.

In her book, Aquaponics Gardening, Bernstein notes that the one type of plant that universally suffers when introduced to an aquaponics system is “any plant that requires a pH environment much above or below neutral 7.0. Examples of these are blueberries and azaleas, which prefer acidic soil (below 7.0), and chrysanthemums, calendula and zinnias, which prefer basic soil (above 7.0)” (pp. 153-154). In the grand scheme of things, what’s one type of plant when looking at a world that can’t stop making new ones?

Thoughts on the Future of Aquaponics When you get right down to it, gardening is an experiment.

As in any good experiment, a scientific method is employed to discover what works and what doesn’t, what leads to creation

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As “sustainability,” “green,” “organic,” and “locally grown,” continue to gain weight in the mind of the public, influencing everything from politics and culture to health and zoning laws, we can sneak a peek at what’s to come. If these are the primary concerns of the coming generation, then it seems more than likely that they will seek a solution that addresses them without cutting corners, making excuses, or misleading them with semantic vocabulary (see: the legal definitions of natural v. organic). Aquaponic gardening can be that solution, standing on the cornerstone of agriculture, and upholding its burden in the crumbling weight of past pillars. It is as transparent as the water flowing through it and natural as the ecosystems inspiring it. But ultimately, it is still growing. So for now, let’s soak the roots, feed the fish, and wait and see.

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and what leads to the collapse of that creation. These dos and don’ts become progressively more sacred the more experiments a community—either scientific or agricultural—perform.

Hypotheses become theories; theories become laws. But no matter the stage of discovery, each allows us to look at where we’ve been and ask, “Where to next?”

References The Aquaponics Source. (n.d.). What is Aquaponics? Retrieved from: http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/page/whatis-aquaponics Bernstein, S. (2011). Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-by Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers.

Colorado Aqua Farms. (n.d.). What is Aquaponics? Retrieved from: http://www.coloradoaquafarms.com/what-is-aquaponic

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Jar Tests by nicole bratsos (lab partners: sanga camara, thomas hecker & scott thomas) Abstract The purpose of this experiment was to simulate full-scale plant operations in a laboratory procedure known as jar testing.

Jar testing is a way to test various chemical dosages applied to raw-water samples for treatment. For this test, a raw-water sample was obtained from a local plant. The experiment was based on a 350 MGD (Million Gallon per Day flow rate) plant and a jar-testing apparatus and turbimeter were used. The chemicals used were a 2 % Fe2(SO4)3 (Ferric Sulfate) solution and a 8102+ polymer. The results of this experiment showed that these chemicals worked well together to create and settle floc. When both chemicals were used in moderate amounts, tests showed a high-percent removal. When 2 % Fe2(SO4)3 solution was used alone, minimal-percent removal was seen. When 2 % Fe2(SO4)3 solution was used with a higher dose of 8102+ polymer, turbidity increased and floc did not settle out. Therefore, it was determined that 15 ppm Fe2(SO4)3 and 4.5 ppm 8102+ polymer was the optimal dose for this sample of raw water.

Introduction Jar tests are important in water treatment because they allow operators a chance to test different chemicals on the plant’s individual raw-water source without effecting treatment of the existing plant’s processes. Jar testing is typically done in a series of 1000-mL jars with proportions that reflect the plant’s treatment process. An experimental chemical, combination of chemicals, or dose of an existing chemical is added in different amounts to each jar. The results of the jar test show how well the chemicals react with the raw water to coagulate and form floc to remove turbidity. Jar-test results are measured both by visual findings and with turbidity readings. By performing jar tests, operators can find the optimal chemicals and dosages for their plant’s raw water and calculate the yearly costs that would be involved. If an operator does not perform a jar test and instead guesses the amount of chemical to be used, they risk under- or over-treating their water. Both of these scenarios risk leaving dangerous particles in the water because the particles will not 202 |

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The purpose of this lab was to conduct a jar test using different dosages of chemicals on a raw-water sample. Turbidity readings were taken before and after the jar test to determine the optimum dose of chemicals needed for the lowest turbidity. The class broke into three stations and performed three separate jar tests using different dosages. The data from all three groups was included in this report (lab handout, 1). Chemicals used for this experiment were a 2 % Fe2(SO4)3 (Ferric Sulfate) solution and 8102+ polymer.

The raw-water sample and the water-quality data came from a local water-treatment facility. This experiment was run to see how this raw water would react with these chemicals in a 350 MGD plant. A jar-test apparatus and a turbimeter were used for this experiment.

JAR TESTS

settle out to be removed. Over-treatment wastes the plant’s money because more chemical is not necessarily better (Tech Brief, 1-2). The results of this experiment show how important it is for an operator to choose the correct chemical dosage.

The hypothesis for this experiment was that if Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+ both aid in flocculation and settling, then a jar with a combination of these two chemicals will have the lowest turbidity and therefore, the optimal dosage. Dosing optimally will be the most cost-effective treatment because a higher or lower dosage will not floc and settle particles to provide full treatment.

Not fully treating water will lead to hidden expenses such as filter replacements, higher disinfectant needs, and possibly money for repeat testing and public notice if a violation was allowed to occur.

Methods and Materials Glassware •

6 - 1,000 mL beakers

•

6 - 100 mL beakers

•

6 - 10 mL volumetric pipets

•

6 - 6 mL syringes

•

6 - 3 mL syringes

•

6 - Turbimeter sample cells

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NICOLE BRATSOS

Instrumentation •

Jar-test apparatus

•

Turbimeter

Chemicals •

10 mL - 2 % Fe2(SO4)3 (Ferric Sulfate) solution

•

10 mL - 8102+ polymer

Procedure The procedure for this experiment was the following (lab handout, 1-4): The amount of chemical for the jar test was determined.

1. The concentration of Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+ was obtained from the water-treatment facility’s data.

2. The volume equivalent for the Fe2(SO4)3 was determined.

3. The volume equivalent for the 8102+ was determined.

The class was broken into three groups and each performed jar tests with the following steps: 1. An initial turbidity reading of the raw water was obtained. This was labeled and set aside.

2. Six beakers were filled with 1 liter of raw water.

3. The six beakers were placed under the jar-test apparatus and the mixers were lowered into the beakers.

4. The jars were labeled with the appropriate amount of 2% Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+ polymer.

5.

The syringes were filled with the calculated amount of stock chemicals. The syringes were placed in front of the corresponding beaker.

6. The jar-tester was turned on and set to the speed of 5 rpm. The beakers were adjusted so that the paddles did not hit the sides.

7. The jar-tester speed was increased to a rapid-mix speed of 200 rpm (rotations per minute).

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9. Rapid mix was continued for 15 seconds. Data and observations were recorded.

10. The jar-tester speed was decreased to 60 rpm for 5 minutes. Data and observations were recorded.

JAR TESTS

8. Both syringes with the calculated amounts of 2% Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+ polymer were injected simultaneously into the beakers.

11. The jar-tester speed was decreased to 40 rpm for 5 minutes. Data and observations were recorded.

12. The jar-tester speed was decreased to 20 rpm for 5 minutes. Data and observations were recorded.

13. The mixers were turned off and the floc was allowed to settle for 15 minutes. Data and observations were recorded.

14. 10 mL of sample was drawn from each jar with a 10 mL pipet and transferred into a labeled 10 mL turbimeter sample cell.

15. Turbidity measurements sample cell.

were

taken

for

each

16. The sample cells were left in front of the appropriate beakers for other groups to measure and record the turbidity.

Data and Results The raw-water sample used for this experiment came from a local water treatment facility. This water-treatment facility also provided their water-quality data from when this sample was collected. This data included the following information: rawwater pH = 8.16, raw-water NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit) = 3.33 NTU, raw-water hardness = 212 mg/L, raw-water alkalinity = 140 mg/L, and raw-water temperature = 8.6 °C. The price of Fe2(SO4)3 = $0.12/lb. The price of 8102+ polymer = $1.27/lb. This experiment was designed for treatment at a 350 MGD facility.

Equation 1 (“Jar Testing and Dosage Handout,” 1): The following calculation was used to determine the amount of 2% Ferric Sulfate stock solution used: Amount of Fe2(SO4)3 stock in mLs =

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[(x mg/L of chemical)(1,000 mL jar)]/[(2%solution/100) (1,000,000)] NICOLE BRATSOS

Where, x = concentration given Example (for group 1, jar 1): Amount of Fe2(SO4)3 stock in mLs for group 1, jar 1 = [(6 mg/L of chemical)(1,000 mL jar)]/[(2%solution/100) (1,000,000)] Amount of Fe2(SO4)3 stock in mLs for group 1, jar 1 = 0.3 mLs Equation 2 (“Jar Testing and Dosage Handout,” 2): The following calculation was used to determine the amount of 8102+ stock solution used: Amount of 8102+ stock in mLs = [(x mg/L of chemical)(1,000 mL jar)]/[(0.25%solution/100) (1,000,000)] Where, x = concentration given Example (for group 2, jar 1): Amount of 8102+ stock in mLs for group 2, jar 1 = [(2.5 mg/L of chemical)(1,000 mL jar)] / [(0.25%solution/100)(1,000,000)] Amount of 8102+ stock in mLs for group 2, jar 1 = 1 mL Equation 3 (“Jar Testing and Dosage Handout,” 4): The following calculation was used to determine percent removal for the turbidity (measured in NTU) of each jar tested.

The calculation is shown for group 1, jar 1 as an example below.

The results for each jar are shown below in figure 1.

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% NTU removed =

JAR TESTS

NTU Initial - NTU Optimal X 100 NTU Initial

Example (for group 1, jar 1): % NTU removed for group 1, jar 1 = 4.38 NTU – 3.93 NTU X 100

4.38 NTU

% NTU removed for group 1, jar 1 = 10.27 % The results of the jar tests performed by the three class groups are represented by Figure 1 below.

Equation 4 (“Jar Testing and Dosage Handout,” 3): The following calculation was used to determine pounds of chemical per year for different dosages of Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+.

The pounds per year for each chemical are represented in Figure 6 below. The data from group 1, jar 1 was used as an example of this calculation.

Pounds per year of chemical = [(Flow m gal)/day] * [(Dose pp)/m] * [(8.34 lbs)/gal] * [(365 day)/yr] Example (for group 1, jar 1): Pounds per year of Fe2(SO4)3 = [(350 m gal)/day] * [(6 pp)/m] * [(8.34 lbs)/gal] * [(365 day)/yr] = 6,392,610 lbs/yr Pounds per year of 8102+ = [(350 m gal)/day] * [(0 pp)/m] * [(8.34 lbs)/gal] * [(365 day)/yr] = 0 lbs/yr Claro

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Equation 5 (“Jar Testing and Dosage Handout,” 3): The following calculation was used to determine cost per year for different dosages of Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+. The yearly cost for each chemical gave the total cost per year for each combination represented in figure 7 below. The data from group 1, jar 1 was used as an example of this calculation.

Cost per year of chemical = [(Flow m gal)/day] * [(Dose pp)/m] * [(8.34 lbs)/gal] * [(365 day)/yr * (Cost/lb) Total cost per year = cost per year of Fe2(SO4)3 + cost per year of 8102+ Example (for group 1, jar 1): Cost per year of Fe2(SO4)3 = [(350 m gal)/day] * [(6 pp)/m] * [(8.34 lbs)/gal] * [(365 day)/yr] * [$0.12/lb] = $767,113.20/yr Cost per year of 8102+ = [(350 m gal)/day] * [(0 pp)/m] * ([8.34 lbs)/gal] * [(365 day)/yr] * [$1.27/lb] = $0/yr Total cost per year = $767,113.20 + $0 = $767,113.20/yr Figure 1: Jar-Test Results Group

Jar Test #

Ferric Sulfate

8102+ Polymer

Initial NTU

NTU Remaining

% Removal

% Solution

2%

% Solution

0.25%

ppm

mLs

ppm

mLs

1

1

6

0.3

0

0

4.38

3.93

10.27

2

9

0.45

0

0

4.38

3.22

26.48

3

12

0.6

0

0

4.38

2.83

35.39

4

15

0.75

0

0

4.38

1.47

66.44

5

18

0.9

0

0

4.38

2.35

46.35

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6

21

1.05

0

0

4.38

1.42

67.58

2

1

6

0.3

0.25

0.1

4.31

4.33

-0.46

2

9

0.45

0.5

0.2

4.31

2.12

50.81

3

12

0.6

2.5

2.5

4.31

1.31

69.61

4

15

0.75

4.5

4.5

4.31

1.22

71.69

5

18

0.9

6.5

6.5

4.31

1.5

65.20

6

21

1.05

8.5

8.5

4.31

2.22

48.49

3

1

6

0.3

2.5

1

4.82

3.12

35.27

2

9

0.45

6.5

2.6

4.82

3.98

17.43

3

12

0.6

10.5

4.2

4.82

6.28

-30.29

4

15

0.75

14.5

5.8

4.82

6.95

-44.19

5

18

0.9

18.5

7.4

4.82

7.38

-53.11

6

21

1.05

22.5

9

4.82

7.58

-57.26

JAR TESTS

The observations of the three groups’ jar tests at various speeds and times are represented in figure 2 below.

Figure 2: Jar-Test Observations Observations Speed

Time

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

200 rpm

15 sec

Small particles were visible.

Small particles were visible.

Small particles were visible.

60 rpm

5 mins

Small particles were visible.

Small particles were visible.

Small particles were visible.

40 rpm

5 mins

The largest particles were visible in Jars 4-6.

The largest particles were visible in Jars 3-5.

Jars 1-2 had the most floc forming.

Floc remained small in size.

Particles appeared to be growing in size.

Particles appeared to be growing in size.

Floc did not appear to be forming.

The largest particles were visible in Jars 4-6.

The largest particles were visible in Jars 3-5.

Jars 1-2 had the most floc forming.

Floc remained small in size.

The floc in jar 6 appeared the largest.

Jar 1 had few floc particles.

Jars 1 and 2 had a small amount of floc. This was still less than the other groups.

Jars 4 and 5 had more floc, but particles were smaller in size.

Jars 3-5 had the most floc.

Jars 5 and 6 had the least floc.

Red and brown clumps most prominent in jar 6.

White and reddish brown particles settled in Jars 3 and 4.

Most solids were still suspended.

Jar 6 had the most settled particles.

Jar 4 had the most settled solids.

Jars 1 and 2 had the most settled solids.

20 rpm

0 rpm

5 mins

15 mins

Jars 5 and 6 had no settled floc.

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NICOLE BRATSOS

Figure 3: Turbidity remaining for various doses of Fe2(SO4)3.

No coagulant was used for group 1.

Figure 4: Turbidity remaining for various doses of Fe2(SO4)3.

Various amounts of coagulant was used for group 2. See figure 1 above.

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JAR TESTS

Figure 5: Turbidity remaining for various doses of Fe2(SO4)3.

Various amounts of coagulant were used for group 3. See figure 1 above.

Figure 6: Pounds per year for amounts of Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+.

Grp

Jar Test #

Fe2 (SO4)3 in ppm

8102+ in ppm

Initial NTU

Settled NTU

% Removal

Pounds of Fe2(SO4)3 per year

Pounds of 8102+ per year

1

1

6

0

4.38

3.93

10.27

6,392,610.00

-

2

9

0

4.38

3.22

26.48

9,588,915.00

-

3

12

0

4.38

2.83

35.39

12,785,220.00

-

4

15

0

4.38

1.47

66.44

15,981,525.00

-

5

18

0

4.38

2.35

46.35

19,177,830.00

-

6

21

0

4.38

1.42

67.58

22,374,135.00

-

2

1

6

0.25

4.31

4.33

-0.46

6,392,610.00

266,358.75

2

9

0.5

4.31

2.12

50.81

9,588,915.00

532,717.50

3

12

2.5

4.31

1.31

69.61

12,785,220.00

2,663,587.50

4

15

4.5

4.31

1.22

71.69

15,981,525.00

4,794,457.50

5

18

6.5

4.31

1.5

65.20

19,177,830.00

6,925,327.50

6

21

8.5

4.31

2.22

48.49

22,374,135.00

9,056,197.50

3

1

6

2.5

4.82

3.12

35.27

6,392,610.00

2,663,587.50

2

9

6.5

4.82

3.98

17.43

9,588,915.00

6,925,327.50

3

12

10.5

4.82

6.28

-30.29

12,785,220.00

11,187,067.50

4

15

14.5

4.82

6.95

-44.19

15,981,525.00

15,448,807.50

5

18

18.5

4.82

7.38

-53.11

19,177,830.00

19,710,547.50

6

21

22.5

4.82

7.58

-57.26

22,374,135.00

23,972,287.50

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8102+ in ppm

Initial NTU

Settled NTU

% Removal

1

6

0

4.38

3.93

10.27

$767,113.20

$-

$767,113.20

2

9

0

4.38

3.22

26.48

$1,150,669.80

$-

$1,150,669.80

3

12

0

4.38

2.83

35.39

$1,534,226.40

$-

$1,534,226.40

4

15

0

4.38

1.47

66.44

$1,917,783.00

$-

$1,917,783.00

5

18

0

4.38

2.35

46.35

$2,301,339.60

$-

$2,301,339.60

6

21

0

4.38

1.42

67.58

$2,684,896.20

$-

$2,684,896.20

2

1

6

0.25

4.31

4.33

-0.46

$767,113.20

$338,275.61

$1,105,388.81

2

9

0.5

4.31

2.12

50.81

$1,150,669.80

$676,551.22

$1,827,221.02

3

12

2.5

4.31

1.31

69.61

$1,534,226.40

$3,382,756.12

$4,916,982.52

4

15

4.5

4.31

1.22

71.69

$1,917,783.00

$6,088,961.03

$8,006,744.03

5

18

6.5

4.31

1.5

65.20

$2,301,339.60

$8,795,165.93

$11,096,505.53

6

21

8.5

4.31

2.22

48.49

$2,684,896.20

$11,501,370.83

$14,186,267.03

3

1

6

2.5

4.82

3.12

35.27

$767,113.20

$3,382,756.12

$4,149,869.32

2

9

6.5

4.82

3.98

17.43

$1,150,669.80

$8,795,165.93

$9,945,835.73

3

12

10.5

4.82

6.28

-30.29

$1,534,226.40

$14,207,575.73

$15,741,802.13

4

15

14.5

4.82

6.95

-44.19

$1,917,783.00

$19,619,985.53

$21,537,768.53

5

18

18.5

4.82

7.38

-53.11

$2,301,339.60

$25,032,395.33

$27,333,734.93

6

21

22.5

4.82

7.58

-57.26

$2,684,896.20

$30,444,805.13

$33,129,701.33

Yellow =

Optimal Removal for Each Group

Red =

Negative Removal

Total cost at optimal dosage

Fe2(SO4)3 in ppm

1

Cost of 8102+ per year

Jar Test #

Cost of Fe2(SO4)3 per year

Figure 7: Total cost per year for combinations of Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+.

Group

NICOLE BRATSOS

Cost Analysis

In summary, a combination dose of the 2% Fe2(SO4)3 solution and 8102+ polymer provided the lowest remaining (settled) turbidity and the highest-percent removal. This occurred in group 2, jar 4. This jar was dosed with a combination of 15 ppm Fe2(SO4)3 and 4.5 ppm 8102+ polymer. The remaining turbidity on this jar was 1.22 NTU and the percent removal was 71.69 %.

Visual observations of this jar showed large, white, and reddish brown floc form and then settle to the bottom when stirring was discontinued. Other jars in group 2 also formed large floc and settled successfully, although not as successfully as this jar.

These jars were dosed with amounts slightly above and below the dosages in jar 4.

Group 1 used the same amount of Fe2(SO4)3 but did not use a polymer and showed less floc. Jars 4-6 of this group showed 212 |

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JAR TESTS

noticeable floc but it was smaller in size than group 2. Group 3 used the same amount of Fe2(SO4)3 and a higher dose of 8102+ than group 2. The data from group 3 shows few floc particles that did not settle out. This increased turbidity in jars 3-6 and only showed slight removal in jars 1 and 2. From these results represented in the figures above, it was determined that group 2, jar 4 had the optimal dosage. The pounds per year at optimal dose of Fe2(SO4)3 was 15,981,525.00 lbs/yr and 8102+ was 4,794,457.50 lbs/yr. The cost per year for this dosage was calculated to be $8,006,744.03 for the two chemicals combined.

Conclusion For this experiment, the class broke into three stations and performed three separate jar tests using different dosages.

Turbidity readings were taken before and after the jar test to determine the optimum dose of chemicals needed for the lowest turbidity. The data from all three groups was included in this report. The purpose of this lab was to conduct a jar test using different dosages of chemicals on a raw-water sample to determine the optimal dose for treatment. If Fe2(SO4)3 and 8102+ both aid in flocculation and settling, then a jar with a combination of these two chemicals will have the lowest turbidity and therefore, the optimal dosage. This hypothesis was rejected as it was not supported by the data. While the optimal dosage was group 2, jar 4, a jar that had 15 ppm Fe2(SO4)3 and 4.5 ppm 8102+ polymer, group 3 also used both chemicals and in most jars the turbidity increased. The data suggests that group 3 had too high a concentration of one or both of their chemicals, therefore hindering their treatment process. group 1 only used Fe2(SO4)3 and showed moderate removal.

It is recommended that the treatment facility follow dosage guidelines similar to that of group 2, jar 4 using 15 ppm Fe2(SO4)3 and 4.5 ppm 8102+ polymer. Further studies are needed to determine if there could be another dosage that would work for this plant. Additional jar tests are recommended using dosages close to the optimal dose of 15 ppm Fe2(SO4)3 and 4.5 ppm 8102+ polymer. It is recommended to try smaller increments around these numbers to see if they would have lower turbidity remaining and higher-percent removal. Narrowing in the optimal dosage further would save more money and make treatment more efficient. However, the optimal dose is recommended despite cost. The cost per year for group 2, jar 4 using 15 ppm Fe2 (SO4)3 and 4.5 ppm 8102+ polymer would be $8,006,744.03. This will be the most cost-effective treatment because a higher or lower dosage will not floc and settle particles to provide full treatment.

Not fully treating water will lead to hidden expenses such as filter Claro

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replacements, higher disinfectant needs, and possibly money for repeat testing and public notice if a violation was allowed to occur.

Possible errors in this experiment include the measurements for raw turbidity. Each group only took one turbidity reading and used that same amount for all 6 jars. Each group had different values for raw turbidity and they were all higher than the 3.33 NTU measured on the original sample at the treatment facility where the raw water was obtained. This may have accounted for a lower-percent removal.

In summary, a combination dose of a 2 % Fe2(SO4)3 solution and 8102+ polymer provided the lowest remaining turbidity and the highest-percent removal. Therefore, this was the optimal dose for this study.

References “Jar Testing and Dosage Handout.” WQM 119 Basic Water Quality Analysis. Chelsea Campbell. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

“Lab 5, Jar Testing.” WQM 119 Basic Water Quality Analysis.

Chelsea Campbell. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

Tech Brief. Jar Testing. National Environmental Services Center.

Jar Testing. Spring 2005. Vol. 5. Issue 1. Web. 6 March. 2014. ‹http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/pdf/dw/publications/ontap/2009_ tb/jar_testing_dwfsom73.pdf›.

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Analysis of Total- and Free- Chlorine by scott thomas (lab partners: nicole bratsos, sanga camara & thomas hecker) Abstract The purpose of this lab was to find the free- and totalchlorine residuals of tap-water samples and employ Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”) as part of that process.

A Hach Colorimeter was used to analyze tap-water samples that were mixed with pillows of free- and total-chlorine DPD powder. A free-chlorine residual and a total-chlorine residual were measured from a laboratory tap-water sample, reading 0.10 mg/L and 0.11 mg/L, respectively. The same residual readings were performed on duplicate samples from the lab tap-water sample. The free-chlorine residual read 0.08 mg/L and the totalchlorine residual was 0.10 mg/L. The spiked sample produced a reading of 1.76 mg/L. The Golden, Colorado Visitor’s Center tap-water sample read 1.12-mg/L total-chlorine residual. It was concluded that the tap-water samples did not exceed the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum residual disinfectant level for chlorine.

Introduction The purpose of this experiment was to determine the freeand total-chlorine residuals of tap-water samples and use QA/ QC measures in the process.1 The instrumentation and chemicals used to find these residual readings were of paramount importance. A Hach Colorimeter was used to find all of the residual concentrations. After the sample was mixed with DPD powder, it was placed into the colorimeter and the read button was pressed. The Hach Colorimeter then numerically displayed the chlorine residual concentration in milligrams per liter. Thus, without the Hach device, the residuals would not be known with any degree of accuracy. Consequently, no less essential were the total- and free-chlorine DPD powders. As they reacted with the chlorine residual in the water samples, the sample turned a color that the Hach Colorimeter analyzed to produce a digital number result. Analysis such as this, using color to analyze a residual, Claro

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SCOTT THOMAS

is the essence of colorimetry. The results this instrument and these materials produced were also the basis for employing QA/QC measures for the samples taken, thereby underscoring their importance.

This experiment is important because a proper chlorine residual is vital to providing safe and pleasing water to the public.2 The hypochlorous acid produced by mixing chlorine with water destroys the pathogenic properties of a microbe. Historically, such pathogens have caused very destructive diseases, such as cholera.3 A water provider must ensure not only that there is a residual as the treated water leaves the production facility, but also that a measurable trace of that residual exists in the furthest point of the distribution.4 Ensuring that measurable trace in large distribution systems often requires using chloramine instead of chlorine. Chloramine is a more enduring disinfectant as its residual does not decline as quickly as chlorine.5 While ensuring a sufficient disinfectant residual throughout a distribution system is important, it must be balanced against the need to avoid an excessive disinfectant residual level.6 The EPA has established a 4.0-mg/L maximum residual disinfectant level (“MRDL”) for drinking water.7 The EPA has determined that MRDL’s above that level can cause stomach discomfort and with chloramine the possibility of anemia.8 Taste and odor problems might also arise beyond those MRDL’s.9 Of further concern is the need to reduce residual levels due to their production of disinfection byproducts (THM’s and HAA’s), which the EPA suspects might cause cancer.10 Therefore, to obtain a residual between the minimum and maximum levels, the methodology of the sample analysis is quite important. Given that two types of disinfection techniques are generally employed by water providers, analysis for both free- and total-chlorine residuals are imperative. The Hach Colorimeter is a widely used and very effective device for this measurement.11 The total-chlorine DPD powder will measure total-chlorine residual, which is produced by chloramine. The free-chlorine DPD powder measures the free-chlorine residual but will not measure any presence of chloramine. Hence, the proper selection of the DPD is vital to finding the disinfectant residual in water.

Given the importance of proper disinfection of water, QA/ QC in analyzing these results was imperative. QA/QC ensures that the data produced in an analytical process is precise and accurate.12 It involves the proper implementation and oversight of laboratory systems, records and procedures, which are essential to providing precise and accurate analysis.13 It also

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ANALYSIS OF CHLORINE

focuses on the precision and accuracy of the samples themselves, which are the raw data fed into the overall QA program.14 Again, in analyzing the disinfection of water, such measures are pivotal.

Certain samples are required in a QA/QC process. A blank sample is necessary to ensure that the measuring device (here, the Hach Colorimeter) is reading correctly.15 Testing duplicates is important because it allows a determination of whether the analysis being done is precise.16 This is accomplished by taking two separate readings from the same sample source. The variation between the two readings indicates the precision of the analysis being performed. Creating and testing a spiked sample allows an assessment of the accuracy of the experimental process, and is therefore quite important.17 This process uses a solution of a known concentration and compares that against the concentration that is actually read by the colorimeter in the experiment.

It was hypothesized that the free- and total-chlorine residual levels would not exceed the 4.0-mg/L chlorine residual limits proscribed by the EPA. Materials and Methods Materials Materials used in this experiment were: •

Tap-water sample drawn from lab sink tap

•

Distilled water

•

Tap-water sample drawn from Golden, Colorado Visitor’s Center

•

DPD free-chlorine powder pillow

•

DPD total-chlorine powder pillow

•

Chloride stock solution, 37.5 mg/L

Instrumentation Used in this experiment were the following instruments: •

Sample cell, 10 mL

•

Hach chlorine colorimeter

•

Beaker, 100 mL Claro

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SCOTT THOMAS

â&#x20AC;˘

Beaker, 50 mL

â&#x20AC;˘

Volumetric pipet, 2 mL

Procedure Per the lab instructions18 (Chelsea Campbell (2014) Lab 5 Instructions), a Hach Colorimeter was zeroed and activated. Using the colorimeter, free- and total-chlorine were measured for the lab tap-water samples and total chlorine for the Golden sample.

Blank, spiked, and duplicate samples were created and tested for QA/QC.

1) A blank sample was created. a) A 10-mL sample cell was filled with distilled water. b) The sample was cleaned and placed diamond-forward in the Hach Colorimeter and zeroed.

2) A free-chlorine residual measurement was performed. a) A 100-mL beaker was filled with tap water from the laboratory. b) From the 100-mL beaker, 10 mL of tap water was poured into the 10-mL sample cell. c) One DPD free-chlorine powder pillow was emptied into the 10-mL sample cell. d) The 10-mL sample cell was capped and shaken for 20 seconds to dissolve all DPD powder. e) After cleaning, the 10-mL sample cell was placed into the Hach Colorimeter and a reading was obtained.

3) A total-chlorine residual measurement was performed. a) From a 100-mL beaker, 10 mL of lab tap water was poured in a 10-mL sample cell. b) One DPD total-chlorine powder pillow was added to the sample cell. c) The sample cell was capped and shaken for 20 seconds in order to totally dissolve the DPD powder.

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d) 5 minutes were timed to allow the pillow contents to react with the sample.

f) The lab tap water in the 100-mL beaker was set aside for use later in the experiment.

4) A spiked sample was created and tested. a) A 50-mL chloride solution with a 1.5 mg/L concentration was formulated from 2 mL of a stock solution with a concentration of 37.5 mg/L. The 2 mL of stock solution was measured using a 2 mL volumetric pipet.

ANALYSIS OF CHLORINE

e) The sample cell was cleaned and placed in the colorimeter and a reading was obtained.

b) The 50-mL chloride solution was transferred to a 50mL beaker and thoroughly mixed. c) A 10-mL sample cell was filled with the spiked sample. d) 1 pillow of DPD total-chlorine powder was added to the spiked sample. e) For 20 seconds, the 10-mL sample was capped and shaken to fully dissolve the DPD powder.

5) A total-chlorine residual measurement was performed on a duplicate. a) 10 mL of lab tap water was poured from the 100-mL beaker (described in step 3(f) above) into a 10-mL sample cell. b) One pillow of DPD total-chlorine powder was added to the sample cell. c) After the DPD was added, the sample was shaken for 20 seconds to dissolve the powder. d) 5 minutes were timed to allow the pillow contents to react with the sample. e) After cleaning, the sample cell was placed into the colorimeter and read for total chlorine.

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6) From a duplicate, free-chlorine residual was measured.

SCOTT THOMAS

a) 10 mL of lab tap water was poured from the 100-mL beaker (described in step 3(f) above) into a 10-mL sample cell. b) 1 pillow of DPD free-chlorine powder was added to the 10-mL sample cell. c) The 10-mL sample was shaken for 20 seconds to completely dissolve the DPD powder. d) The sample cell was cleaned and placed in the colorimeter. A free-chlorine residual reading was taken from the colorimeter.

7) From a Golden, Colorado, tap-water source, a total-chlorine residual was measured. a) Using this sample, steps 3(a)-(e) were repeated.

Data and Results Data Analysis The table below (Table 1) sets forth the free- and total-chlorine residual readings for the tap-water samples, the spiked sample, and the duplicate samples. Each column indicates (in order from top to bottom) the sample name and the corresponding residual reading in milligrams per liter.

Table 1 - Free- and Total-Chlorine Residual Readings in Milligrams per Liter Lab TapWater FreeChlorine Residual

Lab TapWater TotalChlorine Residual

Spiked Sample Total-Chlorine Residual

Duplicate Lab Tap-Water Free-Chlorine Residual

Duplicate Lab Tap-Water Total-Chlorine Residual

Golden, CO, Tap-Water Total-Chlorine Residual

0.10 mg/L

0.11 mg/L

1.76 mg/L

0.08 mg/L

0.10 mg/L

1.12 mg/L

In order to determine the volume of 37.5 mg/L stock solution needed to create a spiked sample of 50-mL chloride solution with a 1.5 mg/L concentration, the following formula was employed: Equation 1- Dilution Equation C1 = Concentration of the solution to be diluted C2 = Concentration of the diluted solution V1 = Volume of the solution to be diluted 220 |

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V2 = Volume of the diluted solution Applied to the spiked sample, the equation was: Thus, 2 mL of 37.5 mg/L stock solution was required to create 50 mL of 1.5 mg/L chloride solution.

Finding the percent recovery of the spiked sample required the following equation: Equation 2- Percent Recovery Percent recovery =

ANALYSIS OF CHLORINE

2 mL = (1.5 mg/L x 50 mL)/37.5 mg/L

(concentration of chlorine measured )/(concentration of chlorine added) * 100 Applied to the spiked sample, the equation was: 1.65/1.5 * 100 = 111% So, the percent recovery for the spiked sample was 111%.

Equation 3- Relative Percent Difference Finding the relative percent difference of the duplicate samples involved the following equation: relative percent difference = (difference between the duplicates)/ (average of the duplicates) * 100 This equation, applied to the duplicate samples for example, resulted in the following: (0.10 - 0.08)/0.09 * 100 = 22.2% 22.2% was therefore the relative percent difference for the free-chlorine duplicate samples.

Results As shown in Table 1, supra, the free-chlorine residual measurement for the laboratory tap water was 0.10 mg/L. The residual measurement of total chlorine for the lab tap water was 0.11 mg/L. For the spiked sample, the total-chlorine residual measured was 1.76 mg/L. A total-chlorine residual reading of 0.10 mg/L was obtained for a duplicate of the lab tap water. The free-chlorine residual for the duplicate was 0.08 mg/L. Finally,

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the Golden, Colorado Visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center total-chlorine residual was 1.12 mg/L. For QA/QC purposes, the percent recovery for the spiked sample was 111%. The relative percent difference for the duplicate samples was 22.2%.

Conclusion This report has described an experiment undertaken to find the free- and total-chlorine residuals for various tap-water samples. Quality Assurance and Quality Control measures were employed with regard to the samples. The experiment was important because chlorine residual is essential to maintaining safe and pleasant drinking water for communities. Its importance also lies in understanding the nature of free and total chlorine.

The free-chlorine measurement required the proper DPD powder and was distinct from the DPD powder required for total chlorine. This experiment emphasized comprehension of the fact that total chlorine also measured chloramine, while free chlorine did not. In the free- and total-chlorine measurements, the QA/QC measures were vital to recognizing the precision and accuracy of the measurements taken in the experiment.

Procedurally, a Hach Colorimeter was used to measure the free- and total-chlorine residuals of several different samples.

For QA/QC, blank, duplicate, and spiked samples were measured to promote the accuracy and precision of the experiment being performed.

First and foremost, none of the samples exceeded the EPAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chlorine MRDL of 4.0 mg/L, thus affirming the hypothesis. This was expected given the significant attention devoted by water operators to ensuring the proper levels of chlorine residual. The free-chlorine residual for the laboratory tap-water sample was 0.10 mg/L. A duplicate from that sample read 0.08 mg/L. This produced a relative percent difference of 22.2%. This is a wide variation and therefore calls into question the precision of the measurement of the two samples. Admittedly, the fractions involved were small, so a small variation produced a large relative percent difference. The equations employed did not account for the error as seen by the total-chlorine duplicate samples.

They produced a relative percent difference of 9.5%, which is significantly lower than the free-chlorine relative percent difference. The error for all the samples could be accounted for in a number of ways. The DPD pillows were somewhat difficult to handle, so some of the DPD powder would not make it into the sample. The time required to shake the sample might have been mistimed. Also, at a certain point, there were a number of 222 |

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These errors might also have contributed to the 111% percent recovery for the spiked sample. This was 1% out of the acceptable range of 90%-110%. The spiked sampleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chlorine concentration was known to be 1.5 mg/L and the reading obtained on the colorimeter was 1.76 mg/L. It was prepared by adding 2 mL of 37.5 mg/L stock solution to water to create 50 mL of 1.5 mg/L total-chlorine residual. Error might have occurred in the measurements involved here, though this is somewhat less likely due to the fact the 2 mL was measured using a 2 mL volumetric pipet.

ANALYSIS OF CHLORINE

samples being created and tested. This caused confusion with some of the lab participants and therefore could have contributed to an improper measure of sample or time.

The colorimetric readings for the lab tap-water samples appeared to be accurate. The free-chlorine residual was 0.10 mg/L and the total chlorine was 0.11 mg/L. Since the total-chlorine DPD will also detect free chlorine, it was apparent that there was no chloramine in these samples. And the 0.01 mg/L difference indicates consistency between the samples. These were also relatively close to the readings for the duplicate samples being no more than 0.03 mg/L off from the 0.08 mg/L duplicate freechlorine residual sample. The tap-water sample from the Golden, Colorado Visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s center read 1.12 mg/L total-chlorine residual, which was within acceptable ranges.

The hypothesis that the tap-water samples would not exceed the 4.0 mg/L MRDL established by the EPA was confirmed.

Given the extremely high importance of safe drinking water, the affirmation of the hypothesis was clearly expected. Future studies might be devoted to making the colorimeter an even more precise instrument. Such studies might also include a more precise way to add DPD to the samples to be measured. And, in that regard, perhaps future study could help find a DPD that will effectively color a sample even with a small amount spilled.

Endnotes

1. Chelsea Campbell (2014), Lab5 Instructions 2. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/ basicinformation/disinfectants.cfm (2013), United States Environmental Protection Agency 3. http://water.epa.gov/aboutow/ogwdw/ upload/2001_11_15_consumer_hist.pdf (2001) United States Environmental Protection Agency

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SCOTT THOMAS

4. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/ basicinformation/disinfectants.cfm (2013), United States Environmental Protection Agency 5. http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sdwa/pdfs/ fs_30ann_treatment_web.pdf (2004), United States Environmental Protection Agency 6. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/ basicinformation/disinfectants.cfm (2013), United States Environmental Protection Agency 7. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/ basicinformation/disinfectants.cfm (2013), United States Environmental Protection Agency 8. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/ basicinformation/disinfectants.cfm (2013), United States Environmental Protection Agency 9. http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/ basicinformation/disinfectants.cfm (2013), United States Environmental Protection Agency 10. http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/ stage1/factsheetonnoda.cfm (2012), United States Environmental Protection Agency 11. http://www.epa.gov/region4/sesd/fbqstp/FieldScreening-of-Total-Resid-Chlorine.pdf (2013), United States Environmental Protection Agency 12. SoftChalk (2013), Quality Assurance and Quality Control 13. SoftChalk (2013), Quality Assurance and Quality Control 14. SoftChalk (2013), Quality Assurance and Quality Control 15. Chelsea Campbell (2014), Chlorine; QA/QC Lecture 16. Chelsea Campbell (2014), Chlorine; QA/QC Lecture 17. Chelsea Campbell (2014), Chlorine; QA/QC Lecture 18. Chelsea Campbell (2014), Lab 5 Instructions

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Physics 211 Semester Project: The Potato Cannon by robert coleman, tyler haga, jake sawaya † “The potato cannon is capable of launching projectiles nearly 150 meters ... Overall, [it] provides hours of entertainment while solidifying our understanding of kinematics ...

Introduction Our group elected to build a potato cannon for our semester group project. A potato cannon uses the directed flow of gas generated by a combustion reaction to propel a potato (or other projectiles) out of a PVC pipe. The goals of our project were to construct the cannon, to experimentally determine the kinematic data of the projectiles, to analyze the consistency of the potato cannon’s performance by use of target practice and analysis of data, and to use kinematic models and experimental data to make predictions about the trajectory of projectiles.

Description of Potato Cannon The construction of the potato cannon required the following materials: •

3 feet of 1.5-inch diameter ABS pipe

•

2 feet of 3-inch diameter ABS pipe

•

3-to-1.5-inch pipe reducer

•

3-inch end cap and 3-inch threaded adapter

•

ABS cement

•

Barbecue igniter

•

Screws

•

Electrical tape

•

Adjustable metal worm clamp

† online content

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The listed materials were assembled according to the drawing found in the Appendix (Figure 1). A hacksaw and a drill were required during the construction of the potato cannon. ABS cement was used to hold together the 3-inch ABS pipe, 3-to-1.5inch pipe adapter, and 1.5-inch ABS pipe. The barbecue igniter was affixed to the cannon using an adjustable metal worm clamp.

The exterior ignition button was connected to the sparker via a wire fed through a 1/8th-inch hole drilled into the 3-inch diameter ABS pipe. The sparker was secured to the combustion chamber with screws. The projectiles were inserted into the muzzle end of the cannon, with a broom handle used as a ramrod to push the projectile to the end of the 1.5-inch diameter pipe. Hair spray was used as the propellant, which was sprayed into the end of the 3-inch ABS pipe and sealed into the combustion chamber by a removable 3-inch threaded end cap. We used 5-second sprays of propellant for every trial.

Problem Being Studied The most salient problem in the study of projectiles launched by a potato cannon is achieving uniformity in the flight behavior of the projectiles; the potato cannon combusts crudelymeasured quantities of hair spray to propel irregularly-shaped potatoes through the air. Neither the combustion source nor the projectiles are designed or cultivated in way that would make them ideally-suited for this application. We set out to answer the following questions: •

Does the potato cannon shoot projectiles with a consistent muzzle velocity, and do the projectiles follow predictable trajectories?

•

What kind of results would we obtain by repeatedly firing the cannon at a set target?

•

Do our kinematic models accurately describe our experimental data?

•

What kind of changes to our process or design would produce more consistent and predictable projectile trajectories?

Description of Methods Used The following information was determined experimentally: angle of inclination, initial and final vertical and horizontal distance traveled, and, for trials with an angle of inclination greater than 0 degrees, time of flight. All other data were obtained computationally by using Microsoft Excel.

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THE POTATO CANNON

The angle of inclination was estimated for trials at 0º and 90º.

The angle was also estimated for some of the shots between 0º and 90º, while some angles were determined trigonometrically by using a measured length of string that stretched from the end of the barrel to the ground. We calculated the initial muzzle velocity by firing the cannon from a set distance of 0.51 meters above the ground and by measuring the horizontal displacement.

These data points allowed us to calculate the time of flight; these times were often less than half a second, and using a stop watch was found to be an inaccurate method for measuring time of flight when the angle of inclination was 0º. We measured the horizontal displacement by marking off 25-foot intervals with a tape measure on a grass field. For distances greater than 100 feet, we used the yard markers on the football field where testing took place. Measurements in feet and yards were later converted to meters. For trials with an angle of inclination of 30 degrees or greater, we used the stopwatch feature on a cell phone to measure the time of flight. This data was input into a spreadsheet that computed the components of the velocity vectors, maximum height, change in vertical distance, and acceleration within the barrel (see Table 1 in the Appendix for a split-out display of the Excel formulas used). The equations used in the spreadsheet were based on the following kinematic equations, and they represent ideal flight trajectories without drag or wind considerations: v = v0 + at v2 = v02 + 2aΔx x = x0 + v0t + ½at2 x – x0 = (t/2)(v + v0) We selected a brick in a brick wall as a target and shot at the wall from a distance of 7.5 meters. We used a tape measure to measure the distance between off-target strikes and the target.

Presentation of Results A total of 6 trials were performed with the cannon oriented at a 0º angle of inclination. The average muzzle velocity was determined to be 80.70 m/s, based on the following data: Muzzle Velocity at 0º Angle of Inclination Trial

Δx (m)

Δy (m)

Muzzle Velocity (m/s)

1

20.73

0.51

64.37

2

33.53

0.51

104.13

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ROBERT COLEMAN ET AL

3

21.34

0.51

66.26

4

26.97

0.51

83.78

5

25.60

0.51

79.52

6

27.74

0.51

86.14

Average

25.98

0.51

80.7

Standard Deviation

4.70

0.00

14.59

A total of 6 trials were performed with the cannon oriented at a 90º angle of inclination. The average muzzle velocity was determined to be 39.58 m/s. On average, these projectiles traveled 80.05 meters vertically. The following data table summarizes the key kinematic data:

Selected Kinematic Data at 90º Angle of Inclination

228 |

Trial

ϴ (degrees)

t (s)

Δy (m)

v0y (m/s)

Max Height (m)

7

90

8.50

0.00

41.65

88.51

8

90

8.20

0.00

40.18

82.37

9

90

7.50

0.00

36.75

68.91

10

90

7.76

0.00

38.02

73.77

11

90

8.20

0.00

40.18

82.37

12

90

8.30

0.00

40.67

84.39

Average

90.00

8.08

0.00

39.58

80.05

Standard Deviation

0.00

0.37

0.00

1.82

7.28

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THE POTATO CANNON

The following graph summarizes the average trajectory of a projectile fired at 90º; this graph displays the equation y = 39.58t - 4.9t2, which uses the average calculated muzzle velocity of 90º trials:

Three trials were performed at 30º, 45º, and 60º. We obtained the following data:

Selected Kinematic Data at 30º Angle of Inclination

Trial

ϴ (deg.)

Δx (m)

t (s)

v0x (m/s)

v0y (m/s)

v0 (m/s) (Muzzle Velocity)

Speed (m/s) Final

19

30

137.16

3.25

42.20

24.37

48.73

42.86

20

30

128.02

2.75

46.55

26.88

53.75

46.55

21

30

141.73

2.75

51.54

29.76

59.51

51.62

Average

30.00

135.64

2.92

46.76

27.00

54.00

47.01

Std. Deviation

6.98

0.29

4.67

2.70

5.39

4.39

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Selected Kinematic Data at 45º Angle of Inclination

ROBERT COLEMAN ET AL

Trial

ϴ (deg.)

Δx (m)

t (s)

v0x (m/s)

v0y (m/s)

v0 (m/s) (Muzzle Velocity)

Speed (m/s) Final

13

45

128.02

3.25

39.39

39.39

55.71

40.10

14

45

130.76

4.00

32.69

32.69

46.23

33.33

15

45

141.73

4.00

35.43

35.43

50.11

35.63

Average

45.00

133.50

3.75

35.84

35.84

50.68

36.36

Std. Deviation

7.26

0.43

3.37

3.37

4.76

3.44

Selected Kinematic Data at 60º Angle of Inclination

Trial

ϴ (deg.)

Δx (m)

t (s)

v0x (m/s)

v0y (m/s)

v0 (m/s) (Muzzle Velocity)

Speed (m/s) Final

16

60

78.64

6.00

13.11

22.70

26.21

38.40

17

60

64.01

5.50

11.64

20.16

23.28

35.69

18

60

84.12

6.00

14.02

24.28

28.04

37.25

Average

60.00

75.59

5.83

12.92

22.38

25.84

37.12

Std. Deviation

10.40

0.29

1.20

2.08

2.40

1.36

The following graph uses the average initial components of velocity to graph horizontal and vertical position. The x values represents the equation, x = 12.92t, while the y values represent the equation, y = 22.38t – 4.9t2:

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The following graph displays the average distance traveled at each angle of inclination: THE POTATO CANNON

We fired the cannon at a fixed target from a distance of 7.5 meters. The results are summarized below: Target Testing at a Distance of 7.5 Meters Trial

Distance from Target (m)

1

0.8

2

0

3

0

4

0

5

1

Average

0.36

Standard Deviation

0.50

Analysis To evaluate whether or not the cannon shoots projectiles with a consistent muzzle velocity, we plotted the average muzzle velocity and the angle of inclination below:

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ROBERT COLEMAN ET AL

Our data strongly indicates that the angle of inclination is inversely related to the apparent muzzle velocity, and this data also strongly suggests the presence of other unaccounted forces acting on the projectiles. This graph highlights the weakness of our kinematic models, which assume that only gravity acts on the projectiles. We can conclude that the muzzle velocity is not consistent and is highly dependent on the angle of inclination.

The projectiles can be expected, on average, to travel within about 10% of their average distance for each angle of inclination.

According to the following table, the projectiles follow the most predictable trajectories the farther they travel horizontally:

Inclination

Avg. Horizontal Distance (m)

Avg. Vertical Distance (m)

Standard Deviation (m)

Percentage Deviation

0

25.98

n/a

4.7

18.09

30

135.64

-

6.98

5.15

45

133.5

-

7.26

5.44

60

75.59

-

10.4

13.76

90

n/a

80.05

7.28

9.09

Average

10.31

The average maximum range of the cannon was achieved at a 30º angle of inclination, which, again, strongly implies the presence of other forces acting on the projectiles. In a vacuum, projectiles should travel the farthest at 45º.

We tested the accuracy with which we could hit a target by shooting projectiles at a brick 7.5 meters away from the cannon.

Our fixed target was a brick with the dimensions of 0.3 meters by 0.2 meters. Three of the shots hit the brick, while two landed above the brick. On average, the projectiles were within 0.36 meters of the target. Only two out of five of the tests missed the target, and they landed 1.0 and 0.8 meters above the target. Each team member attempted at least one shot.

Drag Considerations The kinematic models ignore drag and wind. We observed an inverse relationship between the angle of inclination of the cannon and the calculated muzzle velocity, which was effectively an inverse relationship between the angle of inclination and the time duration of projectile flight. While the muzzle velocity of the projectiles at a 0 degree inclination averaged about 80 m/s, the muzzle velocity at 90 degrees of inclination was found to be about 40 m/s, with a time of flight definitely known to average 232 |

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Drag Variable

Value

C

0.8

ρ (kg/m )

1.2

A (m2)

0.001140

Initial v2

6400

Mass (kg)

0.07286

radius (m)

0.01905

V term (m/s)

42.3659

L (m)

0.0635

3

THE POTATO CANNON

about 8 seconds. All of these calculations assumed that the only force acting in the vertical direction was gravity. Combining an 80 m/s muzzle velocity and an 8-second time of flight into the equation, ay = (-2v0y/t) yields an actual average acceleration of -20 m/s, over twice the acceleration attributable to gravity. Using the equation, Force of Drag = ½Cρav2, it is possible to estimate the force of drag at varying positions of the projectile trajectory. We used a drag coefficient of 0.80, which is the drag coefficient for a cylinder (Knight, 153); the projectiles were found to most resemble a cylinder, as they were mostly flat on either end and, after being forced into the barrel, took on the circular shape and dimensions of the 1.5-inch diameter pipe. The potatoes were about 2.5 to 3 inches in length. The initial velocity used in the drag calculations was 80 m/s; this velocity best represents the true muzzle velocity, as it is the velocity for projectiles that spent the least amount of time in the air. We found the average mass of the projectiles to be 0.0729 kg (see Table 2 in the Appendix). The following table summarizes the variables used in drag calculations:

Using iterative calculations for velocity at every 1/10th second, a rough picture of the effect of drag on the average projectile begins to take shape. The following table displays the drag calculations for the first second of flight; the full table is displayed in Table 3 of the Appendix: Time (s)

Position (m)

Velocity (m/s)

Force Drag (N)

Force Gravity (N)

Total Force (N)

Instantaneous Acceleration (m/s2)

0

0.00

80.00

-3.50

-0.71

-4.22

-57.87

0.1

7.17

74.21

-3.01

-0.71

-3.73

-51.17

0.2

13.85

69.10

-2.61

-0.71

-3.33

-45.66

0.3

20.09

64.53

-2.28

-0.71

-2.99

-41.08

0.4

25.95

60.42

-2.00

-0.71

-2.71

-37.22

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ROBERT COLEMAN ET AL

0.5

31.45

56.70

-1.76

-0.71

-2.47

-33.95

0.6

36.63

53.31

-1.56

-0.71

-2.27

-31.14 -28.72

0.7

41.50

50.19

-1.38

-0.71

-2.09

0.8

46.10

47.32

-1.23

-0.71

-1.94

-26.62

0.9

50.44

44.66

-1.09

-0.71

-1.81

-24.78

1

54.54

42.18

-0.97

-0.71

-1.69

-23.16

Based on these calculations, it is possible to graph position and acceleration:

Using the trend line function in Excel, the polynomial trend line for the acceleration graph was found to be y = - 0.063x4 + 1.4125x3 - 10.989x2 + 35.831x - 51.386. By using the average value of a function formula, [1 / (b-a)] * â&#x2C6;Ť(b to a) f(x)dx, the average value of acceleration is: (1/9.32) * â&#x2C6;Ť(9.32 to 0) (0.063x4 + 1.4125x3 - 10.989x2 + 35.831x - 51.386) = -11.78 m/s2. This value is much less than the -20 m/s2 calculated earlier in this section, which 234 |

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THE POTATO CANNON

suggests that some of the values in these calculations could be wrong. For example, we don’t know the true coefficient of drag for the objects, as each projectile is mostly cylindrical yet rounded and lumpy. We don’t know if the projectiles tumble through the air, which would change the cross-sectional area and drag coefficient values in the drag calculations. Our drag model predicts a flight time of about 9.32 seconds, more than a full second longer than the average flight time of 8 seconds. We can unequivocally conclude, however, that the force of drag is an important factor in the ballistics of our projectiles and that our graphs in this section reveal a more accurate picture of position and acceleration.

Limitations The potato cannon fired intermittently during our preliminary tests, which were conducted when the temperature was 12º F. The inside of the barrel – including the sparker – became coated with liquefied aerosol and some ice.

Our second tests were conducted with a 45º F temperature. The cannon fired more reliably, but often required several attempts.

The inside of the combustion chamber became coated in aerosol residue, and the threading on the barrel’s end cap attracted dirt and grass; as more debris collected, some aerosol shot out of the threaded end of the barrel upon combustion.

The cannon did fire reliably at low temperatures and became dirty after only two or three trials. During the third set of trials, we discovered that the problem of intermittent firing could be ameliorated by cleaning the sparker and end cap with a paper towel before every test fire. We initially attached the sparker to the cannon using electrical tape. The electrical tape proved to be a poor choice, as the sparker slid off of the cannon and eventually broke. We improved on the tape by using a worm clamp to affix the sparker to the cannon.

Modifications to Original Plan Our original design called for the use of a 2-inch diameter barrel. After visiting several hardware stores, a 3-to-2-inch pipe adapter could not be located, so we used a 1.5-inch diameter barrel instead.

Further Improvements The coefficient of friction between the barrel and projectile could be reduced by the use of a lubricant within the barrel, improving the muzzle velocity. Deliberately carving the Claro

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projectiles into shapes with a smaller drag coefficient, along with rifling the barrel, could also improve the muzzle velocity, range, and the predictability of projectile trajectories. A volume gauge on the propellant source could provide accurate data for the amount of propellant used. Thermochemical data like the enthalpy of reaction could be used to calculate the quantity of energy released by combustion, providing a starting point for a more robust analysis of intra-barrel friction forces and the loss of energy to other dissipative forces.

Conclusion The potato cannon is capable of launching projectiles nearly 150 meters. The angle of inclination of the cannon is the most important factor when trying to determine the horizontal distance traveled, and each angle of inclination will result in projectile ranges within fairly predictable trajectories. The cannon will fire only intermittently if the temperatures are below freezing or if the cannon has not been cleaned, so properly maintaining the cannon is paramount. Overall, the potato cannon provides hours of entertainment while solidifying our understanding of kinematics.

Appendix Figure 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Potato Cannon Diagram

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Table 1 – Example of Excel Input and Formula Values (columns split for readability): THE POTATO CANNON

Note: This table displays input values under the yellow headings and formula values under uncolored headings for output values. Time was calculated kinematically for angles of inclination equal to 0º.

Table 2 – Mass of Projectiles Sample

Mass (kg)

1

0.0783

2

0.0724

3

0.0736

4

0.0651

5

0.0749

Average

0.0729

Table 3 – Drag Calculations for an Average Projectile Time (s)

Position (m)

Velocity (m/s)

Force Drag (N)

Force Gravity (N)

Total Force (N)

Instantaneous Acceleration (m/s2)

0

0.00

80.00

-3.50

-0.71

-4.22

-57.87

0.1

7.17

74.21

-3.01

-0.71

-3.73

-51.17

0.2

13.85

69.10

-2.61

-0.71

-3.33

-45.66

0.3

20.09

64.53

-2.28

-0.71

-2.99

-41.08

0.4

25.95

60.42

-2.00

-0.71

-2.71

-37.22

0.5

31.45

56.70

-1.76

-0.71

-2.47

-33.95

0.6

36.63

53.31

-1.56

-0.71

-2.27

-31.14

0.7

41.50

50.19

-1.38

-0.71

-2.09

-28.72

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0.8

46.10

47.32

-1.23

-0.71

-1.94

-26.62

0.9

50.44

44.66

-1.09

-0.71

-1.81

-24.78

1

54.54

42.18

-0.97

-0.71

-1.69

-23.16

1.1

58.42

39.86

-0.87

-0.71

-1.58

-21.74

1.2

62.09

37.69

-0.78

-0.71

-1.49

-20.47

1.3

65.56

35.64

-0.70

-0.71

-1.41

-19.34

1.4

68.84

33.71

-0.62

-0.71

-1.34

-18.33

1.5

71.94

31.88

-0.56

-0.71

-1.27

-17.43

1.6

74.87

30.13

-0.50

-0.71

-1.21

-16.62

1.7

77.63

28.47

-0.44

-0.71

-1.16

-15.89

1.8

80.25

26.88

-0.40

-0.71

-1.11

-15.23

1.9

82.71

25.36

-0.35

-0.71

-1.07

-14.63

2

85.03

23.90

-0.31

-0.71

-1.03

-14.09

2.1

87.21

22.49

-0.28

-0.71

-0.99

-13.60

2.2

89.25

21.13

-0.24

-0.71

-0.96

-13.15

2.3

91.17

19.81

-0.21

-0.71

-0.93

-12.75

2.4

92.96

18.54

-0.19

-0.71

-0.90

-12.38

2.5

94.63

17.30

-0.16

-0.71

-0.88

-12.05

2.6

96.18

16.09

-0.14

-0.71

-0.86

-11.75

2.7

97.62

14.92

-0.12

-0.71

-0.84

-11.47

2.8

98.94

13.77

-0.10

-0.71

-0.82

-11.22

2.9

100.15

12.65

-0.09

-0.71

-0.80

-11.00

3

101.25

11.55

-0.07

-0.71

-0.79

-10.80

3.1

102.25

10.47

-0.06

-0.71

-0.77

-10.62

3.2

103.13

9.41

-0.05

-0.71

-0.76

-10.46

3.3

103.92

8.36

-0.04

-0.71

-0.75

-10.33

3.4

104.60

7.33

-0.03

-0.71

-0.74

-10.20

3.5

105.18

6.31

-0.02

-0.71

-0.74

-10.10

3.6

105.66

5.30

-0.02

-0.71

-0.73

-10.01

3.7

106.04

4.30

-0.01

-0.71

-0.72

-9.94

3.8

106.32

3.30

-0.01

-0.71

-0.72

-9.88

3.9

106.50

2.31

0.00

-0.71

-0.72

-9.84

4

106.59

1.33

0.00

-0.71

-0.71

-9.81

4.1

106.57

0.35

0.00

-0.71

-0.71

-9.80

4.2

106.46

-0.63

0.00

-0.71

-0.71

-9.80

4.3

106.25

-1.61

0.00

-0.71

-0.71

-9.78

4.4

105.94

-2.59

0.00

-0.71

-0.71

-9.75

4.5

105.54

-3.56

0.01

-0.71

-0.71

-9.70

4.6

105.04

-4.53

0.01

-0.71

-0.70

-9.65

4.7

104.44

-5.50

0.02

-0.71

-0.70

-9.57

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4.8

103.75

-6.46

0.02

-0.71

-0.69

-9.49

4.9

102.96

-7.40

0.03

-0.71

-0.68

-9.39

102.08

-8.34

0.04

-0.71

-0.68

-9.28

101.11

-9.27

0.05

-0.71

-0.67

-9.15

5.2

100.04

-10.19

0.06

-0.71

-0.66

-9.02

5.3

98.89

-11.09

0.07

-0.71

-0.65

-8.88

5.4

97.65

-11.98

0.08

-0.71

-0.64

-8.72

5.5

96.32

-12.85

0.09

-0.71

-0.62

-8.56

5.6

94.91

-13.70

0.10

-0.71

-0.61

-8.39

5.7

93.41

-14.54

0.12

-0.71

-0.60

-8.21

5.8

91.84

-15.36

0.13

-0.71

-0.58

-8.03

5.9

90.18

-16.17

0.14

-0.71

-0.57

-7.84

6

88.45

-16.95

0.16

-0.71

-0.56

-7.64

6.1

86.64

-17.71

0.17

-0.71

-0.54

-7.44

6.2

84.76

-18.46

0.19

-0.71

-0.53

-7.24

6.3

82.80

-19.18

0.20

-0.71

-0.51

-7.04

6.4

80.78

-19.89

0.22

-0.71

-0.50

-6.83

6.5

78.69

-20.57

0.23

-0.71

-0.48

-6.62

6.6

76.53

-21.23

0.25

-0.71

-0.47

-6.41

6.7

74.32

-21.87

0.26

-0.71

-0.45

-6.21

6.8

72.04

-22.49

0.28

-0.71

-0.44

-6.00

6.9

69.70

-23.09

0.29

-0.71

-0.42

-5.79

7

67.30

-23.67

0.31

-0.71

-0.41

-5.59

7.1

64.85

-24.23

0.32

-0.71

-0.39

-5.39

7.2

62.35

-24.77

0.34

-0.71

-0.38

-5.19

7.3

59.79

-25.29

0.35

-0.71

-0.36

-5.00

7.4

57.19

-25.79

0.36

-0.71

-0.35

-4.80

7.5

54.54

-26.27

0.38

-0.71

-0.34

-4.62

7.6

51.85

-26.73

0.39

-0.71

-0.32

-4.43

7.7

49.11

-27.18

0.40

-0.71

-0.31

-4.25

7.8

46.33

-27.60

0.42

-0.71

-0.30

-4.08

7.9

43.51

-28.01

0.43

-0.71

-0.28

-3.91

8

40.65

-28.40

0.44

-0.71

-0.27

-3.74

8.1

37.75

-28.77

0.45

-0.71

-0.26

-3.58

8.2

34.82

-29.13

0.46

-0.71

-0.25

-3.43

8.3

31.86

-29.47

0.48

-0.71

-0.24

-3.27

8.4

28.86

-29.80

0.49

-0.71

-0.23

-3.13

8.5

25.84

-30.11

0.50

-0.71

-0.22

-2.99

8.6

22.78

-30.41

0.51

-0.71

-0.21

-2.85

8.7

19.70

-30.70

0.52

-0.71

-0.20

-2.72

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ROBERT COLEMAN ET AL

8.8

16.59

-30.97

0.52

-0.71

-0.19

-2.60

8.9

13.45

-31.23

0.53

-0.71

-0.18

-2.47

9

10.29

-31.48

0.54

-0.71

-0.17

-2.36

9.1

7.11

-31.71

0.55

-0.71

-0.16

-2.25

9.2

3.90

-31.94

0.56

-0.71

-0.16

-2.14

9.3

0.68

-32.15

0.57

-0.71

-0.15

-2.04

9.4

-2.57

-32.36

0.57

-0.71

-0.14

-1.94

Table 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; All Primary Data

Bibliography Knight, Randall D. Physics For Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach. 3rd edition. Glenview, IL: Pearson Education, Inc., 2013.

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IX Warnings from the Past to the Future

Campaign: Think Before You Borrow by jordan reeh †

“Like countless others before him, Daniel did not fully understand the financial responsibilities associated with attending college, nor did he have any idea which degree path he was to choose ...

Persuasive: Flyer

“Borrowing was easy, but Daniel was becoming much more aware of the long-term effects of borrowing thousands of dollars per semester that he was responsible for paying back.”

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† online content

After leaving his first run at college unfinished, Daniel painted houses to support himself and repay his student debts for years while trying to determine what he truly wanted to do in life. In this phase of his life, he established a formidable sense of comfort within his regular routine of painting to sustain a modest living, playing music, and trying to enjoy life. While Daniel worked hard to become a skilled painter and took great pride in his work, he never quite felt confident that painting was a career that he could live with for the remainder of his days. It took many years worth of experiences for him find his way.

THINK BEFORE YOU BORROW

Narrative: Short Story Daniel was an honest, humble, hard-working man, albeit very lost in his pursuit to find his niche. Daniel entered into life after high school by attending college, sans a great sense of direction.

Years before he became a painter, when Daniel was a young man fresh out of high school, he, like many others, was under a great deal of pressure to go to college, get a degree, and become a successful professional something-or-other who could be a proud contributor to the society in which he lived. He felt pressure from his parents, his older siblings, his high school teachers, and even his own psyche.

Like countless others before him, Daniel did not fully understand the financial responsibilities associated with attending college, nor did he have any idea which degree path he was to choose. This all seemed fine at the time, though, as he was encouraged by all to borrow now, worry later, and have a great time at college!

So it went, Daniel attended a large university for just over two years, testing the waters by enrolling in courses of all different disciplines, pursuing his quest to find himself (and possibly having a little too much fun along the way).

As his Sophomore year was coming to an end, it became clearer that time was running out for him to focus on a specific degree path, as he had completed almost all of his general studies requirements.

It was also around this time that Daniel had come to realize just how much money he was spending (borrowing, to be more precise) to attend college. His first yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cost of attendance was fortunately reduced by a Freshman-year academic scholarship, which did a lot to mask the true financial burden of attending a large university. After that first year, however, the free handouts came to an end, and taking out both Federal and private loans

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JORDAN REEH

became necessary for Daniel to cover all of the costs to continue attending his public, 4-year institution.

Borrowing was easy, but Daniel was becoming much more aware of the long-term effects of borrowing thousands of dollars per semester that he was responsible for paying back. His struggle to choose a career path was not improving, and his focus in class (and grades) were starting to suffer. Daniel desperately wanted to leave the university with a degree in hand; however, he was not ready to commit to two or more years of borrowing until he could be sure that he was making the right decisions for himself and his future.

It was then that he decided to take a step away from school in order to spend some more time thinking about his future. His hope was that in time, a career path that was just right for him would become clear. He decided that when the time came, he would return to school and finish his post-secondary education.

Daniel was now fully aware of the effects of borrowing for school, as he received his first invoice to begin repayment on his loans six months or so after leaving school. By this time, he had already started earning a modest wage as a painter, but was shocked by the amount of interest (in addition to the interest rates themselves) that his loans had already accrued.

Daniel was a man who did not like to carry debts of any kind, and it became almost an obsession for him to simultaneously work to sustain a living, repay his debts before incurring new ones, and continue to search through his soul in an effort to determine what he was to end up choosing for a career.

After painting five or more days a week for several years, Daniel was able to pay off, in its entirety, the private loan that he had borrowed during his first run in college. The interest rate for this private loan was a dreadful 14%, so it should come as no surprise that he took an aggressive interest in repaying this loan as quickly as he possibly could.

The only issue, though, was that Daniel was so focused on ridding his life of the burdens of his borrowing, he was not giving much thought to his career, nor was he able to justify any non-essential purchases or investments, such as a house, car, vacation, etc. He was earning enough as a painter to get by in a small rental house, making payments on his remaining federal loan (which held a much lower, but still disconcerting 7% interest rate), and indulging in his hobbies of playing music and enjoying a modest, yet humbly fun life.

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There did come a point, however, when Daniel grew weary and bored of painting houses every day. One fateful day, Daniel decided that he had painted enough houses, and he began to reflect on his previous unfinished goal to find a career for himself that he could be proud of and engaged in for the rest of his life.

Daniel had always been intrigued by health and medicine, and was always a person who gained a great deal of satisfaction from helping others. After putting two-and-two together, Daniel started to give serious consideration to pursuing a medical degree.

THINK BEFORE YOU BORROW

The sour end to his first run at college, in addition to the “comfort zone” he found himself in during this time period, were the primary factors that led Daniel to completely de-prioritize his quest to further his education for several years. Additionally, the same pressure and circumstance that caused delays in Daniel’s financial life events like buying a home also deterred him from continuing his education.

The turning point in Daniel’s life came to fruition when he found several highly regarded medical certification programs at a college near the house he was renting, and after a few weeks of research (combined with a serious dose of soul-searching), he finally decided that he was ready to start a new path toward becoming a radiologist! He was so excited by what he had found that he did not care what the short-term costs were, so long as he could establish a career for himself doing something he was truly passionate about.

Things worked out well for Daniel this time around, as he qualified for numerous grants to help pay for his second run at college! He was, however, confused as to why he was not given the opportunity to receive this free assistance the first time around. As it turned out, even though Daniel’s parents did not (and were not in a position to) help him pay for college, their incomes were just high enough to exclude Daniel from the “needbased” status required to receive any grants that were available during his initial attendance.

While he wished he could’ve been better informed the first time around, Daniel was very happy to be back in school, borrowing very minimally (sticking exclusively to the lowerinterest federal loans this time), and working toward a degree and career that he was confident would last him a lifetime.

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Informative: Newsletter

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THINK BEFORE YOU BORROW

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JORDAN REEH

THINK BEFORE YOU BORROW

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Artist’s Statement: Short Story, Flyer & Newsletter JORDAN REEH

For full content, please see the online version.

Artist’s Statement: Campaign With the total amount of student loan debt currently held

by Americans surpassing $1.2 trillion, how can a student in America not be concerned with my call to action, “Think Before You Borrow?” Tuition costs are on the rise, student loan interest rates are out of control, and students today are left with limited options when it comes to financing a higher education. It’s so easy to borrow now and worry later, but what kind of impact will this have on your future? Students carrying a high debt-to-income ratio after graduating have been shown to experience substantial delays in important financial life events like continuing education, purchasing a home or car, or taking an occasional vacation. The financial side of higher education in America has arguably succumbed to a noticeable level of corruption, and students need, now more than ever, to be informed about the financial decisions they make in their quest toward graduation.

I created this campaign as a means to spread awareness about the negative impacts that poor borrowing habits and being uneducated about your finances in college can have on your future. My target audience for this campaign is college students (with some specific focus on Red Rocks Community College students), who I want to inform about the best ways to go about handling the price tag for a degree, and encourage them to do their financial homework, and think before borrowing blindly.

The first piece I created, my narrative piece, started as a biographical short story about a man who has, like many of us, struggled with indecision about his education, which led to some bad financial decisions and created significant challenges to overcome. The story is meant to reach its readers on a personal level and inspire a feeling of connectedness to the underlying issue by taking on the perspective of someone who is significantly impacted by it. In addition to the personal connection drawn upon in the story, I also snuck in some statistics for a shock appeal factor, and to inspire some emotions from readers, getting them a little angry about the current systems in place for financing an education.

It took me a significant amount of time revising this piece to finalize a genre choice. The original draft was simply a paper, and I wanted to do something more creative with it as a final product, so I ended up deciding to create a short story in book form. I ended up taking the piece to a Kinkos and turned the boring paper into a 250 |

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The second piece of my campaign, my informative piece, is my newsletter. This piece was actually very easy to put together; at the time of creation, I had already done a lot of research and had already planned to create a newsletter, so it was honestly a matter of finding an attractive newsletter template and organizing all of my research in a way that would allow my audience to take something away from reading this piece. I relied heavily on shocking statistics, meaningful quotes, and the citation of recent, credible sources within the text to carry this piece, in conjunction with my own analysis and pieces of advice for the issues addressed. The statistics were an easy way to establish pathos, the quotes I pulled were largely logical suggestions from experts in the field of student finances, and the clear use of current, reliable sources was an easy way to establish ethos in the piece. This, I feel, is my strongest piece in the campaign, and it didn’t require too much revision, aside from some minor content tweaks. For the final package, I decided to do a frontand-back format on a nice glossy stock, giving it the feel of a professional newsletter.

THINK BEFORE YOU BORROW

nice little book. It’s fairly short and a quick read, but I believe this genre choice much more effectively reaches my audience than its original paper format, as it can be picked up and read just as a book, and I included significantly more line breaks in the book format, making it easily digestible.

The persuasive piece of my campaign, which I originally visualized as a banner ad or small flyer, was the most fun to create of the three compositions. I got more creative here than I had with the previous two compositions, and took a trip to my techy past with some Photoshopping. It had been a long while since I had experimented in Photoshop, but I recently was equipped with a copy of the software for work, so I couldn’t resist the urge to dabble. The beauty here lies in the fact that I had already visualized how I wanted the flyer to look before starting it, so it was just a matter of using technology to make what I had visualized a reality. I kept things pretty simple content-wise, and focused largely on visual appeals to attract my audience to my call to action. The revision phase for this piece was relatively painless, as well. I increased the size to 5” x 7” for the purpose of turning the final product into a postcard or desk-drop flyer, and reorganized the content in the piece to improve upon its readability.

--The order I chose to present my work ended up being narrative, persuasive, informative. I wanted to introduce my campaign with the personal connection of my short story, as I felt this was Claro

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the most effective way to get my audience to care about what I have to say. Once that connection is made, I go to the pathos piece, the flyer, which gets readers hooked by showing some truly shocking statistics about the current state of financing an education. From there, I rely on my informative piece to carry the campaign home. My newsletter has the most information, outlines the whole financial process of paying for school, poses tips and suggestions for making the process as easy and painless as possible, and reassures my audience that paying for college doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be hard if you do it wisely.

My persuasive piece may have been the most fun of the three individual compositions, but the most fun I had throughout the whole process was creating the packaging. As soon as we started discussing the multi-genre presentation and packaging concepts, I knew that a giant billfold was the perfect way to creatively wrap up all three of my pieces in a way that complements the campaign as a whole. On top of being an effective and relevant container for my compositions, it, in itself, almost feels like a separate composition. The giant wallet can represent the massive amount of money involved in paying for school, and could inspire my audience to really think about how important it is to take their financial decisions in college seriously. Fortunately, with the way I planned, designed, and created the wallet, it essentially doubles as a giant folder. I even customized the pockets to arrange the pieces left to right, the order in which I wished to present them!

I am confident that the work I have done on this campaign will reach my fellow students in this class; however, I hope that it will carry on further than this one classroom. I plan to, at the very least, share the newsletter and flyer I created with my friends and family who are still in, or will eventually be in college. Ultimately, it is up to Congress to reform the poor policies and standards 252 |

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References: Narrative “Debt-to-Income Ratio Internal Study.” Iowa Student Loan Feb. 2011. Web. 1 Sept. 2014. <http://www.studentloan.org/Docs/ Research/Debt-to-Income-Ratio-Internal-Study-Report. pdf>.

Edwards, Haley Sweetland. “Elizabeth Warren and Suze Orman Call for Student Debt Reform.” Time. Time, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

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that have caused corruption in our education system. In the meantime, though, I truly believe that knowledge is power, and if we can, even one student at a time, become more informed on the best practices for tackling the costs of college, we can be better off in the long run by avoiding the burdens of borrowing to the best of our abilities.

References: Persuasive Bankrate.com. (2014, October 29). Federal Discount Rate.

Bankrate.com. Retrieved from <http://www.bankrate.com/ rates/interest-rates/federal-discount-rate.aspx>.

Denhart, C. (2013, August 7). “How the $1.2 trillion college debt crisis is crippling students, parents and the economy.”

Forbes. Retrieved from <http://www.forbes.com/sites/ specialfeatures/2013/08/07/how-the-college-debt-iscrippling-students-parents-and-the-economy/>.

Kantrowitz, M. (2014). “Interest rates and fees on federal Stafford loans.” StaffordLoan.com. Retrieved from <http://www. staffordloan.com/stafford-loan-info/interest-rates.php>.

Lewin, T. (2012, September 29). “Education department report shows more borrowers defaulting on student loans.” The New York Times. Retrieved from <http://www.nytimes. com/2012/09/29/education/report-shows-more-borrowsdefaulting-on-student-loans.html?_r=0>.

Photos “Pile of 100 dollar bills.” Retrieved from <http://patdollard.com/ wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Pile-of-100-dollar-bills-jpg600x350.jpg>.

References: Informative Block, S. (2014). The Right Way To BORROW FOR COLLEGE. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 88(11), 54-59.

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Colorado Department of Higher Education (2014).Colorado Student Financial Assistance. State of Colorado. Retrieved from <http://highered.colorado.gov/finance/financialaid/ typesofstate aidavailable.html>.

Edwards, H. S. (2014, September 17). Elizabeth Warren and Suze Orman Call for Student Debt Reform. Time. Retrieved from <http://time.com/3393630/elizabeth-warren-suze-orman2016-student-debt/>.

Federal Student Aid. (2014). Federal Pell Grants. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from <https://studentaid.ed.gov/ types/grants-scholarships/pell>.

Federal Student Aid. (2014, September 21). FAFSA Help. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from <https://fafsa. ed.gov/help.htm>.

Pitsker, K. (2014). How Much Is Too Much?. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 88(11), 59. RRCC Foundation. (n.d). Scholarship Program.

Red Rocks Community College Foundation. Retrieved from <http://www.rrcc.edu/foundation/scholarship-programs>.

Photos “Keep calm and file your FAFSA.” Generated at <http://www. keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/>.”College Pig Stock Photo.”

Retrieved from <http://theinstitute.ieee.org/people/students/ free-money-to-help-finance-an-engineering-education >.

Annotated Bibliography Bankrate.com. (2014, October 29). Federal discount rate. Bankrate, Inc. Retrieved from <http://www.bankrate.com/rates/ interest-rates/federal-discount-rate.aspx>.

This source is a simple, short, and straight-to-the-point statistic page about the “federal discount rate.” The federal discount rate, similar to what is known as the “discount window,” is an extremely low interest rate offered to eligible financial institutions, usually big banks, when they borrow directly from the Federal Reserve. Bankrate has been involved in financial publishing for three decades. This source was useful for me as a means to illustrate the difference between the interest rate at which big banks can borrow money and the interest rate that college students are stuck with.

Block, S. (2014). The Right Way to BORROW FOR COLLEGE. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 88(11), 54-59.

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Colorado Department of Higher Education (2014). Colorado Student Financial Assistance. State of Colorado. Retrieved from <http://highered.colorado.gov/finance/financialaid/types ofstateaidavailable.html>.

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This article identifies that borrowing happens, and while it is not an ideal situation to be in debt, there are some ways to do it wisely. The article defines and presents pros and cons for each of the different types of student loans: Stafford, subsidized v. unsubsidized, etc. I found this source through Ebsco Host, a reputable academic journal article search engine, and it was featured in an issue of Kiplingerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Personal Finance. I found this source useful for its solid definitions of the different kinds of loans in addition to its great, powerful quotations.

This official webpage of the State of Colorado provides information about the entire process of financing a higher education. It begins with the FAFSA process, describes some different kinds of financial aid available to Coloradans, estimates the costs of attending college, and more. The site should be recognized as a credible source because it is an official State of Colorado source. I found this source to be useful, mainly in my informative piece, because of the extensive information it provides.

Denhart, C. (2013, August 7). How the $1.2 trillion college debt crisis is crippling students, parents and the economy.

Forbes. Retrieved from <http://www.forbes.com/sites/special features/2013/08/07/how-the-college-debt-is-cripplingstudents-parents-and-the-economy/>.

This Forbes article opens with some shocking statistics about the current status of student debt in America, in addition to some worst-case figures that really got me interested via a strong appeal of pathos. The article features sections on the total cost of student debt, federal versus private loans, debt at community colleges, and offers a couple of options for resolution. Forbes is a credible source when it comes to all things financial, and the article even references other studies in the appropriate context, which establishes the authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ethos. I found this source useful mainly as a means to acquire some shocking statistics, namely the current total of $1.2 trillion in student debt.

Edwards, H. S. (2014, September 17). Elizabeth Warren and Suze Orman Call for Student Debt Reform.

Time.

Retrieved from <http://time.com/3393630/ elizabeth-warren-suze-orman-2016-student-debt/>.

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This Time article effectively summarizes Elizabeth Warren’s stance and attempts to initiate student-debt reform. She is a passionate Congresswoman with a plan, whose righteousness attracted the attention of Suze Orman as a partner to her cause.

The author remains neutral by acknowledging the opposition, in this case the Republican members of Congress who oppose reform, which establishes the author’s ethos and builds credibility. It’s useful primarily for its presentation of shocking statistics about how much money the government makes off student loan interest, the lack of forgiveness of student-debt even in circumstances of bankruptcy or death, and the high interest rates that students are offered versus the incredibly low rates offered to big banks on Wall Street.

Federal Student Aid. (2014). Federal Pell Grants. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from <https:// studentaid.ed.gov/types/grants-scholarships/pell>.

This USDE webpage is very short and to the point, and offers some statistics about Federal Pell Grants. Most notably, it presents the 2014 amount offered to students, and the qualifications to receive the grant. This source is credible because of its publication on the US Department of Education’s domain.

I found this useful in my informative piece to visualize just how much free money students can get, simply by filing a FAFSA. Federal Student Aid. (2014, September 21). FAFSA Help. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from <https://fafsa.ed.gov/ help.htm>.

This USDE webpage is essentially an FAQ page for the FAFSA. Tons of commonly asked questions about federal financial aid are answered, including ones concerning eligibility, amounts, terms, important dates, and more. This source is credible, like the above, because of its publication on the US Department of Education’s domain. I found this source useful, mostly for my informative piece, due to the amount of great information that I was able to gather about the financial aid process, which translated into meaningful tips for my informative piece.

Iowa Student Loan (2011, February). Debt-to-Income Ratio Internal Study. StudentLoan.org. Retrieved from <http://www. studentloan.org/Docs/Research/Debt-to-Income-RatioInternal-Study-Report.pdf>.

This extensive study, executed by Iowa Student Loan, defines the “debt-to-income ratio” as the amount of debt a student graduates with compared to their income after college. Students

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Kantrowitz, M. (2014). Interest rates and fees on federal Stafford loans. StaffordLoan.com. Retrieved from <http://www. staffordloan.com/stafford-loan-info/interest-rates.php>.

THINK BEFORE YOU BORROW

with higher debt-to-income ratios were found to be delayed in future lifetime spending events like vacations, furthering education, and the purchasing of homes and cars. The study came to fruition after the Iowa Student Loan board of directors approved a task force on student loan indebtedness to gather this information so that Iowa Student Loan could take action to help lower student debt in Iowa. I found this study useful in my narrative, via paraphrasing and summarizing, to illustrate the effects that carrying debt can have on a student’s future after college, with specific regard to how they handle important lifetime purchases.

This site provides plentiful statistics about Stafford Loans, including average rates and year-over-year statistics since the 1990s. Information is also presented about repayment periods, loan fees, and how much you’ll end up paying after all is said and done. This is a credible source because it is the official domain for Stafford Loans, and Stafford Loans are the most common form of government student loans. I found this source to be useful to my project for its accurate representation of current Stafford Loan rate figures.

Lewin, T. (2012, September 29). Education department report shows more borrowers defaulting on student loans. The New York Times. Retrieved from <http://www.nytimes. com/2012/09/29/education/report-shows-more-borrowsdefaulting-on-student-loans.html?_r=0>.

This New York Times article reports on the shocking number of students whose outstanding student loans are going into a default status. The appeal of pathos is apparent immediately, when the article opens by reporting an increase to 13.4% last year in the amount of students whose loans went into default within the first three years of their repayment. This was a credible source due to its placement in the New York Times and the author’s use of in-text links to official government sources. I found the source useful in my persuasive piece to demonstrate the shocking amount of student loans that end up in default.

Pitsker, K. (2014). How Much Is Too Much? Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 88(11), 59.

I found this short article insert while perusing the pages of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance that surrounded “The Right Way to BORROW FOR COLLEGE,” another article from the publication Claro

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that I used as a source. This article reports that many students over-borrow for school, and offers tips to avoid letting this happen. The author credits the suggestions presented to a Mark Kantrowitz, the senior vice-president and publisher of Edvisors. com, building upon the credibility of the author and the article.

I found the source useful to my informative piece to present the suggestion offered by Kantrowitz to attempt to limit the total amount one borrows in proportion to their estimated salary once they enter the workforce.

RRCC Foundation. (n.d). Scholarship Program. Red Rocks Community College Foundation. Retrieved from <http://www. rrcc.edu/foundation/scholarship-programs>.

The RRCC Foundation webpage provides information about the Foundation and its scholarship program. It gives contact information, a background on the number of students and amount of aid it has provided since its creation, and answers to commonly asked questions about the foundation and program.

This is a credible source due to its publication on the official RRCC domain, and due to its helpful and honest nature. I found this source useful for my informative piece to provide RRCC students with information about free money they can receive from RRCC for their educational costs.

Photos “College Pig Stock Photo.” Retrieved from <http://theinstitute. ieee.org/people/students/free-money-to-help-finance-anengineering-education>.

This is a cute stock photo of a “college student piggy bank.” I thought it was an effective way to delicately draw on pathos and “lighten up the mood” around educational costs.

“Keep calm and file your FAFSA.” Generated at <http://www. keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/>.

This photo was a meme created in the “Keep Calm…” realm, designed to appeal to the pathos and logos of viewers, encouraging them that everything will be okay, and to take things one step at a time.

“Pile of 100 dollar bills.” Retrieved from <http://patdollard.com/ wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Pile-of-100-dollar-bills-jpg600x350.jpg>.

This photo, the background for my persuasive piece, is designed to draw on pathos and get viewers thinking about money.

The background image sets the tone for the piece, which is simply: MONEY.

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The Biggest Irony of Democratic India: Child Labor by prakriti jha † Please also visit our website rrcc.edu/claro to watch Jha’s video on the same topic.

8,422 miles directly Southeast of the United States lies the largest democracy of the modern world, “the Republic of India.” The country is well-known for its rich historical journey and massive cultural diversity. It got independence on the 15th of August, 1947. And since then it is one of the most rapidly developing countries of the world.

Large-scale modern projects started to change the faces of all Indian cities. Amenities like skyscrapers, business centers, high-tech schools and colleges, hospitals, etc. helped to build the pathway of development for urban India and its vast population.

The statistics show by 2020, average individuals in India will be twenty-nine, which means India is set to become the youngest country (Shivkumar). The government is also trying to reform

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the law to provide all kinds of aid to the children who will make this future youthful population.

Unfortunately, the changes that the government is making are limited to a handful of the population. The other side of the coin is the poverty-stricken rural India. This part of India accounts for most of the child labor currently plaguing India, and all its exploitation scenarios. Every day millions of kids in different parts of India leave their homes in the morning. Almost half of them go to school; however, more than half go to work. These children are forced to work to earn money and provide support to their family. Most of these children are largely employed in hotels, tea shops, factories, as house cleaners, baby sitters, etc. I come from a small town in rural India where the poverty, illiteracy, and corruption rates are touching the sky. I also spent a couple of years in the capital city of India, New Delhi. I saw one thing in common in both my hometown and New Delhi: little kids picking up trash on roads, in dumping yards, outside hotels or behind malls. In India they say, children are the future of the country… I saw the future of India in a dumping yard picking up trash.

The preceding photo reveals the truth behind the efforts that the Indian government is making to provide a better future to kids. It’s more than a picture of three kids working in a dumping yard. It symbolizes the irony of today’s developing India. The picture looks very colorful with all the green, orange, and red, but ironically it shows the darker side of developing India. The poignant photo captures three little kids (there are likely many more not shown) on a hot sunny day working in the dumping yard. The place seems very unhygienic and nasty, where not one of us would like to go, especially with the sun’s killing heat.

Not a single kid in the photo is wearing shoes or gloves to protect their feet and hands. They know their work. Their goal is to fill at least four trash bags with plastic and papers. And after that, they have to sell it to the recycling factories. They are on a trash mountain to dig out one day’s meal for themselves and their families. After burning the whole day in the searing Indian sun, these children earn Rs10 ($ 0.20 cents) for trash bags, which is equal to nothing. What will they get with .20 cents? We can see this “nothing” in the visual. How these kids’ bones are sticking out of their skins in the hot sun. It’s malnutrition. That’s why UNICEF’s data says that one-third of malnourished children live in India (“Nutrition”).

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What this 2-D photo can’t show is the smell of the dumping yard and the hotness of the weather. I have experienced both.

The Indian summer burns thousands of homeless people. They die in the summer season from lack of food and water. And we can smell the trash cans within a week at our homes. Imagine how bad the smell could be of that dumping yard where people dump trash every day.

THE BIGGEST IRONY

bags on their shoulders, they have trash bags in their hand. The time when they should be carelessly playing and enjoying their lives, they are forcefully sent to earn money. There’s a cow in the picture, too. In India, both cows and children are considered a form of God. The icons of God in every culture are kept or placed in a neat and clean part of the home or temple or church. While entering temples in India, people leave their shoes outside the gate, because they’re dirty. It’s really ironic that the two god figures in this photo are in a dumping yard.

The horizontal lines of the photo imply continuation. If we look carefully, there is a hand on the right bottom corner. This photo here is a very little part of a very intense issue of child labor. The picture is larger than anybody’s imagination: Two out of every three working children are physically abused. Over 50 percent of children were being subjected to one or another form of physical abuse. 50.2 percent children worked seven days a week. 53.22 percent children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse. Actually, 60 million Indian children are child laborers (“Over 60 Million child laborers in India”) The curse of child labor has penetrated into the roots of Indian society. Sometimes these kids find some coins or bills in the trash and that day is equal to Christmas for them. I remember an incident from my childhood. My brother and I were playing when two really thin girls came to our gate. They asked for water, but my mother also gave them food and some proper clothes to wear. They left saying that it was the best day of their life.

Every year the government enforces thousands of laws and regulations in the country to eliminate child labor. But this picture doesn’t change, it is a constant. Who knows? Maybe, those papers of rules and regulation are in this dumping yard with all the other trash. These kids are selling their future to recycling factories every day. The irony is that these kids don’t even know about their rights. They are flowing in the river thinking it’s their destiny. Hopefully, a morning of changes will come to their lives.

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will come to enlighten their minds and souls. They’ll get proper love and care like many of us got when we were kids. Hopefully one day Lord Ganesha will put his blessing hands on these kids and will change their lives.

Works Cited “Happy Children’s Day India.” Digital Image. numerounity.com.

Web. 9 Sep 2014.

“Over 60 Million Child Laborers in India.” Indiantribune.com. 2012.

Web. 9 Sep 2014.

“Nutrition.” UNICEF.org. UNICEF India - The Children Nutrition.

Web. 9 Sep 2014.

Shivkumar, Girja. “India is set to become the youngest country by 2020.” The Hindu. 17 April .2013. Web. 9 Sep 2014.

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Generation of Hope: A Look at Today’s North Korea

by emily johnson † Introduction I was thirteen years old on a school trip to Washington, DC, when I first realized there were truly terrible things happening in the world. Our group went to The Holocaust Museum and I was overcome with sorrow and anger upon learning what people are capable of doing to each other. I had read The Diary of Anne Frank in elementary school, but it wasn’t real to me until I was standing there in the infamous shoe room. I’ll never forget the smell of the leather or the way I felt when I saw the piles of shoes and realized all of those people were murdered for no reason. That experience flipped a switch for me and I’ve been trying to fight for human rights since then.

The last 10 years of my life have been spent studying the Korean language and culture with the intent to move to Seoul after I finish college. I’ve always known the situation in North Korea is bad, but I didn’t know just how bad until I started doing research a few years ago. This year, the UN commissioned a report that calls the violations of human rights in North Korea crimes against humanity, and that says people there have endured “unspeakable atrocities” in “a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world” (“World Must Act”).

The report mentions babies being killed for being ethnically impure, stunted growth in children from preventable starvation, and prison camps that resemble Nazi death camps, among many other things (Freeman). Just last month the UN voted in favor of referring the human-rights situation in North Korea to the ICC in order to hold the leadership accountable for their violations (Yoon).

During my research, I realized two important things. First, many people don’t even know such large-scale human-rights violations are happening in North Korea right now. I did a survey for a class last year asking students what they knew about North Korea, and more than half of them only knew about the nuclear crisis, if they knew anything at all. In my daily life, I talk to people who know nothing about the North-Korean humanitarian crisis † online content

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all the time. Secondly, I discovered that I know quite a few people who still have family in North Korea that they haven’t had contact with in years. These are real families who have been split apart by the DMZ, who don’t know what kind of torture might be happening to their loved ones on the other side, and most of the world does not know or care about it at all.

This project came out of a need to do something to change that, but in order to do something, I needed to know what could even be done. That’s when I found Liberty in North Korea. They are a humanitarian organization that rescues North-Korean refugees from China and helps them relocate and start a new life (“Refugee Rescues”). Through their work with refugees, a lot more stories about the atrocities happening in North Korea are coming out, and everyone who wants to help can help by donating or organizing a fundraiser to rescue more refugees.

One of the most famous and outspoken North-Korean refugees today is Yeonmi Park, whose story I first discovered because of Liberty in North Korea. Park was named one of BBC’s 100 Women of 2014 for her work as an activist (“Who Are the 100 Women”).

Park often talks about the younger “Black Market Generation” in North Korea as the generation that is already starting to change things because they are not as loyal to the Kim regime as earlier generations. She says this generation has more access to technology and outside media than previous generations, and they are also more capitalistic and individualistic because they grew up with the private market system (Park).

I started with my short fictional piece from the perspective of someone trying to escape North Korea because it is the most unconventional piece and it will hopefully grab the reader’s attention. Tumblr is full of this kind of original writing, so it should draw the Tumblr user into my project. I posted an infographic with details about prison camps in North Korea next because it is my only visual piece and should continue drawing the reader’s attention. My last piece is an editorial calling for action against the human-rights violations in North Korea. I put this piece last because the end of the editorial calls the reader to action and gives them something they can do to help. I hope that by reading through the first two pieces, they already want to help and are asking themselves what they can do, so ending with something tangible is like the period at the end of a sentence. It also lets me leave the project on a note of hope, even though it is a heavy topic. With this project, I hope readers will be better informed of the situation in North Korea and will be compelled to do what they can to change it.

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Narrative GENERATION OF HOPE

THOUGHTS BEFORE THE END (OR BEGINNING)

By Emily Johnson It’s almost dark again. Cold. I don’t know how many days I’ve been hiding here, waiting for clouds to cover the moon to make it dark enough to step out into the open. Hiding from the armed border guards. Waiting for my chance to silently inch my way down to the river to swim to freedom, to cross the border from North Korea into China. I can’t even remember the last time I ate. Food seems like a fictional memory. Hunger is reality.

How did I get here? I keep asking myself because my thoughts are active even though I must be still. When did it all go wrong? I guess that is the wrong question. It has always been wrong, but it took me a long time to realize it. I didn’t question the government when the food distribution dwindled and eventually stopped. Even when the bodies started piling up outside the clinic at the train station, we didn’t talk about a problem. Father would leave for a few days and come back with some rice or cabbage or maybe even some meat. He didn’t tell us where he went, but we ate happily, Father and Mother and I. We didn’t have it as bad as a lot of people.

More people started dying. There were bodies in the street then, too. I lost many friends. People started doing desperate things for food. People who stole or who were caught raising animals illegally were sometimes executed on the Claro

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street. We were all made to stand and watch. We weren’t allowed to look away, even as they were shot and blood painted the street. We were all told that they were enemies of the state and they deserved this death and public humiliation.

There were rumors of people cooking parts of corpses and eating them. I once saw a man on the street eating a rat alive, blood dripping down his face, a crazed look in his eye.

I thought this kind of life was all there is. I never knew anything different. I was born into a world where people were always hungry. I was only ever told that the outside world was hell and this was heaven. I was only ever told that following the rules was the only way to keep the outsiders from taking our heaven away. I didn’t know anything of the outside world except for what was taught to me. I only knew what teachers and textbooks and loudspeakers said. I never saw anything for myself. I didn’t want to. If this was heaven, I didn’t want to know what hell was like.

I remember the first time I watched Titanic at my friend’s house. We knew that watching foreign movies was very risky, and if someone told on us, both of our families could just disappear overnight. It had happened to a kid in school for drawing on the Great Leader’s photo in his textbook.

But we were careful with the movies we watched, hiding under a thick blanket with the small television and the volume almost all the way down so we had to strain our necks to hear and watch at the same time. We watched Pretty Woman and Cinderella. We watched South-Korean movies. I could not believe the freedom people had. They could dress the way they wanted. They had food. They could sing and dance. They could choose their own path in life. This was not the outside world our leaders talked about.

When my father was arrested for illegal trading, I realized why we had more food than other people around us. He was trading pieces of coal he took from his job at the mine for food. They took him to a camp. There was nothing we could do. I didn’t think I would ever see him again. For the first

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Without my father to bring us food, the effects of starvation set in quickly. We scrounged everything we could, but there was nothing left to find. We traded everything we ever owned. My mother became very ill. I tried to get the doctor to see her, but I had nothing left to give him for payment. She died suddenly in the night. Everything I ever cared about was gone.

GENERATION OF HOPE

time, I was angry. He was feeding his family in the only way he could. He was keeping us all alive, and he was punished for it. This was the first time I questioned our government.

They would rather have us all die of starvation than defy them to find food on our own even though they aren’t giving us any anymore.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew I had to get out or I would soon follow my mother into death. I knew there was food in China. I lived in Hyesan, so it wasn’t too far to the border.

Just over three mountains and across the river, and there will be food. It’s the mantra I kept repeating on the hike up here. There will be food in the end, and freedom, like I saw in the movies.

I’ve heard the bad stories, too, of the people who didn’t make it across. Those who were shot down trying to cross the river. Those who were captured and taken to a camp.

Those who were captured and tortured to death. There were also stories of people who made it but said it really was hell out there. Those women who were raped or sold as slaves.

The stories sneak past the border guards like phantoms.

It is still getting darker, and tonight is finally cloudy. Have I made a huge mistake? Surely I can’t go home now. They would have realized what I’m doing and I’d be taken to a camp anyway. I could just lay here and die. It wouldn’t take much longer, I’m sure. Would they ever find my body? Would anyone even care that I’m gone? Would anyone notice?

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No. I’ve come this far, and I have to at least try. For my father. For my mother. For all the executions I’ve witnessed and all the bodies I’ve seen. I have to get to freedom, if there is such a thing. Even if it is really hell out there, I will see it for myself.

It’s dark enough now. It is time to go. Will it be to freedom or to my death?

Carefully, quietly, I take a step out onto the riverbank.

Note: This is a work of fiction based upon details from real stories found here, here, here, here, and here. #North Korea #DPRK #Human Rights #Refugees #Fiction

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Informative: Infographic GENERATION OF HOPE

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Note: The Holocaust is known to have lasted for 12 years, but exact dates for the length of North Korean prison camps and Soviet Gulags are unknown/disputed. The comparison chart was based on the known 12-year length of the Holocaust and a statistic from Liberty in North Korea stating that the prison camps, “…have existed five times as long as the Nazi concentration camps and twice as long as the Soviet Gulags.” The rest of the info comes from here, here, and here. #North Korea #DPRK #Human Rights #Prison Camp #Infographic

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Persuasive GENERATION OF HOPE

UNTIL THEN, WE NEED TO KEEP TALKING

By Emily Johnson With nearly constant talk of nuclear weapons and rumors surrounding the sudden disappearance of Kim Jong Un, it is easy to miss the larger issue going on in North Korea.

According to a Freedom House report for 2014, North Korea ranks among the worst places in the world regarding civil liberties and political rights. The report states that there is no freedom of religion, assembly, education, or even movement within the country. The government also controls every form of media within the country, as well as blocking foreign media and most international communications. The justice system in North Korea includes prison and labor camps, public executions, and a system where entire families can be punished for the suspected crime of an individual.

In February, the UN Human Rights Council released a report calling the human rights abuses in North Korea crimes against humanity. According to the report, hundreds of thousands of people in prison camps have â&#x20AC;&#x153;died in unspeakable atrocitiesâ&#x20AC;? in the last fifty years. Other testimonies from prison camp escapees say that prisoners often die from starvation and hard labor, and prisoners report on each other for rewards from guards. Some of Claro

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the stories tell of physical torture, and one woman reports witnessing guards forcing another woman to drown her newborn infant in a bowl of water.

But this is only part of the story.

The young Black Market Generation in North Korea is already making changes. According to Yeonmi Park, an activist who escaped North Korea in 2007, there are three reasons this generation will be the one to make permanent changes in North Korea. First, this generation is not as devoted to the leadership as previous generations.

Secondly, they have more access to outside information than previous generations because of the private market.

Finally, because they grew up with the private market, this generation is more capitalistic and individualistic than previous generations.

So what does a young, individualistic person who has access to outside information and no devotion to the leadership of the country do? They escape, if they can, but this has its own problems. Yeonmi Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s escape story is no different than many others. Crossing the border was the easiest part of the journey, but getting out of China without being caught and sent back was much more difficult. Many people try to leave in order to make a better life, only to be caught and sent back to a political prison camp.

We, as free humans, cannot sit by and watch this blatant disregard for basic human rights happen any longer. No one should be subjected to this kind of torture, fear, and forced devotion to a totalitarian government system, and no one should be punished for trying to escape it.

With such a large-scale problem, you might be wondering what you can even do to help. First, we need to change the way we talk about North Korea, and put the focus on the people there. When we only focus on the wrongdoings of the government, it is easy to forget that there are real

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Second, we need to talk about the issue as much as we can, wherever we can, to whomever we can. We need to make the freedom of the North Korean people an issue that no one can ignore or claim ignorance to. We need to talk about it until everyone is talking about it.

But if you want to do more than just talk, helping to sponsor a refugee rescue with an organization like Liberty in North Korea is the best way to help right now. So many people who escaped into China are still stuck there because they can’t get the proper documentation to leave, and life in China is even more difficult than life in North Korea for many of them.

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people living normal lives that need help to get the freedom that all humans should be allowed. We need to share the real stories of the real people of North Korea.

It doesn’t take much money to get a refugee out of China and into a new life, and every rescue adds another story that we can talk about. Hopefully soon we’ll have enough stories that even the government in North Korea won’t be able to deny them anymore, and then the real change can start.

Until then, we need to keep talking. #North Korea #DPRK #Human Rights #Liberty in North Korea #Editorial

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Writer’s Statement With this project, I hope to inform the audience about the human-rights situation in North Korea, and then compel them to do something about it. My target audience for the project is the young generation outside North Korea, specifically the Tumblr user, and my goal is to empower them to stand beside the young Black Market Generation in North Korea that is already making changes. Tumblr is a micro-blogging website that allows users to share original content or continue sharing other content by re-blogging. People use Tumblr for sharing everything from original writing and art, personal blog posts, celebrity photos, and funny cat gifs, to nail art, adult content, and yes, even news and current events. Tumblr is most popular with people between 18 and 29 years old (Costill).

I’ve been using Tumblr for a few years, and most of the really meaningful content I’ve seen about current events and world issues have come from Tumblr or have been reposted there.

That’s why I chose to post my project on my personal Tumblr blog. My audience is our young generation, and the best way to reach them is in a format they already know. The following pieces look exactly as they would on my Tumblr blog, including my blog’s header, hypertext links for sources, hashtags so anyone searching for related topics can find my project, and a footer after each piece showing when it was posted, how many notes it has (interactions other people have made with the content), and buttons to either like or re-blog the content.

The purpose of my first piece is to give a glimpse at the difficulty of life in North Korea, the dangers of escaping, and the reasons why more people don’t try to escape. I used a fictional short story expressing someone’s thoughts as they were about to attempt to escape North Korea by crossing the river into China because it allowed me to show the emotion and uncertainty of that person and also give some information about the situation that caused them to want to leave in the first place. This piece gives an overview of the situation in a way that should emotionally connect the reader to the issue, and the reader should hopefully already be forming the opinion that something should be done.

The purpose of my second piece is to inform the reader about some of the horrible punishments that happen in the prison camps and also to give some sense of scale to the topic. I chose to create an infographic because it allowed me to show a visual comparison of the duration of different prison/labor camps with which readers would probably be familiar. The infographic mode also allowed me to emphasize different reported facts by arranging them in individual bubbles on the page, which makes

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There are several purposes for my last piece. First, I wanted to inform the reader about the current official ruling of the situation in North Korea as crimes against humanity, as well as the ways the younger generation is changing things, and some of the difficulties involved with trying to escape. Another purpose was to make a clear statement that the human-rights abuses are wrong and need to stop. My final purpose was to make the reader want to do something to help, and then to give them the first steps in order to do so.

GENERATION OF HOPE

them easier to read than they would be in paragraph format.

This piece gives detailed information about more horrible things happening in North Korea, and it should hopefully strengthen the reader’s opinion that these atrocities need to stop.

Organizing the pieces this way was how I tried to establish logos with the project. I started with broad information with my narrative piece and added more specific information with my informative piece. Then with my persuasive piece, I started by talking about the UN Human Rights Council report from February of this year, which calls the human-rights abuses in North Korea “unspeakable atrocities” in order to give the reader a sense of time within all of this information (“World Must Act”). After that, I make a clear statement that the human rights abuses are terrible and need to stop. My hope is that the reader already came to this conclusion because of the way I structured the project like a funnel going down to a point. If they have come to this conclusion, they should already be excited to read the suggestions about how to help at the end of the last article, and that excitement will make them more likely to actually do something.

I tried to establish ethos in the project by using the most reliable sources I could find. I used a lot of accounts from NorthKorean defectors. One of the accounts I used in my informative piece is from former guard Ahn Myung-Chol who witnessed dogs attacking children in one of the prison camps. According to Ahn, three of the children died instantly and the other two were buried alive (Mackay). I also used reports from reputable organizations and a variety of different news outlets. One of the reports I used in my persuasive piece was from Freedom House, an organization that ranks countries based on freedom.

According to their report, North Korea’s freedom status is “Not Free” and it scored 0 out of all possible points in categories like “Rule of Law,” “Freedom of Expression and Belief,” and “Political Pluralism and Participation” (“Freedom in the World”).

Pathos was the most important rhetorical appeal for this project, because people will not act upon something they don’t Claro

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connect to emotionally. I implemented pathos throughout the project by using emotionally stirring language. Even in my informative piece, I say some of the prisoners are “merely guilty by association,” instead of just saying they are guilty by association because it adds emotional impact. I also talk about Yeonmi Park throughout the project so the reader would feel a specific connection to a real person. I even used some details from Park’s story as inspiration for my narrative piece. For example, Park’s father was arrested for illegally trading in order to feed his family (“I am a North Korean Millennial”).

I also tried to use pathos with my writing style. For the narrative piece, I left out a lot of details about the actual character because I wanted the character to be believable but still vague enough to be anyone. At the same time, I used a lot more detail with the harsh circumstances to make those seem very real. With the persuasive piece, I also used a lot of short sentences and repetitive language in the call to action at the end in order to try to evoke excitement from the reader. Another big way I tried to use pathos in my informative piece was by comparing North-Korean prison camps to other events with which readers will probably already have an emotional connection. I read a statistic from Liberty in North Korea stating that the prison camps, “…have existed five times as long as the Nazi concentration camps and twice as long as the Soviet Gulags” (“The People’s Challenges”). I decided to make a graph to show this visually.

My ultimate goal with this project is to give the audience enough information to make them want to help, then to give them a way to do that. For me, creating this project is my way of doing exactly what I suggest–talking about the issue as much as I can, wherever I can, to whomever I can. The next step will be fundraising for refugees, and I hope my audience will join me.

Works Cited Costill, Albert. “50 Things You Should Know About Tumblr.”

Search Engine Journal. N.p., 09 Jan. 2014. Web. 03 Nov. 2014. <http://www.searchenginejournal.com/50-things-knowtumblr/84595/>.

“Freedom in the World - North Korea.” Freedom House. Freedom House, 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. <https://freedomhouse.org/ report/freedom-world/2014/north-korea-0#.VF5YzIe9UXy>.

Freeman, Colin. “Eight Reasons Why North Korea Should Be Charged with Crimes against Humanity.” The Telegraph.

Telegraph Media Group, 28 Sept. 0018. Web. 30 Nov. 2014. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/

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northkorea/11238975/Eight-reasons-why-North-Koreashould-be-charged-with-crimes-against-humanity.html>.

“Kim Jong Un Disappears from Public Eye amid Illness Rumors.”

New York Post. N.p., 9 Oct. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. <http:// nypost.com/2014/10/09/kim-jong-un-disappears-frompublic-eye-amid-illness-rumors/>.

Kim, Joo Il, and Tabitha Lasley. “’I Realized I’d Been Brainwashed’: The North Korean Defector Living in London.” VICE. Vice Media Inc., 20 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.vice. com/read/the-north-korean-defector-living-in-london>.

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I Am a North Korean Millennial. Perf. Yeonmi Park. YouTube. Liberty In North Korea, 10 July 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=uDXkdjx7VAE>.

Mackay, Don. “North Korea: Children Savaged to DEATH by Dogs and Others Buried Alive in Regime Concentration Camps.”

Mirror. N.p., 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2014. <http://www. mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/north-korean-death-campschildren-3184847>.

Park, Madison. “North Korea: ‘We Were Forced to Eat Grass and Soil’” CNN. Cable News Network, 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Sept.

2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/16/world/asia/northkorea-un-report/>.

Park, Yeonmi. “The Hopes of North Korea’s ‘Black Market Generation’” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 25 May 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. <http://www. washingtonpost.com/opinions/yeon-mi-park-the-hopesof-north-koreas-black-market-generation/2014/05/25/ dcab911c-dc49-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html>.

Phillips, Tom. “Escape from North Korea: ‘How I Escaped Horrors of Life under Kim Jong-il’” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 04 Oct. 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www. telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11138496/ Escape-from-North-Korea-How-I-escaped-horrors-of-lifeunder-Kim-Jong-il.html>.

“Refugee Rescues.” Liberty in North Korea. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2014. <http://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/nkrefugee-rescues/>.

“The People’s Challenges.” Liberty in North Korea. Liberty In North Korea, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://www. libertyinnorthkorea.org/learn-nk-challenges/>.

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“Timeline: N Korea Nuclear Stand-off.” BBC News. N.p., 2 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/worldasia-pacific-11811861>.

“Torture, Starvation, Infant Execution in N. Korea Prison Camps Exposed to UN Panel.” RT News. N.p., 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2014. <http://rt.com/news/un-north-korea-torture-732/>.

Weber, Peter. “North Korea Isn’t Nazi Germany — in Some Ways, It’s Worse.” The Week. N.p., 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://theweek.com/article/index/256523/north-korea-isntnazi-germany-mdash-in-some-ways-its-worse>.

“Who Are the 100 Women 2014?” BBC News. N.p., 26 Oct. 2014. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/ world-29758792>.

“World Must Act on North Korea Rights Abuse, Says UN Report.”

BBC News. N.p., 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. <http://www. bbc.com/news/world-asia-26220304>.

Xiao, Alice. “North Korean Defectors Tell Stories of Escape from Homeland.” The Chicago Maroon. N.p., 23 May 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://chicagomaroon.com/2014/05/23/northkorean-defectors-tell-stories-of-escape-from-homeland/>.

Yoon, Sangwon. “UN Committee Votes to Hold North Korea Accountable for Abuses.” Bloomberg. N.p., 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2014. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1118/un-committee-votes-to-hold-n-korea-accountable-forrights-abuse.html>.

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Interested in Submitting to Claro?

Red Rocks’ scholarly-journal, Claro, is proud to offer students an opportunity to publish right here at RRCC. Claro showcases students’ best academic work in all disciplines and is multi-modal, so art, videos, audio, webpages, texts, photographs, and other media all have a platform with us.

Students who are published in Claro also have an opportunity to present at Claro’s REDTalks conference, where they’ll practice public-speaking skills and demonstrate a willingness to go beyond basic academic requirements.

Being published in Claro lends students competitive credence in educational, employment, and entrepreneurial pursuits, and the incomparable experience of seeing their hard work move beyond the classroom.

If you are an instructor interested in submitting a student’s academic work or are a student interested in submitting your own, please see the submission guidelines on the next page.

Welcome to Claro.

Excerpted Submission Guidelines

Each Spring, Claro publishes work from the previous Spring, Summer & Fall. The submission deadline for each year’s issue is December 31st.

Before submitting, please check the full and up-to-date submission guidelines online at: rrcc.edu/claro.

To Our Instructors All student submissions to Claro come through you. Please submit your student work to claro@rrcc.edu.

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Submit publication-worthy projects immediately, or they may not be received in time to be considered.

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Include: project title, class, instructor name, student name(s), and student contact information.

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When submitting work, make sure the student is prepared to follow the submission guidelines (and that their formatting is appropriate for their discipline/genre).

To Our Students

If you are interested in submitting an assignment, please contact your instructor. Whether a piece is submitted to Claro or not is entirely at your instructor’s discretion.

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Submissions must come from your coursework.

Text Requirements

Mandatory: •

Any text must be 12-point, Times New Roman. (Some assignments may be exempt if the font is integral to the design, but it MUST still be editable—see below.)

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ALL text MUST be editable.

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Do not submit images of charts, tables, or content. We MUST be able to edit and format submitted work.

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Submit text documents as Word documents (.doc, .docx) or rich-text files (.rtf).

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If the project is a compendium or multi-modal, submit a copy of the completed project AND the separate, individual pieces.

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Proof everything. Twice.

Image Requirements

Mandatory: •

300 dpi is STRONGLY encouraged, but if the image is unavailable in 300 dpi, include the highest quality and largest size available.

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If you used a photo-manipulation program and the image has text layers, include a file with the image flattened and the non-image text in a layer(s) for editing.

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Crop images where necessary (especially with scans).

Preferred: •

If possible, submit images as TIFFs or PNGs.

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Aim for high-quality images with clear details. If text in the image must be read, make sure it is legible.

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Keep in mind Claro does not print in color. Color versions will be available only online.

Citation Requirements

Mandatory: •

MUST be in current MLA, APA, or Chicago style.

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ALL referenced works MUST be included in the citations, including images.

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A list of hyperlinks to references does NOT count as proper citation.

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If you removed portions of your original work when preparing it for submission, make sure to remove citations that are no longer in your piece.

Help preparing work for submission is available on campus.

Please see Claro’s website for help and full guidelines.

Credits Fonts: “Aquiline Two” by Manfred Klein: http://manfred-klein.ina-mar.com/ “CarbonType” by Vic Fieger: http://www.vicfieger.com/ “Vollkorn” by Friedrich Althausen: http://vollkorn-typeface.com/ “Cabin” by Impallari: http://www.impallari.com/ Cover: “Colorful Torn Paper Vector” by 帝国时代: http://www.zcool.com.cn/u/3435/ Available at: http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/vector-misc/colorful_torn_ paper_vector_2_162098.html

Notes

Notes

Notes

Notes