February 19, 2009
Abstracts Submitted
*Indicates abstract chosen for presentation

Do a Little Wrong: Making Things Right in the Merchant of Venice
By Zach King, Junior

William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice has long been considered one of The Bard’s “problem plays,” and rightfully so.  Readers have been shocked by the brutal treatment of Shylock in the fourth act, and the ambiguity surrounding the text’s meaning has led critics to level a variety of charges against the play, ranging from anti-Semitism to mere shoddy writing.  Yet rather than simply offer an injustice without qualification, The Merchant of Venice is in fact a rumination on ways of making things right, specifically serving as a rhetorical plea for, to paraphrase Portia’s words, justice seasoned with mercy.  The paper first offers a selective reading – both narrative and interpretive in its scope –as a way of singling out wrongs and attempts to make things right.  Next the paper explores what Shakespeare intended with terms like “justice” and “mercy.”  The paper then seeks to place The Merchant of Venice in its proper historical and literary context, pointing out that such contexts would have been inescapable and perhaps indispensable for Shakespeare.  Ultimately, these fields of analysis converge and culminate in a reexamination of the notion that The Merchant of Venice functions as Shakespeare’s rhetorical plea for justice seasoned with mercy

The Importance of Guiding Girls: Understanding Adolescence Through a Photographic Medium
By Abby Lange, Junior

Teenage girls can be notoriously moody, angst-ridden and secretive. It seems amazing that anyone survives the tumultuous ride of fickle relationships, confusing bodily changes and the surfacing of intense social pressures. In order to cope with any sense of fear and isolation, teenage girls have created a world that is sealed off from the rest of society. Mothers and mentors have great potential to act as guides for girls, encouraging healthy decisions and providing valuable support. However, the generation gap between parents and children often acts as a barrier to forming these crucial relationships. In an innovative approach, photographer Lauren Greenfield infiltrates this culture and photographs girls in the “natural surroundings” of their own worlds. She juxtaposes snapshots of teenage daily life with the girls’ own words through interviews and essays. This combination of word and image is striking and poignant in allowing a firsthand glimpse of “girl culture.” These photos can be used as a helpful tool for mentors who struggle to understand adolescent life. By noticing the trends and habits of girls as a group, mentors are better equipped to develop a close personal relationship with their own daughters.

A Savage Mountain Man and Clever Irony: As Employed in Twain’s Exploration of Human Nature in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
By John Linstrom, Junior

This essay explores the discovery of a previously unacknowledged cultural reference in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the western mythology of the notorious Liver-Eating Johnson, a mountain man who purportedly held a personal vendetta against the Crow Indian people and who was said to eat the raw livers of his victims to complete the revenge slaying. Huck’s fib when speaking to the boy at Pikesville that Jim is a frightening figure who had “said if I hollered he’d cut my livers out” becomes significant when one realizes that the true savage in the example is not the (fictional) Negro Jim, but rather a real white man who was alive at the time. As he so often does, Twain reverses stereotypical racial roles. Biographical research into the lives of Twain and Johnson proves that Twain was undoubtedly aware of the Liver-Eating mythology and that this reference was intentional.

A Modern Myth: The Story behind Columbus and the Flat Earth *
By Stephen Molnar, Senior

Western society tends to pride itself on its knowledge of the past. We believe our collective knowledge of past events is more or less reality. However, our history is fragile and blatant fabrications can even still successfully masquerade as truth. A prime example of this fragility is the myth that people believed in a flat earth during Columbus’ time. This paper uses primary and secondary sources to show both the falsehood and origins of this myth. The sphericity of the earth was known and accepted by the ancient Greeks; this belief survived through the Roman Empire and was considered fact in Christian Europe and Columbus’ time. How, then, did the flat earth myth become so ingrained in our society? Drawing on local legend, Washington Irving inserted the myth into his highly fictionalized biography of Columbus, which propagated it throughout the Western world. During the conflict involving Darwinism, two positivist, revisionist historians, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White, cemented the idea as historical fact in their books specifically written to disparage the Church. This shocking tale shows how personal bias in historical research can misguide the perception of generations and warns modern society to be a careful steward of history.

Taking up One’s Cross
By Stephen Molnar, Senior

The cross is arguably the most recognizable symbol of the Christian faith. Its metaphorical propinquity to Christianity is so pronounced that its presence and use affect people’s perception of the religion. Implementing both primary and secondary sources, this paper traces how this powerful symbol was materially and theologically utilized at key times to justify a particular stance on war. The paper focuses on four specific instances. In Athanasius’ Life of Antony, the cross is employed in spiritual warfare in the early church which forsook physical violence. Constantine’s vision of the cross, which he used as a battle emblem at the Milvian Bridge, not only transformed Christianity but left theologians with the problem of justifying war. In the eleventh century, these doctrines were stretched by Pope Gregory VII, who, using his ecclesiastical power, attempted to create the Lord’s army under the banner of the cross. This set the groundwork for Urban II’s call for the First Crusade, which used the cross for the outward symbol of the Crusader’s vow. This paper shows the power and plasticity of the cross’s symbolism in justifying war and ultimately asks what agendas are being justified by this symbol in our modern world.

“Imaginary Nature: The National Park System as Simulacrum”
By Stephen Molnar, Senior

Americans love nature. As a nation, we have been blessed with a plethora of unique and awe-inspiring landscapes. Because of this, one of the most cherished institutions of our federal government is the National Park Service, an institution dedicated to preserving our nation’s natural wonders. However, could this beloved establishment be creating unrealistic ideas about nature? This paper analyzes the idea of the National Park using the simulacrum, a concept which originated in the work of the social philosopher Jean Baudrillard. Basically, a simulacrum is created when an image or concept based in reality becomes more valued than reality itself; eventually, this image completely replaces reality, which is completely lost. The idea of the National Park was created by men steeped in the Romantic sense of natural beauty, which maintains a very narrow definition of nature, namely, what has been untouched by man. Using these ideals to choose which nature to preserve, the National Park Service created a simulacrum: the idea that a boundary exists between nature and non-nature, namely the realm of humanity. Ironically, this simulacrum has created a society of poor environmental stewards. By ridding ourselves of this simulacrum, humankind will adopt a more responsible relationship with nature.

The Sanitation of Theatres
By Ciara Reyes, Sophomore

It is generally understood that overpopulated areas and buildings create conducive environments for bacterial growth and sustainability. Although theatres are only inhabited for a short period of time, research has shown that the lack of sufficient ventilation, dressing room space, and hygiene practice produce an environment literally teeming with bacteria. Such an occurrence is not surprising nor is it uncommon, since “microorganisms have a close association with humans. They are in us, on us and nearly everywhere around us” (Black, 2004). However, what is surprising is that recent studies on the sanitation of theatres have revealed that their sanitary practices are not up to par. In this sense, theatre buildings parallel hospitals; for, despite the salubrious nature of many hospitals, it is relatively common for patients to acquire new infections from them (nosocomial infections) because of crowding and the lack of proper sanitary practice. Such commonalities suggest a need for improvement in the sanitary practices implemented by these facilities. In the course of this paper I explore possible solutions for the sanitary conundrum of theatres and discuss the risks they may pose to “unsuspecting” audience members.

Consumerism in Assisted Fertilization
By Molly Reynolds, Senior

Assisted fertilization, in which parents now have the opportunity to choose probable physical characteristics of their offspring, raises critical ethical questions. Current donor criteria and compensation, as well as the use of donor profile systems encourage parents to focus on choosing a donor with perceived desirable characteristics rather than on the ramifications that the choice will have on their relationship with the child. After discussing the current methods of choosing and matching donors my paper explores the questions: does choosing a donor in assisted fertilization shift the focus from creating a child to blindly attempting to solve the problem of infertility, and does that quest become detrimental to the parent child relationship? Using journal articles, government data, essays, and available agency information, I argue that, while some amount of consumerism is an inevitable byproduct of choice, reducing consumerism in the reproductive market and preserving the parent child relationship must be the focus of reproductive technologies in order to ensure the wellbeing of potential children.

Insights from the Ancients:
The New Monasticism and Its Challenge to the Contemporary American Church *
By James Strasburgh, Senior

Throughout the history of Christianity, one of the most important expressions of Christian faith has been communal living. Stretching from the house churches of the first apostolic orders to the monks of the Middle Ages to the Anabaptist communities of the Reformation, Christians in all time periods have come together to express their faith through living together. Within contemporary Christianity, however, the concept of authentic communal living appears to have been lost. For instance, following Christ today has in many cases been reduced to going to Church on Sunday alone. As a community, we might meet once or twice a week, but we do little to live together and hold one another accountable outside of this structure. Our lives are thus largely structured by other cultural principles, and we fail to embody our call to be of one mind and spirit and to serve the world and the poor as a community. In response to such a crisis, small communities that go by the collective term of the “New Monasticism” have begun to form with the goal of bringing back communal and faithful living to the modern Church. Intentionally relocating to the “abandoned” places of America, these communities have taken examples from past intentional communities, which include living, praying, and studying together, sharing meals and financial resources, and serving the poor, and have implemented them in their lifestyle. As a result, they are providing to us today a tried and true example of what it means to be the Church in the world. Drawing from first hand observational visits of these communities, this paper first brings to life the numerous practices these communities are adopting. The paper also traces these practices genealogically throughout history, tying together connections with past communities and lending credibility to the movement. Through understanding these connections, the paper closes by examining what the New Monasticism offers the contemporary Church and by arguing for a return to more communal oriented practice within the Church.

Across the 'Verse: The Effect of Adaptation from Joss Whedon's Firefly to Serenity
By Elspeth Taylor, Senior

In September of 2002, noted television producer and writer Joss Whedon revealed a new television show to audiences all over the nation: the science-fiction / Western action series called Firefly, produced by Mutant Enemy Productions and shown on 20th Century Fox’s network. Though Firefly quickly acquired a rabid fan base, Fox claimed that it lacked enough popularity to keep it on the air, showing only 11 episodes of the fully-filmed season before giving the show the axe. However, the show’s fans clamored for more. Identifying the potential to profit from their loyalty, Universal Studios released a film adaptation of Firefly called Serenity to theaters across America in 2005. The unusual circumstances surrounding Firefly and Serenity demonstrate a steadily evolving facet of adaptation seen in other relatively recent visual media: that fan demand for a continuing series or adaptation can influence the decision to produce sequels and adaptations. “Across the ’Verse” details how Serenity is a true adaptation, following media critic Linda Hutcheon’s criteria that an adaptation must be “an acknowledged transposition of a recognizable other work or works,” include “a creative and an interpretive act of appropriation/salvaging” in its production, and maintain “an extended intertextual engagement” with its source—the canned television series Firefly.

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