Literacy’s Effect on Black Women: A Personal Narrative
Janie’s narrative in Their Eyes Were Watching God exemplified this for me. It allowed me to parallel myself with Janie, to compare my experience as a Black woman with hers, and embolden me to find my own truth and seek fulfillment within my life.
The Misleading Nature of Scientific Publications
This paper was composed as part of an honors writing intensive assignment in BIOCHM 2482H taught by Dr. Thomas J. Reilly. In the course, students were encouraged to analyze and criticize scientific publications that are often held to unrealistic standards of rigor by the public. The assignment entailed a reading of The Double Helix, which described the discovery of the structure of DNA from the perspective or Dr. James D. Watson, and then analyzing the wholly different experience depicted by this book as compared to the formal publication of the discovery in Nature. This paper explores the scientific endeavor as but one part of a web of beliefs and attitudes that constitute a social identity rather than a concept to be understood in isolation.
The Burqa Ban: A Discourse on Post-Secular Religious Freedom
What—if any—authority does the government have to intervene in the affairs of private individuals? This question lies at the heart of the following discourse on the appropriate limits on a government’s right to regulate. Using France’s 2011 Burqa Ban as a framework, this paper evaluates several competing theories on these limits and their relative significance. Though none of these theories can fully capture the complexity of this subject, they provide invaluable insight into the various postulates used to justify state control over private behavior.
Letter from the Editors
Dear Readers, Welcome to this 2019-2020 special edition of Artifacts! Throughout the academic year, the Campus Writing Program, the Department of English Composition Program, and the Writing Center support and celebrate MU’s students
Beef Cattle Fertility
The objective of this study was to determine factors of sperm structure that influence fertility within bulls. We hypothesized that as the mitochondrial sheath on the tail lengthens, the increased energy production of the sperm cell would impact bull fertility. In the results of this study, we found a positive correlation between the mitochondrial sheath length and the fertility rates of bulls, indicating that mitochondrial sheath structure influences fertility.
A War Between Two Worlds
Americans wound down Halloween 1938 gathered around their radios to hear Orson Welles read a rendition of War of the Worlds. Far from them snuggling up for a comfortable evening by the hearth, the broadcast sent a ripple of fear…
How Has Learning English Helped Me to Build Confidence and Communication Skills?
Last year, when I was in military service in South Korea, I was taking a subway to go home during my break. I was waiting for my subway, wearing a military uniform and carrying a backpack. Then one girl came…
My Discovery of Interconnectedness
As a child, my mother would always tell me stories of my ancestors and distant relatives, but I tended to brush it off like it was not a big deal. At such a young age, my goal was not to…
My Home is Mine to Choose
I never really did belong anywhere. Of course, the minute I say that I’ll be ambushed with the appalled exclamations of “How could you say that? That’s not true!” from anyone close enough to be within earshot, but it is…
Hold Me
You’ve been anticipating this appointment all week. Since your last appointment, when the woman with the bobby, curly hair held you gently and changed your mind— convinced you that you weren’t crazy. Or like your mom said, hormonal. Or like…
A Technological Invasion
Technology is a very important part of our lives as almost every person with a cell phone would probably say. We live in a world where we rely on technology so much that in a way it controls us. Authors…
Siren: Based On The Painting "Nocturne"
Black. White. You can’t seem to have one without the other. It is their contrast that brings out their beauty. Clouds on a spring afternoon, the dandelions in the pasture out back, the warm milk Ma brings…
Can You Hear Me Now?
Modern technology and media have changed how we communicate with one another as human beings. Where does our need for intimacy fit into this new communication formula? This essay analyzes how romantic relationships and digital intimacy function – particularly in…
Nature of the Beast
I’ve always been a glutton; there’s no denying that. I’ve always licked my plate clean, not out of obligation to use what I’ve been given, but to bring about a bliss that only eating can elicit. While I tear through…
Thanksgiving Ethnography: My Family's Fryers
According to Warren Belasco, what defines a family holiday meal is its planning, its timing, its timelessness, and most importantly – its meaning. My family’s annual Thanksgiving is planned by my grandmother on my father’s side of the family at…
Retracing the Steps of British Abolitionists: A Digital Learning Approach to the History of the Atlantic Slave Trade
The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced migration in history. It involved an intercontinental transfer of wealth, goods, and most importantly, millions of people over the course of four centuries. Great Britain was one of the chief participants…
Breaking Machismo
MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica — Women in Costa Rica are rising out of the ashes and learning how to spread their own wings. For a long time, and some would argue still today, women in Costa Rica were considered second-class citizens,…