This paper was submitted for “English Composition 5W: Literature, Culture, and Critical Inquiry – Concepts of Reality” with Dr. Lisa Gerrard in Winter 2008.

Almost anything we create can be considered a work of art; anyone can translate his or her perspective through art, making art one of the most influential mediums. Puccini’s Madame Butterfly is one work of art that defined symbols of a culture for its viewers. “Here…here was a Butterfly with little or no voice—but she had the grace, the delicacy…I believed this girl. I believed her suffering…so delicate, even I could protect her” Gallimard says as he’s watching Song. On one hand, Gallimard is enthralled and intrigued while watching Song play the role of Butterfly—enthralled to have his fantasy modeled by her and curious if he can exert power over the meek Butterfly. On the other hand, Song plays the role as a “job” to fulfill his own duties (III, I, 61). In David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly, Gallimard and Song consciously use the influence of art to gain power and manipulate one another.

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This paper was submitted for “English Composition 5W: Literature, Culture, and Critical Inquiry – Concepts of Reality” with Dr. Lisa Gerrard in Winter 2008.

Amy’s innocence and her willingness to help Sethe, the Garner’s empathy and care, and the Bodwin’s abolitionist attitude may seem kind—but they are only a diluted version of the schoolteacher’s blatant and violent racism. “It don’t matter, Sethe. What they say is the same. Loud or soft,” Paul D warns her (231). The lasting effects of slavery induce the white characters to acts of violence and feelings of superiority that degrade and dehumanize the blacks. In the end, the whites are essentially degrading themselves in this continuum, revealing the true humanity of the slaves despite the white’s persistent efforts to strip them of their humaneness.

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This paper was submitted for “English Composition 5W: Literature, Culture, and Critical Inquiry – Concepts of Reality” with Dr. Lisa Gerrard in Winter 2008.

In The Republic, Plato contends that our reality is only a reflection of a higher truth. If a mirror reflects what is in front of it, a shattered mirror will return a shattered, distorted image. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet spends the entire play seeking the truth, yet fails because he depends on unreliable realities. He is forced to work with a shattered mirror: an untrustworthy ghost; easily swayed Ophelia; and “that incestuous, [and] adulterate beast” (I.v.42) Claudius. All of these forces work against him, leading to skewed and contradictory ideas about human nature and ultimately, a reality that is only a reflection of a fragmented truth.

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This paper was submitted for “Information Studies 19: Just Google It” with Dr. John V. Richardson Jr. in Fall 2007.

With the emergence of Google less than a decade ago, no one could foresee its present success. It has even been punned—“Googleplex”. This is more than an appropriate play on words with googolplex meaning 10^10^100, which is essentially just a colossal number meaning “a lot”. Back in the tech arena, Google may be googolplex’s parallel. Due to the specifications of each branch of Google, Google has extended itself beyond just a search engine. With an extensive and impressive list of desktop add-ons and web products, we must question how and if Google is able to efficiently maintain them while still rivaling its competitors. While Google may be the top Internet search engine, other companies that specialize in specific queries sometimes outperform Google’s streamlined, but general search.

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This paper was submitted for “Design|Media Arts 10: Design Culture, an Introduction” with Professor Erkki Huhtamo in Fall 2007. The PDF is available here.

Ornament is usually regarded as an addition that accentuates a subject. However, ornamentation goes beyond surface representation and aesthetics; its most important role is serving as a symbol to be deciphered. Adolf Loos’s Ornament and Crime is undeniably one of the most influential and controversial works regarding ornamentation in design and its impact on the Modernist movement. In his essay, he radically argues against the wasted effort in adding ornamentation, especially during the height of Art Nouveau in 1900. This way of thinking initially emerged during the Industrial Revolution with the transition from manual artisan production to mass industrial production. This led to a separation of design and machine that did not exist with artisan production. With the two concepts separate, disagreement eventually arose about the necessity of ornamentation. In Industrial Design, John Heskett explores this topic and its influence on the transition from handcrafts to mass production, man to machine, and object to designer. He neither agrees nor opposes Loos, but instead proposes that given various objects, such as a locomotive or bicycle, function may take precedence over design whereas with a streamlined car, design was necessary to promote an increase in sales and recognition. The idea of ornamentation as crime is put at odds with “form follows function” as we assign meaning and signification to ornaments through semiotics.

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