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Excellence
in
First-Year Writing
2020/2021
e English Department Writing Program
and
e Gayle Morris Sweetland Center for Writing
4
Table of Contents
Excellence in First-Year Writing
Winners list
Nominees list
Introduction
Feinberg Family Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing
When Pop Culture Critiques: How American TV and Film
Examines the Links Between Politics, Justice, and the
Judiciary’s Legitimacy
Did Shen Fever Really Just Predict COVID-19?
How White Feminism Feeds Misogynoir
Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing
Cardcaptor Sakura’s Life-Changing Guidance
Ratatouille the TikTok Musical
Excellence in Multilingual Writing
Liberty Renewed—Not Just Artistically
Is the development of hydroelectric power in accordance with the
principles of sustainable development?
Excellence in the Practice of Writing
Remix to the Letter to Your Younger Self
Gene erapy: What You Need to Know
6
7
11
13
15
34
43
50
52
59
72
78
92
102
5
Excellence in First-Year Writing
Administrative Support
Laura Schulyer
Aaron Valdez
EDWP Writing Prize Committee
Sweetland Writing Prize Chair
Gina Brandolino
EDWP Writing Prize Chairs
Andrew Moos
Ruth Li
Martha Henzy
Margo Kolenda-Mason
Ellie Reese
Ryan McCarty
Kelly Wheeler
Sweetland Writing Prize Judges
Scott Beal
Angela Berkley
Jimmy Brancho
Catherine Cassel
April Conway
David Karczynski
Shuwen Li
Raymond McDaniel
Simone Sessolo
Naomi Silver
Carol Tell
6
Winners List
Feinberg Family Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing
Katie Burgin, “When Pop Culture Critiques: How American TV and Film
Examines the Links Between Politics, Justice, and the Judiciary’s Legitimacy”
Nominated by Bryan Kim-Butler, ENG 125: Investigating the Law: American
Legal Writing
Carolyn Glasser, “Did Shen Fever Really Just Predict COVID-19?”
Nominated by Júlia Irion Martins, ENG 125: “I would prefer not to”: Pushing Paper
in Late Capitalism
Adalia Kirby, “How White Feminism Feeds Misogynoir”
Nominated by Molly Lynch, ENG 125: What is Social Justice?
Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing
Sharon Kwan, “Cardcaptor Sakura’s Life-Changing Guidance”
Nominated by Ali Shapiro, ARTDES 129: Matters of Taste
Audrey Tieman, “Ratatouille the TikTok Musical”
Nominated by Elisabeth Fertig, COMPLIT 141: Great Performances
Excellence in Multilingual Writing
Chaewon Kim, “Liberty Renewed—Not Just Artistically”
Nominated by Scott Beal, WRITING 120
Yuyang Rao, “Is the development of hydroelectric power in accordance with the
principles of sustainable development?”
Nominated by Shuwen Li, WRITING 120
Excellence in the Practice of Writing
Genta Gollopeni, “Remix to the Letter to Your Younger Self”
Nominated by Simone Sessolo, WRITING 100
William McGraw, “Gene erapy: What You Need to Know”
Nominated by Jimmy Brancho, WRITING 100
7
Feinberg Family Prize Nominees
Diana Abbass
Meera Agrawal
Sarah Akaaboune
Nicole Alexander
Ariana Augello
Nadine Bazzi
Grace Beal
Katie Burgin
Gretchen Carr
Chhabra
Emma Clapp
Elisha Cooper
Esha Elahi
Aniyah Fisher
Carolyn Glasser
Talia Goldstein
Hailey Gross
Aidan Harris
Alicia Haun
Allayna Hight
Corinne Hinson
Eric Ji
Adalia Kirby
Carly Kubiak
Paige Leistra
Tiany Li
Emma McGaraghan
Victoria Mendez
Hannah Momblanco
Annika Moran
Max Murray
Johanna Neggie
Jarett Orr
Ashvin Pai
Shruti Patel
Sarah Pesta
Ella Price
Sam Reisbord
Jacob Seabolt
Benjamin Shaevsky
Katherine Song
Cara Teixeira
Lynne Trang
Isabelle Weathersby
Christian Weichsel
David Wilborn
Jacquelyn Zamora
Carolyn Glasser
Júlia Irion Martins
Adalia Kirby
Molly Lynch
Katie Burgin
Bryan Kim-Butler
Feinberg Family Prize Nominating Instructors
8
Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing
Nominees
Anya Baldus
Rae Beck
Mira Bhandari
Elizabeth (Elle) Blackwell
Julia Boughner
Josephine Broyles
Morgan Cole
Kelly Deng
Shichi Dhar
Lilly Dickman
Amanda Dowdican
Kseniya Dzhala
Matthew Eitzman
Yilin Fang
Hailey Fiel
Akash Gandhi
Nadir Gerber
Leah Greenspan
Samuel C. Hausmen-Weiss
Zan Huang
Soa Ketels
Laine Kibler
Tatum Olivia Kleis
Sharon Kwan
Janice Lee
Maya Levy
Nora Mary Lewis
Polinna Maknev
Alex McCullough
Madison McElliot
Aidan Meador-Woodru
Soham Mehendale
Connor Moore
Nina Naziger
Udoka Nwansi
Leo Parikshak
Tiara Partsch
Yi Peng
Elle Pugh
Barbara Ribeiro
Maebh Ring
Nicole Lila Rubenstein
Kylie Schache
Ella Sheedlo
Sara Short
Sarah Stolar
Audrey Tieman
Hannah Triester
Katta Vaishnavi
Abhipol (Dee) Vibhatasilpin
Madeline Vincent
Darby Williams
Jason Wing
Julian Wray
Alexander Yee
Daisey Yu
Jingqi Zhu
9
Walter Allison
Catherine Badgley
Scott Beal
Leah Bernardo-Ciddio
Cat Cassel
Sueann Cauleld
Sheira Cohen
Imani Tameekia Cooper
Sascha Crasnow
Alexandra Creola
Andrew Crocker
Erin Davies
Elisabeth Fertig
Jennifer Goltz-Taylor
Kristin Hass
Allie Hirsch
George Homann
Tyler Johnson
Michael Koletsos
Amanda Kubic
Katie LaPlant
Xiaoyue Li
Graham Liddell
Marina Mayorski
Shelley Manis
Júlia Irion Martins
Alex Moskowitz
Katelin Mikos
Shannon Ness
Ana Popovic
Susan Rosegrant
Ali Shapiro
Taylor Sims
Leslie Stainton
Carol Tell
Excellence in the Practice of Writing Nominees
Genta Gollopeni
William McGraw
Nicholas Gillin
Megan Justesen
Doane Kiechel
Sara Ojala
MaryClare Sacca
Chloe Marie Terada
Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing
Nominating Instructors
Excellence in the Practice of Writing Nominating Instructors
Jimmy Brancho
April Conway
Stephanie Moody
Simone Sessolo
10
Chaewon Kim
Andrew Gao
Yujia Gao
Jo-Fen Hsiao
Mackee Khoo
Brian Lyu
Yuyang Rao
Yuqin Wan
Leiqi Ye
Yuhuan Ye
Zhong Zheng
Excellence in Multilingual Writing Nominees
Scott Beal Shuwen Li
Excellence in Multilingual Writing Nominating Instructors
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Introduction
All LSA undergraduates and students from several other colleges take
at least one rst-year writing-intensive course. ese courses are oered in
several departments: English Language and Literature, Slavic Languages and
Literatures, the Residential College, Comparative Literature, Classics, History,
and the Honors program. ose of us who teach these courses discover anew
each term how a focus on writing improves students’ thinking, learning, and
rhetorical creativity. At the end of each term, we applaud our students’ various
achievements and the ways they have grown by applying themselves seriously
to the hard work of structuring their ideas, understanding readers’ expectations
with particular genres, addressing an academic audience eectively, inventing
strategies for revision, crafting a multimedia essay, rening their prose style,
reading and giving feedback on peers’ drafts, and engaging with a range of texts
in a variety of genres. ese are rewarding courses to teach, for students’ growth
as writers is readily apparent at the end of a term—to themselves as well as to
their instructors.
Each year, faculty and graduate student instructors encourage
undergraduates to submit their very best essay for First-Year Writing Prizes.
Fellows in the interdisciplinary Sweetland Seminar for Writing Pedagogy read
the submissions and rank them according to their overall excellence. is is an
intellectually interesting exercise and generates considerable discussion about
what we value when we read students’ work. e Fellows this year described for
each other the qualities they admired in the submissions. Here are some of the
ways they dened excellent writing: the argument is complex without loss of
clarity or purpose; the piece presents a novel argument or assertion (e.g., coming
to their own conclusions based on multiple texts); quotes are thoughtfully
introduced and integrated into the argument; the evidence is compelling; the
structure of ideas is easy to follow; the conclusions are persuasive, and the writers
12
use rich, evocative language. All of the essays submitted are outstanding, and all
of the students should feel very proud of what they accomplished.
is volume showcases the prize-winning essays, which are truly
impressive. ey witness to the robust intellectual life of the university, and to
the splendid courses and instructors who inspired and supported the writers’
accomplishments. ey witness as well to the students’ commitments to their
own intellectual development, their growing capacities as writers, the care with
which they craft their prose, and the attention to detail they show in revising
their work.
anks are due to the many people who made this volume possible.
e Senior Fellows who thoughtfully judged the essays are Louis Cicciarelli,
Sweetland Center for Writing; Jennifer Cummings, Psychology, Biopsychology;
Sofya Khagi, Slavic Language and Literatures; and Jie (Jackie) Li, Earth and
Environmental Sciences. e Junior Fellows (Graduate Students) are Andrew
Bernard, Anthropology; Domenic DeSocio, Germanic Language and Literature;
Marisol Fila, Romance Languages; Michael Martin, Slavic Language and
Literatures; Wilson Merrell, Psychology; Katy Rossing, English Language and
Literature; Marissa Spada, Film, Television, Media; and Field Watts, Chemistry.
Much gratitude is also due to Aaron Valdez, who designed this volume; Laura
Schuyler, who coordinated the submission and judging process; and Gina
Brandolino, who chaired the Sweetland Prize Committee and edited the volume.
Finally, thank you to the students and instructors who strive for—and achieve—
excellence in writing and writing pedagogy.
eresa Tinkle
Director, Sweetland Center for Writing
Arthur F. urnau Professor and Professor of English
13
Introduction to the Feinberg Family Prize for
Excellence in First-Year Writing
e essays nominated for this year’s Feinberg prizes illustrate the rich,
capacious range of creative and critical thinking and expression that is possible
in our rst-year writing classrooms. Even as insights germinate from a seed, the
essays are situated in particulars yet gesture toward broader signicances that
extend beyond specic examples. While each of the nominated essays exceed
our expectations, the winning essays in each category demonstrate an additional
depth of thought and thoroughness of engagement in the issues into which they
delve. Moreover, the pieces reect a willingness and capacity to investigate ideas
that carry resonance beyond the context of the class assignment, as the students
produce arguments that matter to academic audiences and beyond. Ultimately,
these excellent essays illuminate the dispositions we encourage in our students: to
think critically and deeply, to challenge existing perspectives, to probe into the
spaces of inquiry.
While this collection only includes the three winning essays, we would
like to honor all of the essays nominated for awards in the narrative, analytical, and
research-based argument categories. We acknowledge the lecturers and graduate
student instructors whose class topics and assignments oered the foundation for
meaningful inquiry; we express gratitude for the judges who volunteered their
time, energy, and enthusiasm to reading and evaluating the essays. And we extend
our heartfelt appreciation to the English Department Writing Program and the
Gayle Morris Sweetland Center for Writing for their support.
Despite the challenges that students and instructors faced during a year
punctured by disruption and displacement, intellectual inquiry found a space to
thrive, even ourish, in our writing classrooms. is collection of essays illustrates
the fruits of students’ and instructors’ individual and collective eorts; the essays
elucidate original, compelling insights into ourselves and our worlds. e three
essays printed here exemplify the sheer breadth and depth of writing work that
14
students are doing in rst-year writing classrooms. Among many compliments,
our judges this year commended these essays for engaging thoroughly with
sources, demonstrating an advanced awareness of audience, and exemplifying
the multiplicity of ways arguments can be forwarded in writing. Adalia Kirby’s
analytic argument examines how the notion of feminism evoked by the language of
singer Lana Del Ray ignores the importance of intersectionality and uplifts White
women while engaging in rhetoric harmful to Black women. Carolyn Glasser’s
narrative argument intertwines personal experiences in this COVID-19 era with
analysis of the novel Severance to reect on and problematize the role routines
play in our lives. Lastly, Katie Burgin’s research-based argument explores how pop
culture representations of the judiciary have served to seemingly delegitimize the
court system by inuencing public perceptions.
We hope that sharing these examples of extraordinary writing can
bring us together into a cohesive writing community during a time of profound
uncertainty and change. We invite you, the reader, to become immersed and
inspired by the insights that emerge from these essays. In looking toward the
future, we hope this collection encourages in you a continued spirit of intellectual
inquiry and empathy that guides you in academic contexts and beyond.
Andrew Moos and Ruth Li
Graduate Student Mentors, English Department Writing Program
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When Pop Culture Critiques: How American TV
and Film Examines the Links Between Politics,
Justice, and the Judiciary’s Legitimacy
by Katie Burgin
From ENG 125: Investigating the Law: American Legal Writing
Nominated by Bryan Kim-Butler
Katie Burgin wrote this essay in the Fall 2020 term for my English
125 course, “Investigating the Law: American Legal Writing.” For the second
part of the course, we focused on cultural representations of the American legal
system in television episodes and a documentary lm concerning controversial
societal issues such as reproductive rights and capital punishment. Katie took
a remarkably ambitious and sophisticated approach to utilizing our course
materials in developing her own research-based argument. Her essay, written in
response to my open-ended prompt, clearly demonstrates the highest levels of
writerly condence and control, legal comprehension, and argumentative skill
and complexity. Her work, with its many unique qualities, speaks for itself.
at said, Katie’s work manages to be incredibly capacious, yet never strays
from her self-formulated focus on her area of interest: in her words, “whether the
public thinks the courts are legitimate” and capable of enabling justice when the
American judiciary is often perceived as “extremely partisan and politicized.” Her
essay presents a clear central idea, but she boldly makes her topic multifaceted,
Feinberg Family Prize for
Excellence in First-Year Writing
16
considering dierent perspectives and subtle variations on her central concern,
refusing to oversimplify her complicated subject. In doing so, she seamlessly
incorporates sources as diverse as the Yale Law Journal, relevant appellate court
cases, a Law & Order episode, and her own knowledge of very recent legal-
political events. Katie’s essay consistently educates her readers (including me),
no matter how familiar they may be with her materials, about vital current issues
in law and American culture. I nd especially admirable Katie’s unapologetic
judgment to make her own voice and viewpoints clearly heard throughout her
essay. While Katie’s essay leaves her readers more informed, it also intrigues and
encourages them to remain curious and open-minded. Katie’s work leaves her
readers contemplating and questioning the deep issues involved in the American
court system, the democratic public’s views of the judiciary’s legitimacy, the role
of popular culture in the law, and the pursuit of justice.
-- Bryan Kim-Butler
17
When Pop Culture Critiques: How American TV
and Film Examines the Links Between Politics,
Justice, and the Judiciary’s Legitimacy
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (Supreme Court
of the United States, 1992) caused quite a stir; many believed it would be the case
to overturn Roe v. Wade (Supreme Court of the United States, 1973) and revoke a
woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. However, conservative justices deed
expectations and upheld Roe, albeit by adding an ambiguous “undue burden”
standard. Because abortion is a divisive issue (to put it mildly), the justices realized
their ruling in Casey had to be made with utmost care. e plurality opinion,
written by Justices O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, observes, “the Court cannot
buy support for its decisions . . . [and] it cannot independently coerce obedience to
its decrees. e Court’s power lies, rather, in its legitimacy, a product of substance
and perception that shows itself in the people’s acceptance of the Judiciary as t
to determine what the Nation’s law means and declare what it demands” (12,
emphasis added). In other words, because courts do not control the armed forces
and do not write laws, their power rests in their legal judgments and how those
judgments are perceived by society. eir power is constrained by whether the
public thinks the courts are legitimate.
Clearly, legitimacy is an important factor in the workings of the judicial
system. is fact raises a question: what makes a court legitimate? It has something
to do with the layman’s perception of the court, yes, but how is this perception
formed? In his article “Law, Lawyers, and Popular Culture,” Lawrence Friedman
discusses the ways in which people judge legal systems. He concludes that lawyers
associate freedom, democracy, and the like with due process; if legally proper
procedure is followed, lawyers believe the system is fair and just. Justice, however,
is a remarkably ambiguous idea open to multiple interpretations. Friedman claims
that common people, unlike lawyers, “think of justice, freedom and democracy
in markedly substantive terms”; they are “result-minded . . . [T]he ‘legitimacy’ of
18
law and legal institutions. . . is understood and assessed by what these institutions
do” (1603, 1604). Essentially, to assess the legitimacy of a court when a decision
is made, the public asks the big question: was justice served? Did the court come
to the morally right conclusion? A jury that lets a guilty man walk free is likely
to be seen as illegitimate, for instance, even if legally prescribed procedures were
followed. Along the same lines, the public won’t be satised if an innocent woman
is stuck in prison. If a court strips people of their rights, that court is also likely
going to be decried as unsound and illegitimate. Once again, this public perception
is important because the court’s power rests on whether average citizens believe it
is doing its job properly.
Since legitimacy is important to the functionality of the court system,
and because we know the public largely measures legitimacy on the basis of
whether “justice” is served, we come to yet another question: how do we assess
the public’s opinion of the judiciary? Friedman answers, “clues to the legitimacy
of courts . . . are not to be found in the structure of doctrine, or in the formal
texts of jurists, but in the broad messages traveling back and forth between the
public and the organs of popular culture” (1605). ese “messages” could be
found in “books, songs, movies, plays and TV shows which are about law or
lawyers, and which are aimed at a general audience” (1580). Examples abound:
the recent television programs Boston Legal and Law & Order; the lms On the
Basis of Sex (2018), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and To Kill A Mockingbird (1962);
and so on. Even though these pop culture representations may focus on dierent
legal issues—abortion, civil rights, divorce, criminal trials, and more—there are
plenty of similarities. In his article “e American Courtroom Trial: Pop Culture,
Courtroom Realities, and the Dream World of Justice,” David Ray Papke examines
popular culture representations of courtroom trials. Focusing on these depictions
of trials, he reviews many overarching similarities: the courtroom is “wood-
paneled, well-upholstered, and soothed in soft light,” defense attorneys are often
heroic, and lawyers are “articulate and impassioned as they deliver the special type
of argumentative soliloquy indigenous to a legalistic culture” (921, 925). Overall,
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Papke argues that pop culture representation of the legal system “contributes
mightily to the popular understanding of law” and “transports us to the dream
world of justice” (932). Papke’s assertion that pop culture representations teach
the public about the law is indisputably accurate, but Papke’s claim that these
representations transport viewers to a “dream world of justice” glosses over an
important point. In his assertion, he forgets that popular culture can also critique.
In fact, many movies and shows criticize the American court system, pointing
out various inequities and injustices. ese critiques give a clue about public
perception of the court system and thus its legitimacy.
Critiques of the court system vary, but numerous pop culture
representations of the legal system raise similar issues, therefore demonstrating
where the public nds fault in the legal system. One issue consistently raised is
the politicization of the judiciary. Over the years, the American court system has
become increasingly politicized and partisan. In 2020, the appointment of Amy
Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court displayed the depth of this
partisanship. Politicization of the judiciary isn’t new, though, and the issue has
been raised in pop culture representation for years. Episodes of popular TV shows
Boston Legal and Law & Order, and the documentary lm Reversing Roe (2018),
for example, all examine the politicization of the judiciary. ese portrayals have
a common purpose: they demonstrate how the politicization of the judiciary
decreases the courts’ legitimacy. is loss of legitimacy occurs because the public
loses faith in the judiciary, labeling it as just another partisan branch heavily
shaped by politics.
Boston Legal: A Broad Criticism of Politicization in the Court System
Because lawyer Alan Shore (played by James Spader) goes on a lengthy
diatribe against the Supreme Court in the 2008 episode “e Court Supreme”
of Boston Legal, this episode oers a broad overview of how politicization of the
judiciary decreases the American court system’s legitimacy. In the episode, Shore
presents an appeal to the Supreme Court for Leonard Serra, a man sentenced to
death after being convicted of raping an eight-year-old girl. Serra, who has an
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IQ of 70, insists that he is innocent of the crime, but Shore technically cannot
argue actual innocence and must stick to constitutional issues when arguing the
appeal. When this strategy fails, Shore gives an emotional rant about the death
penalty and the Supreme Court in general. Boston Legal oers many messages to
its viewers, and as Friedman discusses, these messages oer clues about how the
legal system is perceived by the public and thus whether it is seen as legitimate.
Because the episode focuses mainly on the death penalty, the main message is the
cruelty of the death penalty. Shore identies many issues with it, mentioning how
“[there is] an epidemic of wrongful convictions in this country . . . too many of
them ending up on death row” (Boston Legal, “e Court Supreme”). Because
the death penalty is painted as unethical, the episode injures the legal system’s
legitimacy. However, the anti-death penalty position is not the only message
about the legal system in this episode.
Shore spends a decent portion of his speech arguing that the politicization
of the judiciary is a monumental problem that decreases the Supreme Court’s
legitimacy, as the public dismisses the court as just another partisan branch of
government. After the Chief Justice admonishes him, “Mr. Shore! I don’t like
your demeanor . . . And I would remind you of where you are” (BL), Shore snaps.
His retort is quick: “I know exactly where I am . . . and let me tell you, you folks
aren’t as hot as all get out” (BL). His sharp critiques that follow are important,
as they demonstrate real problems of politicization that exist in the American
court system and what Americans think of the issue. Even if the viewing public
doesn’t have these opinions of the court before watching the episode, they might
afterwards. Friedman discusses how in modern society, “media [is] . . . the most
powerful carrier[] of popular culture,” and it “forms or helps form popular legal
culture, [which is] what people think about law” (1596, 1597). In sum, Friedman
argues that pop culture representations of the law both reect and inuence average
citizens’ opinions about the legal system. erefore, Shore’s speech gives clues as
to whether Americans believe the legal system is legitimate.
So, what exactly does Shore say about the politicization of the judiciary,
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and how does this politicization aect the court’s legitimacy (which one must
remember is a product of public perception)? Shore’s most direct attack is this:
e Supreme Court was intended to be free and unadulterated by
politics. It is now dominated by it. You’re handpicked by presidents
with ideological agendas, and of the two dozen 5-4 decisions in your
2006/2007 term, 19 [were] straight across ideological lines. at’s
politics! . . . If that’s the way it’s gonna be, at least have the decency to
put your names on ballots like the rest of the politicians so we the people
get a voice. (BL)
Here, Shore argues that the court, which advertises itself as nonpartisan and
free of politics, is actually extremely partisan and politicized. is decreases
the legitimacy of the court. If the judges vote straight across ideological—i.e.,
partisan—lines, the public cannot expect the court to decide each case fairly.
Justices are too impaired by their partisan beliefs to fairly interpret the law. eir
actions are compromised, tainted by partisan politics, and thus any court rulings
with which the public disagrees are easier to discount as biased and wrong. e
court has lost its legitimacy; it is just another partisan branch of government.
Of course, this phenomenon might not be so bad if the court still comes
to “just” results. Remember, the public largely judges the court’s legitimacy based
on what it does; the public is less concerned about procedure and more concerned
about the outcome. So, even if a court has a biased, partisan makeup, maybe this
could be overlooked if the court still manages to come to the proper conclusion.
However, Shore contends that the court is clearly not coming to the proper
conclusions in the cases it decides. He asserts, “[e Supreme] Court, with your
narrow majority, has turned back the clock on civil rights, school segregation,
equal protection, free speech, abortion, [and] campaign nance. You’ve been
overtly and shamelessly pro-business, making it impossible for some plaintis
to so much as sue corporations, especially big oil and big tobacco” (BL). Later,
he challenges, “Who are you people? You’ve transformed this court from being
a governmental branch devoted to civil rights and liberties into a protector of
discrimination, a guardian of government, a slave to money interests and big
business” (BL). It’s implied that these negative developments are caused, both
22
directly and indirectly, by the extreme politicization of the court system. us,
the politicization of the judiciary decreases its legitimacy. Legitimacy is damaged
because the court is coming to the wrong conclusions, at least in the eyes of
the general public. What good citizen would want a court to “turn[] back the
clock on civil rights”? Who would support a court that obstructs free speech? In
Shore’s critique of the Supreme Court, justice is shown to be crippled because the
politicized court is biased in favor of the wealthy and powerful instead of giving
everyone fair treatment.
“e Court Supreme” doesn’t only oer abstract examples of how a
politicized court hinders justice and thus decreases its legitimacy; the death row
inmate Serra’s story demonstrates the same theme. ere are compelling reasons
as to why Serra should not be put to death: he’s mentally disabled, non-homicidal
rape convictions generally do not result in death sentences, he has no prior criminal
record, and, importantly, there’s a chance he’s entirely innocent. e court fails
to consider any of this. Of course, some of this is because the court is forced to
follow procedure. Nevertheless, the court still comes across as callous and cruel.
Why are they sticking by a “law[] passed by politicians . . . around election time
when they’re desperate to appear tough on crime” (BL)? Can they not declare the
Louisiana law permitting the death penalty for child rape unconstitutional, or at
the very least give Serra some other pathway to survival? e result, which leaves
Serra on death row, leaves the viewer angry and unsatised. e viewer may infer,
with at least partial correctness, that the outcome may have been dierent if the
court was not “dominated” by politics. Hence, Boston Legal paints the legal system
as unfairly politicized in two way—both in Shore’s speech and Serra’s storyline.
is politicization delegitimizes the court, as the public perceives the court as a
partisan branch hindering justice.
Reversing Roe: Politicization of a Specic Legal Issue
No discussion of politicization in the legal system is complete without
considering what is arguably the most politicized, highly partisan court case
in U.S. history: Roe v. Wade (Supreme Court of the United States, 1973). e
23
aftermath of this case oers an example of how when the court becomes deeply
immersed in a partisan issue, politicization of the judiciary decreases the court
system’s legitimacy. Before discussing how abortion has impacted the legal system,
though, it’s important to note that abortion wasn’t always a partisan issue. Before
Roe, there was societal conict, to be sure. For instance, feminists like Betty Friedan
and Gloria Steinem joined the movement for decriminalization of abortion, while
the Catholic Church took an opposing stance (Greenhouse and Siegel 4). In Roe,
the court recognized this conict, mentioning, “We forthwith acknowledge our
awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy . .
. and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires”
(1). However, while abortion was divisive pre-Roe, the division wasn’t along
partisan lines. In fact, a 1972 Gallup poll found that 68% of Republicans believed
abortion should remain between a woman and her doctor. In comparison, 59%
of Democrats agreed with the statement (Greenhouse and Siegel 9). is was just
a year before Roe.
How did abortion become such a partisan issue? Clearly, when Roe was
decided, partisanship played no role in the court decision. Credit where credit
is due—the Republican Party successfully hijacked the issue, turning it into a
partisan aair for their political gain. Originally, as seen in the Gallup poll, the
Republican Party was more pro-choice than the Democratic Party. With their
emphasis on individual liberty, it makes sense that the Republican Party shunned
excessive governmental regulation in healthcare. Ronald Reagan, George H. W.
Bush, Donald Trump, and other prominent Republicans were originally pro-
choice (Reversing Roe). Eventually, though, party strategists realized abortion
was a galvanizing issue that could increase Republican support among cultural
conservatives like Catholics, evangelicals, and other members of the emerging
“moral majority.” erefore, Republicans began to push the religious right’s
agenda. is approach, combined with the Southern Strategy, worked. Cultural
conservatives began voting Republican, giving Reagan the White House in
1980. Of course, by then, Reagan had shifted his tone on abortion, becoming an
24
anti-abortion spokesman. us, it is evident that the politicization of abortion
occurred after the Supreme Court decided Roe. When Roe was decided in 1973,
few people were decrying the decision as illegitimate. at occurred later.
e 2018 Netix documentary Reversing Roe, directed by Ricki Stern and
Annie Sundberg, examines the partisanship that emerged surrounding abortion,
demonstrating how partisanship decreases the legitimacy of the court system.
Like the Boston Legal episode “e Court Supreme,” Reversing Roe contains many
messages about the legal system. Both take liberal stances on their respective
legal issues: the Boston Legal episode is anti-death penalty, while Reversing Roe
conspicuously leans pro-choice on the issue of reproductive rights. Although
both pieces of media have clear points of view about controversial social issues,
they both critique the partisan politicization of the legal system. Once again, this
criticism is valuable because pop culture representation of the law both reects
and inuences society’s opinions. Reversing Roe gives many examples of how the
partisanship surrounding Roe negatively aects the judiciary. A few examples
in particular stand out: how the issue of abortion is used in Texas politics, and
how the executive branch intrudes into the judiciary. ese both decrease the
legitimacy of the judiciary.
In Texas, politicians’ stances on abortion reveal how cavalierly they treat
Roe, thus decreasing the court’s legitimacy in the eyes of the public. In other words,
when partisan politicians make it their goal to overturn a Supreme Court ruling,
the politicians do not believe the court or its ruling is legitimate. If politicians—
who are our leaders, theoretically some of the best and brightest among us—do
not respect the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, how should we expect the public
to think the court is legitimate? Inserting politics into the legal system therefore
impairs the judiciary. is phenomenon is brilliantly illustrated in Reversing Roe.
John Seago, the Legislative Director of the organization Texas Right to Life, states,
“If you’re running in Texas as a Republican, you have to claim to agree with pro-
life principles” (Reversing Roe). is quote is juxtaposed with statements from
Texas politicians, demonstrating just how partisan the issue has become in Texas.
25
Governor Rick Perry, for example, uses abortion rhetoric to further his partisan
goals. At a Right to Life convention, he brags about passing a sonogram law that
will convince women not to have an abortion. In another instance, Governor
Perry states that he wants to “make abortion at any stage a thing of the past”
(RR), a goal that directly contradicts Roe and other abortion cases. Right to Life
activists predictably have considerable control over the politicians, as shown in
Reversing Roe. And what do these activists think about abortion and the Supreme
Court? Unsurprisingly, they don’t respect the court’s legitimacy. Carol Tobias,
President of the organization National Right to Life, complains, “Our roadblock
has always been the Supreme Court. [But] we’re going to keep plugging away to
overturn Roe v. Wade” (RR). is is not the attitude you take when you think an
institution and its decisions are legitimate. Of course, technically, these activists
and politicians should not be able to lobby the court; the judiciary should remain
insulated from partisan politics. e court should not need lobbying because its
role is to objectively interpret the Constitution and the law. Justice Scalia argues
this exact point in his dissent in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v.
Casey (1992), a landmark decision regarding abortion. He laments, “We have been
subjected to what the Court calls ‘political pressure’ by both sides of this issue. . .
. How upsetting it is, that so many of our citizens (good people, not lawless ones .
. .) think that we Justices should properly take into account their views, as though
we were engaged not in ascertaining an objective law but in determining some
kind of social consensus” (38). Scalia is mourning the injection of politics into his
court. When partisan politicians and activists try to interfere with the judiciary’s
methods, the court cannot do its proper job and is consequently delegitimized.
Another issue presented in Reversing Roe is how the executive branch’s
intrusion into the judiciary—obviously partisan, political interference—further
decreases its legitimacy. is complication arises because the president appoints
numerous judges, most notably Supreme Court justices. us, it’s almost certain
that the president will have an ideological impact on the court system, and
presidents have increasingly used that to their advantage, boosting their support
26
in elections and public opinion polls. President Trump’s appointed justices were all
painstakingly selected according to how they interpret the law. For instance, Justice
Barrett supports increased restriction on abortion, as seen in Planned Parenthood
of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc. v. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of
Health (US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, en banc rehearing denied,
2018). erefore, her appointment to the Supreme Court furthers Trump’s
partisan goals, a phenomenon of which Trump is acutely aware. Trump is often
a reckless, impulsive president, but his careful strategy on judicial appointments
is a deviation from this norm. Reversing Roe illustrates how Trump’s stance on the
judiciary and abortion played a large part in getting him elected. Evangelicals and
other cultural conservatives were wary of Trump, but they also held the belief that,
as stated by Carol Tobias, President of the National Right to Life organization,
“If we want to change the laws, we have to change the Supreme Court” (RR).
e President of the United States is the one who holds the power to “change the
Supreme Court.” Accordingly, evangelicals were wooed to Trump’s side in part
because of his promise that “the justices that I’m going to appoint will be pro-life”
(RR). Trump was not the rst president to politicize the legal system in an eort to
raise his support among voters, as portrayed in Reversing Roe. President Reagan was
elected in part because of his opposition to abortion. As president, he continued
this opposition by nominating judges who voiced anti-abortion stances. Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor, one of Reagan’s three appointments to the Supreme Court,
told the Senate during her conrmation hearings that she was rmly opposed to
abortion “as a matter of birth control” (RR). George H. W. Bush, who also took
a strong-anti abortion stance to win the presidency (“I believe that we should
work to Overturn Roe v. Wade” (RR)), nominated two conservative justices to the
Supreme Court. In Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey
(Supreme Court of the United States, 1992), the Bush administration asked the
Supreme Court to support further limitations on abortion. e Solicitor General
argued in the Supreme Court that Roe should be overturned because “the state
does have a compelling interest in the potential life, in fetal life” (RR). e Bush
27
administration’s involvement in this case was so pervasive that Kathryn Kolbert,
who was arguing the case for Planned Parenthood, stated, “President Bush has
done all he can do to ensure that my arguments are likely to fall on deaf ears”
(RR). is situation demonstrates how the president often inserts politics into the
judiciary, hijacking it for political gain. While this might be good for the electoral
outcomes of the president and their party, it is bad for the judiciary. e court’s
role is to objectively apply the law. Politics and ideology should play no part in
this application, even if it is the President of the United States giving their two
cents. When the judiciary is politicized, its legitimacy is decreased. e public
perceives the court as open to political persuasion, not as a fair, impartial body.
erefore, if the public decides they don’t agree with a court case, like Roe v. Wade,
they don’t feel obliged to accept it. e ruling can be discounted as illegitimate,
the product of a court submerged in partisan politics. en, after rejecting the
decision, the public can proceed to ght it, similar to how anti-abortion activists
continue to ght Roe v. Wade and other opinions regarding abortion. As illustrated
by Reversing Roe, it is clear that politicization of the judiciary decreases the courts’
legitimacy in the eyes of the public.
Law & Order: Non-Partisan Politicization of the Court System
In Boston Legal and the controversy surrounding Roe v. Wade, the negative
politicization of the legal system is deeply partisan; disagreement revolves around
Democrats and Republicans in the American party system. However, politicization
of the judiciary doesn’t have to t within this binary partisan system. Some
people may act outside of this traditional system but still insert their political
opinions into the judiciary, hindering justice and negatively aecting the courts’
legitimacy. Perhaps the most prominent example of this in American society is the
sovereign citizen movement. Sovereign citizens are, as described by the FBI, “anti-
government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in
this country, they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States” (Kalinowski
154). ey defy conventional classication in the political sense. Since they don’t
see themselves as politically governed by the United States, they cannot belong
28
to an American political party. eir beliefs are more fundamental than that.
However, their actions are still political; their behavior ts within a Merriam-
Webster dictionary denition of the word, which states that something “political”
is “concerned with acts against a government or a political system” (“Political”).
us, when sovereign citizens get involved in the legal system—which they
do quite frequently—their actions aecting the system can be described as
politicization of the court. One real example occurred in 2016, when armed anti-
government protesters occupied a wildlife refuge in Oregon. is occupation,
which challenged federal authority over public lands, is distressing enough, but
what occurred in the legal system after the protesters were arrested was even more
troublesome. Despite their guilt, a jury acquitted the group of federal conspiracy
and weapons charges. is is an example of jury nullication, which “happens
when a jury returns a verdict of Not Guilty despite its belief that the defendant is
guilty of the violation charged” (“Jury Nullication”). Justice was not served, as
the guilty parties walked free. is can decrease the legitimacy of the court system
in the public’s eye.
e 1997 Law & Order episode “Nullication” shows a ctional
representation of the sovereign citizen movement. An attempted heist of an
armored car leads the police to the New Sons of Liberty, a suburban group of
men who claim to be a militia at war with the United States government. For their
failed heist, which caused the death of one of the guards of the armored car, the
group is charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery and felony murder.
Phil Christie (played by Denis O’Hare), who is both the lead defendant and the
pro se attorney for the defense, uses bizarre claims in court. Before the trial even
begins, he claims that he and his group are prisoners of war exempt from trial
under the Geneva Conventions. is motion is denied by the trial judge for its
absurdity and lack of foundation in the law. At trial, Christie encourages the jury
to acquit—to engage in jury nullication—because the people, not the courts, are
sovereign. He never even argues his innocence. Instead, his claims rest on abstract
ideas about American society and government. His other arguments are just as
29
ludicrous: Christie claims that the robbery was an act of self-defense against an
enemy army (the “enemy army” being the U.S. government), he claims his group
is resisting tyranny, and he asserts that the U.S. government has been sold to
global corporations. In his words, “Freedom starts with a ‘no’” (Law & Order,
“Nullication); he wants the jury to say “no” to the “tyrannical” government. ese
ideas, however illogical, are political. And, unfortunately, the jury seems to accept
Christie’s claims: not being able to decide on a unanimous verdict (even though
the defendants are clearly guilty), the trial ends in a mistrial, to Christie’s utter
delight. is means the jury was thwarted by politics; politicization of the court
system hindered justice. To the viewer, there was really no question as to whether
the New Sons of Liberty were guilty. e mistrial was inherently political. Because
the jury took an interest in Christie’s political, albeit nonsensical, arguments, the
“right” outcome was not reached. e man who was murdered by the New Sons
of Liberty did not get justice; his killer (who was most likely Christie, as revealed
during the trial) remains free. us, the Law & Order episode “Nullication”
represents a slightly dierent way in which politicization of the judiciary hinders
justice and decreases legitimacy. e court system’s legitimacy is damaged because
the guilty men were not convicted. What type of system lets the guilty get o
scot-free due to unfounded and bizarre political grandstanding? A fair, legitimate
system shouldn’t be so easily corrupted by wild arguments about tyranny. It
cannot be trusted to reach justice.
Conclusion: How Popular Culture Representations of the Legal System Are
Relevant Today
In 2020, it feels like the insertion of politics in the legal system has reached
new heights. After the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there was a bitter,
partisan ght over Amy Coney Barrett’s conrmation to the Supreme Court. is
ght was so intense due to political circumstances: a very contentious upcoming
election. Because both Democrats and Republicans realized the election could
come down to the Supreme Court, à la Bush v. Gore in 2000, each side wanted
friendly justices on the Supreme Court. ere have already been numerous
30
lawsuits concerning the 2020 presidential election. e Pennsylvania Supreme
Court, for instance, ordered a three-day extension for ballots mailed on or before
election day, a move Republicans claim is unconstitutional (Liptak). Because
of a deadlock, the United States Supreme Court let the decision stand. Justices
omas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh all wanted to grant a stay blocking the
order, a move that would likely help President Trump because mail-in ballots
favor Democrats. ese justices were all nominated by Republican presidents
(two by Trump himself). With the election still unfolding, it has become evident
that this decision could be crucial. Trump had an early lead in Pennsylvania, but
Biden overtook him as mail-in ballots were counted. Trump then tweeted, “I easily
WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST . . . votes
accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S.
Supreme Court should decide!” (Trump). Twitter agged this tweet as misleading.
What is important to note, however, is how Trump is politicizing the court: he
believes the Supreme Court—which is now packed with conservative, Republican-
appointed justices—should decide the election. It is evident that partisanship
within the court has become a major issue in 2020. As both Democrats and
Republicans rely on the courts for crucial election decisions, the American public
increasingly perceives the court as partisan and politicized. e court is losing its
legitimacy in the eyes of the public. However, this phenomenon is not new to
2020. Politicization of the court system has long been at issue, as demonstrated
by pop culture representations of the legal system.
Boston Legal, Reversing Roe, and Law & Order all demonstrate that
politicization of the judiciary decreases the courts’ legitimacy. e public loses
faith in the judiciary, dismissing it as just another partisan branch of government.
Interestingly, all of these portrayals are directly relevant to current events. In the
Boston Legal episode “e Court Supreme” (2008), Alan Shore oers sweeping
criticism of the judiciary, claiming that “e Supreme Court was intended to
be free and unadulterated by politics. It is now dominated by it. [Justices are]
handpicked by presidents with ideological agendas” (BL). is criticism is
31
pertinent in 2020, when several “handpicked” justices all favor a decision that
would help the Republican president. Reversing Roe (2018), a documentary about
the history and law of reproductive rights, demonstrates that when a president
inserts partisan politics into the judiciary, the courts become delegitimized. In
2020, Trump nominated now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett largely because it was
expected that she would restrict access to abortion and even potentially be the key
vote in overturning Roe v. Wade. us, Justice Barrett furthers his partisan goals;
she helped Trump woo the anti-abortion vote. Once again, the court appears to
be just another partisan branch. Luckily, in 2020, there have been no prominent
incidents of jury nullication like the one illustrated in the 1997 Law & Order
episode “Nullication.” However, far-right militia members, similar to the New
Sons of Liberty, have certainly been trying to circumvent the legal system. Recently,
a group in Michigan, unhappy with the state’s government, including its judicial
system, made plans to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer and hold their own
trial to keep her accountable for her “tyranny” (United States v. Fox et al., 2020).
e group was caught, fortunately, and will stand trial. eir trial has yet to
occur, but if they somehow manage to be acquitted, it would be another example
of jury nullication that hinders justice and delegitimizes the courts. Overall,
these examples demonstrate how extraordinarily important popular culture
representations of the legal system are. ese popular culture representations of
the courts reect and inuence public opinion, critique injustices in the law, and
highlight how crucial public perceptions of the court system’s legitimacy really
are.
32
Works Cited
“e Court Supreme.” Boston Legal, season 4, episode 17, directed by Robert
Yannetti, written by David E. Kelley and Jonathan Shapiro, ABC, 22
Apr. 2008.
Friedman, Lawrence M. “Law, Lawyers, and Popular Culture.” Yale Law Journal,
vol. 98, no. 8, June 1989, pp. 1579–1606.
Greenhouse, Linda, and Reva B. Siegel. “e Unnished Story of Roe v. Wade.”
Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories, edited by Melissa Murray,
Katherine Shaw, and Reva B. Siegel, Foundation Press, 2019, pp. 1–22.
“Jury Nullication.” FindLaw, 27 Feb. 2019, https://criminal.ndlaw.com/
criminal procedure/jury-nullication.html.
Kalinowski IV, Caesar. “A Legal Response to the Sovereign Citizen Movement.”
Montana Law Review, vol. 80, no. 2, 2019, pp. 153–210.
Liptak, Adam. “Supreme Court and the Election: What We Know.” New York
Times, 4 Nov. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/us/
supreme-court-election.html.
“Nullication.” Law & Order, season 8, episode 5, directed by Constantine
Makris, written by David Black, NBC, 5 Nov. 1997.
Papke, David Ray. “e American Courtroom Trial: Pop Culture, Courthouse
Realities, and the Dream World of Justice.” South Texas Law Review,
vol.40, no. 4, Fall 1999, pp. 919–32. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and
Kentucky v. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 17-3163
(25 June 2018).
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Supreme Court of the
United States, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).
33
“Political.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.
com/dictionary/political.
Reversing Roe. Directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, Netix,
2018. Roe v. Wade. Supreme Court of the United States, 410 U.S. 113
(1973).
Trump, Donald (realdonaldtrump). “I easily WIN the Presidency of the United
States with LEGAL VOTES CAST. e OBSERVERS were not
allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes
accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL
VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!” 6 Nov. 2020,
2:22. Tweet. United States v. Fox et al. Criminal Complaint, United
States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, No. 1:20-
mj-416 (6 Oct. 2020).
34
Did Shen Fever Really Just Predict COVID-19?
by Carolyn Glasser
From ENG 125: “I would prefer not to”: Pushing Paper in
Late Capitalism
Nominated by Júlia Irion Martins
When the university sent my students home in March 2020, I overhauled
my syllabus. In keeping with the “oce job” theme of my English 125 section, I
replaced all the remaining readings with Ling Ma’s Severance (2018): a dystopian
oce novel about a pandemic that originates in China and subsequently decimates
the American economy. After reading, students were to write a narrative argument
essay that put their personal observations and experiences with the COVID-19
pandemic in conversation with the themes and questions raised by the novel.
While all my students rose to the occasion, impressing me with critical readings of
the novel and their lives, Carolyn’s work stood out. Carolyn’s essay is a remarkable
example of what good rst-person writing does: it uses the personal to illuminate
the universal. In Carolyn’s close readings, Candace (the novel’s protagonist)
becomes a character in Carolyn’s world, and Carolyn a character in Candace’s. at
is to say, Carolyn uses Severance to interpret her experiences with COVID-19 and
her experiences with COVID-19 to read Severance. She pairs her literary analysis
with critiques of overworking, research on social media, her own theorizations
about time and nostalgia, and still manages to t in a compelling read on how
we interpret and trust mass media. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is.
Feinberg Family Prize for
Excellence in First-Year Writing
35
But with Carolyn’s strong, charismatic written voice and deft guidance, following
these threads is natural, elucidating, and fun.
-- Júlia Irion Martins
36
Did Shen Fever Really Just Predict COVID-19?
I remember my last time in real society, mostly because it was only a
month ago, but also because it was the last time I felt like a real person. I traded
my daily study groups in the dining hall with my friends to living in my pajamas
in front of my computer and TV with my mom. Don’t get me wrong, spending
time with my family and waking up thirty seconds before my online lectures is
great, but I’ve had to confront my worst nightmare as my new social platform:
technology. I already have too many problems with slow computers and crashing
programs, so reverting to this technology as my new way of living is not ideal.
e world we once knew is being torn apart by a virus that we can’t even see, and
it’s so drastic that we are all collectively agreeing that the media isn’t biased for the
next few months so that we can see how the world unfolds once we make it to the
other side. But what does this other side even look like? Can we really just pick up
life where we left o once we are able to breathe freely in public and have actual
human conversations again? While this is an unprecedented time in history, Ling
Ma draws out our situation in her novel Severance to reveal scary revelations about
our changing world and about our human nature.
While we are not running o with strangers to plunder houses for food
under the orders of some awkward tech guy who is now in control after living
behind his computer screen all his life, we are more similar to Candace than we
think. Shen Fever quite literally broke the world in Ling Ma’s novel Severance, just
as COVID-19 is breaking our world as we speak. Written just two years before
COVID-19 struck, its parallels to our world right now are so accurate it’s actually
scary: not only does it follow the events leading up to the pandemic almost
perfectly (both coming from China, causing mass panic, and being downplayed
by the media), it reects a scary revelation about human nature: our world is run
by routine. Shen Fever is not just a ctitious disease that Ling Ma made up: it’s
the epitome of who we are as people. Candace, the narrator, reminds us that we
have been the fevered before the fevered even existed:
37
Shen Fever [is] a disease of remembering, the fevered are trapped
indenitely in their memories. But what is the dierence between them
and us? Because I remember too, I remember perfectly. My memories
replay, unprompted, on repeat. And our days, like theirs, continue in an
innite loop. We drive, we sleep, we drive some more (Ma 112).
While we are constantly treading through the monotonous routine that is the
present, we force ourselves to live in the past and imagine our lives in the future,
just as Candace points out. To be in the present is to be routine, and something
about this is inherently boring, so we constantly imagine ourselves in a dierent
time. Just like the fevered (those contracting Shen Fever who lose touch with
reality and go into routine overdrive) , we are also forced into routine but
dream of the past, and psychologist Erin Olive agrees. She says that “so many
of us humans tend to go through our days on autopilot, which is essentially the
opposite of mindfulness… we spend most of our energy rehashing the past or
rehearsing the future: wishing, hoping, panning, ruminating, missing, regretting.”
If COVID-19 has done anything besides causing mass destruction and chaos, it
has shown how valid this statement is. I’m just like Candace, who follows this very
accurate depiction of so many young adults like us. As the novel progresses, we get
more ashbacks from Candace about the importance of her family and the times
when her ex-boyfriend Johnathan begged her to move out of the city with him.
Candace just ends up following her routines, but when the situation becomes
more desperate, she turns to her past to give her some light of hope.
My ashbacks exist in my phone. I spend countless hours scrolling through
pictures in my camera roll and replaying videos in my memories on Snapchat. I
scroll through everyone’s throwback posts on Instagram, yearning to return to the
days when I can actually talk to people face-to-face. I’ve spent so much eort this
past month reminiscing on some of my best memories from college and using
them to imagine picking up this life again once we return, whenever that will be.
If only I could go back to enjoying scrambled eggs and conversations with my
friends every morning before greeting the freezing Michigan winter air to rush
38
to my rst lecture. To destress with glow-in-the-dark cells in my research lab. To
enjoy my nights playing card games in the lounge and hosting movie marathons
that last into the next morning. Just thinking about my life in college gives me
hope that I can soon return to normalcy and that this situation won’t be as scary as
it seems. Maybe it’s the memories, or maybe it’s my way of shielding what’s going
on around me.
Shielding: isn’t that what routine does? It numbs us to what’s going on
around us in the present, leading us to believe that the present is boring and that
drawing on past and future events provides us with the excitement and closure that
we constantly seek out. From a young age, we are taught to believe that work is the
only thing that our lives should lead up to. But once we’re there, the excitement
leaves. Why do we live like this? It’s routine, or “hustle culture,” as Erin Grith
likes to call it. “It is obsessed with striving, relentlessly positive, devoid of humor,
and — once you notice it — impossible to escape.” Candace is just your classic
hustler living in the headquarters of hustle culture, living up to be the kind of
person that our society idolizes. She lives by her mom’s and society’s expectations
that she should “make use of [herself],” but it takes people like Johnathan who
“want [their] time and [their] eorts to be [their own]” (Ma 143, 96). While our
society strives to live like Jonathan, so many of us are stuck living with Candace’s
mom’s advice. Our generation thrives on this perpetual cycle of idolizing work,
which nubs us to the routine that we unconsciously force ourselves into. And
now that COVID-19 is disrupting our daily routines by locking us in our homes
and stripping us of real human interactions, we desperately strive to create new
routines for ourselves because that is what we are wired to do. I can’t go to my
classes like I usually do, but I still make sure to keep my own routine at home.
Yes, I’m one of those crazy people who still wakes up at 7:00 a.m. to eat breakfast,
and yes, I take time out of my day to watch TV shows at their regularly scheduled
hour, and yes, I run the same trail every morning at the same time. I’m even more
predictable now than I was before. We are all adapting to this new situation by
creating new routines. But this isn’t so bad, right?
39
Well, there’s still Candace: when everyone in her life seems to fall o
the face of the Earth, she takes this as a sign to keep working. While I wouldn’t
recommend anyone to move into their abandoned work building, she seems to
thrive picking up a new routine where she can fend for herself. When she nishes
her work for the publishing company she works at (Spectra), Candace creates
her own work by revitalizing her long-forgotten photography blog (Ma 174).
If nothing else, Shen Fever and COVID-19 have given us more time to pick up
hobbies that we didn’t have time for before the pandemics hit. For Candace, this
forces her into an even tighter routine, but for me and so many other people
across the world, this allows us to realize our talent—or lack thereof—for cooking,
dancing, singing, reading, all of these activities that we didn’t realize we had time
for until now. Who knew that I would be so good at burning cookies with my
mom and spending entire afternoons watching New Girl on Netix? I never really
had the time to try out any of these things before. As great as our new free time is,
we are wasting most of it in front of the computer screen, even more than we did
before the pandemic hit.
Unlike Candace’s world, which experiences the death of technology, our
world is seeing the opposite. While Candace’s world ditched phones and news
outlets out of fear, our world is using these as hope. I am an avid believer that social
media and streaming services are both the best and the worst things to happen to
the twenty-rst century. Remember nature? Me neither, because everyone would
so much rather scroll through TikTok videos or glue their eyes to the TV to watch
Netix for hours on end. Even in Candace’s world, people seem to continue our
cycle of eating, sleeping, partying, and working. eir world, like ours, is run by
big tech companies that engrave technology into human nature. But where does
that leave us? As Candace notices, technology is used to further push us to live in
the past.
e internet is the attening of time. It is the place where the past and
present exist on one single plane… perhaps it is more accurate to say that
the internet almost wholly consists of the past… our eyes have become
nearsighted with nostalgia, staring at our computer screens. Because
40
being online is equivalent to living in the past. And, while we can agree
that the internet has many uses, one of its signicant side eects is that
we all live too much in the past… this loss of the internet presents an
opportunity. We are more free to live in the present, and more free to
envision our future (Ma 81).
At least someone else sees the internet like I do, even if she is just a made-up
character. While technology has typically been used to reminisce on the past, it is
now forcing us to live in the future more than ever. Andrew Hutchinson, a daily
reporter, is noticing this trend as well, noting that “people are obviously looking
for support and reassurance amid the pandemic, and the ongoing uncertainty
around its impact, and they’re turning to online communities for this purpose…
[and] the longer the crisis goes on, the more reliant people will become on such
groups… moving more of our community engagement into digital realms, and
further altering how people communicate, maybe forever.” Our shift to online
classes and work has forced us to rely solely on the internet for anything new.
As we are moving to virtual living, we are turning more and more towards our
“trustworthy” sources to give us hope for the future, and I have seen a change in
the perception of news media that completely reverses a popular debate that has
taken over American politics for the past few years. e emergence of “fake news”
has divided Americans, which makes us watch the news to debate rather than to
get information. Politics aside, people have trusted the media less and less these
past few years, but thanks to COVID-19, we are putting all of our trust into the
news, for the better or for the worst.
My mom and I tune into the news every night now from six to seven
p.m., giving us a dose of reality before tuning in to watch Alex Trebek and the
three contestants show o their knowledge on Jeopardy to lighten the mood, at
least temporarily. We are all collectively agreeing that the news isn’t bad for the
next few months because it is our only source of hope for the future. Just as
Candace uses her blog, NY Ghost, as her way of documenting that the world still
exists, we turn to the news and the media to remind us that the world still exists
and provides hope that we will soon be able to return to what we once had. “In
41
the middle of a massive and growing coronavirus shutdown, social media is more
important than ever” (Donovan). We no longer argue the facts but accept the
news for what it is because it is our only real connection to the world. All day, we
are cooped up in our homes to communicate over the phone, bringing back the
popularity of FaceTime and online video conferencing. Against our instincts, we
ignore the “infodemic, which is dened as ‘an overabundance of information —
some accurate and some not — that make it hard for people to nd trustworthy
sources and reliable guidance when we need it’” (Donovan). e internet is giving
us hope in desperate times to not just imagine but prepare to pick our lives back
up again.
Our world is changing by the second, but many of these changes have
already been predicted by Ling Ma. She envisioned our world today before
COVID-19 even existed. We are the New Yorkers eeing the city to be with
family. We are the New Yorkers who are fevered and are forced to live in the past
while constantly being in routine. We are the New Yorkers whose soul concern is
following society’s ideal “hustle culture.” We are the fevered. But will that last?
No one knows what the world will bring in the coming months. States
could start opening up public attractions as soon as next week or delay it until
next year. I could be returned for my research next month, or waiting until classes
resume in the fall, or maybe I wouldn’t even return to campus until 2021—what
a scary thought! It’s us against the virus, but not even Ling Ma can tell us who
will win in our world. Living in the past and dreaming of the future is what will
get us through these hard times to combat the uncertainty that we face. Routine
is never uncertain, but it’s this same uncertainty which allows us to be vulnerable
and human. Ling Ma may have predicted everything leading up to the pandemic,
but none of us really knows what our world will look like in the coming months,
so we leave it up to our imagination by living in the past and in the future. And
that is okay.
42
Works Cited
Donovan, Joan. “Here’s How Social Media Can Combat the Coronavirus
‘Infodemic’.” MIT Technology Review, 10 Apr. 2020,www.
technologyreview.com/2020/03/17/905279/facebook-twitter-social-
media-infodemic-misinformation/.
Grith, Erin. “Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?” e New
York Times, e New York Times, 26 Jan. 2019,www.nytimes.
com/2019/01/26/business/against-hustle-Culture-rise-and-grind-tgim.
html.
Hutchinson, Andrew. “Amid COVID-19 Lockdowns, New Online Behavioral
Shifts Are Beginning to Take Shape.” Social Media Today, Industry
Drive, 24 Mar. 2020, www.socialmediatoday.com/news/amid-
covid-19-lockdowns-new-online-behavioral-shifts-are-beginning-to-
take/574704/.
Ma, Ling. Severance. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.
Olivo, Erin. “Here’s Why You Struggle To Stay Present.” Mindbodygreen,
Mindbodygreen, 11 Mar. 2020,www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16126/
heres-why-you-struggle-to-stay-present.html.
43
How White Feminism Feeds Misogynoir
by Adalia Kirby
From ENG 125: What is Social Justice?
Nominated by Molly Lynch
Adalia’s essay opens up the beautiful experience in which, as a reader,
you get to learn alongside the writer. In teaching writing I emphasize this an
ideal: in my course syllabi and in my lectures, I explain that one of our goals is
to use writing as a means of learning. But I don’t think I ever needed to mention
this as a goal to Adalia. She is someone whose principal concern, as a student, is
learning; and so it goes without saying that she would work very hard to unpack
her ideas in real-time, on the page, as she does so well in this essay. She’s a rst-
year writer who seems to intuitively understand that the purpose of producing a
critical argument is not to win or dominate, but to explore, to understand, and to
invite the reader into that process.
I feel that it’s this concern that leads her to be as careful as she is in this
essay in examining and analyzing her evidence, in developing her interpretations
and in unpacking her possible bias. She does this last move with introspective
language that works to deepens her analysis.
Clarity is one of the strong attributes of this essay. is clarity starts in the
opening as she lays out relevant background that the reader will need in order to
follow her argument. Her clarity is sustained as she makes the subtle and complex
Feinberg Family Prize for
Excellence in First-Year Writing
44
points that ultimately form her argument. Her argument comes o as strong and
clear and something to take with us as a lens and tool as we think about the world.
Here is what I nd most important about this essay: it’s important. And
it reminds us that important issues are everywhere; in places we might forget
to look. Indeed, Adalia takes up something that might easily be overlooked: a
negative comparison that Lana Del Ray makes between herself and a number
of Black female artists, as she attempts to defend herself against sexist criticism.
By trying to get to the bottom of what’s wrong with Lana’s comparison, Adalia
opens a window onto a much bigger problem, a problem whose magnitude can’t
be underestimated. As Adalia puts it: “ere already is a place in feminism for a
white, cisgender, able-bodied, heterosexual woman. Arguably, it is this type of
woman whose voices and stories are amplied in the feminist movement. It is
Black women, disabled women, queer women, trans women, etc. who need a
place for them in feminism. ey are the ones whose voices and stories are taken
away from them….”
As a reader, you nish this essay with renewed and new understanding
of the vital importance of inclusion, empathy and solidarity. It’s an essay to learn
from.
-- Molly Lynch
45
How White Feminism Feeds Misogynoir
Elizabeth Grant, a white alternative singer better known by her stage
name Lana Del Rey, began questioning the role of feminism in the music
industry as she took to Instagram to make a post highlighting the criticisms that
her music has faced throughout her entire career. Specically challenging lack
of inclusivity for passive women in the feminist movement, the singer claims
that her lyrics with submissive themes and emotionally abusive undertones were
constantly misinterpreted to be glamorizing or promoting abuse, when in reality
they were Lana’s personal experiences that relate to the all-too-common abuse
that women face in relationships (Grant). Lana feels that the industry was harsh
in their critiques against her, sometimes accusing Lana of being anti-feminist
or “setting women back.” rough her victimizing language she paints herself
to be a delicate, passive woman undeserving of such merciless and hyperbolic
accusations. Lana shows the unfairness she’s faced as a female music artist by
not only drawing comparisons between the themes of her past music and the
music of today but providing examples of successful female artists who make
explicit music. Lana points out the fact that modern music discusses some very
vulgar and sexual topics yet receives praise whereas her non-sexual, emotionally
focused music received a great deal of negative feedback. Yet there was something
I noticed while Lana made her comparisons and gave her examples. Four out of
six of those female artists she used as examples were Black women. Additionally,
Lana uses language that plays upon stereotypes and biases towards Black women
throughout her post. As we start to see the problematic elements in Lana’s post it
opens up the door to an entirely dierent problem, one that is often overlooked
in the world of feminism: the harm caused by the relationship between white
feminism and misogynoir, wherein white women ignore the unique issues and
prejudices that Black women face.
Lana begins her “question for the culture” by listing six female music
artists who have had great successes with their songs that talk about issues such
46
as “being sexy, wearing no clothes, f*cking, cheating…” (Grant), including Doja
Cat, Cardi B, Beyoncé, and Nicki Minaj. Lana then asks if, now that topics such
as these are normalized in mainstream music, she can go back to making music
about “...feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect,
or dancing for money…” (Grant) without facing backlash or being accused
of being a bad role model. In drawing comparisons and giving her audience
examples, Lana eectively shows how public attitudes towards women’s music
has changed and become more accepting toward a wider variety of topics, and
it makes her audience start to understand her frustration in being bashed for her
music despite it not being as bold or inappropriate as some of the music that the
artists she listed has released. While it seems that Lana is just trying to provide
proof behind her claims, the women she used for examples as well as the way she
describes their music genre is where the issues lie. Four of the six women she has
compared herself to are Black artists, three of them being rappers. ese women
are nowhere near the same musical category, and likely have very dierent fan
bases and critics. eir music obviously tackles dierent issues, rap music being
rooted in Black culture and dealing with topics that are apart of Black life. It is
clear to see why comparing apples to oranges is a waste of time. It would be more
eective for Lana to compare herself to the artists within her own genre that
are her actual competition. Furthermore, Lana reduces these women’s songs to
being about “being sexy, wearing no clothes, f*cking, cheating…” (Grant). is
is extremely problematic, as it feeds into the hypersexualization of Black women
while making the women’s music seem to have no substance and undeserving of
praise. Also, it completely discredits both the backlash that these women have
also faced due to their song lyrics and the hardships they faced breaking into the
music industry especially as Black women. Lana makes sure to carefully word
the way she describes her music, though, saying it’s just her “feeling beautiful” or
“dancing for money” a.k.a. stripping. is makes what her music is talking about
seem to be more meaningful and acceptable than, say, “f*cking” someone. As
mentioned before Lana’s rhetoric here is powerful in that it causes her audience to
47
feel her frustrations, but then those frustrations are turned upon innocent Black
women who are making music about important topics that are relevant to them,
whatever the topic may be. Lana’s comparisons not only causes her audience to
target undeserving Black women, but also disregards them, their struggles as Black
women, and all their hard work.
Due to the prevailing feminist movement that has shaped our world,
many young girls are encouraged to be strong, independent, and have a can-
do attitude. Yet Lana del Rey feels that submissive women like her have been
excluded from the feminist movement, and that her lyrical exploration of women
in submissive relationship roles is widely misconstrued as anti-feminist which has
caused her music to be unfairly judged by critics. Lana says, “...there has to be a
place in feminism for women who look and act like me...the kind of women who
are...delicate...e kind of women who get their own stories and voices taken away
from them by stronger women…”. In using this type of verbiage, Lana makes
herself out to be very meek and unable to stand up for herself. is makes Lana
seem like a victim in the eyes of her audience, in need of a voice to protect women
who “look and act” like her. In reality, the entire feminist movement was created
by people who “look and act” like Lana. ere already is a place in feminism for
a white, cisgender, able-bodied, heterosexual woman. Arguably, it is this type of
woman whose voices and stories are amplied in the feminist movement. It is Black
women, disabled women, queer women, trans women, etc. who need a place for
them in feminism. ey are the ones whose voices and stories are taken away from
them. In disregarding her privilege as a white woman in the feminist movement,
she continues the oppression and lack of representation that Black women face
within feminism. It is also important to take note of the words that Lana uses.
She describes herself as “delicate”, being dominated by “stronger women” in the
music industry. In using this victimizing language after name dropping four Black
women, it seems that Lana is upholding the harmful stereotype of Black women
being more strong or masculine than white women, and entertaining the narrative
of the strong Black woman bullying the timid white woman.
48
As a Black woman myself, at times I nd myself hesitant to speak up
when I notice microaggressions. Nowadays many people say that we bring race
into everything, when it has nothing to do with race. I wondered if, as a Black
woman, I was reading too deeply into what Lana del Rey was saying. Maybe Lana
del Rey really is just a fed-up woman who wants to talk about her experiences
with abuse. As a woman, I understand Lana’s frustrations. But as a Black woman,
I feel attacked. Black women are already the most abused group on social media.
(Byrd) Why would she compare her struggles of lyrically exploring topics of abuse
to Black women being sexually free? Further than that, why would she reduce
these highly successful Black female artists – three of whom just made history on
the chart’s – music down to just being about sex, especially when Black women
are already hypersexualized and at higher risk for sexual assault? Why is she not
celebrating how far feminism has come, instead of trying to cause unrest among
her followers? Why is she not celebrating Black women for making history on
the charts? It seems as though Lana was riling up her large following to attack
the women she listed. As a feminist, I know that it is unnecessary to put down
other women as you uplift yourself. I know that it is important that we celebrate
other women, even when they are successful in parts where we have failed. As
someone with people and money on hand Lana could have written something
that conveys her message with the same eectiveness, yet instead decided to make
a post containing hints of misogynoir, outing Lana as not a feminist but a white
feminist.
Many women such as Lana are quick to call themselves feminists, yet
where is this unanimous unity amongst the movement? Where is this unwavering
support for ALL women that the movement promotes? While speaking up on
women’s issues it is important to not be ignorant about the individual privileges
we have and to not bring down other women in the process. Yes, white women
face oppression. But they also have more privilege than a Black woman. As a white
feminist, ignoring the fact that Black women face a plethora of additional issues
just because they’re Black is misogynoir. Feminism is about uplifting and enabling
49
ALL women to do whatever they choose to. How can one do that as they compare
themselves to other women to draw negative attention towards those women?
Feminism extends far past the white woman. How can one be a feminist if their
feminism is not intersectional?
Works Cited
Byrd, A. (2019, January 10). New Study Conrms at Black Women Are Most
Abused Group on Twitter. Retrieved from https://www.colorlines.com/
articles/new-study-conrms-blackwomen-are-most-abused-group-
twitter
Grant, Elizabeth. “Question for the Culture”; Instagram; 21 May 2020.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAcQPuBJdir/?utm_source=ig_web_
copy_link; 26 October 2020.
50
First-year writing courses are a rite of passage at the University of
Michigan. Whether students enroll in the Practice of Writing, College Writing
for International & Multilingual Students (both Sweetland’s own courses), or
one of the many other rst-year writing courses oered by other departments,
they face the challenge of developing as writers in a new academic context. is
year’s winners didn’t just meet that challenge; they excelled. e essays you’ll
encounter here are inspiring models of not just how to respond to writing
assignments “correctly,” but also, and even more so, with genuine curiosity and
creativity.
On behalf of the Sweetland Center for Writing, it’s my pleasure to
congratulate this year’s winners: Sharon Kwan and Audrey Tieman, recipients of
the Matt Kelley Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing Prize; Chaewon Kim
and Yuyang Rao, recipients of the Prize for Excellence in Multilingual Writing
Prize; and Genta Gollopeni and William McGraw, recipients of the Prize for
Excellence in the Practice of Writing Prize.
e Writing Prizes are a labor of love at Sweetland; many of us work
together to select and honor our Prize winners. Scott Beal, Jimmy Brancho,
Catherine Cassel, April Conway, David Karczynski, Shuwen Li, Simone Sessolo,
and Naomi Silver read and judged this year’s essays. Angela Berkley, Raymond
McDaniel, and Carol Tell also judged essays and, in addition, served on
Sweetland’s Writing Prize Committee. Last and most crucially, Laura Schuyler
and Aaron Valdez provided essential support; awarding these prizes and honoring
our winners wouldn’t be possible without them.
Introduction to the Matt Kelley Prize for
Excellence in First-Year Writing, Excellence in
Multilingual Writing Prize, and the Excellence
in the Practice of Writing Prize
51
e essays that follow showcase the intelligence, creativity, and hard
work of rst-year writers at the University of Michigan. Enjoy them!
Gina Brandolino
Chair, Writing Prize Committee
Sweetland Center for Writing
52
Matt Kelly Prize for Excellence in
First-Year Writing
Cardcaptor Sakura’s Life-Changing Guidance
by Sharon Kwan
From ARTDES 129: Matters of Taste
Nominated by Ali Shapiro
Sharon’s essay about her relationship with the anime “Cardcaptor
Sakura” models the deep questioning that makes for a strong personal narrative.
On one level, Sharon’s essay points towards the importance of representation and
the profound inuence that queer narratives can have on their audiences. But
Sharon goes deeper still, drawing on her own interest in art to analyze the specic
eectiveness of animation to convey these queer stories.
-- Ali Shapiro
53
Cardcaptor Sakura’s Life-Changing Guidance
One of the main reasons I became an art major was my passion for
animation. ough it took me 17 years to act on this passion, I have always loved
animated works. I grew up with Japanese and American cartoons, and Disney,
Pixar, and Studio Ghibli lms. But as a child, I wasn’t aware of the cinematic/
storytelling choices or the depth of the character arcs. Back then, my love for
animated works was based purely on entertainment. At some point, I gained the
appreciation and respect for animated works that I have now, and upon revisiting
my relationship with Cardcaptor Sakura, I realized it might have begun there.
Cardcaptor Sakura (CCS) is a magical-girl/slice-of-life anime aimed at
children, adapted from a manga series by CLAMP. It ran from 1998 to 2000 and
follows the story of Sakura Kinomoto, a 5th grader who discovers her magical
powers by breaking a seal on a mysterious book she found. In doing so, she
accidentally releases 52 magical cards. With the help of her friends and family, she
must collect all the cards and prevent them from wreaking havoc on the world.
I rst watched CCS when I was 12 years old and I loved it. But six years later,
I now see that it helped develop so many of my current values and principles,
particularly in one area: relationships.
Sakura’s strong relationships with her friends and family are a recurring
theme in CCS, and as an impressionable 12-year-old, I looked up to these
relationships. I didn’t really have much else to choose from; my mother is amazing,
but my father is emotionally abusive, leading to their separation. Seeing the scars
my father inicted on my family led to extremely high expectations for my future
because I felt, and still feel, the need to make up for my dad’s harm by doing as
much good as I can. I put a lot of pressure on myself to work towards a future that
will support a life and family of love, peace, and stability. As a child, my image of
this happy family came from the media, so it consisted of a wife, a husband, and
children. To get there, I needed to nd a good boyfriend. And that is exactly what
Sakura gets at the end of the show.
54
Syaoran Li is rst introduced as Sakura’s rival when he joins her class
as a transfer student from Hong Kong. Syaoran also has magical powers and is
descended from the creator of the cards Sakura was tasked to capture. He sought
to take over the role of “cardcaptor,” but over time, they grew to be close friends.
By the end of the series, he falls in love with Sakura and the couple becomes
endgame. It’s hard to think of a fth-grade romance as an example of a long-
lasting, healthy relationship, but that’s the beauty of ction: Sakura’s joyful
and optimistic personality balances perfectly with Syaoran’s more serious and
grounded character. I loved their relationship. I loved their dorky, cute moments
and how they complement and care for each other. Now that I’m older, I realize
that I wanted my own Syaoran, because to me, that was the rst step in building
the happy family that would make up for my dad’s damage. But I ran into a bit of
a rut.
e year I watched CCS was the same year I realized I was queer. I
developed my rst crush, and it was on a girl. I still remember the exact moment
of realization: I was in the car with my mom, on our way home from the grocery
store. Upon realizing my feelings for this girl were romantic, I didn’t know how
to process it, and I remember trying to hide my panic by xating my eyes on the
sky, dyed orange and purple by the setting sun. I thought that being queer ruined
my plan of having a positive future to make up for my dad’s wrongdoings. Being
queer shattered my perception of what a “happy family” was. I didn’t know what
to do with my realization, so I just denied it. But CCS helped me face it through
Yukito.
Yukito Tsukishiro was Sakura’s rst crush, and her brother, Touya’s, best
friend.
1
In episode 65, “Sakura and Who She Likes Most”, Sakura tells Yukito she
likes him. Despite being much older than Sakura, he doesn’t dismiss her feelings
but instead gently asks her to consider if her aections are more familial. Later in
the conversation, Sakura correctly guesses that Yukito likes her brother.
1
Madhouse, Cardcaptor Sakura #66: Sakura and Who She Likes Most, CLAMP, provided by
Crunchyroll, assessed December 12, 2020, video, 25:00, https://myanimelist.net/anime/232/
Cardcaptor_Sakura/episode/66.
55
“Touya may be my number one, but I’m not sure how he feels…” Yukito
admits.
“I’m sure you’re number one for onii-chan [Touya] too!” Sakura exclaims.
“But if onii-chan is ever mean to you, Yukito...please call me! I’ll give him a piece
of my mind!”
Yukito and Sakura discuss his “number one”, Touya (also spelled Toya or
Tōuya), his best friend and Sakura’s older brother
Looking back at this scene, I realized that CCS was not only a basis for
my outlook on “normal” relationships, but queer ones too. Yukito’s liking for
another boy was treated so casually that I was shocked, but happy. Yukito didn’t
need to “come out”; he just had to say who his number one person was, and that
was that. Sakura treated the conversation the same as if Yukito had said he liked a
girl. Sakura is kind and accepting to everyone, and her friends are the same way.
When Sakura confesses her feelings to Yukito, he doesn’t disregard them because
she is a child, but instead asks her to consider them more closely, still accepting
and validating her feelings. I now see the issues with their age gap, but I still hold
this lesson of open-mindedness very close to my heart. As a child in denial about
my sexuality, this acceptance of all kinds of love in CCS was like a safety blanket.
2
Chibi Yuuto, “CLAMP Interview – Card Captor Sakura Memorial Book (February/2001)”,
Chibi Yuuto’s Chronicles, Kondansha, February 27, 2001, https://chibiyuuto.com/
clamp-interviews/clamp-interview-card-captor-sakura-memorial-book-february2001/.
56
e idea that the gender of someone’s “number one” person doesn’t matter is one
I grew to preach and although it took me another 2-3 years to fully accept my
queer identity, CCS helped curb a lot of the heteronormativity I had internalized
over the years.
At around the same time, I came across a quote from a CCS interview in
which the leader of CLAMP (the creator of the CCS manga), Nanase Ohkawa,
stated, “I wanted a story with a protagonist[Sakura] who had an open mind towards
dierent family structures, dierent kinds of love, and dierent perspectives from
society...I am glad that the readers are happy that Sakura and Syaoran got together,
but that anyone would think it’s because they make a normal couple…it’s a little
disconcerting...if Syaoran had been a girl...as long as he was still Syaoran, I think
Sakura would have fallen in love with him. It’d sadden me if you thought they’re
a good couple because they’re normal”. e fact that the lead creator of one of
my favorite shows said this meant so much to me. I embraced this ideal of open-
mindedness by extending it to others and eventually to myself. I realized that I
could have that life and family of love, peace, and stability no matter what gender
my “number one” person ended up being.
In hindsight, this progressive outlook on love that Cardcaptor Sakura
oered played a huge role in building my passion for animation. My intense
admiration for animated works began with this series because I experienced
rsthand the impact an animated show could have. And thinking about it now,
if Cardcaptor Sakura was not animated, it would not have had the same eect on
me.
Animation has the ability to express things in ways that live-action
cannot achieve. Animated works can make sunsets more beautiful, rain more
tranquil, storms more turbulent, and emotions more raw. e stylistic nature of
animation allows it to exaggerate qualities that cannot be eectively altered in
real life. is stylization also forces characterization to be more in-depth; since
animated characters don’t look like real people, more care must be taken to make
them feel real. Most animated characters are not drawn/modeled realistically and
57
sometimes are not even human, but even though their appearance is a constant
reminder of their ctitious existence, animated characters can feel deeply genuine
through personality/mannerisms and character arcs. Sakura and her friends were
no exception. Yes, they were designed as humans, but they also had unnaturally
big eyes, pointy noses, and colorful hair, and they lived in a world with magical
cards. Yet, they felt real because they were so thoughtfully developed, written, and
animated. ey felt like my friends, and they brought me comfort and guidance.
People, especially children, often learn by observing, and I learned a lot about
what I wanted from myself and others by observing the characters in CCS. I
loved and looked up to Sakura and her friends, so to see them being accepting
of all forms of love was incredible. Cardcaptor Sakura was so eective in shaping
who I am because it made me feel in ways that live-action works never did. ese
strong feelings led to an attachment to the show, its characters, its story, and its
teachings.
It’s been six years since I rst watched Cardcaptor Sakura, and since
then, I’ve seen many more examples of impactful animated work. A quick
browse through fandoms on the web or social media will reveal how animated
works move and inspire all kinds of people. I want to be a part of this impact,
the impact that gave my 12-year-old self some much needed guidance in life
and love, the impact that Cardcaptor Sakura introduced me to. My dream is to
make this impact by creating my own world, story, and characters, one that can
be transformed into an animated work, a beautiful mingling of visual art and
storytelling and music and writing that has the power to reach people. Like how
Cardcaptor Sakura reached me, a young girl struggling with her queer identity, I
want to create something that reaches other queer people. But I don’t want to stop
there. I want to reach people of all types and ages, particularly ones that have been
starved of representation in the media. I want to not only surpass expectations in
art and storytelling, but also in representation of life and love and people in all of
its forms. is potent dream motivates me in my everyday life, and I now see that
Cardcaptor Sakura helped shape that dream.
58
Bibliography
Madhouse. Cardcaptor Sakura #66: “Sakura and Who She Likes Most”.
CLAMP. Provided by Crunchyroll. Assessed December 12,
2020. Video, 25:00. https://myanimelist.net/anime/232/
Cardcaptor_Sakura/episode/66.
Yuuto, Chibi. “CLAMP Interview – Card Captor Sakura Memorial Book
(February/2001).” Chibi Yuuto’s Chronicles. Kondansha, February 27,
2001. https://chibiyuuto.com/clamp-interviews/clamp-interview-
card-captor-sakura-memorial-book-february2001/.
59
Matt Kelly Prize for Excellence in
First-Year Writing
Ratatouille the TikTok Musical
by Audrey Tieman
From COMPLIT 141: Great Performances
Nominated by Elisabeth Fertig
Audrey created this TikTok essay for her nal research project, in which
the prompt allowed for a multimodal composition in response to a performance.
is outstanding video essay not only makes full, innovative use of the medium—
incorporating clips from other TikTokers as well as props/costumes in the
narration clips—it is also a brilliant meta-reection on the medium itself. e
argument is complex and convincing, the structure is intricate and energetic, and
the whole thing is just really fun to watch.
-- Elisabeth Fertig
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Ratatouille the TikTok Musical
View Audrey’s video at https://youtu.be/NlUKtdsjpjc
A transcript of the video follows.
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So, Greek drama—You probably have a vague idea when I say that.
Maybe you’ve heard of Oediupus Rex? at play about the guy who had sex
with his mom?
Or Madea, the one about the woman who killed her children and then killed
herself?
Yup, that’s Greek drama.
e Ancient Greeks are considered the founders of what we today call ‘theatre’,
specically western drama.
ink that play your school did that you had to go see because your friend was
in it.
You can blame the Greeks for that.
Or maybe you were in it, in which case, hey what’s up, glad to have you.
e Greeks created drama, but their version of theatre, and how it was
produced, was pretty dierent from our own, which we’ll come back to in a
second.
Now let’s talk about Modern theatre.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Hamilton or Hamilton?
at’s an example of our modern commercial theatre.
Stress on the word commercial.
Broadway and the West End are, for all intents and purposes, commercial
theatre machines.
And sure, some of the forty odd shows on Broadway during normal times have
come from a place of sincere artistic expression, but a fair few are out for the
money.
e commercial theatre machine has produced such gems as Tarzan and
Spiderman: Turn O the Dark.
Now, I’m not saying these are bad shows.
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I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen them because rst rate professional theatre has
become something only the privileged few who reside in and around major cities
or have the cash to drop on plane tickets, hotel rooms, and show tickets priced
in the hundreds of dollars can aord to experience, while, if the rest of us want
to see it, we watch hastily recorded illegal bootlegs and then get shamed for it,
even though corporate theatre could have avoided the bootlegging in the rst
place if they produced fairly priced streams or released professional recordings
like most major opera companies.
But, who knows, maybe SpongeBob the musical is…good.
at’s not to throw shade on Industrial theatre by the way, which are musicals
produced by a company to promote that company’s products.
Like Progressive the Musical!
Or the Diesel Dazzle!
ey are truly gems and if you want to learn more about those check out
Bathtubs Over Broadway on Netix, it’s great.
So a lot of what ends up on Broadway, and therefore in the public
consciousness, is dictated by what a few particular production houses think will
sell.
Places like Disney eatrical Productions, which has a long term lease on a
Broadway theatre.
e Nederlander Organization, who actually own 9 Broadway theatres.
And the Shubert Organization, who own another 17 Broadway theatres.
So that’s 27 of the 41 Broadway houses controlled by a whopping 3
organizations.
Who are the others owned by, I wonder?
Another 6 organizations.
So that’s 9 organizations who decide what goes into 40 of the 41 Broadway
theatres. Not a very democratic system.
Where’d the pencil go? is is why I hate math.
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Oh, and shout-out to the Circle in the Square eatre for being the only
independently owned and operated Broadway theatre.
We’re going to put a pin in commercial theatre for a sec—just remember that it
is nine organizations who decide what shows make it and what don’t.
And to introduce our nal player, TikTok.
Called, “a refreshing outlier in the social media universe” by the New York
Times, and considered worth banning by the president, it’s the social media app
that’s taken the internet by storm.
e Vine of Gen Z, if you will.
One thing that TikTok does very well is show you the kinds of content that you
personally enjoy.
e algorithm of the app sees who you follow, what you favorite, what you
search, and puts all those things on your ‘For You Page’.
So it’s very easy for communities to pop up on the app,
Like book tok
(Video by @thebooksiveloved)
Tree tok
(Spoken by @jewslovetrees) “Hi my name is Tobin Mitnick and I’m a Jew who
loves trees. And today we’re going to pair our pine cones with some lovely single
malts.”
And where we lay our scene, theatre TikTok.
Musical theatre TikTok to be specic.
Because Musical theatre TikTok has been up to something, and weirdly enough,
they’re actually tapping back into a way of creating theatre that is as old as
theatre itself.
It all starts here: with Ratatouille the Musical!
Yes, that Ratatouille.
e 2007 animated Pixar lm starring Patton Oswalt about a rat who cooks.
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What got the ball rolling was when Daniel J Mertzlut created this sound.
(Sung by @danieljmertzlut) “Remy the ratatouille, the rat of all my dreams.”
Based on a song by @e_jaccs.
is is considered the big Act 2 nale number and once this was out there
musical theatre TikTok EXPLODED.
An account was created for Ratatouille e TikTok Musical and submissions
were opened.
(Spoken by @ratatouillemusical) “Calling all musical theatre nerds! I need your
help! It’s clear that everybody wants a ratatouille the musical and it’s time to
make it a reality.”
And people did it! Actual artists have been making things for this musical.
And there’s no longer just the one song, we’ve got a solo for Remy.
(Sung by @mikeyjosemusic) “I’m Remy, I’m Remy, with passion through my
blood.”
A solo for Skinner.
(Sung by @sophiajamesmusic) “Well, it seems as though this parasite is feeding
people’s appetites. He’s cooking, and I testify, I knew I smelled a rat!”
A song for Emile.
(Sung by @blakeyrouse) “See it’s the rat’s life for us, little Remy, we don’t cook
food, let alone where we don’t go. Rat’s life for us, little Remy, we feast where
the grime, the fungus, and bacteria grow. Grab a menu and follow me, there’s a
whole buet that I’d like you to see. So Remy, don’t look so gloomy, this is your
duty to grow. e rat’s way of life is the way to go.”
And a song for Remy’s dad which has gotten, not just choreography, but also a
working stage model.
(Sung by @fettuccinefettuqueen) “Don’t waste your whiskers on dreaming, try
to see life as I do. Take in the smell of it steaming! is wonderful dump, here in
front of you.”
And that is not all!
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We’ve also got puppet design!
(Spoken by @brandon.hardy.art) “So I had this idea where maybe Remy is the
only rat in the whole show that has actual fur. He washes his hands, he eats
right. ‘If you are what you eat, I only want to eat the good stu.’ But everybody
else eats garbage so maybe all the other rats are made out of garbage.”
Playbill design!
(Graphics by @siswij)
And orchestration!
(Spoken and played by @brentviola57) “Violas in the orchestra… Cellos in the
orchestra…”
is is like a full production guys! It’s incredible!
But what does this have to do with Commercial theatre? Or Greek Drama for
that matter?
So we’ve talked about how the Greek’s created theatre but how did they actually
create theatre? Well, to explain that, we have to talk about what purpose theatre
served in their society, because it wasn’t something you just went to on a night
out like it is now.
Now to start with—Actually, hang on.
*costume change* Much better.
I know it’s not historically accurate but all I had was a bed sheet and a stick
crown so just go with it.
Classical Greek theatre was part of a religious festival in honor of the God
Dionysus. In 5th century Athens, which was the hub of Greek Democracy, this
festival was called the ‘Great Dionysia’. Dionysia? Ni-sa? One of those.
Because of this, the theatre itself was a very dierent being than it is today.
It was a place where the citizens of Athens gathered, as many as 16,000!
On certain specied days during state festivals to watch dramas performed by 3
actors and a chorus.
66
e performances weren’t just for entertainment, although they were
entertaining—ey served a societal function that we can’t reproduce today.
And this interweaving of them as a civic festival, which also gave them a
religious dimension, and as a public competition invited a sense of participation
and partisanship among the audience that is not felt at all in our modern
commercial theatres.
Our current attitude towards the role of the audience is so vastly dierent from
that of the Greeks, and here’s a great example.
In modern theatre there’s this thing called the fourth wall. A thing I’m breaking
now to address you, hello, it separates the world the actors are in from the one
the audience is in.
To the characters onstage, the audience doesn’t exist.
at’s how we treat the separation of that actors and the audience now, let’s
compare to how the Greeks did it.
Oh wait! ey didn’t.
E. Reichenberg noticed in 1966 that there is no Greek word or expression that
equates to ‘the fourth wall’, nor any ancient source that contains anything even
close to the concept.
For the Greeks, the fourth wall didn’t exist.
e audience was as much a part of the performance as the actors were; theatre
wasn’t just for professionals, it was by and for the community.
And how the audiences felt about the performances mattered! Earlier, I
mentioned that the festivals had a competitive element to them—the dramatic
competitions hosted 3 plays a year, and each year the playwright with the
winning performance would be awarded a spot in next year’s festival.
But was the winner for who got to continue making theatre at the highest level
determined by nine corporations in a smoke lled back room?
No! is is Greece, the birthplace of democracy, it was put to a vote!
Ten judges were somewhat randomly selected.
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You had to be able to read… and also be a man.
From the ten tribes of Athens and after all three plays had been performed, each
judge would cast his vote by his top choice on a tablet and placing it publicly in
an urn.
Urns: not just for dead relatives, also for democracy.
And before you decide that this is basically just nine corporations deciding
outside a smoke lled back room, the opinion of the citizens was a factor for the
judges.
Several sources talk about audiences trying to sway judges with their noise, and
one of the only primary sources we have of the judging process from, my man,
Vitruvius, says, “ey applaud the poet as never before and shouted that he
should win and commanded the judges from above to write no other name but
Aristophanes.”
Pretty much every Athenian could be a judge at one of these competitions,
and every Athenian could scream themselves hoarse in support of their favorite
playwright.
e audience was an enormous part of Greek theatre, it even dictated where the
performances were held!
ese shows always took place in open-air areas during the day so that
everything could be seen, and they were outside so that no one was excluded by
building capacity.
D. Wiles stated that, “Everything that happens on the Greek stage is manifestly
laid out for the audience’s benet.”
You know what isn’t laid out for the audience’s benet?
Modern commercial theatre.
Tiny theatres with limited, expensive, seats, all concentrated in a single,
expensive city.
Ah, but here’s the twist: You know what is laid out for the audience’s benet?
TikTok!
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You don’t need to buy a ticket to see Ratatouille the TikTok musical, everything
I showed you in this, and a bunch of other tiktoks, are completely free.
And the tiktoks that are the sum total of Ratatouille are able to nd their
audience because of TikTok’s curated algorithm that, while it does show you
what you like, also throws in a bit of randomness.
So people who’ve never ventured to musical theatre TikTok are exposed to
Ratatouille as well.
And again, none of this is something you have to pay for—In true Greek
tradition, it is by the community, for the community.
And you might be saying to yourself,
‘But Audrey, Ratatouille isn’t even a real musical, it’s just a bunch of
performances strung together by a common story.’
To which I say:
Wow, didn’t know you knew my name since I didn’t introduce myself, but it’s a
fair question. e answer?
Well, if a musical isn’t a series of performances strung together by a common
story then I don’t know what it is.
But you do make a fair point—Ratatouille is a musical in development. And,
unlike commercial theatre, TikTok allows us to be direct witnesses to and
participants in that development. Which is, shocker, just like the Greeks!
ere were a large number of performers and non performers involved in these
dramatic competitions, and they probably talked about the shows they were in.
News about the shows spread through word of mouth, which is really similar to
how news about Ratatouille spread—By individual people, not advertising.
Modern advertising has an economic motive, but since TikTok musicals, nor
religious Greek festival performances, need to make money, modern advertising
doesn’t apply.
And in terms of watching a musical in development, it’s not like the Greeks
could hide what they were working on in outdoor, open air, venues.
eatre common sense tells us that the theatre would’ve been in almost constant
69
use for weeks leading up to the actual performances, so the shows would’ve been
on public display well before the festival began.
Unless they were purposefully blocking people out, anyone could’ve walked in
to see them rehearse, work out the kinks, stu like that.
And Ratatouille the TikTok Musical is on display in the same vein—people can
watch songs be ushed out, new numbers added, possible costumes, possible
sets, everything. Like this!
(Spoken by @irishbirdy) “I think I solved the proportion issues with Remi and
Linguini in the Ratatouille Musical. Hear me out. What if there is a second
platform built into the stage where, when Remi is underneath Linguini’s hat,
he’s on top and they mirror each other’s blocking so you know they’re together
at all times.”
e Greeks were aware of their audience just as much as TikTok is, and that’s
not just in the rehearsal process—Remember, the Greeks had no concept of the
fourth wall, and TikTok doesn’t really either.
e people who make tiktoks are aware their videos are being viewed by other
people on TikTok, there’s no attempted separation.
Plenty of TikTokers address the audience in their videos, and those who
don’t have to make it clear they’re in a scene by stating “pov: …” in the title.
e natural state of TikTok is for the audience and performers to be in on it
together, just like the Greeks.
Christina Dedoussi says, “e spectators, who were hearing rather than seeing
the performance, responded to the monologues in that spirit, well aware that
they were participants in the same public performance of dramatic works. Actors
and chorus colluded in the same set of shared assumptions.”
And unlike a commercial theatrical venture, Ratatouille popularity and growth
is all due to community participation and support, not seeming sellable to
backers.
It’s become so popular that it’s been noticed by the mainstream theatre scene.
Playbill.com did an article on it and a real, two time Tony award winning
producer made a tiktok to say that he’s interested.
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(Spoken by @kendavenportbway) “Hi, my name is Ken Davenport and I’m a
Broadway producer and this video goes out to all the creators of Ratatouille the
Musical. is is my pitch to you. I want to be the producer to bring your show
to Broadway, I hope you’ll let me do it.”
And, and this is true, it’s been announced that a concert version will get a real
life performance at the St. James eatre on Broadway for charity on January
rst (2021).
So just like the Greeks, we’re seeing that if enough people shout at the judges,
we can make a show succeed.
Aaaahhhhh!
So yes, TikTok and Greek theatre are similar, I’ve talked your ear o about that,
but what does it matter? I mean, it’s just one musical, right?
Wrong. What we’re seeing now is a shift back to accessible, community
supported theatre.
Broadway has been shut down since March due to the pandemic and it’s unlike
that we’ll be seeing those commercial theatres open back up until next summer,
if then.
But that hasn’t stopped Ratatouille—We’ve seen theatre professionals, amateurs,
and just enthusiasts take up the mantle and create something extraordinary, and
successful, without the support of those nine organizations.
And yes, if Ratatouille is put on Broadway as an actual commercial musical,
aside from the charity performance, then that would feed into the corporate
theatre machine, but it’s a step in the right direction.
I’m no Karl Marx, but what we’ve seen TikTok do is literally seize the means of
production.
You know those stage models I mentioned earlier?
(Stage models by @shoeboxmusicals)
Well for a Broadway musical a working quarter inch model can cost anywhere
between $8,000 and $10,000—And TikTok has made multiple for free!
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is is a colossal shift away from the heavily guarded money driven productions
that have become the norm, with so many dierent artists contributing and the
community pushing it into the public eye.
is is the beginning of a new era,
which is really a return to an old era,
of democratized theatre.
Ratatouille the TikTok Musical is a are, signaling that you don’t have to be
some highly commercialized professional to get a musical o the ground—You
can just be you, and make something for your community. Like Remy proves—
‘Anyone Can Cook’.
(Sung by @chamberlin_kevin) “He doesn’t cook, but he could! You know what I
always say; Anyone can cook. Anyone can cook. All you have to do is look inside
yourself. Anyone can cook. You could even write a book! It could sit right next
to mine there, on that shelf. ere’s not a soul who could tell you how to broil
or to braise—A casserole can be droll but if you want to amaze try some wine,
it’s divine, when you want to deglaze. Cause anyone can have some fun and
anyone can cook. Anyone can cook. Bon appetit!”
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Liberty Renewed—Not Just Artistically
by Chaewon Kim
From WRITING 120
Nominated by Scott Beal
Chaewon Kim’s outstanding essay presents an incisive description of Doug
Webb’s surrealist image of the Statue of Liberty in a bathtub, then synthesizes her
observations to present a focused and complex understanding of how this image
works to critique a concept of liberty that Americans love to celebrate, but that
remains elusive for many immigrants for whom the Statue’s promise is meant.
-- Scott Beal
Excellence in Multilingual Writing
73
Liberty Renewed—Not Just Artistically
e American Dream has been an umbrella term for many ideas. Most
of those, however, t the denition of an ‘American’ Dream if and only if they
state immigration to the US has to be a given condition in order to be successful.
e belief, if not the blinded obsession, that moving to the land of freedom will
raise the quality of life. e home of such belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. e utopia founded by immigrants that grew up to be the global
superpower in one and half centuries. America itself quite enjoyed this title and
turned this propaganda into an inspiration for many artworks. e most famous
icon, undeniably, would be the Statue of Liberty.
e gift from France commemorating the centennial of independence
could not be a better symbol of freedom and democracy. As thousands of
immigrants on board were greeted by this verdigris colossus, her image as a
promising guardian of opportunity was solidied. Liberty Renewed, a serigraph
on paper created by Doug Webb in 1985, is one of the many pieces that took the
symbolism of Statue of Liberty. It creatively fuses an image of a bathtub and a
landscape of the State of Liberty and the skyline of New York to capture how the
meaning of American liberty has changed over time in a single scene.
e background of the picture can be simply described as a wall of a
bathroom. e upper half is a sky blue tiled wall with two x-shaped shower
knobs, a switch between them, and a faucet below the switch. ey are all aligned
symmetrically, so that the switch and faucet lies on the line that bisects the
painting to matching halves. e lower half is a smooth, white bathtub with a
circular silver drain located directly below the faucet. e tub is almost lled with
water, up to the point where the lower half of the drain is submerged. Judging
from the direction of shadows cast by the knobs, switch, and the tub, the source
of light must be located on the right side of the picture.
e tiled wall blends into the daytime skyline of New York. e forest of
colossal skyscrapers of Manhattan is clustered across the left half of the picture,
74
a smaller Brooklyn downtown neighborhood on the right side, the wide East
River separating two districts, and the faint silhouette of a bridge, either the
FDR Bridge or the Brooklyn Bridge, across the river. e gigantic Twin Towers
especially stand out among the skyscrapers (Remember that this artwork was
created in 1985, before the bombing terror in 1993 and later the infamous one in
2001 that demolished them.) e faucet hangs right above the skyline, blurring
the boundary between two dierent realities.
At the exact center of the picture stands the famous Statue of Liberty on
Liberty Island, facing the right side of the picture. Her signature color of verdigris,
a result of the oxidation of copper, glows in a much lighter shade of turquoise,
presumably due to the light. Judging from how the air of the picture seems light
yellow in general, it can be safely assumed that the time setting of this picture is
the morning. However the island is not surrounded by the Atlantic ocean, but the
bathtub water. In addition, a block of white soap with round bubbles sits next
to it, surrounded by the tiny green trees. Again the boundary of two realities is
obscured by this surreal harmony.
e original Statue of Liberty faces the southeast, gazing over—to quote
“e New colossus,” a sonnet by Emma Lazarus that is mounted inside the
pedestal of the statue—the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
who would land on Ellis island and await to nally step on the promised land of
opportunity and freedom. By shifting the perspective of the statue, the image of
Liberty is highlighted; at the break of dawn, when the immigrants exhausted from
weeks spent in ships nally reach America, the green lady lifting her lamp beside
the golden door greets them, promising that a new future awaits them.
However, the overall light yellow atmosphere creates the sense of
fadedness, as if this image of promised Liberty is from the distant past. It is
true that the boom of American immigration peaked around the late 1800s
and early 1900s, but it is also true that America still remains as the welcoming
home to thousands of immigrants. In 2018, 44.8 million people, or 13.7% of
Americans, were foreign-born, which was as high as 14.8% from the 1890s when
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the immigration boom was at its peak. e boom began to decline around the
1910s, and was at the lowest point of 4.7% in the 1970s, after the Immigration
and Nationality Act was passed in 1965.
1
Around 1985, when this artwork was
painted, the rate was slowly rising up again.
From 1984 to 1986, the Statue of Liberty underwent the most extensive
restoration: rusted iron armature bars were replaced with stainless steel bars,
multiple coatings from the interior copper skin were removed, and a new torch
was covered with gold leaf (Do not miss the small detail of how the torch in the
picture is painted in the faded, almost light yellow turquoise, just like the rest of
the statue.)
2
e reconstruction must be the primary inspiration for Webb; while
the statue was cleaned and the torch was coated in gold, he interpreted ‘cleaned’
literally and combined it with the image of a bathtub. e Statue of Liberty is
being renewed—in a bathtub with a block of soap! With all the rusted faults
removed and the lamp covered in gold, so that it can shine forever in its glory, the
pride of American liberty is redened to t the change of time.
Webb himself stated that even though he works in a hyperrealistic or
photorealistic style, he considers himself as a classical romantic surrealist who
juxtaposes oversized objects within scenes to create meaningful metaphors, like
René Magritte, one of the most inuential Surrealist painters. He also explained
that his forte is the reconciliation of opposites, where monotonous everyday
scenes blend into the nature-based utopia fantasy.
3
In this case, the utopia would
be the scene of New York, where dreams of immigrants—solidied as the Statue
of Liberty—come true.
However, after several decades, as xenophobia and racism loomed across
the nation, the fantasy of the American dream was tarnished to a great extent.
ere are several implications of fading glory scattered across the picture. First, the
overall faded yellow tone that adds an antiquated aura to the picture was briey
mentioned earlier. In addition, the holes in the drain are arranged to resemble the
silhouette of the rising sun or the setting sun. Furthermore, it is placed directly
1
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/20/key-ndings-about-u-s-immigrants/
2
https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/liberty-island-a-chronology.htm
3
https://www.dougwebbart.com/artist-statement/
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behind the statue, as if ashamedly trying to hide its dwindling past glory. Also,
there are shadows formed at the southeastern corner of the painting, possibly
formed by the wall of the tub, overcasting the part of the island. Last but not least,
there are several shadows formed by the knobs and switch, and the shadow on the
left points toward the… Twin Towers.
Of course, there is no way Webb predicted the future that devastated the
towers and every American citizen, but combined with the overall faded aura, it
creates the warning of how the denition of liberty in America will never be the
same as the one from centuries ago. Liberty is renewed not just by its appearance,
but also its socio-political denition. After all, soap makes things clean and shiny,
but it is also slippery thus harder to reach. Liberty might have become cleaner, but
simultaneously it became harder to reach, as if refusing to taint it both physically
and conceptually with an unwanted ood of immigrants.
e presence of a soap raises an additional question. Why is the Statue of
Liberty placed in the middle of a bathtub? Bathtub is not the only place where you
can nd water in everyday scenes; there are kitchen sinks, birdbaths, shbowls,
even gutters or toilets. Among the places where you can locate such items, the
bathroom is arguably the most personal one—it is where privacy is (usually)
guaranteed. Rather than being oered to the public, the symbol of liberty is kept
privatized and excluded in the bathroom, away from the immigrants whose only
reason to leave their home behind was liberty.
If Webb chose other settings to merge with an image of liberty, such as
gutters or toilets, the intention to ridicule the liberty by placing it in a considerably
unhygienic location would have been more explicit, thus less appealing to the
viewers. By choosing a bathtub as an everyday object that is mundane enough to
pass as a comical touch to the artwork, Webb balances out the ratio of ‘black’ and
‘comedy’ of the black comedy this painting implies. Specically, he painted the
bathtub and the statue in eye-catching bright shades and placed them at the center
of the picture for the audience to initially interpret this work as a clever comedy.
Only when they notice the disguised elements of cynical anti-immigrants, the
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clever comedy transforms into a much darker comedy, if not tragedy.
Furthermore, if Liberty Island is located inside a bathtub, no one can
cross the ocean enclosed by the walls of the tub. Similarly, no one can reach the
forest of skyscrapers painted on the tiled wall. is ridiculousness created by two
dierent realities blending in together contributes to the surreal black comedy of
this art. What good does liberty do if no one can access it? e image of liberty
shown in the picture is cleaned and redened to be an unattainable and abstract
concept, the decision made in a certain white building located in Washington
DC, one of the most important buildings in the US (and in the entire world as
well) whose rectangular exterior strikes a resemblance too strong to ignore with a
block of soap.
While the famous Statue of Liberty was undergoing restoration, its
physical appearance was not the only thing that was going to change. Webb did
not overlook that and captured every possible change of liberty in his artwork by
creating a surreal coexistence of the fantasy of American Dream and the wearisome
reality and concealing darker implications behind the bright tone. Lamentably,
as the word immigrant has somehow become an insult in a nation founded by
immigrants, Webb’s insight cannot help but be conrmed to be valid.
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Excellence in Multilingual Writing
Is the development of hydroelectric power in
accordance with the principles of sustainable
development?
by Yuyang Rao
From WRITING 120
Nominated by Shuwen Li
As one of the long-sought options of renewable energy sources,
hydroelectric power has been discussed and adopted worldwide. However,
do hydroelectric power projects indeed generate more positive impacts? In his
qualitative research project, Yuyang analyzed one of the most controversial
hydroelectric projects—the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil, weighing its impacts
against the United Nations sustainable development goals. Yuyang’s report
consists of a rigorous literature review of the existing studies on the impacts of
hydroelectric power, a comprehensive case narrative constructed from multiple
sources, and a careful analysis of all sides of the impacts of the Belo Monte Dam.
His analysis exhibits explicit warrants and backing. His writing is lucid and rm.
-- Shuwen Li
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Is the development of hydroelectric power in
accordance with the principles of sustainable
development?
Introduction
In recent years, the issue of global warming has been deteriorating at an
increasing rate and has drawn the attention of many people. Our increasing need
for energy generated with fossil fuels is the major cause of this problem. us,
some countries are looking for alternative renewable energy sources to satisfy their
energy needs. One of the most popular sources of renewable energy is hydroelectric
power as it is normally cheap compared to other energy sources, including fossil
fuels. However, recently, the sustainability of hydroelectric power has been
brought into question as it is claimed to have multiple negative environmental and
socio-economic impacts. e question now is: is the development of hydroelectric
power in accordance with the principles of sustainable development? I will be
attempting to answer this by examining the case of the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil
using the United Nations sustainable development goals. I decided to select the
Belo Monte Dam as the case since it is one of the most controversial hydroelectric
projects in modern times. I believe that, despite the fact that the development
of hydroelectric power does satisfy some of the goals, it goes against many other
goals and it cannot be deemed sustainable. rough this research, I hope to allow
people in areas where hydroelectric power is planned to be developed to make a
more informed decision on whether they should embrace it or not.
Overview
Hydroelectric power has multiple benets compared to other types
of power generation methods — one of which being that it can be used for
hydrological management in addition to its primary function of generating
energy. Turkey, which experiences extremely unevenly distributed rainfall within
its borders, has used reservoirs originally created to generate power to store clean
water. In fact, 25% of the total area of freshwater in the country are man-made
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reservoirs. e clean water is then distributed throughout the country and the
need for water for the entire country is satised (Yuksel, 2008). Such practices
of storing freshwater using hydroelectric dams are also common elsewhere in the
world and serve as a side benet of hydroelectric power.
Furthermore, another benet of hydropower is its relatively low cost.
According to the National Hydropower Association, the cost to produce one
kilowatt-hour of energy using hydropower is a third of that of natural gas, 27%
of that of coal, and 21% of that of nuclear energy (2020). In the long term,
hydropower is among the cheapest sources of energy (Yuksel, 2008). is has led
many developing countries, which have the fastest growing need for energy, to
adopt hydropower on the wide scale. At least 3,700 dams with power generating
capacities of one megawatt or more are being planned or constructed, most of
which are in developing countries (Zar et al., 2014).
Besides, one of the most talked-about benets of hydropower is that it
is a clean energy source without any emissions of greenhouse gases. According to
the International Hydropower Association, if all hydropower on Earth is replaced
with burning coal, 4 billion tons of additional greenhouse gases will be produced,
which will lead to a 10% increase in global greenhouse gas emissions (2020).
In fact, hydropower accounts for 71% of the world’s renewable energy in 2016
(Moran et al., 2018). e “environmental friendliness” of hydropower led to a
recent revival of dam building, which had been largely suspended in developed
countries by 1975 (Moran et al., 2018).
However, the notion that hydroelectric power emits little to no greenhouse
gases does not hold in some parts of the world since they can emit greenhouse
gases through another process. Hydroelectric power dams create a reservoir
upstream. e reservoir oods all of the vegetation under it and causes most of
the vegetation to die o. Bacteria in the water then decompose the dead organic
matter. If this process takes place in an oxygen-poor environment, methane, a type
of potent greenhouse gas with 25 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide,
is released. If this process takes place in an oxygen-rich environment, carbon
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dioxide is released (Fearnside, 2008). In other words, no matter the conditions of
the reservoir, some form of greenhouse gas will be created by the decomposition
of ooded organic materials. In a study conducted by Kemenes, Forsberg, and
Melack, the methane release of the Balbina Reservoir, the largest reservoir in
the Amazon, was estimated. e results were shocking: the reservoir’s methane
release contributes a similar amount of warming to the globe as 34000 metric
tons of carbon dioxide per day; this is 8% of the warming created by all fossil
fuel usage in the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo (2007). Some other reservoirs
even generate similar amounts of greenhouse gases per unit energy compared
to fossil fuels (Kemenes et al., 2007). Since greenhouse gases released from the
reservoirs are generated by the decomposition of organic material, the amount
released is aected by the amount of organic material present. Tropical regions
tend to have greater amounts of organic material per unit area. us, reservoirs
in tropical environments, like the one studied by the Kemenes, Forsberg, and
Melack (2007), tend to release more greenhouse gases. As a result, the common
belief that hydroelectric power is a clean form of energy with little to no release of
greenhouse gas is not true in some cases.
Moreover, the idea that hydropower is a relatively cheap source of energy
may also be false in some circumstances. Development planners, engineers, and
economists are known for being overly optimistic when judging the cost of a
hydropower project and systematically underestimating costs. Plus, unexpected
environmental and social costs are common for large hydroelectric projects. ese
factors combined mean that the actual cost of a dam is often much higher than
predicted, with one in ten dams costing more than three times the predicted
value (Latrubesse et al,. 2017). erefore, the claim that hydropower is a low-cost
energy source is also undermined.
In addition to greenhouse gas release and higher-than-expected costs,
another prominent drawback of hydropower is that hydroelectric dams disrupt
sh migration. Construction of a dam can block or delay sh migrating upstream,
thus leading to the decline or even extinction of sh species. For sh species
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that migrate downstream, they could be damaged or killed when trying to pass
through the turbines or spillways of a dam in an attempt to continue down the
river. As much as 90% of all sh passing through turbines and up to 37% of all
sh passing through spillways are killed (Larinier, 2001). e lentic (still and fresh
water) environment created by reservoirs can also act as “lters” for migratory sh
species that rely on free-owing water, hindering their migration (Timpe et al.,
2017). ese factors had detrimental eects on sh populations: salmon, which
migrate upstream to spawn and back downstream to their normal habitat in the
ocean, have disappeared from multiple rivers in France due to dam construction
(Larinier, 2001). erefore, hydroelectric dams disrupt sh migration.
Besides, hydroelectric power stations can also signicantly alter the
hydrology of a river, negatively inuencing human and aquatic life. Dams alter the
natural ow of a river by changing the magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, and
rate of change of the ow. ey also modify the transport of sediments, nutrients,
and biota (animal and plant life) of the river (Timpe et al., 2017). In other words,
nutrients transported by the river may not be able to reach oodplains. is could
aect the productivity of crop elds as most of the farmland in the world depends
on nutrients deposited onto oodplains by rivers. Dams can also change the rate
and frequency of pulse events such as oods; this eect could lead animals that
have adapted to the natural cycle of pulse events in the river to be caught o
guard by the unnatural behavior of the river. In addition, multiple dams along
the same river can have cumulative eects and further increase the alteration to
the river. Furthermore, the alteration to the river downstream from the dam is
normally larger than that upstream (Timpe et al., 2017). erefore, not only can
hydrological alteration caused by a hydroelectric dam negatively aect the ecology
of the river, but also humans.
As discussed, although there are a few benets concerning hydroelectric
power, there are also many drawbacks. Plus, some of the benets do not apply to
every hydroelectric project, meaning that the benets hydroelectric power can
bring may not be as signicant as advocates of hydroelectric power claimed.
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Case Study: the Belo Monte Dam
Brazil is a rapidly developing country. Energy use per capita grew by
50.4% and the population grew by 25.2% between the years 1995 and 2014
(World Bank, 2014), meaning the total energy consumption of the country grew
by around 88.3% during this span of 19 years. e country is the home to the
world’s largest river — the Amazon, and it has a similarly large amount of potential
for hydroelectric power. Recently, the Brazilian government saw this potential and
started a wave of dam building to satisfy the country’s ever-growing need for more
energy. 246 dams are currently planned in the Amazon basin, most of which are
within the borders of Brazil (Lees, 2016). e largest dam in the Amazon basin
is the Belo Monte Dam, which sits on the Xingu river, a major tributary of the
Amazon. It is capable of generating 11,000 megawatt of power, the fourth highest
installed power generating capacity in the world. However, the project had been
protested by the locals and environmentalists, and therefore it remains one of the
most controversial hydroelectric projects till this day.
e energy company that owns that dam, Norte Enertia, claims that no
indigenous land will be ooded by the project. In fact, the site was specically
chosen to avoid ooding any indigenous areas: the original plan for the dam
would have produced a reservoir with an area of more than 1200 square
kilometers, but the plan was changed to only creating a reservoir of around 450
square kilometers as the original plan would ood the Bacaja Indigenous Area,
home to more than 1000 indigenous people (Fearnside, 2006). Norte Energia
claims that not only does this protect indigenous land, but also the environment.
e dam also has a 1200-meter-long channel installed to allow sh to migrate
through the section of the river. Norte Energia also claims that they have invested
in improving the sanitation of the region near the dam, including projects aimed
at building sewage treatment systems and eliminating malaria. Plus, they are also
investing in the region’s education and housing (Norte Energia, 2018). e dam’s
installed power generating capacity is 11,000 megawatt, which is 7% of the power
generating capacity of the entirety of Brazil in 2016 (World Bank, 2016). e
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power generated could allow for signicant economic growth and provide jobs to
many people in the area.
However, environmentalists, indigenous people, and some researchers
disagree with the claims. ey argue that since most of the electricity generated
by the Belo Monte dam will be used in the aluminum industry, which is mostly
owned by large international corporations and employs very few employees
relative to their energy use, few job opportunities will be provided and not many
people will be beneted in that respect (Fearnside, 2006). Indigenous people who
own land just downstream from Belo Monte also claim that the dam poses a
threat to their way of life. Environmentalists say that diverting the river’s ow
to power the turbines will lead to damage to large swaths of the Amazon and
reduce sh stocks. Other critics of the project also claim that the dam will be
hugely inecient since during the dry season, it can only generate power at 10%
of its installed capacity (Duy, 2010). Another point that Norte Energia rarely
mentions is that the Belo Monte Dam will require a series of dams upstream to
be more ecient. ese dams are already being planned and one of which, the
Altamira Dam, will create a massive 6140 square kilometers reservoir. Another
one of these dams, the Jarina Dam, will ood part of the Xingu Indigenous Park
(Fearnside, 2006), meaning the Belo Monte Dam will ood some indigenous
land in an indirect manner. However, the upstream dams are already moving
through the process of approval from the government despite the backlash from
indigenous communities, environmentalists, researchers, and even some well-
known institutes in the country.
e two sides’ arguments are sometimes contradictory. is makes it
even more dicult to judge if the project is in accordance with the principles of
sustainable development. erefore, I will look at each claim made by the two
sides and analyse if the claim goes against or along with the United Nations (UN)
sustainable development goals.
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Results and Discussion
To begin with, one of the UN sustainable development goals is quality
education. Details of this goal include “ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. In the case of
the Belo Monte Dam, the power company, Norte Energia, promised to invest
in education in the area, beneting more than 20 thousand students. ey
promise to build important educational spaces, such as 38 computer rooms and
34 reading rooms (2018). ese facilities, which are relatively rare deep in the
Amazon rainforest, could greatly improve the quality of education. erefore, I
believe that, if Norte Energia is able to keep its promise, the Belo Monte Dam
does help achieve the sustainable development goal of quality education.
Another one of the UN sustainable development goals is aordable and
clean energy. Details of this goal include “ensure access to aordable, reliable,
sustainable, and modern energy for all.” Although Norte Energia claims that they
produce clean energy, I believe that the Belo Monte Dam does not help achieve this
goal. First, whether the energy provided by the dam is sustainable is the question
this paper is trying to answer. erefore, it cannot be used as a criterion to judge
if the dam helps achieve the goal. e reliability of the energy generated by the
dam is also low since, as previously mentioned, during the dry season, it can only
generate 10% of its installed capacity. A 90% decrease in energy production during
some parts of the year is far from reliable. However, the greatest contradiction of
the Belo Monte Dam to this goal is that it does not provide energy for all. e
dam was built primarily to satisfy the energy needs of the Aluminum industry,
not the people of the area. is does not ensure access to energy for all. Rather it
ensures energy access to only some as the Aluminium industry is likely to have the
priority to energy access. Considering that the energy will be mostly going to the
Aluminum industry, the aordability of the energy becomes less of an issue since
the Aluminium industry is mostly run by large multinational corporations that
care less about energy cost. erefore, I believe that the Belo Monte Dam does not
help achieve the goal of aordable and clean energy.
86
Besides, another one of the UN sustainable development goals is climate
action. Details of this goal include “take urgent actions to combat climate change
and its impacts”. Although Norte Energia claims that they are providing renewable
energy which helps combat climate change, I believe that whether the dam helps
combat climate change is uncertain. As previously mentioned, tropical reservoirs
create methane through the decomposition of organic materials under the oxygen
poor water (Fearnside, 2008). Reservoirs in tropical regions, which have higher
density of organic materials, produce more methane. Some may produce enough
methane that energy production from these dams is less clean than that from
fossil fuels in terms of how much it warms the Earth (Kemenes et al., 2007). e
Belo Monte Dam is located in the Amazon rainforest, a very densely vegetated
region. erefore, it will likely produce an above average amount of methane.
Nevertheless, the exact amount of methane released due to the Belo Monte
Dam is unknown. e issue is further complicated by the series of planned
dams upstream from Belo Monte designed to make the Belo Monte Dam more
ecient, some of which have much larger reservoirs than Belo Monte. A reservoir
with a larger area oods more organic materials and gives o more methane. e
complexity of the issue and the lack of research for the methane release of the
Belo Monte dams means that it is dicult to determine if it helps combat climate
change. erefore, I believe that whether the Belo Monte Dam helps achieve the
goal of climate action is uncertain.
Furthermore, the next 2 goals on the UN sustainable development goals
are life below water and life on land. Some details of these goals include conserving
sh resources in the oceans, sustainably managing forests, and halting biodiversity
loss. I reckon that the Belo Monte Dam goes against this goal. Although the UN is
more focused on sh resources in the ocean, some sh species migrate from oceans
into rivers. erefore, protecting sh migration routes in rivers is also essential to
conserving sh populations in the oceans. Norte Energia claims that sh migration
can continue since they installed channels designed to allow migratory sh to pass
through. However, as previously mentioned, alterations to rivers extend beyond
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the immediate proximity of the dam. e reservoir created signicantly changes
the river’s state upstream from the dam to a point which some species may not
be able to pass through the reservoirs. Dams also aect the natural cycles of the
rivers (Timpe et al., 2017), which is signicant for the Xingu River (on which the
Belo Monte Dam sits) due to its large seasonal variations in ow rates, the same
variation that leads to the variation in energy generating capacity of the dam in
dierent periods during a year. Migratory sh may nd it dicult to adjust to the
new cycle of the river, causing sh migration to stop and sh stocks in the oceans
to be depleted. e Xingu River eventually ows into the Amazon, meaning that
sh migration in the entire Amazon river basin could be aected. ese goals
also call for the sustainable management of forests. However, the Belo Monte
Dam oods hundreds of square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest, completely
destroying the forests in the areas ooded. Diverting the river’s ow to power the
turbines will also aect the forest downstream from the dam as less water will
pass through the original river channel. is could also negatively impact an even
larger area of the Amazon. Finally, these goals call for halting biodiversity loss.
With the destruction of the natural river habitat upstream from the dam and the
destruction of large swaths of rainforest both due to the reservoir, the existing
biodiversity in these areas are inevitably lost. Although reservoirs create a new
type of habitat and can support new biodiversity, the biodiversity of reservoirs are
typically lower than that of free-owing rivers (Timpe et al., 2017). Due to the
damage Belo Monte can cause to biodiversity and natural habitats, I believe that
the Belo Monte Dam does not help achieve the goals life below water and life on
land.
Last but not least, one of the most prominent UN sustainable development
goals is good health and well-being. Details of this goal include “ensure healthy
lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” I believe that the Belo Monte
Dam satises part of this goal but goes against the other part. On one hand, Norte
Energia promised to invest in improving the sanitation of the region near the dam,
such as building sewage treatment systems and eliminating malaria. is achieves
88
the good health part of this goal as there will be less cases of malaria, a disease that
can signicantly compromise the health of the locals. A sewage treatment system
can also greatly reduce the risks of waterborne diseases; this can give the local
people even healthier lives, achieving the good health part of the goal. However, I
believe that it does not go along with the well-being part of the goal. Well-being is
dened as “the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having
good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and
ability to manage stress” (Davis, 2019). Indigenous people have conveyed their
dissatisfaction towards the Belo Monte Dam many times before since they believe
that it poses a threat to their way of life. I believe that this claim is valid, in spite
of Norte Energia claiming that no indigenous land will be ooded. As stated
before, the alterations to a river by a dam is the greatest downstream from the dam
(Timpe et al., 2017), which is exactly where some indigenous land is located. e
alteration to the river will likely be signicant near their land. Indigenous tribes
have lived in the rainforest for thousands of years and have adapted to the natural
ow and cycles of the river. Changes to these features are likely to threaten their
way of life. Plus, although Belo Monte will not ood indigenous land directly,
the series of planned upstream dams designed to make Belo Monte more ecient
will; this aects the indigenous people in those areas, who have also protested
against the dam. erefore, I believe that the Belo Monte Dam does not satisfy
the well-being part of the good health and well-being goal.
In total, I conclude that the Belo Monte Dam helps achieve just one of
the UN sustainable development goals (quality education) and partially satisfying
another (good health and well-being), while going against three goals (aordable
and clean energy, life on land, and life below water), with the conclusion for another
goal (climate action) being uncertain. e goals that the dam project does satisfy
(good health and quality education) are not directly related to the dam project.
ey are mostly seen as compensation by Norte Energia for the inconveniences
the dam will bring to the local residents. is means that the investment Norte
Energia promised to make in education and health facilities can be made even if
89
the dam was not constructed. As a result, in my opinion, the Belo Monte Dam
goes against the principles of sustainable development to a large extent.
Conclusion
While my discussion mainly focuses on the Belo Monte Dam, similar
conclusions can generally be drawn for large hydroelectric projects elsewhere since
they have similar impacts around the world; most large hydroelectric projects
generally go against the principles of sustainable development. However, the
implication of the research is limited by the fact that there are some impacts of
hydroelectric projects that cannot be generalized, such as the methane release of
a reservoir. Specic research is needed for each hydroelectric project to determine
if they even satisfy their most stereotypical benets: reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. However, overall, the other less case-specic drawbacks of hydroelectric
power is enough to cause it to be generally unsustainable.
90
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92
Remix to the Letter to Your Younger Self
by Genta Gollopeni
From WRITING 100: Becoming Writers at U-M
Nominated by Simone Sessolo
Genta was able to eectively turn a textual letter into a multimodal
artifact. Of particular praise is the choice of adding a “calendar” that allows viewers
to experience Genta’s development and progression this semester. Each photo is
thematically relevant to the attached text, and the whole remix is visually pleasant.
-- Simone Sessolo
Excellence in the Practice of Writing
93
Remix to the Letter to Your Younger Self
December 2020
Dear GG,
I know you won’t understand me calling you that, but people will
mispronounce your name so often that GG is pretty much your new nickname.
You don’t know it yet but the dynamic of your life will shift completely. You will
not graduate from Loyola Gymnasium. You will not attend University of Pristina.
Crazy, I know. ere are things I need to tell you about what you are about to
experience. You are about to discover that you are not in control. Growing up you
will experience a mix of emotions. You will experience sorrow and pain. You will
also experience unconditional love and support. ere is great mystery in this life
and you will never know what your next step is, no matter for how long you’ve
been planning it out.
94
February 2016
You are a full- edged adult now, can you believe it? At 14 you just wanted
to graduate with your close friends, Sara and Rita. Remember when we thought
we had life all gured out? When we thought nothing would come in between
our friendship? Well, 5,638 miles and the Atlantic Ocean did. We were wrong.
One day you will wake up, go to school, and be excited to see your friends. You
guys will complain about how many notes you have to take and you will try to
understand why you have to attend a Latin class that day. It is a dead language
after all. en, on the drive back you will think about the homework you have to
nish. Just an ordinary day in your life as an 8th grader. Except is isn’t just like any
other day.
95
When you arrive home dad will nonchalantly vocalize that our family
won the Green Card. You will be in complete disbelief and will think it’s just
another one of dad’s pranks. But to your surprise it is 100% true. You are suddenly
given the chance to move to America, the land of Hollywood and all the shows
you grew up watching. You are up for the challenge. Remember what you have
learned so far and be ready to surrender what you think for sure. Your own little
bubble you grew up in is about to be taken from you, if you allow it. Let that go.
Every ounce of e ort you will put into this substantial change will be worth it and
will mold you into a better person. ere will be fear and anxiety along the way, a
lot. But there will also be massive amounts of joy, triumph, and accomplishments.
96
Many people will expect you to be sad throughout this process, and
sure, you will be. You will not see your friends everyday anymore, you will not
have sleepovers with your cousins, and you will not get to eat grandma’s delicious
crepes whenever you want. You will move through grief and loneliness sometimes.
But you have to keep in mind, you can be happy even when you don’t know how
everything’s going to work out. Life is full of surprises and trying to predict every
single step will lead to futile results. You can have a meaningful life even when life
takes a complete turn on you. So don’t let people’s assumptions of what you are
going through get to you because regardless of the outcome, you are going to be
proud of your experiences. Hopefully you aren’t annoyed of my advices already;
there are many more coming throughout this letter, FYI.
97
July 2016
On July 3rd, 2016, the documents will be all set up, the goodbyes will all
be said, and your plane will take o . First destination, New York City. You will see
your rst skyscraper. e city is as beautiful as it is in movies, maybe even better.
Your next stop is your new home, Shelby Township, Michigan. Although it is not
as beautiful as New York, you will love how family-friendly this town is. You will
love visiting all the lakes. As you see the hundreds of trees turn from a bright green
to a gold orange and reds, fall will soon become your favorite season. You will
nally experience a trip to Target which I know you have been dying to experience
ever since you started watching those “A Day In My Life” vlogs. Remember when
they would say “you go to Target and let Target tell you what you need”? Well,
that is very much true.
98
June 2020
All this sounds exciting but there are times where your con dence simply
disappears. e houses are all set up di erently, the stores, and even the schools
operate di erently. It is quite the change! e road will not always be easy but I
can promise you it is an incredible journey with so many exquisite blessings along
the way. You will soon start high school and realize there are no mean girls who
wear pink on Wednesdays and will be mean to you. Stop wasting time worrying
about tting in. You will nd new friends, have sleepovers, attend school dances,
and even join National Honor Society and Student Council together. Be serious
about school. It might not seem like a big deal now at this age, but it will later.
Strive for good grades, respect your teachers, and study for the SAT. is will
all pay o in the end because after you graduate Utica High School, you will be
accepted into the #3 best business school in the U.S., Stephen M. Ross School
of Business at the University of Michigan. You might be asking how did you go
from living in a partially recognized small country to attending one of the biggest,
best schools in the world? I am still wondering myself. It truly is a dream I never
thought was achievable.
99
September 2020
I know you’re not going to take much notice of what I’m writing anymore
as I am sure your head is still wrapping around the fact that U-M is your new
school, but here goes... Believe in yourself. College is challenging and there will be
many moments where you experience imposter syndrome. Don’t give up though!
You got in for a reason. e admission team saw something in you and knew you
belong here, so it is time you start believing that too. You are going to have the
opportunity to experience some amazing things. From seeing the Wolf Monster
perform his violin on State St. to walking past the Big House, excitement will
never leave your side. Being an adult and all the freedom that comes with it is
even better than you imagined. e ability to walk to Joe’s at 3 a.m. without mom
stopping you. Setting your own schedule to do what you want to do, when you
want to. You will not experience this alone, however.
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October 2020
You are going to meet amazing friends who you will grow such a bond
with. ey will be there with you to watch gameday from your twin bed to
grabbing dinner together anywhere. Oh, you are wondering why we watch the
football games in our rooms and not in the Big House? You’ll be disappointed to
know that there is a global pandemic currently happening right now, which has
hindered our college experience. Hopefully, everything will return to how it used
to be soon, but that is something you will have to nd out for yourself.
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November 2020
You will grow older and older, but never for a second think that you are
done growing up. You will have learned that as long as you have mom and dad
you will have a place to call home. You will not be everyone’s cup of tea and that
is okay. Never change yourself for others. You do not know everything. Listen.
Be alert. Be open-minded. If you don’t completely love the person you see in the
mirror, you will never truly be happy. Be proud of who you are. You will be given
advices along the way. Use it as your guidance! Lastly, but most importantly, keep
in mind that there will be countless moments of joy and grati cation that make
your entire world light up.
Enjoy the ride,
GG
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Excellence in the Practice of Writing
Gene erapy: What You Need to Know
by William McGraw
From WRITING 100: e Practice of Writing
Nominated by Jimmy Brancho
Will wrote enthusiastically all term long on a topic both scientically and
philosophically challenging: human gene therapy. His remediation assignment
culminates his study in a pragmatic and accessible infographic that takes the
topic from the stu of sci- and fearmongering to locate it in our real world. His
reection essay describes a process of selection, combing through the 15 pages
of writing he’d done this term for the most eective pieces for an infographic
containing less than 200 words. With a clean, simple format, the information
comes out neatly organized, focused on the benets and potential side eects of
real gene therapies being used today.
-- Jimmy Brancho
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Remediation Reection
For this remediation project I was primarily interested in giving my
audience a simple, easy to understand infographic that didn’t overow with
statistics or writing. I tried my best to cut to the point and eliminate unnecessary
information. I also wanted to keep the infographic engaging and pleasing to the
eye. I added graphics that corresponded to the text to incorporate some contrasting
imagery.
As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to make the infographic easy to follow
and give my audience memorable information about gene therapy. To do this, I
used mainly simple terms and provided a few examples to give a feel for what gene
therapy was capable of. I tried to stay away from the ethical and controversial side
of things and focused mostly on the topics I felt were most important to know
about. I decided to use the layout that I did because I felt it didn’t crowd the
text too much, it allowed for spacing, had dierent colors, and it allowed me to
include some graphics.
I probably spent around two hours working on this project. is
included collecting answers to the questions I posed, formatting the infographic,
and choosing graphics that connected to the information being presented. I think
that time was right around where I expected it to be. Almost all of the information
in the infographic came from both my Op-Ed and Research paper, so I didn’t
have to search too hard for new evidence. I mainly just reformatted it. I initially
planned out what I wanted my infographic to say (what questions I would want
to answer) and then after I worked on formatting and adding graphics.
Given the feedback I was given, I would keep most of the infographic the
same. I might look to cut out the names of the FDA approved gene therapies to
keep the infographic even more general or less confusing to the audience.
e most dicult part for me while making this infographic was choosing
which information I wanted to include. To me, gene therapy is an extremely
interesting topic, so I could have written a lot more than I did. at being said, my
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goal was to make the infographic informative without sacricing the engagement of
my audience. To do so, I kept the written parts clear and concise. e biggest lesson
I learned from this project was the power of including only the most important
information in the text. I got mostly positive feedback from my peers which
demonstrated to me that I did an eective job at communicating my message.
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