The stories and memories of my childhood experiences told through a series of prints and artist books.

Prejudiced attitudes toward people with disabilities (PWD) is a major social problem. How does this prejudice first take shape? In the present study we investigated children's attitudes towards PWD (people with disabilities) and how this varies with children's age and the type of disability. We hypothesized that children would show prejudice toward PWD overall, that children's prejudice toward PWD would increase with age, and their prejudices would be stronger toward more-impairing than less-impairing disabilities. We also explored whether children's prejudices would vary based on their essentialist concepts of disability as inborn, and whether parents had accurate ideas about their children's prejudices toward PWD. Six- to nine-year-old child participants (n=61) completed a playmate preference task in which they chose between a disabled or non-disabled playmate (8 trials). Their essentialist concepts of disability were also assessed, and their parents provided demographic information and predictions about their children's prejudices. Results showed that children did prefer nondisabled over disabled playmates, confirming our first hypothesis. We also found that children were most prejudiced towards highly impairing disabilities, confirming our second hypothesis. However, our results did not indicate any age differences in general disability prejudice, in contrast to our third hypothesis. However, there was a marginally significant interaction between age and children's conceptions of disability which predicted children's prejudice scores. In particular, for young children, thinking about disabilities as something inborn made them less prejudiced, but for older children, the opposite was true. Overall, this study shows that prejudice toward PWD starts early in development, and that different forms of reasoning about disabilities can either mitigate or reinforce disability prejudice due to the placement of blame for disability as something either extrinsic or intrinsic to the person.

Is dance, as it exists now, accessible? Has dance been historically exclusive by design? And how do we make something that was meant to be exclusive, inclusive to better suit our modern-day ideals of arts access? This research is intended to identify barriers in dance performance spaces that affect individuals with cognitive and physical disability, highlight the importance of creating accessible dance spaces, and develop a solution as to what the dance maker can do to create more access for audience members with low funding and operating budgets in mind. Access is a human right and the following research is meant to illuminate the significance of access and the negative societal effects of not providing it. Art works are typically made as a response to a situation, and in concert dance, this is often a critical response to significant political, social and environmental events. Provided concert dance is a means of political and social protest, the argument that access should be given the utmost importance comes into frame. When making works that impact and involve a whole community, the community members you are speaking about should be given access to the work. This research will highlight and call to attention the lack of access audiences typically face within concert dance and what the dance maker can do to create a more accessible audience experience. In addition, this research will highlight the historical context of dance's exclusive nature and inaccessible past, and how that has informed an inaccessible present. This research will critique and shed light on accessibility in the concert dance industry and exemplify what dance makers are doing today to shape a more accessible and equitable future for dance audiences.

A collection of photographs that show the rawness of sports photography. Taking the photos that aren't the "perfect" action shot and embracing it in a way to show the athlete's hard work within the sport by the movement and expressions that read as raw.

Social media is an increasing part of adolescent girls' lives and can have major effects on their psychological health and mental well-being. Adolescent girls are vulnerable to harm caused by unrealistic body standards and negative content on social media. So, what are the effects of social media on adolescent girls, and how can potential harm be mitigated? Using secondary data this paper presents an analysis of how social media presents a harmful effect on young girls regarding their body image, increase of body comparison, etc. Thus, the answer to the research question is, social media causes negative effects such as over-comparison to others, body dissatisfaction/dysmorphia, and bullying. Possible solutions are parental controls on social media apps, limiting time spent on these apps, age restrictions, etc. Social media negatively impacts the physical and mental health of adolescent girls. These findings are very important because now that we know this, we can find a way to limit the time girls spend on social media, create parameters and limit what content is viewable and accessible with age restrictions.

A legend set during Japan's Edo period following the account of Ryuma Uchizono, a warrior who turned his back on the samurai class. After a curse descends upon the world, he is tasked with locating an ancient shrine to exorcise the curse.

This paper examines the role of entheogenic substances in human evolution, ritual practices, and modern applications. It provides an overview of evidence indicating entheogen use dating back to prehistoric times, as seen through artifacts like Paleolithic cave paintings that suggest shamanic rituals incorporating altered states of consciousness. Archaeological findings from around the globe provide early depictions of entheogen use, suggesting the desire to consume entheogens is a natural and normal component of the human experience. The rise of colonialism suppressed Indigenous religious entheogenic practices through force and by labeling them as "demonic." This set the stage for future eras like the War on Drugs that weaponized prohibition to target countercultural movements and people of color. The 1960s Psychedelic Revolution popularized LSD and psilocybin in novel Western socio-cognitive frameworks on the backs of Indigenous ritualized use. Today's Psychedelic Renaissance shows promise but risks perpetuating inequities if access, harm reduction, and Indigenous sovereignty are not prioritized. By analyzing cross-cultural evidence through a multidisciplinary lens, this paper explores how human proclivities may have evolved alongside entheogen use for benefits like language, art, healing, and social cohesion. We examine best practices for shaping the current Psychedelic Renaissance while honoring entheogens' deep roots in human spirituality.

This study aims to determine if the Artificial Intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, can perform better on assignments, tests, and labs than Mathematics/Computer Science students at the State University of New York, Purchase College. Student grades and these materials are from Calculus II, Computer Science I, and Number Theory classes. The different versions of ChatGPT that were asked questions from the materials students completed are: GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and Wolfram GPT. The answers and grades that these chatbots generated were compared to each other and the students' answers and average grades. For each of the assignments, labs, and exams, the comparisons are based on which grade is the highest, out of the three different versions of ChatGPT and the students, as well as whether or not their answers utilize the most efficient strategy and is concise. GPT-4 outdid GPT-3.5 on Computer Science I problems and Wolfram GPT on Calculus II materials. Wolfram GPT eclipsed all versions of ChatGPT on the Number Theory exam. Yet, overall, students did better than all versions of ChatGPT. However, there are caveats to this finding because of the limitations this study encountered. On average one student from each class participated, thus the results are not totally conclusive. However, they do indicate that ChatGPT cannot be trusted to do math and computer science related tasks without human oversight. Therefore, corporations and students cannot wholly rely on ChatGPT. Based on ChatGPT's performance so far, it is likely in the future that it will learn enough to become as formidable as some fear.

This thesis contains the story of Darcie Mathews and how she is an extension of me and my art. Darcie is the first piece at the beginning of my narrative work.

Children, like adults, naturally form explanations to make sense of the social disparities they observe. The kinds of explanations children form are varied, and include biological, behavioral, and structural explanations. In reasoning through why disparities exist, children's explanations can either mitigate or reinforce their prejudices and stereotypes. Past research has found that structural explanations can reduce prejudice, by helping children to view groups as externally disadvantaged rather than internally inferior. However, in this study, I explore whether structural explanations can also unfortunately reinforce stereotypes about disadvantaged groups. Child participants (n = 60) were told a story about fictional groups; the Boubas and Kikis. Participants were told that a Bouba was better at a task than a Kiki, and they were given an explanation for why this was (either a biological, behavioral, structural, or no explanation, across four between-subjects conditions). Participants then responded to questions about whether other Boubas or Kikis would be good or bad at the task. Results revealed that children formed stereotypes about the Boubas and Kiki (i.e., expecting other Boubas to be good at the task and other Kikis to be bad at the task) in all three experimental conditions, including the structural condition. Implications are discussed.