Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
Filtering by
• Same-sex marriage as the win that cannot be repeated.
Infamously known as the central legal battle for the LGBTQ+ community, same-sex marriage finds itself in many political speeches, campaigns, and social commentaries. Interestingly, after being legalized through a Supreme Court decision in the United States, Same-Sex Marriage finds itself framed as the social inevitability that should not be repeated in politics or any legal shift. In other words, “the gays have won this battle, but not the war.”
• There are risks around the “LGBTQ+ lifestyle” and its careful catering to an elite minority and the mediation through bans.
The risks of the LGBTQ+ “lifestyle” date back far, with many connotations being attached to being LGBTQ+ (AIDS epidemics, etc.). In modern journalism, many media outlets portray LGBTQ+ individuals to be a tiny minority (.001% according to some) that demands the whole society to adhere to their requests. This framework portrays the LGBTQ+ community as oppressors and obsessed advocates that can never “seem to get enough” (ex: more than just marriage). The bans are framed as the neutralizing factor to the catering.
• LGBTQ+ children and topics in academic and social spaces are the extreme degree.
When it comes to LGBTQ+ issues and conversations as they revolve around children, media outlets have some of the most passionate opinions about them. Often portrayed as “the line that shouldn’t be crossed,” LGBTQ+ issues, as they find themselves in schools and other spaces, are thus portrayed as bearable to a certain degree, never completely. Claims of indoctrination are also presented prominently even when institutional efforts are to protect LGBTQ+ kids.
As the #VanLife craze continues to grow, new businesses are finding ways to meet the demand in the market. For #Vanlifers who own and operate their own camper vans, specialized companies like GoWesty, Vanagain, and Boxeer offer a full range of parts, upgrades, and custom mechanical and systems conversion kits to keep these vans on the road as OE manufacturers discontinue production on these parts. For those who have an itch to try out the #VanLife for a shorter period and without the financial commitment, companies like Roamerica, TontoTrails, and adventureRIGS offer nightly and weekly rental opportunities on fully-outfitted campervans ready to hit the road.
For my Honors Project I wrote a complete analysis on the history, development, and modernization of the #VanLife movement. With plans to take to the road for an extended period of time after graduation, I also developed a complete financial plan for a one-year #VanLife experience. The financial plan includes a comprehensive set of budgets that scrutinize the start-up an operational costs of the #VanLife and associated travel.
I decided I could use my education from the Cronkite School in writing, photography and social media to produce a resource for women looking to travel abroad. I could tell stories of my personal experiences that could both inspire and prove that a solo trip can be done. I also wanted to touch on topics that are not generally covered by popular travel blogs since they are specific to women. Topics like how to dress, making sure you travel during the day if you’re traveling alone and finding birth control or feminine hygiene products when you are traveling.
I funded the trip myself and currently the blog is designed, written and photographed entirely by me. Moving forward I would like to feature other women on my blog, especially those who have made travel a priority or a career. I plan on continuing to build the blog, hopefully gaining sponsors and becoming a more well known resources, and helping change the landscape of travel and travel blogging to become more female friendly.
In order to determine the essential features of Japanese variety television, I watched a total of 22 episodes of three popular Japanese variety shows: Gaki no tsukai ya arahende (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで! Usually abbreviated as ガキの使い), London Hearts (ロンドンハーツ), and Utaban (うたばん). I chose these three shows because of their differing styles, popular comedic hosts, and impressive longevity, with a combined 58 years of runtime. Through my research, I was able to assemble the analyses of basic and technical features found in the next section of this document in addition to several pages of my own notes used to design my original program.
My own program, American Joke (アメリカンジョーク), is meant to be filmed in America featuring an entirely Japanese cast. The main idea of the show is to capitalize on the comedic potential of cultural differences by having Japanese comedians interact with American people and traditions.
In order to showcase the show, I filmed a short “sizzle reel” video featuring Japanese exchange students as the cast. Segments filmed included our “comedians” learning the high jump from ASU track athletes, bringing Japanese fermented soybeans to campus for American students to taste, and participating in an American-themed quiz show.