Schedule of Events

In 2005, television brought dance to the forefront of America’s pop culture. Shortly after, YouTube’s easy access encouraged young dancers to showcase their talents in the highly competitive dance performance scene. By 2007, over 150 independent U.S. production companies were hosting dance competitions. Their popularity attracted even more young enthusiasts, and led to scripted shows like Dance Moms, where drama and hostility became the norms. Many viewers assumed these characteristics defined the traditional dance world. Nothing could be further from the truth. Historically, dance choreography and performance have partnered with other established arts to bring audiences inspiring performances of the highest quality. Dance programs around the world still honor dances’ long-standing prestige as a high art. Their academic curricula include courses in dance history, dance communities, and critical analysis. Connecting theory and practice, these programs graduate experienced and knowledgeable dancers who can become educators, policymakers, community-involved dancers, and curators. Unfortunately, many American dance studio teachers, who are not required to obtain a credential in dance pedagogy, have lost sight of these values. They prepare their students for a world of favoritism in the entertainment professional industry, emphasizing superficial qualities of the art by choreographing overstimulated pieces with inappropriate movements, costumes, and sounds. The integration of an improved dance pedagogy within dance studio institutions, modeled in part on the dance curriculum in the British and American universities, is the answer to procuring an emergent respect for the American dance studio culture and the artists of the next generation.

This country’s understanding and perspectives on mental health have shifted dramatically over the past seventy years. Markers of this shift can be found in four novels written between 1950 and 2018, novels that mirror our society’s increased awareness of the complexities and criteria that characterize mental disorders. The widespread dissemination of research in neuroscience and psychology that has contributed to a more empathetic attitude regarding mental disorders has affected authors and readers alike. I trace this change by examining the mentally unstable characters in the novels in their historical context—from a relative ignorance about mental instability to the more scientifically accurate portrayals that helped mitigate the stigma surrounding mental problems. Catcher in the Rye’s protagonist serves as a realistic portrait of the early 50s treatment of characters with possible mental disorders. In 1963, Sylvia Plath’s narrator in The Bell Jar is a patient in a psychiatric hospital--who illustrates the historical transition to a period of better categorizing and a better understanding of mental health isssues. By 1999, the protagonist of Perks of Being a Wallflower reflects the results of a more open-minded attitude about mental disorders. Finally, the 2015 novel Finding Audrey offers the contemporary perspective that each individual’s mental health is unique and complex. This developmental progress in fictional protagonists demonstrates that novels have an important role in reflecting society’s understanding and awareness of mental health, and should continue to participate in the conversation surrounding it.

In 1969, Congress created an organization to assess U.S. student achievement and performance levels in certain specific subjects. This organization, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), randomly tests fourth and eighth grade students every two years in every state in the subjects of Math and Reading--and often Science. Nationally, the average student score was 222 for fourth grade and 267 for eighth grade on a scale that ranges from 0-500, 0 being below basic and 500 being the most advanced. Educators in the field of Language Arts should pay special attention to these scores and realize that this national average of 222 is a disappointing mark. But the results can also be used as an incentive for Language Arts teachers, motivating them to explore and experiment with different pedagogical approaches, especially those that may help improve student reading comprehension levels. Although most young students are learning how to read, many of them subsequently develop problems with reading comprehension. Every student learns differently, so we cannot prescribe a single nationwide teaching methodology for reading or any other subject, but research has determined that currently used reading pedagogies often lack creativity. Three newer approaches that have been shown to increase positive student engagement and improve reading comprehension need to be implemented on a broader scale. They include active learning, cooperative learning and co-Teaching. When paired with the oldest, most tried and true pedagogical tool of teacher persistence, these new instructional methods may ultimately translate into higher NAEP reading scores.

Unfortunately, the age-old political ideology known as anti-Semitism continues to remain an ongoing global issue. Within the last several decades, anti-Semitic rhetoric has been increasingly integrated into revisionist histories and theories that claim certain aspects of the Holocaust have been misrepresented and falsified in traditional histories. Some of these revisionist theorists even dismiss the Holocaust as a hoax and insist that it simply did not happen. The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate how the autobiographical accounts of Holocaust survivors disprove the distortions (both past and present) of the Holocaust revisionists. My procedure begins with a brief acknowledgement of the anti-Jewish propaganda that served to fuel the Holocaust. Next, I identify particular Holocaust history revisionists and illustrate how their rhetoric has contributed and is contributing to the current rise in anti-Semitism around the world. I then demonstrate that the autobiographical accounts of Holocaust survivors specifically disprove anti-Semitic stereotypes and the false claims of the Holocaust deniers. My goal is twofold: first, to offer research-based evidence that will counteract the anti-Semitic falsehoods of the revisionists; and secondly, to help ensure that those who were victims of the Holocaust atrocity are not done the great disservice of being forgotten.