Category Archives: Archived Projects

Nothing Makes Sense, But Maybe That’s The Point.

In this era of humanity, the world is heavily saturated with digital media. We’re living in a transitional moment, caught between the understandings of digitally literate younger era, and the digitally illiterate pensioners, separated only by a generational gap. But in 2025, it’s common knowledge that memes, brainrot, and social media shitposting have become GenContinue reading “Nothing Makes Sense, But Maybe That’s The Point.”

Stardew Valley: A Commentary on the Corporate Exploitation of Rural Regions

Stardew Valley is a cozy video game whose plot kicks off when your character flees the industrial big city for a small farm you inherit after the death of your beloved grandfather.  That farm is located in a region called Stardew Valley, which faces the threat of being overtaken by a corporation named JojaMart.  JojaMart’sContinue reading “Stardew Valley: A Commentary on the Corporate Exploitation of Rural Regions”

Oppressed and Underestimated: Kingsolver’s Depiction of Rural Women, People of Color, and the Intersection Between 

Existence as a Southern Baptist Reverend in a rural Congolese village is Nathanial Price’s ideal set of circumstances for the propagation of Western colonialism and patriarchy. Nevertheless, Reverend Price’s refusal to accept the intellectual value of his wife, daughters, and the native inhabitants of Kilanga in Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, proves fatal for hisContinue reading “Oppressed and Underestimated: Kingsolver’s Depiction of Rural Women, People of Color, and the Intersection Between “

Why are the District treated like animals in “The Hunger Game”? Examining the rural, classism, and animal theory in “The Hunger Games”.

Here’s my video essay analyzing the classism, rural, and animal theory in Suzanne Collin’s “The Hunger Games”, and attempting to answer the question of why the Districts are treated like animals in “The Hunger Games”. -Ella Orchard-Blowen

Taking Flight—The Uniquely Human Envy of Birds as a Pastoral Narrative

The return of the robin to the northeastern regions of America brings with it spring, like how the arrival of the dark-eyed junco from Canada usually brings with it the first snow. Crows are often a harbinger of bad luck, while the peacock might represent great fortune. Birds are a common literary symbol, representing ourContinue reading “Taking Flight—The Uniquely Human Envy of Birds as a Pastoral Narrative”

“Supernatural” and the Rural Working Class: A Socioeconomic Analysis 

By Ryleigh Simmons Introduction:  How would you feel about saving a world that doesn’t even know you exist? Well, this is the reality of the Winchester brothers’ lives in Supernatural. The Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean, live by the motto “Saving people, hunting things. The family business,” which means dedicating their lives to protecting theirContinue reading ““Supernatural” and the Rural Working Class: A Socioeconomic Analysis “

The Queer Nature of Wendell Berry’s“The Peace of Wild Things”

Nature writing is historically a place for poets and thinkers to come to terms with what nature asks of them and society demands of them. Wendell Berry is among many writers who wrote from this fraught place, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, and others. Wendell Berry used poetryContinue reading “The Queer Nature of Wendell Berry’s“The Peace of Wild Things””

An Exploration of Fools, Gender, and Madness in Twelfth Night

In this essay I am going to show how the character of Feste in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Or What You Will) performs the fool neurotype, and how this neurotype gives him the social position and power to bring audience attention to the gap between gender identity and gender performativity that many the characters in Feste’sContinue reading “An Exploration of Fools, Gender, and Madness in Twelfth Night”

Rural vs. Urban: Pastoralism in Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire

Thomas Cole was an artist who cared a great deal about the environment—about landscapes—and also, the Pastoral. Born in industrial England and immigrating to the United States in 1818, his feelings toward the bustling and industrialized Europe greatly influenced his art…