The Lehigh Review

The Lehigh Review A Student Journal of the Liberal Arts The Secrets of Lehigh Volume Sixteen Spring 2008 Each year, Lehigh University publishes the Lehigh Review, a student journal of the arts and sciences. Each issues contains some of the best scholarly writing by Lehigh students. Any scholarly articles, academic essays, or book reviews may be submitted. The Review does not ordinarily accept fiction or poetry. All submissions should reflect the breadth and depth of the liberal arts. We are especially interested in submissions that draw from the content or methodology of more than one discipline. We expect well-researched and well-written work that does more than rehash existing arguments. Submissions to the Review should demonstrate imagination, original insight, and mastery of the subject. Copyright © 2008 by Lehigh University. All rights reserved. All text and graphics are subject to the copyright and other intellectual property rights of the individual authors and/or Lehigh University. No part of this publication can be reproduced without the prior written permission of the Authors and Lehigh University. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this publication, the publisher, editors, staff and administrators assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained herein. The opinions expressed in the articles published in this journal do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or Lehigh University. All submissions or queries should be addressed to [email protected]. The Lehigh Review (ISSN# 1930-7160) is published annually (each Spring) by Lehigh University at 39 University Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015. The Lehigh Review A Student Journal of the Liberal Arts Volume Sixteen Spring 2008 Staff Credits Editor-in-Chief Katherine Wilkes Editors Michael Ballanco Sanjana Bhatia Laura Milton Kaitlyn Noon Joseph Varco Ricky Webster Assistant Editor Benjamin Rosenau Art Director Sara Meade Archivist/Photographer Alexander Morley Accountant Michael Ballanco Marketing & Distribution Brian DePalma Sanyog Rai Brett Rieders Michael Ruggeri Faculty Advisor Wes Atkinson Special Thanks Kate Arrington Gordon Bearn Ilhan Citak Anthony Corallo Beth Dolan Norman Girardot Janice Mattern Ziad Munson Kathy Olsen Brad Rogers Lloyd Steffen Vera Stegmann Nicola Tannenbaum Robert Thodal Ricardo Viera Elizabeth Vogtsberger Table of Contents Art 9 Merritt Parkway by Dlyan Coonrad.....................................................................10-21 Rem Koolhaas: An Architecture of Innovation by Daniel Fox................................22-31 Art is a Symbol: Conceptualism and the Vietnam War by Michael King...............32-43 Health 45 Biological versus Environmental Factors: Determining the Cause of Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Children by Jami Zaretsky.......................................................46-53 The Struggle Against a Killer by Zachary Gray....................................................54-61 Politics 63 Nationalism, Identity and Democracy in Japan by Emily Schulman......................64-73 ‘I Die Content’: Re-Imagining Slavery with Edgeworth and Aikin’s Devoted Slaves by Christine Tucker.........................................74-87 The Decline of Democracy in Venezuela: The Deterioration of Venezuelan Exceptionalism and the Rise of Hugo Chavez by Meredith Aach...............................................................88-101 10 in 8: A Realistic Approach to Oil Reduction in America by Will Brehm............................................................................102-107 About the Authors............................................................................................108-111 Works Cited.....................................................................................................112-119 7 Art 9 Merrit Parkway by Dylan Coonrad 10 he bustle of cars hides it. The distant thunder of machines sometimes eclipses it. But beneath the commotion of everyday life exists a forgotten wonder that once trickled T through the nation’s countryside. In a society mired in notions of the urbanity that surrounded them, speed and riddled with thoughts in hopes to encounter a wilderness Coxe Hall Weathervane of industry, its original intention that once existed in its place, but as is lost but not entirely forgotten. the world changed, its significance Today’s location for the What once was a winding pathway was somewhere lost in translation. Global Union, this building through the mountains and valleys Citizens flocked to the Connecti- was initially a mining labo- of the North American landscape cut countryside on the morning of ratory. Its original weath- has become an example of modern June 29, 1938. The early sun brought ervane, dating back to 1910, decadence. The Merritt Parkway a stifling heat, complimented by contains a pick and shovel. served as the model for recreational rays of light that pierced through driving in America and ushered the surrounding landscape. In the in the age of the automobile. In a distance, a procession could be time of urban development and heard, fit with bells and whistles to expansion, the Parkway wandered the highest degree. The blinding through the wilderness and me- light bouncing off the gleaming- andered among mountainsides. It white surface shrouded the pathway was supposed to be the future of ahead in glowing curiosity. It was a Lehigh’s Origins roadways in America, where a city joyous day, one that congressman dweller could escape into a world Schuyler Merritt had envisioned for After an incredibly success- of reverent, leisurely enjoyment. years. The aging politician patted ful career, ASA Packer felt However, with the evolving ideas of his moist brow with a handkerchief obligated to give back to the transportation and increasing need he drew from his pocket, and in Lehigh Valley. He pledged for commercial growth, American careful thought, recounted the ef- $500,000 to go towards roadways became more industrial forts of many men and the long road education. Rumor has it that in nature, hasty and impatient. The they took to get there. in the spring of 1865 the Parkway exists today as a congested On April 30, 1850, Frederick Law traffic zone more than as a nation- Olmsted, a modest young farmer president of Lafayette Col- ally recognized historical landmark. from rural Connecticut, joined his lege visited Packer and that Its bridges and other elements brother John and friend Charley Packer seriously considered represent the thoughts of a genera- Brace on the Henry Clay, a pas- contributing the money until tion constantly striving to connect senger boat bound for Liverpool, he found out that Lafayette its people and its communities, the England. Three days after arriv- was Presbyterian. urban with the rural. They were ing overseas, Olmsted had his first built not merely to bridge spans of encounter with the English coun- earth, but to increase awareness of tryside. The young farmer was the natural landscape. The design overwhelmed: “The country—and of the Merritt Parkway and of its such a country!—green, dripping, architectural features defines an glistening, gorgeous! We stood era in which men sought relief from dumb-stricken by its loveliness….” 11 The proposed parkway would detour traffic to an alternate route to be constructed 20 miles inland from the Boston Post Road that would solve problems concerning congestion in local communities. Source: Radde, Bruce. The Merritt Parkway, pg. 26. As skyscrapers slowly rose into the urban skyline, citizens yearned for salvation from the development that surrounded them. The tech- nological advances made by the automobile industry brought the suburban countryside within reach. Cars became a necessity of modern life available to all social classes, a mode of transportation that flexed the arm of American Olmsted was most impressed with the romantic garden innovation. European automobile development, on the tradition of the English gentry and the newly developed other hand, was viewed as a luxury of the wealthy, strictly civic spaces of Joseph Paxton. After returning home he limited to high-class patrons for leisurely recreation and wrote a short article on Paxton’s Birkenhead Park for The not a mandatory means of transportation. The scene on Horticulturist, and in 1852 he published his impressions the streets of America was hardly as idyllic. Early auto- of English landscaping in a bulky travel book, Walks and mobiles puttered around street corners and skyscrapers Talks of an American Farmer in England. In 1858, Olm- eclipsed entire city blocks. A survey in 1895 tallied four sted got a chance to deliver a taste of the English coun- cars in the United States; by 1900 there were eight thou- try to America when he was appointed lead architect of sand automobiles on American roads and by 1940 thirty- New York City’s Central Park. For six years he worked to two million. This rapid increase allowed residential transform the swampy, craggy center of New York City into expansion beyond city limits. Road networks stretched a picturesque vista reminiscent of the carefully wrought far distances from urban centers. Driving became not English landscapes he so adored. The park was designed only an expression of recreational enjoyment, but also of to serve as a substitute to a visit to the country—a bit of na- peaceful repose from the city atmosphere. Early circula- ture delivered to your front door and accessible by wind- tion routes were intended

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