Work from Ithaca College Honors Seminars
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Symposium The Ithaca College Honors Undergraduate Research Journal Work from Ithaca College Honors Seminars Volume 2 Spring 2013 Vol. 2 Spring 2013 1 Symposium Editorial Staff and Contributing Writers Table of Contents Contributing Writers Editorial Staff and Contributing Writers 3 Adrienne Cocci ’13 Rachel Siptroth ’16 Letter from the Director 4 Health Science, B.S. Exploratory Letter from the Editor 5 Kelsey Fons ’16 A. Maureen Tant ’13 Psychology, B.A. Cinema and Photography, B.S. “Jake Leg: A Mystery Solved Through the Blues” 6 Highway 61 Revisited: Adrienne Cocci Abigail Lind ’13 Olivia Timmins ’16 Exercise Science, B.S. History, B.A. “The First Step: Poverty 101” 12 Why Are We Here? Student Culture and the Problem of College: Kelsey Fons Renee Metzger ’14 Casey Wayman ’15 Clinical Health Studies, B.S. English, B.A. “The Use of Music During Exercise: Is it the Next Legal Performance Enhancer?” 20 Music, Math, and the Brain: Abigail Lind Hannah Sellers ’16 Megan Zart ’16 Integrated Marketing Integrated Marketing “Music and Movement: Music’s Ability to Allow Parkinson’s Communications, B.S. Communications, B.S. Patients Freedom of Movement” 29 Music, Math, and the Brain: Renee Metzger “Harnessing the Agricultural Past for a Future of Fresh Food” 35 Facing Nature; Facing Ourselves: Hannah Sellers Editorial Staff “Athenian Government: Divine Law Overrides State Authority as Seen in Crito and Antigone” 42 Dr. Robert Sullivan Shelby Abrams ’15 Language and Power in Classical Athens: Rachel Siptroth Faculty Advisor Michelle Ammirati ’14 Adrienne Cocci ’13 “Your Word Has Been Chosen, The Words Have Been Spoken: Gretchen Hohmeyer ’16 Authorship and Fires in the Mirror” 46 Chloe Wilson ’14 Stephanie Krail ’14 Staging History: A. Maureen Tant Editor-in-Chief David Owens ’15 “Fear of the Maddened Woman: A Study of Male Fear of Women in 5th Century Attic Drama” 52 Language and Power in Classical Athens: Olivia Timmins “The Relationship Between Classical Blues and Black Female Sexuality” 63 Highway 61 Revisited: Casey Wayman “Native Americans: Scientists or Savages?” 70 Facing Nature; Facing Ourselves: Megan Zart 2 Spring 2013 Vol. 2 Vol. 2 Spring 2013 3 Symposium Letter from the Editor Letter from the Director Letter from the Editor Let’s start with a quiz! What is the most frequent number of issues in the run of any undergradu- Dear Readers, ate journal? What’s that? A hand up asking for clarification? Okay…when a group of undergradu- ates begin a journal, what is the most common number of issues that they publish before it folds? It’s hard to believe that this is only the second volume of Symposium! Got it? Good. Pencils down. Answer: 1. This journal would not be possible without the support of many people, ranging from the That’s just one of the reasons I’m so happy to be writing this introduction to Volume 2 of Sym- writers to the editors to the readers, but Symposium can mainly be credited to one person – posium: The Ithaca College Honors Program Undergraduate Research Journal - we’ve already Program Director Bob Sullivan. exceeded the life expectancy of this type of publication! Why do undergraduate journals so often fail so quickly? Well, for one thing, they’re really hard to do. You need to have a dedicated staff, willing contributors, and enough structure to get the job done. Secondly, most schools just don’t Bob, this volume of Symposium is dedicated to you. Thank you so much for everything have enough focus on undergraduate research to generate sufficient interest in publication. Final- you’ve done as the Honors Program Director – you’ve changed a lot of lives and, though ly, and perhaps most importantly, most undergraduate journal editorial staffs suffer from a lack your office is moving, us Honorites will still seek you out. The Ithaca College Honors Pro- of continuity; dedicated editors graduate, people lose interest, everybody forgets everything over gram would not be the same without you and, speaking from personal experience, I would the summer…you get the picture. Happily the editors of Symposium have navigated around all of not be a member of this program had you not extended the invitation. these thickets and the journal has come out in great shape and in a timely fashion. Congratula- tions to Chloe Wilson and her terrific editorial staff! Thank you, Bob, for everything. The other reason that I’m happy to be writing this introduction is that once again I get to be That said, we are so excited to work with the new Program Director, Thomas Pfaff, who has struck by the great variety of interests as well as the quality of the writing evidenced by our pro- shown nothing but support and excitement for us. Welcome to the fold, professor! We’re so gram’s scholars. In this issue of Symposium we find articles on the use of music as an aid to exer- excited to have you. cise, the depiction of “Jake Leg” paralysis in American blues music, the ethics of food production, recommendations regarding teaching about poverty in New York high schools, the theoretical problem of authorship in Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror, the scientific validity of Native Symposium has always been a forum for learning and discussion, and we continue this with American theories of nature, violence against women in the Classical era, female sexuality in early our new volume. I encourage you to read these pages with an open mind. You’ll never know blues music, opposition to democracy in ancient Athens, and the effects of music on patients with what you might discover. Parkinson’s disease. This variety is a mark of an engaged and vigorous program full of students vitalized by that most wonderful virtue, curiosity. Best, I’m sure that this time next year I’ll be reading Volume 3 of Symposium with the same sense of excitement and pride. Cheers, Chloe Wilson Editor-in-Chief Bob Sullivan Director, Ithaca College Honors Program 4 Spring 2013 Vol. 2 Vol. 2 Spring 2013 5 Symposium Jake Leg: A Mystery Solved Through the Blues 51). A bottle of Jake cost about thirty-five cents and “stewbums, boozegobs, hooch histers and drunks” Jake Leg: A Mystery Solved Through the was available in pharmacies and groceries. Some (Baum 51). It was not far fetched to think that stores would even have a room in the back were the paralysis had to do with some form of tainted Blues people could drink Jake so as not to draw attention alcohol. When investigators discovered that it was Adrienne Cocci to themselves (Baum 52). Usually, Jake’s side effects specifically Jake that had been tainted many rumors Class of 2013 Health Science, B.S. were no different than regular alcohol. Since it had began to take hold. Many believed that Jake had been used for so long, there was no reason to think been contaminated with lead, arsenic or petroleum Jake Leg was a condition that rose to epidemic levels during prohibition. Thousands of people become para- at first that this strange paralysis had anything to do alcohol had been used instead of grain alcohol lyzed when bottles of Jake or “Jamaican Ginger Extract” were contaminated. People were drinking it for its with Jake. (Baum 54). high alcohol content, and since it was legal, it became a popular substitute. Although this epidemic seems like Jake Leg was first discovered in Oklahoma Maurice Smith, a pharmacologist discovered something that would be discussed in a history or epidemiology class, information about this condition is near- City by a physician named Ephraim Goldfain. On the mystery behind the poisoned Jake. He headed ly nonexistent except for blues lyrics. The voices of blues artists both black and white of this time period sang February 27, 1930, an unknown patient walked into the National Institute of Health’s investigation of about the horrors of Jake Leg. It is possible that we would know little to nothing about this epidemic if not for the hospital and was described as having, “feet dan- Jake and was assisted by the chemist Elias Elvolve the survival of this music. gle[ing] like a marionette’s, so that walking involved (Parascandola 362). Smith published a paper enti- “Jake Leg, Jake Leg what in the world you primary data. Morgan believed that one of the swinging them forward and slapping them onto the tled “The Pharmocological Action of Certain Phenol trying to do? Seems like everybody in the city’s main reasons that the epidemic fell off the radar was floor” (Baum 50). The patient explained to Goldfain Esters, with Special Reference to the Etiology of So- messed up on account of drinking you” are the because of class. Most of the men who were affect- that he wasn’t in any pain, but his legs were literally Called Ginger Paralysis” the same year the paralysis words of Ishmon Bracey, an African American ed by Jake were migrants and were seen as poor just useless below the knee. In the 1930’s, paralysis was discovered, which summed up the mystery of Delta Blues musician. Jake Leg caused thousands of drunks. With that stereotype working against the usually meant polio but Goldfain knew that it didn’t the paralysis. In his paper, Smith concludes that the people in the United States to become paralyzed in victims, many never received justice (Baum). look like polio, so he was forced to look for another substance that caused the disease was that, the early 1930s, but today most people have never The “Jake” part of Jake Leg is the common cause.