Breaking Machismo

MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica — Women in Costa Rica are rising out of the ashes and learning how to spread their own wings. For a long time, and some would argue still today, women in Costa Rica were considered second-class citizens, mostly due to machismo, or masculine culture, where men believe they hold dominant roles over…

Music of the Cherokee Nation

Introduction and General History Music history in North America begins long before Europeans came ashore; however, because classically trained musicians view music history through the lens of European practices and experiences, it becomes difficult to document an authentic musical experience of the indigenous populations without first understanding the history of the people being studied. To…

Christmas Holiday: Queering Family in 20th Century Southern Missouri

An obituary in The Southeast Missourian lists Elaine “Tommie” Davis as the business partner of Mary Jane “Miss Jane” Barnett for over forty years (Elaine Davis Obituary). However, the family albums of the two tell a richer story, they were life partners as well as business partners, a radical act in mid-century America, and perhaps…

“I Don’t Know Where My Boy Is!”: Abduction and Brainwashing in Stranger Things

In “Chapter Six: The Monster” of Netflix’s Stranger Things, there’s the big reveal: Eleven, the daughter of Terry, a former subject in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Project MK-Ultra, was stolen—abducted—by “the big bad Man” to be used as a psychic weapon against the Soviet Union. Everything’s there: child abduction, brainwashing, the Man, an irrational fear…

The Gay Lib Controversy: Social Change versus Social Norms at the University of Missouri

In 1971, a homosexual student organization known as Gay Liberation or Gay Lib requested and was denied recognition at the University of Missouri-Columbia. For the next seven years, Gay Lib members would work their way through a system of appeals and court cases until they were finally awarded recognition in April 1978. This was not…

The Rise of the “Crazy Cat Lady”

I grew up wanting a dog. In fact, since I learned to talk up until the age of 7 all I talked about were dogs. It didn’t help that my neighbor had a real-life Air Bud Golden Retriever who would fetch the newspaper every morning, which was a constant motivator to keep persuading my parents…

The Women’s Symposium

The flute girl wandered into the kitchen with the contented air of someone who has already been paid for the night’s work, however light it might be. “They may not need that,” she told a serving girl who was watering a second jug of wine. “They say they’re not drinking very much tonight.” The cook,…

King Arthur and His Part in the Breaking of the Round Table

Amy is an English Major and a senior at Mizzou. At the age of sixteen, she decided to drop out of high school and continue her education at a local community college. It was there that she found a passion for school and writing. She strives to learn something new every day about…

Crop Circles Explained

McKenzie is a senior student, studying magazine journalism. She really loves scary movies. Arts and culture are her favorite things to write about, and she loves how they are incorporated into film. She chose this topic because she loves the legends and stories surrounding aliens and crop circles, and not to…

The Cultural Power of Iron in Early Africa

Iron played a central role in many societies of early Africa. It held both spiritual and material power. Physically, Africans used iron to create tools for agriculture, utensils for everyday life, and weapons for protection and conquest (Shillington, 2012, p. 45). Spiritually, Africans considered iron potent. Because of the elemental forces wielded to create iron…