Ph.D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch New England: Marriage and Family Therapy

Theoretical and anecdotal accounts highlight the power of curiosity within the therapeutic process of particular models of therapy, with specific influences noted in regard to forming, maintaining, and evolving intra- and interpersonal relationships. The mention of curiosity in the therapeutic process is not surprising given its profound and evidence-based influence on the promotion of relationships and influence on social-emotional health and well-being. What is surprising however, is the lack of comprehensive review and exploration into how exactly curiosity is being conceptually used within and across therapeutic models. Additionally, such a review is missing in terms of whether curiosity is model dependent or is perhaps an integral piece of the larger therapeutic common factors' movement. To address this aforementioned gap between curiosity and the therapeutic process, I (BTH) and my research team (T.B. and M.F.) reviewed 28 book length texts that encompassed seven different theoretical approaches to therapy. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was utilized, wherein quantitative data showed that the included language of curiosity was used 773 times between the 28 included texts. These 773 data points were then analyzed through a deductive qualitative process based on the sensitizing constructs of the therapeutic pyramid. Throughout this analysis, curiosity was most commonly coded as being a skill/technique, with additional coding of the therapeutic alliance and a way of being. The therapeutic pyramid was efficacious in describing the various functions of curiosity. However, upon further review and analysis, the research team's conceptualization of curiosity was refined to two primary themes: connection and challenge. It is within each of these two headings where the value of curiosity lies across therapeutic modalities, as curiosity independently or simultaneously served as a conceptual tool for promoting connection and relationships while also functi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Markie Twist PhD (Committee Chair); Bryson Greaves PhD (Committee Member); Stephen Fife PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Mental Health; Therapy

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Popular Culture

Hollywood filmmakers have recently, and dramatically, changed their depictions of women in Action Movies in the Two-Thousand-Teens. There has been a dramatic disparity between images of violent men and violent women. However, filmmakers are now giving action heroines the same attention they gave to action heroes. This thesis examines Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984, and Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn to make clear much of the progress, and one or two pitfalls, these films have presented audiences with, including the use of tropes that were previously, in terms of Hollywood major motion pictures, mostly only seen in male-led Action Movies.

Committee: Becca Cragin Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Esther Clinton Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Film Studies; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Popular Culture

While much of the focus of past textual analysis of films within the superhero genre has focused on characterizations of heroes, visual iconography, and the logistics of filming or framing a scene, academia has vastly overlooked the necessity of a film's soundtrack, not only as a basic narrative tool and genre locator, but as a means to further understand how a cultural perception of the material is being reflected by the very musical choices presented on a score. While there has been an influx of research focusing on how a culture perceives its heroes – in this case superheroes – during times of great change within a society (either politically, socially, economically, or culturally; for example, the terrorist attack on American soil on 9/11/2001), I have found there to be a lack of research involving how the musical themes of superheroes reflect our cultural views and feelings at a specific point in time. This phenomenon is in need of further research because there is a need to understand how a culture's perception of this change can be reflected in musical themes found in a film's musical score. The following thesis is an investigation of the soundtracks belonging to superhero films and television shows in order to examine the cultural shifts in the perception of superheroes in America. I will observe this musical phenomenon in relation to major historical events, by way of using a post-9/11 lens, textual analysis of the music scores, and various camera angles and acting cues that are choreographed to the music found in the original soundtracks. This thesis is a case study examining this methodology, showing a dramatic cultural perceptual change reflected in the scoring of musical themes and songs via a thorough examination of the evolution of superhero soundtrack music within the realms of DC Comics' Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman characters.

Committee: Jeffrey Brown (Advisor); Esther Clinton (Committee Member); Jeremy Wallach (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Music

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2018, English/Literature

This project explores womens aggression in superhero, science fiction, and crime film through a close reading of Wonder Woman, Ghost in the Shell, and Atomic Blonde. All based in genres that are traditionally considered for boys, these films are different from other superhero, science fiction, and crime films because they feature female leads with aggressive tendencies. Using Dana Crowley Jacks theory of womens aggression and Yvonne Tasker and Diane Negras definition of postfeminism, I argue that Diana, Major, and Lorraine revolutionize the image of the lead postfeminist character by offering examples of womens aggression that resist acceptable, palatable representations of womens aggression. Whereas in the past there have been many representations of aggressive women, those past representations have been affected by postfeminism in a way that commodifies and limits their ability to be authentically aggressive. I examine how these new films, Wonder Woman, Ghost in the Shell, and Atomic Blonde, play into and ultimately resist postfeminist representations because of their aggression and how that aggression is played out on the female body. In the following chapters I analyze how the heroines in Wonder Woman, Ghost in the Shell, and Atomic Blonde disrupt postfeminist notions and prior images of womens aggression by explicitly examining aggressive women who are not domesticated or justified by rape.

Committee: Kimberly Coates (Committee Chair); Jeffrey Brown (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; Comparative Literature; Film Studies; Gender Studies; Language Arts; Literature

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Theatre

As a child, when I consumed fictional narratives that centered on strong female characters, all I noticed was the enviable power that they exhibited. From my point of view, every performance by a powerful character like Wonder Woman, Daisy Duke, or Princess Leia, served to highlight her drive, ability, and intellect in a wholly uncomplicated way. What I did not notice then was the often-problematic performances of female power that accompanied those narratives. As a performance studies and theatre scholar, with a decades' old love of all things popular culture, I began to ponder the troubling question: Why are there so many popular narratives focused on female characters who are, on a surface level, portrayed as bastions of strength, that fall woefully short of being true representations of empowerment when subjected to close analysis? In an endeavor to answer this question, in this dissertation I examine what I contend are some of the paradoxical performances of female heroism, womanhood, and feminine aggression from the 1960s to the 1990s. To facilitate this investigation, I engage in close readings of several key aesthetic and cultural texts from these decades. While the Wonder Woman comic book universe serves as the centerpiece of this study, I also consider troublesome performances and representations of female power in the television shows Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the film Grease, the stage musical Les Miserables, and the video game Tomb Raider. Allied with my analyses of these cultural texts, I examine the historical context of these final four decades of the twentieth century by focusing on several significant social and political moments and movements, such as the rise of first-and second-wave feminism, Reagan-era conservatism, and the scandals that brought Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky into the public eye in the 1990s. Throughout my study, I focus on issues including, but not limited to, the performance of femini (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan Chambers PhD (Advisor); Francisco Cabanillas PhD (Committee Member); Bradford Clark MFA (Committee Member); Lesa Lockford PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Film Studies; Mass Media; Motion Pictures; Music; Performing Arts; Theater; Theater Studies; Womens Studies

MFA, Kent State University, 2017, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

The protagonist Zar, an elf woman who lives and works as a temple prostitute, meets Brandur, a healer from the local University. He has come to establish the beginnings of his healing career at the Temple where he knows his work can benefit the poor of the city's western side. However, he has also come in the hope of discovering a person of interest that a shadow-organization named the Greywings are looking for. As Brandur discovers, Zar so happens to be this person. Zar also deals with the trials and challenges of navigating a world that is run by human men. The story engages in issues of race, sex, sexism, class conflict, and the psychology behind each of those topics.

Committee: Eric Wasserman Prof (Advisor) Subjects: Fine Arts

BA, Kent State University, 2016, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Different types of media are widespread in today's world. This litany of media can have a variety of influences, some positive and some negative. This is an especially important consideration in regards to children and adolescents, as they are experiencing media while they are still developing. One of the more controversial types of media that children and adolescents experience is that based around superheroes. Appearing in a wide variation (e.g., comic books, films, television shows, video games), superhero-based media can have varying influences. First, this paper uses the DC Comics superheroes Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as evidence of some of the gender issues facing this type of media, examining how Superman and Batman are viewed as stronger and more agentic and how Wonder Woman is viewed as simultaneously feminist and oppressive. Second, this paper examines research reflecting the negative influences superhero-based media can have on gender ideas and perceptions, such as promoting stereotyped beliefs about gender, along with the positive influences it can have on morals, largely encouraging a healthy morality. Finally, this paper concludes with taking the discussed issues and applying them to the recent Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, as it is the first live-action film to feature the three aforementioned superheroes and it largely reinforces the issues discussed thus far.

Committee: J. Brad Shepherd Ph.D. (Advisor); Lee Fox Cardamone Ph.D. (Committee Member); Leslie Heaphy Ph.D. (Committee Member); Stephen Neaderhiser Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2016, Theatre and Film

In this dissertation, I argue that comic books are a form of dynamic and performative aesthetic communication as identified by performance studies scholars Ronald Pelias and James VanOosting, among others. Additionally, I use the standards of comic book creation as established by artists Will Eisner and Carl Potts. I seek to discuss and evaluate Western Society's restrictions on feminine agency. Female bodies and identities are actively performed on the page through a combination of comic book structure and the process of narrative activation by the audience. I do so through an exploration of the central effects of the dominant, patriarchal, hegemonic forces that pervade the Detective Comics (i.e., DC) comic book universe—as they pertain to the characters of Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, and Power Girl—with the aim of situating these forces in that fictional realm in relation to the expectations of the constitution and performance of gender within our own real-life society. I investigate the important differences between female and male superheroes through a discussion of owned vs. acquired or allowed agency. To accomplish this, I use what I refer to as a critical fan perspective to examine three specific areas over three chapters: acquisition of superhero identity, violence, and hypersexuality. I do so through an analysis of the performance implications of comic book text, image, and sequential narrative. First, in Chapter I, I use the concepts of the origin story and the trial or test of worthiness to investigate the disconnection that exists between male and female superheroes. In sum, within DC comic books, the male superhero is often offered the choice to adopt his heroic status while the female superhero must be chosen or allowed to adopt that identity. Second, in Chapter II, I explore the violence committed against and by women to discuss the ways that hegemony enacts violence against female superheroes and the policing of violent acts that they are fre (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan Chambers Ph.D. (Advisor); Lesa Lockford Ph.D. (Committee Member); Margaret McCubbin MFA (Committee Member); Jane Schoonmaker Rodgers Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Gender Studies; Performing Arts; Theater Studies

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Many have spent their lives in search for wonder. In architecture it can transpire in three methods: frame, spectacle, interruption. Interruption, the most subtle of the three, is something that can be happened upon, noticed as the strange in the familiar. It is this method, which is unraveled through definition to understand its true duplicitous origins. It is explored through architectural precedents to understand the author's bias of what makes one wondrous. To further understand the role of interruption at a smaller scale, traditional architectural elements are dismantled to understand their potential beyond our assumptions of each. All of which, create a catalogue for wonder as an interruption. Which, in this case, is applied to downtown Chicago's Pedway system; an application which is merely one example of many: a qualitative study of wonder as an interruption transpired through translation. The beauty of interruption is the potential of possibility rather than a set destination. The beauty of design is there is no one answer rather many approaches. This thesis sets the scene for interruptions to come.

Committee: Vincent Sansalone M.Arch. (Committee Chair); Udo Greinacher M.Arch. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2014, American Culture Studies/Ethnic Studies

The song "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway is played only once a year during the holiday season. His presence is so strong during the holidays for African Americans because he is one of thedistinctive cultural markers of the season. The question at hand is why is he relegated to the Christmas season but what about the rest of the year. In 2010, National Public Radio (NPR) created the series 50 Great Voices as a way to expose NPR listeners to artists who were not at the forefront of public consciousness. On June 26, 2010 Donny Hathaway debuted as the "Neglected Heart of Soul" but does"neglected" hold up. I believe "neglected" becomes situational depending on who is doing the remembering. The objective of my dissertation is to locate Donny Hathaway as a central figure in 1970s Soul music, to understand his growing influence over contemporary artists, and his musical legacy. I used Stuart Hall's "representation" as my overarching theoretical framework. I wanted a theory that would be fluid enough to be relevant in the different phases of Donny Hathaway's musical career. By using representation I was able to identify and understand the musical influences of Donny Hathaway. The use of representation allowed me to understand the cultural production of young Black men and women as they challenged the "politics of respectability" of the times. I have always have loved 1970s Soul music. I never knew my combined passions for music and the narratives of the marginalized. I became interested in the musical legacy of Donny Hathaway because he was one of the major forces in early 1970s Soul music. In my dissertation I have situated Donny Hathaway's music within an African American tradition, which is an amalgamation of Gospel, The Blues, Jazz, and Soul music. I wanted to give a voice to the importance of Donny Hathaway's music because he often gets overlooked because of who his contemporaries were, Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. My desire for this (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Angela Nelson Ph.D. (Advisor); Rebecca Mancuso (Other); Ellen Berry (Committee Member); Radhika Gajjala Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American Studies; History; Sociology

PHD, Kent State University, 2014, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

JOHNSON, SETH WILLIAM, Ph.D., May 2014 ENGLISH HISTORY, MYTH AND SECULARISM ACROSS THE BORDERLANDS: THE WORK OF MICHAEL CHABON (317 PP.) Director of Dissertation: Lewis Fried From the publication of his Master's thesis turned first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon has enjoyed immense critical and commercial success. Yet, to date, scholarship has remained in its infancy. This study traces two common and related themes as they evolve throughout his career: his celebration of genre fiction and his exploration of the intersection between the secular--Jewish, American-Jewish and unhyphenated American culture--and the sacred. The blending of often ghettoized genres, such as science fiction, mystery, comic books and horror, with sacred texts, stories and folklore both elevates the so-called "lower" art forms and reengages history, myth and sacred stories as merely literary genres with an enhanced cultural significance. In addition, this dissertation seeks to illuminate Chabon's representation of Jewishness in America, throughout his body of work. Chabon consistently raises questions regarding the nature of Judaism in America, asking whether one's Jewishness can be largely cultural or whether it is necessarily defined by religious adherence. Though many of Chabon's characters may not be overtly religious, they have not forgotten their roots. Chabon depicts a generation of American Jews who are more comfortable with their place in America, than many of the American-Jewish writers who came before him. He sees contemporary American Jewish culture as one that maintains its traditions and celebrates its history, but can exist outside of religion, in which American Jews can be both Jewish and largely secular. This project aims to show that Chabon is part of a continuum that is constantly reassessing American Judaism, and in good company with his many American-Jewish literary predecessors (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lewis Fried Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Babacar M'Baye Ph.D. (Committee Member); Yoshinobu Hakutani Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sara Newman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carol Salus Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; American Studies; Bible; Literature; Religion

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2011, Art History

This paper was written to accompany an art exhibition by the same title which was up in Trisolini Gallery from May 3rd to May 7th at Ohio University Baker Center. It details my reflections on the show itself, as well as my influences in its creation including a brief summation of the Steampunk movement. It also examines the ideas of collection, reclaiming Wonder as an approach to scientific pursuits, Otherness, nerd culture, and morbidity, as well as fairy tales and the idea of storytelling. It also includes numerous pictures of the exhibition itself and of some of my inspirations.

Committee: Julie Dummermuth (Advisor) Subjects: Fine Arts