Bookish: A Journal of Undergraduate Writing Across the Curriculum Bookish seeks to publish undergraduate writing from across the curriculum. We are looking for articles roughly 2,000 to 3,000 words that demonstrate excellence in research, creativity, or insight. We are also hoping that there will be a spotlight on first-year writing, which will feature essays roughly 1,000 to 1,500 words. The goal is that professors identify a student essay and request permission from the undergrad to submit it. The professor should email the paper and cc the student. Multimodal compositions are welcome as well as more formal essays.
Intersection of Racism and Environmental Exposure
Environmental racism has been a systemic injustice that has been rooted in society for many generations due to discriminatory policies, economic inequality, and neglect by political authorities. Environmental racism is manifested in scenarios where marginalized communities, particularly Black, Indigenous, and low-income populations are put at higher risk of pollution and environmental hazards. Existing literature offers several definitions of the term “environmental racism” that dates to the 20th century. For example, Pulido (1996) defines environmental racism as a broad set of concerns regarding the interconnected relationship between marginalized groups and environmental issues. Moreover, Johansen (2020) argues that environmental racism and the pursuit of justice against it intertwine ecological problems with issues of race and class, involving poor, often racial minority communities whose residents are subjected to disproportionate levels of ecological disturbance (such as water and air pollution, as well as unsustainable use of natural resources). The effects of environmental racism include health complications, socioeconomic consequences, and environmental degradation, to mention a few.
Dichotomies of Cure and Care in the Medicalization of Fat Bodies
Though Fat bodies have not been absent from historical knowledges collected and known around the globe, the West’s preoccupation with declaring Fatness as a looming moral and medical danger drives multidisciplinary discourses centering Fat people as the epicentre of the “Fatpocalypse” (Pausé 135), undesirable proprietors of excess body mass who threaten the (enforced) collective agreement on embodiments and categorizations of “health”. These body knowledges, whose basis for so-called-empirical truths are born from cultural western notions and regulatory striving, are continually held to a higher regard than the (Fat) bodies and inhabitants of these bodies who navigate the clinical setting. Fatphobia, an imperfect term that encapsulates the fat hatred, “weight bias, weight discrimination, and weight stigma” (Kost et al. 03) experienced by larger bodies particularly from healthcare practitioners, is woven so tightly into the clinical gaze that it can easily be disguised by authoritative medical knowledges, an excuse that permits and excuses malpractice of Fat individuals. As a result, care and cure become fractured, a dichotomous arrangement that shifts responsibility of health solely onto the Fat patient.
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all,” are the words written by Oscar Wilde in the preface of his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The book follows the Victorian gentleman Dorian Gray, who, captivated by the eternal youth of his portrait, exchanges his soul to remain beautiful forever. It works, but Dorian’s portrait begins to slowly age in his place, a horrific display of his sins. One of Wilde’s most famous works, Dorian Gray, was a controversial novel during its release. While the preface of the novel claims that no book is immoral, many of Wilde's critics did not agree. In a period where any acts of homosexuality, private or not, were considered crimes (Bristow 1), Wilde's novel was heavily scrutinized due to the nature of the relationship between Dorian and his beloved portrait painter, Basil. In the original version of the novel published in 1890, Basil possesses a fervent adoration for Dorian, something that is toned down greatly in the next publication the following year. While censorship, attempted to create a more platonic explanation for the men’s relationship, Dorian Gray is an important novel displaying the historic practice of queer coding in novels.
The Effects of Economic Growth on the Ecosystem and Future Generations
Balancing human development with sustainability is a complex challenge without a simple solution (Pathiranage, 2024). While economic growth improves living standards and provides essential goods and services (Roser, 2021), it often comes with environmental damage and social inequality (Population Matters, 2024). As endless economic growth continues, there is a worldwide ecological overshoot, illustrating that finite natural resources cannot sustain infinite growth (Population Matters, 2024). Given that the environment is the basis of human existence (Yan et al., 2022), there is a pressing need to rethink current economic growth models‒not only for current generations, but also posterity, as we all share a responsibility to future generations who will likely face worse climate change effects (Syropoulos & Markowitz, 2023).
The Evolution of My Relationship with Poetry
Poetry often feels like an enigma – a form of expression that seems both profound and elusive, something that requires an expert’s eye to decode. When I first encountered poetry, I was introduced to the formal, and often serious language of Shakespeare. His sonnets were filled with complex metaphors and intricate structures that made them feel distant and hard to approach. I believed that poetry was something that required deep analysis to understand, and at times, it felt like a chore. The elevated language and lofty themes left me feeling removed from the essence of the poems. It seemed as though there was a barrier between me and the art form that I could never quite break through. However, everything changed when I read The “Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. The sound and rhythm of the poem were beautiful, and it was far easier to follow than Shakespeare's works. I was captivated by the simplicity and musicality of Poe’s writing, and it made me realize that poetry could be more than just dense, serious language containing hidden meanings. My relationship with poetry has truly evolved: from struggling with Shakespeare to appreciating the humor and playfulness of poets like Harryette Mullen, whose “Dim Lady” brings a humorous twist to the traditional love poem.
During a time when all things electronic started speeding up and a letter from home took too long to reach the hands of its receiver, Mark Zuckerberg and other Harvard students decided communication would be faster and more accessible online (Shepherd). Facebook was the result of that thought-process, and since its inception in 2004 to help students at Harvard interact with one another, it has grown exponentially (Shepherd). In other words, Facebook, with its intention to allow students to be social through media, has ultimately become a multi-billion dollar industry that does more than send messages from one to another saying, “Hi! How have you been?” (Shepherd). It is now a platform for everything. It is a means to get across any kind of thought its users have. Of course, some of those thoughts are more than a genuine hello or a comment on an old photo. Sometimes they are fake, hateful, and inappropriate in nature, and it is at times like these that scrolling through one’s Facebook stream can bring more scowls than smiles. Twenty years after its creation, Facebook has allowed anyone and everyone to communicate about almost anything and everything, and with three billion personal agendas, not including those of various Facebook Groups, it is easy to see that even a statement as simple as, “Trump is…,” can make the average person look like a fool because they posted it, re-posted it, or believed it in the first place (Shepherd).