Green Circle

The speaker in this collection explores the quotidian experiences of daily life. Often restless, she attempts to find beauty or significance in these occurrences. The speaker looks into her personal history in a variety of locations. Many of the poems are set in Washington DC, California, Massachusetts and South Korea and as such, they explore the intersection of memory and present reality.

The New Jersey Meadowlands: Inhabiting an Urban Wilderness

The New Jersey Meadowlands is a thirty square mile industrial wetland between New York City and the commercial district of East Rutherford, NJ. The place is both strange and fascinating; many mysteries are hidden between the reed grasses and scattered garbage. Often exposed to subjectivity, the Meadowlands is commonly perceived as a weird, polluted, industrial, and even an other-worldly space; few know its beauty. These differing perceptions create a challenge when thinking of a cohesive identity and sense of place in the marsh. Over time, the once pure landscape has suffered from infrastructural slices, illegal dumping, and environmental abuse, resulting in fragmented land areas along the Hackensack River’s edge. This thesis explores how to inhabit an ecologically devalued and residual landscape through ideas of place-making and re-connecting communities. Investigating the paradox of this massive urban landscape and capitalizing on the ecological and educational potential of the site, lends also to a challenge of converging modern and forgotten life. Designing a place-based ecological research community within this currently placeless environment, will engage the public, re-connect lost communities, and bring a sense of renewal to the marsh.

El poder del imaginario de la pasión: teología, belleza y verdad en representaciones del sufrimiento y la muerte de Cristo

Este artículo analiza cuatro obras clásicas de Bosch, Spencer, Grunewald y Dalí que representan la crucifixión de Cristo, y explora sus implicaciones teológicas y sociales en relación con las nociones de belleza y verdad.

To be a woman here is to be invisible: in search of the dispossessed femininity in Middle-earth

In my thesis I examine J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954-55), the fantasy epic written on the basis of a fictional universe created by Tolkien, complete with elves, dwarves and other mystical creatures – with languages, alphabets and grammar created for all. While rich linguistically, Tolkien writes a decidedly male description of his world, often neglecting any acknowledgement of female existence. Tolkien’s monolithic stature amongst other fantasy authors made me conduct a feminist reading of The Lord of the Rings, with an eye for the way female experience is marginalized to the point of omission. Tolkien’s linguistic accomplishments have overshadowed the illogical aspects of his work, namely the omission of genders, societal classes and features of society necessary for the fictional universe to retain its cohesion. This cohesion suffers from a totally male experience in the novel which is willfully blind to these features I listed. My theoretical framework is built on ideas in Toril Moi’s Sex, Gender and the Body (2005) and bell hook’s Feminism is For Everybody (2000). Michel Foucault’s ideas of power and hidden histories assist in performing a close reading of the source text and interpreting the results. My thesis focuses on the transformation that the values associated with the concept of equality have undergone. This is best illustrated in the treatment of the few female characters in the novel – Galadriel, Éowyn and Arwen – as their beauty and existence interferes with the ordering of the male-dominated world.

Współczesne rytuały przejścia z dzieciństwa do dorosłości: baśń o Śpiącej Królewnie

In the paper, I make references to the psychological process of passing from childhood to adulthood. In contemporary times, this process is spread in time, its boundaries are blurry and it is difficult to find in it the primordial initiation rituals known among primitive tribes. I call these phenomena the Sleeping Beauty syndrome, and compare the contemporary rites of passage from childhood to adulthood to this very fairy tale, in particular to its psychological readings. The theoretical framework for my considerations is based on a selection of anthropological rite concepts and elements of methodological concepts of studying fairy tales, such as structural and psychoanalytical approaches. My psychopedagogical analysis of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale through the category rite of passage thus begins with defining this category underlining the possibility of using it in various sciences and referring to the fairy tale as a contemporary space for ritual initiation experience.

Kwantyfikacja wybranych świadczeń ekosystemów na poziomie lokalnym. Przykład gminy Krajenka

Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych

Efeitos dos vídeo-blogs na decisão de compra de produtos cosméticos

Este estudo enquadra-se na área do Marketing Digital, e pretende demonstrar a influência exercida pelos vídeo-blogs no YouTube na decisão de compra de produtos cosméticos em Portugal. Aborda inicialmente conceitos como as redes sociais, mais concretamente os vídeoblogs e a rede social YouTube, o comportamento do consumidor online, o mercado da cosmética em Portugal e o Marketing ligado à industria da beleza. O objetivo deste estudo é o de demonstrar como as marcas de cosmética podem aumentar as suas vendas e notoriedade com a influência exercida pelas beauty vloggers. A fim de perceber a influência na tomada de decisão no que diz respeito a produtos de cosmética, adotámos uma metodologia quantitativa, que assentou na realização de inquéritos online por questionário. Os dados foram organizados e analisados com a ajuda do software de análise quantitativa SPSS. Os principais resultados observados determinam uma influência positiva dos vídeo-blogs na decisão de compra de produtos cosméticos. Esta influência poderá demonstrar que o sucesso das empresas de cosméticos na divulgação, venda e fidelização de clientes deve apontar cada vez mais para a utilização intensiva de video bloggers dedicadas a temas de beleza, e identificadas no estudo como líderes de opinião, para as suas estratégias de comunicação.

O caminho de Parmênides : sobre filosofia e Katábasis no prólogo do poema

À margem das apressadas generalizações aristotélicas, este artigo se propõe remastigar o prólogo do poema Sobre a Natureza de Parmênides, em busca de uma compreensão profunda da relação entre a filosofia que nasce e as práticas de katábasis, de descida ao mundo dos mortos. Ocasião para redescobrir a beleza de um diálogo, antigo entre a reflexão filosófica e o vasto mundo da sabedoria em suas formas mais arcaicas. Possibilidade de repensar as categorias fundamentais de nossa historiografia filosófica. _______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

Virtuosity

[Introduction] The moments before beauty are often the most chaotic. Legions of chattering spectators pick their way through the rows of seats, flipping fervently through the program, exclaiming praise and criticism upon the conductor, the repertoire, the concertmaster, and the soloist.

Atitudes dos leitores de blogues de moda e beleza perante as publicações patrocinadas : intenção de compra e eWOM

Mestrado em Marketing

Transtheoretical model for behavior changes: an important tool when adopting active life

Despite the worship of beauty that has ruled this globalized society and the importance of physical activity for the prevention of cardio-degenerative diseases (US.DHHS, 1996), sedentary behavior continues to increase in the population.  What strategies can be used by professionals of human movement to make the population physically active? It is at this point where the Transtheoretical Model appears as an innovative option that greatly surpasses the classic short-term biological interventions, which have focused on momentary changes produced by physiological values.  This model has great potential since it offers the theoretical basis that makes the acquisition of an active behavior possible.  This article explains the theoretical basis of the transtheoretical model, including the way to assess the stages of change and to develop different strategies to make the person active by using behavioral processes and processes of change.

Entre o cartão-postal e a cidade real: um estudo sobre paisagem e produção imobiliária em Natal/RN

Recent studies concerning the landscape have investigated the most important activities that contribute for its modification and have tried to better understand the society through the marks left by its quotidian. It is understood that singular landscapes constitute the cultural patrimonies of the cities, once they are part of the daily life of the citizens and are present in their social representations. Some contemporary authors defend the preservation of the natural and urban landscape trying, specially, to keep its importance for the local population. Natal is a city where the ambient qualities are well defined and known by the beauty of the area where it is located. Situated just between a river and the sea, the city grew following its geographic characteristics. The Potengi River, the Atlantic Ocean and the vast dunes ecosystem represented natural limits to the urban expansion; at the same time they have favored the development of a landscape pattern marked by the dialectic between the natural elements and the human interventions. However, this relationship changed after the intensification of the high rising development process that took place since the 1960s. The urban legislation tried to preserve the features of the local landscape delimiting Areas for Controlling Building High , destined to protect the scenic value of some parts of the city. On the other hand, the civil construction sector has made constant pressure in sense to abolish or to modify this legal instrument, aiming profits that have increased, in the 1990s, because of the consumption and the qualification of the urban space for tourist activities. It is necessary the raising of new elements to stimulate the quarrel about the landscape preservation, the process of the urban space production and the best way for the legislation implementation. This work tries to raise elements about the subject at local level, in sense to use Natal City experience to contribute for the formulation of indicators to raise the question about the lack of measure for subjective values, for example the cultural and affective value of the landscape. The natural elements inserted in the urban profile, represent strong visual references and supply identity to the town; they are part of the collective imaginary and are detached in the social context of the city. Then, why the preservation of the landscape, that estimates the improvement in the quality of life, is not enough to justify the controlling building high already previewed as part of Natal City Legislation? These questions send us to the approach of the landscape, as a community patrimony, alerting that some of its significant esthetics attributes must be preserved as a legacy for the future generations

The Joycean Sublime

The purpose of my thesis is to analyze notions of the sublime in James Joyce’s Ulysses and how the sublime is evoked and presented in Joyce’s work. The present work will examine concepts of the sublime from the Classical and Medieval period, through the Enlightenment, and into the Romantic era to develop my own definition. Placing the sublime in a historical perspective allows me to discover how the sublime is at work through Joyce’s creative use of complex narrative approaches. The beauty of aesthetic perfection was achieved by employing all of Joyce’s artistic faculties. My thesis investigates how Ulysses’ experimental writing technique, unique structuring, and difficult prose created a work of genius which evokes the sublime. By analyzing Joyce’s use of language, unconventional narrative, and ambiguity in Ulysses I will explore how the sublime is aroused.

La Bella Durmiente y el motivo del despertar de la juventud en el Walter Benjamin temprano

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la imagen del despertar como 'despertar de la juventud' en La Bella Durmiente (1911), el primer texto teórico de Benjamin y mostrar que esta figura no está exenta de una profunda ambigüedad y de contradicciones propias de su 'metafísica de la juventud'. La juventud, como el sujeto capaz de llevar a cabo transformaciones sociales radicales debe ser, como la Bella Durmiente, despertada por otro. Esta paradójica pasividad marcaría el destino del Jugendbewegung.

La Bella Durmiente y el motivo del despertar de la juventud en el Walter Benjamin temprano

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la imagen del despertar como 'despertar de la juventud' en La Bella Durmiente (1911), el primer texto teórico de Benjamin y mostrar que esta figura no está exenta de una profunda ambigüedad y de contradicciones propias de su 'metafísica de la juventud'. La juventud, como el sujeto capaz de llevar a cabo transformaciones sociales radicales debe ser, como la Bella Durmiente, despertada por otro. Esta paradójica pasividad marcaría el destino del Jugendbewegung.