154 10 9812 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/0d4cea03de86dddb3f0b58d553bcf6e2.jpeg 45aa7e93cb55bdcd2f0fe87e2f29dcd8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Relations Department College Life Photographs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Description An account of the resource This digital collection consists of the digitized photographs and records created by the Casper College Public Relations Department that are available in the College Archives. These materials are conceptually arranged into a series in the Public Relation Department's records that represents Casper College Life through various activities and moments captured on camera. Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records, CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_05.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource College Life Photograph 45 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Description An account of the resource Children playing glockenspiels Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Public Relations Department Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_08.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife_45 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/0a51a721df7992104e7a25c4d6175f76.pdf 1ca175392570df5cd35823faba884388 PDF Text Text Chi’ Ciiuui’f Matthew Orszulak Fiction A clock is ticking in the tunnel underneath the now abandoned Louis Street. They closed the road and the tunnel beneath after seven victims were found laying in a line like a barricade. They were in various states of decay, all of them with the time 2:27 carved into them. That was seven years ago, and the ticking can still be heard in the tunnel. On the night of May seventeenth, Jeremy Mason’s friends were playing truth or dare in Morrison park, a short hike away from Louis Street. The dare Jeremy received was simple. Step into the tunnel. Wait until 2:27 melted into 2:30. Emerge on the other side. It should have been an easy task. Jacob “Jackie” Stevenson couldn’t remember much about that night. Truth was, he was already four beers in by the time Emile dared Jeremy to go in Carver’s Tunnel. He shuddered at the thought of spending even a second down there. The only experience he’d had with it was as a child on the walking path, before everyone called it Carver’s tunnel. Before the newspaper headlines and candlelit vigils, the closure of the walking path and Louis Street. Before the lack of further funding let it fade into an infamous myth. Before all of that, at eleven years old, something in his soul knew to stay the hell away from the Louis Street Tunnel. But Emile moved here two years ago when the tunnel had already cemented itself as a graffiti-filled legend. So he dared Jeremy to spend a couple minutes in the tunnel. On other nights, Jackie would have been able to talk both his friends out of such a stupid idea, but tonight, Jeremy and Emile were both so alcoholgone there was no convincing them otherwise. So they marched down the walking path and up to the road. The night was so black it felt like moving through a dense fog. 122 �The Tunnel Even with their phone flashlights, the visible path in front of them faded away a few feet in front of them. The roadblocks stood like headstones. Next to them, in the overgrown weeds and grass, stood the ‘Sentinel Hills’ sign. The promise of high-income housing built within the year had long since been spray painted over, now only displaying a crude diagram of what Oakridge teenagers found funny They hopped the blocks, sneakers echoing. Louis Street seemed unnaturally quiet compared to the rest of the town. Even in the secluded Morrison park, cars could be heard on the far off highway. But here? It was as if every other sound sat hushed, listening to the ticking. It was the tunnel’s barely audible heartbeat, but the boys could hear its echo as they picked their way down the slope. It was the slow click of a grandfather clock, patiently waiting. It was the lazy flicking of a cat’s tail as it sat next to the mouse’s hole. Jackie’s hair stood on end as they reached the entrance on one side. “Come on guys, let’s just call this off,” Jackie said, but Emile shook his head. “You promised you would, Jeremy Are you really going to wuss out now?” he laughed. Jeremy shook his head. Jackie knew the deal was sealed as soon as Emile dared him, but still. He grabbed Jeremy’s arm, staring into his eyes. “Jeremy, this is stupid. Let’s just go, please,” he begged, but Jeremy shook him off. He peeled off his varsity jacket and pressed it into Jackie’s arms. “I’ll see you guys on the other side,” he said and stepped forward. His footfalls echoed like a final goodbye, the ticking starting to swallow them up as he got further in. Jackie thought a lot about that night in the days that followed. How he should have grabbed Jeremy’s hand, yanked him back, and ignored Emile’s taunts, how they should have left that goddamned tunnel alone. But instead, he watched his friend disappear around the curve of the tunnel. There were four different clocks Jackie heard that week, in the days that came after the night of May seventeenth. The interrogation room’s clock was too fast, too impatient. It was the 123 �The Tunnel white rabbit’s pocket watch, tick, tick, ticking as if it were trying to catch up with itself. The clock in the coroner’s office was too quiet and muffled. It had a solemn politeness to it, as if it knew whose office it resided in. As if it had seen the paperwork, the photographic evidence of what they’d found lying in the middle of Louis Street. The courtroom clock was utilitarian. It seemed impartial to the goings on, the lull in the court session. This was the closest to the tunnel clock, Jackie thought, but it was still too fast. Its slow march through the hearing. Even after he was acquitted, after the jury decided there wasn’t enough evidence to rule him guilty, he couldn’t escape the sound of the ticking in the Louis Street tunnel. That was punishment enough, regardless of whether or not he was guilty. Besides, everyone on that jury knew just as well as Jackie did about that tunnel. AU they could feel for the boy at the defense table was a solemn pity and a thankfulness it wasn’t them. Every night when he closed his eyes, he remembered that night. Stumbling up the slope and over Louis Street through the thick darkness. Emerging with Emile on the other side, finding that Jeremy hadn’t made it through yet. Thinking it was all a cruel joke, the moments sUding by, and their annoyance turning into panic. He and Emile had split up, Emile going into the tunnel to look for him, and Jackie headed back to Morrison park to see if Jeremy had retraced their footsteps. Nothing. EmUe wouldn’t answer his phone when Jackie called. Jackie made the brisk walk all the way back to that stupid tunnel by himself in the sUent, anticipatory darkness. He could hear the dull thud as he stumbled over something lying in the street. Turning his flashlight on them, seeing they were laying in a perfect line like a barricade. He could stiU hear the ticking. 124 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Tunnel Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"><em>Expression</em><span>&nbsp;</span>claims first North American rights to submissions selected for publication. All rights revert back to the author/artist after publication.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2023 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Matthew Orszulak Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Expression Literary and Arts Magazine, CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01_Exp_2023_Prose_06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Casper College https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/e52b64441ebb8c39695d301f9ffde081.jpeg 740b7d1cbc5864f29e01c8be012451b8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Relations Department College Life Photographs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Description An account of the resource This digital collection consists of the digitized photographs and records created by the Casper College Public Relations Department that are available in the College Archives. These materials are conceptually arranged into a series in the Public Relation Department's records that represents Casper College Life through various activities and moments captured on camera. Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records, CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_05.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource College Life Photograph 44 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Description An account of the resource Kids in library playing with toys Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Public Relations Department Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_08.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife_44 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/a55015cdde20139639f9eea017e485ba.pdf 75ee540febef6ea3d62f2ad0a9b346e5 PDF Text Text yerpctuaTina T(ic jantasg Skylar Rowyn Cooper Academic Prose Perpetuating the Fantasy: Disney and Queer Representation Disney has a long history of silencing voices that don’t fit within the rigid lens of White Culture that the company was built upon and continues to defend to this day. White American Culture is inherently exclusionary against anything that doesn’t fit within the current power structures based on “traditional” ideas of the American Dream. While labeling this “White Culture” communicates the racial implications of this narrative, other communities are purposefully excluded within this lens such as women and queer communities. Disney has a distinct lack of representation for any marginaUzed community stifling the perspectives of millions of people in the process. Looking at Disney’s practices through the lens of Muted Group Theory, it is apparent that there are long-lasting effects on society and culture as a whole when diverse narratives are excluded from media. These effects can be clearly seen by analyzing one of Disney’s most popular franchises of all time: Frozen. Disney’s consistent choice to silence queer narratives in Frozen and Frozen II, often at the detriment of their own content, strips queer audiences of the ability to recognize and communicate their experiences as an oppressed group. In order to understand the experiences of others, one must use language to communicate those experiences. Muted Group Theory (MGT), crafted by Edwin Ardener but largely attributed to Cheris Kramarae who expanded on the theory, states that marginalized communities lack the language to properly communicate their experiences of oppression and prejudice because language is created by those in power. Muted 113 �Perpetuating the Fantasy groups are kept from proper language by those in power who work as gatekeepers of media and information. Although the original research on this communication theory focuses on the dichotomy of women and men, theorists within this area of study note that these ideas can be applied to any marginalized group. In this situation, Disney acts as the gatekeeper of information for children across America and the world and has wide-reaching impacts. This is evident by Disney’s continued popularity for over one hundred years and the number of adults who are devoted and persistent in their love of Disney throughout their lifetimes. The perspectives that Disney chooses to focus on, and how they represent muted groups when they do choose to show them, alters the way that society views these groups and teaches children how to view and interact with these groups. Since its founding, Disney has profited from portraying marginalized communities as the villain, especially queer individuals. Villains such as Jafar from Aladdin^ Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Scar from The Lion King, Sheer Khan from The Jungle Book, and King Candy/Turbo from Wreck it Ralph are all recognized as being queercoded due to their femininity and lack of conformity to societal expectations of gender. One of the most famous and blatant queercoded Disney villains is Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements confirmed in an interview with Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) that Ursula was inspired by Baltimore Drag Queen, Divine. Musker states that Howard Ashman, one of the major writers of The Little Mermaid, knew Divine and had artists sketch Ursula's concepts based on Divine’s stage persona. Howard himself was a gay man who died of AIDS shortly before his other well-known project, Beauty and the Beast, was finished and released CAnderson, 2016). This pattern perpetuates a harmful stereotype of predatory gay men. Most of these villains are depicted preying on young men for their evil schemes, which is a long-held belief of White Culture against gay men. These depictions of queercoded men in Disney films stirred controversy from both sides. Many White Evangelicals boycotted Disney from 1997 through 2005, citing they were unhappy with Disney’s “promotion of‘homosexuality infidelity, and adultery” (Parks, 2021). In Josh Parks’ article discussing “Christian Disney Dads,” he discusses many individuals who expressed anger 114 �Perpetuating the Fantasy at Disney for adding small, inconsequential amounts of queer representation into films like Onward and the live-action Beauty and the Beast. Park also describes parkgoers' complaints that Disney’s “politically motivated changes” ruin the immersiveness and fantasy of the parks (2021). Disneyland is seen by many as an escape from reality into their best fantasy world away from the worries and complexities of society These reactions make it evident that White Culture’s fantasy is one in which queer people and people of color don’t exist - where racism, sexism, and homophobia are not thought of because the only people who matter are the White Evangelicals. When Disney isn’t perpetuating harmful stereotypes of gay men, they are co-opting queer experiences to place in their films without providing genuine representation. Frozen grossed over four million dollars in box office sales during its run in theatres. Out of the top ten highest-grossing animated films of all time, eight of them are Disney films. Frozen ranks second only to Frozen II (Sim, 2021). This should be no secret considering the recordbreaking music sales that “Let It Go” managed the year Frozen came out. Disney has a near stranglehold on children’s media markets, meaning Disney is the biggest gatekeeper of media and information for growing minds in America. The stories they choose to tell and the language they utilize heavily affects the language and information that American children grow up with. The Frozen franchise was a huge missed opportunity for queer representation; they could have told an equally heartfelt and compelling story while subverting the stereotypes and troupes pushed by Disney villains of the past. Initially, Elsa was written to be the villain of Frozen. Several of the minds behind the film have discussed how Elsa was originally supposed to be a self-proclaimed, evil snow queen and that ultimately Ana would have persuaded her to good (BBC, 2017). It’s impossible to say when they made the change for Elsa to no longer be the villain of the story, but a story where Elsa becomes the villain could have been the perfect way to tell a modernized queer story. After fleeing Arendelle and singing “Let It Go,” Elsa could have become closed off and protective of herself to the point where she is a villain to the kingdom she once called home. She could have grappled between whether her powers, and her sexuality, makes her good or evil. In the end, she 115 �Perpetuating the Fantasy would come to realize that her powers and sexuality aren’t curses, but blessings that make her distinct and unique while finally being accepted by Ana and her kingdom. Elsa, whether intentionally or not, is heavily queercoded. Queer individuals are often, if not always, forced to hide their true selves from the world. Elsa is taught at a young age by the trolls to be scared of her powers. Elsa’s lines in “For the First Time in Forever” show the terror that she holds behind showing her true self. “Conceal, don’t feel, put on a show. Make one wrong move and everyone will know” (Bell & Menzel, 2019). This is reflective of the way that queer individuals have to constantly mask and hide themselves to avoid the scrutiny of society. Due to this, queer people often live in hiding for years and some never come out due to the fear of how their family and society will treat them. Queer people are often forcibly isolated from becoming too close to anyone in their lives for fear of being discovered and outed. There is clear evidence that these experiences influenced Elsa’s characterization and creation. “Let It Go” was seen by many in the LGBTQ+ community as an anthem for the experiences of fear, anxiety, and relief of coming out. Songwriter Robert Lopez described the process behind writing the song as follows, Bobby and I took a walk in Prospect Park and put ourselves in Elsa’s shoes {...] That’s when we realized the song had to be about what it would feel like to carry that secret and shame and finally feel free of that weight. (Atkins, 2022) The parallels between Lopez’s words and the feelings of secrecy and shame surrounding the act of coming out are undeniable. Later, during the reprise of “For the First Time in Forever,” Elsa tells Ana that she’s happier being alone because she’s free to be who she wants to be. When Ana gives her a reason to feel obligated to go back, because her secret has caused chaos in the kingdom that only she can fix, Elsa panics. She calls herself a fool for thinking that she could be free from criticism and backlash from her family and community. Often when a queer person chooses to isolate themselves from their family, family members attempt to convince or even guilt trip them into coming back to the family This is despite any mistreatment the person may have faced or will continue to face at the hands of unaccepting family members. This can cause them to feel panicked and trapped like they have 116 �Perpetuating the Fantasy no other option than to bend to their family’s wishes regardless of what it does to them as an individual. Disney’s framework crafter from co-opted queer experiences in combination with her lack of interest in men or marriage have led to many queer people latching onto her as a form of pseudo-representation. After the first film came out, there was a large push from the queer community for Elsa to be canonically confirmed as either lesbian or asexual. People felt connected to her because she embodied the experiences of a group of people who lack the ability to properly communicate these experiences. If Disney had outwardly made Elsa gay, they could have made additional commentary on the queer experience and assisted queer children and adults in crafting the language needed to properly convey queerexclusive experiences. In the years between the releases of Frozen and Frozen fl, many speculated on how Disney would handle Elsa’s queer coding. Many were hopefill after the initial promotional images about Frozen II came out that Honeymaren, a citizen of the Northuldra tribe, would be Elsa’s love interest in the film. Unfortunately, none of the hopes or predictions that the queer community had for this film came true. While Frozen was a huge success despite its lack of true queer representation, the same can’t necessarily be said for Frozen II. The sequel may have done better at the box office by $170,000, but the movie was not received as well by critics and older audiences. The film wasn’t terrible by any means, but Disney made a clear choice of which story it wanted to represent. Instead of having any kind of love or queerrelated storylines for Elsa, the love story the movie focuses on is the one between Ana and Christophe. Disney had the opportunity to connect with one of its major muted groups and instead chose the safe, traditional white culture approach. Meanwhile, Elsa goes on a journey of self-discovery that was yet again another huge missed opportunity for queer representation. At the beginning of the film. Ana has a song with Olaf discussing how desperately she wants things to stay the same. Change is inevitable, and often necessary, but Ana is choosing to focus on the things that are static instead and clearly fears change due to her abandonment trauma from growing up completely alone post the death of her parents. However, Elsa is clearly miserable. 117 �Perpetuating the Fantasy She is constantly having to fake a smile for Ana and pretend that things are fine. Disney gives a glimpse into the reasoning behind Elsa’s struggles during the song “Into the Unknown.” Throughout the song, Elsa grapples with wanting to maintain a relationship with her family despite feeling deep down that she doesn’t belong. She is confused and conflicted with the rising feelings within her. She seems frustrated about the fact that she is going through yet another identity crisis. Looking at this through a queer lens, there’s a clear queer story hidden here. Many queer people don’t figure out their entire identity at once; many end up coming out multiple times because either their initial understanding of their sexuality was incorrect or due to discoveries surrounding their gender identity This could be the same thing that Elsa is experiencing in Frozen II. Her kingdom just accepted her ice powers (and, metaphorically, being gay), but her coming out as something beyond their understanding could ruin these newly built relationships. This is evident when looking at the lyrics, “I had my adventure, I don’t need something new. I’m afraid of what I’m risking if I follow you into the unknown” (Menzel & AURORA, 2019). She talks to the voice about being kept awake by feelings of not belonging, of there being more about herself she has still yet to discover. There’s also an inherent risk to identifying as trans* as even those who are accepting of gay and lesbian identities are not always accepting of trans* identities and family members often refuse to use the preferred name and pronouns of trans* individuals. Ultimately, Elsa is desperate to find the voice once she realizes that it might be a key to alleviating her anxieties. During “Show 'Vburself,” she finally gets to the place where she is able to find the voice. She describes the voice calling out to her as “something familiar” and a friend she’s always known (Menzel & Wood, 2019). She finally feels like she’s home. She realizes that she is not trying to find someone else, but instead the true version of herself - that she is the person she has been searching for. This is indicative of the trans* experience. Being trans* is often described as feeling out of place in one’s own body feeling lost. Then, when a person realizes that they’re trans*, there’s this moment of transcendence and enlightenment in realizing where the feelings are coming from. “Show Yourself” embodies the experience of trans* selfidiscovery. 118 �Perpetuating the Fantasy Throughout the scene, Elsa converses with the voice, which turns out to be her inner self. She says, “I’m dying to meet you,” and she is instructed to “grow into something new” (Menzel & Wood, 2019). Trans* people coming into their identities often describe it as finally meeting their true selves. Elsa then goes through a transformation sequence in obtaining new powers and a new identity, and directly after death and rebirth. The discovery of a new self is emotional and overwhelming. Elsa is crying as she realizes the truth about herself and undergoes a transformation. These experiences are clearly trans* coded, and having this scene end with Elsa transforming into a true version of herself as a transman or somebody who is genderfluid or nonbinary could have been revolutionary. The feelings and experiences that Elsa is going through are ones that are not talked about in the media and are terrifying to experience alone. Disney showing audiences that this experience isn’t something one has to ensure alone could have moved leaps and miles ahead in beginning to create shared language and experiences for queer and straight audiences. With this context in mind. Ana’s grief over Elsa’s death and the related song, “The Next Right Thing,” would have been the perfect follow-up to this. For many loved ones of trans* people, there is grief related to the feeling of losing the person that they know and love. They feel as though this is no longer the same person. This is demonstrated through the terminology in “deadnames” and the metaphorical rebirth of the individual through social, presentational, and medical transitioning. Family and friends of trans* people have to adjust to changes that often feel overwhelming. Ana discusses her struggles over losing Elsa while acknowledging that despite her feelings she must move on and do the “next right thing” (Bell, 2019). This could be shown through respecting Elsa’s new name and pronouns, even if Ana doesn’t understand right away, and attempting to learn about and discuss Elsa’s experiences with her in order to better empathize with her. This could have been an invaluable example for queer kids everywhere in understanding how to recognize their feelings and personal identity and for straight kids on how to interact with trans* kids. White Culture is all about stripping muted groups of their ability to understand themselves, so many queer people don’t realize what their sexuality or gender identity is until later in life. 119 �Perpetuating the Fantasy The queer community is currently at a crucial stage in creating a shared language. While current smaller depictions of queer characters in children’s media are beginning to start a conversation, there is currently little to no good representation of queer individuals in content made for children. Disney has gone out of its way to do the bare minimum in terms of queer representation in order to avoid being called out for its homophobia and queer exclusion while simultaneously co-opting queer experiences for their narratives. Disney’s choice to avoid telling queer stories is a choice to continue silencing muted groups and their experiences. Disney had an opportunity to tell touching, emotional queer stories through one of their most popular franchises and instead played it safe and undermined queer voices. It is a distinct and purposeful way to ignore and exclude the experiences of oppressed and marginalized groups. Just like the White Evangelicals within its parks, Disney attempts to live in a fantasy land where there is no racism, sexism, homophobia, or prejudice because those muted groups are just that: muted. 120 �Perpetuating the Fantasy References Anderson, S. M. (2016, November 9). Funfact: Ursula is based on the iconic dragqueen Divine. SBS. https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/pride/fast-lane/ article/2016/11/09/fun-fact-ursula-based-iconic-drag-queen-divine Atkins, J. (2022, December 19). Let it Go: The story behind the Frozen classic. U Discover Music, https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/let-it-gofrozen-disney-feature/ BBC. (2017, March 30). Elsafrom Frozen was meant to be an evil queen with an army ofsnow monsters, https://wwwbbc.com/news/ newsbeat-39440458 Bell, K. (2019). The next right thing [Song]. On Frozen II {Ori^nalmotion picture soundtrack) [Album]. Walt Disney Records. Bell, K. & Menzel, I. (2013). For the first time in forever [Song]. On Frozen: Ori^nal motion picture soundtrack [Album]. Walt Disney Records. Lang, N. (2017, March 21). Disney’s long complicated history with queer characters. Bazaar, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/ news/a2i5o6/disney-gay-lgbt-characters-history/ Menzel, I. & AURORA. (2019). Into the unknown [Song], On Frozen II IDri^nal motion picture soundtrack) [Album]. Walt Disney Records. Menzel, 1. & Wood, E. R. (2019). Show yourself [Song]. On Frozen II {Original motion picture soundtrack) [Album]. Walt Disney Records. Parks, J. (2021, May 5). The lament ofthe Christian Disney dad-. What Evangelicals really hate about “wokeness”at Disney World. Religion Dispatches, https://religiondispatches.org/the-lament-of-thechristian-disney^dad-what-evangelicals-really-hate-about-wokenessat-disney-world/ Sim, B. (2021, June 26). Drawingan audience: highest-grossing animated movies ofall time. Screen Rant, https://screenrant.com/highestgrossing-animated-movies-ever/ 121 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Perpetuating the Fantasy Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"><em>Expression</em><span>&nbsp;</span>claims first North American rights to submissions selected for publication. All rights revert back to the author/artist after publication.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2023 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Skylar Rowyn Cooper Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Expression Literary and Arts Magazine, CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01_Exp_2023_Prose_05 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Casper College https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/6a38064471550512fec1d568c815b494.jpeg 42fcbe749f8614254548efe348a91a57 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Relations Department College Life Photographs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Description An account of the resource This digital collection consists of the digitized photographs and records created by the Casper College Public Relations Department that are available in the College Archives. These materials are conceptually arranged into a series in the Public Relation Department's records that represents Casper College Life through various activities and moments captured on camera. Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records, CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_05.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource College Life Photograph 43 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Description An account of the resource Young boy and girl play glockenspiels Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Public Relations Department Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_08.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife_43 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/8408915e3281456a6b5eb68c206dff65.jpeg 6a99e3cf4f88fa6315a8956b1cd5f0e8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Relations Department College Life Photographs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Description An account of the resource This digital collection consists of the digitized photographs and records created by the Casper College Public Relations Department that are available in the College Archives. These materials are conceptually arranged into a series in the Public Relation Department's records that represents Casper College Life through various activities and moments captured on camera. Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records, CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_05.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource College Life Photograph 42 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Description An account of the resource Little girl stares at camera in theater seat Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Public Relations Department Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_08.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife_42 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/301bbe2a148c51f507acb9dd5c580a1f.pdf 718e6a473edfdf8f0c880df199bbbb6b PDF Text Text HarXiuood Au6io Intervieur Sophia Z,ettl Fiction Transcription ofaudio interview 66,316. Click. “Start Recording. This is Agent Tobias Simmons. The date is Friday, August ii, 2017. Time is two o’four P.M. Due to the sudden nature of this particular case, and the fact that I was reasonably close to said location doing another interview, I am in Casper, Wyoming, at the Ramkota Hotel. As far as accommodations go, they leave much to be desired. I will be taking a statement pertaining to an incident that occurred in May of this year from Ms. Hartwood. For the sake of privacy, any other personal information will be omitted from this recording. See the corresponding documents for further references. Our appointment for this interview was set for one forty-five, so Ms. Hartwood should be here soon.” The sounds ofshufflingpaperSf then quiet, A persistent tapping can be heard, likefingers against a table. Sigh. “Honestly, I’m not sure what passes for punctuality in this state. One would think that it wouldn’t be that difficult to get to places on time, considering that it’s less than a twenty-minute drive to get anywhere in this fucking town. But you never know what to expect, considering that this state also has more sheep than people, not that the people are more div- A knock comes,faintly, “Well, it’s about time. Unless, of course, it’s the manager to inform me that I’ve overstayed my welcome. Not that he’d be wrong, of course.” The sound offootsteps moving awayjrom the recorder, A door opens with a creak. “Ms. Hartwood I presume.” 107 �HartwoodAudio Interview “Yes, that’s me. I’m so sorry for being late, I was running errands on the Eastside, and I lost track of time, and then there’s all that construction on 2nd street, and I had to go around it“ “Please, it’s quite alright. Are you ready to give your statement now? “We, yeah. I mean Yes! Yes I’m-I’m ready to go.” “Fantastic. If you’d step over here please.” Footsteps tread closer, “Have a seat Ms. Hartwood. Begin whenever you’re ready” A pause, sounds ofshuffling, and a throat being cleared, “Call me Rita, please. Should I- do I just start talking?” “Why don’t you tell me about yourself and the events leading up to the incident. Just pretend that the tape recorder isn’t there.” “Right. Should be easy enough I suppose. Um, my name is Rita Hartwood. I’m 23, and I’ve lived in Casper all my life. Which I guess you already know. Sorry So, what happened in May? It was a Thursday...” A longpause, ‘Actually let me clarify something really fast. I know you came to hear my story, and that’s great, don’t get me wrong. But people always want to hear a ghost story And that’s not what this is. At least, maybe not what you’d normally think a ghost story is.” “I don’t have an opinion on the veracity of ghost stories, or lack thereof. I just need to take your statement.” “No, I know. I just meant... Can I ask you Agent, are you Christian?” “I don’t believe my religious affiliation has any part of this discussion.” “No, no, of course not. I’m sorry I only ask because, well, I was raised Catholic. Now obviously, I can’t speak for all Christian denominations or even all Catholics. But ghost stories weren’t a good thing or a fun thing growing up. They were a warning. “I remember being in school, and the other kids would joke about the bathroom being haunted. Or someone would mention bringing a Ouija Board to a sleepover. And the paranormal TV shows and movies that became more popular and more ridiculous because ghost stories were fun. They gave a scare or raised some goosebumps- but it wasn’t like they were real. Or if they were, 108 �HartwoodAudio Interview then it wasn’t like a ghost could hurt you. But I knew differently I grew up listening to Bible stories and the lives of the Saints, which are heavy enough on their own. But as I got older, the stories got longer, and deeper. More detail given to the tales of the martyrs, to those who fought against hell. Demons are very real and very dangerous. “I’m sure you know. Agent, that there are plenty of rules that come with being Catholic. There’s the commandments, and all of what Jesus says in the gospels. And I’m definitely not the textbook perfect example of a nice Catholic girl. Following those rules have been a... trial to say the least. But the one rule that always stuck with me, even when I wasn’t acting like a good Catholic? ybu don’t fuck around with the occult, ghosts, spirits or whatever the hell else is out there.” A loud scoffand afew shaky breaths, “I tell you this because I want you to know, what happened to me in May? I hate it. I hate not knowing if what happened is only in my mind or if it was... something else.” Clears throat, “So, it was a Thursday. I remember because I meet with my book club every other Thursday. We hang out, have dinner, and we talk. It’s great, actually. I don’t have a lot of friends. It’s nice to just sit and talk. ‘Anyway we were up on the mountain. Celebrating spring and all that. We hiked the Braille trail and then went to the Elk Horn Campground for hotdogs and beers. We discussed the book we were reading that month. It was Death Comesfor the Archbishop byWilla Cather. “We were there until maybe eight? We said our goodbyes, and I headed back. I drove for less than 5 minutes, and my car broke down. Which wasn’t really surprising. I mean, I drive a 98 Oldsmobile, and that incline on Casper Mountain Road kills the brakes even when I'm driving in low gear. “So the engine stalls; I pull over and put on my hazards. I tried to call for help, but cell service up there is spotty at best. I figured I’d wait. I was one of the first to leave, so someone would have to pass by, right? I waited and waited, and waited. It felt like I waited for an hour, maybe more, but no one came. “I finally got out to pop the hood. That’s when it hit me. It 109 �HartwoodAudio Interview was cold. Now, this is Wyoming. Weather can change at the drop of a hat, and it was in the mountains in May But it dropped from fifty to eleven. I could see my breath in the light of my phone, and my fingers burned trying to lift the hood. I don’t know what I planned to do; I know next to nothing about cars except how to drive one. But it was better than doing nothing and being stuck up there in the cold and the dark. There were hardly any lights up there, but I couldn’t even see the lights from town. “I glanced to the side, and I noticed... something. There was a thing in the trees. It was like a figure, but not, if that makes sense? It was like the idea of a person’s shadow, all dark and formless and deep. I couldn’t make out anything specific, just that they were there. Like passing by a mirror in a dark room or looking out a smudged window. You can tell that there’s something there, but you can’t focus on it. I froze. And then there was this sound. “It wasn’t like anything else I’d ever experienced before. This sound, it was like it was there and it wasn’t. Like the reverb of a bass guitar through a speaker, but deeper, if that makes sense? Or, uhm... when you’re in a canyon, and you call out your name just to hear it echo back. And there’s this brief moment when the echo is gone, but the sound is still there. That’s what it was like, just a faded echo of a song or a voice. But it kept getting louder, and that figure was just there. “It moved and bent but not in a way that a person moves; it was more like how a tree would sway And I know how that sounds; then obviously it was a tree, right? And I was just out of my mind. But the wind was blowing hard at that point, and this thing was bending against the wind. It moved, and it looked like it was gesturing toward the dark behind it. I looked, and it was like the darkness was getting darker. I never understood the meaning behind the word ‘abyss’ until I looked into it. And once I did, I couldn’t look away I could see it beckoning me forward. I stumbled back into the road, but I didn’t remember stepping forward and I was trying to form the Hail Mary in my mouth, but it was like I didn’t have the breath to speak. “There was that sound that just kept getting louder, like the reverb of a note held for too long, and the wind was blowing, and I couldn’t see anything around me in that swirling darkness, but I swear on my life I felt something touch my shoulder. I screamed, I no �HartwoodAudio Interview think. It was hard to hear myself think with all that noise, let alone anything besides the sound, a-” Audio corrupted;for approximately a minute and 6 seconds, there^s only static. Some scattered voices, but nothing coherent can be made out. “-woke up. I was confused and sore and scared out of my mind. But that wasn’t the worst part. I woke up in my own bed on Saturday I have no memory of how I got there. And things were off. I can’t fully explain it, but clothes that I had in the wash on Thursday were folded and put away. Inside out. And-and there was salt all over my kitchen floor and cracked dishes I don’t recall having been broken before Thursday My roommate was out of town that week, so she couldn’t tell me if she had seen me at all. I called my Mom, bawling, and she hadn’t heard from me either. She talked to me, calmed me down enough that I could tell her what happened. She came over with Holy Water, and we said a prayer over my apartment. She helped me clean up a little, and then we left. I stayed with my parents for almost a month.” A longpause, only the sounds ofshaky breathing, the rustling oftissues. “Ms. Hart, did you experience anything else after this... incident.” “No. I talked to Priests, who prayed with me but recommended a psychologist, and psychologists who have all tried to convince me that it was my mind playing tricks on me. That it was my stress that manifested itself into hallucinations. And maybe they’re right. But I have never seen a hallucination leave bruises across my shoulder. Any other questions. Agent?” “No, that will be all Ms. Hart. Thank you for your time. And if you have any additional information, here’s my card.” “It’s Hartwood, and thanks for listening. I guess. I’ll see myself out.” Furniture shifts,footsteps move awayfrom the recorder. A door opens and closes again. There is silencefor several seconds. “Well, that went better than expected, all things considered. I have the rest of Ms. Hartwood’s file with me, including pictures taken at the local hospital. Details of said stay she failed to include in her testimony. The bruises across her shoulders, one could think III �HartwwdAudio Interview they were almost shaped like... well. I don’t have to say here, do I? As per protocol, the audio transcription will be uploaded into the database, along with digital copies of the file. The physical copy will be sent to the archive to be processed.” The sound ofchairs scraping along thefloor and then tapping. Likefingers on a tabletop. “I wonder if she knows how lucky she is? This is the sixth case that I’ve investigated with this particular entity. And none of its other victims have lived to give me their statements. We will have to keep a closer eye on the situation.” Transcription ends. II2 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hartwood Audio Interview Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"><em>Expression</em><span>&nbsp;</span>claims first North American rights to submissions selected for publication. All rights revert back to the author/artist after publication.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2023 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sophia Zettl Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Expression Literary and Arts Magazine, CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01_Exp_2023_Prose_04 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Casper College https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/708fd86b62ad80a91f94fa31ea4ba893.jpeg c253217ea9496b1b6e219cbfa4158464 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Relations Department College Life Photographs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Description An account of the resource This digital collection consists of the digitized photographs and records created by the Casper College Public Relations Department that are available in the College Archives. These materials are conceptually arranged into a series in the Public Relation Department's records that represents Casper College Life through various activities and moments captured on camera. Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records, CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_05.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource College Life Photograph 41 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Description An account of the resource Man instructs young boys Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casper College Public Relations Department Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Casper College Public Relations Department Photographs and Records CCA 05.xiv.2023.01 WyCaC US Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA_08.xiv.2023.01_CollegeLife_41 https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/d43e13d255121cac6dcf5b9d0afe6369.pdf 35362659db8ae1ad4acfd11847db0a8d PDF Text Text Jreebm to Read: IVhal is yrepress? Skylar Rowyn Cooper Academic Prose “The cyclical rebirth of caste in America is a recurring racial nightmare” (Alexander, 2010, p. 4). The deafening cries of the American people for social and political progress go unheard; protests, riots, and petitions fall upon the deaf ears of the powerful men in America that benefit from these gross miscarriages of justice and systemic inequality. The country spins in endless cycles of calls for progress, but every time society moves a step forward, the systemic oppression America was built upon pushes it two steps back. The “ALA Freedom to Read Statement” is a terrifying demonstration of America’s inability to make meaningful political and social progress. The banning of books upholds pre­ existing power structures that harm marginalized communities by restricting their access to the language needed to communicate their experiences of oppression and discrimination. The American Library Association’s (ALA) statement condemning banning books is horrifying due to its uncanny timelessness. Though the statement was released in 1953, its words have been true for long before the words were published and ring as true today as they did almost sixty years ago. The topic of banned books has exploded in the media over the past two years as heightened political tensions have steadily increased bringing a new wave of organized challenges against "controversial" literature - read: inclusive literature. The ALA (2013) received 729 reported challenges in 2021 targeting 1597 unique titles; this is drastically increased from the 156 challenges against 273 titles from the year before. Clearly, despite the over half a decade that has passed since the release of this statement, libraries and school boards across the nation have been fielding exponentially increased challenges against materials that challenge the status quo and urge 98 �Freedom to Read: What is Progress^ audiences to expand their viewpoints and think for themselves. This unprecedented number of challenges is sickening to any lover of literature or simply any person who believes in upholding the freedoms allowed to all citizens via the First Amendment’s right to freedom of speech. Ultimately, the act of restricting access to knowledge is unnerving because of the reasoning people push for the information to be banned. Why are books requested to be pulled from public access? Historically, books recognized on the ALA’s Banned Books List are challenged because they tackle ideas of race, gender, sexuality, violence, and disobedience against parents or oppressive societies (ALA, 2013; Niccolini, 2015). Youth are often at the center of these conversations; adults who may be uncomfortable with these topics frequently cite protecting children as their primary goal. However, as Alyssa Niccolini (2013) notes in her article “Precocious Knowledge,” “The reality is that young people live in and read about—as we adults also did—a decidedly complex world where sex, violence, intolerance, and profanity are a reality” (p. 27). She notes that adults often attempt to censor youth from sensitive topics to prevent them from gaining “precocious knowledge,” or knowledge that could corrupt their innocence. However, children and young adults often have much more maturity than adults give them credit for; they are exposed to these topics anyway and not having the knowledge to understand them properly can be extremely detrimental to their development (Niccolini, 2015). The ALA supports this idea, stating that most modern artwork and sharing of ideas are shocking - but so is life. Parents and educators have the responsibility to educate youth about what they will be exposed to in life rather than actively doing them a disservice by withholding information they may be uncomfortable with themselves (ALA, 1953). Barring children from access to texts about LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) identities and racial injustices is especially harmful because it robs them of the language needed to communicate their experiences and limits broader social empathy for those communities. While the banning of books may seem trivial to some, real“world effects follow each of these challenges. Bill Lawson’s “Nobody Knows Our Plight” discusses the harm that lexical gaps do to marginalized communities. Lawson analyzes America’s lack 99 �Freedom to Read:What is Progress? of social progress through the lens of MGT; MGT states that oppressed groups struggle to move past oppression in society because language is created by oppressors. Without the ability to discuss their experiences with legislators and the world at large, oppressed persons are unable to share their realities with those who don’t experience them to build empathy Without empathy, those outside of marginalized communities continue to fear and ostracize those who are different from them based on prejudiced misunderstandings. “These words do not merely refer to our reality, they help to define it [...] There is no word in our political/moral vocabulary that captures this state of affairs and such a word is needed if we are to develop just social policy” (Lawson, 1992, pp. 1-2). Lexical gaps are exactly why censorship of marginalized communities is so dangerous; it is a purposeful tactic used to withhold power from persons who are already oppressed in American Society According to Wilson Coates (1948), “illiteracy is evidence of the government’s attempt to adjust its social system to increasing control over natural resources at a time when it is more clear than ever before that knowledge is power” (p. 73). The “ALA Freedom to Read Statement” affirms the idea that knowledge is power by stating that “free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture” (1953). These effects are not only seen on a wide-scale national level, but also in day-to-day classroom settings. Both Niccolini and Jennifer Rossuck (1997) describe how utilizing banned book lists in their classrooms helped facilitate conversations around and understanding of alternative identities and experiences. Youth are frequently kept from guidance about how to tackle difficult subjects, but discussing them in a safe, controlled space like the classroom is the perfect way to prepare children to face these topics in the real world (Nicolini, 201$, pp. 23, 25). Rossuck discusses the idea that banning books denies authors their First Amendment rights to express their ideas and experiences. During final projects, one of Rossuck’s students demonstrated this idea by asking her fellow students to write down their fears and the origins of those fears. She read each one aloud then crumpled up, ripped, and threw away the papers while dismissing her fellow students’ fears and feelings in order to demonstrate how banning books is akin to labeling an author’s 100 �Freedom to Read:What is Progress? “past life, his concerns for the state of present society, and his warnings for future societies {asl invalid garbage” (Rossuck, 1997, p. 69). Rossuck’s student was able to demonstrate to her class how to empathize with members of marginalized communities and how harmful the restricting of language can be. These fears and experiences are precisely what marginalized communities attempt to communicate but can’t without access to an audience to hear them. With access to these materials, members of marginalized communities can begin to craft and create the language needed to overcome adversity and fight oppression. Democracy itself depends on the freedom of expression and the circulation of new and diverse ideas. Without it, oppressed individuals have no way to make progress toward a more free and equal society. But, what is progress? Coates attempts to answer the question in his article by the same name. Coates (1948) defines progress as providing “social accommodation,” or the reasonable equilibrium of individuals within society Reaching social accommodation has been historically difficult to achieve due to the cyclical nature of society, history, and culture. Forward progress is nearly impossible to make because of the inevitability of progress’ impermanence (p. 72). Progress never sticks because as soon as marginalized groups start to gain ground towards equality, those in power restrict their rights in order to re-establish harmful power structures. For example, in the late 1800s slavery was abolished via the 13th, 14th, and 13th Amendments; however, society, as well as the law, continued to oppress Black individuals, who just recently could be labeled as citizens rather than property, by restricting their access to voting through poll taxes, literacy tests. Black Codes, segregation, and Jim Crow Laws.Then, in response to the end of segregation in the 1960s, increased rates of inequity and poverty among Black individuals skyrocketed hand in hand with increased rates of poUce brutality. In the 21st century, the Black Lives Matter movement has pushed back against systemic racism and police brutality to be met with excessive force, the continued murders of BIPOC individuals by police, and the censorship of Black cultural ideas by the banning of books discussing these topics. Another example of this is the backlash against queer identities amidst the push for increased legal protections. Queer lOI �Freedom to Read: What is Progress? rights activists mark the Stonewall riot in 1969 as the first large demonstration of the gay rights movement. In the late 1970s, the Supreme Court ruling trans women could play as women in certain professional sports. The Sos brought on the AIDs epidemic which was widely blamed on gay men and villainized the queer community Shortly after, laws restricting gay rights such as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell were put in place. The 1990’s introduced the first states to legalize gay marriage, and subsequently, many more states passed laws banning gay marriage. Finally, in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that these laws banning gay marriage were unconstitutional on a technicality about marriage licenses having to be valid across state line. Directly following this was a slew of Trump-era laws restricting the rights of gay and trans* individuals including banning trans* persons from using restrooms in accordance with their gender identities, joining the military, and playing sports in schools; Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill; and bills in classifying the affirming of trans youth by their parents as child abuse. Throughout the 2023 legislative session, onslaughts of copycat bills were proposed in nearly every Republican-ruled state. This happened hand in hand with challenges across the nation calling for the banning of books with LGBTQ+ content. Both of these examples demonstrate the oppressive cyclical cycle of marginalized persons being put down every time they gain a small amount of ground toward equality Banning books is yet another tool members of oppressive groups use to put down marginalized communities and restrict social progress. In the act of protecting free speech, the ALA (1953) states, “no group has the right to take the law into its own hands, and to impose its own concept of politics or morality upon other members of a democratic society Freedom is no freedom if it is accorded only to the accepted and the inoffensive.” It is inherently an affront to constitutional freedoms to silence LGBTQ+ and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People/Persons of Color) narratives; scholars and instructors agree that the best way to tackle controversial ideas is to confront them directly Stories are able to reach people in ways that conversations, essays, statistics, and textbooks often fall short. Despite the fact that suppressing freedom of speech is clearly unconstitutional, America has been unable to make 102 �Freedom to Read: What h Process? meaningful progress towards social equality in the over two hundred years the country has existed. Coates (1948) suggests that America’s resistance against Arnold Toynbee’s analysis of cyclical civilization structures is partially why American society has made so little progress toward these issues. Toynbee’s analysis states that civilizations exist in a cycle of origin, growth, breakdown, and disintegration where they experience various deaths and rebirths (p. 75). Many other western first^orld countries rewrite their constitutions every three to five years, yet legal rights and social accommodations in America are still based on a text written over two hundred years ago. Nation-wide resistance to change is preventing American society from making any real strides toward equality for oppressed individuals. The ALA asserts that in order to make forward progress, “It is in the public interest for pubUshers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox, unpopular, or considered dangerous by the majority” (1953). Recognizing and validating diverse perspectives is essential to effectively provide genuinely equal individual rights and freedoms. America’s refusal to accept and embrace change continues to maintain harmful societal structures. Is there a solution to this lack of progress? As Lawson (1992) details, many marginalized groups, particularly people of color, have never been free in America and continue to face prejudice and discrimination, regardless of the technical letter of the law, because society was built upon power structures that uphold straight, white, male power. Lawson’s argument primarily revolves around the concept of Muted Group Theory (MGT) and the need for proper language to discuss oppression and marginalization. He is widely unable to propose solutions to the country’s lack of progress and is unable to propose language that would be sufficient in describing these experiences. Explaining the struggles and hardships of a marginalized community while one is within it is nearly impossible, especially when access to literature and stories about their experiences is challenged, banned, and restricted. To be oppressed is to exist in the margins of the book that is society; books about these topics attempt to pull this information from the margins into the body text of language and common understandings of society. Lawson states that while he recognizes he’ll face criticism 103 �Freedom to Read:What is Progress? for his lack of solutions, “the only word that has always come to mind for this situation has been the word ‘hell’” (p. 19). Fortunately, Coates offers a suggestion for moving past this constant cycle of building and demolishing rights and protections for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals. Coates recognizes that social and political adjustments are rarely accomplished smoothly; however, he argues that the answer lies in radical social change. The only way to make true political change is to disassemble the broken systems and put radical changes in place regardless of the abrasiveness it may inflame in those who oppose that change. Coates states, Progress may be no less progress for its being precarious, for it has never been, and by definition can never be, identified with stasis. Hence, to dissociate it from stability and security is only to make it correspond more closely with historical reality Indeed, it might be said that as social stability can lead to rigidity, atrophy, and decline, so a measure of insecurity may be a positive attribution of progress. (Coates, 1948, p. 71) Progress inherently stands in opposition to stability and comfort; therefore, in order to progress as a society, we must dissociate the concept of progress from staticity The only way to break cycles of violence and marginalization is to destroy them completely Coates’ solution merges perfectly with the ALA’s “Freedom to Read Statement.” The statement declares that the censorship and suppression of knowledge “restls} on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy” (ALA, 1953). The ALA also acknowledges that suppression is most dangerous and impactful during times of social turmoil, division, and tension. Restricting access to information and education from slaves in the 1800s kept the power of knowledge in the hands of the oppressors; banning books discussing racism and LGBTQ identities today serves the same function of withholding knowledge about these issues from oppressed groups in order to retain power for cishet white Americans. The high spikes of challenged books in the past two years is proof of this; when people’s ideas of the world are challenged in a way that threatens their perceived way of life and the power they hold in society, the immediate response is to shut down the perceived threat. That is why so many books about LGBTQ+ and BIPOC issues have been challenged or 104 �Freedom to Read: What is Progress? banned throughout the country. The number one banned book of 2021 was Maia Kobabe’s Gender ^eer, a young adult graphic novel memoir about Kobabe’s experiences growing up as a trans* individual in a world made to suppress and quiet gay and trans voices (ALA, 2013). Six out of the top ten most challenged books of that year were restricted for containing LGBTQIA+ content, and three out of the ten were books relating to the experiences of people of color; the only outlier was about child abuse and was still cited as having sexually explicit content (ALA, 2013). These book challenges demonstrate the clear cultural resistance that cisgender heterosexuals have against queer identities; they remove LGBTQ stories from general public access in an attempt to silence and eradicate queer experiences. Silence removes the opportunity for those outside the LGBTQ community to empathize with queer experiences and also limits empathy within the community itself. The only way to combat demonstrations of public oppression is to uphold the freedom of access to knowledge and to enact radical social change at a national level that protects and equalizes marginalized individuals with their long-time oppressors through social accommodation. The “ATA Freedom to Read Statement” attempts to protect marginalized individuals by advocating for free access to knowledge and personal expression. Unfortunately, speaking truth to power is often not enough to make real societal change. However, stories can be a powerful tool that educates oppressed individuals on concepts and ideas that they may not otherwise understand or have the language to discuss with others. Facilitating freedom through access to knowledge is one of the first steps towards making progress toward freedom; this freedom to read is the ultimate goal and purpose of the American Library Association. However, in a nation that supposedly prides itself on being the “home of the free,” can one truly be free if their experiences are silenced and their mere existence brings on prejudice and discrimination? Coates suggests that radical social change is the answer, but the statement of that is much easier than the logistical implication of that statement. In a country where progress has been a slowmoving and excruciatingly painful process, how do we attempt to break down power structures that have been in place since before the founding of our country? While there may be no clear �Fntdom to Read:What is Progress? answer currently, acknowledging the need for a radical upheaval of societal norms and expectations, and growing spaces of empathy and learning towards experiences divergent from tradition or “the norm,” may be the first large step towards enacting social accommodation and equality References Alexander, M. (2010, March 9). The Jim Crow. Brown University [PDF}, https://wwwbrown.edu/ DepartmentsEconomics/Faculty/Glenn_Loury/louryhomepage/ teaching/Ec%2Oi37/The%2oNew%2oJim%2oCrow^from%2O The%2oNation.pdf American Library Association. (1953, June 25). Thefreedom to readstatement, https://wwwala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/ freedomreadstatement American Library Association. (2013, March 26). Top 10 most challenged book lists, https://wwwala.org/advocacy/bbooks/ frequentlychallengedbooks/topio Coates, W. H. (1948, January 29). What is progress? TheJournal of Philosophy, 45(3), 67-77. https://doi.org/1o.23o7/2o2o364 Lawson, B. (1992). Nobody knows our plight: Moral discourse, slavery, and social progress. Social Theory and Practice, 18(1), 1-20. https://wwwjstor.org/stable/23557455 Niccolini, A. D. (2015, January). Precocious knowledge: Using banned books to engage in a youth lens. The English Journal, 104(3), 22-28. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24484452 Rossuck, J. (1997, February). Banned books: A study of censorship. The English Journal, 86(2), 67-70. https://doi.org/1o.23o7/819679 106 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Freedom to Read: What is Progress? Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"><em>Expression</em><span>&nbsp;</span>claims first North American rights to submissions selected for publication. All rights revert back to the author/artist after publication.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2023 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Skylar Rowyn Cooper Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Expression Literary and Arts Magazine, CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01_Exp_2023_Prose_03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Casper College https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/31ed7cdfca6ccd70bd27e2a6535495d5.pdf 5f45d895e925ea91b720edb76e299780 PDF Text Text D lurtiiuc $tar$ Matthew Orszulak Fiction They threw the ninth spoon out the window with a frustrated scream. It sailed through the clear summer air and hit the fence, making a dull sound, and fell onto the pile of its gruesomely made constituents. Cedar put their head in their hands, shaking with frustration. Everything they made was shit, all of it. There wasn’t a single thing they’d made in the past three months that was worthwhile. Everything they were referring to, of course, were small, intricately made spoons. The pile outside was filled with seventeen spoons at the moment, though more would surely arrive via a short one-way flight tomorrow morning when Cedar sat down to work again. But right now, they left the materials haphazardly strewn across the work table and instead got up to go for a walk. The air still held residual heat from the mid-July day, but now that the sun was beginning its slow descent, it was cool enough to bear even the thought of going outside. Cedar stomped down the hallway, the boards that usually creaked letting out screams beneath their enraged footfalls. AU those stupid spoons, all that work, and not one that’s actually worth it, they thought, hastily reaching for their coat. Why didgrandpa leave me thisplace anyways? He’d be so disappointed tofind out I can’t make anything worth a damn. The coat would not come unhooked, and for a brief moment. Cedar considered tearing the hook right out of the stud wall before setting the whole house on fire. In moments like this, it was recommended they count down from ten. They made it to eight before letting out a slew of colorful language and deciding it was warm enough to go without. In an instant they were on the sidewalk, continuing their 94 �Daytime Stars mumbled tirade about the worthlessness of the singular hobby they’d once enjoyed. The sidewalk was empty save for a neighbor across the street, sitting on the porch and likely succeeding in achieving the peace Cedar was desperately attempting. They raised their hand in greeting, and Cedar gave a tight nod before stuffing their hands in their jean pockets. After a while, they made the turn up around the block, continuing the therapist-recommended deep breaths. Why did Grandpa leave them the stupid house anyway? Sure, it was nice having a place to live that was not someone else’s couch, but it still proved that Cedar really was useless at everything, including the one thing they so desperately wanted to be good at. But the walk proved effective, as it had so many times before. By the time they were coming down the path back to the large blue house, the anger had almost ebbed away completely, and it dashed completely when they saw someone was in the yard. A strange figure with long dark hair crouched along the side of the fence, picking something up. She might not have heard Cedar coming, but she certainly did when they started yelling. “Who the hell are you?” they asked indignantly, striding up. She scrambled away, dropping what she was holding, and as it hit the dust, Cedar realized what it was. One of the spoons, one they’d made yesterday with the red glass embedded in the handle. “Oh! Sorry, are these yours? I didn’t realize, you just... they’re always here and I figured I’d put them to good use,” the stranger said. She looked about Cedar’s age, staring at them and brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “No it’s just... they’re pretty garbage, aren’t they?” Cedar said, still staring down at the dusty spoon. They knelt and picked it up, running fingers over the filigree. All they could see was where the joint had melted too much, where the dents of mistaken hammer strokes scarred the metal. The stranger let out a laugh as they handed it to her, shaking her head. “Garbage? Are you kidding? These are beautiful,” she said. ‘And when the light catches them, gosh, they look like daytime stars.” “They look like what?” All Cedar could picture was the sim, shining ruthlessly on a pile of awful garbage they’d made with their awful garbage hands. 95 �Daytime Stars “Daytime stars! Come see,” she said, turning on her heel and walking off. Cedar hesitated for a moment, weighing the risk of following a spoon-thieving stranger, but the mysterious allure of daytime stars was too great. The two walked up the block and toward the long abandoned lot that most in the neighborhood accepted as an irremovable eyesore. They weaved around the pile of rotting wood that was once a house and through the tall bushes to the towering oak tree. Cedar watched as the stranger walked around the back, scaling a rather precarious-looking ladder, and disappeared into the wooden hole of a treehouse. How had they not realized this was here? The stranger’s face reappeared, and she blew a couple of strands of hair out of her face before flashing a grin. ‘Are you coming or what?” Cedar looked around, wondering how long it would take for medical help to arrive if they perished on this ladder. The girl had taken it without hesitation, and that would have to be enough. They started the climb and poked up through the wooden floor before letting out a gasp. The girl was sitting cross-legged on a blanket, surrounded by the reflected light of hundreds of spoons that had been tied to the roof. The setting sun poked its rays through the window, lighting up the faces of the spoons and splitting hundreds of tiny rays onto the walls. It reminded them almost of a disco ball if each ray of light could dance on its own. “'Vbu... you made this?” they asked, clambering into the treehouse and sitting down. “"You made them! You’re the one in the window!” she said, looking around. Cedar stared at her, the lights dancing, making her eyes glow. One was right on her eye, highlighting the emerald green against chestnut brown hair. “Yeah but they’re... so bad,” they protested, staring up at the spoons with wonder. Daytime stars. The girl shrugged, watching Cedar with a smile. “They look fine to me,” she said, looking up at them again. “Where did you learn how to make them?” Cedar hesitated, thinking of the summer days when they were young enough that everything they made was good and everything their grandfather made was perfect. 96 �Daytime Start “My grandpa taught me when I was little,” they said, watching the soft breeze make the lights dance even more. “He picked up the hobby from god knows where, but I thought it the coolest thing in the world. I used to be okay, but now that I’ve started doing it again I can’t make anything good.” The girl smiled again. “Maybe you just need to look at it from a different perspective?” Cedar shrugged and looked over, watching her brilliant smile. “I guess. What’s your name, spoon thief?” Her name was Fern, and she loved daytime stars. And though neither of them knew it yet, she loved Cedar too. 97 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daytime Stars Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns offset-by-two"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text"><em>Expression</em><span>&nbsp;</span>claims first North American rights to submissions selected for publication. All rights revert back to the author/artist after publication.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2023 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Matthew Orszulak Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Expression Literary and Arts Magazine, CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.c.2022.01_Exp_2023_Prose_02 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Casper College