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Editors’ Note
The editors of the 2008 spring semester Pforzheimer Honors College E-Journal are
proud to present the inaugural volume of remarkable papers from undergraduate
honors students at Pace University. Acceptance and selection of submissions took
place beginning in early March until the end of April. Students were encouraged to
submit a piece of work they had completed during their undergraduate years and felt
merited publication in an academic journal. Coinciding with the interdisciplinary
approach, we as the editors have accepted papers from a wide range of subjects,
including poetry, biology, women and gender studies, theater arts and history. Thus,
different documentation styles are used including the Chicago manual and MLA.
The Honors College E-Journal editors decided on five well-documented papers in the
hopes of exposing the great talent and dedication that Pace Honors students have in
their academic careers. Making these exemplary works available for other Pace students through the Honors College website, we hope to further encourage research
and discussion, and to commend high achieving undergraduate students.
Nichole LeFebvre
Alejandra Lopez
Editors, Pforzheimer Honors College E-Journal
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The Augustinian Flavor and its Implications on the Ascetic Philosophy of Late Antiquity
Maksim Astashinskiy
The groundwork for institutionalized asceticism in the Latin West was laid by Saint Augustine (354-430), the Bishop of Hippo
Regius who in 397 charted customary monastic precepts into his Regula Sancti Augustini (The Rule of Saint Augustine). Augustine endorses a
regimented upbringing that schools monks in the virtues of poverty, chastity and obedience. Practitioners of Augustinian monasticism
are instilled to believe that strict abidance by the Rule will lead to self-improvement. The Regula Sancti Augustini is designed to provide a
mechanism by which monks can correct their errors, for Augustine cautions his adherents that “If anyone of you realizes that he has
failed on a specific point, let him be sorry for the past, safeguard the future, and continue to pray for his offences to be forgiven, and that
he not be led into temptation.” By 530, the church hierarchy had a prominent role in organized monastic asceticism as evident in the
Regula Sancti Benedicti (The Rule of Saint Benedict), compiled by Saint Benedict of Nursia (480-547), whose own Rule sanctions the intrusion of
a bishop should an ordained abbot conduct himself in a manner that is unfitting for a father figure. The purpose of this paper is to advance a thematic argument for Augustinian asceticism’s function as an intermediary agent between the structured reclusiveness of the
Regula Sancti Benedicti and the unstructured reclusiveness of the Vita Antonii (The Life of Antony), which offers a hagiographic illustration of
one man’s ascetical habits. This study devotes attention to the question of how philosophical seasonings found in the Vita Antonii spice
up the flavor of Augustinian and Benedictine asceticism.
When considering that the purely meditative approach to asceticism did not wholly appeal to Augustine, it becomes problematic
to deconstruct his true perceptions of monasticism. Even so, there is still a plausible argument to be made on the subject of by whom,
how, and in what ways Augustine’s ascetic theories were influenced. Every now and then, according to Peter Brown, “Nebridius [a Carthaginian colleague, who knew Augustine,] might urge him to live alone with God; but Augustine is determined to be very much in charge
of his own community, and allows himself to be tied to [his native] Thagaste.” Prior to the adaptation and assimilation of certain ascetical
idiosyncrasies into the emergent church hierarchy, traditional ascetics stifled their inducement to sin in solitude. To the older generation
of ascetics, the community itself reeks of odorous secularism and foul worldliness.
The ascetics of Late Antiquity detested worldliness and responded to its prevalence by migrating into the wilderness, soon after
the recognition of Christianity by Constantine I (280-337) in 313. According to Lowrie Daly, general morality hit a downturn during this
new age. Many ascetics were left dissatisfied with their present living conditions, since continuing to dwell in the comfort of a village,
among relatives, betrays renunciation of the material world in the Christian sense. Although Daly is fascinated with early monasticism, he
remarks that “the modern mind finds it difficult to understand why hundreds and then thousands left their city or village civilization to
live alone with God in the deserts and lonely regions of Egypt and Syria.” Augustine made an effort to merge the idea of a God-fearing
city or village civilization with the impetus behind observing a personal oneness with God. John Rist suggests that Augustine’s idealism behind
erecting a “City of God” is rooted in Augustine’s outlook on the human condition in Roman Africa. In effect, Augustine grafted desert
monasticism onto the township.
For all intents and purposes, Augustinian monasticism is full of multidimensional influences. For instance, Brown points out
Augustine’s familiarity with the romanticized narratives “of the great monastic communities of Egypt,” while also citing Augustine’s stopovers at the embryonic monasteries of Milan and Rome. These proto-monasteries were a century or so away from becoming fully institutionalized. George Lawless deems Augustine’s reframing “of monastic life at Milan and Rome” to better suit the prerequisites of the
North African Church, as evidence for “his own talented initiatives, notable gifts of intellect, distinctive traits of temperament, and depth
of spirituality.”
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While Augustine was a man of distinguished inventiveness and disposition, his monasterium is very much a deferential tribute to
Antony (251-356), who Saint Athanasius of Alexandria (293-373) immortalized in the commanding language of the Vita Antonii. Antony
urges the faithful to remain vigilant and guard against the “pleasures of the flesh,” to stand clear of vanity, to pray regularly, to remember
their Scriptures while not forgetting “the deeds of the saints.” Antony conceived that one day’s measure in negligence equates to some
measure of divine retribution thereafter. Athanasius recalls Antony sermonizing that when “we rise daily, let us suppose that we shall not
survive till evening, and again, as we prepare for sleep, let us consider that we shall not awaken.” Augustine picks up much of Antony’s
philosophy about the tainted materialism of the earthly realm. Antony’s belief in the impermanence of a physical existence is increasingly
apparent throughout the Vita Antonii, which happened to be available to Augustine in Numidia.
In part, Augustine heeded the message contained in the Vita Antonii. In his Confessions (397-398), Augustine divulges how he arrived at
spiritual unshackling “…from the chain of that desire of the flesh … and [from] the servitude of worldly things” after crossing paths with
a certain Pontitianus who was his fellow countryman and a high-ranking imperial bureaucrat. Pontitianus captures the essence of Antony
when describing to Augustine and his confidant, Alypius of Thagaste, the story of two imperial service-workers who became monks instantaneously. Augustine’s Confessions gives us the impression that, in a moment’s notice, during the recitation of the Vita Antonii, “The
man … reading was [all of a sudden] filled with a love of holiness and angry at himself with righteous shame,” so he turned to his companion and said, “Tell me, please, what is the goal of our ambition in all these labours of ours?” The perplexed raconteur then asks: “Is
not everything uncertain and full of perils?” If truth be told, Augustine probably found the Vita Antonii less awe-inspiring and more
thought-provoking. Augustine’s Confessions convey the emotions of one of the recently enlightened men, as “the world dropped away
from his mind.” Albeit Augustine was rapt in reflection over this exchange, these two ascetical conversions failed to leave any significant
imprint on his conscience. Augustine felt genuinely sorry that the Vita Antonii was not resonating with him. Brown explains this awkwardness by contending that the corporeal mortification involved with a desert monk’s eccentric asceticism contravenes the ways of classical world ¾ where Augustine was reared ¾ and, therefore, a simple dosage of Antony’s heroism would not have done nearly enough to
redefine the so-called Augustinian “intellectual programme.”
After listening to Pontitianus, Augustine was both impressed and remorseful. In his Confessions, Augustine owns up to being
depraved, backward and ulcerous, before realizing that there is no place left to run from his sinful self. Like Antony, Augustine waged a
private war against himself. In practice, however, Antony appears to have discerned that through painstaking discipline, depravity, backwardness and all other demonic qualities will have no other choice but to surrender. Accordingly, the ascetic who fasts, holds vigil, prays,
is both meek and gentle, disdains money, lacks egotism, walks with humility, loves the pitiable, is an almsgiver, enjoys liberty from wrath
and, most importantly is devoted to Christ, shall avoid demons. The Vita Antonii, recounting Antony’s final days, reiterates with less uneasiness, the criticality of facing up to the unknown.
In Antony’s eyes, the surge in ascetic piety loosened evil’s grip on humankind. Athanasius records Antony’s last will and testament on the vulnerability of demons, as follows: “You know the treacherous demons ¾ you know how savage they are, even though
weakened in strength. Therefore, do not fear them, but rather draw inspiration from Christ always, and trust in him.” The Vita Antonii
wrestles with issues that go above and beyond Augustine’s expectations of concentrated monasticism. Antony speaks of demons that
interact with human beings by revealing themselves, sometimes through angelic guises. They may exalt their host as “blessed” or, perchance, even tease their prey using gold. Under no circumstances, should one yield to such distractions; instead, one should resort to
Psalm chanting. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that the Regula Sancti Augustini underscores that, “When you pray to God in psalms and
hymns, the words you speak should be alive in your hearts.” Interpretively one can say that the spoken word, uttered mindfully by an ascetic whisks away the various embodiments of evil.
The Vita Antonii includes an incredible forthright dialogue, where Satan comes clean to Antony, informing him that the rise of
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Christianity and monasticism has greatly undermined his position. Surprisingly, Satan avows that: “I no longer have a peace ¾ no weapon,
no city. There are Christians everywhere, and even the desert has filled with monks. Let them watch after themselves and stop censoring
me for no reason!” Antony answers robustly, with an outcry so powerful that it scorches Satan; he vanishes after hearing Antony berate
him with the following utterance: “Even though you are always a liar, and never tell the truth, nevertheless this time, even if you did not
intend to, you have spoken truly. For Christ in his coming reduced you to weakness.” In certain respects, the bare bones of Augustine’s
institutionalized monastic ethic resemble the fervency of Antony’s ethic. George Lawless lists the four quintessential monastic tenets for
Augustinian ascetics to live by; they comprise “manual labour, reading, prayer, and study of the Scriptures.” These four rudiments are no
different from some of the basic precepts that Antony relied upon to ward off those wicked manifestation and to disarm Satan himself.
Clearly, the Vita Antonii is a cathartic reflection on how one individual was able to brave incomprehensible extremes.
Lowrie Daly visualizes Antony “in his small hut, chanting Psalms, studying the Scriptures and doing manual work” and says that he
exerted his energies to “not beg for his food.” He spent his earnings from weaving baskets on modest quantities of food so he could allocate what was left from the fruits of his labor to helping the needy. This same attitude is expressed in the Regula Sancti Augustini, which prohibits a monk from working for just himself alone. In an Augustinian monastery, everyone labors with the utmost zeal as a unit in a concerted effort to meet a common objective. The rule of thumb is that “the common good takes precedence over the individual good, the
individual good yields to the common good.” Lawless assumes that the Regula Sancti Augustini provides a reliable insight into the everyday
comings and goings inside Augustine’s monastery in Hippo.
In fact, Benedictine monasticism mirrors Augustinian monasticism’s idealized construal of shared commonality and humility to
boot. Benedict tells us that a monk exhibits humility with his body, for it is written in the Regula Sancti Benedicti that: “When at work, in the
oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the fields. And everywhere, sitting or walking or standing, let him always be with
head inclined, his looks fixed upon the ground; remembering every hour that he is guilty of his sins.” In all honesty, even though Augustinian monasticism is akin to Benedictine monasticism, subjecting it to the Benedictine lens makes for an artificial comparison, since Benedict
was born fifty years after Augustine’s passing.
In any event, the Benedictine experience takes us to Rome’s Trastevere district, where Benedict must have stumbled upon a diverse conglomerate of travelers, including wandering Egyptian ascetics, coenobites from Eastern monasteries and, in all likelihood, some
Manichees. For awhile, Benedict decided to live out his life as an anchorite. To echo the Regula Sancti Benedicti, a monk of this caliber,
“without the consolation of another … [can] fight with … [his] own hand or arm against the vices of the flesh or of … [his] thoughts.”
According to his biographer, Pope Gregory the Great (540-604), Benedict’s time as an anchorite allowed him the opportunity to overcome
lust. Diving into a thorn bush and rolling around in it, was Benedict’s way of abating his desire to surrender his chastity. Saint Gregory’s
Dialogos (Dialogues) contain a telling description of this feat. One fateful day, Benedict “saw that thickets of nettles and thorn bushes were
growing nearby … and [he] flung himself naked upon those stinging thorns and burning nettles ... rolled about there for a long time and
came out with his whole body wounded by them.” Daly maintains that when Benedict pricked his body, he was reassured that any and all
future longings for “illicit physical pleasure” would easily be offset through writhing in “physical pain.”
Bodily denial is prominently visible in the Regula Sancti Augustini. For Augustine, restraining fleshly yearnings is accomplishable
through regular self-discipline. In an Augustinian monastery, for a perfectly healthy monk to indulge excessively in food and drink was
reckoned as impermissible behavior. Monastic regulations concerning nourishment resemble, to some extent, those found in the Vita Antonii. Oftentimes, dining in the company of other monks prodded Antony to excuse himself; to avoid blushing in their presence he opted to
eat in seclusion. Antony ate either once a day, if not every second or fourth day. In this tradition, the Regula Sancti Benedicti permits a helping of “two cooked dishes [that should] suffice for all the brothers: and, if it is possible to obtain apples or growing vegetables, a third may
be added. One full pound of bread shall suffice for a day” to feed an able-bodied monk. Those who are sickly or feeble are allowed to consume the otherwise prohibited quadruped. While it is preferable to refrain from wine altogether, lest there should be drunkenness, Benedict
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approves of consuming it sparingly, “For wine can make even the wise … go astray.” Ascetics identify with keeping to a regularly balanced routine.
In his De Civitate Dei (City of God), Augustine contrives a judicious balance between body and soul, as: “The peace of body and
soul is the ordered life and health of a living creature; peace between mortal man and God is an ordered in the faith under an everlasting
law.” Augustine classicized Western monasticism to fit his middle-of-the-road approach to Platonized Christianity. John Rist argues that
in pursuit of the moral life, Augustine steadily withdrew from Platonism to further crystallize “his developing attitude towards the
[worsening] condition of the fallen man. Besides ceasing to believe that a Platonic vision of Forms is itself constitutive of success in the
good life,” he claimed that Platonist immaterialism was vitiated by “pride,” sparking “demon-worship.” Augustine’s monastic utopia was
intended as a prideless peace. The Augustinian good life is ascetic in its revulsion against individual self-worth. Augustine was increasingly espousing a “de-intellectualized and ‘Paulinized’ [projection] of the inner man.” While Augustine’s own “inner man” may have preferred a trouble-free way of life, history had other plans in store for Augustine.
Brown affirms that as Augustine unexpectedly thrusts into the priesthood and later into the Hippo bishopric, he was left envious
of the simple prayer-life he imposed onto his monks. In regard to Augustine’s own Episcopal familia or proto-bishopdom, Lawless
speculates that Augustine ran his garden monastery, which was conferred upon him in 391 by the elder Valerius ¾ devoid of pastoral
norms. This delineation is a fairly nominal one when looking at Brown’s assertions about that Hippo monasterium, which “became a
‘seminary’ in the true sense of the word: a “seed-bed” from which Augustine’s protégés were ‘planted out’ as bishops in the leading towns
of Numidia.” While the Augustinian monastery in and of itself was a breeding ground for ascetics, becoming a bishop made individuals
into political officeholders; naturally, it is that much more difficult to triumph over pride as a public official than to defeat it as an ascetic.
In the De Civitate Dei, possessing pride is inherent to having a fondness for transgression, for Augustine holds that: “Pride is a
perverse imitation of God. For it abhors a society of peers under God, but seeks to impose its own rule, instead of his, on society. In
other words, it abhors the just peace of God, and loves its own unjust peace.” Augustine hoped to pattern his omnipresent and Godfearing community around the ideals of Christian charity. The Regula Sancti Augustini describes father-like virtues as the criteria for being
the superior in an Augustinian monastery. In turn, the superior must perceive himself as being fortunate and patiently work towards restraining the restive, uplifting the fainthearted and providing sustenance for the frail. Whether we are talking about a righteous city or a
monastery, Lawless credits Augustine for clarifying that: “The mores of the monastery, indeed of every society, derive from the amores of its
members to the extent that they repudiate self-interest,” reminding us that only a morality-wielding citizenry is universally representative
of how to delegate justice, order and harmony, properly. With this conviction, a lot is at stake for the superior who commits himself to
serving his monks.
Augustine makes a great deal depend upon the individual monk. The Regula Sancti Augustini includes a succinct mention of appropriate body language, which the ascetic is obliged to replicate: “In your walk, posture, all external comportment, do nothing to offend
anyone who sees you. Act in a manner worthy of your holy profession.” This takes into account anyone who benefited from some semblance of worldly riches. The ascetic is to draw no pride from communal ownership, as good intentions regenerate vices, entrapping a
monk’s good intentions en route toward destruction. A paralleling sentiment on humility appears in the Regula Sancti Benedicti where Benedict divides this important character trait into several grades, stating “that a monk shall, not only with his heart but also with his body,
always show humility to all who see him.” Moreover, the Regula Sancti Augustini imparts words of wisdom that are specifically tailored for
those monks who had previously been well-off, advising them that they “should endeavour to boast about the fellowship of [their] poor
brothers, rather than [boasting about] the social standing of rich relations.” The sweeping commonalities, juxtaposed with rigorous social
ethics are put forth by the Regula Sancti Augustini to ensure that Augustinian monasticism comes as close as possible to meeting the
unattainable expectations for the creation of a heavenly city.
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In the De Civitate Dei, Augustine presupposes that the earthly city demands compliance from its misinformed subjects by placing
emphasis on its quest to establish a man-made peace in order to improve upon the “mortal life.” Yet pilgrims, presumably from both
inside and outside the monasterium, continue to bear the weight of the heavenly city on their shoulders by leading a faith-based life outside
the “mortal lot,” while at the same time obeying man-made laws in order to uphold the temporary coexistence between the two cities.
Rist explains that the peculiarity of the “Augustinian temper” has to do with a layman’s retreat from a worldly reality into an abyss of sort,
where humanity is assured the freedom to contemplate God. Augustine understood that monasticism is only a substitute for an unavoidable world where both Christians and non-Christians must somehow reach a consensus.
Augustinian monasticism granted humankind a premature “foretaste of heaven … [since] the absence of private property in the
monastery would reflect and promote a heavenly mentality.” By this same token, the Benedictine monk shall have to his name “neither a
book, nor tablets, nor a pen ¾ nothing at all.” The Regula Sancti Augustini confines reading to the stroke of a particular hour, as “books
are to be requested at a definite hour each day; requests made at other times will be denied.” Daly outlines what is known of the daily
activities within the Benedictine monastery. There was a seasonally variable awakening time when Benedictine monks rose from their
straw mattresses somewhere around 1:30 A.M. during the summer months, and 2:30 A.M. in the winter. A case in point for this surfaces
from the Vita Antonii, when Antony was content with sleeping on a rush mat, though he regularly rested his body on the open soil. Eventually, Antony took up ascetic habits so taxing that he abandoned hygiene, increased the frequency of his fasting, all while continuing to
wear a penitent’s hair shirt, as is articulated in the Vita Antonii where it describes “clothing with hair on the interior and skin on the exterior.” This may explain why the Regula Sancti Augustini emphasizes the irrelevance of the wardrobe that was handed to monks, “as the
season requires” because in ascetic communities, wardrobe is worn for health reasons and for health reasons only. The outfit of a Benedictine monk, in accordance with provisions found in the Regula Sancti Benedicti, consists of “a cowl and a gown apiece-the cowl” that is
furry in the winter and plain in the summer ¾ shoes and boots were acceptable, as footwear. Benedict deduced that: “Vestments shall be
given to the brothers according to the quality of the places where they dwell, or the temperature of the air.” The docility of the unassuming Benedictine monk would have delighted Augustine.
Brown references Augustine’s gleefulness whenever he came across a ruined Roman amphitheatre. Augustine welcomed public
calamities, which he regarded as useful for bolstering societal austerity in an age where, “For a Late Roman man, wealth was there to be
spent ostentatiously. It was considered ignoble to save. Augustine would attempt to canalize this tradition of lavish giving, in favour of
alms to the Christian poor;” Augustine felt alienated in a society that neglected its destitute. The De Civitate Dei paints a portrait of a heavenly city that by no means whatsoever would choose to neglect its own people. The heavenly city represents far more than just a lack of
hindrance to religious worship. As a matter of fact, this virtuous city “gathers an alien society of all languages, caring naught what difference may be in manners, laws and institutions.” Despite Augustine’s phraseology, he found multilingualism vexing. Brown studies the
Augustinian attitude toward lingual plurality. He concludes that Augustine was uncomfortable with the discordant state of communication worldwide, still contemporarily proliferating from “the [biblical] Division of Tongues at the Tower of Babel.” Obviously, loving thy
neighbor entails conversing with thy neighbor. Brown notes Augustine’s solution to the plaguing language barrier. Evidently, the Roman
Catholic Church and the microcosmic monasterium were to be everlasting champions for the restoration of “ideal human relationships.”
It sounds as if neighborly outreach meant a great deal to Augustine, who in the De Civitate Dei writes: “This peace the heavenly
city during its pilgrimage enjoys by faith, and by this faith it lives justly when it makes the attainment of that peace the goal of every good
action in which it engages for the service of God and one’s neighbor; for the life of a city is certainly a social life.” This kind of sociability
invites the proselytization of Christendom. The Augustinian ascetic was relatively evangelized, as the Augustinian monastery became
gentrified beyond Antony’s wildest expectations. Brown tells us that late in Augustine’s life, at the Hippo monastery: “Unlike the ascetic
communities isolated in the Egyptian desert: books were read, study was pursued, learned conversation took place in a pleasant garden, in
a town whose port brought many travelers … visitors had become so many, that a hostel was built to lodge them.” Superficially, the
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Augustinian monastery is almost like a bustling ancient Roman Forum. In reality, however, the monasterium was more of a dematerialized
sanctuary for ascetic development through immersion in manual labor as a complement to the headway in Scriptural literacy that was
occurring there. When compared to the Regula Sancti Augustini, the Regula Sancti Benedicti includes some additional tinges of de-materialism.
After all, it was devised among the still lingering pagan shrines of Monte Cassino. The variety of asceticism practiced by Benedict has a
tangy fragrance of Augustinian flavoring to it, while the Regula Sancti Augustini itself draws inspiration from the Vita Antonii. If we follow
this line of reasoning, then the de-materialized Benedictine monasterium epitomizes the ascetic communities of the desert and the Regula
Sancti Augustini is the intermediary agent responsible for carrying the Vita Antonii from the Egyptian wilderness through Hippo into
Monte Cassino.
1 The full Latin Text with the English translation appears in George Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), 73-103.
2 Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, citing Augustine, Regula Sancti Augustini 8, 103.
3 Benedict of Nursia, “The Rule of St. Benedict, c.530,” Medieval Sourcebook 64, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/rul-benedict.html (accessed April 8-11, 2007).
4 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography (Berkley: University of California Press, 1967), 136.
Lowrie J. Daly, Benedictine Monasticism: Its Formation and Development Through the Twelfth Century (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965), 30-3.
5 John M. Rist, Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 207.
6 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 136.
7 Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 58.
8 Athanasius of Alexandria, The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus, Trans. Robert C. Gregg (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), in Vita Antonii chap. 55, 72.
9 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chaps. 18-9, 45.
10 Augustine, Confessions, excerpted in Daly, Benedictine Monasticism, 52, 331.
11 Augustine, Confessions, 333.
12 Augustine, Confessions, 333.
13 Augustine, Confessions, 334.
14 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 113.
15 Augustine, Confessions, 335.
16 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chap. 30, 54.
17 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chap. 91, 97.
18 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chaps. 35, 40; 57, 61.
19 Augustine, Regula Sancti Augustini 2, 85.
20 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chap. 41, 62.
21 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chap. 41, 62.
22 Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 50.
23 Daly, Benedictine Monasticism, 36.
24 Daly, Benedictine Monasticism, 36.
25 Augustine, Regula Sancti Augustini 5, 95.
26 Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 60.
27 Benedict, “Rule” 7.
28 Daly, Benedictine Monasticism, 73-4.
29 Benedict, “Rule” 1.
30 Gregory the Great, Dialogues: Saint Benedict, Book II, Trans. Myra L. Uhlfelder (New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1967), 7.
31 Daly, Benedictine Monasticism, 75-6.
32 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chaps. 7, 45; 36, 65.
33 Benedict, “Rule” 39.
34 Benedict, “Rule” 40.
35 Augustine, City of God 13, in Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions, Ed. Arthur Hyman, and
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36 James. J. Walsh, Second Edition (Cambridge: Hackett, 1973), 102-3.
37 Rist, Augustine, 205-6.
38 Rist, Augustine, 205-6.
39 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 142-3.
40 Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 158, 160.
41 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 143.
42 Augustine, City of God 12, 101-2.
43 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 136.
44 Augustine, Regula Sancti Augustini 7, 101.
45 Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule, 22.
46 Augustine Regula Sancti Augustini 4, 89.
47 Benedict, “Rule” 7.
48 Augustine Regula Sancti Augustini 1, 83.
49 Augustine, City of God 17, 107.
50 Rist, Augustine, 205.
51 Rist, Augustine, 206, 253-4.
52 Benedict, “Rule” 33.
53 Augustine, Regula Sancti Augustini 5, 97.
54 Daly, Benedictine Monasticism, 78-9.
55 Athanasius, Vita Antonii chaps. 7, 47; 36, 66.
56 Augustine, Regula Sancti Augustini 5, 93-5.
57 Benedict, “Rule” 55.
58 Benedict, “Rule” 55.
59 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 198-9.
60 Augustine, City of God 17, 108.
61 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 224
62 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 224-5.
63 Augustine, City of God 17, 108.
64 Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 200.
65 Daly, Benedictine Monasticism, 78.
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Bibliography
Athanasius of Alexandria, The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus, Translated
by Robert C. Gregg. New York: Paulist Press, 1980.
Benedict of Nursia. “The Rule of St. Benedict, c.530.” Medieval Sourcebook.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/rul-benedict.html (accessed April 8-11,
2007).
Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkley: University of California
Press, 1967.
Daly, Lowrie J. Benedictine Monasticism: Its Formation and Development through the
Twelfth Century. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965.
Gregory the Great. Dialogues: Saint Benedict, Book II. Translated by Myra L. Uhlfelder.
New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1967.
Hyman, Arthur and James J. Walsh. Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Christian,
Islamic, and Jewish Traditions. Second Edition. Cambridge: Hackett, 1973.
Lawless, George. Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1987.
Rist, John M. Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1994.
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Shanks 11
Salbutamol in the Treatment of Asthma
Candace Shanks
Introduction
More than 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates gave the name asthma to a disease characterized by shortness of breath, wheezing, and
chest tightness (Pérez 1999). Since the defining of the disease, asthma has been examined down to the cellular level and many medications
have been created to alleviate the symptoms associated with the disease. In the 1970’s short acting β2-adrenoreceptor stimulants were
introduced as a method in the treatment of asthma, specifically salbutamol. Salbutamol in the late 1960’s was the focus of many researchers as the new potent drug in the treatment of asthma. The new drug was able to dilate the airways and have a longer lasting effect than
isoprenaline and other drugs of the time. Unlike the former asthma medications, salbutamol was specific in its interaction with β2receptors within the lungs (Cullum, Farmer, and Levy 1969; Pérez 1999). Salbutamol quickly became the drug of choice for hospitals,
physicians, and asthmatics throughout the world (Pérez 1999; Chu and Drazen 2005).
How salbutamol works
As a short acting β2-adrenoreceptor stimulant, salbutamol binds to the β2-adrenoreceptors, which leads to an increase in cAMP
formation. The increase in cAMP formation reverses the disordered contraction of airway smooth muscles that is triggered by an increase
in calcium within the cell (Milgrom 2006). The disordered contraction within the airway smooth muscle is a key component in the case
of asthma exacerbation (Westerhof et al. 2005; Barnes 2006; Milgrom 2006). Current treatment of asthma involves many β2-receptor
medications in their racemic forms, having both the R and S enantiomers present. For many racemic medications, there are low observed
adverse side effects, and the money saved in utilizing the racemic medication is of no detriment to the patient. However, in the case of
salbutamol, the racemic form creates problems similar to the symptoms that the medication was designed to treat (Baldwin et al. 1994;
Cockroft and Swystun 1997; Barnes 2006; Milgrom 2006). During an asthma exacerbation, the intracellular calcium concentrations increase within the airways while G-protein mediated pathways that lead to inflammation become active. Concerning the treatment of asthmatic symptoms, the racemic mixture of salbutamol becomes detrimental to the patient because of its effects upon the intracellular calcium concentrations and G-protein pathways.
Problems with stereochemistry
Though enantiomers may appear similar because of their identical substituents, their stereochemistry differs which may lead to a
difference in biotransformation within a cell. Such is the case for R-salbutamol and S-salbutamol. The first difference is detected in the
enzyme that catalyzes the biotransformation of salbutamol. Sulfortransferase is enantioselective; it catalyzes the metabolism of Rsalbutamol ten-times faster than S-salbutamol, which leads to the accumulation of the S enantiomer. The accumulation of the S enantiomer allows the enantiomer to interact more with the cell processes that lead to inflammation and constriction within the lungs. The R
enantiomer has a higher affinity for the β2 receptor within the lungs than the S enantiomer. The higher affinity is very important in the
control of asthmatic symptoms, only the R enantiomer of salbutamol is able to bind and activate the β2-receptor (Milgrom 2006).
Methodology
Keir et al. 2002
Guinea pigs were treated with R-salbutamol, S-salbutamol, or racemic salbutamol for ten days. On the tenth day, the source of
salbutamol was removed and a spasmogen (capsaicin, leukotrine, bradykinin, histamine) was introduced via the jugular vein. Once the
spasmogen initiated a response within the animal, lung resistance was measured to determine the rate of bronchial hyper-reactivity.
Nowak et al. 2006
Adults presenting to emergency departments during an asthma attack, were treated with racemic salbutamol (2.5 mg) or R-
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salbutamol (1.25 mg). Each patient’s blood was taken to measure the level of S-salbutamol in the blood. The measure of S-salbutamol was
used to examine the possible detrimental effect of its presence during treatment with either drug. Good airway movement, no wheezing,
and a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) greater than 70% of the predicted value measured to determine the effectiveness of
the treatment. Patients received up to six treatments within the emergency department. The patients that were admitted to the hospital
received an R-salbutamol treatment every 6 to 8 hours, or racemic salbutamol treatment every 3 to 4 hours. The end of the experiment
for each subject was the discharge of the patient.
Results
Keir et al. 2002
The guinea pigs treated with racemic salbutamol demonstrated more responsiveness to bradykinin, leukotrine, and capsaicin (p < .001 in
each case). Animals treated with S-salbutamol demonstrated the same response (p < .05). The animals treated with R-salbutamol showed
no significant increase in responsiveness to any of the spasmogens used in the experiment.
Nowak et al. 2006
Patients with high S-salbutamol blood levels had a larger increase in FEV1 after the first dose, when treated with R-salbutamol (0.35 l versus racemic salbutamol, 0.25 l; p = 0.017). The same increase was observed after the final treatment (0.69 l versus racemic salbutamol 0.42
l; p < 0.001). For the patients that were admitted to the hospital, those treated with R-salbutamol every 6-8 hours received less treatments
(19 versus 30.8) and spent less time within the hospital (4.7 versus 5.6 days).
Discussion
In the treatment of asthma, such a widely prescribed medication as racemic salbutamol should be the optimal treatment for the
disease. However, the presence of the S enantiomer in the medication prevents salbutamol from being the best treatment in the case of
asthmatic exacerbation. The increase in intracellular calcium concentrations, over-stimulation of inflammatory pathways, and slowed metabolism of the S enantiomer cancels out the positive effects incurred by the R enantiomer.
The continuous use of racemic salbutamol is linked to hyper-responsiveness within the airways (Ind 1997; Keir et al. 2002).
Since the 1990’s scientists have shown the possible detrimental effects of the S-enantiomer in the treatment of asthma, yet the racemic
mixture is still widely prescribed (Cockroft and Swystun 1997; Ind 1997). The presence of the S enantiomer must accumulate in order to
have a detrimental effect upon the airways of asthmatics (Cockroft and Swystun 1997; Keir et al. 2002; Milgrom 2006). The detriment of
salbutamol does not end at the enantiomers in all asthmatics. Israel et al. 2004 have found a genetic polymorphism in a large population
of asthmatics that negates the beneficial R enantiomer effects within a patient. The recurrent treatment of asthmatics that are unresponsive to salbutamol exposes them to the detrimental effects and none of the symptom relief that is desired. Individuals that are homozygous for the Arg-16 polymorphism in the β2 receptor are one-sixth of the US asthmatic population (Ameredes, Barnes, and Calhoun
2006). In considering medications, cost is always an important factor in what patients will utilize. Racemic medications are cheaper due to
less work in separating the enantiomers of the mixture. The cost of salbutamol in racemic form is $0.32, while the single R enantiomer
medication is $1.82 per unit dose (Ameredes, Barnes, and Calhoun 2006). In the treatment of asthma, salbutamol is often coupled with
other medications such as corticosteroids to further control the disease. However, if patients were treated with only treated with Rsalbutamol there may be no need for secondary treatment with corticosteroids, which would save patients money (Israel et al. 2004,
Westerhof et al. 2005). However, “cost considerations while important, should never suspend our judgment about what is the best treatment for our patients (Ameredes, Barnes, and Calhoun 2006).”
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Nowak et al. demonstrated the cost effectiveness of the use of R-salbutamol within the emergency department. The number of
nebulisations necessary to reduce asthmatic symptoms was less when using R-salbutamol in comparison to RS-salbutamol (19 versus
30.8). Besides fewer treatments, patients who were treated with R-salbutamol upon arrival to the emergency department had a shorter
hospital stay (4.7 versus 5.6 days). Less time spent in an emergency room is a benefit to both the patient and the emergency department.
All clinical drugs are used based on their ability to treat or alleviate a symptom or disease. The continued widespread treatment
of asthmatics with racemic salbutamol is no longer the optimal treatment for the symptoms of the disease. The R-salbutamol form of the
medication is best suited to treat the majority of patients with asthma. Scientists have provided both the laboratory and clinical evidence
of racemic salbutamol’s detrimental effects as well as the benefits of R-salbutamol use. The transition to the safer more potent Rsalbutamol must be made by physicians in order to improve the health of asthma sufferers throughout the world.
References
1. Ameredes, B., Barnes, PJ., and Calhoun, W. 2006. Treatment with (R)-Albuterol has no advantage over racemic albuterol (and rebuttals). American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 174: 969-974.
2. Amishima, M., Homma, Y., Kawakami, Y., Munakata, M., Nasuhara, Y., Sato, A. and Takahashi, T. 1998. Expression of epidermal
growth factor and epidermal growth factor receptor immunoreactivity in the asthmatic human airway. American Journal of Respiratory
and Critical Care Medicine 157:1907-1912.
3. Baldwin, D., Sivardeen, Z., Pavord, I. and Knox, A. 1994. Comparison of the effects of salbutamol and adrenaline on airway smooth
muscle contractility in vitro and on bronchial reactivity in vivo. Thorax 49: 1103-1108.
4. Bousquet, J., Laforest, L., Pacheco, Y., Sazonov Kocevar, V., Van Gense, E. and Yin, D. 2004. How appropriate is asthma therapy in
general practice? Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology 19:107-115.
5. British Thoracic Society and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network. 2005. British guideline on the management of asthma pp. 1
-98.
6. Chu, E. and Drazen, J. 2005. Asthma: One hundred years of treatment and onward. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical
Care Medicine 171:1202-1208.
7. Cockroft, DW. and Swystun, VA. 1997. Effect of single doses of S-salbutamol, R-salbutamol, racemic salbutamol, and placebo on
the airway response to methacholine. Thorax 52: 845-848.
8. Cullum, V., Farmer, J., Jack, D., and Levy, G. 1969. Salbutamol: a new, selective β-adrenoceptive receptor stimulant. British Journal
of Pharmacology 35: 141-151.
9. Gillis, H. and Lutchen, K. 1999. Airway remodeling in asthma amplifies heterogeneities in smooth muscle shortening causing hyperresponsiveness. Journal of Applied Physiology 86:2001-2012.
10. Ind, PW. 1997. Salbutamol enantiomers: early clinical evidence in humans. Thorax 52: 839-840.
11. Keir, S., Page, C., and Spina, D. 2002. Bronchial hyper-responsiveness induced by chronic treatment with albuterol: Role of sensory
nerves. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 110: 388-394.
12. Lundback, B., Rawilson, D., Palmer, J. 1993. Twelve month comparison of salmeterol and salbutamol as dry powder formulations in
asthmatic patients. Thorax 48: 148-153.
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13. Macklem, P., McParland, B., and Paré, P. 2003. Airway hyper-responsiveness: from molecules to bedside invited review: airway wall
remodeling: friend or foe? Journal of Applied Physiology 95:426-434.
14. Milgrom, H. 2006. Levosalbutamol in the treatment of asthma. Expert Opinion Pharmacotherapy 7: 1659-1668.
15. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Asthma Clinical Research Network. 2004. Use of regularly scheduled albuterol treatment in asthma genotype-stratified, randomized, placebo-controlled cross over trial. Lancet 364:1505-1512.
16. Nowak, R., Emerman, C., Hanrahan, JP., Parsey, M., Hanania, N., Claus, R., Schaefer, K., and Baumgartner, R. 2006. A comparison
of levalbuterol with racemic albuterol in the treatment of acute severe asthma exacerbations in adults. American Journal of Emergency
Medicine 24:259-267.
17. Pérez, M. 1999. Cronología de los medicamentos para el asma. Revista Alergia México 46: 152-154.
Westerhof, FJ., Zuidhof, AB., Kok, L., Meurs, H., and Zaagsma, J. 2005. Effects of salbutamol and enantiomers on allergen-induced asthmatic reactions and airway hyper-reactivity. European Respiratory Journal 25: 864-872.
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Selected Poems
Veronika Nedashkovskaya
Sunday Wilderness Placed in a Jar!
Skirts whirl in the autumn wind
Cider mill buzz
Blue apple-peelings
Crimson shells and coffee spoons
remind me of laughing on the river Kiang during summertime
Pointing at patterned trousers of an old man
Beer below the chamber
where you crept in the warm suede night
Clouds stuck in traffic in the bloated sky.
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I can see America from where I’m standing
How is it that this tiny “border” separates Canada from America?
The cool breeze sends goose bumps up my arms
My white Newman Marcus dress sits rather tightly
around my waist but the wind softly lifts the bottom,
as the fan would in Marilyn Monroe’s famous photo shoot.
Just as I strike a pose and imagine photographers around me,
my hair gets stuck in my “Pink Poodle” lip-gloss
and Michelle starts laughing out loud.
She’s always there to capture my blonde moments.
Below me people wander the streets sightseeing, shopping
and waiting on line for the “Maid of the Mist” ride.
An officer with a harsh French accent reprimands
two little redheaded boys for racing
on the Sheraton’s picture-perfect lawn.
The older brother punches the younger one
in an “I won anyway” sort of manner
and walks away smirking.
The younger one wipes tears off his freckled face
and attempts to clean his grass-stained jeans.
A mother walks with a carriage as if she were walking down a runway
during New York’s Fashion week,
except she is eating a chocolate ice cream cone.
A man in his late forties drives by in a pearl white Jaguar
and distracts her from the chocolate dripping down her skinny jeans.
She would make a good character on “Desperate Housewives.”
I hear my grandparents arguing in the background
over who forgot to pack my grandpa’s tobacco.
The clock strikes ten.
Niagara Falls is lit to the brilliance of a rainbow
and all I can hear is the crashing of the water upon the rocks.
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Ella Enchanted: Reclaiming Fairy Tales/Perpetuating Hollywood Standards
Emma Carbone
Feminists often denounce traditional fairy tales because they perpetuate the ideals of a patriarchal society by encouraging girls to
behave like proper princesses and wait for charming princes to take charge and save the day. In response to these traditional fairy tales,
many authors have tried to reclaim the realm of fairy tales for girls. These retellings feature active protagonists who are not scared of taking charge and do not need princes to save them. One example of this new fairy tale genre is the 1998 children’s novel Ella Enchanted by
Gail Carson Levine, which takes an untraditional approach to retelling the story of Cinderella. The novel addresses several specific feminist issues, specifically negotiating and fighting the burden of obedience, the importance of female friendships and, of course, learning to
save yourself. This popular novel was adapted into a “ramshackle mess” of a film in 2004 that is, shockingly, no longer an effective feminist text (Barsanti).
In both incarnations, Ella's story attempts to turn the tenets of conventional (patriarchal) fairy tales upside down. Indeed, the
film was marketed towards young, teenage girls and hailed by many critics as “a charming dose of girl power” (Scwarzbaum par. 1).
Nonetheless, Levine’s original novel remains the more effective feminist text. In adapting Ella Enchanted to the screen—making it more
cinematic and marketable to a teen audience—much of the story’s complexity and gravity were lost. Even more problematic is the fact
that the story’s feminist underpinnings were largely abandoned in the process of adaptation as not only the plot but also characters were
changed to be more effective on the big screen. Some of the oddest changes include the elimination of extraneous (female) characters, the
addition of male characters who had only minor roles in the novel, the beautification/glamorization of certain characters as well as the
introduction of a convoluted side plot, presumably meant to give the film more action.
Ella Enchanted’s shift from feminist text to girl power film is reminiscent of the dichotomy between third wave feminism and
the girl power/popular feminism movement. Third wave feminism is generally seen as the next step forward from the second wave feminism of the 1970s (the first wave came much earlier during the fight for suffrage). The third wave hopes to use second wave feminism as
groundwork for a more encompassing movement that can take into account more varied agendas for women everywhere (Heywood 3).
Furthermore, the third wave takes “cultural production and sexual politics as key sites of struggle” by discussing the implications of the
media on feminism as well as integrating notions of femininity within the movement (Heywood 4). Girl power (also often referred to as
popular feminism) pays lip service to the ideals of third wave feminism without addressing the political content behind the ideals
(Bellafante 57). The simplification of ideologies found in the girl power movement clearly bears a striking resemblance to the adaptation
process that Ella Enchanted underwent as it moved from a serious narrative to a campy film.
Despite the numerous changes, the plot remains the same on a basic level in both the novel and the film. The story is set in an
imaginary, medieval-esque kingdom called Frell (though in the movie Frell becomes a city in a larger kingdom to accommodate more
complicated side plots). A roaming fairy named Lucinda gives Ella the gift/curse of obedience at Ella’s birth. As a result, Ella has to do
everything she is told, no matter what harm it might cause to herself or others. As the plot moves forward Ella is compelled to leave
home to try and find Lucinda and ask her to lift the curse. Along the way she also falls in love with Prince Char. For varying reasons, depending on the version, Lucinda refuses to lift the curse. Further difficulties arise for Ella before she finally breaks the curse. The plot
described here is the body of the novel. Levine spends the entire book with Ella as she works to break the curse. In the film, Ella’s curse
and, bizarrely, her quest to break the curse become a backdrop to Ella’s romance with Char and their efforts to save the kingdom from
Char’s evil uncle, Edgar.
The film does try to maintain the original condition of the curse—that Ella must do anything she is told—albeit on a very basic
level. Symbolically, Ella thereby loses her voice, a fact that is addressed by the “reviving Ophelia” discourse originated by Mary Pipher. As
Marina Gonick explains in her comparative essay on the discourses of “girl power” and “reviving Ophelia,” “the crux of Pipher’s argument is that due to pressure from U.S. culture, adolescent girls are coerced into putting aside their ‘authentic selves’” (Gonick 12). With
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so much pressure to be someone they are not, Pipher argues, girls often become disoriented or depressed (Gonick 12). The similarities
between Pipher’s argument and Ella’s curse are apparent, particularly since Ella is ordered throughout both film and novel to behave according to the whims of other characters. It is, therefore, possible to suggest that Ella is the embodiment of the “unwitting victim” that
Pipher writes about saving.
Except, of course, for the fact that Ella actively works to save herself. Thus, while Ella’s curse hearkens back to “reviving
Ophelia,” her actions as a character seem more relevant to the early girl power movement, before the Spice Girls helped to render the
movement as innocuous as their popular songs (Labi 60). Until then, the original girl power movement—headed by a group known as the
Riot Grrrls—was a reaction to the male dominated local punk scenes. This form of girl power urged young women to see themselves as
“producers and creators of knowledge, and as verbal and expressive dissenters” (Gonick 7). The notion of dissent is especially visible in
Ella’s defiance of her father’s wishes in the novel and her crusade for Elf rights in the film. After the movement’s early years, however,
girl power was adopted by the Spice Girls, becoming a “marketable concept that has been exploited for its commercial potential” much in
the same way Ella Enchanted was gutted and largely rewritten to become a bland teen movie (Gonick 11).
To be fair, it is unlikely that any film adaptation could faithfully recreate this novel. Largely told through Ella’s narration, the
story did have to be changed to work as visual entertainment. As is often the case, the adaptation process for Ella Enchanted consequently became problematic. Choices had to be made to present information effectively in the film and to maintain viewers’ attention.
Unfortunately, in the process the minds behind this film also seemed to choose to depoliticize most of Ella’s story. Particularly problematic are the film’s setting, its treatment of characters (both male and female) and the poetic license that was taken with key points of the
plot.
The film takes the already straightforward plot of Ella Enchanted and waters it down even further. It boils down Ella’s internal
struggle against the curse and Levine’s commentary on fighting cultural norms like obedience into a campy, clichéd romantic comedy
marketed toward teens. The writers choose to incorporate jokes common to the Shrek films—playing with the mores of well-known fairy
tales in a contemporary setting—and various other modern elements rather than remaining faithful to Levine’s original work. As a result,
the adaptation transforms into a quasi-high school version of the novel. Other “high-school-ized” films include Clueless and Ten Things
I Hate About You. The argument for this simplification and recasting of film adaptations is that “young people pay to see their current
conditions celebrated and exaggerated on the screen” (Shary qtd. in Davis 57) While this approach is effective in the adaptation of more
canonical texts such as Shakespeare or Austen, there is no reason to simplify the story in Ella Enchanted since viewers can easily follow
the simple, contemporary style of storytelling (Davis 54). Nonetheless, the film chose to “contemporize aspects of the story and language,
with references to medieval teen mags and fan clubs, a shopping mall replete with hand-cranked escalators” in addition to two musical
numbers and other inane atrocities that cause the plot to veer dangerously toward the absurd and ridiculous (Rooney par. 5). This insistence to simplify and modernize the plot illustrates a “tunnel vision” often found in “movies aimed at a teen audience, as filmmakers have
been wary of too academic a product” (Davis 56). It is subsequently clear that the film does not take itself seriously, thereby rendering the
feminist elements of the original story ineffective.
Despite being targeted at an older audience (teen rather than child), the movie is much lighter than the novel thanks to its simplification and inappropriate modernization. Everything is campy and fun. Even Ella’s curse becomes less cruel in the film. In the novel,
the severity of Ella’s curse in constantly underscored with passages explaining how little control Ella has over her own life: “If someone
told me to hop on one foot for a day and a half, I’d have to do it. And hopping on one foot wasn’t the worst order I could be given. If
you commanded me to cut off my own head, I’d have to do it” (Levine 5). The movie chooses to ignore the more severe commands,
focusing instead on silly orders like telling Ella to freeze mid-jump creating a tableau akin to the fight scenes in the Matrix films. Furthermore, while in the film Ella is compelled to complete her orders with a twinkling sound and a bodily jolt, the Ella of the novel has the
choice to delay in following orders. The film’s representation of Ella’s obedience disregards the physical difficulties Ella faces because of
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each delay: “Each moment cost me dear—in breathlessness, nausea, dizziness and other complaints. I could never hold out for long.
Even a few minutes were a desperate struggle” (Levine 5). This darker side to Ella’s curse is ignored in favor of cinematic effects and comedic opportunities, as when Ella is ordered to sing at a Giant’s wedding and bursts into one of the film’s notorious musical numbers.
Finally, in dealing with the menacing nature of Ella’s “gift,” the film fails to include some of the most jarring examples of the
curse’s dangers. These dangers are particularly obvious at the Giant’s wedding in the novel where, instead of being ordered to sing, Ella is
ordered to be grateful for her gift by Lucinda herself. Ella explains the effects of this order, saying, “I still understood why I had always
hated Lucinda’s gift. But I was glad nonetheless. I imagined future commands, awful ones, ones that would kill me, and I glowed at the
idea of obeying them” (Levine 128). In this way, some of the most visceral and evocative events of the story are never addressed. While
the novel truly paints Ella’s gift as a curse the movie merely makes it seem an inconvenient nuisance.
In addition to inadequately showing Ella’s gift as a curse, the film also becomes excessively preoccupied with appearances as
almost all of the female characters are somehow glamorized for the film. Ella’s stepsisters go from short, fat and balding horrors to rather
dim, mildly cute, annoying pests. The changes made to Ella’s fairy godmother, Mandy, are even more problematic. Claudia Puig, in her
review of the film, writes “the novel’s fairy godmother, with frizzy gray hair and a couple of chins, has been transformed by Hollywood
into a much younger, more glamorous and decidedly duller Minnie Driver” (Puig par. 3). It is particularly disturbing that in addition to
gaining eternal youth in the film Mandy loses most of her magical aptitude—accidentally changing her boyfriend into a book that accompanies Ella on her journey.
Lucinda’s transformation is similarly upsetting. A well-meaning albeit misguided fairy who eventually sees the error of her ways
in the novel turns into a “loose-canon fairy godmother” in knee-high boots and an ill-fitting outfit that shows off her midriff in the film
version (Scwarzbaum par. 2). Instead of being well meaning and misguided, Lucinda is intentionally reckless throughout the film. At times
she even seems cruel, refusing to revoke Ella’s curse because of a “no return” policy. Lucinda never shows the repentance or regret that
redeemed her in the novel. Consequently, Lucinda never renounces “big magic” in the film (the reason she cannot revoke the curse in the
novel)—a decision that led her to also give up her magically maintained beauty toward the end of the novel where she appears as a
stooped, old woman (Levine 193). The one peripheral character immune to this treatment is Ella’s dear friend Areida. But this is likely
because the character that occupied at least a third of the novel and played a major role in furthering the plot is relegated to ten minutes
of screen time in the movie. In other words, the one character that wasn’t glamorized and simplified for the film version simply doesn’t
appear in most of the movie.
That is not to say that the other female characters fair better than Areida in the film. All of them—Mandy, Lucinda, and even
the evil step-sisters—become less central to the plot as the focus shifts from Ella’s quest to break her curse to Ella’s romance with Prince
Charmont. In a film that critics uniformly called a tale of empowerment for girls everywhere, few of the important peripheral characters
are female (Scwarzbaum). While other contemporary films with girl protagonists are “exploring the empowerment of female youth
through same-sex relationships” and friendships, this film systematically marginalizes all of its peripheral female characters (Kearney 132).
Instead of including empowering female relationships, Ella Enchanted paradoxically uses an approach found in traditional patriarchal
fairy tales where girls are told that they must “relinquish ties to other women so that all their energies can be harnessed in preparation”
for finding their own princes (Fisher 129). This conditioning, which is generally irritating to contemporary feminists, is shocking in a film
whose roots lie in a feminist retelling of the Cinderella story.
Of course, given the absence of significant female characters, the film is awash in male characters: “in ‘Wizard of Oz’ fashion,
the film makes transient characters from the book into tag alongs during Ella’s trek through the kingdom” (Rooney 2). Slannen the elf,
for example, changes from a mild-mannered tradesman who gives Ella directions into a wise-cracking elf who wants to petition the king
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for the chance to go to law school. This fact becomes relevant to the film’s silly side plot with Prince Char’s uncle Edgar mandating that
Elves must sing and dance as part of his evil plan to take over the kingdom.
Then there is the matter of Mandy’s gift to Ella: The Book. In the novel the book is an inanimate gift from Mandy to Ella upon
her departure for finishing school. It shows Ella useful letters and illustrations of people she cares about. Basically, the book is Ella’s lifeline. In the movie, the book is Mandy’s boyfriend who is sent to accompany Ella as she sets out to break the curse. He also becomes
Ella’s advisor, offering advice as Ella continues her journey and actually helping to rescue her at one point in the film. It is fascinating that
the movie felt compelled not only to create this source of male advice in the film but also to make him Mandy’s boyfriend. Certainly the
book is more effective on camera as a speaking character, but why not a female book? It is also strange that the film decided that one of
the story’s most independent female characters, Mandy, needed a man. The implication of Ella needing this male advice on her journey is
mind-blowing in a movie that proclaims itself as a girl power fairy tale. In the novel Ella is saved thanks to her intellect. In the film, Ella’s
merry band of men always steps in to save her when it becomes apparent that Ella cannot save herself, despite her protestations to the
contrary—a recurring joke in the film. This fact, and its constancy throughout the film, works to undermine all of Ella’s hard-won agency
as a feminist heroine in the novel.
Strangely, the filmmakers chose to abandon the one enlightened male that was in the original story. Prince Char—who in the
book had clever comments such as asking why Ella needed to go to finishing school when she was already perfectly fine—has become
unrecognizable. In the process of adaptation, Char became a caricature of himself, “the playful and intelligent Prince Charmont has
morphed on screen into an empty-headed teen idol” (Puig par. 4). In addition, the prince loses all interest in politics during his translation
from novel to screen. He even has a fan club, a group of psychotic girls he continuously runs away from during the movie.
As if these changes are not enough, the film even alters the ending of the story. The only focus of Levine’s novel was “Ella’s
empowering quest to lift the obedience curse while the overly processed script here embellishes her personal journey with numerous diversions and a political agenda” (Rooney 2). In the film version Edgar, Char’s uncle, orders Ella to kill Prince Charmont when he asks her
to marry him. This all conveniently takes place in a room with mirrored walls so that Ella is able to look at her reflection and issue her last
order, to no longer be obedient. Char, airhead idol that he is in the film, does not understand what Ella is doing holding a knife to his
back and she is arrested. While Ella languishes in jail, her friend Slannen gathers a misfit cavalry to launch a rescue, Ella then “stops Edgar
murdering Char with a poisoned crown. Edgar reveals his plan to kill Char and admits he killed Char’s father. He dons the poisoned
crown” and dies (Smith par. 2). Ella and Char then make up, get married, and start singing “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” as the credits
roll. This ending creates a variety of problems when trying to read the film as a feminist text. The most detestable is that Ella has to order
herself to stop being obedient. Instead of overcoming the curse, she finds a loophole. In this way, Ella’s triumph—the point at which the
novel ends, is rendered so anti-climactic that an entire assassination plot had to be added to create a more satisfying sense of closure.
Then—just to make sure viewers never forget that Ella Enchanted is a silly, fun, romantic movie—all of the characters start dancing and
break into song.
As several critics note, the novel is not bogged down in such complicated subplots and flashy tricks. Instead, Ella willingly
renounces Char when he professes his love because she knows that she poses too much of a danger to Char, and by extension to the
kingdom, with her curse. The story’s relation to Cinderella becomes more evident here as Ella attends three royal masquerade balls to see
Char one last time before completely renouncing him. At the last ball Ella is unmasked and forced to admit that she does love Char. Realizing the value of a royal stepdaughter, Ella’s stepmother orders Ella to accept Char’s proposal. And here is the real difference between
the film and the novel. Ella does not look in a mirror and say the curse is broken. Instead she fights it through sheer force of will:
My thought burrowed within, concentrated in a point deep in my chest, where there was room for only one truth; I must save
Char. For a moment I rested inside myself, safe, secure, certain, gaining strength. In that moment I found a power beyond any
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I’d had before, a will and a determination I would never have needed if not for Lucinda, a fortitude I hadn’t been able to find for
a lesser cause. And I found my voice. (Levine 226)
In this ending, Ella obliterates any similarities to Pipher’s Ophelia as she defines herself and takes a stand to break the curse. Like secondwave feminists at consciousness raisings, Ella finally has the words she needs to express her own feelings and desires. She has the strength
to refuse to marry Char until she is ready, thereby breaking the curse and saving not only herself but also the prince.
Ella Enchanted is a campier, simpler version of a complex novel. In trying to modernize the story and make it more effective as
a film, the movie actually turned to traditional gender roles—creating men to guide Ella and situations from which other men could rescue her. Like a good, traditional princess, this Ella renounces the women in her life to prepare to find a proper husband. But she does all
of this while protesting for Ogre rights, singing lovely songs and wielding swords beside her prince, so that a compliant audience might
overlook the less-than-feminist ideas. Because of this “dumbing down” of the story, the film becomes a work in popular feminism. As a
result, Ella Enchanted suffers a similar process in translation from print to screen that the girl power movement suffered after the Spice
Girls embraced it. Rather than effectively addressing any of the concrete, feminist, issues brought up in the original novel, Ella Enchanted
merely creates a ridiculous setting, does a song and dance, and tells a few stale jokes while it pretends that a girl saying she can save herself
is the same as actually doing so.
Works Cited
Barsanti, Chris. “Ella Enchanted DVD Review.” Slant Magazine August 2004.
Bellafante, Ginia. “Feminism: It’s All About Me!” Time 29 June 1998.
Davis, Hugh H. “I Was a Teenage Classic: Literary Adaptation in Turn-of-the-Millennium Teen
Films,” The Journal of American Culture 29.1 (2006): 52-60.
Fisher, Jerilyn. “Good and Bad Beyond Belief.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 28.3/4 (2000): 121.
Gonick, Marina. “Between ‘Girl Power’ and ‘Reviving Ophelia’: Constituting the Neoliberal
Girl Subject.” NWSA Journal 18.2 (2006).
Heywood, Leslie, Jennifer Drake. The Third Wave Agenda. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1997.
Kearney, Mary Celeste. “Girlfriends and Girl Power: Female Adolescence in Contemporary U.S.
Cinema.” Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice: Cinemas of Girlhood. Frances Gateward
and Murray Pomerance, eds. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2002: 125-142.
Kehr, David. “Check Out the Totally Buff Prince in Medieval Teen Magazine.” The New York
Times 9 April 2004.
Labi, Nadya, Jeane McDowell, Alice Park. “Girl Power.” Time Magazine 151.25 (1998).
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Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted. New York: Harper Collins, 1997.
Puig, Claudia. “'Ella': Empowerment but little magic.” USA Today 2 April 2004.
Rooney, David. “Ella Enchanted.” Variety 394.8 (2004).
Schwarzbaum, Lisa. “A Cinderella Story Gets a Charming Dose of Girl Power. ”Entertainment
Weekly 16 April 2004.
Smith, Anna. “Ella Enchanted.” Sight & Sound 14.12 (2004): 45-6.
Waxman, Sharon. “Cracks in Hollywood’s Glass-Slipper Genre.” The New York Times. 26
April 2004: E 1.
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Blackface Minstrelsy in America
Jessica Jones
Blackface minstrelsy was the first distinctly American theatrical form. White men would appear in staged performances with the
ashes from burnt cork smeared on their face. This was an attempt at imitating Black Americans in a stereotypical fashion created for
white pleasure. The use of blackface became an ever popular form of entertainment and a furtive way of keeping Blacks oppressed. Minstrel shows are an undeniable part of American history that yielded many results; they can never be forgotten, erased, or overlooked regardless of how hard one many try.
When Columbus set sail in 1492, the world changed forever. Native people were murdered, raped, and driven from their land in
the Americans whilst Africans were brought in shackles to receive a similar treatment. In 1619, the first documented group of Africans
was forcibly brought to the American colonies. These slaves were forced to do labor however, they were treated as indentured servants in
that some were able to work for their freedom or purchase it after a period of time:
By the 1660s, however, some masters were beginning to baptize their slaves. Furthermore, the Church of England was pressuring most masters to do so. However, there was a general belief that baptism would lead to freedom. In 1667 the Virginia House
of Burgesses adopted legislation declaring that baptism would not emancipate a slave. Thus, after the 1680s religion was no
longer a justification for enslavement. Nor was enslavement in Africa a justification any longer for
some slaves. By this time some slaves were American born. Indeed, in 1662 Virginia had adopted a rule that African-American
children would follow the status of their mothers. The end result of these two laws was the racialization of slavery. Africans and
African-Americans were legitimately enslaved, so the land barons of Virginia would now argue, because they were black.
(Finkelman 1)
This legal establishment of slavery was based upon ‘race’, a term never used prior to this event. Race was a creation by the members of
the Virginia House of Burgesses to express a fabricated reasoning to the white majority as to why these men and women whom were
forcibly taken from their land deserved to be enslaved. The institution of slavery in America ended de jure in 1860; however, in many ways
it has continued to exist de facto. Slavery created a strong air of white supremacy with catastrophic results and not only affected the lives of
the Americans present at its indoctrination, but the lives of all generations to follow. Depictions of slavery were ever-present in novels,
music, and on the stage. Blackface minstrel shows, in particular, directly expressed the sentiment of the White majority towards Blacks
and the institution of slavery.
“Blackface minstrelsy had its beginnings in the 1830s, when minstrel musical acts appeared as interludes in an evening’s theatrical entertainments or as one act in a circus” (Recorded Anthology of American Music 1). However, it was not until 1843 when a group of
four white men used burnt-cork makeup, sang “Dixie”, and in New York put on the first complete minstrel show. Unfortunately, the
introduction of blackface minstrelsy was one of the many examples of the air of disregard that White America had towards Blacks. The
first New York performance occurred only one year after Nat Turner’s attempted rebellion.
Minstrel shows “presented blacks as subhuman, simple minded, superstitious, and submissive” (Leab 1). The image most regularly depicted was of the stock character, Sambo, a successor to the ever-popular Jim Crow. Sambo was “irresponsible, loyal but lazy,
humble but chronically given to lying and stealing” (Leab 1). He was always seen craving fried chicken and watermelon, and greatly depended on Whites. With skin as black as coal, he pranced around the stage in tattered clothing and bare feet, and never ceased to cause
mischief. While Sambo was presented as a representation for the Southern Black slave, there was an equally racist depiction of the Northern Black freemen. He was referred to as a ‘dandy coon’, and his job was to sing and dance for the White audience’s enjoyment. The
dandy was to provide entertainment in the form of song and dance, whereas Sambo was expected to receive laughs from the audience in a
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clown-like fashion.
Many blackface acts and performers [began] in working-class oriented theatres in areas like the Bowery in New York. But by the
end of the 1840s, … minstrel shows had begun ‘to attract the patronage of the most respectable citizens,’ in part because they
had become one of the chief attractions of the more bourgeois environs – like Barnum’s American Museum – of Broadway.
(Gilmore 751)
Surprisingly, many of the major minstrel performers were from the urban North and had connections with Northern Democratic politicians. In a modern-day context, this may sound incredulous but the truth of the matter is that although minstrel shows were based on the
stereotypes of Black Southerners, they were performed mainly in the North by Northern actors. This may have appealed to Northerners
because of their lack of valid knowledge concerning Southern slavery. Therefore, performers were able to glorify the institution on stage
and depict images that few would know lacked authenticity.
Some of the most highly respected literary works of the day, when produced on stage, involved performances by actors in the
infamous burnt-cork makeup. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Huckleberry Finn were both performed in blackface.
Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is possibly the most famous anti-slavery novel in American history, but was it truly anti-racist? The character
Tom is an idealized portrayal of a plantation slave; although the intended message of the novel was to show that Blacks were in fact human and should be treated as such, Stowe’s characterization was quite belittling. Tom was made into a person who seemed to accept his
role as a slave and was completely dependant upon his masters. He adored his master and fit the characterization of the way Whites felt
Black slaves should behave. Much literature of the day “lampooned the black, glorified plantation tradition, rationalized lynchings, and
explained away inequitable treatment of blacks,” though Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was not one of these works (Leab 8). The effects of
racist literature and minstrel shows were greatly felt by all Black Americans.
Gang attacks on blacks, mobbings of black churches, and battles between black and white gangs were commonplace holiday
occurrences. Other racially motivated mobs repeated the pattern; during the 1834 Philadelphia race riot in the Moyamensing
district, some of the anti-abolitionist rioters who attacked the homes of well-to-do blacks, burned black churches, and destroyed
racially integrated places of leisure wore black masks and shabby coats. This ‘blackface-on-Black violence,’ … would seem to
indicate a fairly direct correspondence between racial hostility, public masking, and the minstrel show. (Lott 24)
These types of occurrences destroyed early attempts made at establishing Black theatre companies. Because slavery was still instituted and legal, these attempts occurred only in the North, mainly in New York. In addition to minstrel shows ridiculing Blacks and
depicting them in a negative light, Blacks were also forced to sit in the balcony seats of theatres when attending shows. William Henry
Brown created the African Gore Theatre in 1821 in an effort to counteract these injustices and prejudices set forth against Blacks. The
theatre company was made up of Black actors and although they performed a variety of works, the majority of the company’s repertoire
was written by William Shakespeare. This was a considerable change from the racist minstrel shows poking fun at the disadvantaged
Blacks still held in bondage. Brown’s creations exemplified a move towards independence from the chains of White America and exhibited the astounding talent of Black Americans, proving they could do more than eat watermelon and dance a jig. This was not appreciated
by White audiences; white patrons purchased tickets to these shows only to serve as hecklers throughout the performance. The behavior
of White audiences became so dangerous that the theatre was forced to close down. It would be years before another attempt such as this
was made again (Lott 24).
White performers continued to rule the stage and minstrel shows were possibly the most popular form of entertainment in the United States during the nineteenth century. The actors who tried to depict the lives and mannerisms Southern Blacks received tremendous acclaim by their White Northern audiences. Theatre goers believed these racist performances served as accurate and
true representations. Mark Twain was one of the many patrons who agreed with this opinion; aside from their true to life representations,
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he believed the shows to be full of joy and happiness. His mother believed that she was watching actual Black performers at her first minstrel show because of the seemingly precise portrayals (Lott 20).
Black performers did not become involved in minstrel shows until the latter half of the nineteenth century. This was mainly
because White audiences found it offensive to have a real Black person appear before them on stage. Once Black actors began performing in these shows, they were ridiculed and chastised if they appeared onstage without burnt-cork makeup over their naturally dark skin.
The White patrons believed if a Black actor appeared on stage without blackface he was acting ‘uppity’ and didn’t know his place. This
forced black actors to wear the blackface makeup because without it they may have been heckled by the White audience inciting a riot and
would sell fewer tickets, thereby making less money. There were few successful black performers during this time; among them were William Henry Lane, Bert Williams, and George Walker (Leab 8).
William Henry Lane, better known as Juba, is credited with being the creator of tap. Many recognize him as the most successful
black entertainer to ever wear blackface. Famed novelist, Charles Dickens, gave an account of seeing Lane perform live in the Five Points
district of New York. He said that Lane was “the greatest dancer known. He never leaves off making queer faces… dancing with two left
legs, two right legs, two wooden legs, two wire legs, two spring legs – all sorts of legs and no legs… He finishes… with the chuckles of a
million Jim Crows, in one inimitable sound” (Gilmore 754).
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Bert Williams and George Walker were two of the most famous black entertainers in
the world. Williams, who was born Egbert Austin Williams in 1873 on the island of the Bahamas, teamed up with Walker in 1893 in California. During this time they were performing on stage without blackface to try and make a living, which greatly angered the theatre owners. In 1896 they came to New York with their act, “Two Real Coons,” and in 1898 they popularized a dance called the cakewalk. They
made American theatrical history in 1902 when they brought the first black musical, In Dahomey, to Broadway. “While Walker, the straight
man, the dandy of the pair, sang, jigged, and shone, Williams, the clown, danced more slowly in oversized shoes, pulled sad faces, and
seldom failed to bring down the house. He wore white gloves and he appeared in blackface” (Pinckney 1). Williams’ father was ashamed
of his son for playing the clown he was paid to become on stage. Walker also was not happy with Williams blacking up to play the buffoon, but he also knew that it was when Williams put on blackface and became a “coon”, that they began to make money. Williams recounted what happened one time when he stood before a mirror in 1896 in Detroit as he prepped for a show: “As I apply the burnt cork
to my face, as I smear the black into my already sable skin, as I put on my lips, I am leaving behind Egbert Austin Williams” (Pinckney 2).
Every night after the show, he would vanish in order to be alone so he could recover and collect himself before leaving the theatre. Contrary to what one may assume, the two men were popular with blacks for a time at the beginning of their career. They were stars who
became representatives of their race as they traveled across the globe for honors such as performing at Buckingham Palace and in front of
the Prince of Wales. Black audiences did not like the minstrel act, but knew that it was a rare feat for two Black men to achieve such success and fame; therefore, they respected Williams and Walker for defeating their oppressors at their own game. Walker’s health began to
decline and forced him to retire in 1909, ending his partnership with Williams. Walker tried to keep alive all that he and Williams had
built, such as their theatre company. Their company was the strongest and largest of its day but Walker was forced to give it up. In 1910
he tried to move forward with his career and joined in the Ziegfeld Follies. Twelve years later Bert Williams died and all that was left behind were memories.
Minstrel shows may seem a thing of the past, but their presence is still felt. Although wonderful music and dance styles may
have developed from them, their effects were more damaging than they were constructive, creative, or positive. “The negative side of the
minstrel show’s impact was its racism. The minstrel show helped create or reinforce negative stereotypes of blacks that have plagued
American society ever since” (Recorded Anthology of American Music 1). Two firefighters and a police officer were fired from their jobs
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in 1998 by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani for wearing blackface on a float in the Broad Channel, Queens Labor Day Parade. The
men not only blackened their faces but one firefighter re-enacted the murder of James Byrd Jr., a black man who in Texas the previous
June was dragged by a pickup truck to his death. Despite the obvious offense and racist message that the men were trying to send by
wearing blackface, in June of 2003 a federal judge ruled that the dismissal of the men from their jobs was a violation of their first amendment rights. In spite of its shameful past and harmful presence, blackface was victorious.
Minstrel shows are a major part of American history with effects that are still seen in the twenty-first century. They began with
four White men from the North applying the ashes from burnt-cork to their faces before going on stage to perform “Dixie” in front of a
New York audience. Who would have known they would make such a lasting impact on American society? The “Jim Crow” Laws, the
name used to describe the laws that enforced legal segregation in the United States until the adoption of the Civil Rights Amendment in
the Constitution, received its name from a stock character in the minstrel shows. The same shows that were performed for the purpose of
humiliating and poking fun at Blacks were used again to segregate Blacks from Whites thus changing history forever. America has yet to
recover from the effects of the “Jim Crow” Laws, and it’s quite shocking to recognize that the creation of the minstrel show somehow
contributed to this legalized discrimination that occurred for a century. If blackface minstrelsy was the first distinctly American theatrical
form, what does this say about America?
Works Cited
American Theatre Bowery New York. Advertisement. Lott, Eric. “The Seeming Counterfeit: Racial Politics and Early Blackface Minstrelsy.” American Quarterly 43 (1991): 239.
The Early Minstrel Show. New York: Recorded Anthology of American Music, 1985.
Finkelman, Paul. "Affirmative Action: a Dialogue on Race, Gender, Equality, and Law in America." Ed. John M. Eden and John P. Ryan.
FOCUS XIII (1998). 20 Mar. 2007 <http://www.abanet.org>.
Gilmore, Paul. ""De Genewine Artekil": William Wells Brown, Blackface Minstrelsy, and Abolitionism." American Literature 69 (1997):
743-780. JSTOR. Proquest. Birnbaum Library, New York. 20 Mar. 2007.
Leab, Daniel J. From Sambo to SuperSpade: the Black Experience in Motion Pictures. Boston: Houghton Mufflin Company, 1975. 1-15.
Lott, Eric. Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class. New York: Oxford UP, 1993.
Master Juba. Advertisement. The Illustrated London News. 5 August 1848.
Pinckney, Darryl. "Blacking Up." Rev. of Dancing in the Dark, by Caryl Phillips. The New York Review of Books 13 July 2006.
Weiser, Benjamin. "Judge Rules City Erred by Firing 3 for Blackface." New York Times 25 June 2003. 20 Mar. 2007 <http://
www.nytimes.com>.
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Volume I, Issue 1
Spring Semester
2008