Letter from the Editor, Charlene Stewart
Dear Readers,
Welcome to Northern Light, North Hennepin Community College’s student-run undergraduate research journal and the first of its kind in the nation. After working diligently over the past several months with our featured authors, staff, and faculty in selecting and editing six articles that resonate with our journal’s mission, we are proud to present this inaugural issue.
Perceptions of Diversity at NHCC in the 1980s: Drawing the Line between the American Melting Pot and Multiculturalism
The story of diversity at North Hennepin Community College (NHCC) is unique. As one of the most ethnically diverse student communities in the metro today, NHCC has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1966. Over time, there has been a change in the way minority populations are received—but under what circumstances, and why? By analyzing events, policies, objectives, and ideas flourishing at NHCC through the larger picture of social trends in America, the perceptions of ethnic and racial diversity can be answered. What exactly people were thinking about diversity in the early to mid-1980s at NHCC may be locked away, but traces of these thoughts remain.
Perceptions of Diversity at NHCC in the 1980s...
The Dakota Uprising: Lake Minnetonka and Dakota Holy Ground
Historical records suggest that the area surrounding Lake Minnetonka, located approximately twenty miles west of Minneapolis/St. Paul, was considered “holy ground” to the local Dakota natives. To date, local historians have gone to great lengths to record the early history of white settlers in the area. Whether intentional or unintentional, early Dakota history resides in first-hand accounts of the relationship between the settlers and the natives. These written records provide a primary source of information that allows researchers access to the spiritual meaning of Lake Minnetonka within the indigenous culture.
The Dakota Uprising: Lake Minnetonka...
Antebellum Feminism’s Relationship With the Antislavery Movement
Since the early nineteenth century in America, the main goal of organized feminism has been to provide women with political, social, and economic equality. Women of the American Antebellum era longed for these rights, just like women do today. Of course, there were incredible women such as Mary Wollstonecraft from the eighteenth century who were advocating women’s rights, but the movement did not thrive until women banded together in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Just as women’s liberation in the 1960s and ’70s emerged after the civil rights movement, the first wave of feminism branched out of the abolition movement in the 1830s.
Antebellum Feminism’s Relationship With...
In the Bard’s Defense: Debating Shakespeare’s Authorship
“Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides.” –King Lear, I.I.
The Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969 was an elaborate hoax devised by NASA to gain support for their work. Adolf Hitler did not die on April 30, 1945 as people are led to believe, but is alive and well to this day. Area 51 houses real evidence that aliens do exist, including the infamous alien discovered at Roswell, New Mexico. The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 were, in fact, an inside job, planned by high-level officials in the U.S. government. All of these statements have one thing in common: they are all conspiracy theories that have been disproved numerous times, yet somehow they still persist.
In the Bard’s Defense: Debating...
Same Message, Different Tone: Politicians and Their Means for Promoting Political Activism on the Campus of NHCC
The presence of speakers on the campus of North Hennepin Community College has been extensive, and stands firmly significant throughout its rife forty-four year history. From its earliest beginnings in 1966, the college has demonstrated visitations from a wide array of U.S. political figures, varying from the most local city council member, to the highest office in American politics. While over time, there has been adaptation to political messages and means, these prevalent politicians have retained a consistent principle and running rationale.
Same Message, Different Tone: Politicians and...
The Voynich Manuscript: Preconceived Madness
“Michi dabas multas portas,” meaning “To me thou gavest (or wast giving) many gates” (Newbold qtd. in Kennedy 31). These were the words that set the mind of William Newbold ablaze, starting his lifelong addiction to deciphering the Voynich Manuscript. Publishing his research on the Medieval Latin ciphertext in the early 1920s, Newbold became the darling of popular media like Harper’s Magazine. But all of this would crumble away after his sudden death in 1926, leaving friend and colleague John Manly to later publish the first of many comments against Newbold’s translation: “In my opinion, the Newbold claims are entirely baseless and should be definitely and absolutely rejected” (Kennedy 37-42).
Book Review | Cognitive Vulnerability and Stress in Children and Adolescents
Research in psychiatry and mood disorders continues to deepen with the publication of Randy Auerbach and Benjamin Hankin’s Cognitive Vulnerability and Stress in Children and Adolescents. Dr. Hankin is a professor at Denver University in the department of psychology. Other areas of his expertise include developmental pathology and depression. He has published eight books before Cognitive Vulnerability on related topics, including Co-Rumination and Stress Generation (2010). He is also a recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. Dr. Auerbach is an assistant professor at Harvard where he directs the research of child and adolescent psychiatry.
Book Review | Cognitive Vulnerability...
Book Review | The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
Sam Kean’s first book, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Stories of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table is currently on the New York Times Best Seller list. His second, The Violinist’s Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code has also met critical acclaim. Kean, who has an undergraduate degree in physics and English and a Master’s degree in Library Science, draws from his experience as both physics student and story teller in his latest compilation of tales from the science department, The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons.