Synaptic

1993 Edition

Note from the editors

By Tom Egger '93 and Julie Noordsy '94

Twelve papers were selected for their readability, originality, and insight.

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The Cold War in Independent Africa

By Jay Dee '93

The independence movements in Africa during the early 1960s provided foreign policy opportunities to both the United States and the Soviet Union.

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“The Role and Revelavance of Mercy in ‘The Artificial Nigger'”

By Kathy Gunzenhauser '94

Mr. Head and his grandson Nelson start their journey to the city as men who are incapable of showing mercy to each other or anyone else in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “The Artificial Nigger.”

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The Boys From Brazil, Cloning, and the Future

By Marnie Schweitzer '96

Cloning, a topic made light of by parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic, is a serious topic which may influence the future of evolution. In his book, The Boys From Brazil, fiction writer Ira Levin brings up important and well-needed questions considering cloning and its relationship to the future of humanity.

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Goethe, Faust 1, and Science

By Amy Laren Murray '93

Faust I, by the German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, illustrates a strong connection between science and the creative intellect in the Romantic period.

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Applying Psychology to the Motivation of Employees

By Chris Holst '94

Nearly everyone in the U.S. who is at least 16 years of age has worked for an organization or an individual at some point in his or her life.

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In Search of Reliable Truth

By Deanna Ver Steeg '94

Labeled “The Battle of the Beancounters” from those on the outskirts of the combat zone, the debate over the merits of historical cost as opposed to current value accounting includes three formidable groups: the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Reserve Bank. Each group possesses its own agenda which ranges from maintenance of the status quo to radical change.

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Hawthorne Hates Heaven on Earth

By Lisa McNees '93

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The May-Pole of Merry Mount” is an allegorical account of the struggle for moral control in Puritan New England.

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How to Become Spiritually Impaired

By Kyle Beermann '95

During the early to mid-1800s, there were several writers who held the belief that the human soul is part of a larger macrocosm.

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Ozone Diplomacy

By Andrea Burgess '95

In 1974, studies by American scientists revealed that chloroflourocarbons, or CFCs, damage the ozone layer.

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A Postcard from Egypt

By Deb Forssman '94

On Monday I found a postcard in my mailbox with “Greetings from Egypt” printed in the upper right-hand comer in white capital letters across a red banner.

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Pulling the Curtain Down: An Introduction to the Role of the East German Protestant Church in the Peaceful Revolution of 1989

By Stephen Lazarus '92

The year 1989 will always be remembered as the year in which a hurricane of democratic change swept across the Communist-dominated political landscape of Eastern Europe.

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