Hello and welcome to my ECC portfolio! My name is Laura Miller and I am a Senior at The Pennsylvania State University. I will be graduating in the Spring of 2012 with a double major in English and Political Science from the Schreyer Honors College. I am from Arlington, VA and have spent the last two summers interning in nearby Washington, DC. The summer after my Sophomore year in college, I interned for a non-profit called the Feminist Majority Foundation and did a lot of work for the Feminist Majority PAC. Last summer, I interned on Capitol Hill in the office of Senator Barbara Boxer. My time on Capitol Hill was inspiring and I hope to return one day in a professional capacity. Additionally, I currently serve as the Secretary of the Penn State College Democrats and work as a supervisor at The Music Mart in downtown State College.
I have divided my portfolio into two sections that I feel have defined my academic work at Penn State. The first is Politics and the second is Cultural Studies. Each area has its own tab located above this page. When the tab opens, a menu appears with a link to each work on a separate page followed by a brief summary of the piece.
Under the Politics tab, I have included one piece of statistical analysis on the role of the union vote in the 2012 election. This piece includes academic theory, graphs, tables and analysis that I feel demonstrate my ability to communicate and analyze complex data for pertinent Political Science topics. The second piece that I have included is a policy paper on women's rights in Afghanistan and is written as if it is going to be submitted to the United Nations. There is a Prezi that accompanies the paper, which I presented to my Geography 128 class as if I was presenting it to the United Nations General Assembly. I included the Prezi in this blog in order to demonstrate my ability to utilize visual rhetoric to persuade a professional audience.
Under the Cultural Studies tab, I have included four pieces from different times in my collegiate career. These works analyze a wide array of Cultural Studies topics, including popular television shows, movies, music and the visual arts. The first piece in the drop down menu is entitled "The Aura of Mad Men," and discusses the role of Walter Benjamin's theory of "aura" in the popularity of the hit AMC television show. The second piece addresses The Who's My Generation from the perspective of several contemporary theorists and is available as a speech as well as in text form via the links provided. This speech is intended to serve as the oral presentation portion of my blog. The third piece I have included is a paper that I wrote this year for a course on Detective Fiction, which analyzes the 1941 Film Noir flick The Maltese Falcon via Walter Benjamin's theories on "Flanerie" and "Aura." The final piece on this menu compares Van Gogh's Night Cafe with Norman Rockwell's Prom Night. I wrote this paper during my Sophomore Year for an introductory Art History class. This paper was what sparked my interest in the field of cultural studies and I feel that comparing this piece with some of my later works demonstrates how I have grown as a writer throughout my time at Penn State.
Please feel free to explore my site in its entirety and leave a comment on any one of my included works. I would greatly appreciate any comments or recommendations. You can also view my resume and contact information on the first tab listed above. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
