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30 March Baby Names for Girls and Boys
A month associated with the mirth and merriment of St. Patrick's Day, March is a wonderful inspiration for baby names associated with Ireland, the sign of Pisces, and numerous famous people and holidays.
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30+ February Baby Name Ideas for Girls and Boys
The shortest month isn't short on sources of baby name inspiration. From Valentine's Day to Black History Month, February is packed with symbolism to get your creative juices flowing!
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Review and Swatches: Wet n Wild Color Icon Eye Shadow Quad in Silent Treatment
Wet n Wild just reformulated their Color Icon shadows! Are the new palettes up to snuff? Check out my review of the new Silent Treatment Quad, complete with a matte transition shade.
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30 January Baby Names for Boys and Girls Born in the New Year
The New Year is a wonderful time to welcome a new baby. Be sure to give them a name that reflects the joy and hope the season brings.
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30 Baby Names for Boys and Girls Born in December
A festive month full of celebrations ranging from Christmas to Kwanzaa, December is a wonderful source of baby name inspiration for boys and girls.
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30 November Baby Name Ideas for Boys and Girls
Parents expecting a baby in November can look to the month itself for plenty of inspiration. Here are 30 possibilities.
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Too Faced I Want Kandee Eyeshadow Palette Review
A collaboration between Too Faced and YouTube beauty guru Kandee Johnson, the I Want Kandee eyeshadow palette is both colorful and wearable—but what's the quality like? Here's my review with swatches included.
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6 of My Favorite Travel Eye Shadow Palettes
You don't have to skimp on your beauty routine while traveling light. Here are six of the best travel eye shadow palettes, from low to high end.
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30 Baby Name Ideas for Girls and Boys Born in September
Parents expecting a baby in September can look to the month itself for plenty of inspiration. September is the birth month of a number of famous people and is tied to a rich mythology as well.
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The Full Spectrum of Unique Color Names for Babies
As long as parents have been naming their children, they have been drawn to names inspired by colors. Here is a list of over 100 names for girls and boys inspired by every color of the rainbow.
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Geographical Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Cities and Places
From classic names like Charlotte, Eugene, and Georgia to trendier choices like Lincoln, Brooklyn, and Holland, geographical baby names have something to offer every parent.
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"Downton Abbey" Baby Names for Girls
Julian Fellowes' beloved TV series "Downton Abbey" is a wonderful source for lovely, traditionally feminine girls' names. Take a look at this list of 20 beautiful Edwardian classics.
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"Game of Thrones" Baby Names for Boys
From Benjen to Tyrion, George R.R. Martin's popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" books and "Game of Thrones" TV show are a treasure trove of strong and unusual baby names for boys.
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The Best "Game of Thrones"-Inspired Baby Names for Girls
From Arya to Ygritte, George R.R. Martin's popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" books and the "Game of Thrones" TV show are a gold mine of unique and beautiful baby names for girls.
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Annotated Bibliography on A Midsummer Night's Dream-- Sources for Learning About Shakespeare's Beloved Comedy
Although I initially wished to compose a fairly broad list of sources, providing a reasonably instructive general introduction to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an enormous—and enormously daunting—wealth of criticism exists surrounding the play....
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Edmund Burke and "Improvement" in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park
In “‘Mansfield Park:’ Reading for ‘Improvement,’” Gerry Brenner attempts to defend Austen’s novel from the lukewarm response—and even “hostility”—that many readers express toward it, and in particular its heroine, Fanny Price....
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The Canterbury Tales: The Devil in Chaucer's Friar's Tale and Summoner's Prologue
As a storytelling competition between a diverse hodge-podge of characters from many different walks of life, The Canterbury Tales abound with covert jabs, overt insults, and a general atmosphere of constant one-upmanship. Perhaps nowhere is this...
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The Importance of Being Earnest: Close Reading a Trivial Comedy for Serious People
The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is largely regarded as one of the funniest plays in the English language. However, it is not merely a “trivial comedy,” as its title suggests, but also a biting satire...
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Did Women Have a Renaissance?
“Did Women Have a Renaissance?” This question, posed as the title of a groundbreaking essay by Jean Kelly-Gadol, has been the subject of much debate among historians since the 1980s.
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Summary and Analysis of James Madison's Federalist #10
In Federalist #10, James Madison argues that the greatest vice of popular government is its vulnerability to problems caused by factions, special interest groups who, in supporting their own interests, occasionally undermine the rights of other...
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My Melanoma Scare: a Personal Story with Some Tips on Preventing and Spotting Skin Cancer
Growing up, I was always curious about the numerous brown spots that covered my skin. Pale, but "freckly," according to my classmates, I looked a bit like a dalmatian or a snow leopard. While my mother taught me that these spots were called moles...
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Hyperbole, Metonymy, and Synecdoche: A Brief Guide to Figures of Speech, Written by an English Instructor
As noted in the earlier hub from this short series, figurative language-- otherwise known as figures of speech-- describes a variety of techniques used by authors to give words meaning beyond their usual, literal definitions. Some common examples of...
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Simile, Metaphor, and Personification: A Brief Guide
Writers/speakers use figurative language to convey meaning beyond literal definitions. This article covers similes, metaphors, and personification.
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Women, Wollstonecraft, and Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
“My own sex, I hope, will excuse me,” writes Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, “if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of...
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In a Passion: Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge once noted that “[Edmund] Burke never shows his powers, except he is in a passion” (Wolfson, Manning 103). This may be most apparent in a well-known passage from the Irish MP’s Reflections on the Revolution in France...
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Gender Role Reversal in Disney's Aladdin
In her article, “Somatexts at the Disney Shop: Constructing the Pentimentos of Women’s Animated Bodies,” Elizabeth Bell suggests that female characters in Disney movies are allocated to one of three roles based on their age: Young women are...
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"Mirrours More than One": the Hall of Elizabethan Mirrors in Spenser's The Faerie Queene
In early modern Europe, mirrors were all the rage. The advent of glass mirrors in the twelfth century brought with it a proliferation of mirrors both physical and metaphorical, leading Herbert Grabes to dub the period from 1200 to 1700 “The Age of...
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Justifying the Ways of God to Man in Milton's "Paradise Lost"
In this article, we examine a piece of text in Milton's "Paradise Lost."
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Summary of "Jane Austen and Empire" by Edward Said
Learn about Edward Said’s essay “Jane Austen and Empire” from his book Culture and Imperialism. Read on to rethink Austen’s novel Mansfield Park.
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Summary of "Women on the Market" by Luce Irigaray
In this excerpt from "This Sex," Irigaray draws on the work of Karl Marx and anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss to explain the commodification of women in “our” society. Struggling to understand this piece? Don't worry. Read on for my full summary of this difficult piece of theory.
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Fixing a Bad Haircut: 6 Ideas for Salvaging Too-Short Bangs
Did someone go a little crazy with the scissors? Find six adorable, elegant solutions for bad bangs here.
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Irish Symbols and Their Meanings
The Irish people have a culture rich in traditions and symbols, and today those symbols are often found in rings, coins, flags, jewelry, and even tattoos. But exactly where do they come from, and what do they mean? A little research turns up a lot of information about these images, from history and...
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Love's True Form: An Essay on Beauty in Animated Fairy Tales From "Beauty and the Beast" to '"Shrek'"
When comparing "Beauty and the Beast" to "Shrek," it's clear that the latter has a truer take on what beauty truly is.
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Surviving College Dorms Without Air Conditioning
Since it's difficult to retrofit older buildings with central air, most older dorms, particularly in the north, will have you working up a sweat in the hotter days at the beginning and end of the school year. Although the blazing heat is generally...
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4 Ways to Make the Most of the Top Bunk in a College Dorm-- Plus: How to Make Your Bed on the Top Bunk
There are plenty of advantages to sleeping on the top bunk. Unless you're rooming with Vikings, it's high enough to allow you a little privacy. Since you'll be on top, no one will keep you up all night tossing and turning above your bed. And, if you...
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6 Ways to Make the Most of a Small College Dorm Room
Great for making use of vertical space and for decorating without nails or tape that can fall down or leave residue, 3M Command Strips and Hooks come in a variety of shapes and sizes designed for a myriad of purposes. Use the strips to hang posters,...
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Four Classic Movies Set in Iowa
Although my home state seldom gets much attention outside of election time, a number of classic movies have been set in the state of Iowa, including musicals, fantasy, drama, and a tragic romance.
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A Performance History of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
According to the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, the “inevitable condition of texts in history” is one of “iterability” or “recontextualization” (Fischlin and Fortier 5). Thus even the works of Shakespeare, once frequently cited as...
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The Merchant of Venice: Comedy or Tragedy?
The works of William Shakespeare are regarded the world over for their unique insight into the human condition. Although on the surface, Shakespeare’s writings frequently appear to uphold the Elizabethan status quo, for example making the...
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Race and Blood Purity in the Harry Potter Series
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling is perhaps the most successful children’s book series ever conceived, but it also contains some very adult themes. As the series is somewhat long and complex, I have chosen to focus on one of these themes,...