A Fear of Intimacy:
Misinterpretation of Themes due to the Sensationalism of the Sexual in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's novel, Emile, and Madonna's music video, Like a Prayer

While the mention of sexuality is easily sensationalized into a scandal - no matter what the era - not every mention of intimacy has been intended for corruption. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1762 novel, Emile, is far from sordid in its themes but has been largely ignored for centuries because of the radical thoughts on sexuality that make up a small portion of its pages. Similarly, in the subtexts of Madonna's 1989 song, Like a Prayer, is a racial activism that reexamines late twentieth-century American culture. Sexuality is misread as sacrilegious in both works, and the authors' intended messages are all but forgotten.

Presented at the Virginia Community College Faculty Research Symposium
at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in April 2008.

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The History of All-Girls Schools in Richmond, Virginia
(1805-2005)

The Richmond Academy for Female Education of 1807 was the first all-girls high school in the country, but throughout the nineteenth century, the city's - and country's - educators struggled to define the purpose and necessity of women's education. Richmond, Virginia's all-girls schools range from the MacKenzie School for Young Ladies in 1805 to Orchard House founded in 1998. Over ninety such schools are known to have existed in Richmond, Virginia in the past two hundred years with three remaining today. Their histories follow trends of all-girls schools in the South as well as much of the country, yet the chronicles of these schools and their leaders are unique to the city of Richmond.

In the Archives of the Richmond History Center.