When Czech composer Bedřich Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride received its American premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in February 1909, New York music critics published positive reviews which displayed a great fascination with the many "Bohemian" aspects of the production. However, certain comments or language used by some critics indicate that American opinions of the Czech people were less than positive. After Czechs began immigrating to America en masse in 1848, already-established American citizens developed skewed cultural perceptions of the Czech people, established negative stereotypes, and propagated their opinions in various forms of press throughout the nation. Despite a general dislike of the Czechs, reviewers revered The Bartered Bride and praised its many authentic "Bohemian" qualities. This research explores the idea of a paradoxical cultural phenomenon in which the prejudice against Czech people did not fully cross over into the musical sphere. Instead, appreciation for Czech music and musicians may have trumped any such negative opinions and authentic Czech productions such as The Bartered Bride may have been considered a novelty in the eyes of early twentieth-century New Yorkers.

People who live in mobile homes have heightened vulnerability to disasters, due in part to mobile homes increasingly occupying high-hazard risk lands and the precarious ownership status known as divided-tenure. Divided-tenure is when an individual owns a mobile home and rents the land underneath. To identify the challenges associated with divided-tenure and disaster recovery from a policy perspective, this study analyzed the content of key HUD policies and performed a comparative policy analysis of purchase opportunity laws (requirements of landowners to give mobile homeowners an opportunity to purchase the property their home resides on) in three states: California, Florida, and New York. Content analysis indicated few direct references to mobile homes. Inconsistencies and confusing messaging were found in the existing federal guidance. The lack of consistent terminology and guidance on addressing divided-tenure, limits mobile homeowner's options for disaster recovery, including eligibility for federal disaster aid and potentially participation in relocation or buyout programs. The three selected states' purchase opportunity laws reviewed in this study were rated as weak. Policies lacked alignment with federal documents and opportunities for mobile homeowners were difficult to navigate. A pathway to land ownership could give mobile homeowners more control over their disaster recovery options, but …