How does it feel to be creative? Such a question, when approached from a phenomenological perspective, reveals new understandings about the embodied experience of creativity, and how it feels as it is being lived. This investigation begins with a provocative contrast of two environments where creativity is thought to manifest itself: school art classrooms, where creativity is often legislated from an authority figure, and New Orleans Second Line parades, where creativity is organically and kinetically expressed. A thorough review of the literature on creativity focuses on education, arts education, creative economies, psychology, and critical theorists, collectively revealing a cognitive bias and striking lack of consideration for community, freedom, and the lived experience of being creative. Further discussions in the literature also neglect sites of creativity, and the impact that place (such as a school classroom) can have upon creativity. The phenomenological perspectives of Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Bachelard, and Trigg support a methodological lens to grasp embodied knowledge, perceptions of placedness on creativity, and the interdependent frictions between freedom, authenticity, movement and belonging. The research method includes investigations in New Orleans in archives, examination of visual and material culture, participation in cultural practice, and formal and informal interviews. Further, the phenomena of …

Map showing "Trammel's Trace," the first road from the north (present-day Arkansas) into Texas, used around 1800. It includes notations for abandoned settlements, modern cities, and Caddo villages documented from 1800 to 1840, as well as other historic roads used at the time of Trammel's Trace.

This dissertation analyzed court decisions in injuries on school grounds cases under the Louisiana Governmental Claims Act. The question addressed was: How have the Louisiana courts interpreted the Louisiana Governmental Claims Act in litigation against Louisiana school districts and their employees? The intent of this study was to show how Louisiana's legal system has evolved, and how that evolution affected tort cases involving school boards and school board employees. Doctrinal legal research was the methodology used to answer the research question. To limit the number of cases analyzed, this study only focused on tort claims involving injury on school property. In order to gain a broad perspective, tort claims cases filed prior to the 1974 Louisiana Constitution, cases filed after the 1974 Louisiana Constitution, and cases filed after the 1995 Louisiana Liability Limits Amendment, and the Louisiana Governmental Claims Act of 1996 were analyzed. By analyzing the tort claims brought against Louisiana school districts and employees during the various time-periods, it was clear to see how the case rulings reflected the frequent changes of the Louisiana Constitution and its' laws. In the end, the state continued to control who could sue them and how much they would pay in damages.

The purpose of this thesis document is to explain the process of making the documentary film, No Quarter: The Story of the New Orleans Greys. The document is organized by having the prospectus and the film proposal at the beginning, with the body describing how the film was made based on the prospectus. The purpose of the film is to tell the history of a unit of volunteers in the Texas Revolution, the New Orleans Greys. The document describes the methods used to make the film and how it will be distributed to the intended audience. As the thesis explains, the film changed slightly from the prospectus, however the resulting film was successful in telling the history of the little-known New Orleans Greys.

Using portraiture methodology and social practice theory, this study examined the identity work of young people engaged in a teen arts internship program at a contemporary arts center in post-Katrina New Orleans. This research asked four interrelated questions. Through the lens of a teen arts internship at a contemporary arts center in post-Katrina New Orleans, 1) How do contextual figured worlds influence artist identity work? 2) How does artist identity work manifest through personal narratives? 3) How does artist identity work manifest in activities? 4) What are the consequences of artist identity work? The findings of the study highlight how sociocultural factors influence dis/identification with the visual arts in young people and provoke considerations of in/equity in the arts.

This dataset contains Twitter JSON data for Tweets related to Tropical Storm Imelda and the subsequent flooding in the south Texas region. This dataset was created using the twarc (https://github.com/DocNow/twarc) package that makes use of Twitter's search API. A total of 76,420 Tweets and 4,429 media files make up the combined dataset.

Memoir written by Annie Margaret Rankin Warner and Virginia "Jenny" Louise Rankin Marshall of stories on growing up in West Texas from 1866-1995.

Recording of a presentation session at the 2015 Digital Frontiers Annual Conference. In this session, the presenter discusses his project on the experience of black Creole Americans in Louisiana, with a focus on music and social welfare, photographer's privilege, along with image, sound, and memory.

American Sign Language interpretation of Dr. Torget's lecture on the end of Spanish colonization and rule in Texas, covering: (1) Texas by 1800; (2) Major Problems for Spain in Texas: [a] Louisiana Purchase, 1803, [b] Mexican War for Independence, 1810-1820. Video contains picture-in-picture rendering of slides and original narration.

Video of Dr. Torget's lecture on the end of Spanish colonization and rule in Texas, covering: (1) Texas by 1800; (2) Major Problems for Spain in Texas: [a] Louisiana Purchase, 1803, [b] Mexican War for Independence, 1810-1820.