Conference Project Spotlight
Willa Dana ‘26 and Sela Corliss ‘26
Collage by Willa Dana ‘26 and Sela Corliss ‘26
There is nothing more fundamentally “Sarah Lawrence” than an overly ambitious, convoluted, interdisciplinary conference project. We asked some Gryphons to share their past work and they did not disappoint.
–Hustling Hens: The Egg Industry—Reflections on the Complex Interplay of Fowl Feminism Dynamics and Food Scarcity in Rural America
It’s the side of feminism no one wants to talk about.
Some standout questions raised by this revealing investigative journalism piece include: should laying eggs for profit be considered sex work? (likely.) Are the hens working a coop or a corner? Is the discomfort (weather, diseases, living conditions) worth it? Is this work or pleasure? Pleasure for who?
And ultimately: does the egg industry show us a case of mass hen empowerment or mass hen hysteria?
–SJP vs SJP
Podcast: a conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker about her rocky relationship with Students for Justice in Palestine’s chosen acronym.
–16 Handles… or 16 Questions? An Investigative Look into How Froyo Exemplifies the Choice Paradox.
35 page paper plus footnotes. The word “Kafkaesque" is used 52 times.
–The Em-Dash and the Comma: Rhythm, Routine, and Re-Construction in a Post-AI Landscape
For a PE credit (Zumba).
–Nevertheless She Persisted: Survivalism, Resurrection and Self-Image in a Brooklyn Studio Apartment
Performance art piece. The artist will be clothed in a delicate sack with a chastity belt to bring a visual representation to both the themes of resurrection and self-image. But the focus is not on the artist’s appearance—it’s on her intellect. After a brief land acknowledgement to the apartment, made to the audience on Zoom, the artist will painstakingly cover her Bushwick studio in mirrors, thus literally becoming the space. She moves until she collapses from exhaustion, mirroring the exhaustion felt by the working class.
—Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard: How Playground Games Prevented and Prophesized the Male Loneliness Epidemic
The audience will be taken outside to play Four Square and race for a female’s attention. 21 Jump Street will be playing over a speaker, imbuing the space with a sense of masculine camaraderie.
–Let Them Eat Cake: So How Bad is Celiac Really?
Case study.
–Let’s Hash it Out: Hashtags and Their Influence in a Postmodern, Postcapitalist, and Precommunist Society.
For a calculus class. Slideshow with charts and graphs.
–-She’s Barefoot and Braless: Nudity and Nuclear War in the West Village
Taking inspiration from Rosie the Riveter’s historic gumption, the student takes their audience on a walking matcha tour exclusively between W 14th and W 4th St.
–A Modern Manic Pixie Dream Girl: AOC’s Met Gala Appearance
Children’s book with built-in finger puppets that teaches kids the meaning of the phrase “Tax The Rich” and the concept of irony.
–It’s a Cruel Summer: Taylor Swift’s Role in Climate Destruction and the Creation of AI
AI art piece, for a digital art class.
–Sadomasochism
Speaks for itself.
–Black Squirrel or Black Lung? Secondhand Smoke Inhalation in Westchester County Rodent Populations
Biology class. Semester-long lab study with obligatory smoke sessions in close proximity to subjects.
–Everything Everywhere all at Once: Brandy Melville, Bella Hadid, and Big Plastic
Students push for inclusive language rebrand in the wake of microplastic size exclusivity.
Projects that were started, then abandoned due to a lack of primary sources and student course withdrawals:
Killer or King? A Revisionist History of Luigi Mangione and the CEO Shooting Through the Lens of the Italian American Experience within the Context of Tony Soprano and Cake Boss.
What’s Up Buttercup? How Child Baking Competitions Were Actually Exploitative Fronts for Child Labor.
Life in the SmartLess Network: Podcasts, Pseudointellectualism, Parentheticals, and Plato
Pasta—Past, Present, and Performativity: How Vodka Sauce Shaped the Italian-American Post-Pandemic Landscape
The Emcee’s Em Dash—Pauses in Performance—Peripherally Plagued by Matthew Morrison's Spoken Word Poetry and his Recounting of his 9/11 Experience (title to be spoken aloud)
