Strong Voice Research Articles

Relationship Orientation, Justice Perception, and Opportunistic Behavior in PPP Projects: An Empirical Study From China.

An equal and high-quality partnership between public and private sectors is essential to the sustainable development of public–private partnership (PPP) projects. However, in the special social circumstance in China, the public sector has a strong voice in PPP projects. According to the existing research on PPP project failure, the government's dishonest performance and negative cooperative attitude and the private sector's speculative behavior of concealing information will lead to termination or even failure of project. The attitude and behavior that reflect the relationship orientation of public sector may determine whether the private sector adopts an opportunistic behavior. However, few studies have revealed the mechanism of relationship orientation on opportunism in PPP projects. This paper proposes the connotation of the public sector's relationship orientation and designs a measurement scale from three aspects: emotional relationship orientation, instrumental relationship orientation, and rent-seeking relationship orientation. Based on the data from large construction enterprises, financial institutions and investors, and scholars with practical experience in PPP projects, this paper explores the mechanism of the public sector's relationship orientation on the private sector's justice perception and opportunistic behavior by using the structural equation model (SEM). The results show that the public sector's relationship orientation significantly affects the formation and development of the private sector's justice perception and opportunistic behavior, justice perception plays a mediating role in the process of relationship orientation acting on opportunistic behavior, and the instrumental relationship orientation is more conducive to reducing the opportunistic behavior. The results provide new ideas for changing the public sector's concept and attitude and regulating behavior in PPP projects.

Effects of co-management on technical efficiency and environmental stressors: An application to small-scale shrimp polyculture in Indonesia

Shrimp polyculture is an important activity in South East Asia, providing a livelihood and food for small-scale farmers. However, farmers are facing challenges due to increasing environmental problems in rivers used as the primary source of water in aquaculture pond production. To deal with these challenges, farmers have organized co-management communities, which gives them a stronger voice among river users. This study investigates the effects of co-management on technical efficiency and environmental stressors using a second-stage Data Envelopment Analysis model. Environmental stressors are identified through interviews with 306 farmers in eight sub-districts, of which two are practicing co-management. The results show that farmers in areas with co-management have relatively high technical efficiency after taking other drivers into account. Furthermore, the farmer’s technical efficiency seems to be less affected by the identified environmental stressors. In conclusion, co-management could be used as a tool to improve technical efficiency and limit stress factors for farmers. It could be initiated by the farmers themselves or by policymakers and natural resource managers and could improve the livelihoods of small-scale shrimp polyculture farmers.

“A certaine whorish brauery”: Silenced Women in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period

This paper proposes an exploration of the medieval aspects of the early modern period with a particular focus on the lives of medieval female saints and the relevance of the accounts of their martyrdoms to early Shakespearean tragedy. The most distinguished hagiography collection in the Middle Ages (in Continental Europe and in England alike) was the thirteenth-century Legenda Aurea (The Golden Legend), which reflected the spiritual, religious, socio-political, and cultural landscape of medieval Europe. It remained influential in the sixteenth century, and various elements of it seeped into Protestant martyrologies like John Foxe’s Actes and Monumentes (Book of Martyrs) and John Bale’s 1546 account of Anne Askew’s interrogation and execution (The first examinacio[n] of Anne Askewe latelye martired in Smythfelde—The Examinations). I offer an interdisciplinary discussion of the impact of medieval hagiographies in early modern England, a subject frequently overlooked by scholars of Renaissance studies. The focus falls on the saints in The Golden Legend who represent a strong female voice and who are silenced violently. I also examine pre-and post-Reformation voyeuristic tendencies in (for instance) Foxe’s and Bale’s accounts and in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.

Perceptual and Acoustic Effects of Dual-Focus Speech Treatment in Children With Dysarthria.

Purpose Children with dysarthria secondary to cerebral palsy may experience reduced speech intelligibility and diminished communicative participation. However, minimal research has been conducted examining the outcomes of behavioral speech treatments in this population. This study examined the effect of Speech Intelligibility Treatment (SIT), a dual-focus speech treatment targeting increased articulatory excursion and vocal intensity, on intelligibility of narrative speech, speech acoustics, and communicative participation in children with dysarthria. Method American English-speaking children with dysarthria (n = 17) received SIT in a 3-week summer camplike setting at Columbia University. SIT follows motor-learning principles to train the child-friendly, dual-focus strategy, "Speak with your big mouth and strong voice." Children produced a story narrative at baseline, immediate posttreatment (POST), and at 6-week follow-up (FUP). Outcomes were examined via blinded listener ratings of ease of understanding (n = 108 adult listeners), acoustic analyses, and questionnaires focused on communicative participation. Results SIT resulted in significant increases in ease of understanding at POST, that were maintained at FUP. There were no significant changes to vocal intensity, speech rate, or vowel spectral characteristics, with the exception of an increase in second formant difference between vowels following SIT. Significantly enhanced communicative participation was evident at POST and FUP. Considerable variability in response to SIT was observed between children. Conclusions Dual-focus treatment shows promise for improving intelligibility and communicative participation in children with dysarthria, although responses to treatment vary considerably across children. Possible mechanisms underlying the intelligibility gains, enhanced communicative participation, and variability in treatment effects are discussed.

Action for change

In the current climate of pressing concerns, the early years sector continues to strive for a stronger voice. While lobbying often shouts the loudest, ‘quiet activism’ can be equally powerful.

Karolina Widerström och skolans dissektionsundervisning 1900–1920

Karolina Widerström and Animal Dissection in Swedish Schools 1900–1920. This article examines the attempts to introduce dissections of small animals in Swedish primary schools and secondary girls’ schools during the early twentieth century. It demonstrates that the new teaching methods were a part of a further ambition to transform the pupil’s relationship to nature and how teachers taught the natural sciences. Knowledge of the human body was emphasised and produced in analogy with other species, leaving none of the body’s organs or basic functions outside the curriculum. One of the strongest voices in this process was the Swedish physician Karolina Widerström (1856–1948). Through hers—but also others—engagement in annual training courses in basic dissection techniques for female teachers and the production of wildly distributed illustrated dissection manuals, extensive effort was made to change the pupil’s understanding of nature in general as well as their own bodies including the fundamental principles of human reproduction.

Community Conversations: deliberative democracy, education provision and divided societies

How can Community Conversations be used to give communities a voice in policy decisions? This paper is a response to the challenge of engaging citizens in inclusive, meaningful dialogue and deliberation on potentially sensitive policy topics that affect their lives and to create a bridge between individual, community and policy perspectives. This dual aim therefore is to give individuals and communities a stronger voice in key decisions affecting them and to provide stakeholders involved in public policy and decision-making a genuine evidence base which they can use to inform their work. This challenge is even greater in divided societies where consensus building can be difficult. The paper focuses on a Community Conversation methodology and the innovative Community Conversation Toolkit developed by the authors as a mechanism for deliberative democracy through citizen engagement in important public policy decisions. Particular attention is given to the application of the Community Conversation methodology in relation to educational change and sustainability in Northern Ireland, a divided society. The methodology and context are aligned with a socio-ecological perspective which provides a conceptual lens to better understand the complex interplay that spans individual (micro) to policy (macro) levels. In addition to providing a theoretical foundation for the methodology, its application in a specific educational context is presented and discussed. It is therefore intended that the paper provides a rubric for the adaptation and application of the Community Conversation approach in a wide range of policy settings and contexts in order to evoke change. The value of the approach in enabling constructive dialogue on sensitive topics in a divided society is explored throughout the paper. Using an exemplar where divergent community views on school provision were shared, we synthesise the Community Conversation methodology with the socio-ecological approach to illustrate how our approach is particularly suited to closing the gap between parents/communities and policy stakeholders and enabling change.

Independent Sector: Preserving the Status Quo?

Abstract In October of 1978, a committee met to explore the possibility of a merger between the National Council on Philanthropy (NCOP) and the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations (CONVO). The vision was more than the mere marriage of two small organizations facing uncertain futures. Participants in this endeavor dreamed of an entity that would represent the entire nonprofit sector. The organization they birthed in 1979, Independent Sector (IS), was a meaningful step forward in unifying the sector. The IS board represented a broad range of sub-sectors and causes and also made strides in gender and, to a lesser extent, racial and religious diversity. Yet, there was an inherent tension in the project. Yes, it was true that people did not want to “interfere with pluralism” but they also wanted “a strong voice” to champion the sector—those involved called this dilemma a “persistent contradiction.” The tension was resolved in favor of the concerns of the powerful national non-profit institutions and foundations: tax policy, government relations, and sector advocacy. That is, the umbrella organization acted principally to preserve the sector, as constituted, and had little appetite for structural reform or discussion of competing notions of “the good” within the sector. Critics pointed to the exclusion of local organizations fighting issues that challenged societal injustice and inequitable distribution of power and resources. To them, and in retrospect to the authors of this paper, greater sector “unity” entailed consolidation of traditional power and continued marginalization of communities already on the periphery. Though four decades have passed, the same tension remains in the philanthropic sector. Contest and division between various interests and constituencies is as evident now as it was then. Enthusiastic support for the advancement of public goods often over-shadows issues of power—including the ability to impose one’s own definition of the public good on others. This critique has been leveled forcefully in recent years. Is it possible or even desirable to seek greater unity for the public good? Whose voices are privileged in the quest for greater sectoral unity? These are the questions this paper aspires to provoke and inform by examining the founding of the first major nonprofit sector association in the United States.

Shattered Objects: Djuna Barnes's Modernism ed. by Elizabeth Pender and Cathryn Setz

Reviewed by: Shattered Objects: Djuna Barnes's Modernism ed. by Elizabeth Pender and Cathryn Setz Elyse Blankley Shattered Objects: Djuna Barnes's Modernism. Ed. Elizabeth Pender and Cathryn Setz. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019. Pp. 248 + 21 illustrations. $84.95 (cloth); $34.95 (paper). To reread Djuna Barnes is to revise academic literary modernism. Absent for decades from the defining accounts of modern literature despite Nightwood receiving T. S. Eliot's imprimatur [End Page 191] at its launch, Barnes's oeuvre speaks to gaps and aporia at the heart of canonical modernist studies, which long kept Barnes a marginalized figure and midcentury cult phenomenon. It is useful to identify the history of these critical omissions, but a more pressing question may be, does Barnes speak to a twenty-first century audience? Shattered Objects: Djuna Barnes's Modernism, a bracing new collection of essays, answers with a rousing affirmative. Edited by Elizabeth Pender and Cathryn Setz, published in the Pennsylvania State University Press's "Refiguring Modernism" series, the book's eleven essays address Barnes's entire body of work both in terms of genre and chronology, and they deploy a range of critical lenses—queer studies, film studies, poetics, affect studies, and more—to bring us a rich portrait of Barnes's accomplishment. The book's title speaks directly to its editors' belief that Barnes must be read on her own terms. When a critic friend dismissed Nightwood as lacking "cheer," Barnes explained to fellow writer Emily Holmes Coleman that "there is always more surface to a shattered object than a whole object, and likewise the surfaces of a fragment are less 'cheering'" (quoted in Shattered Objects, 1). Pender and Setz interpret this observation as an aesthetic credo, a defense of her quirky and challenging works. But Barnes's explanation raises more questions than it elucidates; the "shattered object" is a puzzling, logic-defying object, seemingly substituting surface for depth while foregrounding and valorizing imperfection and loss, the very qualities so often affiliated with substance. Indeed, Peter Nicholls in his afterword admits to being "haunted" by the book's title, which confounds us with ontological uncertainties (207). Here is not the modernist fear of the human slipping beast-ward but an unblinking vision of the beast becoming un-redemptively human. In order to accommodate our reading practice to Barnes's worldview, we would do well, this collection suggests, to move away from modernist "ambiguity" and acculturate ourselves to Barnes's preference for the uncertain or incomprehensible. Shattered Objects envisions a different modernism, redefined and sufficiently capacious to admit Barnes's striking and iconoclastic visual/verbal works. The essays gathered here are by leading scholars in what we might call the "New Barnes Studies." In the book's first section, "Modernism in Print," Alex Goody argues that if we place Barnes's early mass-market journalism pieces in situ—that is, in their original contexts flanked by advertising and haphazard spatial arrangements on the page—we can see how they created a gulf between Barnes's strong authorial voice and the editorial exigencies outside her control. This unresolvable tension would become a key "modernist" element of her mature work. Pender's chapter reveals that, when Barnes revised some of her early short fiction for re-publication in the 1960s, she did so under the influence of academic modernism, which had become popularized and mainstreamed. In making her stories more ambiguous and less uncertain, Barnes erased the "heady, vivacious uncertainty" that ran afoul of later canonical criteria (56). Among the essays gathered in "Human and Beast" (one of Barnes's favored tropes), Rachel Potter's chapter compels us to rethink a central challenge of reading Nightwood: that is, the failure of its characters to arrive, to develop. It is a novel of actors who live like beasts "turning" human outside the law and nation state, and Nightwood's stasis repudiates the dynamism of the bildungsroman in order to reimagine a "humanist" story that would otherwise exclude these characters. Bruce Gardiner directs us toward Barnes's relatively under-analyzed Creatures in an Alphabet (1982) filled with verse and curious illustrations of chimerical beasts composed of conflicting parts and competing identities, not unlike...

Educating Nursing Students Through the Pandemic: The Essentials of Collaboration.

IntroductionThroughout the COVID-19 pandemic, meeting regulatory educational requirements and graduating students competent for nursing practice was essential. Competent graduates were needed to support a strong nursing workforce in Connecticut during this chaotic time in health care. This paper describes the powerful impact of statewide collaboration toward meeting this goal.MethodsThe Connecticut League for Nursing Council of Deans and Directors (Council) organized six work groups to address the practice issues brought about by COVID-19 to continue educating nursing students and ensure a robust nursing workforce for the state. Volunteers from the Council offered to lead the groups and members joined based on interest. The six work groups were: (1) enhance communication with the Connecticut Board of Examiners for Nursing (BOEN), (2) examine academic progression policies across programs to ensure academic rigor, (3) examine integration of nursing students into professional practice and the provision of support for new graduates, (4) Strategize on transition to practice issues, (5) ensure APRN students meet the required 500 precepted direct client care hours, and (6) examine summer clinical experience options for RN and LPN students.ConclusionThe Council's top priority was to graduate competent nursing students ready for practice. This necessitated the establishment of a framework for ongoing deep, timely discussions among Council members and with the BOEN regarding the new education imperative for creative patient care learning experiences. Through collaborative efforts, the Council was able to enhance robust and timely sharing of strategies, policies, and other guidelines. The Council has partnered with the Connecticut Nurses Association, Connecticut Hospital Association, and the Connecticut Center for Nursing Workforce to provide a strong united nursing voice for executive decision-making and within the political arena in support of the role of nursing students and faculty, and their continuous involvement within direct caregiving environments.

Relevance of Dalit Life Narratives: A Contextual Study of Urmila Pawar’s ‘The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs’

Urmila Pawar’s autobiography Aaydan (The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman's Memoirs) is a moving saga of a socially deprived woman who fights all odds in life. Pawar narrates the pitiable tales of three generations of Dalit women driven deeper into invisibility by the patriarchy. In her memoir, Pawar not only shares her tireless efforts to surmount hideous personal tragedies but also conveys the excitement of an awakening consciousness among the Dalit community. This paper explores the relevance of Dalit autobiography in the present scenario with particular reference to Urmila Pawar's autobiography The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman's Memoirs. She delicately navigates her readers through her long journey from the harsh landscape of the Konkan region to Mumbai, first as a Mahar and later as a woman as she challenged the conventions of both caste and gender to emerge as an activist and strong literary voice. Urmila Pawar is an Indian writer and activist, born in a Hindu Mahar family in Maharashtra. Apart from The Weave of My Life she has published several short story collection which talk about the caste-class and gender axes in everyday life. She is a prominent figure in the Dalit and feminist movements. Her writings are hailed as a critique of social discrimination.

"Only Strange Flowers Have Come to Bloom": Identity Crisis in Northeast India through the Poetry of Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih

Socio-economic and political changes effected by modernization result in overlapping and muddling of various borders and boundaries, jeopardizing the very concept of a stable identity. Although traditional or essentialist identities have an innate momentum that has made them stand the test of time, conflicts between national and ethnic identities have often led to turmoil and violence, with the former trying to suppress the latter. This is particularly so in the North-eastern regions of India that suffer from an identity crisis owing to invasion by alien cultures, oppressive attitudes of the State aimed at forcefully homogenizing cultures that are essentially heterogeneous, and the adverse consequences of modernization; all of which have jeopardized indigenous cultures and identities. The literatures from these regions respond to these homogenizing tendencies with a strong voice of resistance. Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih is one such voice that blatantly disregards the mainstream poetics. Consequently, waning cultural values and imperiled ethnic identities remain chief concerns in his poetry. This paper analyses concerns related to causes and implications of identity crisis afflicting these people as reflected in Nongkynrih’s poetry, while simultaneously positing it as a counter-culture tradition structured against the majoritarian discourse aiming to salvage a unique culture from an apparent identity crisis.

Religious Parental Transmission and the Importance of Authenticity

Abstract During the last decades, European historic churches have experienced a decline in the number of baptisms. This paper maps, describes, and analyses existing relevant empirical research from the Norwegian context by focusing on the social-economic transformation of the society and how it has impacted upon the parents’ generation and the transmission of Christian tradition. The paper examines empirical studies of parents who are themselves baptized in the Church of Norway but have opted out of infant baptism for their child. The paper argues that this practice refers jointly to consumption and the subjectivation of worldviews. The parents’ narratives give the child a strong voice. They emphasize the child’s authenticity and the child’s right to make his/her own decisions. Embedded in consumption norms, the parents relate to a plural market of religious and secular alternatives where the child is viewed as a future actor for positive encounters and critical views.

Onwards and Upwards…

Onwards and Upwards…

COVID-19 in humanitarian settings: documenting and sharing context-specific programmatic experiences

Humanitarian organizations have developed innovative and context specific interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as guidance has been normative in nature and most are not humanitarian specific. In April 2020, three universities developed a COVID-19 humanitarian-specific website (www.covid19humanitarian.com) to allow humanitarians from the field to upload their experiences or be interviewed by academics to share their creative responses adapted to their specific country challenges in a standardised manner. These field experiences are reviewed by the three universities together with various guidance documents and uploaded to the website using an operational framework. The website currently hosts 135 guidance documents developed by 65 different organizations, and 65 field experiences shared by 29 organizations from 27 countries covering 38 thematic areas. Examples of challenges and innovative solutions from humanitarian settings are provided for triage and sexual and gender-based violence. Offering open access resources on a neutral platform by academics can provide a space for constructive dialogue among humanitarians at the country, regional and global levels, allowing humanitarian actors at the country level to have a strong and central voice. We believe that this neutral and openly accessible platform can serve as an example for future large-scale emergencies and epidemics.

Leveraging the COVID-19 response to end preventable child deaths from pneumonia

Leveraging the COVID-19 response to end preventable child deaths from pneumonia

Stillbirth in Australia 1: The road to now: Two decades of stillbirth research and advocacy in Australia

Stillbirth is a major public health problem with an enormous mortality burden and psychosocial impact on parents, families and the wider community both globally and in Australia. In 2015, Australia’s late gestation stillbirth rate was over 30% higher than that of the best-performing countries globally, highlighting the urgent need for action. We present an overview of the foundations which led to the establishment of Australia’s NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE) in 2017 and highlight key activities in the following areas: Opportunities to expand and improve collaborations between research teams; Supporting the conduct and development of innovative, high quality, collaborative research that incorporates a strong parent voice; Promoting effective translation of research into health policy and/or practice; and the Regional and global work of the Stillbirth CRE. We highlight the first-ever Senate Inquiry into Stillbirth in Australia in 2018. These events ultimately led to the development of a National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan for Australia with the aims of reducing stillbirth rates by 20% over the next five years, reducing the disparity in stillbirth rates between advantaged and disadvantaged communities, and improving care for all families who experience this loss.

Bibliographic Exploration of the Influence of Nursing Regulation on Continuing Professional Development

Introduction Many nurse regulators have as part of their initial registration/licensure or renewal process a requirement for continuing professional development (CPD). Evidence of CPD can demonstrate that nurses have kept current and informed about changes to professional practice, have remained connected to their profession, and/or are suitably prepared to return to practice. Aim To conduct a bibliographic analysis of indexed literature relating to the role and influence of the regulator on CPD in nursing. Methods A literature review systematically identified relevant articles (2009-2019) about CPD and regulation identified through literature databases, including CINAHL, Embase, and PubMed. Thirty identified titles, and abstracts were uploaded into VOSviewer to conduct the bibliometric data analysis. Results Four cluster titles were identified with regulation mentioned: (a) continuing competence framework and clinical practice; (b) regulation, CPD, and public health; (c) professional development programming for patient care; and (d) nursing education. Over the past 10 years, there has been very little research published relating specifically to the influence of regulation on nursing CPD. Conclusions Regulators have not provided a strong voice in the literature regarding why CPD is included in the professional practice framework. However, there is evidence that the role of the regulator and regulation are used to influence nurses to take specific CPD to make an impact on patient/population health outcomes. Many nurse regulators have as part of their initial registration/licensure or renewal process a requirement for continuing professional development (CPD). Evidence of CPD can demonstrate that nurses have kept current and informed about changes to professional practice, have remained connected to their profession, and/or are suitably prepared to return to practice. To conduct a bibliographic analysis of indexed literature relating to the role and influence of the regulator on CPD in nursing. A literature review systematically identified relevant articles (2009-2019) about CPD and regulation identified through literature databases, including CINAHL, Embase, and PubMed. Thirty identified titles, and abstracts were uploaded into VOSviewer to conduct the bibliometric data analysis. Four cluster titles were identified with regulation mentioned: (a) continuing competence framework and clinical practice; (b) regulation, CPD, and public health; (c) professional development programming for patient care; and (d) nursing education. Over the past 10 years, there has been very little research published relating specifically to the influence of regulation on nursing CPD. Regulators have not provided a strong voice in the literature regarding why CPD is included in the professional practice framework. However, there is evidence that the role of the regulator and regulation are used to influence nurses to take specific CPD to make an impact on patient/population health outcomes.

The Death of George Floyd: Bending the Arc of History Toward Justice for Generations of Children.

* Abbreviations: COVID-19 — : coronavirus disease 2019 PART — : Pediatricians Against Racism and Trauma We have seen the horrifying cell phone and surveillance video footage of the murder of George Floyd replay again and again in the last few weeks. The aftermath begs the question why this particular murder of a Black man by a police officer has sparked the international response so few have received.1 Scores of other Black men, women, and children have been killed by police since the 2014 murder of Eric Garner in New York City, in which he suffered an illegal chokehold and uttered the devastating refrain “I can’t breathe,” and countless others have been murdered over generations. These cases represent just the tip of the iceberg because these murders happened to be recorded on bystander cell phone video or police webcam capture. Moreover, it is the tip of another iceberg because these cases represent modern-day lynchings. The lynching of Black people in the United States was routine before the “civil rights era,” when there were major legal advances to change the treatment of Black Americans in this country. However, it was not until February 2020 that federal legislation, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, was passed by the House of Representatives but is still … Address correspondence to Benard P. Dreyer, MD, FAAP, Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, New York University Grossman School of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Bellevue Hospital Center, 550 First Ave, New York, NY 10016. E-mail: benard.dreyer{at}nyulangone.org

Practicing the Work of Worms: Lyric Voice and Grievable Lives in Solmaz Sharif's Look

Practicing the Work of Worms:Lyric Voice and Grievable Lives in Solmaz Sharif's Look Maria Capecchi (bio) Solmaz Sharif's poetry book, Look, is a poignant work filled with carefully crafted lyric poems as well as an important analysis of the effects of war. Her poems break new poetic ground, using erasure tactics, a complex lyric "I," and the reappropriation of terms from the US Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (indicated by all caps in the poems)1 to adapt the lyric genre. Sharif's strong lyric voice combines the emotional intimacy of the confessional lyric with the intense call-to-action of the political lyric. Her voice is commanding: exposing her reader to a lyric world where the very language that makes up her poetry is undermined by multiple interpretations and meanings. Sharif demands that her Western reader unflinchingly view the costs of war in the Middle East and experience the shifting realities of a society where categorization defines an individual's worth. The poems are filled with startling images of violence juxtaposed with moments of intimacy and reflection. By replicating the immigrant experience through her lyric voice, she exposes her Western readers to the experiences of exile. Sharif's text explores what it means to truly look, to take in a life in its grievable2 state, to see the other and recognize ourselves. This recognition creates intimacy and [End Page 117] connection; her poem "Look" becomes a rallying cry, an invitation to the exilic state. Rather than asking us to leap into action, Sharif encourages us to pause, to consider, to see the "exquisite face" of the subaltern:3 Let it matter what we call a thing.Let it be the exquisite face for at least 16 seconds.Let me look4 at you.Let me look at you in a light that takes years to get here. (4–5) Rather than insisting on one sanctioned meaning, one voice, Look shares multiple and often contradictory voices. Through these lyric voicings, Sharif asks her Western reader to reflect on the wars in the Middle East and experience multiple perspectives within the conflict, including those of her family in Iran; her immigrant parents; US soldiers; and Iranian, Iraqi, and US citizens. Sharif's title alone, based on the military term "look," indicates the importance of being receptive, looking at something, taking it in (Department of Defense 318). The title exemplifies this process: to look indicates an ability to receive from someone else (a state Sharif asks the reader to inhabit). Mines, when influenced, explode, referencing the real use of mines in warfare and the cultural and political metaphorical minefields addressed in the text; and Sharif metaphorically "explodes" the Western concept (or frame) of the Iraq War. Sharif's claiming of words used to objectify Western targets gives a new voice to the concepts and people who are overlooked in the war on terror. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's work on the subaltern is an important theory underlying my understanding of the other and grievability as they relate to Sharif's lyric. Within the frame of the US war on terror, the Iraqi and Iranian people Sharif voices in her poems are classified as "deviations" and "differences" from the Western ideal. While some individuals Sharif voices, such as her uncle, do not completely fit Spivak's definition of subaltern, I find it helpful to use this term in order to interrogate the United States' political rhetoric that focuses on "deviations" and "differences." While these Iraqi and Iranian individuals may not fit the subaltern category in terms of social status within their own countries, the United States effectively treats them [End Page 118] as subaltern. To complicate the issue of voice further, Spivak identifies attempts at speaking for subaltern communities as emanating "from the self-diagnosed transparency of the first-world radical intellectual" (80), which disguises the Western speaker's imperialist and capitalist motivations. This perceived transparency masks the problematic nature of an outsider, including the subaltern elite, speaking for any people. Sharif's voicing of Iraqi and Iranian people is complicated within this construct as she is speaking for the subaltern from a perceived authority as...