Papers by Robert Hieger
In the writing of multicultural American authors, as in life, characters immigrate to the United ... more In the writing of multicultural American authors, as in life, characters immigrate to the United States for many reasons. They might be driven by persecution, the suffocating oppression and fear of dictatorship, or unrelenting poverty. Standing in relief against the great throngs of immigrant populations are those born of ancestry forcibly relocated to these shores as slaves, in the name of profit. Still another, and oft forgotten, contingent is the indigenous peoples of North America, largely slaughtered in the throes of settlement, and later, in the rabid doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Three authors, Sherman Alexie, a Native American of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene heritage, Junot Díaz, an immigrant of the Dominican Republic, and Jean Toomer, an African American Harlem Renaissance giant, embody in their writing a microcosmic continuum of immigrant and indigenous peoples in the United States; they expose the raw nerve of life lived as an outsider in one’s own country.
In Charles Wadell Chestnutt's "Baxter's Procrustes," we meet Baxter, the scholarly graduate of Ha... more In Charles Wadell Chestnutt's "Baxter's Procrustes," we meet Baxter, the scholarly graduate of Harvard University. Taking the bate to write a blank verse poem for publication in a fine volume by the Bodeleian Club. When it becomes evident that the members of the club are more interested in the fine binding of the book, rather than its content, Baxter plays the trickster who becomes an unwritten book that escapes its own cover by supervising the publication of a finely bound volume all of whose pages are blank. The meme of judging a book by its cover cannot be escaped here, and its special implications relating to race.
This comparative essay examines the work of three authors—Sherman Alexie, a Native American of Sp... more This comparative essay examines the work of three authors—Sherman Alexie, a Native American of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene heritage, Junot Díaz, an immigrant of the Dominican Republic, and Jean Toomer, an African American Harlem Renaissance giant, embody in their writing a microcosmic continuum of immigrant and indigenous peoples in the United States, exposing the raw nerve of life lived as an outsider in one’s own country.
All three authors offer no forced happy endings to what are arguably rather stark tales. To do so would fail to honor the legacy of culture, the legacy of pain and the efforts to raise oneself out of the well and cheat the poisonous waters of the life they seek to rob.
Two ancient Roman marble busts grace the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... more Two ancient Roman marble busts grace the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. These works are Portrait bust of a man (c. 1st Century BCE) and Portrait of Emperor Caligula (c. 37-42 CE). Though most likely crafted within a century of one another by unknown artists, and hewn from the same medium of marble, they are diametrically opposed in intention, style and the emotions they evoke.
In juxtaposition, the Portrait bust of a man and the Portrait of Emperor Caligula seem to fix the extremes at either end of a continuum. Where the Portrait bust of a man is servant to realistic representation and exaltation of loyalty to family and state, the Portrait of Emperor Caligula bespeaks idealization, deification and service to self. Where the veristic man exudes warmth and shows the ravages of time and human toil, Caligula is cool, detached, yet possessed by the excesses of lust and murderous rage.
Please check the Files link above for images of the two busts.
This paper concerns itself with two paintings from the latter half of the 19th Century. The first... more This paper concerns itself with two paintings from the latter half of the 19th Century. The first, by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Women Picking Olives (1889-1890), shows three women picking olives from the center olive tree in an orchard; the second, by Jules Breton, The Weeders (1868), conveys a scene of women at work in the field, pulling weeds from rows of crops beneath the setting sun. Common to both paintings is the theme of women engaged in agricultural work.
[T]he two paintings discussed in this paper share the common link of agricultural work—women picking olives from a tree in an orchard, and women weeding a field of crops under the waning sun. Whereas Van Gogh portrays a vision of the ephemeral nature of life with a great flare of dramatic color and vigorous brushstrokes that belie the calmness of his subject, Breton reveals to the viewer a world of cyclical renewal. Women Picking Olives sweeps the viewer, albeit willingly, into the undertow of its flame-laden waters. In contrast, The Weeders invites the viewer onto the field with the women and almost entreats her or him to contemplate the setting sun and what lies beyond the horizon. The overall impression left by this pair of paintings is that Van Gogh portrays a world of the transient, of that which is linked to mortality, whereas Breton acknowledges mortality and the struggle to balance forces of nature, but offers a vision of cyclical renewal and transcendence.
Please consult the Files link above for links to images of the paintings.
Kubrick’s work, strongly influenced by the culture of nationwide fear during the Cold War, reflec... more Kubrick’s work, strongly influenced by the culture of nationwide fear during the Cold War, reflected the spirit of a nation convinced that at any moment, ICBMs could be making their way from the former Soviet Union to virtually any major city in the United States. The U.S. reaction would be a counter-barrage of ICBMs targeting major Russian cities. This insanity, masquerading as national policy, was called Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD, a rather appropriate acronym.
2001: A Space Odyssey, and Dr. Strangelove, two of Kubrik's most successful films, exploited brilliant innovation of existing technologies for special effects that had never before been seen, and without the aid of a single computer. Also common to both films is a potent critique of human failings. But are these critiques misanthropic, or admonitory?
The United States is ostensibly a grand experiment in multiculturalism, a quintessential melting ... more The United States is ostensibly a grand experiment in multiculturalism, a quintessential melting pot representing all peoples of the world. However, the indigenous Native Americans (the only true Americans), the African, Caribbean, South American and Asian peoples were all subject to and subjugated by the interests of the Western European settlers who saw themselves as entitled, and “the others” as less than human and therefore having no rights.
Another class of subjugated people—women—crosses all ethnic and racial boundaries and suffers even to this day the limitation and deprivation of its rights. Three women authors—Zora Neale Hurston, Maxine Hong Kingston and Paule Marshall—serve as excellent examples of women who, through the depth and wisdom of their words, have given voice not just to the concerns of woman, but to rich cultures of humankind nearly lost in the toxic brew found at the scorched bottom of the melting pot.
In Nella Larsen's Passing, race and gender roles collide, forming a conundrum of intertwined para... more In Nella Larsen's Passing, race and gender roles collide, forming a conundrum of intertwined paradigms that rend its characters, both emotionally, and, in the case of Clare Kendry, physically limb from limb. This paper examines the nature of these interlocked systems of oppression and how they act to systematically deny Larsen’s protagonists the identities they so desperately seek.
Deeply-seated racist and classist beliefs undergird the social fabric of the antebellum cities of... more Deeply-seated racist and classist beliefs undergird the social fabric of the antebellum cities of Albany and New Orleans, showing mirror images of slave culture in both the North and South. The rhetoric of both historical accounts considered here are laced with fear and xenophobic zeal. However, there is also a double-edged lure to the diversity decried in both cities—latent attraction.
Eastman Johnson, born to an influential Maine Family, walks the razor's edge of emancipation in ... more Eastman Johnson, born to an influential Maine Family, walks the razor's edge of emancipation in this painting which characterizes the palpable tension between North and South during the Civil War over freeing the slaves.
The World Wide Web, now past its 25th birthday, has woven itself into the fabric of quotidian lif... more The World Wide Web, now past its 25th birthday, has woven itself into the fabric of quotidian life. One rarely stops to think how significantly the presence of the web has changed the way in which we research, follow the news and even how we interact with one another.
The world wide web, however, cannot and must not be taken for granted. Its openness, flexibility and availability are of paramount importance on an ever-shrinking world. Perhaps no one understands this as well as Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web.
As an early proponent and architect of contract theory, Thomas Hobbes suggests that in the absenc... more As an early proponent and architect of contract theory, Thomas Hobbes suggests that in the absence of a sovereign (or in current vernacular, a centralized government), we all inevitably descend into a state of nature in which the modus operandi is "every man against every man." Contemporary slang speaks of the dog-eat-dog world.
In response Hobbes proposes Articles of Peace that are predicated upon surrendering one's autonomy to rules laid down by the sovereign. Upon careful examination, it would appear that the peace of which Hobbes speaks might not be so peaceful, nor so free. Carried into today's world, these theories might well have wrought many of the ills of the world.
Thesis Chapters by Robert Hieger
This thesis approaches a controversial and hotly debated topic, particularly in American culture—... more This thesis approaches a controversial and hotly debated topic, particularly in American culture—competition and how it manifests in learning scenarios. Competition permeates virtually every aspect of our lives from the time we are small children to our entry into “the real world.”
The central theme to be explored is the proposal that elimination of the competitive paradigm from the equation of education can result in both life-affirming and productive experiences with positive implications that stretch well beyond the classroom. The thesis companion project is a proof-of-concept prototype for a web-based platform called IntuCogita, intended to provide a collaborative and cooperative learning environment that rejects utterly the modus operandi of competition, and replaces it with an ethos of mutual aid, where the success of the individual equals the success of the group.
N.B.: The thesis as published here contains minor alterations to the text as submitted to the review committee of NYU Tandon School of Engineering. These changes are comprised only of corrections to typographical errors, and minor alterations to text solely for the purpose of correcting trivial grammatical errors or clarifying phrases somewhat more awkwardly worded in the original. There is no substantive change to the content of the thesis.
Teaching Documents by Robert Hieger
JavaScript in Plain English, 2022
Our moment has arrived. We are now ready to finish our application started in Regular Expressions... more Our moment has arrived. We are now ready to finish our application started in Regular Expressions—a Rite of Passage: From Theory to Practice. We left off at Step 6 in Part 2 of this tutorial, in which we built out the infrastructure of our application, providing all necessary data structures and helper functions. We now must code two callback functions for the event listeners attached to our buttons—one two populate a scrolling window showing valid zip codes returned by the regex engine, the other to reset the page to its initial state
JavaScript in Plain English, 2022
This article is the second in a three-part tutorial series originally published on JavaScript in ... more This article is the second in a three-part tutorial series originally published on JavaScript in Plain English (a member publication of Medium.com).
This tutorial focuses on transforming theory into practice to create a simple Single Page Application (SPA) that demonstrates using Regex in JavaScript to validate zip codes.
JavaScript in Plain English (Online), 2022
Originally published in JavaScript in Plain English (https://javascript.plainenglish.io/), a memb... more Originally published in JavaScript in Plain English (https://javascript.plainenglish.io/), a member publication of Medium.com, this article is the first of a 3-part tutorial series culminating in the creation of a Single Page Application (SPA) that uses Regular Expressions and JavaScript to demonstrate the validation of zip codes.
Medium.com (Published in Nerd for Tech), 2022
Many might consider the topic of this article superfluous and not worthy of lengthy examination i... more Many might consider the topic of this article superfluous and not worthy of lengthy examination if one is looking to become a skilled web developer/designer. I would argue that these rudimentary concepts not only warrant review, but are of increasing importance in the arena of full stack web development/design. In today’s world wide web, what we used to call web sites are undeniably trending toward web applications with far more user interaction than ever before, and beginning to look more like their desktop counterparts. As a result, web applications can involve manipulation of numbers, often at a more sophisticated level than previously encountered.
NOTE: This paper, published originally March 12, 2022 on Medium.com by Nerd for Tech, has been significantly rewritten as of Tuesday, June 28, 2022 for the purpose of streamlining content and clarifying some passages that were somewhat murky.
JavaScript in Plain English, 2021
Originally published online by JavaScript in Plain English, this is the third of three online tut... more Originally published online by JavaScript in Plain English, this is the third of three online tutorials examining three methods exposed by the Javascript root object—Object. This tutorial is a step-by-step tutorial to build a simple demonstration called My Favorite Dogs, a single page application that produces dynamic content. In the second tutorial, the bind() method was employed.
In this third tutorial, the same simple single page application (SPA) is refactored to use the apply() method instead.
JavaScript in Plain English, 2021
Originally published online by JavaScript in Plain English, this is the second of three online tu... more Originally published online by JavaScript in Plain English, this is the second of three online tutorials examining three methods exposed by the Javascript root object—Object. This tutorial is a step-by-step tutorial to build a simple demonstration called My Favorite Dogs, a single page application that produces dynamic content. In the first tutorial, the call() method was employed.
In this second tutorial, the same simple single page application (SPA) is refactored to use the bind() method instead.
JavaScript in Plain English, 2021
Originally published online by JavaScript in Plain English, this is the first of three online tut... more Originally published online by JavaScript in Plain English, this is the first of three online tutorials examining three methods exposed by the Javascript root object—Object. This tutorial is a step-by-step tutorial to build a simple demonstration called My Favorite Dogs, a single page application (SPA) that produces dynamic content.
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Papers by Robert Hieger
All three authors offer no forced happy endings to what are arguably rather stark tales. To do so would fail to honor the legacy of culture, the legacy of pain and the efforts to raise oneself out of the well and cheat the poisonous waters of the life they seek to rob.
In juxtaposition, the Portrait bust of a man and the Portrait of Emperor Caligula seem to fix the extremes at either end of a continuum. Where the Portrait bust of a man is servant to realistic representation and exaltation of loyalty to family and state, the Portrait of Emperor Caligula bespeaks idealization, deification and service to self. Where the veristic man exudes warmth and shows the ravages of time and human toil, Caligula is cool, detached, yet possessed by the excesses of lust and murderous rage.
Please check the Files link above for images of the two busts.
[T]he two paintings discussed in this paper share the common link of agricultural work—women picking olives from a tree in an orchard, and women weeding a field of crops under the waning sun. Whereas Van Gogh portrays a vision of the ephemeral nature of life with a great flare of dramatic color and vigorous brushstrokes that belie the calmness of his subject, Breton reveals to the viewer a world of cyclical renewal. Women Picking Olives sweeps the viewer, albeit willingly, into the undertow of its flame-laden waters. In contrast, The Weeders invites the viewer onto the field with the women and almost entreats her or him to contemplate the setting sun and what lies beyond the horizon. The overall impression left by this pair of paintings is that Van Gogh portrays a world of the transient, of that which is linked to mortality, whereas Breton acknowledges mortality and the struggle to balance forces of nature, but offers a vision of cyclical renewal and transcendence.
Please consult the Files link above for links to images of the paintings.
2001: A Space Odyssey, and Dr. Strangelove, two of Kubrik's most successful films, exploited brilliant innovation of existing technologies for special effects that had never before been seen, and without the aid of a single computer. Also common to both films is a potent critique of human failings. But are these critiques misanthropic, or admonitory?
Another class of subjugated people—women—crosses all ethnic and racial boundaries and suffers even to this day the limitation and deprivation of its rights. Three women authors—Zora Neale Hurston, Maxine Hong Kingston and Paule Marshall—serve as excellent examples of women who, through the depth and wisdom of their words, have given voice not just to the concerns of woman, but to rich cultures of humankind nearly lost in the toxic brew found at the scorched bottom of the melting pot.
The world wide web, however, cannot and must not be taken for granted. Its openness, flexibility and availability are of paramount importance on an ever-shrinking world. Perhaps no one understands this as well as Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web.
In response Hobbes proposes Articles of Peace that are predicated upon surrendering one's autonomy to rules laid down by the sovereign. Upon careful examination, it would appear that the peace of which Hobbes speaks might not be so peaceful, nor so free. Carried into today's world, these theories might well have wrought many of the ills of the world.
Thesis Chapters by Robert Hieger
The central theme to be explored is the proposal that elimination of the competitive paradigm from the equation of education can result in both life-affirming and productive experiences with positive implications that stretch well beyond the classroom. The thesis companion project is a proof-of-concept prototype for a web-based platform called IntuCogita, intended to provide a collaborative and cooperative learning environment that rejects utterly the modus operandi of competition, and replaces it with an ethos of mutual aid, where the success of the individual equals the success of the group.
N.B.: The thesis as published here contains minor alterations to the text as submitted to the review committee of NYU Tandon School of Engineering. These changes are comprised only of corrections to typographical errors, and minor alterations to text solely for the purpose of correcting trivial grammatical errors or clarifying phrases somewhat more awkwardly worded in the original. There is no substantive change to the content of the thesis.
Teaching Documents by Robert Hieger
This tutorial focuses on transforming theory into practice to create a simple Single Page Application (SPA) that demonstrates using Regex in JavaScript to validate zip codes.
NOTE: This paper, published originally March 12, 2022 on Medium.com by Nerd for Tech, has been significantly rewritten as of Tuesday, June 28, 2022 for the purpose of streamlining content and clarifying some passages that were somewhat murky.
In this third tutorial, the same simple single page application (SPA) is refactored to use the apply() method instead.
In this second tutorial, the same simple single page application (SPA) is refactored to use the bind() method instead.
All three authors offer no forced happy endings to what are arguably rather stark tales. To do so would fail to honor the legacy of culture, the legacy of pain and the efforts to raise oneself out of the well and cheat the poisonous waters of the life they seek to rob.
In juxtaposition, the Portrait bust of a man and the Portrait of Emperor Caligula seem to fix the extremes at either end of a continuum. Where the Portrait bust of a man is servant to realistic representation and exaltation of loyalty to family and state, the Portrait of Emperor Caligula bespeaks idealization, deification and service to self. Where the veristic man exudes warmth and shows the ravages of time and human toil, Caligula is cool, detached, yet possessed by the excesses of lust and murderous rage.
Please check the Files link above for images of the two busts.
[T]he two paintings discussed in this paper share the common link of agricultural work—women picking olives from a tree in an orchard, and women weeding a field of crops under the waning sun. Whereas Van Gogh portrays a vision of the ephemeral nature of life with a great flare of dramatic color and vigorous brushstrokes that belie the calmness of his subject, Breton reveals to the viewer a world of cyclical renewal. Women Picking Olives sweeps the viewer, albeit willingly, into the undertow of its flame-laden waters. In contrast, The Weeders invites the viewer onto the field with the women and almost entreats her or him to contemplate the setting sun and what lies beyond the horizon. The overall impression left by this pair of paintings is that Van Gogh portrays a world of the transient, of that which is linked to mortality, whereas Breton acknowledges mortality and the struggle to balance forces of nature, but offers a vision of cyclical renewal and transcendence.
Please consult the Files link above for links to images of the paintings.
2001: A Space Odyssey, and Dr. Strangelove, two of Kubrik's most successful films, exploited brilliant innovation of existing technologies for special effects that had never before been seen, and without the aid of a single computer. Also common to both films is a potent critique of human failings. But are these critiques misanthropic, or admonitory?
Another class of subjugated people—women—crosses all ethnic and racial boundaries and suffers even to this day the limitation and deprivation of its rights. Three women authors—Zora Neale Hurston, Maxine Hong Kingston and Paule Marshall—serve as excellent examples of women who, through the depth and wisdom of their words, have given voice not just to the concerns of woman, but to rich cultures of humankind nearly lost in the toxic brew found at the scorched bottom of the melting pot.
The world wide web, however, cannot and must not be taken for granted. Its openness, flexibility and availability are of paramount importance on an ever-shrinking world. Perhaps no one understands this as well as Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web.
In response Hobbes proposes Articles of Peace that are predicated upon surrendering one's autonomy to rules laid down by the sovereign. Upon careful examination, it would appear that the peace of which Hobbes speaks might not be so peaceful, nor so free. Carried into today's world, these theories might well have wrought many of the ills of the world.
The central theme to be explored is the proposal that elimination of the competitive paradigm from the equation of education can result in both life-affirming and productive experiences with positive implications that stretch well beyond the classroom. The thesis companion project is a proof-of-concept prototype for a web-based platform called IntuCogita, intended to provide a collaborative and cooperative learning environment that rejects utterly the modus operandi of competition, and replaces it with an ethos of mutual aid, where the success of the individual equals the success of the group.
N.B.: The thesis as published here contains minor alterations to the text as submitted to the review committee of NYU Tandon School of Engineering. These changes are comprised only of corrections to typographical errors, and minor alterations to text solely for the purpose of correcting trivial grammatical errors or clarifying phrases somewhat more awkwardly worded in the original. There is no substantive change to the content of the thesis.
This tutorial focuses on transforming theory into practice to create a simple Single Page Application (SPA) that demonstrates using Regex in JavaScript to validate zip codes.
NOTE: This paper, published originally March 12, 2022 on Medium.com by Nerd for Tech, has been significantly rewritten as of Tuesday, June 28, 2022 for the purpose of streamlining content and clarifying some passages that were somewhat murky.
In this third tutorial, the same simple single page application (SPA) is refactored to use the apply() method instead.
In this second tutorial, the same simple single page application (SPA) is refactored to use the bind() method instead.