The Gender of Water and the Pleasure of Alienation: A Critical Analysis of Visiting Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam, located on the Arizona-Nevada border and damming the Colorado River, is a well-known and often-visited place. The meanings people assign to such a structure articulate key environmental, economic and technological ideologies. An exploration of those meanings is important for understanding the forces that shape public perception and environmental policy. Specifically, this essay examines the official rhetoric of Hoover Dam from an ecofeminist perspective. Through a critical reading of the educational displays, films, plaques and other texts as well as the physical structure of the dam itself, three rhetorical strategies used in the dam's official presentation are identified. First, the Bureau of Reclamation presents the Colorado River as a chaotic, feminine entity in need of masculine control. Second, the river's rhetorical status as an Other encourages audiences to identify with the subject position of nature's master and thereby participate in the pleasures such an identity offers. Third, the Bureau uses the prevalent “common sense” of Native Americans as environmentally sensitive in combination with an “historical” Native American voice to establish the dam as both environmentally sound and a logical step in humanity's progress toward economic development and dominion over nature.     

A Molar Model for the Training of Student Personnel Workers

This article describes a molar model for the preparation of professional student personnel workers. Five propositions are presented as a theoretical model. Although full formalization is not claimed, it is hoped that this model will spur further thought and experimentation.     

The Effect of Response and Presentation Modes on Trainees' Responding

Sixty undergraduate students enrolled in human relations training were randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups and asked to respond either orally or in written form. Mode of response was shown to have a significant effect on participants' level of responding, perceptions of their helpfulness, and length of response.     

Systems Techniques Applied to Teaching Listening Skills

The application of systems techniques to counselor education is explored as one means of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of counselor education. The application of systems technology to counselor education is demonstrated by the use of the systems approach in the teaching of a basic counseling technique—the open-end lead. The “Open-end Lead Training Package” is presented to demonstrate the necessary developmental steps involved in the application of systems techniques to the teaching of a counseling skill. The developmental steps are (a) determine the training objective, (b) identify the tasks that will best meet the objective, (c) arrange the tasks in the most efficient and effective order, and (d) collect data that will verify or question the success of the training decisions that have been made. The strengths and weaknesses of systems techniques as applied to counselor education are discussed.