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In this essay, we center hip-hop culture and Black cultural legacies. We envision and offer a two-fold framework which illuminates the intersection between the two. We explore ways that the Black cultural experience (or better yet Black cultural praxis) has always brilliantly and organically demonstrated the shape and form of a scholarship of consequence. Black cultural praxis, or reflective action with a Black emancipatory influence, has always allowed freedom of movement, freedom of body, freedom of tongue, and freedom of voice. We translate what this cultural praxis teaches and urges regarding the transformation, unbinding, and freeing of both educators and educational spaces. We demonstrate how the intersection of hip-hop culture and Black cultural legacies can be instructive and transformative to educators. We invite educators to reimagine their classroom spaces by not only focusing on learning "about" hip hop but "from" it as well.

Black creative educational experiences (BCEEs) are participatory, performative cultural experiences created by or for students, centering Black artistic expression, aesthetics, and engagement. Using African-centered frameworks, we provide a methodological guide for examining BCEEs in education research, which includes centering Black "ways of knowing," validating creative expressions cultivated by and for Black people, acknowledging the influence of Black creative expression on research and practice, considering researcher positionalities as observers and cultivators of Black creative expression, and viewing Black creative expression as knowledge production. We found BCEEs are democratizing educational experiences rooted in intellectual and expressive freedom (freedom of movement/voice/tongue), and community building. BCEEs should be centered in education research, particularly postsecondary education, and prioritized in institutional programming, curricula, and high-impact practices.

In this article, I critically dissect hip-hop habits of mind as a professional way of thinking, being, and doing (knowing, speaking and behaving) and explain how these habits hold critical literacy and cultural literacy benefits for students and educators. The goal of this project was to identify and name hip-hop habits of mind and to explore how educators view them as professionally life-giving practices. In exploring the nature of hip-hop culture, themes such as freedom of thought, flexibility, truth-telling, creativity, authenticity, con!dence, braggadocio, uninhibited voice, unrestricted movement, community, honor, integrity, and cultural efficacy were discussed and organized as the Hip-Hop Mindset framework. This framework consists of the habits, values, and practices that promote cultural efficacy and critical social action within hip-hop culture.

Through the article, I share the theoretical foundations, structure, knowledge acquisition, and outcomes of a cultural leadership course. The process for course development integrates several theories and research methods into practice: L. Dee Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning, Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Portraiture/Phenomenology. This course has been piloted at two universities and represents a partnership between the Student Affairs Division and the College of Humanities & Social Sciences at both institutions. This article explores the importance of culture, examines knowledge production on leadership outside of traditional academic venues, and paints a portrait of culture and leadership in the lives of college students.

Throughout many ethnic communities, culture, place, and education have always been important to each other. There are countless creative strategies and approaches to education, inclusion, and personal development that can be derived from studying cultural spaces within any culture. In this article, the author looks specifically at the African American experience. She uses the cultural space of the African American kitchen as a guide for creating academic spaces of liberation and inclusion. She explores the kitchen as a metaphorical space to inspire creative approaches for transformative education. Guided by the actionable space framework, she examines five major components of the kitchen as a cultural space: (1) a space of belonging; (2) a space of creativity and resistance; (3) a space of communion; (4) a space of comfort; and (5) a space of excellence.

The purpose of this research study was to explore how students of color at predominantly White institutions define and articulate their culture. Additionally the study was concerned with understanding why their culture and cultural engagement is important to them. Of particular interest is how students perceive the effect of cultural experiences on their cultural growth and cultural efficacy development. Qualitative methods were used in this study. The study was methodologically driven by the traditions of phenomenology and portraiture. Data collection included two components. In the first phase, two group interviews of nine students (18 total) were conducted at two large public institutions. The interviews provided a starting point for students to explore their thoughts about culture and to discuss cultural engagement in college. The second component involved students in writing cultural self-portraits. The portraits were personally narrated written reflections sharing students' life stories, ideas about culture, opinions of culture in college, and thoughts on the importance of culture. The data revealed that to college students of color, culture included more functional life tools than ritualistic practices. To the students in this study, culture was defined as a toolkit that included family bonds, life survival strategies, the practical and social functions of art and religion, a value for education, and a sense of legacy. Students indicated that culture was indeed important to them for both institutional and personal reasons. Cultural engagement was expected in college to help them adjust and to feel connected to campus. But more importantly, they saw it as a necessary venue through which they could come to better know and understand themselves. Culture was revealed as an important protector against all of life's challenges including family struggle, community failure, educational isolation, and racial pain. The very personal and intimate views of culture shared in this study offer cultural practitioners in any field a better understanding of how contemporary young people may approach and understand culture. This is particularly relevant for those professionals that develop cultural programs and initiatives aimed at this population. These programs must be framed by viewing culture through the same lens of understanding as the current student population. Therefore, the study offers a contemporary view of culture in communities of color. The study also provides new information on how and why culture is important to college students. This research contributes to the existing base of knowledge on the benefits of cultural diversity within higher education. (Contains 1 figure.)

This article features Paul Robeson Cultural Center (PRCC) at Pennsylvania State University, which uses a model of cultural education and engagement to design and deliver programs and services committed to enhancing the university's cultural climate. This article shares a cultural programming framework that was used to steward change and growth in the PRCC, that will be helpful to cultural centers that struggle for resources and institutional support. The PRCC framework is a five-pronged programming and service delivery strategy developed by the author and his colleague, Clayton Walton, in the Tri-Sector Cultural Practitioners Model. These components are: (1) cultural education; (2) cultural engagement; (3) cultural student development; (4) cultural community building; and (5) cultural environment enhancement.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats to human health. Gram-positive methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), in both its planktonic and biofilm form, is of particular concern. Herein we identify the hydrogelation properties for a series of intrinsically fluorescent, structurally related supramolecular self-associating amphiphiles and determine their efficacy against both planktonic and biofilm forms of MRSA. To further explore the potential translation of this hydrogel technology for real-world applications, the toxicity of the amphiphiles was determined against the eukaryotic multicellular model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans. Due to the intrinsic fluorescent nature of these supramolecular amphiphiles, material characterisation of their molecular self-associating properties included; comparative optical density plate reader assays, rheometry and widefield fluorescence microscopy. This enabled determination of amphiphile structure and hydrogel sol dependence on resultant fibre formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ally, as defined by dictionary.com, is "a person, group, or nation that is associated with others for some common cause or purpose." Therefore, allies are people whose orientation is "outside" of the oppressed group. An ally is often a person who recognizes her privileges and works in alliance with members of oppressed groups to stand against oppression. Everyone agrees that allies are important and need to be developed. But what about those people--students, educators, citizens--who are not only allies but also members of oppressed groups? Is there a place at the table of social justice for those who work to create social change by and for the communities to which they belong? In this article, the author argues for including the roles of advocates and agents in higher education's conversation about social justice. His experiences have taught him that there are many types of people, beyond allies, who do important work to advance the cause of social justice. It takes everyone--the whole of the society--to create an egalitarian and pluralistic world. Advocates and agents deserve a seat at the social justice table that they, in many ways, helped to set.

Discusses the role higher education plays in keeping students of color connected to their communities and instilling civic responsibility and cultural awareness. Education should empower students to be aware of all communities of need, and to understand that one of these communities may be the one to which they are racially or socially tied. (BF)

Introduction: Evidence-based interventions are needed to treat burn wound infection (BWI). Evidence syntheses have been limited by heterogeneity of indicators used to report BWI across trials. Consistent reporting of BWI would be facilitated by an agreed minimum set of indicators. The Infection Consensus in Burns study aimed to achieve expert consensus about a core indicator set (CIS) for BWI.Methods: The CIS was established through development of a long list of BWI indicators identified from a systematic review and expert input. In a Delphi survey, UK expert participants rated the indicators according to use in everyday practice, importance for diagnosis and frequency of observation in patients with BWI. Indicators were included in the CIS if ≥75% of participants agreed it was important for diagnosis and used in everyday practice, and ≥50% of participants rated it as frequently observed in patients with BWI.Results: One hundred and ninety-five indicators were identified from the systematic review and reduced to 29 survey items through merging of items with the same meaning. Seventy-five UK experts participated in the Delphi survey. Following a single survey round and a consensus meeting with an expert panel, four items were included in the CIS: pyrexia, spreading erythema, change in white cell count, and presence of pathogenic microbes.Discussion and Conclusions: To facilitate evidence synthesis, a single-country systematic, expert-informed approach was taken to develop a CIS to be reported consistently across trials reporting BWI as an outcome. Future work requires verification of the CIS with international experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I used to be one of those no-nonsense drivers. Fuel up early, pack lunch, drive a steady 15 miles over the speed limit and don't stop until we get there. [...]

Bacterial infection on wounds or burns is a very common clinical problem that needs to be dealt with to avoid further health complications, for instance, toxic shock syndrome in children. [...]