Brenna Moran

Assignment:

Students were asked to view the opera, Acis and Galatea, by Handel, and write a review of the performance incorporating facts about performance (who, what, where, when, why, how), facts about the opera and its history, and a subjective opinion about the opera.

I recently had the privilege of watching the Opera Theatre Company’s production of Acis and Galatea from 2017, performed in Dublin, Ireland. The production was directed by Tom Creed, and was accompanied by the Irish Baroque Orchestra with musical director Peter Whelan. Rather than a traditional staging design, a more creative approach was taken by Paul O’Mahony. The set was designed to look like a country-western bar, complete with cheap colored lights and bright seating arrangements. Set atop a floor that could slowly spin in both directions, the audience was able to experience the interior and exterior of this unique design. The costumes, designed by Catherine Fay, reflected this theme. Characters donned brightly colored button-up shirts with blue jeans and cowboy boots. The three main characters, Acis, Galatea, and Polyphemus, were dressed uniquely to reflect their personalities: Acis wore a humble hoodie, Galatea wore a beautiful floral dress, and Polyphemus wore a cluttered suit. The opera was composed by George Frederick Handel and first premiered in 1718. Most of the songs are de capo arias, which follow an ABA pattern of a melody, then a new melody, and then a return to the original melody with added ornamentations. The work is considered a pastoral opera, as it is based off of mythological themes. It tells the story of Acis, a young and smitten lover, who is in love with Galatea, a beautiful, semi-divine nymph. The story opens with shepherds and nymphs dancing and enjoying the “pleasure of the plains”. Galatea, however, is missing Acis, and refuses to partake in the festivities. Acis, nearby, is looking for his lover when he runs into his friend Damon, who comforts him and gives him advice on love. Acis and Galatea are then reunited, and declare their love for each other. The act ends with Acis proposing to Galatea, and her accepting his proposal. However, their joy does not last long, for the drunken Polyphemus stumbles into the bar and tries to win over Galatea. She rejects him, which throws him into a fury.

Just as Damon is able to begin calming Polyphemus down, Acis becomes enraged and declares he must defend his love’s honor. Damon once again tries to find a peaceful solution, but can not stop the rage of the two men. Polyphemus strikes Acis with a brick, which kills him. The opera ends with Galatea mourning her love, and using her limited powers to revive him. However, she knows that Acis will never love her again, and is forced to face a bittersweet reality. I enjoyed many aspects of this production of Acis and Galatea . The singing was superb among all the characters, especially the crystal clear vocal lines of Eamonn Mulhall (Acis) and the comforting and serene voice of Andrew Gavin (Damon). All the main characters are able to move through their arias with seeming ease, despite the frequent long and ornamented phrases that occur throughout them. Susanna Fairbairn captures the sweet beauty of Galatea through her delicate maneuvering of difficult soprano lines, and Edward Grint portrays the gruff Polyphemus through his stern baritone melodies. The orchestra did an excellent job, and found a good balance with the singers. However, the ending of the opera was unclear due to the modern-day setting of the story. Normally, the opera ends with Galatea transforming Acis into a flowing fountain of water for all to admire. However, this could not be achieved in the opera’s country-western setting for obvious reasons, so the director had to improvise. To anyone who is not familiar with the story of Acis and Galatea, the lines about a fountain at the end of the opera must have been confusing, and since there is no mention of a resuscitation in the original score, the scene was difficult to understand. However, the production was well-done overall, and I would recommend it to anyone seeking an enjoyable performance.

Assignment:

The final paper in this course asked students to write a 7-9-page investigation of a specific issue or environmental health topic related to the material covered in Honors Environmental Determinants of Health.

Introduction Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. They can be caused by various microorganisms, such as parasites, viruses, fungi, and bacteria. Transmission can occur mainly in two ways: human contact with wildlife (undomesticated animals roaming freely in nature, e.g. foxes, rodents, insect vectors) or livestock (domesticated animals raised on farms, e.g. sheep, pigs, cattle). Although both routes of transmission are closely interwoven, this paper will primarily focus on the issue of zoonotic diseases as they pertain to agricultural practices and livestock, including poultry. The devastating impact of COVID-19 and the expansion of other zoonotic diseases are proof that zoonoses pose a massive threat to human health. Therefore, this environmental health issue calls for greater surveillance and implementation of preventative measures against zoonotic diseases in all levels of society (international, state, local community, individual).

Research Question This paper will investigate the following research question: How are agricultural practices linked to the emergence of zoonotic diseases, and what can be done to address its disparities? This paper will also examine modern solutions for preventing and controlling zoonotic disease outbreaks and the limitations of implementing those solutions.

Presentation of Evidence From the Literature Over the decades, there have been reports of zoonotic disease outbreaks attributed to different sources of exposure and adverse health effects. In Bulgaria, Slovakia, and the Netherlands, Q fever is a prevalent zoonotic disease that manifests as flu-like symptoms (e.g. fever, muscle pain, chills) in humans and can be transmitted through contact with domestic ruminants

(cattle, sheep, goats), infected animal byproducts (placenta, excretions), and contaminated aerosols (CDC, 2021; Mori & Roest, 2018). In Thailand, on the other hand, chickens are commonly raised for consumption, sale, and cock-fighting matches (Delabouglise et al., 2015). Consequently, HPAI H5N1 epizootics (epidemics that are widespread in an animal population and can be implied to affect humans) plagued small poultry farms in the early 2000s and continue to be a potential issue due to rampant backyard chicken farms (Delabouglise et al., 2015). In humans, the Asian HPAI H5N1 virus attacks the respiratory tract, leading to pneumonia, respiratory failure, or death (CDC, 2015). Another particularly deadly and disperse zoonotic disease is Nipah Virus (NiV), which has affected pig farms throughout Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh, and has a case fatality rate of up to 75% and no available licensed treatments or vaccines (Humane Society International, 2020). It is theorized that the cause of NiV outbreaks stems from the location of pig farms nearby orchards where fruit bats (natural reservoir of NiV) scavenge for food (Humane Society International, 2020). Pigs can serve also as hosts for other zoonoses, including the H1N1 swine flu in North America, or Ebola in the Philippines (Humane Society International, 2020). Furthermore, salmonellosis is a food-borne zoonotic disease, typically associated with backyard poultry, pigs, and young ruminants, that affects approximately 1.2 million people every year in the United States (CDC & NCEZID, 2020). More recently, it was discovered that farmed mink can potentially spread COVID-19 since some farmers were infected with Cluster 5, a unique strain of SARS-CoV-2 composed of “mink-related mutations” (CDC, 2021). Besides direct interaction with livestock, human exposure to zoonotic pathogens can occur indirectly through several methods. For example, ventilation systems can unintentionally spread infected dust and aerosols, or they can be spread from transporting infected animals, feed, or waste (esp. trucking on public roads) (Humane Society International, 2020). Poor waste management, specifically the improper disposal of contaminated animal waste (manure, placentas) or poultry after depopulation, serves as another route of transmission (Humane Society International, 2020; Kelly et al., 2018). Moreover, zoonotic diseases can be food-borne by drinking raw milk and eating undercooked meat or raw produce contaminated with feces, or water-borne, since livestock can easily access drinking water sources and some farms lack water treatment (CDC, 2017; Kelly et al., 2018). In retrospect, the emergence of zoonotic diseases stems from a series of macro-level drivers in today’s modern environmental climate and globalization of society, which have in turn led to a rise in humananimal interactions and inadequate public health responses. First, there is rapid population growth accompanied by increasing global demand for animal protein and dairy, especially in developing countries (IOM & NRC, 2009). Naturally, to fulfill this economic demand, food systems became industrialized and shifted to intensive agriculture and animal farming, like industrial production units and animal feeding operations (AFOs). Since food production and livestock greatly rely on land, agricultural expansion can bear negative ecological impacts including human encroachment into wildlife, deforestation, habitat fragmentation (destroying a habitat so smaller, discontinuous, and isolated habitat fragments remain), and increased breeding sites for insect vectors (as a result of irrigation development) (IOM & NRC, 2009). Furthermore, the rise in population and animal mobility, whether they be associated with shortterm mobility like tourism or migration to establish permanent residence, can facilitate the transmission of zoonotic diseases and may affect food preferences for animal protein due to cultural exchanges (IOM & NRC, 2009). Refugees and displaced communities recovering from natural disasters may be particularly