Sarah LeBlanc | Purdue University Fort Wayne (original) (raw)
Papers by Sarah LeBlanc
Central States Communication Association. University of Montevallo, Department of Communication, 75 College Drive, Station 6625, Montevallo, AL 35115. e-mail: csca.ed@gmail.com; Web site: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jcp/, 2020
Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and s... more Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and students studying in other disciplines. As such, instructors employ pedagogies that appeal to both majors and non-majors. This essay reflects on how I used project-based learning (PBL) in a family communication course filled with mostly non-majors. The essay highlights my rationale for choosing PBL, provides an explanation of the PBL activity, describes how PBL addresses two key problems I experienced in teaching the family communication course, and offers conclusions regarding lessons learned. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines rarely provide opportunities for students to interact with students majoring in non-technical fields. This lack of exposure may result in a lack of fundamental communication skills needed to be successful upon graduation (Keshwani & Adams, 2017). As a result, some non-communication majors elect to take communication courses to acquire these skills. The ratio of majors to non-majors enrolled in any given communication course may vary; however, these demographics still leave many instructors wondering how to approach communication material in a way that it is relevant to non-majors. Thus, this manuscript describes a best practice I employ to meet the needs and desires of both majors and non-majors simultaneously. In any given semester, a good number of non-majors enroll in my family communication course. Based on feedback from previous end-of-semester student evaluations, non-majors often report perceiving nothing worthwhile was accomplished, that communication majors "overshare, " and that they feel
This narrative is a work of disconnect and connect during the morning of September 20, 2018. Arou... more This narrative is a work of disconnect and connect during the morning of September 20, 2018. Around 10:04 a.m. my sister, Abby, told me that my mother had died that morning and was found by our brother, Andy. My narrative chronicles that morning from 10:04 a.m. through 10:35 a.m., and then summarizes most of the rest of the day. I ground this autoethnography in relational ethics, detailing how I grapple with writing about Dolly, my mother, my siblings, and others. I also detail how Dolly’s death affects my narrative inheritance. Using emotional recall, I use the terms “disconnect” and “connect” to demonstrate the modality of telling the news and how I slowly disconnected from reality, through the use of cellphones, trance-like states, changing scenery, and television watching, so that I could connect to the news and to others. I conclude with offering a mother-daughter canon.
Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, 2020
Pivoting to remote work as female academics and to schooling our children from home as mothers in... more Pivoting to remote work as female academics and to schooling our children from home as mothers in March 2020 marked a dramatic shift in how we enact our MotherScholar identities. This collaborative autoethnographic study employs a modification of interactive interviewing and photovoice to produce verbal and visual text of COVID-19 MotherScholar identity work for analysis. Thematic analysis results in themes of maternal interruptions, professional interruptions, maternal recognition, and professional recognition. Of note, our MotherScholar interactivity functioned as identity work as we sought and granted legitimacy to one another’s’ COVID-19 MotherScholar identities. Of particular concern to us is how institutions of higher education are (dis)enabling socially supportive MotherScholar interactivity during COVID-19 conditions that persist at the time of this writing and how they intend to address social support needs sustainably into the future.
This article analyzes my personal experience of having a maternal body through autoethnographic m... more This article analyzes my personal experience of having a maternal body through autoethnographic means. Being pregnant is a time of celebration, but moms experience private and public changes in their bodies. These public changes continue during the postpartum period. Ground in Foucault’s panopticon, this paper explores how the maternal body undergoes self-surveillance as well as surveillance by the proverbial others. I provide vignettes and personal experiences to highlight the panopticon: moms selfsurveil but moms are also being surveilled when in the public eye. I make the argument of how the maternal body is a site of surveillance often used to judge the goodness of the mother or the usefulness of the maternal body. I conclude with a suggestion of how the panopticon can be used to examine parenting practices.
Health Communication
ABSTRACT This piece examines a 2-hour wait in an exam room and the impact the wait has on doctor/... more ABSTRACT This piece examines a 2-hour wait in an exam room and the impact the wait has on doctor/patient communication. Specifically, I detail part of the events that occurred during my 16-week prenatal check-up and how these events impacted my communication with my doctor and with the doctor’s office. I discuss the communication breakdown, the after effects of the events, as well as what this appointment and experience taught me about motherhood and myself.
Death Studies, 2016
The death of Joe "Sudharman" Fe... more The death of Joe "Sudharman" Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the family wondering who Joe Fenton was, the man who died as Sudharman. During the night of July 4, 2010, Sudharman was murdered as he slept in his yoga studio in Union County, Pennsylvania. This piece examines his death in order to examine how communication was used to describe Joe Fenton. We used autoethnographic and ethnographic methods to collect the media coverage of his death, the funeral remembrances, and the blog posts, as well as completed two in-depth interviews with family members in order to find out who Joe Fenton was. We analyzed how others described Fenton through the frames of dark and bright communication behaviors. Our analysis determined that Fenton was seen in a spiritual/religious light, as he was described as god-like, a shining beacon and memorable. Dark communication described Fenton as being manipulative, deceitful, and, at times, emotionally abusive.
The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the fami... more The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the family wondering who Joe Fenton was, the man who died as Sudharman. During the night of July 4, 2010, Sudharman was murdered as he slept in his yoga studio in Union County, Pennsylvania. Using a thematic analysis, this piece examines his death in order to examine how communication was used to describe Joe Fenton. We used ethnographic methods to collect the media coverage of his death, the funeral remembrances, and blog posts as well as completed two in-depth interviews with family members in order to find out how others described Joe Fenton. We analyzed how others described Fenton through the themes of dark and bright communication. The analysis determined that. Dark communication described Fenton was being manipulative, deceitful, and, at times, emotionally abusive. Fenton was seen in a spiritual/religious light, as he was described as god-like, a shining beacon and memorable
Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and s... more Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and students studying in other disciplines. As such, instructors employ pedagogies that appeal to both majors and non-majors. This essay reflects on how I used project-based learning (PBL) in a family communication course filled with mostly non-majors. The essay highlights my rationale for choosing PBL, provides an explanation of the PBL activity, describes how PBL addresses two key problems I experienced in teaching the family communication course, and offers conclusions regarding lessons learned. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines rarely provide opportunities for students to interact with students majoring in non-technical fields. This lack of exposure may result in a lack of fundamental communication skills needed to be successful upon graduation (Keshwani & Adams, 2017). As a result, some non-communication majors elect to take communication courses to acq...
Mothers as Keepers and Tellers of Origin Stories. , 2019
As I lie on the couch, my chin rubbing against the peach fuzz hair on top of Evangeline's head, I... more As I lie on the couch, my chin rubbing against the peach fuzz hair on top of Evangeline's head, I fight back the sting of tears threatening to fall from my eyes. How could something so small, so fragile be prone to depression? I worry about this as Evangeline (Evi) and I lie there; her head is snuggled between my breasts as she sleeps soundly in the middle of the afternoon. Her eyes are tightly shut, and the smooth skin of her face reminds me of a doll, a doll with no worries in the world. As I settle deeper into the couch cushion, conscious that the television is on and a pill commercial is running, I think about my daily medicine routine and how sometimes Caroline, my other child and a toddler, stands beside me staring as I take my pills. Will either one or both of my daughters be required to take a combination of antianxiety and antidepression meds? If they experience pervasive depression, will they understand why they feel a certain way? Will they be able to deal with the symptoms? Will they turn to alcohol for help like others in our family have? I ponder all these questions, as my chin moves back and forth on the fuzzy hair of my daughter's five-month-old head. My eyes begin to drift shut as Evi and I lie on the couch; my ears are on alert as I listen for the stirring of my two-year-old. While my body is telling me to nap with Evi, my conscious mind will not stop running, worrying about how I will know when or if my girls may need my help for depression or alcoholism. Caroline has already been through so much in her short lifetime: failure to thrive, asthma, and now glasses for farsightedness. I begin to worry if her mood
In this piece, the author explores the character of Princess Leia and how she exhibits traits of ... more In this piece, the author explores the character of Princess Leia and how she exhibits traits of a princess and a feminist that she believes her daughters can emulate. If they are going to be exposed to the princess culture, than they need to know that they don't have to be weak.
The purpose of this article is to present an autoethonographic study in how I experienced and com... more The purpose of this article is to present an autoethonographic study in how I experienced and communicated parts of the mourning process when my father died at the age of 73. The article highlights the stages of grief experienced during the first year. Autoethnographic means are used chronologically to expand how the loss of a family member impacts what stages of grief are present and how they overlap. In particular, I highlight the events that carried meaning or provided an outlet to express one of the stages of grief. It is hoped that this article can be used to understand why grieving is not an overnight process but rather is drawn out through the highs and lows of remembering a loved one.
The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the fami... more The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the family wondering who Joe Fenton was, the man who died as Sudharman. During the night of July 4, 2010, Sudharman was murdered as he slept in his yoga studio in Union County, Pennsylvania. Using a thematic analysis, this piece examines his death in order to examine how communication was used to describe Joe Fenton. We used ethnographic methods to collect the media coverage of his death, the funeral remembrances, and blog posts as well as completed two in-depth interviews with family members in order to find out how others described Joe Fenton. We analyzed how others described Fenton through the themes of dark and bright communication. The analysis determined that. Dark communication described Fenton was being manipulative, deceitful, and, at times, emotionally abusive. Fenton was seen in a spiritual/religious light, as he was described as god-like, a shining beacon and memorable
Central States Communication Association. University of Montevallo, Department of Communication, 75 College Drive, Station 6625, Montevallo, AL 35115. e-mail: csca.ed@gmail.com; Web site: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jcp/, 2020
Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and s... more Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and students studying in other disciplines. As such, instructors employ pedagogies that appeal to both majors and non-majors. This essay reflects on how I used project-based learning (PBL) in a family communication course filled with mostly non-majors. The essay highlights my rationale for choosing PBL, provides an explanation of the PBL activity, describes how PBL addresses two key problems I experienced in teaching the family communication course, and offers conclusions regarding lessons learned. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines rarely provide opportunities for students to interact with students majoring in non-technical fields. This lack of exposure may result in a lack of fundamental communication skills needed to be successful upon graduation (Keshwani & Adams, 2017). As a result, some non-communication majors elect to take communication courses to acquire these skills. The ratio of majors to non-majors enrolled in any given communication course may vary; however, these demographics still leave many instructors wondering how to approach communication material in a way that it is relevant to non-majors. Thus, this manuscript describes a best practice I employ to meet the needs and desires of both majors and non-majors simultaneously. In any given semester, a good number of non-majors enroll in my family communication course. Based on feedback from previous end-of-semester student evaluations, non-majors often report perceiving nothing worthwhile was accomplished, that communication majors "overshare, " and that they feel
This narrative is a work of disconnect and connect during the morning of September 20, 2018. Arou... more This narrative is a work of disconnect and connect during the morning of September 20, 2018. Around 10:04 a.m. my sister, Abby, told me that my mother had died that morning and was found by our brother, Andy. My narrative chronicles that morning from 10:04 a.m. through 10:35 a.m., and then summarizes most of the rest of the day. I ground this autoethnography in relational ethics, detailing how I grapple with writing about Dolly, my mother, my siblings, and others. I also detail how Dolly’s death affects my narrative inheritance. Using emotional recall, I use the terms “disconnect” and “connect” to demonstrate the modality of telling the news and how I slowly disconnected from reality, through the use of cellphones, trance-like states, changing scenery, and television watching, so that I could connect to the news and to others. I conclude with offering a mother-daughter canon.
Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, 2020
Pivoting to remote work as female academics and to schooling our children from home as mothers in... more Pivoting to remote work as female academics and to schooling our children from home as mothers in March 2020 marked a dramatic shift in how we enact our MotherScholar identities. This collaborative autoethnographic study employs a modification of interactive interviewing and photovoice to produce verbal and visual text of COVID-19 MotherScholar identity work for analysis. Thematic analysis results in themes of maternal interruptions, professional interruptions, maternal recognition, and professional recognition. Of note, our MotherScholar interactivity functioned as identity work as we sought and granted legitimacy to one another’s’ COVID-19 MotherScholar identities. Of particular concern to us is how institutions of higher education are (dis)enabling socially supportive MotherScholar interactivity during COVID-19 conditions that persist at the time of this writing and how they intend to address social support needs sustainably into the future.
This article analyzes my personal experience of having a maternal body through autoethnographic m... more This article analyzes my personal experience of having a maternal body through autoethnographic means. Being pregnant is a time of celebration, but moms experience private and public changes in their bodies. These public changes continue during the postpartum period. Ground in Foucault’s panopticon, this paper explores how the maternal body undergoes self-surveillance as well as surveillance by the proverbial others. I provide vignettes and personal experiences to highlight the panopticon: moms selfsurveil but moms are also being surveilled when in the public eye. I make the argument of how the maternal body is a site of surveillance often used to judge the goodness of the mother or the usefulness of the maternal body. I conclude with a suggestion of how the panopticon can be used to examine parenting practices.
Health Communication
ABSTRACT This piece examines a 2-hour wait in an exam room and the impact the wait has on doctor/... more ABSTRACT This piece examines a 2-hour wait in an exam room and the impact the wait has on doctor/patient communication. Specifically, I detail part of the events that occurred during my 16-week prenatal check-up and how these events impacted my communication with my doctor and with the doctor’s office. I discuss the communication breakdown, the after effects of the events, as well as what this appointment and experience taught me about motherhood and myself.
Death Studies, 2016
The death of Joe "Sudharman" Fe... more The death of Joe "Sudharman" Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the family wondering who Joe Fenton was, the man who died as Sudharman. During the night of July 4, 2010, Sudharman was murdered as he slept in his yoga studio in Union County, Pennsylvania. This piece examines his death in order to examine how communication was used to describe Joe Fenton. We used autoethnographic and ethnographic methods to collect the media coverage of his death, the funeral remembrances, and the blog posts, as well as completed two in-depth interviews with family members in order to find out who Joe Fenton was. We analyzed how others described Fenton through the frames of dark and bright communication behaviors. Our analysis determined that Fenton was seen in a spiritual/religious light, as he was described as god-like, a shining beacon and memorable. Dark communication described Fenton as being manipulative, deceitful, and, at times, emotionally abusive.
The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the fami... more The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the family wondering who Joe Fenton was, the man who died as Sudharman. During the night of July 4, 2010, Sudharman was murdered as he slept in his yoga studio in Union County, Pennsylvania. Using a thematic analysis, this piece examines his death in order to examine how communication was used to describe Joe Fenton. We used ethnographic methods to collect the media coverage of his death, the funeral remembrances, and blog posts as well as completed two in-depth interviews with family members in order to find out how others described Joe Fenton. We analyzed how others described Fenton through the themes of dark and bright communication. The analysis determined that. Dark communication described Fenton was being manipulative, deceitful, and, at times, emotionally abusive. Fenton was seen in a spiritual/religious light, as he was described as god-like, a shining beacon and memorable
Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and s... more Family communication, as an upper-level communication course, attracts communication majors and students studying in other disciplines. As such, instructors employ pedagogies that appeal to both majors and non-majors. This essay reflects on how I used project-based learning (PBL) in a family communication course filled with mostly non-majors. The essay highlights my rationale for choosing PBL, provides an explanation of the PBL activity, describes how PBL addresses two key problems I experienced in teaching the family communication course, and offers conclusions regarding lessons learned. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines rarely provide opportunities for students to interact with students majoring in non-technical fields. This lack of exposure may result in a lack of fundamental communication skills needed to be successful upon graduation (Keshwani & Adams, 2017). As a result, some non-communication majors elect to take communication courses to acq...
Mothers as Keepers and Tellers of Origin Stories. , 2019
As I lie on the couch, my chin rubbing against the peach fuzz hair on top of Evangeline's head, I... more As I lie on the couch, my chin rubbing against the peach fuzz hair on top of Evangeline's head, I fight back the sting of tears threatening to fall from my eyes. How could something so small, so fragile be prone to depression? I worry about this as Evangeline (Evi) and I lie there; her head is snuggled between my breasts as she sleeps soundly in the middle of the afternoon. Her eyes are tightly shut, and the smooth skin of her face reminds me of a doll, a doll with no worries in the world. As I settle deeper into the couch cushion, conscious that the television is on and a pill commercial is running, I think about my daily medicine routine and how sometimes Caroline, my other child and a toddler, stands beside me staring as I take my pills. Will either one or both of my daughters be required to take a combination of antianxiety and antidepression meds? If they experience pervasive depression, will they understand why they feel a certain way? Will they be able to deal with the symptoms? Will they turn to alcohol for help like others in our family have? I ponder all these questions, as my chin moves back and forth on the fuzzy hair of my daughter's five-month-old head. My eyes begin to drift shut as Evi and I lie on the couch; my ears are on alert as I listen for the stirring of my two-year-old. While my body is telling me to nap with Evi, my conscious mind will not stop running, worrying about how I will know when or if my girls may need my help for depression or alcoholism. Caroline has already been through so much in her short lifetime: failure to thrive, asthma, and now glasses for farsightedness. I begin to worry if her mood
In this piece, the author explores the character of Princess Leia and how she exhibits traits of ... more In this piece, the author explores the character of Princess Leia and how she exhibits traits of a princess and a feminist that she believes her daughters can emulate. If they are going to be exposed to the princess culture, than they need to know that they don't have to be weak.
The purpose of this article is to present an autoethonographic study in how I experienced and com... more The purpose of this article is to present an autoethonographic study in how I experienced and communicated parts of the mourning process when my father died at the age of 73. The article highlights the stages of grief experienced during the first year. Autoethnographic means are used chronologically to expand how the loss of a family member impacts what stages of grief are present and how they overlap. In particular, I highlight the events that carried meaning or provided an outlet to express one of the stages of grief. It is hoped that this article can be used to understand why grieving is not an overnight process but rather is drawn out through the highs and lows of remembering a loved one.
The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the fami... more The death of Joe “Sudharman” Fenton sparked competing narratives leaving some members of the family wondering who Joe Fenton was, the man who died as Sudharman. During the night of July 4, 2010, Sudharman was murdered as he slept in his yoga studio in Union County, Pennsylvania. Using a thematic analysis, this piece examines his death in order to examine how communication was used to describe Joe Fenton. We used ethnographic methods to collect the media coverage of his death, the funeral remembrances, and blog posts as well as completed two in-depth interviews with family members in order to find out how others described Joe Fenton. We analyzed how others described Fenton through the themes of dark and bright communication. The analysis determined that. Dark communication described Fenton was being manipulative, deceitful, and, at times, emotionally abusive. Fenton was seen in a spiritual/religious light, as he was described as god-like, a shining beacon and memorable