Southwick, Michael. IMD Personal Statement. BWRIT Writing Studio. Winter 2021.

This personal statement was made for the entry requirement to the Interactive Media Design (IMD) program. Feedback received in BWRIT Writing Studio helped shape the final version. The personal statement contains many existential themes about the shortness of life, finding passion, and the pressure of needing to make such a big decision for the direction of an entire future. Ending with a hopeful statement about what was thought to be a found passion. 

Southwick, Michael. Cosmic Paradise. Photoshop Personal Project. Spring 2022.

This is a compositional digital art piece created with the artist's newly acquired Photoshop skills. It was an exercise in blending multiple images into a single original image. The artwork depicts a violet and snowy night with two large planets visible in the sky. The work itself required several hours of editing and following tutorials. Matching the colors and tones of all the images was the most time-consuming part of the process. 

Southwick, Michael; Kepler, Heather; Clark, Carson; Tamayo, Emanuel. Teach-in Slides. BIS 316. Spring 2022. 

This artifact was a two-hour PowerPoint presentation designed to replace the professor's regular lecture. The class focused on critical psychology, which critiqued the field's traditional mainstream perspectives as well as its scientific validity. This group investigated the impact of social media on young people's mental health through the lens of critical psychology. The group's research revealed that there is most likely a link between social media use and declining mental health. However, all of the studies cited had demographic limitations, as does the majority of mainstream psychological research. That meant that the reasons for the link between social media use and declining mental health could not be explained in a generalized, scientific manner.  

Southwick, Michael. Sula Cover Art Project. BIS 379. Winter 2023.

This artifact contains two parts: a Photoshop composition accompanied by a short paper. The composition is an alternate cover for the book Sula by Toni Morrison. The composition is an alternate cover for Toni Morrison's book Sula. The composition employs a rough, brutalist aesthetic. It was created to more accurately reflect the harsh, often tragic stories of the characters' lives and struggles as black people in mid-20th-century America. The project paper goes into greater detail about the specific reasons for the alternate cover design choices.

Southwick, Michael; Anonymous Interviewee. Clinical Interview. BIS 422. Spring 2023. 

The clinical interview was a complicated psychology project that involved finding an interview subject for a pseudo-therapy session. In my case, the interviewee wished to remain anonymous. The artifact consists of two main parts: the write-up and interview questions with notes. The interview questions were carefully created to be specific and open-ended, following a flexible yet defined direction. The write-up is an eight-page descriptive essay on the nature of the interviewee’s struggles based on the answers to the interview questions.

Southwick, Michael. Ask an Expert. BIS 422. Spring 2023.

Ask an Expert is a research project that asks the research question, “Which is the best treatment for social anxiety disorder, CBT or medication? The artifact contains two parts: the group discussion post and the main write-up. The discussion post includes an overview of our findings that was meant to be shared with the class, and the main write-up is a 13-page research paper that answers the research question in greater detail. 

Southwick, Michael. Application Paper. BIS 312. Spring 2023.

The Application Paper was a brief research overview of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, detailing its unethical methodology and long-term consequences suffered by the participants and the African American community. The paper goes into detail about how the study had 600 participants, 399 of whom had syphilis, and how the men were told they were being treated for “bad blood.” However, none of the participants received any form of treatment, as the real aim of the study was to monitor the progression of syphilis in this vulnerable population.

The paper explains the objective results of the study, which include major violations of several ethical principles. Some of these principles are informed consent, beneficence, and justice. The paper serves as a reminder of lessons learned during such a blatant breach of trust, further emphasizing ongoing needs for ethical rigor and the respect of human dignity in all social science and medical research.

Southwick, Michael. Hospice Humanity and Hope: Cultivating a ‘Good Death’ in Western Society. BIS 490. Fall 2025.

This reflective paper explores the concept of a “good death” by drawing on personal experiences, hospice care ethics, and cultural practices around death in Mexico and Indonesia. Southwick contrasts the peaceful in-home euthanasia of a family dog with the painful, uncertain passing of his mother in a hospice facility, using these moments to question the disparity in how society treats animal versus human death. The paper advocates for greater death positivity as well as open, honest conversations about death. To promote dignity, autonomy, and comfort for terminally ill individuals.

Drawing on scholarly and cultural sources, including Caitlin Doughty’s From Here to Eternity, the paper details how non-Western cultures cultivate cultural norms surrounding grief, often missing from Western culture. Through the lens of hospice ethics and cross-cultural practices, the paper challenges Western taboos around death and underscores the need for compassionate, transparent end-of-life care. This work supports the broader goals of the death positive movement by advocating for human-centered approaches to dying that prioritize peace, dignity, and informed choice.

Southwick, Michael. Walking With Death - A Journey Through Grief and Remembrance. BIS 490. Fall 2025.

In this deeply personal and culturally reflective piece, the paper explores the grieving process through the lens of personal experiences with loss. Most notably, the death of a parent. Drawing a stark contrast between Western clinical attitudes toward death and more holistic, communal approaches found in cultures such as those in Mexico and Indonesia, the paper critiques how Western society medicalizes grief and discourages meaningful engagement with death. The paper goes on to explain why this happens, describing the topics of death and grief as too culturally taboo in Western culture for there to be meaningful conversations or ethical innovations. The paper advocates for death positivity as a necessary shift toward dignity, transparency, and emotional honesty at the end of life.

The essay weaves together emotional narrative, cultural analysis, and ethical reflection, using sources such as Caitlin Doughty's From Here to Eternity and SAGE’s publication on hospice ethics to highlight the limitations of Western practices. Through comparisons to Día de los Muertos and Indonesian Torajan rituals, the paper makes a compelling case for reimagining grief not as an affliction to be treated, but as an enduring expression of love. The paper is ultimately a call to action. To confront death with compassion and courage, and to create space for mourning as a sacred and continuous, permanent part of human life.