Digital Commons Network^™

Chasing Freedom: A Novel Excerpt, Dallas Funk Mfa

All Student Scholarship

Chasing Freedom is a young adult novel set in a future Savannah, Georgia where children can be genetically engineered in a rainbow of colors to their parents' specifications and scientific logic informs every aspect of society.

Please Inside-Out This, Tara S. Waudby

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Through poetry of witness, this thesis explores the idea of truth as perception. The poems explore the themes of family, expatriate life, and identity in order to give voice to an alternate perspective.

Baring It All, Barbie Cure

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This collection of creative nonfiction encapsulates the author’s career as a burlesque performer in New Orleans. The goal of this thesis is to tell her story using the techniques of creative nonfiction – specifically, the memoir. This is not merely a story of her career – it is a piece about her relationships, the author conquering her fears, and how she rises up to meet her goals. Part I tells of how the author discovers this new world and how she finds her place in it. Part II is the author’s personal narrative of her revelation to her family. This …

Choose Your Own Oz, Tommy R. Jamerson Ii

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Man Without A Blueprint, Brendan Frost, Brendan Gaquin Frost

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The First Foretelling, Cynthia M. Davidson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This is an original work. It is a full length novel. The main character is Zeso Eliza Greylin.

Grand Prix: A Trainer's Guide To Show Ring Success, Lauren Rebecca Allen

Theses and Dissertations

This is a memoir of my experiences as a horse lover and professional horse trainer, and the startling parallels I discovered in the Los Angeles equestrian and entertainment industries. Both worlds revolve around commodifying something that is rooted in beauty but somehow gets bruised in the process of spinning art into business. I found that my taste for romance and adventure spurred me to new heights and simultaneously crashed against reality. In pursuit of the big prizes, I was willing to slowly sell off the things I cared about most to get what I wanted, until I woke up to …

Each Moment A Poem, Sarah Kidd

Honors Theses

Each Moment a Poem is a collection of 10 poems spanning 20 pages. The poems were written in 2014 under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Katrovas, my poetry professor, and Ms. Kimberly Kolbe, the managing editor of New Issues Press, where I was granted an internship. When 2014 began, I adopted the philosophy that each moment has the potential to become a poem, that stories can be told concisely and vividly through poetry. The poems in this collection explain and explore important moments I have experienced while awake and asleep. The poems are lucidly written in a free verse narrative …

Exhibition, Featuring, Catherine Duggan

Master's Theses

Exhibition, Featuring is a collection of poems inspired by art, life, and history intertwined with the very center of humanness, convergence of heart and brain. The poems assembled here attempt to recreate the sensation of memory and remembering, and at times, trying to forget. Concerned with language and the ways in which we communicate with others, the lines weave in and out of conversation, evoking daily interac­tions and thoughts carried within us, continuous as breathing. The collection is divided into five parts, each establishing a variance of the whole—all parts a harmony. The reader will discover formal poetry, poems evoking …

The Queer And The Bodily: Explorations Of Power In Women's Visionary Writing In The Book Of Margery Kempe 2014, Jayne Emerson Stacconi

Master's Theses

The provocative Book of Margery Kempe is a seminal text in the history of female authorship. Claiming to be the first written autobiography, The Book serves as a literary representation of womanhood during the late fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries when Margery was writing, and also speaks to circulating medieval discourses of religion, pilgrimage, and sexuality. Participating in medieval women’s visionary writing as a genre, Margery’s visionary power is a tool by which she is able to emancipate herself from the limiting roles of wife and mother. Additionally, by working within the conventions of visionary writing, Margery is able to …

Somewhere Amongst The Ashes, Keith Rebec

All NMU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

SOMEWHERE AMONGST THE ASHES

By

Keith Rebec

This story collection explores how human beings deal with loss. Whether the loss stems from death, the loss of personal innocence, or the loss of love, the characters within are forced to make decisions that he or she wouldn't make if given the choice. Some of the characters, in an effort to prevent the same or a similar type of loss from reoccurring in their lives, desperately seek ways to avoid the issues altogether, which further complicates their troubles. Others, unbeknownst to their impending loss, must make split second decisions that will …

"Beyond The Pavement" And "Setting Fire To The Sky" With Critical Introduction: "Exploring The Dark: Gothic Short Stories", Samantha Nicole Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis explores the genre of gothic literature by outlining the themes and common techniques that writers use. It discusses prominent writers in the genre, as well as critiques their techniques and compares them to my own. Two fiction pieces are accompanied with the critical introduction that fit the gothic literature genre.

Black Heart, Brandon Rashod Hodges

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Transfer And The Commodification Of Practice., Kenneth Andrew Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation engages in a close reading of the research in composition on transfer, a concept that refers to how the practices learned in one situation influence what a person can do in a future situation. In the studies that have appeared over the last two decades, the results have indicated that not much transfers between writing courses and future contexts, whether they be disciplinary courses or professional workplaces. Yet, despite the increasing prominence of transfer research, little time has been spent discussing the uses and limitations of the concept. To better understand its growing popularity among researchers, I examine …

Prankster Questionaire., Matthew Landan 1972-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The creative thesis that I have written is a memoir. It is not complete in its detail or ambition but instead focuses on themes and topics of self-transformation, reinvention and the unintentional consequences of several nervous breakdowns and experiments with psychedelic substances. This thesis is just a beginning for a longer more drawn out memoir that will explore the themes above but also discuss family, one’s sense of self worth in the world and how patterns between fathers and sons repeat themselves. I hope to eventually publish this work in a commercial setting.

Life On The Back Roads: Poems, Jessica R. Dennis

Theses & Honors Papers

Country life does not always feature the idyllic beautiful landscapes and the closeness of family as depicted in Elizabethan pastoral and Romantic nature poetry. While these elements indeed exist, much of country life is grittily realistic - a condition that derives from the hardships and "the dailiness of experience," as Virginia Woolf put it, consonant with living in "a state of nature." Drawing on my own rural experiences, first in my home state of Pennsylvania and later in North Carolina and Virginia, I will explore in my poems the complex relationship structures that form in rural America, focusing on the …

Friends In Bed, Andrew Baker

Theses & Honors Papers

A short novella, this thesis tells the story of a boy named Andrew as he deals with issues of identity, self-worth, friendship, and romantic relationships from his teenaged years up through early adulthood. Primarily facing the difficult question of what love is, he attempts to figure out its meaning for himself.

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

From The Same Branch, Aurielle Destiche

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Music Of Turbulence, Traci J. Rosenbaum

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

N/A

The Isle Of Flightless Birds: A Concise History, Carin Chapman

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

N/A

Here There Is No Place That Does Not See You, Carolyn B. Mikulencak

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Because A Fire, A Lover's Quarrel: Poems, Clifton Clyde Ward

Master's Theses

This thesis comprises poems written and/or revised over the past two years. They mark the development of my aesthetic and writing ability thus far and are representative of the training and practice incited by my own efforts and those of my professors during my enrollment in the Master of Arts degree in English, Creative Writing emphasis. The majority of these poems are written in an open form, and all of them fall under three general categories: autobiographical, absurdist, or formal.

[Blip] And Other Noises, Jennifer Jacob Brown

Master's Theses

[Blip] and Other Noises is a collection of short stories that explores the illusory nature of identity, time, space, and our experience of reality. Its principal characters include a sea captain, an Elvis fanatic, a space alien, and some very confused children. Its principal settings include small town Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico, the Indiana wilderness, and uncharted (by humans) outer space. This collection is accompanied by a critical introduction.

To Soar Above The Apple Grove: Stories, Emily V. Doseck

All NMU Master's Theses

The stories written for this thesis revolve around the idea of lesbian characters finding, and in some cases losing, love in the young adult genre. Each piece differs in time period and setting, but all take the typical ‘tragic’ stereotype of queer fiction and prove that everyone deserves a chance at love. All three pieces also contain elements of magic, ranging from the black magic associated with the witches of Salem to the whimsical magic of fairy tales. First love is a time of discovery and new joy for so many, and queer literature could use more of these positive …

Disaster Salsa, Linda A. H. Sirois

All NMU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

DISASTER SALSA

By

Linda A. H. Sirois

Disaster Salsa is an interrelated collage of essays, poems, letters, recipes, and stories that are juxtaposed to tell a narrative of what it is like to be the mother of a child who struggles with mental disorder. Our oldest son has had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) all his life; at the age of 11 he was struck with a baseball bat, which resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Services that address, diagnose, and treat mental disorders have been abysmal for many years in parts of our country, and ten years ago …

In A Relative Way, Gabriel W. Waskiewicz

All NMU Master's Theses

In this series of interrelated personal essays, I explore how relationships with certain family members and friends have helped form my life. Through the lives of those profiled here, I believe readers will get a better glimpse into the troubles I’ve been through in my own life. The many parallels I have with the lives of these family members and friends show that they have endured comparable situations or have even been through many of the same problems that I’ve had to withstand. By first seeing how these important individuals shaped my life, readers will get a better understanding of …

Where I Belong, Joy E. Weitzel

All NMU Master's Theses

This project compiled research of my family history to present an honest and creative portrayal of my family’s journey, connecting the stories of my ancestors to the common struggle, movement, and growth of humanity. The Duckworth’s were farmers who came to West Virginia from Maryland in the 1830s. Five pieces follow the course of the Duckworths, who witnessed the growth of industrialism, the toils of migration, the extension of the B&O railroad, and the eruption of the American Civil War. The lives described in this thesis are the patriarchs of the Duckworth family, beginning with Henry Duckworth migrating to West …

Seasonal Roads, Lynn K. Fay

All NMU Master's Theses

Lynn Kimball Fay has been publishing for twenty-five years under the pen-name L. E. Kimball.
As a writer, I’m interested in the way Truth seems to me—intuitively—nonlinea. I’m interested in story cycles that examine Truth from different points of view, usually nonlinearly; and I’m interested in the way setting reveals Truth and how it reveals character. I’m interested in Faith—a kind that is not irreconcilable with science, the kind it takes to put that foot in front of the other.
The kind we have in one another.
I have always, therefore, been fascinated with layers of Time, the nonlinear and …

Around The Table, Rachel E. Mills

All NMU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Around the Table

By

Rachel Elizabeth Mills

This collection of nonfiction essays revolves around concepts of food and home. The essays focus on the universalizing nature of food, both from a personal perspective, and from a diasporic Middle Eastern perspective. In these essays I explore how food unifies and creates communities. The essays range from exploring my own upbringing in rural Upper Michigan, and how food creates bonds within my own family and community, to examining how food creates ties and communities within the Arab diaspora. This collective narrative, in focusing on the communal characteristics surrounding the human need …