Digital Commons Network^™

How A Book Changed A Nation [2022], Teodora Buzea

Master's Theses

“We don’t believe in vampires.”

I didn’t bother to turn away from the TV to look at my parents. On screen, a crew of young men were interviewing an old woman. She spoke only Romanian, and a too-perfect female voice spoke for her in English. I could see the confident fear in her expression as she exclaimed that vampires were indeed real and that she was always scared of them. She wasn’t alone. All of Transylvania were aware of the existence of vampires. Truly, these young men— ghost hunters and cryptologists—were right to come here to this haunted nation. The …

I Used To Weave Crowns: A Novel, Natanya Biskar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This novel-in-progress explores the nature of memory, grief, and the complexities of coming of age. Through the voice of the narrator, Ada Strunsky, who is by turns both prickly and tender, we are drawn into the world of San Francisco at the end of the 19th century, a time of social and economic upheaval, when monopolists made fortunes and oyster thieves roamed the Bay. Through an associative structure, the novel seeks to capture the feeling of memory, which is often non-linear, more impressionistic than logical. As Ada seeks to untangle her complicity in crimes both literal and emotional, she takes …

Catching Smoke, Megan Duffey

Creative Nonfiction MFA Theses

"Catching Smoke" is a creative nonfiction essay collection that focuses on living in the south and the hardships associated with matters of poverty, addiction, incarceration, and family cycles. This collection ponders all the ways that the concept of smoke affected my family's life and gives multiple meanings to the phrase and title "Catching Smoke." Artifacts (pictures, letters, etc.) are used throughout to express a family narrative concerned with keeping a record, destroying family secrets, and examining the "shadows" of truth.

Inheritance: A Memoir, Jennifer Skoog

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I was born and raised on a small farm in central Minnesota, the youngest of nine. Our lives centered around a dogmatic faith that banned sex education and birth control in any form. The consequences of these teachings put my life on a tragic course, and I paid dearly for my ignorance. With the help of a therapist and a deep commitment to myself, I left the faith. After I earned a college degree in my early 40s, I began to critically examine my upbringing. Through my educational journey in Black studies, I saw deeply troubling ways in which my …

Skyward, Christian R. Griffin

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Impressions On The American Cowboy: End Of The Trail, Ghost Town And Rough Men, Jude Edmund Markey-Smith

Senior Projects Spring 2022

“Impressions on the American Cowboy” seeks to consider, expose, and investigate the symbol of the cowboy in our culture–– in all of its twisted romance. After reflecting on my personal experiences as well as various historical texts and works of western fiction, I set out to make my own western-themed work. My intention is to comment and explore the so-called “man problem” across disciplines in live performed time and space. This work attempts to think critically about how and why cowboy culture has persisted, and to delve into this particular and troubling projection of masculine consciousness.

England's Fairest Creatures, Madison Hart

MSU Graduate Theses

Set in 1616 Jacobean England, surrounding a tragic chamber pot incident, the place setting of the small fishing town of Lechlade, England, begins our story. From generations of fisherman, Elias Eaton, is the first Eaton not to bear a son. Instead, his fierce daughter in her mid-twenties, Julia, our protagonist, helps her father at the docks daily. Although Julia is a champion for women of her time, she dreams of there being something more out there for her than the town that has shackled Eatons for centuries. Julia’s mother, Sybil, is the daughter to the town baker. Her literate father …

Warriors, Mothers, And Queens: Weighty Women Of Myths And Legends, Betsy Packard

Theses and Dissertations--English

Because traditional stories, myths, and legends have a patriarchal orientation, often portraying women as negative or weak characters, post-modern literary criticism calls for a feminist response. These poems are written in the genre of feminist revisionist mythology. Through the medium of poetry, women in these stories are provided with voices outside of the previously accepted patriarchal framework and challenge the exclusionary theories of Joseph Campbell. The stories are told through a perspective informed by feminist theory.