Digital Commons Network^™

The Good, The Bad, And The Unspoken: Complex Layers Of Motherhood, Casaundra R. Beard

MSU Graduate Theses

This body of work represents my frustrations about domestic life, by

communicating the raw, unfiltered side of how sometimes my anxiety and

motherhood coincide. By addressing the harsh stigmas society has towards both

anxiety and motherhood, I hope to normalize the reality rather than continue the

cycle of these idealized notions of what motherhood is supposed to be. Each piece

represents a small seemingly insignificant moment from my average day, but it is

when they start to accumulate together that results in an anxiety attack. The titles

of each piece are the positive mantras I repeat endlessly to convince myself …

I Was A Teenage Misanthrope: Essays, Lane E. Pybas

MSU Graduate Theses

The essays in this collection each explore to some extent my experience of mental illness, specifically clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder. In writing these essays, I wanted to experiment with different methods of representing the self as it undergoes an experience of mental illness. In the essay “I Was a Teenage Misanthrope,” for example, I portray myself in a somewhat humorous way, highlighting my antisocial behaviors for comic effect, in order to depict a period of my life that might otherwise have been too difficult to write about. In “Quiet Midwestern Bitch,” an essay about anxiety, I represent multiple …

Guiding In And Away, Terry Belew

MSU Graduate Theses

“Guiding In and Away” is a collection of poems exploring shifts in contemporary American culture. Major themes include technology-induced anxiety, human connectivity, isolation, and the importance of nature in a man-made world. These themes are demonstrated throughout the collection through the use of speakers set into situations that reflect what is lost with the recent digitalization of human interaction, the isolation and loneliness caused by these losses, and how natural settings are encroached upon because of digitalization.