Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Language Of Trees, Lorraine A. Martinuik

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Language of Trees is a poetry collection based on a series of walks, and rooted in the experience of place on a small island off the west coast of Canada. Prose poems and a serial poem that gives the collection its title, reflect the poet's leanings towards experiment. The preface discusses poetics and the poet's technical approach to form.

Angel In Skirts, Mary Ruth Chen

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Angels In Skirts is a memoir composed of organic memories thematically linked through essays and chapters. I re-create the story of a young girl’s vivid and imaginative way of seeing life, the intensity of her emotions and what it feels like to desperately want to control men by handing over her body. Highlighted is a discussion of the struggle I had with labeling my work nonfiction. I also explore the effective use of parataxis in dialogue and the effect structure has on the narrative arc and characters in a work. I discuss my process when deciding on a form for …

[No Titles In Utopia], Esteban J. Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The intended purpose of this thesis it to compose a collection of poetry consisting of four sections with each section containing between four to ten poems. The poems themselves will range between one to three pages and will be divided according to their particular subject matter, such as, but not limited, to childhood reflection, father-son relationships, the estrangement from suburbia and modernized America, and ekphrasis-inspired pieces that weave both art and narrative elements together. My main goal with this collection is to write poems in a clear straightforward manner without obscuring language, and constructing persona narratives that invite the reader …

Quarry Light And Other Stories, Claudia Lois Smith

Dissertations

Quarry Light and Other Stories is a collection of short stories and one novella articulating themes of violence, trauma, and sexuality. The stories in Quarry Light and Other Stories are arranged according the theme, movement, and tonality. Although they can stand alone, the stories are meant to be read interdependently. The collection is accompanied by a critical introduction.

Time And Fortune, Tiffany C. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Time and Fortune, a graphic novel script, takes the true story of John Harrison’s competition for the longitude prize, as told by Dava Sobel, and seeks the changes that could have culminated had Harrison sought other avenues for his product. Considering his judge was his competitor, if Harrison made a secret copy of H-4, a watch that accurately holds the time from homeport, and gave it to a sailor invested in its success, naval military power could have changed today’s world as we know it. Imagining that John Harrison changed one small decision in his life, this storyline sets a …

Another Sort Of Life: A Novel, Andrew S. Hollinger

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the critical introduction of this thesis, I examine the academic and creative impulses that helped me to complete this novel. In particular, I detail my seemingly nonlinear course of study as I planned, wrote, and reflected on this novel draft. This work required significant research and study outside the field of creative writing: health care systems, cancer, shame, vulnerability, guilt. I discuss at length the processes by which I became knowledgeable of these subjects, and how even after the first draft of the creative work was completed, I continued to create a more nuanced and sophisticated concept of my …

The Last Orchard, Caleb David Camacho

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Last Orchard is a screenplay about two rival groups of ten-year-olds in 1989 Pharr, Texas. Their elementary school conflicts create a neighborhood war within their mobile home park, coinciding with the entire park's wide eviction and land ownership crisis. The story is written with a mythic fiction approach – a method I learned through Carl Jung's and Joseph Campbell's works on archetypes, mythology, and the hero's journey; it is a practical tool for storytelling. The Last Orchard is based on Homer's Iliad: the Trojan War, its heroes, and gods. Some plays and numerous films have their mythic counterparts, along …

Mariguano, Juan Ochoa

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Mariguano is a fictional account of a young man growing up in a family in whose patriarch is a Mexican drug lord. The narrator, el Johnny, and his father, Don Julio, crisscross through Mexico with total disregard for distance or time bribing comandantes and stopping turf wars all in preparation for their next score. The novel culminates in Don Julio’s attempt to fix the 1988 Presidential election in Mexico. Don Julio’s son, El Johnny, lives to tell the tale of the rise and fall of his father’s drug smuggling empire and of the destruction of his family. The events in …

Star Lake, Arda Collins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Star Lake is a collection of poems.

That He May Raise, Armond Joseph Boudreaux

Dissertations

This dissertation is a work of fiction written during the author's time as a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Son Of A Thousand Fathers, Colter Patterson Cruthirds

Dissertations

The following collection, which explores the often tenuous relationships between fathers and sons, was written by the author between 2008-2011.

And They Were Thirteen, Daniel Sanchez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the critical introduction to my thesis, I explore how the progression of my creative work straddled the gap between fiction and nonfiction and how, in trying to make the creative work a combination of both, I failed to make it work as successfully as I could have as a narrative. I then segue into my research on Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and how it has even affected narratives focusing on teachers. I then explain how elements present in my work coincide with aspects of the monomyth. Because of the prevalence of the monomyth in American pop culture, I make an …

“Oye: Words Are One Big Mind” A Collection Of Poems, Samuel Arizpe

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Oye: Words Are One Big Mind. A Collection of Poems comprises forty poems arranged into three sections. It is preceded by a critical introduction in which the author discusses: 1) the childhood provenance of his love for language; 2) how his Latino linguistic, religious and cultural roots from South Texas set him on the path of poetic discovery and contextualized his poetic style 3) the influence of early Chican@ poets upon his poetry; 4) commonalities of Latin American poetry in his own work; 5) the convergence of spiritual, social, religious, mystical, and universal issues in his work.

“Breakfast Shots” And Other Stories: Collected Fiction Of Joseph D. Haske, Joseph D. Haske

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The following thesis for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing consists of two parts. The first part contains five excerpts from a short story cycle, tentatively entitled Breakfast Shots. The second part includes experimentation with the short story form, including the noir-influenced Bloqueo and two minimalist stories derived from this piece. Several stories included in this thesis have been published in journals such as Boulevard, Fiction International, and Dark Sky. The rest are currently under consideration for various journals and anthologies.

Strike Out Across The Shoreless Ocean, Julia Claire Paajanen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

What happens between a reader and a poem is none of my business. The world has always been yours; find your own way.

(1) Every choice is correct.

(2) Everything is true.

(3) What is anything, unless so far as it is enjoyed?

All you have to do is see the course, and when you see it, go.

Strange Places, Alex James Morris

Dissertations

Strange Places is a collection of short stories and short shorts written during my time at The University of Southern Mississippi. Set primarily in Akron, Ohio, the stories in this collection explore a range of themes, such as trauma, death, alienation, social class, and the struggle to connect to others. This collection is preceded by a critical introduction.

Tierra Sagrada: Stories, Jose Rene Martinez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis consists of fourteen stories and a critical introduction. Each story is set in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and features Mexican American characters. The critical introduction discusses the history of the Rio Grande Valley and traces my development as a writer. It also shows the influences Mexican American writers such as Américo Paredes have had on my work.

My Made For Tv Life Or How We Survived My Psycho-Killer Dad, Sarah Beth Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The critical afterword discusses my struggles writing a memoir after a lifetime of primarily fictional influences, the ethics of truth and memory, and my attempts to find a style that would do justice to my mother s struggles. The memoir began its life as a portrayal of my mother's story, but in the end was the story of a girl growing up with the knowledge of her father's attempted murder, and the strength of her mother's guidance. My story.

After “Borderlands” The Making Of An Academic Chola: Poems, Veronica Sandoval

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This poetry collection is by a Mexican American spoken word, performance poet, Lady Mariposa, from Sullivan City turned Chican@ feminist after coming to terms with her mestizaje through Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza. In Lady Mariposa’s journey as an “Academic Chola,” the term “chola” articulates her Chican@ identity and creates a new space in academia by using “chola” as a hybrid of identity and style in the formation of her poetics. Her poetry can also be called pocho, pocha, Tex-Mex and code switches. She is inspired by Chican@ literature and history, lowriders, cholo culture, cholas, jazz, hip …

The Ripening Of Mangos, Katherine Hoerth

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project is a collection of poems which draw influence from Romantic, confessional, and post-modern poetry movements, and can most accurately be described as Confessionalistic, though they are resistant to categorization. The poems function to dismantle archetypal definitions of feminine identity, and instead aim to depict identity to be fluid and multifaceted.

The Ripening of Mangos is divided into four sections. The first section deconstructs the 'angel' or 'virgin' archetype, while the second deconstructs the 'monster' or 'whore' archetype. Section three includes voices of procreation, and functions to complicate the image of 'the mother.' The last section, Transplanting, shows gendered …

Awake: A Young Adult Novel In Verse, Minerva Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project is a manuscript for a YA novel written in verse and represents the type of YA literature I hope to publish after graduating. Awake chronicles the story of Alejandra de Luna, a high school student from the Rio Grande Valley who must come to terms with an abusive home situation, while at the same time struggling to find her place and her voice as an artist, writer, daughter, and young Latina. To complicate her world more, she begins to dream of Tenochtitlan, the former capital of the Aztec Empire. She experiences Aztec culture as one of patriarchy and …

“Combustible Sinners” And Other Stories, Myra Ivette Infante

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This is a collection of six short stories with a critical introduction. The characters in the short stories are all connected (sometimes remotely) to a small, Mexican, Pentecostal church in South Texas. The critical introduction explores the religious background and evolution as a Chicana writer of Myra Ivette Infante.

Disciples Of Vu, Leif Carl Behmer

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project is in the design of high-fantasy sword and sorcery, wherein the concepts of mana and magic are employed as expressions of virtue to highlight contemporary issues of cultural identity and belonging. This project is also an experiment to attract a readership of non-traditional fantasy readers into the genre by creating, rather than assuming, a fantastic world context using immersive rhetorical techniques.

This project in of itself is not so much a re-invention of the traditional adventure quest as it is an exploration of its post-Tolkien form (the attraction of mythology and folklore, the narrative use of prophecy), and …

Between Silver And Glass, Catherine V. Lopez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The critical introduction explores my stories, as well as my influences, and ultimate desires for said stories. The stories themselves explore a variety of topics. They are stories about growing up. They are stories about being a girl. They are stories about the magical world we live in. They are the sort of stories I'd like to read if I ever have free time again.

El Huisache Es Pocho, Pero Las Raíces No: Poems, Isaac Chavarria

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project is a collection of pocho poetry. The poems in my collection emphasize my identity as pocho. The term “pocho” is often used as a derogatory term describing a Mexican American who has lost the ability to speak Spanish. I recontextualize the border pocho as an occupant of two nationalities, as well as several social classes. Along with poets who identify themselves as Chicano/a, I am inspired by family and acquaintances who self identify as Chicano/a, Hispanic, Mexican American, or Mexican. I believe the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas is a unique enclave influenced by its people, landscape, …

Scores: A Story Collection, Robert Paul Moreira

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This is a short story collection dealing with the themes of identity, immigration, death, and ethnicity, all juxtaposed with the game of baseball. The critical introduction of this thesis begins with a detailed survey of the baseball fiction genre, with a focus on seminal works and their respective authors, and their place in American literature. I examine major authors outside the genre who have employed baseball (metaphorically, symbolically, synecdochically) in their own works, as well as analyze the effect and evolution of realism in baseball fiction, and the themes of ethnicity and identity. I explore my own works in the …

Wrestling Windmills, Christopher Girman

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This manuscript explores the teaching process by following the protagonist‟s four year journey at a middle school in Edinburg, Texas. The narrator passes through four distinct phases: first-year angst, pedagogic subversion, converting the natives, and, ultimately, personal and professional acceptance. Daily interaction disrupts the narrator‟s worldview, complicating his relationships with peers, colleagues, family, and the local community. In a series of moves designed to make himself more accessible to students, the narrator encounters sexual, racial, and gender bias—much of it his own. Finally, after a serious accident in Central Mexico during Spring Break, the protagonist relies on his students to …

The Animal Coming Together, Rodney Gomez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project is an ekphrastic collection of poems. The term 'ekphrasis' is usually used to refer to texts that respond to or are influenced by particular works of visual art, but it can sometimes be used to refer to texts that respond to non-visual art as well, such as musical compositions. I take the more inclusive approach to ekphrasis: most of the poems in this collection are based on paintings, but several are based on photos, films, sculpture, multimedia works, musical compositions, and art generally. Most of the poems are based on Chican@ and Latin American art. The collection is …

Following Cleng Peerson: A Niece's Journey, Christine Suzanne Ardis

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the summer of 1821, Cleng Peerson came to America as a scout for a group of Norwegians hoping to find a place where they could freely express their religion and enjoy economic prosperity. In this thesis, I explore the results of Cleng’s scouting and his preparations for the arrival of his sister, Carrie, her family and their friends on the Norwegian sloop Restaurationen. Throughout the text, I juxtapose my life story with Cleng’s. Together we experience relocation, homesickness and hardships and create a familial bond 188 years after his arrival in America. My thesis ends at the Murray/Kendall settlement …

“Jugando En Serio” And Other Works, Shoney Flores

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In the critical introduction of this thesis, I explore how the different choices we make as creative writers affect the targeted audience of a work. I focus on the endless battle between genre writing and literary writing, in hopes of there being a style of writing that can utilize the best of both. I write about the issues and themes of the works in this thesis that come close to being nonfiction. Finally, I highlight how stylistic choices in bilingual writing can change or destroy potential audiences. These are aspects that have shaped the creative writing included in this collection. …