Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Illnesses And The Oddities, Reina Lipkind

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

THE ILLNESSES AND THE ODDITIES is a linked memoir covering two decades the author worked as an Emergency Room physician before her unexpected retirement. Included are glimpses into the formation of the author’s initial career as well as her prospective career.

Working in an overwhelmed system impacts the treatment of patients and staff morale. Like Tim O’Brien’s " The Things They Carried," the ER can be a war zone, causing moral injury to those who deal with endless illnesses and odd events. Memories of youthful experiences are recalled as the author encounters difficult situations, as in "The Crystal Palace" by …

Trying To Save The Family: A Memoir, Roberto J. Manzano

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

TRYING TO SAVE THE FAMILY: A MEMOIR uses incomplete and contradictory versions of single incidents and views of character that echo across time and place to assemble a narrative portrait of three generations. It looks at a family’s simultaneity of experience in Havana, leaving versus staying, and in Miami, adjusting versus failing to. The narrator employs interviews, photos, and family documents to investigate and interpret a complex inheritance. Like Joan Didion's Miami, this memoir focuses on history's patterns and repetitions. It starts in the fifties and ends in the present, as the narrator searches his family’s past to understand …

Two Ways Of Burning A Cotton Field, David James Lindstrom

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

TWO WAYS OF BURNING A COTTON FIELD is an ethnographic memoir concerning the narrator’s experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, South America. The plot is structured around a moral crisis in his rural Paraguayan village. The narrator’s neighbor, a man in his late twenties, threatened to kill his partner and her two children. The Paraguayan police were made aware of the situation but did nothing. Peace Corps management also instructed the narrator to do nothing.

In TWO WAYS OF BURNING A COTTON FIELD, this moral crisis is explored within the contexts of post-colonial power structures, including economic and …

The String Of 10,000 Firecrackers, Jan M. Becker

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

THE STRING OF 10,000 FIRECRACKERS

by

Jan Becker

Florida International University, 2017

Miami, Florida

Professor Les Standiford, Major Professor

THE STRING OF 10,000 FIRECRACKERS is a collection of personal essays that examines the narrator’s upbringing as a Marine Corps brat, and her experience immigrating into civilian society in the United States after a childhood segregated behind barbed-wire on military bases.

The collection begins with the title essay, when the narrator, at nine years-of-age, tosses an ignited string of 10,000 firecrackers at her stepfather, a decorated Vietnam veteran, triggering post-traumatic flashback, and a reflection on the author’s …

Hunger: Essays, Monica I. Restrepo

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

HUNGER: ESSAYS is a collection of lyric essays that present the coming-of-age story of a young woman growing up in a Panamanian family where identity is defined by patriarchal notions of femininity (e.g., physical appearances) and economically-oriented career aspirations. In an attempt to fit into this family rather than explore her difference, the narrator undergoes psychological trauma that results in anorexia during her young adulthood. As she works towards healing, the narrator grapples with Western dichotomies of body and mind in an effort to become a more integrated self.

Nothing Normal Happens To Me: True Stories Of A Journey From Madness To Motherhood, Esther C. Martinez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Written in first person, NOTHING NORMAL HAPPENS TO ME is a memoir in essays that traces the narrator’s journey from self-destruction to creation. Part one encompasses the narrator’s lost years, after she breaks free from the tyranny of her mentally ill mother and goes to live on her own at 17. Part two provides context for those bad girl years, exploring her childhood when she identified with her histrionic mother. Part three comprises stories about the narrator’s years of awakening when she seeks out transcendence, faith, and a family of her own. The pieces vary tonally and stylistically as they …

Dear Little Me: A Response To My Former Self, Carly Steele

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

DEAR LITTLE ME: A RESPONSE TO MY FORMER SELF is a 180-page memoir in which the adult self at age twenty-three responds to the diary entries and writings of the younger version of herself. The original diary entries, which were written from 2001 to 2004, feature the typical troubles of a middle school girl: crushes, cliques, and puberty. However, the diary entries also explore darker events such as September 11, divorce, bullying, and self-image issues. When the adult “me” re-read these diaries, I felt a strong desire to respond to my former self, offering her advice and encouragement, both serious …

Keep The Doors Open, Lauren C. Rivera

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My purpose in writing this collection of lyric essays is to examine my evolution during one decade, from age 19 to 29. Essential questions have guided me: What stimulated change? What formed my decisions? What predisposed me to my relationship with my partner? Why did I want to have a child? What kind of relationship do I have with my son? How did my relationship with my partner evolve? Why did we decide to leave Miami? Hopefully, I have given the reader a glimpse into my movement from self-centeredness to motherhood, from aloof adolescent to committed partner, from timid daughter …