Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Suicide Pelicans, Amanda A. Mccoy

ETD Archive

The suicide pelican lives in Costa Rica. You may not believe me, but I've seen it with my own eyes. Blindness is common for these birds, mostly caused by their form of fishing: dive-bombing into the water at full speed and spearing fish with their beaks. This head-first diving damages the eyes over the years. Once blind, some of the pelicans intentionally crash into rocks to avoid an unbearable, unnatural existence. These birds and their surprisingly beautiful, graceful suicide plunges influenced this collection of short stories aptly titled Suicide Pelicans. Though my collection is mostly about women and not actual …