Creative Writing Commons^™

Confluence: A Braided Essay, Kathryn Christian

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Confluence: A Braided Essay seeks to examine three distinct topics: the trauma of my parents' divorce, the controversial decision over Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah, and Aileen Wuornos, the first documented female serial killer in the United States. The braided essay's unique format allows the author to select three different topics and weave them together. As the author braids the strands through the essay, the implications of the strands arise and begin to vibrate together on the page. Confluence is a response to the rage of a serial killer, the pain of losing Bears Ears, and the angered …