Creative Writing Commons^™

Sue, Heath Joseph Wooten

All NMU Master's Theses

Sue is a collection of poetry investigating the cyclical nature of grief through the lens of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s schemas of paranoid and reparative readings. The poems employ motifs such as hunting, disease, and human remains to capture the temporal disorientation experienced in the wake of loss. Via an extensive use of metaphor and recurring poem titles, Sue exploits the multivalence of language to conjure a dense field of meaning, meant to capture the undecidability of language noted by philosopher Jacques Derrida. This collection also employs several vectors of derivation, including erasure of text lifted from the 2002 strategy video …

The Gender Epidemic: Intersecting Disease, Gender, And Sexuality In A Graphic Novel, Autumn Cejer

All NMU Master's Theses

For my thesis, I wrote a graphic novel set in a world where certain people possess powers that society tries to suppress by viewing them as a disease. The story focuses on two super-powered individuals on opposite sides of the law who handle this oppression very differently. Although these characters would easily be able to overpower the non-powered people in charge, they are too afraid to do so. Internalized guilt from possessing abilities they did not ask for adds an additional layer of conflict, just as women and disabled persons are constantly made to feel like they should apologize for …

The Natural Mother Of The Child, Krys Belc

All NMU Master's Theses

The Natural Mother of the Child is a memoir-in-essays about Belc’s experiences as a transmasculine birth parent. These essays use text and images to explore parenting on the margins of both motherhood and fatherhood. They also examine the ways in which legal and identity documents are limiting in their ability to describe gender and family. Topics explored include pregnancy, birth, lactation, masculinity, top surgery, medical transition, the meaning of biological relationships between parents and children, and microaggressions against transgender people.

That Said, Karl Alderic Schroeder

All NMU Master's Theses

That Said, a creative thesis of poetry and poetics in two parts, explores points of contact between human interaction, capitalism, consciousness, and the process of meaning itself. The collection appropriates the language of business, scholarship, and politics alongside philosophical substructures from such disparate traditions as Marxism, Existentialism, and Taoism to provide a several windows of perspective into anxiety, relationships, identity, and consumerism. Through the blending of both direct and experimental forms and processes, nontraditional and everyday diction and syntax, and multifaceted content of both personal and external significance, these poems may simultaneously amuse, alienate, and inspire philosophical and critical …

Things We Have In Common: Essays And Experiments, Willow Grosz

All NMU Master's Theses

Things We Have in Common is a collection of short stories, flash pieces, and image-text experiments that attempts, in the wake of the death of my mother, to excavate the relationship between memory and narrative, identity and belonging against a backdrop of the main forces that have influenced my familial group, namely generational poverty, a changing relationship with our Athabascan and Caucasian heritages, and the complicated ecology, geography, and culture of Alaska. Like many forays into memory, this project represents a joyous failure. Please read this collection as a love letter to Alaska.

I Was Thinking Something In The Car, But Now I Forgot, Olliemae Bartlett

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection consists of modern free verse poetry left around town, captured with an instant camera using a capitalist lens and developed in the bottom of a purse. Sometimes found, sometimes torn down, sometimes scribbled, riddled, pickled, stickled, belittled, embrittled and initialed, sometimes made by mistake but always left hungry and up for debate.

In I Was Thinking Something In the Car, But now I forgot, the voice is your voice, only from over here, somewhere you’ve never been but could imagine if you tried. The voice speaks to the machine we’ve made together: the florescent, 24hr signs, press 3 …

Wait For It To Bloom., Deziree Brown

All NMU Master's Theses

"wait for it to bloom." is a poetry collection of free verse poetry that examines black motherhood and womanhood in order to interrogate the sociopolitical implications of black women’s existence in a patriarchal, capitalistic society. Due to the intersections of our identities, black women face a specific type of discrimination that spans both racism and sexism, among other types of discrimination. The healing properties associated with astronomy and mythology are used as entry points to discuss this trauma, while popular culture is used to address these issues that happen daily in the media directly. This consistent bombardment of prejudice, along …

Bramble And Knife, Sara Ryan

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis is a collection of poems that center on the themes of extinction, family, the female body, and the presence of the animal. During my time in the Upper Peninsula, I found a connection with the natural world around me, and this led to my fascination with animals and extinction, both of which manifested in my poetry. As I struggled with the residual effects of toxic relationships, as well as the bleak romantic landscape of the UP, I saw my own body reflected in the bodies of animals. I specifically noticed this reflection while studying the art of taxidermy; …

The Wrong Side Of Yesterday, Jacob Hall

All NMU Master's Theses

These chapters start off a novel that follows Simon Jones, a man brought back to the city of Decatur, Illinois by the death of his sister. Simon is left taking care of Jeffrey, a ten-year-old boy with an arm that loses skin constantly and glows a dull white. While Simon and Jeffrey navigate their grief and uncertain futures, the city is rocked by a series of murders that target “divergents,” people with physical abnormalities like Jeffrey’s arm. The Wrong Side of Yesterday is a novel that uses elements of magical realism and mystery to explore issues of grief, disability, poverty, …

Lonely This Side Of Nowhere, Anne Okonowski

All NMU Master's Theses

In this creative work, the writer explores familial relationships as well as what is home. Combining nonfiction essays, fiction, poetry, and images in one narrative, this work is comprised of multiple stories to create a related narrative. This project is a celebration of storytelling through multiple genres, and draws from multiple sources of inspiration, including both creative and critical works.

The Immortal Jellyfish And Other Things That Don't Know About Love, Tianli Kilpatrick

All NMU Master's Theses

My thesis is a collection of creative nonfiction essays that play with form and language in an attempt to show that trauma can create beauty. This thesis originated with trauma theory and specifically deals with sexual assault trauma, but it also covers topics including international adoption, self-injury, and oceanic life. Jellyfish are a recurring image and theme, both the physical jellyfish itself and the mythological connection to Medusa. Jellyfish do not have brains, but they have developed complex stinging tentacles that for all their beauty make them dangerous. I chose jellyfish because their dual representation fascinates me. I think they …

An Unstable Container, John Lapine

All NMU Master's Theses

An Unstable Container is a collection of short creative nonfiction essays and poetry, with influences from personal memoir, lyric essays, race and gender studies, and poetry. The work examines the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality, and the ways in which language, society, and the human body contribute to the construction of one's sense of self. Through the lenses of language, modern technology, medicine, and genetics, An Unstable Container explores blackness, queerness, masculine identity, growing up in rural Michigan, and the dangers and pleasures of corporeality. The collection also interrogates the social institutions of marriage and religion, gender roles, and …

A Road Out Of Naknek Part One: The Tide Turns, Keith Wilson

All NMU Master's Theses

I make an annual summertime return to Naknek, a town on Bristol Bay where the salmon have made their own annual summertime return for thousands of years. My thesis is a series of nonfiction essays about my background there, both as a commercial fisherman and my upbringing. It is something I consider the “Part One” of a book still under the process of writing. It is a series of essays, alternating these two motifs of the salmon and of my experiences growing up somewhere like Naknek.

I constructed this thesis to read like the tide. Bristol Bay salmon go out …

Hollowend, Hayley M. Fitz

All NMU Master's Theses

Hollowend is a novel set in the small town of, surprise, Hollowend. This is a place where the supernatural is ordinary. The story is told by two narrators: Hettie, a crime scene cleaner whose eye has gone missing; and Harlan, a "private investigator" who isn't actually a private investigator. He's a serial killer—the Widowmaker, according to the local press. He's been terrorizing Hollowend for the past three years, only getting away with it because of his influence magic, which allows him to convince anyone of anything. It even allows him to scrub Hettie's memory after his many failed attempts to …

In Post Memoriam: An Exploration Of Family And Grieving, Courtney A. Mauck

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of essays, poems, and fiction details the author’s exploration of familial trauma and grief. The author wrestles with the concept of “postmemory” as theorized by Marianne Hirsch and questions what it means to have the experiences of someone else passed down through generations. The collection includes essays on the connection between eggs and ovarian cancer, the exploration of animal magnetism, as well as a fictional recreation of a familial story. By braiding several forms of writing together, the work aims to create an interwoven narrative that questions the very concept of memory.

Walking In Waves, Sarah David

All NMU Master's Theses

The following thesis consists of a story collection, the majority of which are flash fiction pieces. The thesis consists of two sections. The first section, “Walking in Waves,” is composed of stories about familial relationships and the balancing act of motherhood. Some of these stories play with unique formats or degrees of speculative fiction. Many are rather lyrical in nature. The second section is a novella-in-flash; entitled “Tiny’s Jazz Magic,” this series of stories tells the tale of a woman and her young daughter in 1920’s Storyville, New Orleans.

How To Hitchhike West With A Promise, Max Wojciechowski

All NMU Master's Theses

This work is an excerpt of a larger novel in progress that closely follows the journey of the main character, Charlie, who is hitchhiking from the Chicago suburbs to California in order to spread his mother’s ashes. It takes inspiration from the traditional American road trip novels, while following a contemporary narrative that dives into the main character’s judgmental attitude toward his fellow human. The story highlights his character growth with tips for hitchhiking that Charlie directs toward the audience sporadically throughout the piece. Charlie happens to be gay. A conscious decision was made to not highlight his sexual orientation, …

Lessons For An Educator: The Real Meaning Of Sacrifice And Service, Courtney A. Lemire Mrs.

All NMU Master's Theses

I knew at a young age that I would devote my professional life to being an educator. I was not prepared for the numerous setbacks that I would experience and, at times, I have questioned why I became a teacher. It is during these moments of hesitation and uncertainty that I find inspiration from three military family members: my maternal grandfather, Edwin, my paternal grandfather, Lloyd, and my husband, Joe. They dedicated their lives to serving others while not asking for anything in return. All three unselfishly sacrificed a part of who they were for the betterment of others. It …

Deeper Than Roots, Braelyn D. Spencer

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of essays explores the author’s relationship with home. The author works through family, death, relationships, illness, and growth. The essays consist of an analysis of rooms within a house, the act of burying loved ones, and discovering what it is to move away. These essays aim to mix retellings of everyday events and relationships with deep personal turmoil and the growth that result from it.

The Inversion Layer: Essays, Benjamin W. Kinney

All NMU Master's Theses

This essay collection examines the ways in which places with rich histories exist through time. Five sites are examined, four of them in the Upper Peninsula and one of them in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The sites in “The Best Souvenir” and “The Cloud Chamber” are official museums, the site in “Comfort in Buying Things” is an active mall, the site in “The Inversion Layer” is a tourist destination, and the site in “A Beautiful Piece of Nowhere” has no official memorial. All of these essays incorporate research but are grounded mostly in the author’s experiences at his visits …

Paranormal Orgy, Cameron M. Contois

All NMU Master's Theses

Paranormal Orgy is a novel length work that explores a world full of the paranormal— demons and vampires and aliens— and how some very real, very flawed characters get by in the face of these monsters. Many different points of view are utilized in this work, beginning with the point of view of a 15-year-old girl who may or may not be possessed. Haunted by the prospect of growing up, this girl attempts to live and love in the world of the strange. Other point of views explored include that of an addict, an estranged daughter, a strict grandmother, and …

Ghost, Moving, Andrea Wuorenmaa

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of creative nonfiction essays weaves a journey through local history, genealogy, physical landscape, and personal memoir. The essays therein investigate the past through the lens of the present, and the present as informed by the past. Written from a first person perspective, many of the essays directly address individuals or time periods long gone, while all of them are constructed with the memory, research, and imagination of the author.

Though this collection is rooted in history, it also relies on the metaphysical to create a vision of the past. Intangible themes—life, death, a farewell to things and people …

Check The Box Marked Other: Exploring Gender In Family Life, Serenity E. Dougherty

All NMU Master's Theses

The concept of a traditional family structure has been fading over the last 50 years and with this decline the notion of responsibilities being determined by gender is also losing ground, though it still has a long way to go. This short story collection works to continue to normalize the increasing variety of family structures, especially variety that has its roots in new notions of gender challenging old conventions. The stories are all set in Nebraska, an ideal landscape for exploring tradition versus modernity. Though there are major cities in NE, most of the state is composed of smaller rural …

A Marriage Sewn Together, Marie E. Curran

All NMU Master's Theses

A Marriage Sewn Together is a creative writing thesis in three parts. Forming the thesis is a collection of very short essays, A Startling Passage, a short story, “Perigee,” and a novella, This Is Not Our Revolution. The latter pieces are fictional and take place in rural settings. All three pieces include explorations of questions concerning birth, beginnings, “original sin,” land, and the tension of balancing personal relationships with political or community ideals. The works are rooted in realism, and sometimes tend toward the lyric. As indicated in the introduction, the three works in A Marriage Sewn Together …

Remain, Johanna M. Hardy

All NMU Master's Theses

After completing her own grief counseling group, Gennie Maxwell becomes the leader of a grief group for young adults. Six people are left to her charge in the face of the loss of a loved one. Gennie, still grappling with her own grief, leads the way through each week’s group session, and the people within the group begin to find support and growth in their time within the group. As each member finds a place amongst the others, they unfold a stories of their individual struggles with being left behind when someone they love dies. As the weeks progress, grief …

Expatriates Of "Good" Motherhood: Bearing Witness, Guilt, And Burdens Of Transgressive Motherhood, Kelsey Nicole Lueptow

All NMU Master's Theses

To be an expatriate requires emotional stamina to withstand culture shock, loneliness, and self-doubt. To be an expatriate of “good” motherhood is no less shocking, no less lonely, and no less anxiety-inducing. This collection braids original creative pieces with critical inquiry into the roots of disorienting riptides of motherhood mythology. The creative pieces include flash nonfiction essays and poetry; the critical inquiry explores historical narratives, critical theory, feminist theory, and literary narratives. By braiding these different forms, the work aims to create a collage of cultural artifacts, whose composition can better illuminate the darkest corners of elusive motherhood mythology.

The Trash Birder's Guide, Ashely Adams

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of essays details the author’s experience with birds and the bird watching sub-culture. The author grapples with obsession, exploration, and human-animal relationships. Essays include the search for peregrine falcons and ‘u’aus, navigating “The Biggest Week in American Birding,” and tending to owls and geese at a bird sanctuary. In addition, the essays seek to use the langue and images of birding to create an interconnected narrative that not only illuminates the birding sub-culture, but also the world of a transient young birder.

The Fire In The Firefly: The Unspoken (Speaks), Ania S. Payne

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of nonfiction essays explores life and the way that we, as animals—humans, mammals, insects—engage the world that we all share together, both from a personal perspective and from a distant, 3^rd person perspective. Some of these essays dabble in memoir, wherein I closely examine the intricacies of the relationships between my family members, neighbors, and friends. Other essays are driven by research and my relentless curiosity about the world around me—what goes on in the mind of the earthworm or chigger, the science of fear and the inevitability of death that surrounds us all. This collective narrative …

Yardbirds, Joshua A. Brewer

All NMU Master's Theses

Novel-length fictions, when at their best, deeply complicate themes, characters, events or situations using the form’s lengthy narrative arc. Yardbirds aims to employ the long narrative arc to engage a fictional west Arkansas mountain community, Ink, and the contemporary post-mill economy evoked. Yardbirds attempts to disorient the traditional notion of point-of-view to recognize the multifaceted power of the land. This work features a multi-racial, bilingual and multicultural community which confronts the longstanding black-white binary that has dominated literary depictions of the American South. This work aims to disrupt that notion—the South as monolith—by presenting bioregional communities as central to individuals’ …

Finding Tuwaqachi, And Other Essays, Cory G. Ferrer

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis is a collection in four parts, divided by genre with the exception of the titular essay series, Finding Tuwaqachi. Insecurity, affirmation, and our need to connection emerge as the primary themes of this work. The essay series, Finding Tuwaqachi, takes a close look at intentional community and center for alternative therapy located in southern Michigan during the 1970s, by examining several lives caught up in this project. Part two of this collection comprises a series of lyric essays which explore the need to be heard, as well as the ultimate fallibility of our attempts to understand and …