Creative Writing Commons^™

Could Musical Theatre Be Worthy Of Literary Analysis? (Or, An Attempt At Dismantling The Cultural Hierarchy), Sarah Meierdirks

Honors Theses

Could Musical Theatre Be Worthy of Literary Analysis?

Cultural hierarchy, or the perception that different forms of art relate to each other in terms of higher or lower sophistication, has commanded the way we view art for centuries. Artforms which the cultural hierarchy deems to be “higher” are often given more attention, respect, and appreciation in academia, but can be less accessible both physically and mentally to the masses, while artforms deemed to be “lower” tend to be simpler and more fun, making them have a more popular appeal. The tendency for art that is either simple or fun to …

Mythos, Hana Holmgren

Honors Theses

Who gives a voice to the voiceless? When do we hear from those who are left behind, abused, abandoned, silenced? Mythos is an exploration of lost voices in mythology, antiquated, biblical, and personal: the women, the minorities, the marginalized. What would they say, if finally given the chance? Perhaps Helen of Troy chose to run away. Maybe Philomela was always meant to become a nightingale, and sing the world to sleep. Maybe fallen angels like making lentil soup for dinner. Maybe dead dragons are reincarnated as accountants. Maybe the stories got it all wrong.

A book of 13 poems, 6 …

"Woodburn, Texas: A Study In Southern Gothic", Katherine Stone

Honors Theses

My thesis, titled “Woodburn, Texas: A Study in Southern Gothic”, is a short story separated into four main sections as well as an introductory piece and conclusion that are separate from the other sections. The four main sections are separated by four prose poems ¾one for each season.

Separating the sections are four prose poems that follow the seasons. They allow for further access into the history and mindset of the people of this seemingly quiet and slow town as well as the Southern mindset in general.

Both the poems and the regular prose are told in the first person …

Westbound, Genevieve Nicolow

Honors Theses

Westbound is a twenty-five chapter novella that aims to demonstrate ways in which creative writers can use climate fiction to overcome psychological barriers to act on climate change. The narrative follows Cassie, a character loosely based on a relative of its author, living in a future version of the United States that has been ravaged by climate change and its indirect consequences.

In the novella, Cassie and her mother Nia set out on a cross-country road trip as a climate disaster looms. The narrative explores their relationship and that with Cassie’s estranged father, the implications of projected ecological changes under …

Reshaping The United States' Anti-Trafficking Legislation: The Need For Uniform Reporting And Victim Rehabilitation, Bryant Cross

Honors Theses

Trafficking in persons—or “human trafficking”—is a prevalent issue in the United States in the twenty-first century. Since the turn of the century, awareness surrounding the national and international problem of human trafficking has gradually risen. This rise in awareness came hand-in-hand with Congressional efforts to combat the trafficking of human beings through federal law—namely, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations. Unfortunately, federal legislators’ initial framing of the trafficking in persons problem as an international issue—rather than a national issue—led to the creation of a weak legislative foundation for anti-trafficking efforts in the United States. …

“Called Forth By Imminent Dangers”: The American Gothic In Mysteries Of Detection And Detective Fiction (1799-1929), Keli Masten

Dissertations

The period from 1799 through 1929 marks a remarkable era of development for gothic themes in American mystery and investigative fiction. From early “mysteries of detection” through more structurally formalized detective stories, this project examines the differences in the gothic modes and devices employed by Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, Anna Katharine Green, Mark Twain, and Dashiell Hammett, and their significant contributions to the progression of the popular gothic detective genre. Through the study of each author’s specific style and focus, there is much to learn about literary development and cultural influence. All of the authors mentioned here address …

Monkey Mind: Everyday Observations Of Mental Illness, Mikhayla Dunaj

Honors Theses

When I first was able to identify that I dealt with anxiety, I was 18 years old. At the time, I didn’t know how to explain it, and assumed it was only because I was in an unhealthy relationship, after already having been in an abusive one. At the end of my third year at Western Michigan University, I suffered a mental breakdown and started counseling.

The process of counseling was difficult, because as I opened up more, I realized that I had spent a majority of my life stuffing down things that were actually anxiety symptoms, assuming that it …

The Laureate, Hannah Ryder

Honors Theses

In its eighteenth edition, the only undergraduate literary journal on Western Michigan University’s campus returns with more phenomenal student creations. The Laureate, led this year by senior Hannah Ryder, compiles fiction, non-fiction, plays, poetry, art, and photographs to provide a yearly snapshot of the best work from the university’s brightest individuals. Inside, the pieces explore not only what it means to be an individual, but how different surroundings and influences shape characters and experiences. The journal kicks off with a photograph staring up at a golden-leafed tree, representing both hopefulness and light. It then moves quickly and seamlessly through a …

Waxing, Waning, Waking: A Collection Of Poetry And Prose, Brook Vanbruggen

Honors Theses

Waxing, Waning, Waking: A collection of poetry and prose is a digital magazine featuring a body of creative writing pieces that were written during my undergraduate career. The written word is powerful and adaptable and can accomplish any number of difficult tasks. The pieces included here were chosen from a number of genres, including poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, to reflect and explore some of the countless ways that we use words. The title of the collection reflects the elements of space, light, and darkness that appear as motifs throughout the larger body of work, which discusses:

• Family
• Nature …

The Rhetoric Of Landscape: Through Oil And Water, Alexandrea Davis

Honors Theses

“The Rhetoric of Landscape: Through Oil and Water” analyzes five water resources—Lake Erie, Lake Powell, the Aral Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Barrier Reef—and uses the visual rhetoric introduced by an accompanying series of oil pastel illustrations to compare how the beauty of the landscapes equates to their true states. This project discusses the harmful effects of human activities on water bodies, first through direct pollution and ultimately through anthropogenic climate change. Furthermore, a final summary covering the history of environmental initiatives in the United States and the idea of “wicked problems” offers an overview of reasons …

Perennial: An Undergraduate Thesis In Poetry, Austin Wines

Honors Theses

A chapbook of poetry that explores sexuality, gender identity, mental illness, naming, and the experience of the contemporary non-binary, male bodied, Queer. "Perennial" functions as a force of resistance to hegemony, celebration, mourning, and eroticism. Through the cultivation and implementation of a personal and/or familial folklore, the poems culminate a century of inter-generational knowledge as the author draws upon the symbols of their childhood to explicate the violence and tenderness of their own Queer experience. These poems serve as a poetical feminist history and reclamation of the author's matrilineage, and the simultaneously paramount and arbitrary nature of language as it …

Crafting Fear: The Horror Film Trailer, Courtney Dreyer

Honors Theses

My research project investigates horror film trailers in an effort to define the characteristics of this genre and discuss its ideological implications. Focusing on theatrical trailers for American wide-release horror films between 2013 and 2017, I closely viewed a sample of forty trailers to inform my investigation. Horror trailers create an intense emotional experience of both dread and fear, tending to follow a similar narrative structure and employ a common set of stylistic techniques to achieve this emotional intensity. The shared stylistic techniques include elements such as tight framing, innocent imagery, and genre misdirection. The repetition of these elements promotes …

17th Edition Of The Laureate, Jessie Fales

Honors Theses

The Laureate is an undergraduate literary journal sponsored by the Lee Honors College at Western Michigan University. As Editor in Chief of the 17^th Edition, I coordinated the journal’s publication over the course of an academic year. The editorial process follows methodical stages, which have become standard over The Laureate’s lifetime—recruiting submissions, selecting submissions, coordinating with the design center, and hosting a launch party, etc... Of course, every editor has a unique experience, but we must honor the journal’s entity as something larger than ourselves—this journal has existed long before my time, and I hope it keeps on …

Mental Illness As Portrayed Through Art, Brianna Brown

Honors Theses

I was thinking of what to do for my thesis while taking classes with Vin about Anthropological Research and I realized how flawed it all was. Anthropology was born from colonialism where scholars from the United States would go to some far-off places to study the people there in hopes that they have found an interesting enough culture to get common people like you and me to want to read a book they later publish. The only way it would sell though is if this story, emphasis on story, read like a book of fiction, so far from what we …

A Scholarly Fictional Narrative Portraying The Stigma That Surrounds Mental Illness And Its Place In Literature, Adrianna Robinson

Honors Theses

The purpose of this scholarly fictional narrative is meant to reveal the struggles that individuals with mental illness go through, not only in their personal lives, but also with their place in society. I lay out research around the stigma that surrounds mental illness first, defining both public and self-stigma in relation to mental illness. I also briefly mention Girl, Interrupted and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to show how authors have addressed the stigma that surrounds mental illness in literature in the past. The research is an important part of understanding why I write the fictional narrative the way I do, …

Tales From The "Bad Ras", Narisse Martin

Honors Theses

The life of a Resident Assistant is anything and everything except dull. From training to duty nights, to suitemate mediations and the end of a contract, each day is a story that most others rarely understand, if it is even believed. From these experiences came a collection of short stories, fictionalized accounts of what it is like to be a Resident Assistant in the average American public university.

For four RAs, the stories of their Residence Life incidents are day in the life for them, even if not the day in the life they expected at the start of the …

Wild Freedom, Elizabeth Field

Honors Theses

Wild Freedom, A Fable is a work of utopian fiction that explores themes dominant in Western culture and offers more nature-centered, holistic ways of being. The fable is written from six different perspectives in order to explore diversity among gender, race, sexuality, ability, age, and other identities. This writing style was chosen because acknowledging and listening to diverse perspectives is essential to the creation of a just and equitable society. The ideas presented aim to break away from harmful dualisms dominant in Western culture, for example those that value culture over nature, the mind over the body, and the masculine …

The Laureate; 16th Edition, Nicholas Alti

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Amayra Short; Touch Of Shadow (Creative Writing, Fictional Short Story), Jessica Blandford

Honors Theses

Born in a small village near Del Marah, Teagan, abandoned by her mother, arrives on the steps of the orphanage. Her gifts express themselves in unexpected ways as she is taunted by those around her. Manifestations of her dreams become reality in the stone halls and calls the attention of the Reverend Mother, the woman responsible for purging the land from Darkness. Fearing for her life, Teagan is forced to leave behind the only life she has ever known. All the while the Forbidden God calls to her from the Shadows. Contained is a short story of fictitious work, any …

Good Looking In The Dark: A Narrative Across Three Mediums, Aimee J. Valentine

Dissertations

Good Looking in the Dark: A Narrative Across Three Mediums is a single story presented in three distinct formats: short story, stage drama, and graphic narrative. This project is an exploration of the creative process and its relation to medium, reader anticipation, participation and response. Reflecting my position that narrative meaning is made primarily in the dark space of the reader’s mind, the story selected for this project is one that takes place almost entirely in the dark. In Good Looking in the Dark, two strangers are locked in a closet and engage one another without seeing the other—just …

We Learn To Walk By Falling: Portraits And Wisdom From Women, Jennifer Townsend

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Can A Student Write A Novel In A Month?, Julia Tanner

Honors Theses

Drew knew that if he had the power to pick the soundtrack of his heaven he would choose the drop of the beat as his Cessna’s tires touching down on a landing. Faye did not put much stock in heaven, but she liked the idea of spending eternity bathed in colors, ones she could fathom now and new ones her mortal eyes couldn’t see. For Louis all he wanted was the feeling of a warm hand in his leading him to the afterlife. Drew, Faye, nor Louis planned on dying any time soon but for varying reasons they knew death …

Alcoholism, Domestic Violence, & Mental Illness: As A Graphic Novel, Abigail Jackson

Honors Theses

My inspiration for my project, “A Day on the Back Forty”, came from my personal experiences with domestic violence and alcoholism and my interest in not only sharing and hopefully lifting the taboo of having these experiences cast a negative light on my life, but to expose these issues and hopefully bring awareness to those who are not close to domesticviolence or alcoholism and to also offer a connection to those who have experienced these issues. My thought process for this project was to be able to create a thought-provoking familiarity that could be experienced on both an intimate and …

Editor-In-Chief Of The Laureate, Michael Bodinger

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Interaction Between Human Experience, Landscape , And Coffee Production In The Blue Mountain Region Of Jamaica, Shohei Yoshida

Masters Theses

In today's coffee industry, individual farmers’ identities are hardly visible from the products we buy. Each coffee farmer has different lifestyles and methods of coffee farming. Such information about farmers can make each cups of coffee potentially unique in consumers’ experience. However, there are barriers which make consumers blind from the identities of the farmers making their coffee. I will explain about the barriers, and introduce the way to make consumers associate individual farmers' identities with each cup of coffee they drink. This thesis mainly consists of two parts: a theoretical part and a poetry part. There is a small …

Using Stories As The Landscape Of Writing: A Case Study Of Mentor Texts In The Elementary Classroom, Christine Mcdowell

Dissertations

In this dissertation, I investigate the way in which mentor texts are defined and implemented by four elementary classroom teachers within one school district, and how this mode of instruction allows for an increase in teacher autonomy while still addressing Common Core State Standards. This project focuses on each participant as they share a common goal in writing instruction while maintaining their teaching identity and curricular freedom.

One goal of this study is to provide the educational theory that supports mentor text instruction that is missing from the movement. Many teaching guides exist that explain the concept of mentor texts, …

Co-Editor-In-Chief Of The Laureate, Dj Delong

Honors Theses

The Laureate’s mission is to provide undergraduate students at Western Michigan University a place in which to publish their fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and other creative works. Under the guidance of a faculty editor and mentor, Samantha McVeigh and I have taken on the task to edit the 14th edition. Our responsibilities included choosing assistant editors, calling for and reading submissions, choosing pieces to create a manuscript, and editing multiple times for publishing.

This edition is different because of the introduction of co-editors, accepting color artwork, and adding audio files of authors reading their pieces. The Laureate explored the technology that …

The Laureate Collection, Samantha Mcveigh

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Each Moment A Poem, Sarah Kidd

Honors Theses

Each Moment a Poem is a collection of 10 poems spanning 20 pages. The poems were written in 2014 under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Katrovas, my poetry professor, and Ms. Kimberly Kolbe, the managing editor of New Issues Press, where I was granted an internship. When 2014 began, I adopted the philosophy that each moment has the potential to become a poem, that stories can be told concisely and vividly through poetry. The poems in this collection explain and explore important moments I have experienced while awake and asleep. The poems are lucidly written in a free verse narrative …

Like Sun On A Wet Cobblestone, Renate Childs

Honors Theses

Recent College graduate, Silvie, is visiting her good friend Maddie in Rome in an attempt to put off making any major life decisions. Outside of the Coliseum she meets Giorgio, a charming American living an ideal life in Rome, and Michele De Luca, a mysterious and intelligent professor. As Giorgio plays the role of tour guide, showing Silvie around Rome, De Luca becomes a mentor for her. Silvie is a young, modern American living in the old world, and these contrasting cultures lead to detailed and insightful observations. Through her travel experiences and the relationships formed with each character, Sylvie …