Creative Writing Commons^™

Lemons And Other Grand Delusions, Jake A. Yarnold

Master's Theses

Lemons and Other Grand Delusions explores a host of characters as they come face to face with their greatest fears, as they get exactly what they think they want. From magic dimension-bending lemons, to automatons powered by the Philosopher’s Stone, as the powers from beyond become in-hand realities, the characters find their greatest desires are not as simple and powerful in their hands as they first thought. Exploring the limits of greed and desire within ourselves and in the society we live in, the collection asks who are we, if not a collection of our own desires, and the impulses …

Between The Sky And Earth, Swetha Amit

Master's Theses

Between The Sky And Earth is a collection of short stories that takes place in India, and in America, capturing the lives of Indian immigrants, and a cat, from different walks of life, some made up of students who came to pursue the American dream. The time span ranges between the early to late 2000s, capturing some significant events like farmer suicide and undocumented immigrants. These stories explore grief, trauma, identity, displacement, and relationships, focusing primarily on the consequences of losing loved ones, and unexpected mishaps that lead to a life and death situation. A couple of the stories grapple …

Memory And Identity: Inter-Generational Resilience And Construction Of Diasporic Identities Among Somali Refugees, Hamida Dahir Sheikh Ahmed

Master's Theses

The violence and displacement many refugees face often create a lifelong trauma that manifests in many ways within themselves, their families, and communities. The Somali refugee community in the United States is no different. Since their resettlement in America started in the 1990s following the civil war, the community has struggled with different manifestations of that trauma; substance abuse and gang violence among the youth, prominence of depression and suicide rates, rise of domestic violence, as well as other direct and indirect results associated with mental health. This is the reality of many refugee and immigrant communities, coming directly from …

Noted Mirrors, Dennis Spears

Master's Theses

Noted Mirrors seeks exploration, it seeks discovery it seeks experience. I think, like most of us, I’ve often had far more wonders than answers, but I often like it that way. Noted Mirrors tries to understand a romance that frightened, a friend taken away too soon that crippled. An unconditional love from grandparents and a mother that rescued. A relationship with an absent father that poisoned. Revelational relationships with familiar strangers that taught so much in the form of freeing. A fascination with Redwoods and Orcas that brought so much life into merely being. And a curiosity of the abstract …

Finding And Making Home: Poems And Reflections Of Undergraduate Children Of Immigrants, Gladys Perez

Master's Theses

The number of children of immigrants within the United States has grown over the past few decades and more so we are seeing a greater number of these children pursuing a higher education. With a growing number of undergraduate children of immigrants growing, there is a need to understand how they see themselves as a part of the United States. Previous studies take into consideration how these students navigate higher education, however, there is a lack of research on these students’ larger understanding of belonging within the overall nation. Poetry as data and a process was the grounding methodology that …

Exhibition, Featuring, Catherine Duggan

Master's Theses

Exhibition, Featuring is a collection of poems inspired by art, life, and history intertwined with the very center of humanness, convergence of heart and brain. The poems assembled here attempt to recreate the sensation of memory and remembering, and at times, trying to forget. Concerned with language and the ways in which we communicate with others, the lines weave in and out of conversation, evoking daily interac­tions and thoughts carried within us, continuous as breathing. The collection is divided into five parts, each establishing a variance of the whole—all parts a harmony. The reader will discover formal poetry, poems evoking …

Segments, Carol Coggin

Master's Theses

Segments is fictionalized memoir structured as eight short stories, or segments of the central character's life. These autobiographical incidents begin in Redding, California, in 1947, when the central character leaves the family farm on her first day of school only to return to face the loss of her innocence. I find it ironic that boys and girls sexually abused by a parent or other family member are not considered incest victims, but incest survivors. Even if one survives the effects of incest, all subsequent perspectives and decisions are colored by loss of trust.

"Praise Raleigh" is told by a third …