Creative Writing Commons^™

Poetic Walking Across Mobile Boundaries: Contemporary Southeast Asian Narratives In The Work Of Trinh T. Minh-Ha And Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Weiying Yu

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research investigates how personal politics, the poetics of cinematic narrative form, and current Southeast Asian landscapes are embodied in the work of filmmakers/artists Trinh T. Minh-ha (b. 1952, Hanoi, Vietnam) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (b. 1970, Bangkok, Thailand). Trinh and Apichatpong’s transnational reflections and radical poetics challenge the West as the authoritative domain of modern knowledge, evoking a border rupture that questions hegemonic definitions of culture, history, geography, and society. Synthesizing art and politics, their works create experimental spaces to navigate the multidimensional consciousness associated with the Asia Pacific and global political issues of immigration, refugeeism, military action resistance, and …

Dimensions Of The Dsm, Emma Snyder

Student Research Submissions

The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the DSM, is the book that helps psychologists diagnose mental illnesses. Its weakness lies in its categorical approach, a labeling system without exceptions for individuals. Many psychologists agree that it should be changed to support less black-and-white criteria for mental illnesses. I want to tackle this issue through a series of three nontraditional essays that use the DSM criteria as building blocks for the scenes of the story. Each piece will feature a character with a specific mental illness, with the focus being on building a three-dimensional character out of the two-dimensional …

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 …

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 …

Love In A Bleak Climate: A Tale Of Desolation In The Deserts Of New Mexico, Remy Rogers, Han Dai-Yu

Honors Thesis

As an illustration major and English minor, my thesis melds the two mediums of the written word and visual imagery. One half of this thesis is a short story I’ve written about an old woman and her dog who become stranded in the deserts of New Mexico while on a camping trip following a coyote attack. Using the classic format of book illustrations, I chose 10 scenes from my story to interpret, decorate, and visually explain through the medium of traditional illustration: hand-drawn ink and watercolor drawings. A quote from each scene is included in the illustration itself. The purpose …

The Sojourner, Adefolaju Edun

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

To me, a sojourner is a person who leaves his or her homeland in search of something only to return after a temporary period of staying in a foreign land. The search for something better led me to the United Kingdom, and shortly after, the USA. Initially, the reason for my travel was to find better opportunities. I have since discovered that my success and progress in life depend on my willingness to harness my greatness. During the process of writing this book, I discovered myself. I left Nigeria in my late teens, and I have been abroad ever since. …

Emily Dickinson: 19th Century Poet In A 21st Century World, Stephanie Merrigan

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This capstone will discuss what channels mediate public access to literary content in the case of Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters. The discussion continues with how this was a problem for Dickinson while she was alive due to her reclusiveness and unorthodox punctuation. The capstone then looks at the other aspects of this in the roles that editors, the merchandise now made with lines from Dickinson’s work, and digital technologies play in that circulation, but also how they have played a role in making Dickinson a pop culture icon in the 21^st century.

Crucial Silence, Amy Howard

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

James Baldwin tells the story of being arrested in Paris for allegedly stealing a single hotel bedsheet. After spending several weeks and Christmas Day in a cold prison cell, Baldwin was brought to trial. As he was acquitted for the petty crime which he did not commit, he heard “great merriment in the courtroom.” Baldwin said, “I was chilled by their merriment even thought it was meant to warm me. It could only remind me of the laughter I had often heard at home, laughter which I had sometimes deliberately elicited. This laughter is the laughter of those who consider …

Cold Snap, Skylar Beauregard

Master’s Theses and Projects

For my Master’s Thesis project, I will be writing an original piece of realistic fiction inspired by the “dirty realism” literary movement of the 20th century. This piece of fiction, at the end of these two semesters, will resemble a novella in length and style while focusing on execution and maintenance of profluence as an element of narrative craft. My first semester will be spent conducting topical research on female urban youth and modern sex work in the form of short interviews and field research, closely reading some relevant contemporary “dirty realism” pieces of fiction, and using craft-based handbooks to …

From My Kitchen Window: Reflections And Essays Of A Border Crisis, Melissa Guerra

Theses and Dissertations

Memories and encounters of a life long border resident during the ongoing immigration crisis experienced in the Rio Grande Valley from 2017-2020. Thesis includes published essays that featuring interviews with migrants at the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley Humanitarian Respite Center.

It Must Have Been Your Eyes, Christian Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

This fiction book entails the story of a Mexican orphan girl, Mariana, who is propelled on to a journey to the U.S. along with her mysterious ability to see the future in people’s eyes. Her plight lands her on a shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children in Texas where she is forced to confront her fears and grow. In this surreal story that is based on true events, our times are reflected and even our future

Birdcage, Mirella Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

Birdcage is a coming of age story. It is, ultimately, a story about a young woman dealing with issues that she is now barely confronting, and with the help of positive outside influences, comes to accept herself and continues her path with a new perspective. There are prevalent themes such as mental illness, sexual and romantic identity, and the confrontation of toxic parental roles and how it can affect a child as they grow up. The purpose of this Critical Introduction of Birdcage is to explain my goals and purpose with this story, as well as to explain certain themes …

Kind King Or Tyrannical Ruler? An Analysis Of Hilary Mantel’S Henry Viii In Wolf Hall And Bringing Up The Bodies, Amanda S. Nicholson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) served as King of England from 1509 until his death in 1547. A melancholic character, Henry was known for his many marriages, his temper, his bouts of tyranny, and his break with the Catholic Church. Most authors, even those writing contemporary accounts, portray Henry as a villain. Hilary Mantel paints Henry differently. In Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies, the King is as he has always been; argumentative, sardonic, and excessive. However, Mantel chooses to augment these parts of his character with some of his better traits, giving the …

The A.J. Diaries, Angelica Rose Reilly

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This piece is a creative, fictional retelling of The People vs Orenthal James Simpson. Often referred to as the trial of the century, the O.J. Simpson case continues to captivate the attention of people all over the country. My retelling of this notorious case is done through a series of journal entries, written to feel like the genuine musings of the victim’s sister. The scope of this case is enormous, so encapsulating every single element was not possible. To account for this and still write a comprehensive story about the trial, I included a “publisher’s” note at the beginning, explaining …

Billion-Dollar Bride: Book 1—Godric's Academy For Young Ladies, Kaylin N. Stickley

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis contains the first five chapters of a young adult romance novel featuring a young woman named Theadosia Lee. The plot is heavily influenced by Cinderella, and the biblical braiding technique is heavily influenced by that of Kiera Cass and C. S. Lewis. The piece was inspired by my desire to create more young adult romance novels that contain the biblical values that are sorely lacking in most modern young adult literature. I seek to write a love story that is based on mutual respect, a strong foundation of friendship, and an intentional decision to avoid sexual activities …

New Poetry And Old Cathay : Translational Sinography In The Early Twentieth-Century English Literary World, Qingyang Lin

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks into the culture of reading, translating, and publishing classical Chinese poetry in the English literary world between the 1890s and the 1920s. It explores the mediating and constructive roles of translation (broadly construed) in the formation of knowledge about Chinese literature by focusing on an unconventional segment of the field – poet-translators who integrate Chinese poetry with the pursuit of literary modernism, whose avid experimentalism and lack of sinological credentials run counter to the fidelity principle of translation. I try to foreground the dynamism of this literary contact zone by correlating three dimensions of networks: the transtextual …

Challenging The Traditional Narrative: A Discussion On Ntzake Shange’S For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf And Beyoncé’S Lemonadex, Nadia Yonan

Canterbury Scholars

This paper discusses Beyonce’s Lemonade, a visual album released in 2016, and Ntzake Shange’s famous choreopoem, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf. The paper will seek to put in conversation the two works and analyze their commentary on redefining the traditional narrative while also working to understand Black Womanhood and the pain, trauma, reconciliation, and healing that comes with it. My Canterbury project will look at the ways in which Shange’s For Colored Girls and Beyonce’s visual text Lemonade merge arts and literature to create a space of healing and renewal for Black women today.

Reflections On The Eating Of Bologna Sandwiches: A Memoir, Benjamin M. Raphael

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Reflections on the Eating of Bologna Sandwiches is a memoir project intended to give light to my experiences teaching in a small public school located in the South Bronx. These experiences are directed to a general “second” person who takes the form of “you” and is intended to act as a general stand-in for the student population of this school, similar to the “you” used by James Baldwin in his seminal work “My Dungeon Shook”. This “you” is meant to breakdown the wall between the reader and the student population, allowing one to occupy another and in the process develop …

Inspirations For Awake: Expressions Of Trauma Through Fiction And Autoethnographic Literature, Sophia Rodriguez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Awake is a novella based on true events in my own life. This capstone project addresses my own experiences with intimate partner violence. While it is inspired by my life, I chose to write a fictional narrative rather than a strictly biographical piece of nonfiction. Instead, this novella illustrates a few of the traumas that I went through from within the lens of a fictional narrative. This enabled me to tell about my experiences by crafting my memories into a story, without the pressure of submitting an accounting of them. Writing Awake has been helpful to me in that it …

Ricky & Grams, Berthold Brock Albin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

When his wife kicks him out of the house, Richard (Ricky) goes to live at his parents’ house where, it turns out, his pistol of a grandmother (Grams), is house-sitting. Ricky is incensed and imagines he will have to take care of her and clean her dentures. She is incensed and wants to be left alone to her debauchery. But the tables turn and ultimately Grams and the other women in his life help Ricky get back on his feet and find direction and love and Ricky helps Grams rethink her priorities.

The Wind Still Blows: Poems, Sarah Alicia Solis

Theses and Dissertations

The Wind Still Blows: Poems is a collection of autobiographical poems and lyric essays that explore my journey with faith. This collection reveals the life of a young woman learning to meld Chicana feminist ideas and Christian belief. With regards to this introduction, the first-person “I” will be used to denote specific craft choices and critical frameworks that I, the writer, used within the collection, and third-person references to “the speaker” refer to the constructed narrator described in the poems. In this collection, the speaker offers up a history with anxiety disorders, fraught relationships with male figures, developing into an …

A Mormon Missionary's Guide To Conversion Therapy Addiction Recovery, Shaun M. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This collection of essays explores my experience as a gay Mormon missionary, when I studied the Mormon Church's Addiction Recovery Program in an attempt to alter my sexuality. The initial four essays take place during the two years that I lived in Southern California as a Mormon missionary from 2011-2013. They present the text of the LDS Family Services Addiction Recovery Program workbook, with my own thoughts, experiences, and stories driven into the margins. Through these four essays, I demonstrate the hope, anguish, and longing of a gay man who desperately wants to live the model of a righteous Mormon …

Great Sand Sea, Nada Sewidan

Dissertations and Theses

This is a collection of essays regarding land and identity tied with the personal experiences of my family's immigration from Egypt to America.

We Are Also Home, Mustafa Abubaker

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

In the opening scenes of “We Are Also Home,” the novel’s symbolic character Farishtay Mahdi allows a man by the name of Syed Janmohamed into her house. He pays her for sex and counseling. She does not love him. Instead, she loves what he gives her. Syed is not only after Farishtay for sex. He is also driven mad by the commanality found in both Farishtay and his daughter: invisibility. He has heard of Farishtay’s hushed-up condition through the grapevine. His performance, initially informed by societal norms, is almost instantly seen for what it really is by Farishtay. Irony plays …

The Branch On Which The Blossom Hangs, Thomas Sterling Coffey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Branch on Which the Blossom Hangs is a body of paintings which address the relationship between landscape or physical presence and the primary experiences of emotion and perception. Through this examination of phenomenology and the malleability of the perceptual apparatus, the paintings express my feeling of dislocation caused by a cycle between depression, dissociation, and mental well-being. They question how an individual relates to their environment. The paintings seek to elicit the allusive and embodied qualities of poetry, framing and evoking a broader experience without defining it. By using the recognizable visual language of landscape, abstracted to the point …

Juntas: Toget(Her), Karina Flores

Theses and Dissertations

Juntas will follow the journey of Pilar Nieto and Vanessa Delgado, two young girls on the precipice of discovering themselves amid trying times in their lives. Pilar’s family is a traditional Mexican family with traditional values. Vanessa’s only family is her brother Frankie—who takes it upon himself to raise her with the same values he was brought up with before the sudden death of their parents. When Vanessa moves to Eagle Pass, she meets Pilar, and what starts out as a friendship slowly grows into something neither one of them could anticipate happening. Upon discovery of their relationship, they will …

My Ribcage Makes Eye Contact, Erika Rasmussen

Canterbury Scholars

Erika Rasmussen's "My Ribcage Makes Eye Contact" is a collection of poems completed during her time as a Canterbury Scholar at Santa Clara University. The poems address questions, experiences, and images that speak to spirituality, family, loss, uncertainty, hope, the body, and love.

The Uses, Understandings, And Values Of Student Strucutral Assisting Metatexts In College First Year Composition Courses, Joseph Ryan Dundovich

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers a look into the perceptions, views, and experiences of first-year composition students into being offered a large amount of choice/agency in their major summative writing projects, but also accountability and guidance during their process in the form of resources called ‘structural assisting metatexts’. The major question that guided this study is the following:

- How do first year composition students use, understand, and value forms of structural assisting metatexts during the writing/creation process?

The two parts of the writing process that were specifically researched in conjunction with their correlating metatexts are the topic selection (with the Proposal …

Critically And Creatively Engaging With Trauma-Informed Mental Health Research And Treatment Of Lgbtqia+ Communities As Expressive Arts Therapists: A Literature Review, Kelli Lavallee

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Expressive Arts Therapists are uniquely situated as both artists and mental health counselors working in psychological pedagogy rooted in systems of oppression. Given the arts-based approaches to the therapeutic relationship, it can be unethical to offer these approaches without acknowledgement of the ways in which the arts intersect with social justice, and justice is only viable if practitioners critically review the clinical mental health education they are consuming from the institutions they learn in, specifically trauma-informed mental health research assimilation and treatment approaches for Expressive Arts Therapists in training, practice, and education. A review of the literature in this paper …

Topics Of The Sky: Ashbery's Involving Search For The Poem, Tom M. Carlson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

An essay lived by John Ashbery's Three Poems with special attention to the possibility of cosmic relevance. This paper attempts to imagine priorities and needs proper to celestial bodies. Three Poems is the consciousness that gives possibility to the text, while Blanchot, Nietzsche, and other thinkers ground its exploration in philosophical analysis.