Creative Writing Commons^™

Football Can Save America, Francisco Attie

Capstones

Looking to cure the malaise of our day, I went to the football game, and, in the dying breaths of the match, found something much greater. https://medium.com/@Fran_Attie/football-can-save-america-2bb918f19a97

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 …

What An Interesting Video To Put On The Internet (An Amusing Economic Indicator), Dahlia S. Bloomstone

Theses and Dissertations

My exhibition reconciles representations of domesticity, labor, and morality through the lens of sex-work (SW). It consists of video work, a video game, and free-to-take objects, where donation, the strip club, and the fish tank converge. My work concludes that SW is a timeless construct that will always exist even after reimagining multiple worlds.

With The Screenwriter's Pen: An Analysis Of The Representation Of Gifted Children In The Family Film, Sarah Williams

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Family films are something that have been enjoyed for many decades. They often create a fantastic world that will enchant audiences and eventually become beloved stories. A big aspect often seen in these films is a protagonist that possesses some kind of gift. Where does this gift come from? How does it grow? Most importantly, how do the screenwriters who are responsible for bringing these gifted heroes to life go about it?

Using the screenplays of Kubo and the Two Strings, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Encanto, and Coraline, I take a deep dive into the portrayal of …

The Fate Of Her Heart, Elizabeth Gisselquist

Student Research Submissions

The Fate of Her Heart, by Lisa Gisselquist, was written for ENGL 470B-02, with the instruction of Professor Ray Levy. This fiction novella poses the question of whether the person one loves is more important than the established ways of parents. It also examines the risks and rewards of a diplomatic approach versus stopping the enemy before they become too powerful. These questions are posed through a clean fiction story about the actions of the characters, Talia and Ryker, as they must overcome the stigmas of society, and defeat the encroaching Kaito fighters. While their story is not resolved by …

Novella, Sydney German

Student Research Submissions

This paper was written for ENGL 470B:1 – Seminar: Creative Writing Fiction under the instruction of Dr. Ray Levy, and the project is titled Novella while the story is called Unforeseeable. It is an 11,000-word sensational, suspenseful psychological fiction about Ava Reed, a 22-year-old woman, who is on a search for independence and freedom from her small town. The story begins by immediately diving into the scene of a murder with Ava holding the weapon. From there, the story works backward to slowly reveal the motive and the true account of what took place that night. It focuses primarily …

Before Daughters And Amplifying Ambiguous Loss In Poetry: How The Line Break Functions As An Effect, Madison Smith

English Creative Writing Theses

The line break is almost impossible to define by itself and more tangible to define as an effect that works with all aspects of language within a poem. Through analysis of the poetic line in both the works of others and my own poetry, I show how the line break as an effect works to amplify feelings of ambiguous loss within individual poems. Looking at how the line break functions in poems having to do with ambiguous loss accomplishes two things: it educates readers on the intricacies of loss and especially non-death losses, and it brings the line break to …

Pause And Possibility: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives On Creative Writing Clubs, Stephanie Altier

Honors Projects

Creative writing clubs can enrich the lives of writers and facilitators. These clubs provide many opportunities to enrich their members’ academic, social, and personal development (Clifton, 2022; Siskel & Jacobs, 2011; Lawton, 2021). This project uses a focus-group study of five pre-service Integrated Language Arts teachers to explore the teachers' perspectives on advising creative writing clubs. Their insight informs a web-based teacher resource, Creative Writing Club Hub. Major findings are that participants harbor low self-efficacy towards creative writing and that the most effective method for encouraging them to advise these clubs may be to create a creative writing community …

Payton's Final Master's Portfolio, Payton Boshears

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

Here is my final Master's Portfolio. I did not have specialization for the English program, so for the portfolio I chose four different projects that represent the variety of courses I have taken during my time here at BGSU.

Tiptoeing Through The Tulips At Seventy: A Memoir, Fran Miele

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This is a memoir about my lifetime search for clarity about my gender identity. My primary goal for the project was to catalog the steps I took in the sometimes-tortured and confusing path I followed over the course of my life, from childhood to late adulthood, striving to understand who and what I am in terms of my identity and how, once it was clarified in my mind, coming to terms with it and, at the ripe old age of seventy, taking the steps necessary to affirm it by way of the male-to-female transition. A secondary, incidental goal was …

The Cycle Of Book Publishing Through A Queer Lens, Aly Gilmore

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This capstone assesses the current landscape of the publishing industry with regard to Queer authors and stories that have been published within the United States. It will start off with a literature review utilizing secondary research upon the current publishing landscape, as well as the rules that guide how writing craft is constructed and taught. Within this section, I also unpack personal experiences from working in a local bookstore as well as integrating some information from interviews from individuals with connections to the publishing industry. It will conclude with an autoethnography, in which I reflect how my own experiences intertwine …

The Advancement Of Surrealism: Navigating The Logical Implications Of Surrealism In Poetry Through Time, Brandon Hemsworth

Honors Projects

Surrealism is a complex medium of artistic expression that has persisted through the modern and postmodern time periods and into the contemporary. This project attempts to shine light on the importance of Surrealism by researching the rational implications of its irrational nature. I approached this question in two separate manners: One in a research perspective and one in a creative perspective. This project includes my research on the advancement of Surrealism and 15 poems that I have composed in reflection of Surrealism, Modernism, Postmodernism, the contemporary, and Anti-Realism. The conclusions of this project have important implications that have a common …

I Have News To Tell You, Jeanne M. Allison

Theses

I Have News To Tell You is a poetry collection that reckons with grief, survival, and mortality through the exploration of harrowing life experiences and contemplation through nature and relationships. The collection contends with what it means to be a human shaped by scars.

The Ins And Outs Of Undergraduate Research And Leadership: A Student's Perspective, Regina F. Hockert

Kinesiology and Public Health

This manuscript is a reflective write-up of Regina Hockert’s experience in completing KINE 462, Honors Kinesiology Senior Project, during the 2022 Fall Quarter. It describes their experience as an undergraduate research leader, including specific milestones and artifacts related to a broader replication study and the daily activities of Dr. Jafrā Thomas’ lab. This essay was designed to be a written reflection around their senior project presentation and the insights shared through that medium about the senior project experience. It is created to showcase lessons learned in relationship with the tasks and responsibilities required of working in-depth on student-led research. …

Heart Of Golde, Joely Bowman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Heart of Golde is a female coming-of-age story centered around Jyn Taryn, who lost her mother and her early memories in a tragic car accident 15 years before the story begins. She struggles with feeling at "home" anywhere in the world. When she discovers her mother's name written in an old poetry book, her curiosities lead her to the home of Edward Golde, her father. While there, she is forced to come face to face with the past she never thought she would be able to remember. Room by room, memory by memory, Jyn puts the pieces of her past …

Encampment, Deborah Michelle Hutson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Novella about a German Jew, Frederic, who escapes Nazi Germany on the SS Columbus by concealing his religion after the arrest of his mother by the Gestapo. After the Columbus is torpedoed by the British while trying to run a blockade, he eventually ends up at the Fort Stanton German Internment Camp in New Mexico. There he falls in love with Elizabeth, a Mexican American nurse at the tuberculosis hospital, who is also dealing with grief and questioning her place in the world after losing both of her parents. The bombing of Pearl Harbor forces Frederic to deal with tightened …

Shades Of Blue, Allison D. Thomas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

"Shades of Blue" is a confessional narrative that explores the ways in which our lives can be covered in a tinge of color. The experiences that shaped this collection are marked by the calm powder blues and rough midnight blues that change the way we see and think about the world. This narrative work took on a confessional voice because of the autobiographical nature of confessional poetry. Like other confessional collections this work is an exploration of the self and the truth of life. This collection was constructed by employing various poetic devices and forms. Several poems take on correspondent …

How A Book Changed A Nation [2022], Teodora Buzea

Master's Theses

“We don’t believe in vampires.”

I didn’t bother to turn away from the TV to look at my parents. On screen, a crew of young men were interviewing an old woman. She spoke only Romanian, and a too-perfect female voice spoke for her in English. I could see the confident fear in her expression as she exclaimed that vampires were indeed real and that she was always scared of them. She wasn’t alone. All of Transylvania were aware of the existence of vampires. Truly, these young men— ghost hunters and cryptologists—were right to come here to this haunted nation. The …

Fallen Kingdom, Sarah E. Black

Honors College Theses

Fallen Kingdom is a novella situated in the genre of urban fantasy. Fast-paced with beautifully woven descriptions, this project aims to depict the experience of PTSD as readers follow Scarlett in her attempts to navigate lost memories, magic, and a new world. With danger lurking around every corner, her only hope is to realize her own strengths and motivations to save the person she loves most.

Shooting Scars: A True Story (More Or Less), Trent C. Jonas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

When putting together this collection, it made sense to me to view it as a carnival, or a variety show, in which each flight of fancy - or vignette - is accompanied by a kernel of truth, like a ringmaster who introduces a contortionist, or a magician, or a carful of clowns. Because of the "holes in [my] family history" (Sikelianos), this work is necessarily autofiction, but I wanted to ground it firmly in reality so as to create a blend of truth and fiction that is imperceptible to readers, who would likely see it as memoir. I don't mind …

Monsters & Men, Christopher Ernest Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

Monsters & Men is a collection of poetry and illustrations that explores the complex emotions associated with masculinity, grief, and personal development. I achieve this by heavily reflecting on my relationship with my late father and using this medium as an outlet to express my trauma in a healthy manner. How we perceive ourselves as men, and what is possible, is not reflected enough in society and I aim to be a proponent in stimulating the conversation revolving around men’s mental health. Men and the patriarchy impose themselves on others to the point where we need to address the unethical …

Mosaico De Fantasía: A Collection Of Microrrelatos And Short Stories, Jennifer Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

Art is subjective, as is the art of writing. Creating a piece of writing out of a fleeting thought is truly the most frightening yet fulfilling feeling there is for a writer. Entire universes with their own unique worlds, aesthetic verses littered with imagery to paint an intricate mental picture; each representing a brief scenario that my mind decided to fabricate out of nothingness. Though not everyone will love my work, my goal is to reach someone that might. Even if it’s just one person. I want them to read my work and think “This is pretty cool.” My …

Intensa: Writings In English And Spanish From A Feminist Immigrant, Nubia Sarahi Reyna Melendez

Theses and Dissertations

INTENSA: WRITINGS IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH FROM A MEXICAN FEMINIST is a bilingual work written in hybrid literature. The writings, in both English and Spanish, are free prose poetry and tell the story of its narrator through a feminist and immigrant point of view coming from a overwhelmingly majority catholic country, religion that does not view men and women as equals. The thesis details the narrator's life through a feminist point of view as well as her relationship with her mother, her personal relationships, what it means to be an immigrant and what it is like for her, and many …

The Politics Of Sexual Assault On The Theatrical Stage: How Theatre For Social Change Challenges Systems Of Oppression, Gerry Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

The critical introduction analyzes how theatre has been used as a tool to directly address politics and influence social change. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed has been of particular importance and influence in contemporary theatre which directly mirrors the failures of society by representing the people who are most affected. The purpose of theatre for social change is to accurately represent oppression within communities and inspire audiences to play an active role in finding solutions for these oppressive systems once they leave the comfort of the theatre. The critical introduction is followed by the full-length play, Victim Does Not …

Growing Up Butchona On The Texas-Mexico Border A Marimacha Memoir, Julietta Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

Growing Up Butchona on the Border is a queer, Latina memoir that takes place on the Texas-Mexico border. This thesis is a journey in words and pictures that spans throughout an immigration crisis, a worldwide pandemic and the fallout that follows a world-wide lockdown; eventually leading down the rocky road to self-discovery. The thesis opens with a fictional account of Torita Torcida, a seven-year-old Honduran immigrant that makes her way across the Texas-Mexico border with her mother only to be ripped away from her when the truck they were smuggled in is seized by border patrol. Images and words come …

Vatra: A Poetic Memoir, Ashley Nichole Stevens

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

When I initially began researching for and composing this collection, the idea I had in mind was a simple one: tell my great grandfather's story, on many Lemko-American immigrants lived in the early 1900s. However, it took several months for me to realize this was not the complete story. It required refinement. While I had always felt a significant connection to this particular side of my family, I could never articulate why. The genealogical and historical research I conducted spoke for me. My great grandfather survived numerous traumas associated with being an ethnic minority in his homeland as well as …

The Book Of Ela Or Apokalypsis In Five Acts, Noah Leventhal

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Book of Ela or Apokalypsis in Five acts seeks first and foremost to investigate the layers of mental abstraction in which the human mind engages when thinking, and by extension, when writing. Writing and thinking do not end at the boundaries of genre. As such, I felt the styles therein should not stop at those boundaries either. Making use of influences such as Samuel Beckett, Virginia Woolf, Renee Gladman and Rosemarie Waldrop, I have endeavored to use narrative as a to form more fully and poetically explore the contours of language, and by extension, the contours of the mind. …

Flying In Our Sleep, John Strauss

Graduate Thesis Collection

Flying In Our Sleep is a one-hour radio / podcast production of a story in which “Teens wake to discover they’re drafted into an army of killer robot drones and must outwit their deadly AI overlords in a desperate bid to escape.” This partly ironic summary sets the tone for an adventure story for Young Adult audiences with thoughtful elements around the meaning of consciousness, personality, and friendship. The project also includes a paper, “The Art of the Fiction Podcast,” that explains how the show was produced, and argues that digital media has a place in literary writing programs to …

The Lights In The Dark: A Covid-19 Journey, Kristen Justice Palado

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My project is entirely focused on the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, particularly when CSUMB moved to a virtual setting, and how a global pandemic brought a family closer together. COVID-19 was a terrifying disease that began in the Spring of 2020 and instilled in all of us fear, stress, and anxiety. Families were scared to go out and have family parties, schools shut down and abruptly moved to a virtual modality for teaching, and the mental health of the world began to decrease. For this project, I will be using my own voice and experiences to create …

A Frayed Edge: A Qualitative And Poetic Inquiry Analysis Of White Antiracist Protest In 2020, Emily Katt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This multiphasic study explored the narratives of five first-time Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrating during the historic confluence of conflicts in 2020 America. After positioning the liminal 2020 circumstances within an antiracist research lens, the author analyzed, first through grounded theory and then secondarily through poetic inquiry, how these five participants described their protest experiences. The grounded theory phase yielded an overarching theory that first-time protestors experienced a dual process of unsuturing and of calling-out, with three subthemes categorized within each of these two processes. The author moved into analysis with the poetic inquiry phase, crafting poems guided by six …