Creative Writing Commons^™

The Blackbird Blood, Danielle Birnell

Theses and Dissertations

The Blackbird Blood is a novella length piece of young adult fiction. The piece not only includes themes dealing with coming of age such as love, complexities of relationships, and identity, but also touches on issues dealing with race and privilege. This coming of age novella explores these themes through the lens of teen characters navigating life on a military base in a country destroyed by war.

Same Air: Human Relationships In Playwriting, Nicole Cardenas

Theses and Dissertations

The culmination of the creative work and its introduction focus on human relationships, friendships, and the interactions and dynamics of individuals with traumatic experiences. The one act play explores how a secret can strain a group of friends, causing them to create their own realities to cope with the betrayal and guilt cultivated throughout time.

To reach my conclusions, I drew inspiration from various works, playwrights, and the words of other writers. My work is meant to showcase how fragile and resilient friendships are when faced with misunderstanding and lies.

The Soft-Spoken Girl, Ashley Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

This project is a collection of poetry that celebrates the power of the mujeres fuertes in my life, cultural expectations and prevalent barriers. It is set in the Rio Grande Valley where the unique blend of two cultures, caused much heartache and courage. Each poem in this collection weaves a coming of age story.

A Citrus Wildfire, Mark Anthony Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

An American Dream forged by greed. A family caught in the middle of a race war. A young boy trying to learn how to be a man. A Citrus Wildfire is a fiction novella that tells the story of a Mexican family struggling to survive in the Rio Grande Valley after their only source of income burns down, and the lengths they must go to in order to get the life they were promised.

A small preface from the author proceeds the work. This novella is inspired by many different authors and educators, as well as the Rio Grande Valley …

En La Guarida/Where The Wolves Eat The Lion, Jose Rodriguez Ventura

Theses and Dissertations

En la Guarida/Where the Wolves Eat the Lion is a work in the tradition of Latin-American hybrid literature. It transitions between prose, poetry, and prose-poetry, as it details the family history of its narrator and traces the South-to-North crossing Mexican immigrants undertake in order to pursue a better life north of the Reynosa/Hidalgo border. The thesis details the difficult life mothers, daughters, and sons face as they try to assimilate into the first-world, whether linguistically, or culturally. It is concerned with the power dynamics between men and women, fathers and mothers, and daughters and sons in Mexican American Culture in …

Desecration, Natalia T. Arredondo

Theses and Dissertations

Deacon Christopher, a soon-to-be-ordained Catholic priest, is faced with the reality of the sex scandals in the wake of his upcoming ordination.

Other Lives, Shawna J. Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

This work is one of fiction, dealing with characters and concepts of ‘otherness’ and social displacement. This work is further sub-categorized as a work of fantasy or urban fantasy fiction where the standard rules of reality do not apply.

When Angels Cry Tears Of Moonshine, Juan Flores Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

When Angels Cry Tears of Moonshine is a collection of non-fiction essays exploring and reflecting on specific experiences as a military police patrolman over the course of the author’s enlistment in the United States Marine Corps. Between the years of 2007 and 2009, more specifically, the author was exposed to multiple experiences related to masculinity, trauma, alcoholism, community and leadership that shaped his understanding of the Marine Corps as an institution. Through these personal essays, readers will identify elements of trauma, comradery, faults in leadership and alcoholism from the perspective of a Marine who did not have any combat experience …

Quetzalcoatl In Aisle 5 And Other Poemas, Cesar Leonardo De Leon

Theses and Dissertations

This project is a collection of poems based on my experiences working in the retail industry along the Texas/Mexico border for over 15 years. While many people take for granted their shopping trips, for those on the inside it is a very different reality. The poems included in this project are grouped into sections that focus on aspects of retail or are inspired by it, from the seemingly insignificant, like encounters with strangers, to more profound subjects like racism, identity, immigration, consumerism, and other social issues. The sections also follow Gloria E. Anzaldúas path of conocimento, a journey from estrangement …

Eyes That Shut Forever, Jonathan Solis

Theses and Dissertations

For my thesis, I want to explore a part of society which is often not explored due to some controversial views while incorporating my own love and fascination with science-fiction and human nature. Imbued in each of my stories are complex characters, all of which suffer from a pronounced illness or one that is dormant. While having no connection to each other, every short story I am writing for the thesis will share a similar theme. All center on the struggle for normalcy and conformity vs. biases views and prejudism. As a writer, I am able to walk in the …

The Taming Of The Bull, Mark Zavala

Theses and Dissertations

This work is an original manuscript composed of fictional vignettes compiled together to produce an interconnected novel. The works includes the effects, issues, and culture that encompass the borderland of the Rio Grande Valley. The young protagonist experiences loss, isolation, self-realization, friendship, and the importance of family and friends, all within the context of the unique culture of south Texas.

My War And What Came After, Jesus Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

My War and What Came After is a memoir that explores my personal experience with modern military life. It is my primary purpose to connect the military world with the world of writing. I am the guy that was willing to put everything on the line, including my life to become an English professor. The memoir is a detailed account of my adult life but also a coming of age experience and a successful ambitious plan to achieve my educational ambitions. It was an extreme and maybe even a crazy decision but calculated enough that it worked. It could have …

Poison And Monsters, Jiovanna L. Perez

Theses and Dissertations

Poison and Monsters is a collection of stories that follow the same protagonist, Jiovanna, as she navigates friendships, love, loss, and hallucinations. It is a commentary on mental health and the impact that pain medication, lack of sleep, and loneliness can have on a person. Jiovanna draws on the support and understanding of her best friends, Juan and Danielle, and in one instance a rowdy raccoon to help her find her way through the Darkness that surrounds her. Insomnia, migraines, and heartache tie these four stories together, but they can also be read as standalone pieces that give a small …

Please Be A Gatsby, Gabriel Jorge Torres

Theses and Dissertations

I use my position as a high school English teacher to teach the following books: The Metamorphosis, The Stranger, Fahrenheit 451, The Great Gatsby, selected poetry by Housman and Hardy, Lysistrata , short stories by Ernest Hemingway, and the Catcher in the Rye. These literary classics have accompanied me in my growth as a scholar and individual and comprise the major works I teach as a high school teacher. I have blended sketches of my life with these works of literature to create small narratives about the way I inspire my students to be like the characters they …

In His Wake: Applying Life's Truths In Fiction, Joseph M. Balderas

Theses and Dissertations

The culmination of the creative work and its introduction attempt to delve into the psyche of what it means to lose someone you love. The screenplay explores the grieving process and the coping mechanisms that accompanies it, with an examination on how far some people are willing to go for closure.

To reach my conclusions, I draw from my own life experience, the experiences of others, and a fine amount of research. It also means to shed light on the impermanent mental strain that chaperon’s grief.

Brava & Gloria: A Mexican Counterstory Screenplay, Jose David Garcia Gilling

Theses and Dissertations

“Brava & Gloria: A Counterstory Screenplay” is a thesis work which combines the theoretical aspects of Latinx representation in films with a full-length, feature film screenplay. In this work I use speculative fiction aesthetics to address the matter of representation and I create a version of how I would like to see Latinxs represented on screen. The story of “Gloria and Brava” is a medium to achieve this. Even though it does not mimic my personal experience as an immigrant, the core of the story is my family’s and my own experience as a Latino in the United States. Consequently, …

Revolution, Mario J. Jorge

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis, Revolution, is a novel of historical fiction set during the Cuban Revolution from 1945 to 1957. Following in the tradition of Gabriel Marquez (100 Years of Solitude), Joseph Conrad (Nostromo), and James A. Michener (Mexico), the unfolding of events begins in the fictional city of Alarico set in Cuba's Oriente Province before spreading into Havana. The prominent figures of the revolution-Batista, Castro, and Guevara-are represented by fictional counterparts in order to circumvent the restrictions of history to tell an exciting story. We follow Fidel's rise to power, as well as the lives of a Cuban miner and his …

Solitude And Our Projected Dreams, David E. Jamison

Theses and Dissertations

“Cineplex” is a creative writing manuscript discussing isolation, escapism, and the way narrative inherently distorts our understanding of the world. Many of my characters are isolated people who create their own fantasies to escape otherwise dreary circumstances. Others try to live their lives by a narrative they see on television or in the news and ultimately discover that reality is infinitely more complex than they have been lead to believe.

How To Live: Growing Up As A Brown Gay Boy In A Conservative, Traditional And Christian Homophobic Family, Felipe Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

How to Live: Growing Up as a Brown Gay Boy in a Conservative, Traditional Christian and Homophobic Family chronicles the life of one brown, gay boy as he navigated culture, racism, religion and traditional family values growing up. Felipe Vasquez, the boy, narrator and author, analyzes events in his life which guided his choices and left lasting impressions. In the chapters hereby presented, he deals with being gay in a machismo culture, being Latino in the 80s, 90s and present day United States and dealing with mental health in a culture that tends to misunderstand mental illness.

Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Empowerment Through Mimicry, Daniel Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

My collection is a polythetic assortment of poetry, prose poetry, monologue and drama that serves as a polyglottic exhibition of empowerment through mimicry. Like a mockingbird, whom the Aztecs call “cenzontle” in their Nahuatl tongue, my writer’s voice is polyvoiced. I include in this collection an eclectic variety of voices: personas, languages, forms, styles, and identities—often mixing them, in part to entertain and in part to challenge my boundaries as a writer, to stretch my vocal chords, so to speak, but also in part to challenge the lingering prejudice against such mestizaje—or meeting and mixing of cultures (and also voices)—and …

Please Hold: Pushing The Comedic Movie Culture Forward, Lonanthony Phillip Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Growing up I always loved to watch movies. I was fascinated with the way the actors and actresses on the screen could spread joy, laughter, sadness, and anger, even making you fall in love by something they said or did. It has been my dream to have the same effect on people through the power of cinema as well. I am going to talk about multiple movies that I feel played a huge part in pushing the comedic movie culture forward. I want to break down and discuss three factors in these movies that I feel are vital when one …

Safe Passage, John Molina

Theses and Dissertations

Safe Passage is a novel detailing life in the RGV. The novel is a bildungsroman that follows a group of friends and their experiences in the RGV. The novel sheds light on a region that is rarely examined, and uses flashbacks and flash forwards to show what it is like to age in the RGV.

The novel deals with life growing up near the Texas/Mexico border and relates experiences from the group of friends mentioned in the previous paragraph. The novel describes political and police corruption, drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, and assimilation along the Rio Grande Border. The novel …

The Gloria E. Anzaldúa Journey: Path To Conocimiento A Testimonio Of Queer Heroics, Veronica Solis

Theses and Dissertations

As an auto-historia testimonio, I approach my work from my experience with performance poetry where I used my personal experiences to express the continuum of gender through poetry. I also draw from Gloria Anzaldúa’s “path of conocimiento” as a framework for my narrative stories as queer rites of passage.

Del Otro Lado… Y Más Allá Colección De Crónicas, Oscar Iván Zapata García

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Del otro lado... y más allá. Colección de crónicas está compuesta por 13 crónicas o textos de no-ficción que a su vez se agrupan en dos partes. La Primera Parte (Del otro lado. Crónicas Fronterizas) está compuesta por 7 crónicas donde se relata la experiencia fronteriza (Estados Unidos-México) en sus dimensiones políticas y sociales desde la perspectiva de un chilango. Para ello hago uso de las técnicas de la crónica, en su acepción de periodismo narrativo y literatura de no-ficción, y del humor y la ironía del altiplano mexicano. La pretensión es hacer agudas y relevantes observaciones geográficas y sociales …

If This Heart Had A Mouth: A Forbidden Romance Narrated Through Mimesis: Poems, Julieta V. Corpus

Theses and Dissertations

If This Heart Had a Mouth consists of forty-two poems where love is the catalyst for a multitude of emotions, ranging from falling in love, to hopelessness, to a begrudging kind of acceptance at losing the beloved to somebody else. To create all forty-two poems, 23 written in Spanish, and 19 poems written in English, I employed the literary device called Mimesis which entails deriving an original poem from someone else's work.

To create each poem, I followed another poet’s original work, line by line. I imitated that poet’s rhythm through their use of meter. I counted the number of …

From A Long Line Of Thieves, Lucinda Zamora-Wiley

Theses and Dissertations

This is a work of original creative writing, containing works of poetry, prose poems, flash non-fiction, and personal essays. The primary subject areas include family relations after PTSD, love, interracial struggles within marriage and family, pride of place--including Texas and the United States, and poetic/artistic inspirations that influenced the author.

You Either Laugh Or Cry, Laura Espinoza

Theses and Dissertations

You Either Laugh or Cry is a collection of bilingual flash non-fiction stories. Through the use of language the writer has employed code switching and humor to retell memories of her of childhood through young adulthood. Although the collection includes various members of the writer’s family, the short-shorts mainly focus on the mother-daughter relationship.

Save My Sins For Sunday, Gabriel Leal

Theses and Dissertations

This is a collection of poetry that depicts the struggles of family separation, to the street and drug life, to the questioning of faith and religion, to the revelation that education was the only means of escape. Set in the Rio Grande Valley, this collection allows the reader to travel though the rough streets of South Texas where anger, pain, and joy coincide. Embedded in a Tex-Mex voice, I take you through my experiences that allowed me to see that there was no future for me in the streets and that I would rather be institutionalized by universities, rather than …

The Fallen Female: A Testimony, Husney Farwa Naqvi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a collection of thematically related nonfiction works that offers a cultural critique of the author’s three cultures – Pakistani, American, and Muslim – through a feminist lens. The author attempts to offer an intersectional feminist’s insight based on her lived experiences as a Pakistani American woman – born in Karachi, raised in Louisiana and the Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas. It explores feminist theory, focusing heavily on rape culture (“Shame and Regrets,” “Bollywood’s Rape Fetish”) and religious influences (“Infallible,” “The Hijab”). It also details the author’s experience as a Muslim woman who chose to observe …

Soldier's Heart, Thomas Henry Pate Iv

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soldier’s Heart is a collection of stories about Preston Henry, a Special Forces Operator, doing what he must to survive combat and what he must--a quest just as harrowing-- to find peace back home. The stories of Soldier’s Heart are interwoven in theme and plot, each story dovetailing with the next. It is a collection that shows not all war wounds can be seen.