Nonfiction Commons^™

Burning Solitudes: Mountain Storytelling In The Age Of Social Media Reproduction, Katie Ives

Appalachia

A deep exploration into the contradictions of recording mountain experiences while having them.

The Long Way Home: A Moment In Time Before Agony Ridge, Christine Woodside

Appalachia

An encounter with a father and son partway up New Hampshire’s Mount Lafayette suggests how to lead someone with kindness.

Appalachia Summer/Fall 2025: Complete Issue

Appalachia

Summer/Fall 2025 - Volume LXXVI, Number 2 - Issue #260. On the Ground and Screen: Stories of smartphones in wild places.

Matrescence, Erin Kunz

The Cicadian

Kunz reflects on her transformation into motherhood, describing the physical, emotional, and psychological shifts that accompany the process known as matrescence. Through vivid memories of childhood and early parenting, she explores the complexities of maternal love, especially for women who did not receive unconditional love themselves. Her rocking chair becomes a symbol of nurturing and endurance, where she gave everything to her children while grappling with her own identity. Erin also highlights the supportive role of her partner, challenging traditional gender norms and celebrating shared caregiving. As her children grow, she mourns the environmental changes that have altered the …

Where The Earth Meets The Sky, Ashlyn Ed Herron

The Cicadian

A reflection of finding one's place in an ecosystem that raised them, and a long overdue love-letter to the prairies

Writing Workshop In Prose, Kylee C. Pastore

Open Educational Resources

The Prose Workshop (Fall 2025) is a zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) course at The City College of New York that integrates open educational resources (OER) to develop students’ skills as writers, readers, and critics. Structured in two major parts, the course begins with cultural criticism, guiding students to produce a polished 750–1000 word essay that combines close observation, analysis, and creative voice. The second half focuses on longform narrative nonfiction, culminating in a 3,000-word editorial essay intended for submission to a real-world publication. Alongside these core projects, students engage in weekly homework blogs, annotated course readers, and a final creative experiment in …

Love Amid The Rage: Feminist Affect In Women's Life-Writing, Genesis Siverio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The aim of this thesis is to show the ways women’s emotions or affect, particularly rage and love, are described by women writers in their most intimate stories. I discuss the way emotion has been demeaned, and how feminist scholars have instead viewed the body as a place of insight, reclaiming a knowledge from the senses. In the midst of white supremacy and heteropatriarchy, women give voice to their affectual experiences and cultivate the feelings they have so often been denied. Focusing on the particular ways women’s anger manifests in their lives and in their bodies, I zoom in on …

“Earth Care, Babes 💚”: Environmental Sustainability In Instagram Travel Narratives, Wawan Eko Yulianto, F.X. Dono Sunardi, Alodia Clea Amanda, Irene Theofine, Pricillia Tamara Damaris

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Throughout history, travel narratives have taken up various forms and served various purposes. The changes of forms and functions were influenced by the spirit of the age. Today, in the contemporary digital era, social media platforms like Instagram have transformed travel narratives into stories combining images and texts that significantly impact public attitude on travel and tourism. On certain occasions, Instagram travel narratives contribute to the dangerous trend of mass tourism, although there are moments when the same travel writing form advocates sustainability. This study investigates the extent to which travel narratives by prominent Indonesian travel influencers on Instagram advocate …

Book Review | Tías And Primas: On Knowing And Loving The Women Who Raise Us, Kristian A. Contreras

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Schooling: From Industrial Obedience To Techno-Autonomy, Seb Taylor, Ron Roberts Ii

Digital Laboratory: Publisher of Internet Journal

This paper examines the enduring architecture of the American education system as a mechanism designed for compliance, not creativity. Rooted in 19th-century industrial logic, the structure of schooling, its physical design, time constraints, and assessment methods, has remained largely static despite seismic cultural and technological shifts. Through historical analysis and contemporary critique, this work interrogates the persistence of standardized methods, institutional prestige, and top-down instruction as barriers to meaningful learning and value creation. Drawing from interdisciplinary research and live case studies, including Alpha School’s AI-powered, mastery-based model, the paper advances the concept of techno-education: a student-centered paradigm informed by feedback …

The Tales Of A Countryman, Aubrei Foreman

ENGL 1102 Showcase

This essay was inspired by the profile project assignment. This was an assignment given to allow students the opportunity to further investigate a person, picture, or place, then create a blog site and an essay, detailing what we learned during said investigation. My essay was based on an interview I conducted with a person that is very special to me, my Pop-Pop Clyde Foreman Sr. I wanted to receive a first-hand account of the effects of growing up in an environment in which he not only experienced Jim Crow laws, but also experienced sharecropping in the deep rural south. It …

The Hospital Chaplain, Zachary Berman

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

My First Spikes, Deepika Dilip

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

No Longer At War With My Words: Finding Healing Through Therapeutic Writing, Marlo Degaetano Kreitzinger

Theses and Dissertations

While living in Dallas, Texas, I had the incredible opportunity to work with women transitioning out of homelessness, addiction, prison, or other life traumas. During my four years of facilitating life skills and job readiness classes, I witnessed a desperate need for healing. Many of the women I served were stuck in the repetitive cycle of their unprocessed emotional trauma. These women were often victims of the unprecedented mental health crisis plaguing our world and had little to no access to mental health resources. My initial introduction into therapeutic writing helped me to accept my own mental health crisis and …

The Ends Of The Earth, Rebekah L. Yockey

NEXUS: The Liberty Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

"The Ends of the Earth" is a creative nonfiction short story about a girl trying to decide whether to invite her absent mother to her graduation. The story uses the sinking islands of Hooper's Island, Maryland to explore the concept of what to do when personal "islands" sink. The narrator recounts memories from her upbringing that have helped her build a sturdy foundation in life and compares them to the upbringing her mother experienced. By the end, the narrator states that building a firmer foundation should be based on adapting rather than abandoning.

Promethia 2024-2025

Promethia

No abstract provided.

I Remember: Stories In Our Time We Don't Have Time To Tell. Thoughts That Go Too Fast. And Then We Die, Kajsa Isakson

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

As an AuDHDer and a writer, I approach storytelling from a neurodivergent perspective. My novella is titled I Remember: Stories From Our Time We Don’t Have Time to Tell. Thoughts That Go Too Fast. And Then We Die.

I Remember: Stories From Our Time We Don’t Have Time to Tell. Thoughts That Go Too Fast. And Then We Die. captures fleeting moments of being: of falling, the solitude of a crowded station, the vastness of the forest, the ocean, and the words by as Zora Neale Hurston and Claudia Rankine.The inevitability of death and the intensity of life.

My Mind In Middlemarch, Margaret A. Fisher

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

“My Mind in Middlemarch” is a creative-critical essay and personal narrative of self-diagnosis. It was modeled in length and (somewhat) in style on Rebecca Mead’s essay, “Middlemarch and Me,” which appeared in The New Yorker in 2011 and was later expanded into her book, My Life in Middlemarch (2014). This personal essay narrates my journey to self-diagnosis and the initial discovery of my autism— a realization sparked by the resonance I found between my life and that of Dorothea Brooke, the central heroine of George Eliot’s classic British novel.

Black And Autistic In Neo-Nationalist America, Timotheus Gordon Jr

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

In "Black and Autistic in a Neo-Nationalist America," Timotheus “T.J.” Gordon, Jr. explores the intersectional challenges faced by Black autistic individuals in a socio-political climate marked by rising neo-nationalism. Drawing on personal experiences and historical contexts, Gordon navigates the metaphorical tightrope of double consciousness, as articulated by W.E.B. DuBois, to highlight the precarious existence of those who do not conform to monolithic identities. The essay critiques the melting pot analogy of American culture, advocating instead for a pluralistic society that recognizes and values diverse identities. Through a blend of autobiographical narrative and scholarly analysis, Gordon underscores the systemic marginalization of …

Volume 151, Issue 151, 2018, Megan Alfaro, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ahmed Moneim, Keenan Norris, Meg Tinsley, T.C. Boyle, Willy Lizarraga, Sophie Anne Berti, Sativa January, Susan Lowell, Brian Barrientez Ii, Steve H. Vu, Ellen Bass, James K. Zimmerman, Cb Follett, Joyce Schmid, James Brasfield, Meredith Davies Hadaway, Gustavo Hernandez, Marin Nelson, Silvia Bonilla, Katherine Morgan, Tommy Mouton, Sally Ashton, Anna Bernstein, Genevieve Deguzman, Suzanne Rico, Peyton Harvey, William Finnegan, Margaret Mcmullan, Don George, Clare Frank, Grace Schaffer, Robert D. Kirvel, Kelly Grogan, Kelley Jhung, Marisa Murrow, Terry Phimister, Sharon Simonson, Susan Shillinglaw, Talia Adry, Noelle Brada-Williams

Reed Magazine

No abstract provided.