Creative Writing Commons^™

Mrs. Blackbird And The Visiting Chair, Taylor Barnhart

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The following thesis is a middle grade novel exploring the events of one summer in the lives of two siblings, Susannah and Sawyer. The siblings are grieving the recent death of their mother and, at the same time, attempting to navigate the emotional withdrawal of their father. During the summer, the siblings get to know their eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Blackbird, who communicates with the spirit of her dead husband through an old armchair which is rumored to have magical powers. The novel deals primarily with the theme of grief and its pervasive nature in people’s lives. The story looks at …

Preparations, Sarah E. Lewis

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The following thesis is an excerpt from a novel depicting Caleb Warring and his employer, Mr. Phineas Pruitt, in their business of running a funeral home. It’s been a year since Caleb started working for Mr. Pruitt and since the bodies they had been embalming and preparing started coming back to life. After researching and careful planning, the two decide to embark on a trip to discover the solution to their problem, accompanied by Caleb’s best friend and Mr. Pruitt’s sister. Through the technique of agential constellations, the use of the uncanny, and a distinction between horror and terror, this …

Menagerie Pains, Rachel D. Mcclay

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

In my creative thesis, readers follow Toddus as he accomplishes different tasks set out by the prince he serves, Prince Dinnax. My critical introduction examines the use of a hero in both my book and Redwall, by Brian Jacques, through the three steps of a hero’s journey outlined in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell’s steps can be found in almost every book published, even non-adventure books. After following the steps, I examine my own choice of hero. Toddus is a personal guard to a prince, and as such does not carry a lot of …

Auto-Exploited: Narrative Explorations Of The Commodification Of Time, Grace C. Willis Ms.

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the phenomenon of the auto-exploitation of the modern individual through and in conjunction with the commodification of time. It explores the eruption of gig-work in recent decades in the United States, and the ways in which the modern individual is both consumer and product, buying and selling her own constructions of identity in order to gain time, fiscal currency and a sense of socioeconomic worth from herself and others. Using theoretical frameworks of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Catherine Rottenberg and Byung-Chul Han, I explore the ways in which the modern individual is …

Escape, Constance Leigh Lieber

Selected Full-Text Master Theses 2021-

My creative non-fiction thesis, Escape, is a memoir of the five years I lived in Bern, Switzerland, 1988-1993. During that time, I interviewed my neighbor, Horst Schirm, about his life during the waning years of World War II in what was the eastern border of the German Reich (Jauer, Schlesien) but is now Poland (Jawor, Sląsk). His mother with Horst and his two brothers and sister traveled from Jauer to Frankfort am Main and back to Jauer in an attempt to escape the Allied bombing raids and to find their father, who was missing. Finally, they, with the other remaining …

Zara And The Strong Gauntlets, Donnell Earl Griffith

Selected Full-Text Master Theses 2021-

My creative fiction thesis, Zara and the Strong Gauntlets, is the first part of a full length novel in the fantasy genre. The story follows Zara, a servant to a high member of society which she spends every day serving. Zara’s world is turned upside down when she walks into her master’s assassination. Zara is tossed out of her home, and with nowhere left to turn, tries to find a way to be able to stand up on her own two feet, and through her trials, discover a sense of self that will determine her new path in life.

After …

Minds Of The Mental: A Poetry Journal, Aviyah Washington

A with Honors Projects

This honors project shares 12 original poems written by the author.

The People We Carry, Abigail E. Eplin

Gaines Fellow Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

New Members, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract provided.

La Floresta; An Appreciation And Reimagination Of My Barrio, Ana Rodríguez

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis is a love letter to my barrio, La Floresta in Quito, Ecuador. I have divided it into three different sections: a creative writing piece where I walk readers through my barrio and my life in it, a historical section where I analyze its history and the reasons for its uniqueness and current identity, and finally a project proposal for a community center called "Casa La Floresta".

Narrative Medicine: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Address Burnout Among The Nursing Workforce, Kimberly D. Perris, Eden J. Donahue, Adrian Matt Zytkoskee, Janelle Adsit

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Healthcare providers (HCPs) experience unprecedented burnout. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare workforce was pushed beyond its capacity, driving some out of the field, leaving hospitals and healthcare agencies to face unrelenting demand for care. Limited staff and resources challenged organizations to redesign infrastructure and processes to meet COVID-19 safety guidelines while balancing the priorities of finance and people.

Two years into the pandemic, the signs of burnout among nurses in an RN-BSN program surfaced, which paralleled the bitter resentment happening across the nursing profession. Nurses working on the front lines reported feelings of abandonment, lack of resources, staffing shortages, …

“Why You Always So Political?”: A Counterstory About Educational-Environmental Racism At A Predominantly White University, Martín Alberto Gonzalez

Chicano/Latino Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using critical race counterstorytelling, I tell a story about the experiences of Mexican/Mexican American/Xicanx (MMAX) undergraduate students at private, historically and predominantly white university in the Northeast. Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observations, pláticas, document analyses, and literature on race and space and racism in higher education, I argue that the racially hostile campus environment experienced by MMAX students at their respective university manifests itself as a form of educational-environmental racism. Through narrated dialogue, Aurora (a composite character) and I delve into a critical conversation about how educational-environmental racism is experienced by MMAX students through a racialized landscape in the …

Diverse Expressions Of The Black Identity In Jackson, Mississippi: Stories, Elisabeth Campbell

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Diverse Expressions of the Black Identity in Jackson, Mississippi: Stories is a collection of short stories that seeks to focus on the outsiders, the pariahs, and the social outcasts of Black society in Mississippi throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries. By way of emigrations and immigrations, a race of people of multiple cultures that do not necessarily identify with the ethno-racial term "African-American" has emerged in the city of Jackson. Through the exploration of historically significant events, including America's involvement in WWI, the legislation surrounding Black History Month and the dawn of the AIDS epidemic, this collection represents …

Boys To Men, Brandon Bradley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Primarily through adolescent narrators, Boys to Men is a series of short stories that attempts to identify the lessons, traumas, and joys that offer—and in some cases, withhold—the tools that allow Black boys to become Black men. In "Hard Ball," an eleven-year-old baseball player on the cusp of entering middle school wants nothing more than to be less sensitive. In "That's the Way Love Goes," a fifteen-year-old visiting Florida for the summer faces his first hurricane, alone with only his grandmother and unresolved family turmoil as company. And in "Hallelujah," a young church-goer publicly challenges a powerful, yet unruly spiritual …

Bibliography, Trish Lindsey Jaggers

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Trish Jaggers.

Save The Drowning Child: Stories, Kayla Cayasso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Save the Drowning Child is a collection that explores place, power, and the way collective trauma trickles down through history and families. These stories bridge the author's African American Studies scholarship and love for language. Set against the North Florida landscape, the collection moves readers across time and begs one question again and again: how does one reconcile characters' deplorable choices with the horrific reality of their lives within the Diaspora. On the outskirts of Nassau County, a pig farmer and his wife face addiction and starvation during the Great Depression, but the return of an estranged daughter might signal …

A Bag Of Apples, Kenneth W. Ashley

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Forgotten Names And Unmarked Graves: A Collection Of Poems By A Nursing Major, Taylor Howse

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

These poetry pieces are a collection of works from my undergraduate experience as an English minor. "The Sheep in a Wolf's Skin" is a fairytale retelling with a twist. It is a dramatic monologue from the perspective of a villain, who hopefully will make you rethink your favorite childhood stories. "The Forgotten Cinderellas" is a free verse poem written as a twist from a favorite fairytale happily ever after. Finally, "Forgotten Names and Unmarked Graves" is a free verse poem written as a tribute for all the forgotten names that are not taught in history. For Samson Occom and William …

Soap Of Grass, Elton Tanaka

Landshark Literary Review

No abstract provided.

Selfish Dandelions, Elton Tanaka

Landshark Literary Review

No abstract provided.