Creative Writing Commons^™

If You Come Looking: A Novella, Rachael Davis

Senior Theses

My final product is a 26,000 word novella called If You Come Looking, following the journey of a young man named James Gibbard as he struggles with loneliness and tries to make sense of his family’s confusing history. The story alternates between memories of James’ childhood and his current-day cross-country journey as he heads toward the coast for a hidden reason.

Between flashbacks to James’ childhood and glimpses of his travels, the reader watches James struggle to connect with others, even those who show him kindness. The story alternates between James’ perspective and the perspective of strangers who he meets …

Dark Wave - Comics And Transgender Studies In Practice, Mieke Vanderveen

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This is a thesis in two parts. Its goal is to provoke the intersection of superhero comics and transgender studies in order to interrogate the parallels between those two identities and explore ways in which pairing them together can strengthen each other narratively and academically. Rather than seeking an answer to a question, the project as a whole serves as a way of communicating trans internalities from a transfeminine perspective in a format that brings the issues to the forefront of the narrative in an in-depth and entertaining way. The result is hopefully a coherent artistic work that achieves those …

The Willow Who Kept The Secrets Of The Heart, Ana Suarez

Speak for the Trees!

This digital museum exhibit features the climate change fairy tale The Willow Who Kept the Secrets of the Heart, presented as a written narrative and recorded reading that explores the symbolic relationship between the Weeping Willow, water, and ecological care in the face of climate change. It also includes an infographic highlighting the Weeping Willow’s habitat, characteristics, and environmental challenges in Texas, along with a curator’s talk and curator’s board. The exhibit features an artifact entry using a half-filled vial of water to represent climate instability and the often-overlooked resources that sustain life, as well as a persuasive essay, …

Brain Candy: Wayne State University School Of Medicine Journal Of Arts And Culture, 13th Edition, Wayne State University School Of Medicine Gold Humanism Honor Society

Gold Humanism Honor Society

Brain Candy incorporates paintings, written pieces, and poetry from all the medical classes at Wayne State University School of Medicine to shed light on the creative process in medicine, the city of Detroit, and the experiences of health care providers. This year, the journal is organized into four sections, each of which denotes a particular time period within medical school. The first edition of Brain Candy was published online and in print in 2009, produced by a generous grant by the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). The edition featured poetry, nonfiction, short fiction, and different types of artwork. With generous …

“From The Land Of Pain” By Hanni Ossott, Translated By April Schmidt, April Schmidt

Living in Languages

Translation of Hanni Ossott’s poem “Del país de la pena” (“From the Land of Pain”) from Spanish into English.

Learning To Love, Addelyn M. Maxwell

Emerging Writers

The article describes the author's personal memory of meeting her new baby sister.

How Losing My Phone Saved My Life

Emerging Writers

The author describes their journey through a mental health episode, choosing treatment, and concluding a stay at a health support facility. Please note that the author has chosen to publish under a pen name to protect their privacy.

Starting The Engine, Rowan Rodgers

Emerging Writers

This is a nonfiction narrative about how the author gained and grew their motivation for fine arts and education. The piece discusses early obstacles in school and how the author eventually overcame them with newfound skills and supporters.

Rooted In Silence: Listening To Landscapes That Remember, Jaylen A. Wyatt

FUSION

For this American Literature assignment, the author responded to the question: “How do natural landscapes preserve memory?” To do so, he wrote a non-fiction personal essay featuring several course selections read during the semester. The author argues that ultimately we must take care of these natural landscapes, and the environment at large, so that their memory can live on.

The Human, Kaamilah Kabala

FUSION

“The Caterpillar” is a short story by American author Lydia Davis published in “The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis” in 2009. In the story, the narrator wakes up to find a caterpillar in her bed, and decides to take it outside instead of killing it. However, she loses it somewhere in a dark staircase along the way. At first she looks for it and spends her time thinking about it, but eventually she forgets about the caterpillar and moves on with her life.

This article a re-writing of the short story. The author took the story and wrote it from …

To Be Buoyant, Jess T. Forte

FUSION

This is a poem of resistance and transformation, contradicting forces that work together to shape development. Inspired by “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, "To Be Buoyant" is an exploration of human identity from a place of stuckness.

Waiting Rivers, Samuel B. Darden

FUSION

This piece was inspired by the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” by Langston Hughes. Assigned in my African American Literature (ENGL 2300) class, Hughes’s poem stuck with me, prompting me to create my own unique version, one encompassing all marginalized groups. This poem personifies the struggle for rights for African Americans (and others within the diaspora), and the long, arduous, and selective process of becoming recognized as equal, a fight ongoing to this day. The separation of each group (not only by race, but also by gender) is explored throughout the piece, touching on important historical movements, such …

Storytelling, Henry D. Juarez

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Heternormativity, Erandi Hernández Aguilar

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Sin Título, Daisy Camacho

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Journal Entry #1, Erandi Hernández Aguilar

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Pain Into Anger!, Davion Holman

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Amá Always Said. Apá Only Knew., Venus Elizalde

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

A Letter To My Juror, Michael Anthony Mariscal

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.

Memories Are Like Clues: A Message To My Juror, Michael Anthony Mariscal

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.