Creative Writing Commons^™

Prairie Suite: A Celebration, Twyla Hansen, Paul A. Johnsgard

Paul Johnsgard Collection

25 poems by Twyla Hansen, with illustrations by Paul A. Johnsgard, including:

Walk on the Prairie

There is mystery here, in the shapes of grass,
in the dim movements of an inland sea,
connections to an earlier time. Wander barefoot,
hypothesize the dance of millennia, the unbearable
carvings of the built environment, this ragtag escape.

Let its divine simplicity ooze into your pores.
Comb the steel from your hair, blanket your
tongue with orange. Your breathing will slow.
Breathing slow, unbutton the child within.
Give her permission to go fly a kite.

On Justine Larbalestier’S The Battle Of The Sexes In Science Fiction, Joe Bisz

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Science Fiction, writes author Justine Larbalestier, has always told the tale of the battle between the sexes. The battle can be witnessed from afar, as in the grainy 1930’s letter columns in old sci-fi magazines like Astounding where quarrels over innate sexual differences were published and debated, or from up close in today’s literature. Larbalestier declares that the goal of her book is to illustrate how necessary and important this former, pre-70’s period of science fiction (1926 to 1973) is to contemporary feminist science fiction. The pre-70’s time period has been consistently ignored by critics, who fixate on …

Oy Science Fiction: On Genre, Criticism, And Alien Love: An Interview With Marleen S. Barr, Marlene S. Barr, Ximena Gallardo C., C. Jason Smith

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph of Abstract]

Marleen S. Barr is a pioneer of feminist science fiction criticism and a leader in the fight against the ghettoizing influences of genre-labeling in literary criticism. While the noteworthy Feminist Fabulation: Space/Postmodern Fiction (University of Iowa Press, 1992) has been praised as Barr's seminal work in feminist science fiction criticism and theory, it is in Genre Fission: A New Discourse Practice for Cultural Studies (U of Iowa P, 2000) where she takes on literary critics' discriminatory practices against genre fiction in general and fantasy and science fiction in particular.

Summer 2005, 90.9 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Summer 2005

What Have Bagels Got To Do...?, Michael Kula

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

“What Have Bagels Got to Do with Midwesternness?” is a creative nonfiction essay that examines the way my own “exile” from the Midwest has influenced my writing and my self-concept, and how, in turn, my writing has subsequently altered my perspective on the regional label “Midwestern.” Drawing from sources ranging from Charles Baxter to James Baldwin to the 1970’s film, Breaking Away, the essay examines how it is not only the “place” itself that shapes us as writers, but perhaps more importantly, our own filtered view of that “place.”

The Description Of The Characters In Herman Melville's White-Jacket, Or The World In A Man-Of-War, Toru Nishiura

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many characters who have various personalities app ear in Herman Melville’s White-Jacket . However, few critics have comprehensively examined the action and the characteristics of them in detail. In this thesis, I explore Melville’s depiction of the battleship world in this novel by clarifying the narrator ’s standard to judge ot her characters. In White-Jacket, the whole story is narrated by White-Jacket; therefore, the characteristics of his narrative clarify the theme of this novel. I start with an analysis of his narrative and examine whether he is a reliable narrator or not. Then, I explore the relationship between the battleship …

Canary In The Dark, Andrea Fekete

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

I began researching Appalachian culture in 1998. I wanted to tell a story about conflict and beauty while revealing my vision of who my people were/are. I strived to create a fiction not unlike poetry with realistic and minimalist features to give Appalachia the most accurate face possible as perceived by me through my own lens.

I wanted to explore the idea of beauty: Virginia’s (the main character) ideas about her beauty, her culture and other cultures. What is beauty? Who defines it? Can it be found everywhere? How? What does it look like when it is somewhere you wouldn’t …

Spring 2005, 90.9 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Newspaper format.

Fall/Winter 2005, 90.9 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Newspaper format

Behind The Bestsellers: Building The Formula For Success In Children's Literature, Zenja R. Quarles

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Beyond 'Hot Lips' And 'Big Nurse': Creative Writing And Nursing, Sandra Young

English Faculty Publications

This essay describes a special topics creative writing course designed for nursing students, and argues that creative writing strategies work to improve nurses' compositional skills. Also discussed are other potential benefits from creatively writing patients' lives, notably, the blending of arts and sciences, and the ways in which medical schools are encouraging their students to study the humanities, especially literature and creative writing. The essay includes student creative writing samples.

The essay also discusses the depiction of nurses in popular culture. M*A*S*H*, Richard Hooker’s black comedy about the antics of doctors and nurses during the Korean War, gave us “Hot …

W(H)Ine And Roses, Robert M. Jarvis

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Summer 2004, 90.9 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Newspaper format

Spring 2004, 90.9 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Newspaper format

Fall 2004, 90.9 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Newspaper format

Mother Jones: A Dichotomy Of Feminity, Amanda Viana

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.

Fall 2003, 909 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Fall 2003

The Night Gwen Stacy Died:' The End Of Innocence And The Birth Of The Bronze Age, Arnold T. Blumberg

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The time was 1973, and superheroes had some growing up to do.

The signs were already there as the genre eased into its fifth decade as the dominant force in American comic books. 1968 had seen the introduction of Robert Crumb's Zap Comics [1], an underground comic more concerned with counterculture trends and bucking the establishment than chronicling the exploits of spandex-wearing conservatives. The medium was testing its boundaries, finding flexibility where once there had been rigidity, and soon superheroes began to look like a timelost collection of crusaders who spoke to a generation long since past.

The End Of Science Fiction: When Technological Extrapolation Hits A Wall Across The Future, James John Bell

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Science fiction, as a genre of popular fiction, can trace its roots as far back as the 2nd century AD, where fantastical worlds were conjured up in order to comment on current beliefs. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1996) outlines a very specific ancestry:

[Science Fiction] is a descendant of the type of prose fiction sometimes referred to as Lucianic Satire (after Lucian of Samosata, a Greek writer of the 2nd century AD). Lucianic Satire -- also commonly known as Menippean Satire after an earlier writer, Menippus, whose works are now lost -- is a kind of …

Imperialism & Globalization: Lessons From Frank Herbert's Dune, Kevin Williams

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

These are the words of The Preacher (a character in Frank Herbert's Children of Dune who is simultaneously the metaphorical reincarnation of the fallen prophet, Muad'Dib, and the self-exiled Emperor, Paul Atreides) as he addresses the masses enslaved by their devotion to his messianic Empire. These words, culled from the pages of science fiction, are more than mere exposition from Herbert's narrative, they point toward several important conditions facing the political world today. These conditions concern certain failures of democracy and effects of globalization spawned, in part, by an intensification of imperialist expansion in the name of democracy.

Bern Porter International: Volume 7 Number 2 (February 2003), Bern Porter, Sheila Holtz

Newsletters

A Literary Newsletter and Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Thinking

Featuring "Why I Wrong" by Joel Dailey and "Barn Full of Air" by Daniel Russell.

Winter/Spring 2003, 90.9 Wmpg Fm

WMPG Program Guides

Newspaper format

Bern Porter International: Volume 7 Number 1 (January 2003), Bern Porter, Sheila Holtz

Newsletters

A Literary Newsletter and Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Thinking

Featuring poems by Anna Carroll and David Stone.

Hit The Ground Running: A Novella And Other Stories, Lisa Robinson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This creative thesis contains a collection of short stories divided into two parts. The first half, a novella entitled Clothes on a Line, consists of a series of linked vignettes that depict the life of a young, unnamed Appalachian girl and her relationship with her promiscuous mother. Throughout the work, the narrator struggles to create and come to terms with her identity as she experiences the adversities of sexual abuse, death, alcoholism, and the looming “secret” of her unknown father. The second half, Consumed and Other Stories, features several short pieces that, while not inter-related like those in …

Review Of Nine Horses, By Billy Collins, Arthur Mcmaster

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

Bern Porter International: Volume 6 Number 19 (August 31, 2002), Bern Porter, Sheila Holtz

Newsletters

A Literary Newsletter and Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Thinking

Featuring "Conspiracy Theory" by Natasha Bernstein.

Bern Porter International: Volume 6 Number 18 (August 24, 2002), Bern Porter, Sheila Holtz

Newsletters

A Literary Newsletter and Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Thinking

Featuring "Dictatorship at Your Doorstep" by James R. Elwood and Jarret B. Wollstein and poetry by David Spiering.

Bern Porter International: Volume 6 Number 16 (August 10, 2002), Bern Porter, Sheila Holtz, Natasha Bernstein

Newsletters

A Literary Newsletter and Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Thinking

Featuring poems by Cyril A. Dostal and found art by Hugo Pontes.

Bern Porter International: Volume 6 Number 15 (August 3, 2002), Bern Porter, Sheila Holtz, Natasha Bernstein

Newsletters

A Literary Newsletter and Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Thinking

Bern Porter International: Volume 6 Number 17 (August 17, 2002), Bern Porter, Sheila Holtz, Natasha Bernstein

Newsletters

A Literary Newsletter and Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Thinking

Featuring poetry by David Napolin and "Who Cares?" by Bern Porter.