Creative Writing Commons^™

Pineapple Poetry - Studying Literature Through A Food Studies Lens, Anke Klitzing

Articles

In his essay 'A Winter Feast', literature professor Paul Schmidt unveils the layers of meaning that Pushkin wove into the description of a New Year’s feast in Eugene Onegin. But unusually, Schmidt continues his essay making the jump from literary criticism to food studies by musing on the various items on the menu without reference to Onegin, but rather to the cultural and philosophical context of food, bringing in such varied references as Brillat-Savarin and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Studying food writing through the lens of literary criticism allows us to penetrate the social and symbolic meanings of food more deeply, while …

Waving The Red Flag, Christopher Cassaday

Honors Projects

"Waving The Red Flag," is a collections of three fictional short stories written using both fragmented and linear narratives.

Nights In The City Beautiful, Veronica Suarez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nights in The City Beautiful is a collection of confessional, free verse poems that explores sexual trauma, mental health, the exigencies of marriage, and the complexities of human desire. These interconnected poems are grounded with a braided narrative and tackle taboo themes. In Part 1: Monogamy, the reader journeys into the world of Vincent and Victoria, their profound love, and their anxiety disorders. In Part 2: Polyamory, Victoria gets caught in a love triangle when she meets her publishing coworker, Peter Langley.

The book evokes the movement of Romanticism and first-and-second-generation Romantic poets such as William Blake and Lord Byron. …

A Sign, Rachel M. Crowe

Student Publications

"A Sign" is a narrative about the experience of grief and how relationships are strengthened by shared experience. It tells the story of two different women who come together and inhabit a space of mutual understanding in the wake of their mother's death.

The Effects Of Media Coverage On Mass Shootings In The United States, Lisa Chen

Pop Culture Intersections

This paper discusses the effects media coverage and media portrayal have on mass shootings in the United States. As the occurrences of mass shootings in the United States have increased, the depiction of these events through news outlets, media stories and journal articles have also increased. With these devastating events on the rise, the perceived public safety within the nation is at stake. By evaluating the effects of media coverage on mass shootings, we are able to uncover whether it may be encouraging the increasing trend. Through the examination of multiple news articles, scholarly journals, and books through a behavioral …

The Power Of Influence: Traditional Celebrity Vs Social Media Influencer, Melody Nouri

Pop Culture Intersections

This article examines how YouTube and Instagram micro-celebrities are able to influence pop culture trends in regards to fashion and beauty at greater extents than the traditional celebrity. From their ability to create communities where users feel more connected to the influencer through higher levels of engagement, authenticity, and reliability, we can conclude that social media stars have the upper hand in endorsing products. From the implications of the social media star’s greater amount of influence on consumers, I conclude that product marketing efforts should prioritize using social media celebrities as their main advertising platform due to more efficient audience …

The Impact Of Podcasts In Education, Thomas Goldman

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will be covering the impact of podcasts in education. Multimedia has been apart of education and classroom environments for over 40 years. With the recent rise in podcast creators and consumers, it is natural that this aspect of media would also spread into education. The use of podcasts in education is controversial, one side argues that podcasts have no place in education and are merely a distraction. The same was said about PowerPoint presentations and in-class videos at one point of time, however multimedia in the classroom has become the new norm. This article will provide the argument …

Marketing Influences Through Strategic Campaigns And Sustainability, Oliver Martin

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will present how marketing can transcend boundaries and promote future globalization. The implementation of the triple bottom line consisting of environmental, social and economic values has proven to be successful in the growing of brands beyond their product and services. One study illustrates that consumers' purchasing patterns are affected by brand culture and ethics. The companies Starbucks, Ikea and Unilever utilize their extensive marketing reach not only to promote their business, but future change and equality. This article will argue how the interconnectivity of marketing campaigns will transcend barriers and create a common ground, which we so desperately …

Private Equity Success: High Returns In A Risky World, Ross Corey

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will be covering how a private equity firm, despite the firm’s investment preferences, can lessen their risk without negatively affecting the potential gains in their assets and capital by making the right considerations. Investing in platforms such as stocks, bonds, and real estate may offer good long term returns. A small percentage of people look to invest in private equity markets. A reason for this is because funds have high minimum investments which makes private equity more exclusive compared to many public markets. A private equity investment, in most cases, is an opportunity for higher returns, with the …

Streaming Services, Binging, And Cultural Consequences, Sean Flanagan

Pop Culture Intersections

This article discusses how streaming services such as Netflix are affecting cultural ideas and attitudes towards media.

Rap Music As A Positive Influence On Black Youth And American Politics, Natalie Wilson

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will examine the impact of rap music on Black American youth as well as contemporary American politics with an emphasis on police brutality.

Social Media And Consumer Culture: Addicted To The Idealized Consumer, James Laeder

Pop Culture Intersections

For better or for worse, social media has become party of the fabric of society. As technology and social networking sites increasingly affect the behavior and culture around us, signs of digital addiction are on the rise. This article discusses the connection between consumer culture and social networking site addiction.

The Effect Of Cws On Adolescent Health, Mitchell Shi

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will be covering the problem of celebrity worship. Celebrity worship has been in debate over the past few years regarding whether it is a harmful activity or not among adolescents, but with the recent established psychological disorder of Celebrity Worship Syndrome, it can be shown that it has become a serious health issue. One side argues that celebrity worship is harmless, even a helpful practice to pursue. The other side, however, argues that celebrity worship is detrimental to the mental and physical wellbeing of the adolescents. It is important to understand what celebrity worship entails, the different tests …

City Backdrop: Television And Its Gentrifying Influence On A City's Black Community, Ana Hoshovsky

Pop Culture Intersections

This paper will focus on the issue of race representation in television and its implications to real life communities in the cities featured in television. Scenes from the comedy show Portlandia will be examined to determine the effects the show has on the black community of Northeast Portland, Oregon. Characters from HBO’s Treme will also be analyzed to assess the show’s claim of representing the struggles of locals in a post-Katrina New Orleans. The lack of diverse representation throughout Portlandia’s eight seasons has caused the show to help to fuel the gentrification in the city. Viewers of the show are …

Social Impacts Of Popular Culture During The Vietnam War, Chris Ashton

Pop Culture Intersections

In this paper, I will argue that popular culture is imperative to a population overcoming and learning from a time of economical, political, and social turmoil. Focusing on the Vietnam War, I will demonstrate how common it is for people to rely on popular culture for hope and education during times of crises and it is often that music, movies, or artwork are those outlets.

By dissecting the messages of other popular songs recorded during the Vietnam War while also examining books like The Vietnam War and American Music written by David James and Songs of the Vietnam Conflict by …

The Effects Of Social Media And Apps On Exercise And Health Habits Of Millennial Women, Sarah Mason

Pop Culture Intersections

Exercise and eating healthy have become the next big trends, with new technology and social media allowing them to flourish. It is difficult to avoid this trend when “#fitspiration” is the caption of over 15 million instagram posts and there are hundreds of smartphone applications (apps) focused on health and fitness, that function to track your goals, provide tips or even include full workouts and healthy recipes.

The Missing “X” In Ethnic And Cultural Acceptance, Sofia Michelle Sandoval Larco

Pop Culture Intersections

In our modern world of heightened wall building, we are confident more separates us than brings us together. Added to our intrinsic differences, we find distinctions amongst people of our same gender, ethnicity, and race. These separations, in the long run, can turn into acts of miscommunication, create discomfort and animosity; and thus begins a tragic cycle of thinking in binaries. In this article I will argue that by reclaiming rhetoric traditions Latinx creators have continued a hesitant social move to refashion the aggregate memory of bondage and discrimination that began in colonial times. These creators are not blaming a …

Social Media’S Effect On Mental Health: How America’S Youth Are More Vulnerable To Its Negative Implications, Melissa Magner

Pop Culture Intersections

This article explores the potentially negative psychological effects social media photo-sharing platforms have on America’s adolescents. While most studies on mental health effects related to social media use have focused on Facebook and the young adult age group 18-35, this article focuses on users under the age of 18 with an emphasis on Instagram and Snapchat – the two most rapidly growing social networking sites for adolescents. Photo-sharing sites have characteristics different than other social media sites, specifically the ability to alter photos and to communicate live time through videos and photos, which may have different mental health consequences on …

Ephemera: Copy Of Friends Of Cross Creek Pamphlet.

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Found in a book titled "Color Purple." Circa 1965-1985. Box 4, Folder 11

Run Me Dusk, Zane Truman Dezeeuw

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This is a full-length novel with a critical afterward. Run Me Dusk is a falling-out of love narrative about twenty-seven-year-old Milo who, after being broken up with by his boyfriend Red, flees from Illinois back to his hometown in southwestern Colorado to meditate on his place and purpose in life. The themes covered in this book are gay relationships, family relationships, mortality, and the natural world.

Break Us Beautiful, Elizabeth Upshur

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The problem addressed in this thesis is cultivating an answer to the question: what creates or comprises the sum total of my Blackness as a modern American woman living in our current political climate? I primarily use a read/call and response methodology, responding to both lived and hypothetical experiences that explore or demonstrate the ways that identity, race, gender, sexuality, regionality, religion, and the historical thumbprint intersect. The results are this collection of poems that is at times mythological, at times irreverent, both abstract and formal as it seeks to fit these pieces into a singular mosaic. The conclusion drawn …

The Poet Goes For Broke: Orphic Noise, By Patrick Pritchett, Norman Finkelstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Novel Mystique: Depictions Of Women In Novels Of The 1950s, Sarah Fender

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

The Presentation Of Postmodern Sexuality In Short Fiction, Allie J. Kapus

Senior Honors Theses

Shifting norms in twentieth century western society, coupled with emerging postmodern thought in the 1960s, radically changed the ways in which people viewed sexuality, gender roles, and the institutions of marriage and the family. The literature of the postmodern era, namely short fiction, also reflects such ideological shifts. Literature is a powerful communicator of the human condition as well as a crucial means for reflecting the customs, beliefs, and norms of a society at the time of its writing. Such evolving differences as were occurring in the realm of sexuality came to be represented in postmodern literature. This thesis aims …

Redactándome A Mi Misma: Writing Place, Process, And Identity Across Two Languages, Jenna Ziegelmayer

Senior Honors Projects

Emily Dickinson once wrote a poem titled “Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” where she advises writers to do just that. One should tell the truth about their experiences, but tell it through their own unique perspective in order to make it “dazzle” on the page. My slant? Una segunda lengua.

As a student of Spanish, learning a different language has impacted the way that I see the world and my place in it. Studying abroad taught me about the language and culture of Spain, but it also taught me a lot about myself, my own native language, …

How To Be The Perfect Asian Wife!, Sophia Hill

Art and Art History Honors Projects

“How to be the Perfect Asian Wife” critiques exploitative power systems that assault female bodies of color in intersectional ways. This work explores strategies of healing and resistance through inserting one’s own narrative of flourishing rather than surviving, while reflecting violent realities. Three large drawings mimic pervasive advertisement language and presentation reflecting the oppressive strategies used to contain women of color. Created with charcoal, watercolor, and ink, these 'advertisements' contrast with an interactive rice bag filled with comics of my everyday experiences. These documentations compel viewers to reflect on their own participation in systems of power.

Vistor Parking Only, Jeremy Caldwell

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

VISITOR PARKING ONLY is a thesis comprised of 40 poems and a fifteen-page introduction that travels simultaneously through the climatic seasons and familial generations, creating a cyclical effect of inevitable loss and regrowth. The poems start in late spring, early summer and dive into adolescent wonder, vulnerable, and loss of innocence. Gradually as the seasons change so does the speaker, diving into young adulthood and parenting and the sense of responsibility, guilt, and confusion that has played such a large role in developing me as a person. The poems transition into the winter months where older generations, such as my …

Was Faramir Gandalf’S Chosen Ring Bearer? Or Is This The Beginning Of My Own Work Of Fan Fiction?, Victoria Gaydosik

Faculty Articles & Research

Good afternoon and thank you for sharing your interest in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The title of my talk, as specified in the program distributed via e-mail, is the question “Was Faramir Gandalf’s Intended Ring Bearer?” But there is also a further sub-title omitted from the program that hints at the larger problem of interpreting and appreciating literary works: the subtitle continues, “OR Is This the Germination of a Piece of Fan Fiction?” So I have a double purpose today: I wish to explain some puzzling aspects—puzzling to me at least—of Faramir’s construction as …

Dermot Healy's Endless Quest For The Absolute, Eamon Maher

Articles

No abstract provided.

“A World Of Wake-Believe”: Thoughts On Robert Podgurski’S Wandering On Course, Norman Finkelstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.