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Articles 1 - 30 of 38
Full-Text Articles in Creative Writing
The Survivors, Abigale Ralston
The Survivors, Abigale Ralston
Honors Theses
Set over 100 years in the future, this story follows the lives of teenagers Alex, Leon, and Paige. The world has been destroyed. In order to survive, humanity has had to learn how to survive in space, in a vehicle called simply The Ship. Lately, however, Alex and his friends have noticed problems occurring on The Ship, indicating a disaster may be imminent. Alex, Leon, and Paige are now tasked with finding the causes of the problems and saving the last of humanity from extinction.
Phoenix Rising: A Scout Is Born, Seth Hunter
Phoenix Rising: A Scout Is Born, Seth Hunter
Honors Theses
The Kingdom of Taris lies in flames, a shadow of what it once was, crippled by the Brutes of the Northeast. The King and Queen’s deaths, followed by their only daughter’s capture, cast a shadow over Taris, far darker than the depths of the Old Mines.
Are We Good Or Bad Or Somewhere In Between?: An Original Novel, Faith Lymburner
Are We Good Or Bad Or Somewhere In Between?: An Original Novel, Faith Lymburner
Honors Theses
This thesis is an original fantasy/crime/mystery novel that takes a look at the concept that no one is just good or bad; instead, everyone is somewhere in between. The process/challenges of writing my first novel and leading into writing a mystery/crime novel (this is the first draft).
Mountains In The Deep, Andy Strauss
Mountains In The Deep, Andy Strauss
Honors Theses
When Evan, prince of the Fourth Quadrant, sees a vision of a ghost-like crown hovering over his father's head, he is sent on a dangerous mission to face the mystical shadow beast ravaging his kingdom--the same beast that has marked him as its prey and that will stop at nothing to hunt him down.
Hurricane Girls, Kallie Comardelle
Challenging White Fragility Through Black Feminist Political Poetry, Langley Leverett
Challenging White Fragility Through Black Feminist Political Poetry, Langley Leverett
Honors Theses
Due to overwhelming patriarchal hegemonies that women – white women, rich women, young women, and cis women – continue to uphold, feminism struggles to serve all women justly. To combat this negligence in feminism’s fourth-wave movement, I will use this thesis to highlight ways that Black feminist poets have not only shaped feminist theory through their own contributions, but also have prolonged and saved the livelihood of both gender and racial equality. With a strong emphasis on Intersectional Feminism, I will explore the ways in which women can be united against tokenistic power, beginning with the inspiration from three voices: …
Dancing And Poetry: A Study Of The Whirling Dervish Dance Through Rumi’S Poetry, Tasneem Huq
Dancing And Poetry: A Study Of The Whirling Dervish Dance Through Rumi’S Poetry, Tasneem Huq
Honors Theses
This exploration investigates the influence of Rumi’s book of poetry, Mathnawi, upon the Sufi practice of the Whirling Dervish dances. It argues that Rumi’s Mathnawi underlies the choreography of the Whirling Dervish dances. Each step of the dance expresses, manifests or embodies themes found in Rumi’s poetry: separation from Unity, ascension, annihilation, and a return to Unity. The thesis introduces this argument, and then discusses historical, theological, and linguistic themes related to Rumi, Sufism, and the Whirling Dervish dances. Following this, the thesis provides a framework that begins with the Neoplatonic theory of emanation grounding Rumi’s poetic thought, followed by …
20 Things, Reann Parker
20 Things, Reann Parker
Honors Theses
20 Things is a short young adult novel that explores a variety of topics and themes, from mental health, recovery, and self discovery to race, love, and friendship. Beginning with a high school girl named Halle waking up in a hospital after a suicide attempt, the novel is a coming of age story about the help Halle receives and what she goes through in trying to find reasons to keep living. The novel is divided into ten chapters: “Waking Up,” “Going Home,” “Arriving,” “Being Honest,” “Keeping the Faith,” “Soul Searching,” “Willingness,” “Maintaining,” “Checking In,” and “Living.” Each chapter represents the …
Making The Bible Modern: How I Created A Retelling Of The Good Samaritan, Laura Beth Warner
Making The Bible Modern: How I Created A Retelling Of The Good Samaritan, Laura Beth Warner
Honors Theses
This thesis includes the process and methods employed in creating a modern-day retelling of the parable of The Good Samaritan for a first-grade audience and the final product of a children's picture book.
Adventuring In The Winds: An Exploration Of Water Accessibility, Keystone Species, Environmental Justice, And Forest Fires In The Wind River Range, Rhianna Giron
Honors Theses
This thesis is a braided narrative that incorporates personal experience, ecological research, and poetry to explain some of the impacts of human interaction in wild spaces and of climate change. The specific areas of study in this essay are the Wind River Range, Wyoming and Nebraska. The purpose of this paper is to discuss topics related to water availability and quality, forest fires, keystone species, and social injustices related to people and environments in the Wind River Range. It is important to learn about other places than the ones we are already familiar with as it helps to instill a …
The Hair You Wished To Comb, Sarah Barch
The Hair You Wished To Comb, Sarah Barch
Honors Theses
This thesis is a collection of poems exploring gender and trauma in Greek mythology by retelling classical stories in a female voice.
Our Stories, Paige Wright
Our Stories, Paige Wright
Honors Theses
My first memory of feeling absolute and utter horror stems from my father. You have to understand, my father is a large man who, in the right light, is terrifying to a small child. This first memory is from a few days before Halloween. My parents had just bought some of those colored, spooky bulbs (they may have been purple or orange or red, in truth, I cannot remember) and were trying them out in the living room. I simply remember coming down the hallway—I may have been four or five, we definitely still had the dark, 70s style paneling …
Daniel's Journey In First Grade / El Viaje De Daniel En Primer Grado, Hannah Gallagher
Daniel's Journey In First Grade / El Viaje De Daniel En Primer Grado, Hannah Gallagher
Honors Theses
After growing up in a city where I was privileged to observe a combination of cultures, I felt especially drawn to how children grow up in these environments, especially as it pertains to education. With this in mind, my thesis easily became a place for me to write and illustrate a bilingual children’s picture book. This picture book is for children between the ages of five and eight years old and is written in the English and Spanish languages. I have focused the book specifically on circumstances that immigrant children from Central or South America might encounter, as they adjust …
Reshaping The United States' Anti-Trafficking Legislation: The Need For Uniform Reporting And Victim Rehabilitation, Bryant Cross
Reshaping The United States' Anti-Trafficking Legislation: The Need For Uniform Reporting And Victim Rehabilitation, Bryant Cross
Honors Theses
Trafficking in persons—or “human trafficking”—is a prevalent issue in the United States in the twenty-first century. Since the turn of the century, awareness surrounding the national and international problem of human trafficking has gradually risen. This rise in awareness came hand-in-hand with Congressional efforts to combat the trafficking of human beings through federal law—namely, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations. Unfortunately, federal legislators’ initial framing of the trafficking in persons problem as an international issue—rather than a national issue—led to the creation of a weak legislative foundation for anti-trafficking efforts in the United States. …
The Laureate, Hannah Ryder
The Laureate, Hannah Ryder
Honors Theses
In its eighteenth edition, the only undergraduate literary journal on Western Michigan University’s campus returns with more phenomenal student creations. The Laureate, led this year by senior Hannah Ryder, compiles fiction, non-fiction, plays, poetry, art, and photographs to provide a yearly snapshot of the best work from the university’s brightest individuals. Inside, the pieces explore not only what it means to be an individual, but how different surroundings and influences shape characters and experiences. The journal kicks off with a photograph staring up at a golden-leafed tree, representing both hopefulness and light. It then moves quickly and seamlessly through a …
Crafting Fear: The Horror Film Trailer, Courtney Dreyer
Crafting Fear: The Horror Film Trailer, Courtney Dreyer
Honors Theses
My research project investigates horror film trailers in an effort to define the characteristics of this genre and discuss its ideological implications. Focusing on theatrical trailers for American wide-release horror films between 2013 and 2017, I closely viewed a sample of forty trailers to inform my investigation. Horror trailers create an intense emotional experience of both dread and fear, tending to follow a similar narrative structure and employ a common set of stylistic techniques to achieve this emotional intensity. The shared stylistic techniques include elements such as tight framing, innocent imagery, and genre misdirection. The repetition of these elements promotes …
17th Edition Of The Laureate, Jessie Fales
17th Edition Of The Laureate, Jessie Fales
Honors Theses
The Laureate is an undergraduate literary journal sponsored by the Lee Honors College at Western Michigan University. As Editor in Chief of the 17th Edition, I coordinated the journal’s publication over the course of an academic year. The editorial process follows methodical stages, which have become standard over The Laureate’s lifetime—recruiting submissions, selecting submissions, coordinating with the design center, and hosting a launch party, etc... Of course, every editor has a unique experience, but we must honor the journal’s entity as something larger than ourselves—this journal has existed long before my time, and I hope it keeps on …
A Monumental History: Stories Of The Berkshires, Kimberly Bolduc
A Monumental History: Stories Of The Berkshires, Kimberly Bolduc
Honors Theses
A Monumental History: Stories of the Berkshires is a creative-nonfiction work focusing on stories surrounding forgotten monuments in the Berkshire region of western Massachusetts. The Berkshires exhibit a distinct regional culture that has set them apart from the rest of Massachusetts and indeed from the rest of the rural and urban United States. As one of the first American frontiers, the region was settled by self-reliant and determined pioneers who had to endure harsh environments, Native American unrest, wars, and political and religious disturbances and disagreements. Utopian communities like the Shakers would settle in the Berkshires, drawn by their promise …
A Scholarly Fictional Narrative Portraying The Stigma That Surrounds Mental Illness And Its Place In Literature, Adrianna Robinson
A Scholarly Fictional Narrative Portraying The Stigma That Surrounds Mental Illness And Its Place In Literature, Adrianna Robinson
Honors Theses
The purpose of this scholarly fictional narrative is meant to reveal the struggles that individuals with mental illness go through, not only in their personal lives, but also with their place in society. I lay out research around the stigma that surrounds mental illness first, defining both public and self-stigma in relation to mental illness. I also briefly mention Girl, Interrupted and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to show how authors have addressed the stigma that surrounds mental illness in literature in the past. The research is an important part of understanding why I write the fictional narrative the way I do, …
Whose Voice The Waters Heard: A Short Story Cycle, Grace E. Hagan
Whose Voice The Waters Heard: A Short Story Cycle, Grace E. Hagan
Honors Theses
Abstract In this collection of short stories, each short story is a unique exploration of the powerful and often enigmatic concept of loss. The common unity for the collection presents itself in two parts: place and theme. Characters of all ages, from all walks of life, go to the river to have their voices heard and to grieve a particular form of loss. The collection takes a dynamic and expansive view on loss, and each short story reflects a different idea or experience of loss. It seeks to examine not only what can be lost, but also what can and …
Editor-In-Chief Of The Laureate, Michael Bodinger
Editor-In-Chief Of The Laureate, Michael Bodinger
Honors Theses
No abstract available.
Devising Performance & Queer Futurity, Brendan F. Leonard
Devising Performance & Queer Futurity, Brendan F. Leonard
Honors Theses
This project argues that devising performance is an inherently queer and utopian form. In response to recent political movements, such as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, which seek to stage dissatisfaction with the systems of late capitalism, I turn to devising performance as a site. Informed by the queer and performance theories of Jose Esteban Munoz, Lee Edelman, and Jill Dolan, I argue that devised theater allows us to process disillusionment, rehearse collectivity, and stage futurity. In conversation with Munoz, I define futurity as an imaginative site that considers what will follow what some scholars suggest will be …
What's "Really Real": David Foster Wallace And The Pursuit Of Sincerity In Infinite Jest, Henry Clayton
What's "Really Real": David Foster Wallace And The Pursuit Of Sincerity In Infinite Jest, Henry Clayton
Honors Theses
Throughout his literary career, David Foster Wallace articulated the problems associated with the profusion of irony in contemporary society. In this thesis I assert that his novel Infinite Jest promotes a shift from the reliance on irony and subversion to a celebration of the principles of sincerity. The emphasis on sincerity makes Infinite Jest a landmark novel in the canon of American fiction, as Wallace employs postmodern formal techniques, such as irony, metafiction, fragmentation, and maximalism, in the interest of promoting traditional, non-ironic values of emotion, community, and spirituality. I draw from works of postmodern theory and criticism to bolster …
The Laureate Collection, Samantha Mcveigh
The Laureate, Nicole Burchette
The Laureate, Nicole Burchette
Honors Theses
The Laureate’s mission is to provide undergraduate students at Western Michigan University a place in which to publish their works of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and other creative works. The Laureate strives to be a professional and engaging journal that appeals to all. The opportunity to serve as Editor-in-Chief for the thirteenth edition of the The Laureate has been an honor and a privilege. Along the way I have worked with a variety of team members to select and build the collection. Working close with my fellow editors, this edition of The Laureate came together as the result of much hard …
Please Mind The Gap (Poems), Louis David Benedetto Iii
Please Mind The Gap (Poems), Louis David Benedetto Iii
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
Not Growin' Up: Poetry For Children, Lindsay Chastain
Not Growin' Up: Poetry For Children, Lindsay Chastain
Honors Theses
If adults are the prime reviewers of children's poetry, then children may not give the poetry a good review. After writing my own children 's poetry and having it read by Dr. Johnny Wink, I put it to the test of Gifted and Talented fourth-graders. These bright students gave me feedback on my poetry and told me where to improve. At the completion of this project, I submitted a collection of my works to two children's book publishers for review.
A Modern New Life, Charles Nicholls
The Story Of A Picture Book: A Process Analysis, Christy Evans
The Story Of A Picture Book: A Process Analysis, Christy Evans
Honors Theses
Creating a successful picture book is neither an easy nor simple process. The illustrations must-harmonize with the text, move the reader smoothly through a story, and be, as Burningham puts it, "verdant." To achieve this, an author/illustrator must be prepared for constant revision. In my story The Fantastic Transformation of Frog the main character experiences some bizarre changes, but reverts to his normal state in the end. Through my process of creating a picture book, my story also went through numerous changes, but, unlike the main character's changes, these changes were not reversed. They led to other changes.
Spoke: A Short Collection Of Poetry, Margaret A. Von Steinen
Spoke: A Short Collection Of Poetry, Margaret A. Von Steinen
Honors Theses
No abstract available.