Creative Writing Commons^™

Books And Media

Appalachia

Reviews of: The Lions of Winter, by Ty Gagne; 109° Below, a film directed by Nick Martini; Losing the Garden, by Laura Waterman; Ditch Memory, by Todd Davis; Shinrin-Yoku, by Marcyn Del Clements; You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, edited by Ada Limón.

News And Notes

Appalachia

A Look Back at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Long-Ago Membership Practices. 350th Year Since King Philip’s War on Talcott Mountain in Connecticut. Northeast Snow Survey Feasibility Study. All Out: AMC’s Action Plan for 2025-2030.

Alpina

Appalachia

Reports of mountaineering in the greater ranges in 2024 include President Donald Trump’s ruling that Denali be called Mount McKinley again. A flash ascent of Freerider on Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan. A century after he went missing, Andrew “Sandy” Irvine’s frozen foot encased in a boot was found on Everest. Drones and helicopters expand access to Everest. First ascent of the western ridge of Gasherbrum III. A pair climbs Pholesobi in Eastern Nepal. Climbers scale the east ridge of Lalung I in India. A new route is opened on Greenland’s east coast. In memoriam: Christopher Jones, 1939-2024.

Accidents

Appalachia

Reports of rescues and accidents in the White Mountains of New Hampshire from the warm months of 2024 opens with thoughts on the dangers of selfies. A 38-year-old hiker encounters trouble attempting a Presidential Range traverse in early May. A man breaks his leg and with the help of a passing Appalachian Trail thru-hiker crawls 0.3 miles to a trail junction for a helicopter pickup. An 84-year-old glider operator crashes into trees on a ridge west of Mount Moosilauke. A hiker struggles to cross the swollen Wild River after a period of storms. Trail runners suddenly must call for help …

Letters

Appalachia

Carl Svenson, helicopter pilot. Questions on whether Chris Roma could have retraced his steps on a fateful winter hike, with a response from Accidents editor Sandy Stott.

Skyline Sketches: "Luckily, I Remembered My Gloves", Laura Russell

Appalachia

In 1949, a Dartmouth student described a spontaneous climb of Mount Washington in a letter home to his parents.

Skyline Sketches: The Certain Slant Of Light, Daniel Hudon

Appalachia

Considering Emily Dickinson while climbing Mount Willard in autumn.

The "Boring Forest"? Canada's Boreal Forest Is Actually A Breathing Mass Of Life, Alicia J. M. Colson

Appalachia

An archeologist argues that the vast forested region of the Laurentian Plateau holds a soul and value of its own and does not deserve the disparaging attitude some hold toward it.

Matty's First Hike: Hiking Spain's Northwest Coast With A Baby And A Beagle, Katy Dycus

Appalachia

New parents venture along the coast of Galicia, from the Cliffs of Loiba to O Esteiro and back, with their son in a carrier.

The Wild Winds Of Fortune: Encounters After Falling On A Gentle Acadia Path, Elissa Ely

Appalachia

On a familiar and well traveled path, a hiker learns how easily one can fall and what happens when people stop to help.

The New England Trail, End To End In Five Days: A Running Couple Test Their Limits, Scott Livingston

Appalachia

A moment-by-moment narrative of a grueling run from Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire to Guilford, Connecticut from June 17 through June 22, 2020.

Barefooting The Northeast 111: A Hiker Discovers The Intensity Of Pinpricks, Grit, And Mud, Kenneth A. Posner

Appalachia

Climbing without shoes in the Catskills, then the Adirondacks, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and Maine, he learned to focus on the here-and-now.

Over The Influence: Considering Scenarios Sponsored Adventure Influencers Find Themselves In, Mike Cherim

Appalachia

An experienced mountain guide sketches three situations—promoting clothing, going fast with minimal gear, and making the reaching of an iconic scene look easy—where social media influencers could misinform the public.

Navigation By Smartphone: A Field Geologist Argues That Devices Complement Physical Maps, Richard Allmendinger

Appalachia

An argument that smartphones—in the right hands, and with the right app—replace gadgets like alarm clocks, cameras, and weather radios and can outpace physical maps with the right apps.

Yes, Instagram Has Led To Overcrowding In Yosemite. That's Ok: A Professional Climber Reflects On The Bad And Good Of A Tourism Spectacle, Beth Rodden

Appalachia

Social media has Instagrammed the outdoors but also cultivated community. The crowds who flock to the park in February to see Horsetail Fall deserve to enjoy public lands, too.

Burning Solitudes: Mountain Storytelling In The Age Of Social Media Reproduction, Katie Ives

Appalachia

A deep exploration into the contradictions of recording mountain experiences while having them.

The Long Way Home: A Moment In Time Before Agony Ridge, Christine Woodside

Appalachia

An encounter with a father and son partway up New Hampshire’s Mount Lafayette suggests how to lead someone with kindness.

Appalachia Summer/Fall 2025: Complete Issue

Appalachia

Summer/Fall 2025 - Volume LXXVI, Number 2 - Issue #260. On the Ground and Screen: Stories of smartphones in wild places.

The Meadow Is A Teacher, Hannah Dewey

The Cicadian

This poem invites the reader into a layered experience of nature through the eyes of a mindful observer. From a single wildflower to a grove of aspens, the poet gathers impressions from the meadow and its inhabitants: birds, trees, water, fish. The speaker’s act of closing their eyes and listening becomes a moment of learning—not through books or instruction, but through quiet immersion in the living world. Written in free verse, this poem uses short lines that mimic the motion of breeze, birds, and water. There is no punctuation, creating a seamless flow. The structure echoes the gentle, undemanding way …

Matrescence, Erin Kunz

The Cicadian

Kunz reflects on her transformation into motherhood, describing the physical, emotional, and psychological shifts that accompany the process known as matrescence. Through vivid memories of childhood and early parenting, she explores the complexities of maternal love, especially for women who did not receive unconditional love themselves. Her rocking chair becomes a symbol of nurturing and endurance, where she gave everything to her children while grappling with her own identity. Erin also highlights the supportive role of her partner, challenging traditional gender norms and celebrating shared caregiving. As her children grow, she mourns the environmental changes that have altered the …

Where The Earth Meets The Sky, Ashlyn Ed Herron

The Cicadian

A reflection of finding one's place in an ecosystem that raised them, and a long overdue love-letter to the prairies

Gerard Manley Hopkins, Sj: Master Architect Of The Company Of Poets, Timothy J. Wesley

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

It has been 107 years since the first collected Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ were published by the poet-scholar’s friend and confidant Robert Seymour Bridges. Literary commentators, historians, and theologians have sought to understand the great poet of the Jesuits since the posthumous release of the poetry to the wide world in 1918. Of the many angles on Hopkins’s life that have been analyzed and examined, we could name a few: his sublimated sexuality, his identity as a religious priest, the poet’s placement within The Victorian Period, a voice of apologetic theology within Modernity, a political eco-centric voice, and …

Augusto Boal’S Forum Theater In Language And Culture Courses A Reflective Documentation, Mona Eikel-Pohen, Mona Eikel-Pohen

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

This documentation is the revised and translated version of the 2024 article Augusto Boals Forumtheater im Deutschunterricht (Eikel-Pohen 2024). It features new observations from the second iteration of a Forum Theater project in a GER 202 language and culture class from 2025 and is again based on autoethnographic notes (Rodriguez-Mejia 2023: 71). It documents the revised application of Augusto Boal’s Forum Theater applied to language and cultural teaching in a socially critical, holistic, cooperative, intercultural, and practical way. Boal’s method aims at exposing structural oppression and allows individuals to explore options for action through play. The instructor followed Boal’s model …

Writing Workshop In Prose, Kylee C. Pastore

Open Educational Resources

The Prose Workshop (Fall 2025) is a zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) course at The City College of New York that integrates open educational resources (OER) to develop students’ skills as writers, readers, and critics. Structured in two major parts, the course begins with cultural criticism, guiding students to produce a polished 750–1000 word essay that combines close observation, analysis, and creative voice. The second half focuses on longform narrative nonfiction, culminating in a 3,000-word editorial essay intended for submission to a real-world publication. Alongside these core projects, students engage in weekly homework blogs, annotated course readers, and a final creative experiment in …

The Years Of Blood [Excerpt], Adedayo Agarau

Poetry

Winner of the 2023-24 Poetic Justice Institute Editors Prize for a BIPOC Writer

ISELE MAGAZINE | EDITOR'S CHOICE: 25 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2025 THE MODACULTURE | 10 ANTICIPATED AFRICAN BOOKS OF 2025 OPEN COUNTRY MAGAZINE | ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2025

In this unflinching debut collection, Adedayo Agarau confronts the harrowing reality of ritual killings and child abductions that have terrorized Nigeria from the turbulent pre-democratic era to the present day. Set against the backdrop of rural Ibadan, The Years of Blood plunges readers into the depths of collective trauma where "memory forsakes the body at the point where fear …

A Winter Triangle [Excerpt], Marcella Durand

Poetry

Winner of the 2023–24 Poetic Justice Institute Prize, Selected by Srikanth Reddy

A poetic exploration that reimagines form and language through celestial patterns

Informed by mystery, chaos, order and writing as container, A Winter Triangle explores poetic space and form amid the infinite possibilities of composition and change. Composed of three parts, or “points,” like its namesake asterism, this collection is inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé’s idea of composing poetry from the “senseless splendor” of the skies, as well as the designs for automata by twelfth-century inventor and engineer Ismail al-Jazari, and mythological depictions of Sirius, the dog/wolf star, as both …

Love Amid The Rage: Feminist Affect In Women's Life-Writing, Genesis Siverio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The aim of this thesis is to show the ways women’s emotions or affect, particularly rage and love, are described by women writers in their most intimate stories. I discuss the way emotion has been demeaned, and how feminist scholars have instead viewed the body as a place of insight, reclaiming a knowledge from the senses. In the midst of white supremacy and heteropatriarchy, women give voice to their affectual experiences and cultivate the feelings they have so often been denied. Focusing on the particular ways women’s anger manifests in their lives and in their bodies, I zoom in on …

From Chatbots To Thought Bots: Teaching And Learning In The Age Of Ai, Stephen J. Mcconnell

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Dr. Stephen McConnell’s keynote address took place on Friday, October 18, 2025, at the 82^nd Annual NYSCA Conference. In this personal but scholarly discussion, Dr. McConnell explores how various AI technologies do more than “assist” us – they also socialize us. He describes and explains several case studies that were part of his course at New York University entitled “Communications and AI,” and provides us with ten principles for teachers and students to become active participants with the tools of AI.

Dr. McConnell is a media scholar whose research focuses on the intersection of AI, digital communication platforms and …

“Earth Care, Babes 💚”: Environmental Sustainability In Instagram Travel Narratives, Wawan Eko Yulianto, F.X. Dono Sunardi, Alodia Clea Amanda, Irene Theofine, Pricillia Tamara Damaris

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Throughout history, travel narratives have taken up various forms and served various purposes. The changes of forms and functions were influenced by the spirit of the age. Today, in the contemporary digital era, social media platforms like Instagram have transformed travel narratives into stories combining images and texts that significantly impact public attitude on travel and tourism. On certain occasions, Instagram travel narratives contribute to the dangerous trend of mass tourism, although there are moments when the same travel writing form advocates sustainability. This study investigates the extent to which travel narratives by prominent Indonesian travel influencers on Instagram advocate …

The Red Dusk Coffee Shop: The Application Of Tension In The Cozy Fantasy Genre, Kelli M. Lynch

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the methods by which cozy fantasy writers apply literary tension within their works. Because they write within a genre that focuses on low stakes and high comfort, cozy fantasy writers must strike a balance between soothing the reader and keeping the reader interested in the narrative. The critical paper highlights several cozy fantasy writers and how they generate tension without compromising the genre-defining cozy essence. Finally, the thesis contains a complete cozy fantasy novella. The novella features Erik Juntunen, a coffee shop owner in the Keweenaw Peninsula who employs humans and figures …