Creative Writing Commons^™

Kingdom Come: Stories Of Modern Appalachia, A. Paige Frazier

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis is collection of stories about several diverse residents of modern Appalachia, more specifically the rural mountains of Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia.

The Trash Birder's Guide, Ashely Adams

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of essays details the author’s experience with birds and the bird watching sub-culture. The author grapples with obsession, exploration, and human-animal relationships. Essays include the search for peregrine falcons and ‘u’aus, navigating “The Biggest Week in American Birding,” and tending to owls and geese at a bird sanctuary. In addition, the essays seek to use the langue and images of birding to create an interconnected narrative that not only illuminates the birding sub-culture, but also the world of a transient young birder.

Check The Box Marked Other: Exploring Gender In Family Life, Serenity E. Dougherty

All NMU Master's Theses

The concept of a traditional family structure has been fading over the last 50 years and with this decline the notion of responsibilities being determined by gender is also losing ground, though it still has a long way to go. This short story collection works to continue to normalize the increasing variety of family structures, especially variety that has its roots in new notions of gender challenging old conventions. The stories are all set in Nebraska, an ideal landscape for exploring tradition versus modernity. Though there are major cities in NE, most of the state is composed of smaller rural …

Remain, Johanna M. Hardy

All NMU Master's Theses

After completing her own grief counseling group, Gennie Maxwell becomes the leader of a grief group for young adults. Six people are left to her charge in the face of the loss of a loved one. Gennie, still grappling with her own grief, leads the way through each week’s group session, and the people within the group begin to find support and growth in their time within the group. As each member finds a place amongst the others, they unfold a stories of their individual struggles with being left behind when someone they love dies. As the weeks progress, grief …

The Fire In The Firefly: The Unspoken (Speaks), Ania S. Payne

All NMU Master's Theses

This collection of nonfiction essays explores life and the way that we, as animals—humans, mammals, insects—engage the world that we all share together, both from a personal perspective and from a distant, 3^rd person perspective. Some of these essays dabble in memoir, wherein I closely examine the intricacies of the relationships between my family members, neighbors, and friends. Other essays are driven by research and my relentless curiosity about the world around me—what goes on in the mind of the earthworm or chigger, the science of fear and the inevitability of death that surrounds us all. This collective narrative …

The Rule Of Contraction: A Manuscript Of Sequential Prose Poems With An Introduction, Bonné A. De Blas

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The prose poem is a hybrid form firmly rooted in 19th century French literary tradition, and later adopted by British and American poets. Questions as to genre arise when critically assessing possible formulaic divisions demonstrated by various techniques and tropes within fiction and poetry. The creative portion of this thesis consists of the complete manuscript of sequential prose poems constituting Bonné A. de Blas’s chapbook, The Rule of Contraction. The introductory essay discusses the history of the modern prose poem, as well as the questions of genre surrounding its form, and describes the influences of the New Prose Poem and …

Smoked Blood And Lavender, Diana L. Elizondo

Theses and Dissertations

My project is a demonstration of how the Gothic genre can still have an influence in contemporary poetry as well as how the traditional forms can still be effective when developing diction and originality. This project is a collection of poems that addresses a range of issues in society and politics, as well as the deconstruction of the notions of romance in everyday life. In the introduction to my thesis, my poems are analyzed stylistically, as well as the themes they represent and the sources that influenced them. Furthermore, my poems are divided in five sections and each focuses on …

Save My Sins For Sunday, Gabriel Leal

Theses and Dissertations

This is a collection of poetry that depicts the struggles of family separation, to the street and drug life, to the questioning of faith and religion, to the revelation that education was the only means of escape. Set in the Rio Grande Valley, this collection allows the reader to travel though the rough streets of South Texas where anger, pain, and joy coincide. Embedded in a Tex-Mex voice, I take you through my experiences that allowed me to see that there was no future for me in the streets and that I would rather be institutionalized by universities, rather than …

You Either Laugh Or Cry, Laura Espinoza

Theses and Dissertations

You Either Laugh or Cry is a collection of bilingual flash non-fiction stories. Through the use of language the writer has employed code switching and humor to retell memories of her of childhood through young adulthood. Although the collection includes various members of the writer’s family, the short-shorts mainly focus on the mother-daughter relationship.

The Canción Cannibal Cabaret And Other Songs: Feminists Of A Dystopian Future Repurpose A Punk Past, Amalia L. Ortiz

Theses and Dissertations

This collection of poem-songs is an experiment in combining poetry and theatre. Focused on the theme of revolution and inspired by current issues of social justice, the manuscript is set in a not-so-distant future. After an environmental apocalypse, a refugee raised under an oppressive state, La Madre Valiente studies secretly to become the leader of a feminist revolution. Her emissaries roam the land telling her story, educating others, and enlisting allies in revolution. My goal is to transform the text into live theatrical performances so that the manuscript serves both as a poetry collection and as a script. Some critics …

The Fallen Female: A Testimony, Husney Farwa Naqvi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a collection of thematically related nonfiction works that offers a cultural critique of the author’s three cultures – Pakistani, American, and Muslim – through a feminist lens. The author attempts to offer an intersectional feminist’s insight based on her lived experiences as a Pakistani American woman – born in Karachi, raised in Louisiana and the Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas. It explores feminist theory, focusing heavily on rape culture (“Shame and Regrets,” “Bollywood’s Rape Fetish”) and religious influences (“Infallible,” “The Hijab”). It also details the author’s experience as a Muslim woman who chose to observe …

What In A Good Cause Men May Both Dare And Venture, Karen Schwarze

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this thesis, I present a short story in the historical fiction genre. I researched the plight of Bavarian schoolteachers during the 1848 revolution and integrated this historical information into the story. The Cultural Minister at the time, Karl von Abel, had instituted strict measures against schoolteachers. For example, they were forbidden to read certain books (a key element in the story), attend taverns, and meet outside of regulated teachers conferences. Teachers also were denied civil servant status, which meant that no pension was available to them.

In my short story, the main character, Franz Schuler, must decide whether or …

Onliness, Christine Davis

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Sonder, Margaret Thon

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Frontierland, Sarah Hopkins

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Flickering, Sarah Steil

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Love Is Lemons, Abigail Allen

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Escargot, Brenna Crowe

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Stone Village, Jiaming Tang

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

In Now, Amelia Mcnally

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Winning The Lottery, 1969 // Cannon Fodder, Jay

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Sunleaves, Meghan Barrett

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

The Minoans, Jalen A. Blithe

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

I Am The Stone, Brendan Mahoney

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

A Guide To Recognizing Your Ghost, Savannah Skinner

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

98.2, Sequoya Fitzpatrick

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Snow Child, Rachel Britton

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Maytag, Jared Chase

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

C I N G U L U M, Sarah Simon

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

We As Bird & Branch // Things We Remember Years Later In Our Dreams, Chloe Forsell

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.