Creative Writing Commons^™

Bearing, Christopher Liz

Quill & Scope

“Bearing” reflects on a moment of moral conflict in a combat environment, where training, survival and duty to care collide. In high-risk settings, medical service members are taught repeatedly that even in chaos, they must remain grounded; the instinct to run toward danger is tempered by the responsibility to preserve life, including their own, as a vital part of the team’s ability to continue care. The poem explores the tension between action and restraint, and the enduring weight carried when outcomes are uncertain and choices are final. In medicine, these moments become part of the cross we carry—quiet, often unseen, …

Caladrius: Creating A Playable Game Via A Multimedia Experience, Isabelle Morgan Brookshire

Whittier Scholars Program

Caladrius: Creating a Playable Game via a Multimedia Experience hones in on making an experience through different forms of media to represent a game. If this project was fully funded and done, it would be a video game on Steam with an art exhibition, small poetry book, and novel accompanied with it. It would even have a show, a soundtrack, and merch. But at this level, it was to make an experience for my audience that they could experience whether or not they enjoyed video games as a concept. I wanted them to enjoy 'playing' within a physical exhibition and …

The Machinery Of Division, Ethan D. Ernst

Honors Capstones

This single chapter of a future fictional work follows the protagonist, Grace Scott, as her twenty-first birthday approaches, yet things are not as they seem. In this world, alien creatures known as the Marauders have forced humanity to hide within fortified cities, while all children are at risk of mutating into these monsters and eventually losing their minds. This risk is guaranteed to disappear after reaching the age of twenty-one, making it the most celebrated birthday for every society on Earth. As this grand day arrives for Grace, however, strange events occur that indicate that the world may be about …

How To Fail At Faith, Olivia R. Bacon

Honors Theses

How to Fail at Faith tells the story of Ruth, a girl in middle school who begins to doubt her faith in the Christian God. With these doubts come existential questions, fear, and, most strangely, a voice that narrates Ruth’s everyday activities inside her head. Ruth is scared this voice means she is only a character inside a story, but is even more scared to tell her parents about her internal struggles. As Ruth grapples with her faith, this “narrator” becomes a tangible support amid uncertainties. Ruth surrenders to trusting God after fighting her doubts, and discovers that her mysterious …

Badlands And Bison, Andrew Ressler

The Cicadian

“Badlands and Bison” is a fragmentary travel-fiction hybrid set in the mythic badlands of North Dakota. It merges reportage with invention, parody with elegy: a narrator half pilgrim, half comedian drifts from piano keys to prairie herds, searching for sincerity in a landscape that resists it. The form bends between essay and story, using humor, lyric observation, and shifting registers to question how we mythologize place.

The Weight Of The Unknown: Xenophobia In Lucía Puenzo’S Xxy, Daylen Motamed

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project examines how Lucía Puenzo’s film titled XXY critiques societal responses to unique identities (specifically intersex as an example), asking how xenophobia and normative gender expectations shape the marginalization of bodies that exist outside the binary. Situating the film within scholarship on queer adolescence and intersex representation, the analysis of this poster will argue that XXY exposes how institutions such as medicine and family reinforce harmful notions of “normalization.”

Drawing on close textual analysis of key scenes and engagement with critical sources, including Guillermo Olivera’s work on space and visibility and testimonies from intersex individuals, this study investigates how …

Cadencias, No. 2 (2013-2014)

Cadencias

The full issue of Cadencias from the 2013-2014 academic year, including the sections:

• Hojas breves: Recuerdos, anécdotas y visiones nuevas
• Tiempo de análisis
• Hispanic Studies: Celebraciones Festividades Eventos

After The Morning Light, Fiona Candland

English Honors Projects

One fall morning, Clarice, a woman in her mid-twenties, is getting ready for the day when she finds a black ground beetle crawling along her bedroom wall. The beetle consumes her, and throughout the day, Clarice undergoes a metamorphosis. Rendered in poetry and prose, After the Morning Light explores the cultivation of a self, questions the boundaries between humans and their environment, and portrays the fragile relationship between women and the act of being seen.

Harness The Darkness! Blackout Poetry And Drama Therapy For Systemic Existential Dread: A Proposed Methodology, Kerry Sullivan

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis explores the intersection of drama therapy and blackout poetry as a therapeutic intervention to address systemic existential dread (SED) among emerging adults. The proposed methodology is titled "Bringing Blackout Poetry to Life" and consists of five sessions designed to explore the participants’ SED and generate poetry, culminating in a public performance. By integrating elements from psychodrama and drama therapy with the therapeutic process of blackout poetry, the intervention intends to aid processing on all levels of the expressive therapies continuum (ETC), strengthen tolerance for uncertainty, and facilitate sustainable community action. This theoretical framework is supported by a wide-ranging …

Illustrated Children's Book: "The Adventures Of Mr. C", Anne-Marie Wadsworth, Joanne Whitcombe

Honors Capstones

"The Adventures of Mr. C" is a children's book written by Anne-Marie Wadsworth and her grandmother, Joanne Whitcombe. It was illustrated by Anne-Marie Wadsworth, 2026 NIU graduate, as her honor's capstone project. The book was presented at NIU's 2026 Visual Communication Senior Show on April 30th. It is a christian-inspired true story about an abandoned bird (Mr .C) that becomes part of Joanne's family. Mr C. flies away from his home and is lost for many months, until Joanne experiences a timely, unexpected miracle that only God and his angels can take credit for.

Disinfected Time, Charles Smith '28

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Charles Smith is a Sophomore Creative Writing major at DePauw University and is from Indianapolis, Indiana. He enjoys writing poems and songs and is inspired by many artists, including Zach Bryan and Ted Kooser. He enjoys playing guitar and spending time with friends.

Flying Fish, Chelsea Parsley '28

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Chelsea Parsley is a sophomore Creative Writing major at DePauw University. She enjoys drawing, writing, singing, and accumulating obscure pieces of trivia.

I Never Saw My Grandpa Run, Cole Jacob '27

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Cole is a junior Economics student and Management Fellow at DePauw University. He draws inspiration from his family, the natural world, and stories passed down through generations. His favorite poet is Robert Wrigley. Cole enjoys hiking, camping, and everything outdoors.

Lion, Ruby Tugeau '28

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Ruby Tugeau is a sophomore at DePauw University majoring in Global Health and Women's & Gender Studies! She enjoys long hikes in the nature park, oldies music, and warm soup. Ruby's been writing all her life and wants to thank AMWR for allowing her to share her work!

Longlines, Morgan Tharp '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Morgan Tharp is a Senior English-Writing and Political Science double major. In her free time, she enjoys running for DePauw's cross country and track teams and reading.

On Mild Weather, Morgan Tharp '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Morgan Tharp is a Senior English-Writing and Political Science double major. In her free time, she enjoys running for DePauw's cross country and track teams and reading.

Produce, Chelsea Parsley '28

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Chelsea Parsley is a sophomore Creative Writing major at DePauw University. She enjoys drawing, writing, singing, and accumulating obscure pieces of trivia.

The Ringworm Poem, Riley Hamilton '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Riley Hamilton is a Senior English Writing major and Studio Art minor at DePauw University. She loves acrylic painting, making abstract collages, and of course, reading and writing. She enjoys practicing yoga, hiking, and camping.

Tiger Stripes, Ruby Tugeau '28

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Ruby Tugeau is a sophomore at DePauw University majoring in Global Health and Women's & Gender Studies! She enjoys long hikes in the nature park, oldies music, and warm soup. Ruby's been writing all her life and wants to thank AMWR for allowing her to share her work!

You Are Very Easy To Love, Ruby Tugeau '28

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Ruby Tugeau is a sophomore at DePauw University majoring in Global Health and Women's & Gender Studies! She enjoys long hikes in the nature park, oldies music, and warm soup. Ruby's been writing all her life and wants to thank AMWR for allowing her to share her work!

The Bridge, Bridgewater State University

the bridge

No abstract provided.

The Family Torn Apart - Honors Thesis Fall 2025, Hannah M. Zink

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

On July 21^st, 2015, a blast rang out from the RCE research center in St. Alban on Kennedy Island. Radiation infected the citizens in the surrounding neighborhood. For some, it gave them enhanced abilities; for others, it drained their life force. For the Elder family, it did both. After the loss of his sister, Olivia, Blaine Elder struggles with a double life. To most of St. Alban, he is known as Nightfire, the hero accountable for protecting their city. To a select few, he is Officer Elder of the 1^st precinct, a man responsible for raising his …

Madness Madness, Ira Satpathy '28

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Ira is a rising junior majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. They work at The DePauw, and also host a podcast on feminist philosophy. Ira loves to draw portraits, play badminton, and scroll their Substack feed endlessly.

Weeping, Roee Sela '27

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Roee is a Junior Biochemistry major and Creative Writing minor at DePauw University. He plays Men's Tennis and plans to attend medical school after graduating. He enjoys cooking, reading, and the outdoors.

Reigniting Identity: Rediscovering My Teaching, Lifelong Learning, And Myself, Rachel Griffith

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

A culmination of two years of work and self-discovery represented through three different types of writing, two academic and one creative. The academic works explore communication and autism in the English classroom, as well as teaching technical writing in practice ways. The creative work is a poetry portfolio that is one of the author's proudest works from their degree track, covering a variety of topics from love to nostalgia to inner turmoil. Together, they narrate three reasons why the author writes, teaches, and lives.

Some Things Never Change, Ryely Rogers

Honors College Theses

Some Things Never Change is a coming-of-age play that explores the intersection of memory, identity, nostalgia, faith, and the process of growing up. The play follows two versions of the same character: Young Ryann and Older Ryann. Young Ryann is the eleven year old version of Older Ryan, the young woman she grows to become. This play was born from my own interest in how identity evolves and continues to shape us through adulthood. Some Things Never Change is the culmination of my own experiences, broader themes of self-discovery, and the science behind nostalgia. Through this play I uncover the …

How To Spend A Year Of Your Twenties Without A Car, Jane Duffy '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Jane Duffy is an English Writing and Studio Art double major at DePauw University. She is a painter, a creative writer, and the Editor-in-chief of A Midwestern Review for her fourth year of involvement. She enjoys hiking, drinking coffee, travelling, and creating things inspired by observation of the world around her.

Darjeeling 1967, Bibhav Basnet '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Bibhav Basnet is a senior from Nepal and is majoring in Mathematics. He regrets this decision greatly and is skeptical if he will ever graduate from college. He is a member of DePauw's Ethics Bowl team, and of Delta Upsilon fraternity.

Independence Bleeds, Cole Jacob '27

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Cole is a junior Economics student and Management Fellow at DePauw University. He draws inspiration from his family, the natural world, and stories passed down through generations. His favorite poet is Robert Wrigley. Cole enjoys hiking, camping, and everything outdoors.

Tuesday Evenings In Your Mother's Bathroom, Lexi Simpson '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Lexi Simpson is a senior Psychology and English Writing double major, and a Malpas Scholar at DePauw University. She loves ceramics, writing, and road trips. Lexi is inspired by the stars, the ocean, and being outside. She enjoys reading and being with family and friends.