Nonfiction Commons^™

Rational Structure, Juan Requena

Arrow Rock

No abstract provided.

A Typical Sunday Afternoon, Kara Neely

Arrow Rock

No abstract provided.

The Food Nazi, Natalie Dayvault

Emerging Writers

Second-place winner in the Creative non-fiction category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay describes the writer's struggles with a balanced diet through a personal narrative.

The Lost Artist: Biographical Fiction And The Identity Of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, Alexandra Fradelizio

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald (1900-1948) is widely regarded as the first flapper of the Roaring 20s and is often recognized for her tumultuous marriage to acclaimed American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. As a female icon whose life was filled with salacious incidences and mental struggles, the image of Zelda continues to be reinterpreted in various movies, television series, and novels. However, very few center on her artistic pursuits of writing, painting, or dancing and how her desires to contribute to the art world were overshadowed and disrupted by her successful husband. Therese Anne Fowler’s Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (2013), …

Baking, Camilla Stegall

Emerging Writers

Third-place winner in the Creative non-fiction category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay describes the writer's development as a baker through a personal narrative.

The Horror Behind My Love For Reading And Writing, Rebecca Filler

Emerging Writers

Finalist in the Creative non-fiction category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay explores love of the horror genre through a personal narrative.

My Mom: Modern Day Superwoman, Morgan Widner

Emerging Writers

First place winner in the Creative Non-fiction category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay describes the writer's discovery of sign language through a childhood narrative.

Swipe Right: The Pursuit For Intimacy, Abigail Welles

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This analytical study of mobile dating applications offers insight into how the gamification of dating shapes the perception and influences the pursuit of intimacy by users. This study explores the rhetorical theory of gamification, utilizing it as a lens through which to look at the construction of user experience (UX) by app developers as well as the navigation of user interface (UI) by ‘players.’ Delving deeper into the three sites of study- Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid- through gamification provides a clearing understanding of the ways in which turning dating into a game changes how individuals approach intimacy. The project proves …

Experience Bobo Experience, Sara Smith

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Experience Bobo Experience -by Sara Marie Smith (Artist Statements and Images of work)

Spring 2018-CSUMB Undergraduate Capstone Project/ Visual Public Arts Department

My Senior Capstone is about using inspirational wisdom from acknowledged sources to address the quandaries of our human experiences. I have chosen a cognitive clown, named Bobo, to investigate Henry David Thoreau, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Watts. Bobo, my character, goes on a journey of learning. Bobo is a line drawing, rendered in marker, with a circular head, two dot eyes, three puffs of hair with a clown smile and clown clothing. Experience Bobo Experience speaks to …

Stepfamily, Rebecca Chappelear

MFA in Photography and Integrated Media Theses

A discussion of the photographic imagery used in artist's work and a first-hand account of the experience which lead to it's creation. The work and writing encapsulate the trauma caused by family dysfunction brought on by a stepfather's struggle with depression and alcoholism.

From Start To Finish, Anjali Glenn

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

No abstract provided.

Margie, Savannah Wilcek

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

No abstract provided.

Lonely This Side Of Nowhere, Anne Okonowski

All NMU Master's Theses

In this creative work, the writer explores familial relationships as well as what is home. Combining nonfiction essays, fiction, poetry, and images in one narrative, this work is comprised of multiple stories to create a related narrative. This project is a celebration of storytelling through multiple genres, and draws from multiple sources of inspiration, including both creative and critical works.

Paper Memories: A Visual Memoir, Stephanie Trinidad

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adolescence can be considered one of the hardest times in any person's life. Growing up, we are confronted with two very different possibilities of how our lives will turn out. One is the flawless version that is continuously on display in television series and movies. The other is the real-world version where a person is questioned and ridiculed for everything they’ve done. News headlines about students who, under pressure from their peers, take their own lives are a common occurrence. The focus of many of these headlines is on the bullies and on whether prosecution is possible for the crime …

To Whom Occurs The Haunting: A Singular Exploration Of A Disturbed Femme Psyche, Meghan E. Addison

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

By utilizing critical experimental writing, my capstone project will be an exploration of the haunting effects of transgenerational trauma and its lasting impact on the present-day psyche of one disturbed female subject - myself. Relying on multiple formats of writing, including but not limited to: memoir, autobiography, diaries, letters, poetry, and prose, as well the incorporation of multiple disciplines including the likes of: psychoanalysis, literature, philosophy, and critical theory, I will make an attempt to utilize the micro in exploration of the macro: to explore my unconscious realm in order to understand a larger political context surrounding female madness and …

Everyday Violence And Women's Lives In Zambia: An Autoethnography, Amina Shikupilwa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gender inequality has been a prominent feature of human societies for the longest time. Zambia, like most countries in Africa, is very conservative and patriarchal in nature. In a typical Zambian household, the male is the head of the family. I am going to talk about my experiences as a female growing in a culture that was highly patriarchal and traditional, and how those experiences have shaped me into the person that I am today. Central to my experiences, is the issue of violence in our home which I experienced from a young age. Domestic Violence is prevalent in most …

Pilgrimage, Jennifer Galvã£O

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Masks, Rachel Britton

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Self On The Straãÿenbahn, Matthew Cullen

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

The Lie, Bernadette Roe

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Learning To Fish And Learning My Place: Joy And Power Struggles In Alaska Seasonal Work, Mary E. Chiles

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This collection of essays describes the experience of working remote lodges in Alaska. These examine power dynamics among owners, guests, and employees, particularly in situations of sexual harassment. It explores punishments for bringing these cases to light in seasonal, tenuous positions. The collection also includes instances of stark wilderness, including interactions with bears and fish. These moments of beauty found in isolated surroundings contrast with the dangers of remote living.

Narratives Of Loss, Carla R. Stine

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

My research revolves around impermanence, loss, and the grief that accompanies loss. My thesis work consists of digital collages interlaced with short stories, an interactive digital media piece, traditionally-made collages, a picture book, art objects, and an assortment of other supporting work. My ultimate aim is to employ both traditional techniques and digital skills to create visual narratives that supply glimpses into my personal history of loss and that speak to life’s brevity.

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, …

The Edugametional Podcast Episode 1: Souls Games And Information Literacy, Brian Zabell

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Abstract:

This Capstone project includes a 53 minute podcast audio file and a reflective memo detailing what sparked my interest in the topic along the journey I went through to get to where I ended up to create the podcast.

The podcast is developed the first podcast of a series about using peer-reviewed research articles to argue for educational gaming in the classroom, the merits of finding scientific and cultural literacies in educational gaming, understanding the value of why certain video game mechanics work and why, and how video games in general can retain educational value to a player.

This …

Ashbelt: Volume Five, Ash Belt

AshBelt

No abstract provided.

Impossible Year, Allexus Blanski

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduate requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

This thesis features three non-fiction stories that take place mainly during my junior and senior years of college. In Life on 119th Street, I reflect back on the years growing up in my childhood home and my parents’ abusive relationship. Despite this, I also bring to light the positive relationship I had with my parents and the happy childhood they gave me and my sister. I talk about the dogs we had, particularly a Great Dane Duke who was given away, as well as the tense few years …

The Letters, Alicia Defonzo

English Faculty Publications

[First paragraph]

“You know, your grandmother only wrote me once during the war?” he says, sipping his scotch, staring out at the Chesapeake Bay which he can no longer see. I look at him with her eyes. It was the first I heard of it. He wouldn’t lie to me, but I wonder how this could be true.

Rod Library Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, Angela L. Pratesi, Ayanna Wallican Green, Carter Zehr, Lydia Richards, Katherine Jackson, Molly Walleser

Community Engagement Celebration Day

Rod Library’s Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon is a concerted effort to improve the representation of women and minoritized individuals in the arts on the free encyclopedia and in the Wikipedia community. Wikipedia is the fifth most used website in the world, but there is systemic bias embedded in its content due to a lack of diversity. This project is an effort to change that. Students in LIB 3159: Creating Wikipedia for the Arts hosted the Edit-a-thon on March 24. The event was free and open to the public. In addition to community participants, students in ARTHIST 4608: Arts of Africa (who …

Maybe She Found Me In A Poem, Robin Gow

English and Creative Writing Honors Papers

Maybe She Found Me in a Poem explores my own family relationship and family stories through a variety of poetic forms, persona poetry, and prose pieces centered on an imagined relationship with my grandmother who died before I was born. The collection asks, “How much are our family stories our own?” and “Can we create memory?” Themes of haunting, ghosts, queerness, shared memory, death, and burial are carried throughout the collection and brought forward in their respective sections. Images are placed throughout as part of the collection to amplify the “haunting” power of the text.

Safety, Anonymous W.

The Crambo

W. explores her Jewish identity and the formation of her womanhood within the crucible of her parents' abuse.