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Pages
- Title
- MIGRANT CHILD.
- Creator
-
Sheperd, Nicholas, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Migrant Child is a poetry collection about injustice in the United States of America and the international community. The purpose of the collection is to humanize social injustice in the present, so as to show the reader that discrimination still happens in the United States in 2016. To that end, the collection draws on comparisons from civil rights movements of the 1960s and from present day. It is also meant to reflect injustices the author experiences in his own life. The poetry collection...
Show moreMigrant Child is a poetry collection about injustice in the United States of America and the international community. The purpose of the collection is to humanize social injustice in the present, so as to show the reader that discrimination still happens in the United States in 2016. To that end, the collection draws on comparisons from civil rights movements of the 1960s and from present day. It is also meant to reflect injustices the author experiences in his own life. The poetry collection was created after the author spent six months volunteering throughout the State of Florida. The poems in the collection center around Hispanic communities in the United States, refugees seeking asylum, individuals living HIV and AIDS, male rape, and familial abuse. Several poems are written in the epigraph format, so as to place the reader in the author's desired mindset for that particular poem. In addition, multiple poems in this collection have been inspired by the poets Yusef Komunyakaa, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Allen Ginsburg. In present day, discrimination and prejudice are still experienced by minority communities in the United States, and Migrant Child is not by any extent an exhaustive list of all communities that are, in the present, experiencing social injustice.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFH2000107, ucf:45957
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000107
- Title
- FRACTURES.
- Creator
-
Hastings, Elizabeth, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A stoplight at night. A dim bedroom. The smell of smoke and loss in summer. In winter, the crackle of snow underfoot, the city cold as a lavender planet. These are the settings within Fractures, and it is to these backdrops that the conflicts of the poems' speakers bare themselves. In the glow of these places, the truth of fractures, the gaps and slivers within us all, are illuminated. Below the visible wholeness of life lies a masked truth, the truth of a world that exists as a...
Show moreA stoplight at night. A dim bedroom. The smell of smoke and loss in summer. In winter, the crackle of snow underfoot, the city cold as a lavender planet. These are the settings within Fractures, and it is to these backdrops that the conflicts of the poems' speakers bare themselves. In the glow of these places, the truth of fractures, the gaps and slivers within us all, are illuminated. Below the visible wholeness of life lies a masked truth, the truth of a world that exists as a collection of fragments, of lives, of stories that connect, intersect, and sometimes overlap to create the tapestry of life as we know it. Each of us, in our own way, is fractured: in our minds, bodies, families, or relationships. And yet we live with these breakages, embrace them, even, because these splinters--personalities, moments, obstacles--are what make us whole. Fractures is a collection of poems that examines these pieces that characterize human life. The events and speakers in this manuscript are fictional, yet, like all fiction, they reflect some remnants of reality, some recognizable truths of ourselves stitched throughout. Each section of the collection can be viewed as a separate fracture, and each poem may also be a fracture. Some poems are broken even further: within stanzas, within lines, sometimes within the mind of the speaker. The poems do not tell a linear story, but rather tell bits of stories that often overlap. These narrative gaps too are indicative of a fracture as they mirror the disconnect, both physical and emotional, that frequently occurs in the stories of one's life. The sections of Fractures address different topics, ranging from loss to love to self destruction. The speakers are linked by a sense of searching, a self-awareness of being splintered, and, as one poem states, of recognizing a "hunger" for something more. One has lost a dear friend; another destroys her body in a quest for beauty. Some reflect on their families. Others mourn for lovers past, while one clings to a fleeting moment of love in its perfection. Just as the body suffers its broken bones that heal with time, so too these speakers suffer rifts that mend but are not forgotten. In this way, Fractures is a dissection, an X-ray of its speakers, each break a lit scar, fluorescent on the page.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001651, ucf:47236
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001651
- Title
- MOUSIKê.
- Creator
-
Moorhead, Robin, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Music Etymology: Middle English musik, from Anglo-French musike, from Latin musica, from Greek Mousikê, any art presided over by the Muses, especially music. This collection is a celebration of imagination, music, and everyday experience. It is a constant quest for new and different. It tackles the simplest of moments, "Tai Chi on the Porch," with the most complex, "Death-Sitting," it pulls from the abstract, "The Secret Lives of Requiems," and the concrete, "Driving Past Orange Groves...
Show moreMusic Etymology: Middle English musik, from Anglo-French musike, from Latin musica, from Greek Mousikê, any art presided over by the Muses, especially music. This collection is a celebration of imagination, music, and everyday experience. It is a constant quest for new and different. It tackles the simplest of moments, "Tai Chi on the Porch," with the most complex, "Death-Sitting," it pulls from the abstract, "The Secret Lives of Requiems," and the concrete, "Driving Past Orange Groves on My Way to Work." Influences on this collection are W.S. Merwin, for his imagination and foundness of language, Philip Levine, because of his external vision and voice, and Kim Addonizio, who's awareness of music is a content presence in her poetry. Mousikê seeks to capture the music of all moments and translate them into language that is ripe with vibrant sound, imagery, and voice. An eclectic collection, the body of work unifies itself around how sound helps to define experience. Each poem is its own endeavor, its own voice, its own entity, and while the separate poems each stress their own individuality, Mousikê unites them to create a varied mix of work in which Moorhead constantly explores herself as a poet.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002497, ucf:47688
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002497
- Title
- THE SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE: HOW STORYTELLING EVOLVES IN PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA AND WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT TO THE CREATIVE WRITING STUDENT AND THE COMMUNITY.
- Creator
-
Spicer, Alice, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
All meaningful communication is a form of storytelling, according to Walter Fisher, who introduced the narrative paradigm to communication theory, and storytelling is universal across cultures and time as the manner in which people comprehend life. Storytelling is also a creative form of art. This interdisciplinary, multimedia work will explore the creative use of non-traditional storytelling to gather information about how creativity evolves in people with Alzheimer's and dementia and why...
Show moreAll meaningful communication is a form of storytelling, according to Walter Fisher, who introduced the narrative paradigm to communication theory, and storytelling is universal across cultures and time as the manner in which people comprehend life. Storytelling is also a creative form of art. This interdisciplinary, multimedia work will explore the creative use of non-traditional storytelling to gather information about how creativity evolves in people with Alzheimer's and dementia and why this is important to both academia and the community. Currently, there is a lot of research available about the debilitating affects of memory loss, but there is very little research available about retained abilities. Perhaps, just as the blind significantly outperform the sighted in tactile experiments, there are some forms of creativity in storytelling in which people with Alzheimer's and dementia may demonstrate more ability than their fully cognizant peers. My goal is to contribute to a small but growing effort to explore "memory loss as more than just memory loss" (Dr. Anne Bastings).
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFH0004442, ucf:45104
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004442
- Title
- AND ITS ALSO THE SMELL OF LAUNDRY.
- Creator
-
Miranda, Rachel, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This collection of poems brings to life the idea that in a poet's world, every day life and every single occurrence is a possible subject. Included are works brought on from the worst of circumstances, the youngest of memories, the happiest moments, and even the simplest of thoughts. The collection is autobiographical and reflective, a re-creation of the events taken place with the addition of present knowledge. The work here gives proof to the idea of cohesion between content and art form -...
Show moreThis collection of poems brings to life the idea that in a poet's world, every day life and every single occurrence is a possible subject. Included are works brought on from the worst of circumstances, the youngest of memories, the happiest moments, and even the simplest of thoughts. The collection is autobiographical and reflective, a re-creation of the events taken place with the addition of present knowledge. The work here gives proof to the idea of cohesion between content and art form - it proves the notion that how something is being said is just as, if not more, important than what is being said itself. Concrete imagery full of sensory details, a distinct voice given through language and rhythm, and passionate, truthful emotion are only some of the specific interests found in the following pages. and it's also the smell of laundry is a collection that celebrates the cohesion of content and form, interweaves experience and art itself. This collection embraces experience, gives reason to the past, and gives strength to the present. It is autobiographical, written from painful, colorful, miserable, ecstatic, and even mundane moments. But it is also carefully crafted, true to the form, and embodies perfectly the idea of art itself as it is the carefully constructed form and tools within each piece that bring to life the experiences themselves.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFH0004191, ucf:44850
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004191
- Title
- FORMALITY.
- Creator
-
Emley, Bryce, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Of the many aspects of the composition of poetry, the most common component of the form involves emotional response. There is an infinite number of ways to write a poem, and likewise an infinite number of forms which a poem can be structured according to. In writing this collection of poems composing my thesis, I set out to write poetry in as many ways as I could to explore how different forms, devices, voices, points of view, sounds, tones, and as many other variables as I could think of...
Show moreOf the many aspects of the composition of poetry, the most common component of the form involves emotional response. There is an infinite number of ways to write a poem, and likewise an infinite number of forms which a poem can be structured according to. In writing this collection of poems composing my thesis, I set out to write poetry in as many ways as I could to explore how different forms, devices, voices, points of view, sounds, tones, and as many other variables as I could think of affect poetry as stimulus. The poems in this collection cover a range of classic poetic forms and styles as well as variations of free verse and contemporary forms. My hope is that the readers of these poems will be able to experience a wide range of emotional responses and gain the same insight into the vast abilities inherent in poetry that I gained in writing them.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFH0003783, ucf:44735
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003783
- Title
- THE SCATTERED BRAIN CONVALESCES.
- Creator
-
LaMura, Sam, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The intent for each poem in this thesis: To write without intent. I, ironically, intended to approach the writing process without considering the outcome of each poem. Some of the poems spiraled out of control, while others spiraled into focus. I do not always know what I'm thinking. It may be unfair to impose clarity on poems when clarity is not always part of experience. Each poem took self-examination to understand in the context of my own life. The proposal for this thesis, entitled, "The...
Show moreThe intent for each poem in this thesis: To write without intent. I, ironically, intended to approach the writing process without considering the outcome of each poem. Some of the poems spiraled out of control, while others spiraled into focus. I do not always know what I'm thinking. It may be unfair to impose clarity on poems when clarity is not always part of experience. Each poem took self-examination to understand in the context of my own life. The proposal for this thesis, entitled, "The Unintended Approach," did not mention the unintended consequences of writing poems in such a way. Bursts of energy found their way into the writing. Only in reflection, did I realize that these bursts of energy were understandable in the context of personal memory. This experiment in crafting poems, at times, left me confused. There are images I still can't seem to decipher. I have kept my belief that concise meaning in poetry is not the most important aspect of verse. With rapid urbanization, increased distortion created by fast-paced leaps in technology, and the evolution of celebrity awareness, the world we write in, is not the world we were written into. I have written each poem into their own place on page—allowed them their own discoveries without my approval. People behave in a way that is often erratic. My experience is intrinsic to what I have observed in my life; a schizophrenic cousin, a slurred maternal mouthing, uncles addicted to drugs or hope, for fame. My life has been a series of disjointed events. This thesis is a composite, not a copy. Genetic code is also a composite. Each poem has a life unlike my own. The goal of this collection was to allow these poems their own struggle to understand.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004631, ucf:45254
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004631
- Title
- TINY SUPERNOVAS.
- Creator
-
Ross, Jesse, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This work seeks to expose the truth in as many different forms as possible. As the title, Tiny Supernovas, suggests, it is influenced by the concept of the explosions of super-massive stars. This explosion is known as a supernova. It is only through a supernova, only through the death and subsequent explosion of one of the largest sequence of stars, that we obtain many of the elements necessary for life here on earth. All heavy metals come from supernovas. Everything we and our planet are...
Show moreThis work seeks to expose the truth in as many different forms as possible. As the title, Tiny Supernovas, suggests, it is influenced by the concept of the explosions of super-massive stars. This explosion is known as a supernova. It is only through a supernova, only through the death and subsequent explosion of one of the largest sequence of stars, that we obtain many of the elements necessary for life here on earth. All heavy metals come from supernovas. Everything we and our planet are made from comes from these explosions. Yet, there is a similarly prolific release of energy and materials from each human life. If viewed from the great beyond, on a consistent basis, what seem to be a sort of movie of our individual lives would actually be a stream of light reflecting off our bodies and from the things around us. This light is sent out in all directions; thus, we too are sending signals out, like tiny supernovas. This collection is an insight into the inside of one of those tiny supernovas.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003426, ucf:48414
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003426
- Title
- MILD TO MODERATELY SEVERE.
- Creator
-
Valencia, Julian, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Mild to Moderately Severe is an episodic memoir of a boy coming of age as a latch-key kid, living with a working single mother and partly raising himself, as a hearing impaired and depressed young adult, learning to navigate the culture with a strategy of faking it, as a nomad with seven mailing addresses before turning ten. It is an examination of accidental and cultivated loneliness, a narrative of a boy and later a man who is too adept at adapting to different environments, a reflection on...
Show moreMild to Moderately Severe is an episodic memoir of a boy coming of age as a latch-key kid, living with a working single mother and partly raising himself, as a hearing impaired and depressed young adult, learning to navigate the culture with a strategy of faking it, as a nomad with seven mailing addresses before turning ten. It is an examination of accidental and cultivated loneliness, a narrative of a boy and later a man who is too adept at adapting to different environments, a reflection on relationships and popularity and a need for attention and love that clashes with a need to walk through unfamiliar neighborhoods alone. "Mild to moderately severe" is a diagnosed level of my hearing impairment. It is also the level of clinical depression I'm supposed to have been suffering since I was a preteen. It is also an answer to the question, "How was your day?"
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003749, ucf:48770
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003749
- Title
- The Storm.
- Creator
-
Delemeester, Kara, Peynado, Brenda, Thaxton, Terry, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Set in a world where natural disasters start increasing in both intensity and frequency, this work examines what it means to be self-reliant when the world is falling apart. As the largest recorded hurricane heads for the eastern coast of the United States, Sierra Egan evacuates her Florida home with her boyfriend and makes her way toward safety(-)a shelter in Atlanta, Georgia. When Sierra and her boyfriend breakup and part ways along the evacuation route, Sierra assumes her history of self...
Show moreSet in a world where natural disasters start increasing in both intensity and frequency, this work examines what it means to be self-reliant when the world is falling apart. As the largest recorded hurricane heads for the eastern coast of the United States, Sierra Egan evacuates her Florida home with her boyfriend and makes her way toward safety(-)a shelter in Atlanta, Georgia. When Sierra and her boyfriend breakup and part ways along the evacuation route, Sierra assumes her history of self-reliance will work to her benefit. But an anti-government couple, a beach cult, a lonely storm chaser, an interdependent family, and a pregnancy call this into question, forcing Sierra to ask whether or not it's possible to survive a world like this alone.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007450, ucf:52733
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007450
- Title
- Small Nothings.
- Creator
-
Washburn, Leah, Poissant, David, Milanes, Cecilia, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Small Nothings is a collection of ten short stories exploring the connection between place, friendship, and family. Set in Missouri's capital, a variety of characters grapple with different types of separation and loneliness. Couples struggle with emotional distance, children try to reconnect with their parents, and an old woman faces the loss of her independence. Through small conflicts and choices, these stories revolve around isolation, disconnection, and absence. How do missing presences...
Show moreSmall Nothings is a collection of ten short stories exploring the connection between place, friendship, and family. Set in Missouri's capital, a variety of characters grapple with different types of separation and loneliness. Couples struggle with emotional distance, children try to reconnect with their parents, and an old woman faces the loss of her independence. Through small conflicts and choices, these stories revolve around isolation, disconnection, and absence. How do missing presences affect family and friendship? How do people deal with change through everyday choices?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007112, ucf:51932
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007112
- Title
- Nothing Buried Stays Buried.
- Creator
-
Porven, Stephanie, Thaxton, Terry, Uttich, Laurie, Stap, Donald, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Nothing Buried Stays Buried is a collection of poems that embraces raw imagery, threads of magical realism, and allusions to classical mythology in an attempt to make sense of the tangible and intangible losses experienced by its speakers. Told through the voices of confessional speakers who struggle with loneliness, identity, faith, and death, the collection aims to delve into contrasting themes that have long been perpetuated by Greek and Roman mythology: passionate love and violent death,...
Show moreNothing Buried Stays Buried is a collection of poems that embraces raw imagery, threads of magical realism, and allusions to classical mythology in an attempt to make sense of the tangible and intangible losses experienced by its speakers. Told through the voices of confessional speakers who struggle with loneliness, identity, faith, and death, the collection aims to delve into contrasting themes that have long been perpetuated by Greek and Roman mythology: passionate love and violent death, liberation and violation, the natural alongside the celestial. Poems such as (")What You Left Behind,(") (")Loneliness Braids My Hair,(") and (")If You Die First(") dwell on the idea of loss not as a past occurrence, but as an active emotional experience that can haunt an individual, follow them throughout their daily life and into their dreams like their shadow. Speakers within the collection reexamine memories of withered relationships and explore imaginary realms (a floating island and the second circle of hell, for example) in their search for answers to the questions: What do we make of loss? And how do we go on after something or someone has been lost to us: a pair of saltwater earrings, a loved one, a part of ourselves which has left a throbbing absence we still carry in our hearts?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007076, ucf:52012
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007076
- Title
- Golden Years.
- Creator
-
Malik, Sienna, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Stanfill, Mel, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Golden Years is the culmination of the author's studies in Creative Nonfiction writing, with attention to hybrid forms of the genre, combined with her professional background in screenwriting, and research interests in nostalgia and cultural preservation in the modern age. In the collection of essays, the author blends established forms of Creative Nonfiction, such as the braided essay, with literary conventions borrowed from other forms of written communication, such as the screenplay (("...
Show moreGolden Years is the culmination of the author's studies in Creative Nonfiction writing, with attention to hybrid forms of the genre, combined with her professional background in screenwriting, and research interests in nostalgia and cultural preservation in the modern age. In the collection of essays, the author blends established forms of Creative Nonfiction, such as the braided essay, with literary conventions borrowed from other forms of written communication, such as the screenplay ((")You Must Remember This,(") (")Driver's Seat(")), the cookbook ((")Tip of my Tongue(")), a travel guide ((")A Trolley Runs Through It(")) and fabulist fiction ((")Selkie on the Shore(")). Through these hybrid forms, Golden Years explores the narrator's fascinations with music, cinema, and fashions of the past, with crafting the perfect pot of vegetarian chili, and with marine mammals. Through the blending of personal essay with cultural criticism, the author explores how these loves have shaped her relationship with the world around her.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007344, ucf:52128
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007344
- Title
- Counter Clockwise Culture Shock.
- Creator
-
Mercer, Matthew, Roney, Lisa, Thaxton, Terry, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Counter Clockwise Culture Shock is a memoir focused the narrator's return to his hometown, a place he barely escaped: drug addiction, incarceration, bad relationships, alienation, an Oedipal mother, and suicidal threats. It is reflection on both culture and self, after I gained an outside perspective from Japan. The narrator is forced to relive nihilism and monotony, and face the troubles of his younger years. It describes the difficult journey of today's youth, in an evermore technologically...
Show moreCounter Clockwise Culture Shock is a memoir focused the narrator's return to his hometown, a place he barely escaped: drug addiction, incarceration, bad relationships, alienation, an Oedipal mother, and suicidal threats. It is reflection on both culture and self, after I gained an outside perspective from Japan. The narrator is forced to relive nihilism and monotony, and face the troubles of his younger years. It describes the difficult journey of today's youth, in an evermore technologically dynamic world(-)with few role models able to plot a course through. This is a meditation on past actions that ended in survival. Unlike most books dealing with cultural alienation, it focuses on a reinterpretation of my own culture. The main theme of the memoir is identity. The remnants of adventure, ingrained in the narrator's mind, contrast with a return to the d(&)#233;j(&)#224; vu of a distorted hometown. Many of the stories cut across time and space to mimic the disorientation of the narrator. The clarity of these cultural distortions emerges when viewed through an outside lens. Not only does Counter Clockwise Culture Shock distill these distortions, it uses an Eastern perspective(-)and language(-)to better understand the flaws and strengths of indoctrinated cultures. An outside perspective of a different culture expands the narrator's former view of the world. Suicide and depression are destroying Western society, and this is an attempt to catalog stresses of Western culture and help people in similar circumstances.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007345, ucf:52142
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007345
- Title
- Boitawl: Soil, Lost and Left.
- Creator
-
Chowdhuri, Bishnupriya, Milanes, Cecilia, Thaxton, Terry, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Boitawl ???? ((")Boi(")- lack, devoid of, (")Tawl(")- bottom/ ground/ foundation), the word in one of the Bengali dialects refers to one without a ground beneath her feet. The thesis, a hybrid collection of prose and verse including narratives and graphic vignettes, flash, fabulist and short stories, prose poems and free verse imagines the inside worlds of such un-settled existences. In the process, the pieces connect migration, memory, childhood and lost towns with fractured humans caught in...
Show moreBoitawl ???? ((")Boi(")- lack, devoid of, (")Tawl(")- bottom/ ground/ foundation), the word in one of the Bengali dialects refers to one without a ground beneath her feet. The thesis, a hybrid collection of prose and verse including narratives and graphic vignettes, flash, fabulist and short stories, prose poems and free verse imagines the inside worlds of such un-settled existences. In the process, the pieces connect migration, memory, childhood and lost towns with fractured humans caught in between(-)to reveal what lies under pillars of desires, the shapes of unsaid longings and recurrent images in their dreams.?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007320, ucf:52122
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007320
- Title
- The Poems You Don't Own.
- Creator
-
Reinhardt, Emma, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The Poems You Don't Own is a collection of poems whose speakers explore the journey from the simplistic perspective of childhood to the confusion of adolescence to the first experiences of sexuality, heartbreak, and grief, examining the religious, societal, and gender expectations that influence those experiences. The collection's reverse-chronological order allows readers to travel back through the many experiences that shape a present moment. In poems such as (")The Game of Life,(") the...
Show moreThe Poems You Don't Own is a collection of poems whose speakers explore the journey from the simplistic perspective of childhood to the confusion of adolescence to the first experiences of sexuality, heartbreak, and grief, examining the religious, societal, and gender expectations that influence those experiences. The collection's reverse-chronological order allows readers to travel back through the many experiences that shape a present moment. In poems such as (")The Game of Life,(") the speaker considers the gender roles that begin to influence our perception of relationships from a young age, while poems such as (")What to Know Before Writing about Heartbreak(") explore how societal perceptions can seek to control the very expression of emotional pain. The speakers struggle with masculine and feminine in an effort to unravel the association between emotional expressiveness and feminine (")weakness(") as well as reveal the harmful consequences of perceiving emotional repression as a feature of masculine (")strength.(") Amid these gender explorations, the collection often returns to speakers seeking to understand the heartbreak of failed relationships and almost-loves. By probing this universal experience, these poems chronicle the loss, confusion, and reclaiming of identity as the speakers rediscover that their story was never about (")you.(")
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007521, ucf:52628
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007521
- Title
- I Have Questions.
- Creator
-
Matejowsky, Lorena, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The poems in this thesis explore mid-life feminism, family, mental illness via anxiety and panic, identities of southern girlhood/womanhood, and the challenges of a social media saturated life. Mothering plays a large part in many of these poems, both embracing it and confronting gendered expectations about it. Telling the truth is explored through poems about white women's complicity in racist systems in the southern United States and how being quiet about it benefits us. Fear and the myriad...
Show moreThe poems in this thesis explore mid-life feminism, family, mental illness via anxiety and panic, identities of southern girlhood/womanhood, and the challenges of a social media saturated life. Mothering plays a large part in many of these poems, both embracing it and confronting gendered expectations about it. Telling the truth is explored through poems about white women's complicity in racist systems in the southern United States and how being quiet about it benefits us. Fear and the myriad ways it has manifested in my life is a common thread in this work, especially the fears that accompanied white girls growing up in the Southern U.S. during a time of shifting societal roles and cultural values. The speaker in these poems both deny and celebrate the cultural, political, and environmental influences that shaped her early years. As a feminist poet in mid-life with a teenaged daughter and a teen and pre-teen son, I have a tenuous relationship with the influence of mass media. Controlling screen-time for my children and monitoring my own intake of news, braggadocio and ex-boyfriends on social media is a constant, anxiety laden burden. I am more comfortable in a world that does not always revisit itself. I have spent years trying to erase the effects of Texas big hair, provocative clothing, alcohol, and sexually explicit music, video and advertising on my life. Other times I yearn for an escape back. Poetry challenges me to look backward with bravery. These poems reflect the forces of memory and modernism that both limit and liberate modern women. In Trump's America where women are demeaned and silenced through populist rhetoric and legislation, it is more important than ever to magnify female, truth-telling voices and this collection is intended to contribute to positive change.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007499, ucf:52652
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007499
- Title
- An Uncurling Hand: Isolation in Public Places.
- Creator
-
Lundblom, Kimberly, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The creative thesis "An Uncurling Hand: Isolation in Public Places" is a collection of poetry concerned with ideological dichotomies: conventional domestication against the exotic, class divides and its implications for identity, and most importantly the feeling of isolation even when surrounded by others.
- Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0004130, ucf:49111
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004130
- Title
- Who do I Play: Appraising the Impact of Teacher-in-Role with Kindergartners in an ESOL Classroom.
- Creator
-
Brantley, Kathryn, Wood, Mary, Thaxton, Terry, Niess, Christopher, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Educators employing process drama, a non-presentational dramatic form, establish memorable classroom environments where students co-author their learning with teachers. Process drama facilitators often use the dramatic structure of teacher-in-role to guide and support the students. An instructor heightens tension, introduces new ideas, and encourages participation by engaging alongside students as a character. An educator employing process drama needs to determine the appropriate type of role...
Show moreEducators employing process drama, a non-presentational dramatic form, establish memorable classroom environments where students co-author their learning with teachers. Process drama facilitators often use the dramatic structure of teacher-in-role to guide and support the students. An instructor heightens tension, introduces new ideas, and encourages participation by engaging alongside students as a character. An educator employing process drama needs to determine the appropriate type of role to impact the development of a classroom drama; while negotiating tension felt between desires for student-led discovery and the necessity of meeting curriculum benchmarks.Academic studies establish process drama as a tool to aid English Students of Other Languages or ESOL classrooms. Process drama heightens comprehension, whole language usage and ownership of learning. Using the methodology of reflective practice I analyzed my teaching in role to determine how I negotiate diverse and conflicting objectives. I facilitated a six week process drama with four to six-year-old ESOL students at a learning centre in Hong Kong. This study improved this teacher's understanding and usage of teacher-in-role. The ideals of a process centered classroom were not always realized, but the needs of the population necessitated adaption from expectations. The experiences of the researcher indicate ambiguous character may not be the best way to motivate dialogue among this population of ESOL students. Students' age and English experience suggests using co-participant characters whose motivations are clearly defined. This study contributes to the discussion on what differing (")role types(") offer facilitators of process drama and how it may be used to meet demands of curriculum including development of performances. Process drama with very young students presents a field for further research investigating methods and practices to effectively structure process dramas that address their learning.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004227, ucf:48989
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004227
- Title
- Toward the Red Shore.
- Creator
-
Bomhoff, Gary, Rushin, Patrick, Roney, Lisa, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A fictional novel utilizing third person limited narration from the perspective of the primary character, Ilya Kollide, who narrates the story as though it were happening in his head as it occurred, with frequent embellishments. He has come to live near an old mansion on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, named Neimasaurus, to find an antiquated, dusty world of faded aristocracy. Temporarily orphaned at the age sixteen by the recent death of his parents, he has traveled four thousand miles to live...
Show moreA fictional novel utilizing third person limited narration from the perspective of the primary character, Ilya Kollide, who narrates the story as though it were happening in his head as it occurred, with frequent embellishments. He has come to live near an old mansion on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, named Neimasaurus, to find an antiquated, dusty world of faded aristocracy. Temporarily orphaned at the age sixteen by the recent death of his parents, he has traveled four thousand miles to live with his last living relative, an uncle named Demetri, whom he has never met. The year is 1990, only this is not a world where the rule of the Tsar was supplanted by the Soviet Union. Instead, it is a logical exploration of what Russia might resemble, had communism never taken root. While the fantastical may or may not occur, depending upon how the reader chooses to interpret the point of view of the narrator, the setting in and of itself is not meant to be fantastical. Ilya discovers that all the servants who work there are deaf, as is his uncle and his own now deceased parents, whom he carries around in an urn after mixing their ashes together. While working at the great estate of the Neimasaurus family, Ilya discovers a surprising numbers of stories and people who both parallel his own experiences and serve as allegorical warnings toward his future mistakes in life. He becomes obsessed with the idea that he is to blame for his parents' death and sets out on a quest to bring redemption to the wounded inhabitants of the estate, only to discover that not everyone wants to be helped. In fact, they want him dead. They see him as an allegory, just as he sees them. To the young man Shoji Yamano, Ilya represents everything he was, and can no longer be. As such a reflection, he resolves to shatter Ilya like a mirror. The novel charts Ilya's personal growth from a neurotic wreck, incapable of normal interaction with people, to a young man capable of not just self-sacrifice, but an understanding of what it actually means to literally sacrifice himself for the well-being of someone he barely knows. He learns to value time spent with others rather than dwelling within a narcissistic and lonely fantasy world.?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004976, ucf:49591
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004976
