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Title: TOURIST TRAP: ON BEING RAISED IN AWARD-WINNING SAND.
Creator: Carson, Catherine, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The literary essays in this collection explore the relationships between mind, body, and environment as the narrator explores Orlando, her beachfront hometown of Sarasota, and other "tourist traps." The traditional and experimental essays here question how residents make popular vacation destinations their own and how much trust one can put in strangers, neighbors, city planners, theme-park designers, and lovers. Dance floors, hybrid bikes, flying elephants, swing sets, and swimming pools...
Show moreThe literary essays in this collection explore the relationships between mind, body, and environment as the narrator explores Orlando, her beachfront hometown of Sarasota, and other "tourist traps." The traditional and experimental essays here question how residents make popular vacation destinations their own and how much trust one can put in strangers, neighbors, city planners, theme-park designers, and lovers. Dance floors, hybrid bikes, flying elephants, swing sets, and swimming pools fill these pages. Worries spiral like disco lights on dance floors, and cultural forces press down with the constant pressure of pedal strokes. With the embodiment of place comes connection between environment and activity; music, buildings, landscape, and physical activity heighten the relationship between personal identity and place. Everything moves, but the appeal of tourist traps remains constant.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: CFE0001895, ucf:47383
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001895

Title: THE ROUND BARN.
Creator: Fallows, Susan, Ivonne Lamazares, Lisa Roney, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The Round Barn is a novel in two parts that tells the story of two Iowa farm families during the period 1915 to 1929, a volatile time in the history of the American farm. The first part of the novel tells the story of Joe Marshall, a young man in conflict with his hard-working farmer father. At sixteen-years-old, Joe must choose whether to leave the farm to pursue his own desires or to stay where he is needed to help keep his financially strapped family afloat. Part two of the novel focuses...
Show moreThe Round Barn is a novel in two parts that tells the story of two Iowa farm families during the period 1915 to 1929, a volatile time in the history of the American farm. The first part of the novel tells the story of Joe Marshall, a young man in conflict with his hard-working farmer father. At sixteen-years-old, Joe must choose whether to leave the farm to pursue his own desires or to stay where he is needed to help keep his financially strapped family afloat. Part two of the novel focuses on Mae Allinson, a woman in her early twenties, who has willingly accepted the responsibility of raising her sister's child after her sister dies in childbirth. By doing so, Mae forsakes the man she was to marry, the man who would take her to Chicago and away from farm life. The round barn, built by Joe Marshall's father in the opening chapter of the novel, serves as a through line linking all the chapters and connecting characters to a specific place. The round barn, in addition to being a stage setting for the action of the novel, has its own story arc, rising out of the Iowa soil in the first chapter, functioning as a working barn through the central part of the novel, then finally falling into disrepair by the end. In the novel, Joe and Mae each seek their own identities within their families, identities that put them in conflict with a family dynamic that is focused on the survival and prosperity of the family as a whole. This conflict forces each character to define for themselves what love, power, freedom, and obligation mean and how far they are willing to go inpursuit of these things. In addition to functioning within their own families, the main characters must also contend with the larger issues that put pressure on the American farm of the time (economics, war, social change, and migration to the urban areas), factors that push and pull the characters in different directions. By telling the story from the positions of two different characters and by spanning the number of years that it does, the novel seeks to show how events and the passage of time transform the individual characters, their families, and the American farm.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: CFE0001925, ucf:47479
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001925

Title: ORANGE BLOSSOMS: ESSAYS ON MASCULINITY, HERITAGE, AND IDENTITY.
Creator: Montalvo, Edward, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: I miss the smell of orange blossoms, which used to flood the countryside. But as a city grows, the land surrounding it dies. You cannot roll down your windows anymore and smell the sweet scent dancing off the buds. You will however find impressive theme parks, factory-style chain stores and restaurants. If you look close enough, you'll also see disgruntled souls of a once naturally spectacular culture of people. Laid back like the sands of Florida's coast. But now there are bills, traffic,...
Show moreI miss the smell of orange blossoms, which used to flood the countryside. But as a city grows, the land surrounding it dies. You cannot roll down your windows anymore and smell the sweet scent dancing off the buds. You will however find impressive theme parks, factory-style chain stores and restaurants. If you look close enough, you'll also see disgruntled souls of a once naturally spectacular culture of people. Laid back like the sands of Florida's coast. But now there are bills, traffic, and IKEA. This collection of essays is an attempt to escape such an experience. To explain such an existence, and to explore an eschewal from the inevitable, retail therapy. Xanthomonas axonopodis, often known as citrus cankers, is a bacterial disease affecting most citrus species. Dead tissue forms, then slowly grows, and consumes, then kills the fruits of labor. Grapefruits are the most susceptible to the disease. There was an outbreak from 1910, to 1931. Another from 1986 to 1994, and rumors sprang less than a year later stating the canker was back. To solve most outbreaks, famers and officials just burn the trees to complete, and utter ash. In 2006, the USDA stated eradication of the disease was impossible. If this sounds like cancer, the trust me, you're not crazy. Florida is known for its beaches, hospitality, and it's citrus.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFH0004586, ucf:45183
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004586

Title: UNTIL THE MEAT FALLS OFF THE BONE.
Creator: Kapherr, Holly, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Though this work started as a formal academic cultural study, it stretched and squirmed and became not only an examination of the cultures themselves, but how I came to fit within those cultures. By combining my experiences travelling as a child and young adult as well as learning the craft of professional cooking, the essays in this work are highly centered around food and what food means both to me and to cultures throughout the world. The structure and tone of these essays varies greatly...
Show moreThough this work started as a formal academic cultural study, it stretched and squirmed and became not only an examination of the cultures themselves, but how I came to fit within those cultures. By combining my experiences travelling as a child and young adult as well as learning the craft of professional cooking, the essays in this work are highly centered around food and what food means both to me and to cultures throughout the world. The structure and tone of these essays varies greatly from one to the other, all at once casual, almost conversational in one, and pedantic and formal in another. This thesis was designed to grant readers a broad scope of my ability as a writer and cook. The six recipes contained in the collection are meant to move the work along as a meal would, leisurely and savoring moments, but at the same time, there should always be a sense of anticipation about what will appear next. The characters in this thesis came from near and far – from France to Lima – and each carries a cultural and culinary significance in the work. Each essay ties food to emotion – love, distress, bewilderment, intrigue and zeal. The main themes in this work stem from the ingrained nature of values taught at childhood – whether we like them or not, the role of food in shaping the cultural clash of peoples and the inherent connective nature of food as common ground.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002935, ucf:47957
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002935

Title: Hunting Down Pigs.
Creator: Astudillo, Anna-Lisa, Thaxton, Terry, Roney, Lisa, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Hunting Down Pigs is a hybrid collection of personal essays, ranging from lyrical to braided, which more often than not defy labeling. The essays explore themes of loss, faith, and self-reliance. Growing up Mormon, with all its strictures, and losing her dad at a young age, made faith an issue that the narrator grappled with continuously throughout her life. The narrator questions the validity and purpose of religion in essays like (")Possibilities(") and (")Going to Church.(") Specifically,...
Show moreHunting Down Pigs is a hybrid collection of personal essays, ranging from lyrical to braided, which more often than not defy labeling. The essays explore themes of loss, faith, and self-reliance. Growing up Mormon, with all its strictures, and losing her dad at a young age, made faith an issue that the narrator grappled with continuously throughout her life. The narrator questions the validity and purpose of religion in essays like (")Possibilities(") and (")Going to Church.(") Specifically, the narrator explores the doctrine of the Mormon church and the effects of such a strict upbringing. When divine intervention fails, the narrator must learn to transfer her faith in God to a personal faith in herself. In essence, this is a coming of age story for the late bloomer, for the forty-something woman who has realized or needs to realize that you can't rely on God or a man to save you(-) you have to save yourself, and in doing so you will receive the gift of faith in yourself.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006437, ucf:51492
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006437

Title: What Remains.
Creator: Leavitt, Michael, Poissant, David, Roney, Lisa, Peynado, Brenda, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Grief is a personal thing, as unique as it is ubiquitous, and each character in What Remains approaches their grief in a different way and handles it with differing degrees of success. The collection blends both realist and fabulist stories in its efforts to explore these themes, from the eponymous (")What Remains,(") in which a man attempts to reconcile his feelings about the death of his abusive, absentee father, and what that means for his relationship with his own son; to (")Convoy,(") a...
Show moreGrief is a personal thing, as unique as it is ubiquitous, and each character in What Remains approaches their grief in a different way and handles it with differing degrees of success. The collection blends both realist and fabulist stories in its efforts to explore these themes, from the eponymous (")What Remains,(") in which a man attempts to reconcile his feelings about the death of his abusive, absentee father, and what that means for his relationship with his own son; to (")Convoy,(") a story of a Marine who confronts the culture of violence into which he's been indoctrinated, and which separates him from society; to (")Anaerobic,(") about a teenage girl whose super-speed can't save her sister from brain death in a hospital bed. Other stories look at their characters' losses through the different lenses of loneliness, of desperation, of divorce, and of parenthood, but all of them essentially attempt to unearth the answer to the question, (")How do we keep going in the face of loss(-)and where do we go?(")
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: CFE0007037, ucf:52000
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007037

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.
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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.?
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: CFE0007320, ucf:52122
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007320

Title: I Thought You Were Someone Else.
Creator: Milazzo, Maria, Roney, Lisa, Neal, Mary, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: I Thought You Were Someone Else deals with violence, family, love, art, and gender. The author examines these issues as well as what makes a creative work fiction or nonfiction by creating a multi-genre collection of seven short fiction stories and five short nonfiction pieces. Fictional stories feature protagonists similar to the author and protagonists who could be considered completely different from the author. Nevertheless, the protagonists in these pieces, whether they are real or...
Show moreI Thought You Were Someone Else deals with violence, family, love, art, and gender. The author examines these issues as well as what makes a creative work fiction or nonfiction by creating a multi-genre collection of seven short fiction stories and five short nonfiction pieces. Fictional stories feature protagonists similar to the author and protagonists who could be considered completely different from the author. Nevertheless, the protagonists in these pieces, whether they are real or fictitious, all experience grand realizations concerning their identity and surroundings. Essentially, they realize they are not who they thought they were. A young boy realizes he likes destruction; another comes to terms with love and romance. A father deals with his homophobia, while another older man examines his life of violence. Young women cope with getting older and struggling to create families. Others realize that their needs will never be met. All stories deal with growth, change, and discovery, thereby allowing the author to unearth details about identity and how it is shaped and evolves.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFE0004139, ucf:49078
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004139

Title: Waiving Miranda.
Creator: Voyles, Vance, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Roney, Lisa, Rushin, Patrick, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Waiving Miranda is a nonfiction collection that explores my career in law enforcement with a special emphasis on how the day-to-day association with others can lure a person into self-observation. The essays include my experiences as a road-patrol deputy, sex-crimes detective, and homicide detective in one of the largest county law enforcement agencies in the nation. Instead of the TV version of law enforcement(-)anecdotes of police chases and shoot outs(-)this thesis examines people on both...
Show moreWaiving Miranda is a nonfiction collection that explores my career in law enforcement with a special emphasis on how the day-to-day association with others can lure a person into self-observation. The essays include my experiences as a road-patrol deputy, sex-crimes detective, and homicide detective in one of the largest county law enforcement agencies in the nation. Instead of the TV version of law enforcement(-)anecdotes of police chases and shoot outs(-)this thesis examines people on both sides of the yellow crimes scene tape as they face their own mortality and the gruesome truth of people's unabashed cruelty towards one another.These essays wrestle with such issues as the following: confronting my own perceived inadequacies while encountering the expectations of those whose ideas of police work come from shows such as SWAT, Law and Order, and NYPD Blue; balancing career and parenting in the aftermath of divorce and a loss of purpose; pursuing a career in law enforcement with the idea of serving the community; discovering that policing in real life is a direct contradiction to the celluloid heroes I grew up watching on television; staging an internal war and ultimately resolving to move past resentment and move forward with a new purpose.Unlike most true crime dramas, this collection does not promise a happily ever after. Instead, it's a detailed account of the men and women in the law enforcement community today, and how, as much as they guard the public against criminals at large, so must they guard themselves against the emotional toll that this knowledge carries with it.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFE0004490, ucf:49277
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004490

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.?
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004976, ucf:49591
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004976

Title: Unseen America.
Creator: Shuster, Jeffrey, Neal, Mary, Roney, Lisa, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Unseen America is a glimpse into the lives of what American society considers to be low status men. (")Kumbaya(") involves a Cub Scout dealing with the fallout from a neglectful father and an alcoholic mother. (")Devil's Tower(") is about an overweight boy trying to prove himself in front of his peers. In (")True Patriots,(") we see two displaced working class men forced to come to terms with an America that doesn't belong to them anymore or need them anymore. (")Zippo Heart(") deals with a...
Show moreUnseen America is a glimpse into the lives of what American society considers to be low status men. (")Kumbaya(") involves a Cub Scout dealing with the fallout from a neglectful father and an alcoholic mother. (")Devil's Tower(") is about an overweight boy trying to prove himself in front of his peers. In (")True Patriots,(") we see two displaced working class men forced to come to terms with an America that doesn't belong to them anymore or need them anymore. (")Zippo Heart(") deals with a recently divorced young woman spurring on the advances of a loser coworker while dealing with her grief over September 11th. Finally, (")Devil's Backbone(") showcases two days in the life of Caleb Jacobson, a native of West Virginia who can't let go of his heritage even when it puts him in danger. With Unseen America, I hoped to give light to men who are often seen as caricatures if they're even noticed at all. The stories wrestle with the questions of what it means to be a man in contemporary American society. Should a man do the right thing, and for what reasons: societal pressure or a tug of conscience? Does a man live for himself or does he devote himself to a higher ideal? Does he let others define who he is or does he live by his own code? Low status men wrestle with these questions every day, but it goes unseen.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006182, ucf:51122
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006182

Title: Everyday Monsters: Stories.
Creator: Druckenmiller, Brian, Poissant, David, Thaxton, Terry, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: These seven short stories explore characters either at war with themselves or living in a delusion, unaware that their skewed sense of self projects a subjective version of the universe. When one operates in a world that doesn't quite exist, their real world is destined to crumble, and, for many of these characters, the challenge is understanding the mirage's existence before it's too late. By slightly bending the parameters of reality as well as inviting these characters and conflicts into...
Show moreThese seven short stories explore characters either at war with themselves or living in a delusion, unaware that their skewed sense of self projects a subjective version of the universe. When one operates in a world that doesn't quite exist, their real world is destined to crumble, and, for many of these characters, the challenge is understanding the mirage's existence before it's too late. By slightly bending the parameters of reality as well as inviting these characters and conflicts into absurdity, Everyday Monsters offers wholly unique commentary on familiar struggles, including marriage, occupation, grief, destiny, and societal expectations.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006588, ucf:51305
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006588

Title: Only the End: A Collection of Connected Short Stories.
Creator: Sneeringer, Lucy, Milanes, Cecilia, Roney, Lisa, Neal, Mary, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: In a series of connected short stories, the author explores the funeral industry by following a body as it is prepared for its final resting. The EMTs, mortician, funeral director, and cremators offer their unique perspective on the many faces death can take. However, it is the eyes of the mourners and Benny himself that see the deeper impact of his passing. By uncovering who Benny was in life, a man struggling with marriage and fatherhood, the author shows just how far the impact of his...
Show moreIn a series of connected short stories, the author explores the funeral industry by following a body as it is prepared for its final resting. The EMTs, mortician, funeral director, and cremators offer their unique perspective on the many faces death can take. However, it is the eyes of the mourners and Benny himself that see the deeper impact of his passing. By uncovering who Benny was in life, a man struggling with marriage and fatherhood, the author shows just how far the impact of his death reaches.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006662, ucf:51242
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006662

Title: Marriage and Other Trouble.
Creator: Buckingham, Benjamin, Poissant, David, Neal, Mary, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Marriage and Other Trouble is a collection of (mostly) realist short stories. These stories explore the dynamics of marriage and family, ranging from characters dating in their twenties, to remarrying in their sixties. The characters in this collection grapple with adultery, sexual identity, addiction, class, privilege, and illness. I am interested in the lasting impact of events. Therefore, these stories often reflect on the history of relationships and on how the events of these characters'...
Show moreMarriage and Other Trouble is a collection of (mostly) realist short stories. These stories explore the dynamics of marriage and family, ranging from characters dating in their twenties, to remarrying in their sixties. The characters in this collection grapple with adultery, sexual identity, addiction, class, privilege, and illness. I am interested in the lasting impact of events. Therefore, these stories often reflect on the history of relationships and on how the events of these characters' lives will carry into the future. Mostly set in Florida, place plays an important role in these stories, providing both structure and conflict. The one magical realist story I've included takes place in the afterlife. Addressing suicide and depression, this story explores the guilt over those left behind, and the continual struggle to reconcile with the past, even after death.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006080, ucf:50955
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006080

Title: Hard Luck Baby.
Creator: Lipscomb, Tanya, Thaxton, Terry, Roney, Lisa, Nwakanma, Obi, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Hard Luck Baby is a collection that elucidates the life of a southern, black mother as she grapples with her culture, family, love and the complex reality of black life in America. Hannah, is a woman who was born in the bubbling 40s, raised in the racial 60s and raptured in the drug-infested 80s. It is through these decades that the rough edges of America are exposed. She discusses her life experiences in a manner that allows readers to touch, as much as empathy will allow, the feelings that...
Show moreHard Luck Baby is a collection that elucidates the life of a southern, black mother as she grapples with her culture, family, love and the complex reality of black life in America. Hannah, is a woman who was born in the bubbling 40s, raised in the racial 60s and raptured in the drug-infested 80s. It is through these decades that the rough edges of America are exposed. She discusses her life experiences in a manner that allows readers to touch, as much as empathy will allow, the feelings that contour the deepest areas of her barrel. She shares her first example of love and its reverberations along with various accounts of growth. With minimal mention that demands acknowledgment, Hannah achieves an accurate description of American culture, as it relates to poor black people. She juxtaposes multiple societal and familial norms that contributed to her personal development. She is participating in a self-assigned purge of gripping hard-truths, but the crowning moment starts to take shape as she begins to understand herself and her children. Hard Luck Baby is the music of pained grandparents, parents, siblings, and children played over an American landscape. It is a platform for a woman who has been silenced to speak. Written in first person, many of the poems are stories that might have been told from other perspectives with venom, malice or sorrow, but the speaker takes ownership of her role in creating such emotions. As Hannah speaks, the audience may as well, be sitting crossed-legged on a front porch as she rocks in her chair recalling events from her life. She speaks about love, loss, rejection, disappointment, growth, friendship, fight, and forgiveness. At its close, Hard Luck Baby is an elderly woman giving stern-faced lessons to anyone who would dare to sit and listen.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005827, ucf:50900
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005827

Title: Stories I Told Myself: A Memoir.
Creator: Crimmins, Brian, Neal, Mary, Roney, Lisa, Uttich, Laurie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Stories I Told Myself: A Memoir explores the experience of growing up gay in the 1980s. It is one boy's journey toward self-acceptance set against the conservative backdrop of a rural community on California's central coast. The story illuminates the hunger for a life different than the one being lived, and the ever-present sense of being different exacerbated by bullying and unrequited love. It is a narrative of evolving identity, and includes cultural insights and societal context of the...
Show moreStories I Told Myself: A Memoir explores the experience of growing up gay in the 1980s. It is one boy's journey toward self-acceptance set against the conservative backdrop of a rural community on California's central coast. The story illuminates the hunger for a life different than the one being lived, and the ever-present sense of being different exacerbated by bullying and unrequited love. It is a narrative of evolving identity, and includes cultural insights and societal context of the time period. The author poses a fundamental question, (")How did I make it out of the 80's alive?(") and he explores the answer with poignant humor and self-examination. Mr. Crimmins shows that, beyond the constraints of time and place, the process of coming out remains an important and consistent element of the queer experience.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005152, ucf:50710
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005152

Title: Go Ahead, Daytona.
Creator: Hughes, John, Roney, Lisa, Uttich, Laurie, Holic, Nathan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Go Ahead, Daytona is a collection of essays meant to explore the experiences and lessons learned through law enforcement. It juxtaposes hope with cynicism and encourages the reader to explore his or her own biases through the lens of a narrator believing police work is something to be lived down, rather than up. The essays depict struggles with hypocrisy, sex, homelessness, violence, moral ambiguity, and self-awareness.
Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006529, ucf:51361
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006529

Title: Baby Bird (&) the Electronic Abyss.
Creator: Senior, Alexis, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Thaxton, Terry, Roney, Lisa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: What is a real life? A well-lived life? And how do we define either? Baby Bird (&) the Electronic Abyss is a collection of personal essays that questions and explores escapism and existentialism as experienced at music festivals and campsites around the United States. Within this collection, festivals are illustrated as more than just spectacular stages and bright lights(-)they're depicted as fascinating, budding utopias that encourage creativity, generosity, and positivity from attendees who...
Show moreWhat is a real life? A well-lived life? And how do we define either? Baby Bird (&) the Electronic Abyss is a collection of personal essays that questions and explores escapism and existentialism as experienced at music festivals and campsites around the United States. Within this collection, festivals are illustrated as more than just spectacular stages and bright lights(-)they're depicted as fascinating, budding utopias that encourage creativity, generosity, and positivity from attendees who abandon inhibitions, and oftentimes logic, in the name of fleeting freedom from the routine of their (")real(") lives. The narrator strives to live a fulfilled life(-)what many might call a well-lived life, if not a privileged life(-)but she struggles to identify her life as meaningful as she works to disentangle the falsities of her (")real(") life as typically defined by society, a corporate, desk life in between festivals, and her electric life, an actualized but less publicly-accepted life at festivals. She repeatedly contemplates her relationship with art, and whether or not art offers a sort of immortality to those who pursue it. As a festival-goer, she finds that the art of music takes her away from her own art, writing, but her writing is about the festivals, so a love/hate relationship grows with the festivals over time. Many of these essays, such as (")In a Tent, a Home,(") (")Rebecca,(") (")We Left Town,(") and (")I Don't Wanna Wear No Shoes,(") ruminate on how dislocation and travel can be fulfilling occasions for further ontological inquiry. Other essays, including (")They Call Me Baby Bird,(") (")Monterey, Babe,(") and (")When the Fire Dancers Come Alive at Night,(") focus on music and entertainment, and a kind of resulting debauchery that compels the narrator to reflect on her moral incontinence, inability to identify reality, and jaded self-appraisal.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006501, ucf:51397
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006501

Title: Cold Snap.
Creator: Phin, Jonathan, Roney, Lisa, Neal, Mary, Milanes, Cecilia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Cold Snap is a collection of short stories that details the breaking down of self by those closest to us and the rebuilding process necessary to continue on in this diverse world. The sometimes autobiographical short stories attempt to explore the different stages of psychological and/or physical abuse and their aftermaths. Three short stories revolve around a singular family and include themes of cultural division, LGBT coming-of-age, neglect, and acceptance. The other short stories focus on...
Show moreCold Snap is a collection of short stories that details the breaking down of self by those closest to us and the rebuilding process necessary to continue on in this diverse world. The sometimes autobiographical short stories attempt to explore the different stages of psychological and/or physical abuse and their aftermaths. Three short stories revolve around a singular family and include themes of cultural division, LGBT coming-of-age, neglect, and acceptance. The other short stories focus on themes including but not limited to self-worth, fear, desire, and survival. All characters revolve around the Buddhist idea that to want is to suffer and conclude with how the protagonists live with those consequences.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006486, ucf:51385
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006486

creative nonfiction (7)	+ -
fiction (7)	+ -
memoir (7)	+ -
creative writing (5)	+ -
Memoir (4)	+ -

nonfiction (4)	+ -
short stories (4)	+ -
MFA (3)	+ -
Poetry (3)	+ -
essays (3)	+ -
identity (3)	+ -
Creative Nonfiction (2)	+ -
Creative Writing (2)	+ -
LGBT (2)	+ -
culture (2)	+ -
loss (2)	+ -
1980s (1)	+ -
9-11 (1)	+ -
9/11 (1)	+ -
African (1)	+ -
African American (1)	+ -
African-American (1)	+ -
Alaska (1)	+ -
American farmer (1)	+ -
Autobiographical (1)	+ -
Autonomic Nervous System disorder (1)	+ -
Black (1)	+ -
Christianity (1)	+ -
Cultural Division (1)	+ -
Drugs (1)	+ -

ETD Collection (32)	+ -
Honors Collection (1)	+ -

University of Central Florida (33)	+ -
Roney, Lisa (32)	+ -
Thaxton, Terry (10)	+ -
Bartkevicius, Jocelyn (8)	+ -
Neal, Mary (8)	+ -

Uttich, Laurie (6)	+ -
Poissant, David (5)	+ -
Rushin, Patrick (5)	+ -
Milanes, Cecilia (3)	+ -
Hubbard, Susan (2)	+ -
Nwakanma, Obi (2)	+ -
Peynado, Brenda (2)	+ -
Rushin, Pat (2)	+ -
Astudillo, Anna-Lisa (1)	+ -
Barth, Brad (1)	+ -
Basques, Shauna (1)	+ -
Beckwin, Deborah (1)	+ -
Bernath, Madison (1)	+ -
Bomhoff, Gary (1)	+ -
Buckingham, Benjamin (1)	+ -
Carson, Catherine (1)	+ -
Chowdhuri, Bishnupriya (1)	+ -
Crimmins, Brian (1)	+ -
Davis, Sloane (1)	+ -
Druckenmiller, Brian (1)	+ -
Fallows, Susan (1)	+ -
Gaines, Adrienne (1)	+ -
Holic, Nathan (1)	+ -
Hughes, John (1)	+ -
Ivonne Lamazares, Lisa Roney (1)	+ -

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