MFA 2020
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Browsing MFA 2020 by Subject "Memoir"
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Item The God I Loved(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2020-06-18) Nichols, WilliamRaised in poverty in America’s Bible Belt, Nichols explores the events that lead him to him to convert to fundamentalist Christianity in his early twenties. Nichols then further explores the events that led him to denounce his faith almost two decades later. He details his experiences as a both a missionary and a pastor. He then discusses how his time spent as a soldier in Iraq allowed him to consider the inconsistencies he had witnessed within the church, causing him to doubt, and eventually abandon his religion. Nichols then discusses the impacts that fundamental evangelicalism has had and is having on American society, from the rise of the Alt-Right and Christian Nationalism to the election of Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Furthermore, Nichols discusses the ways in which Christianity has sought to rewrite the history of America in a bid to control the country’s future. The work itself is a hybrid of memoir, researched reporting, and social commentary interspersed with poetry. Through rich character development, credible reporting, and keen insight, this work brings a touch of humor and some much-needed critical thinking to the complexities of America’s current political and cultural landscape.Item What Was Wanting: A Memoir(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2020-01-09) Duarte, MarilynBorn in Toronto to Portuguese-Canadian immigrants, Duarte explores crucial moments in her life in which an absent, abusive father’s reach impacts her childhood and extends through to her adulthood. Duarte details how she, and her family of women, were ostracized by the city’s Portuguese immigrant community of the 1970s-1990s, while also being marginalized by the dominant culture for their ethnicity and poverty. This memoir examines how patriarchy and poverty go hand-in-hand to thwart her survival as a child, while taking us to present day Toronto and Portugal, where the narrator, in an attempt to move beyond it, confronts her past. Using a variety of techniques, Duarte crafts a story of domestic and other kinds of violence, male dominance, the traditions that enable these dynamics to exist, home-grown feminism, and a woman’s strength in her struggle to survive and overcome. With rich character development, credible dialogue, and vivid imagery, this work brings a touch of humor and much grace to complex and painful situations.