MFA 2016
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Item A Collection of Poems(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Wilhelm, TheresaThis manuscript offers a collection of poems that center around the first-person lyric. Interwoven, are themes and the aesthetic techniques that create imagery, and an experience for the reader. The poems are built for discovery, for the unveiling of the self. The importance of the poem is found within the diction. Each stanza is carefully considered, holding value to the individual word, line breaks, and white space. The manipulation of language allows the speaker to portray who the reader thinks the writer to be. Pardon My Society is written to impact the reader. The structure is built to enhance the metaphor and the voice of the speaker who is present. Themes within the poems uncover love, examine sexuality, with poems addressing societal issues, and the emotional concern of the family. The speaker’s voice is strong, and travels in and out of these contemporary pieces. Over the course of this manuscript, the reader will experience a battle with childhood, broken love and rebellion, female sexuality, and the everyday people we live amongst.Item Triggerfish 1-2(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) White, BenjaminTriggerfish 1-2 is a book-length poem capturing the feverish thoughts of a young Army Lieutenant wounded among a platoon full of dead soldiers. At his side, a PRC-77 radio, with the cord of its handset severed, is strapped on the back of the headless operator. For Triggerfish, the radio still provides communications to the rear where Echo-6 offers support, comfort, and military-mission guidance. Throughout his experience, Triggerfish considers his level of responsibility in the deaths of the men in his platoon. As the PRC- 77 smolders, he travels to Woodstock, Kent State University, World War Two France, and into the Akashic Library where the past and future are easily accessible through dialogues with prophetic guides. Grounding Triggerfish in the realities of Army-specific absurdities is Diogenes, a spiritual guide and friend. A cross between Alice in Wonderland and Apocalypse Now, Triggerfish 1-2 is a journey through planes of parallel existence and realizations of self-identity, both inside and outside of wartime.Item The World We Live In(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Wesley-Michel, DiaynaThe World We Live In consists of eight short stories that capture the lives of young women and men who attempt to overcome their everyday struggles, everything from a young woman dealing with a menacing preschool student to foreign lovers who can barely communicate with one another but have fallen in love in less than 24 hours. Each story involves characters that are emotionally and mentally broken by life in some way. Despite the character’s diverse struggles, they find a way to overcome the unexpected hurdles of life.Item Through the Storm(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Taylor, HankThrough the Storm is a collection of novellas and short stories that showcase a blend of literary fiction and psychological thriller. Dark stories of love, lust, power and betrayal, the characters find themselves confronted by primal and oversized visions of nature. Stripped of the spoils of civilization, fancy lifestyles, IPhones and SUVs, raw passions and basic fears overwhelm the protagonists in typically less than pretty and always disastrous ways. Boats and people splinter in Through the Storm when a deranged sea captain desires a man’s wife sailing on the Caribbean. Death and the dark forests of purgatory can’t prevent a man from keeping his beloved wife from harm’s way in, The Guide. Five stories, each as old as mankind are told with jagged narratives and jump cuts reminiscent of the French Nouvelle Vague. Whether a teenage boy gets a lesson on normalcy from a schizophrenic hobo, urban legends hold true for a suburban family confronting a pack of feral dogs marching through their backyard, or a cheating husband taking the back route home in a snowstorm finds himself confronted with the big bad wolf, the inner mind is doomed to be lost in the vastness of the great outdoors. “Hold on to your butts.” –Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) Jurassic ParkItem Peace Be the Journey(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Schumacher, TimothyItem Grounding Out(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Reynolds, ClarenceA collection of 13 short and short, short stories, Grounding Out exposes the pasts and foreshadows the dark futures of its anti-heroes -weakened and disillusioned - but not out of the game, not yet. ‘Turtle Races’ protagonist considers, from a seedy motel’s barstool, that his life’s work consists of lining up recruits for the big leagues, offering the young men who trust him as much hope as a turtle crossing the interstate. ‘Sudden’ tells the story of a widower who struggles to live through the brokenness, lost love and loneliness of his life. ‘Fool’s Child’ remembers the clumsy, first-time sexual encounter that results in, Jennifer says, her pregnancy while leaving the supposed father with a set of doubts he cannot escape.Item A Dish Best Served Cold & Other Stories(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) McCabe, RobertA DISH BEST SERVED COLD & OTHER STORIES focuses on the impact of unspoken secrets, the justifiable and brutal murder of a serial rapist by a small group of his victims, and the supernatural retaliation by the dead man against those who murdered him. During a college reunion, a middle aged man faces not just the ghostly appearance of the young man who raped him, but also the re-acquaintance with a former male lover, memories of lies, deceit, and the realization that no crime goes unpunished. Unable to come to terms with his own homosexuality, he has married and raised two children. He lies to himself about his love for his wife, and following the reunion, he confronts his inner demons of guilt and fear and breaks free from his marriage, only to discover that no one is safe from the past. The second half of the book focuses on the recent discovery of one of the secondary character’s short stories published after the character’s mysterious death. Together, these stories form an intriguing and terrifying narrative.Item Invasive Species(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Manning, RileyInvasive Species is a collection of stories that examines the concepts of societal and geographical liminality. These stories follow immigrants, thieves, despondent parents, and entomophobes who are at odds with their sense of place. The setting of North Mississippi acts as a crucible for these outsiders as they search for belonging and battle for ownership of their own destinies.Item Ticks(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Lanoue, GraceTICKS is an examination of the people who stand on the fringe—an analysis of those that don’t quite belong. The characters are outsiders in their relationships, jobs, families, and society. This collection brings to life an isolated community on the coast of Massachusetts. It’s a complex, sometimes dark, sometimes funny collection about loneliness. The remote setting, paralleled with the isolated feelings of the characters, drives the reader into a world of uncertainty. Readers are pressed to identify with these characters through their own social, professional, or romantic alienation. This alienation highlights the principal concern of the piece; how do people react in these moments? This collection pilots the reader with instances of absurdity, loss, panic, deceit, and humor through those characters who find themselves on the outskirts.Item Dead End Drive(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Kirkpatrick, IanDead End Drive examines the human condition through the persuasive tools of desire, greed, and desperation. The main character, Kelly, discovers that some people are willing to trade anything if it means exalting themselves and that some find a particular pleasure in watching others suffer while they gain. The novel uses comedy to demoralize readers and reduce the severity of the murder that takes place in the story. By removing the criminality of the actions, the narrator questions the reader’s morality and draws them into a sense of normalcy and madness. It thrusts readers into a position where martyring others is not only seen as ordinary, but it’s turned into a playful sport. The setting also plays a major role in establishing the major theme of the novel: In order to move forward, something must be lost. Dead End Drive takes place in a Louisiana plantation placed built on a swamp that devours the surrounding life in order to thrive.Item When I Fall Off Love(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Kippola, GordonWhen I Fall Off Love is a collection of poetry that examines our fluid uncertainties of personal identity, memory and relationships, through stories a speaker might tell a friend at a quiet bar (or an equally inebriated stranger, which can be safer). No matter our differences, we all feel core desires to be known, to be understood. Our stories are the more accurate fictions we hunger to tell; even when we don’t, especially when we can’t. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes profane, the manuscript weaves a kaleidoscope of poetic expression: from traditional received forms—to innovative, page-exploring free verse—to poems that flirt with madness. Angry, sad, whimsical, wise, and well-supplied with life’s comedy: When I Fall Off Love blends a reflective, middle-aged perspective with the wry certainty that there’s no fool like an old fool.Item The Blessed Meek(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Howard, JessicaTHE BLESSED MEEK is an exploration of free will versus the sovereignty of the church and those who keep its doctrines. By exposing the lives of Meekness residents, especially preachers’ kids, Will Chance and Alora Ryan, the reader discovers the heart of this short story collection, which traverses the bridge between religious faith and humanistic needs. Even though these protagonists are raised in different generations, they encounter the same problems regarding Meekness: do they fight against the value system of the Meek; or do they humble themselves under its weight? By engaging multiple points of views, readers are drawn into the hearts and minds of Meekness citizens, so one knows exactly how it feels to be Meek.Item Wedding Rings and Pawnshops(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Hindus, Silk JazmyneWedding Rings and Pawnshops is a collection of short stories that explores the intimacy of human interactions with a tinge of the magical found within them. The characters are typical people facing atypical complications. Building babies, collecting wedding bands, extracting tongues. This collection follows different characters as they navigate familiar, platonic and romantic relationships. It’s about the primal truth that humans are pack animals that need one another to survive.Item The View Looking East and Rear Windows(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Hall, MeganThe View Looking East and Rear Windows recounts the narrative of a life lived in the South. With appearances from Eurydice, Bathsheba and Mr. Clean, the collection intertwines recognizable figures and personal, emotional truths. These poems look to the past, encouraging us to question how much of ourselves is defined both by what we do and what has been done to us. The resulting concept: the half-lives, pieces that we leave behind and the half-truths we compel ourselves to believe.Item Off in the Weeds(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Garms, EdenMy thesis is an exploration of the neurotic human. I looked at its effects on social situations, the personal psyche, and the effects on the seemingly innocent bystander. I tried to approach the idea of neuroticism from as many angles as possible, to think outside the pre-labeled box of neuroticism, my goal being to show its vast reach on our everyday interactions. Varying from mild to extreme situations, neurotic behavior has massive social implications.Item The Way of the Saints(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Engleman, ElizabethThe Way of the Saints tells the story of three generations of Puerto Rican women: Paula, Isabel, and Lizzy. It is a story of womanhood, spanning from Puerto Rico’s Nationalist movement for Independence against American Imperialism to the doldrums of New York City’s factories to the upper echelon in its wealthy suburbs. Paula and her seven children move to the brutal and impoverished tenements of the Lower East Side. There, desperately seeking to uncover the roots to a family curse that has left her infertile, Paula’s youngest child Isabel begins an unquenchable quest for power. Initiated into the secret African-Cuban religion called Santeria, she rises in the ranks toward high priestess, risking losing not only her own life but her relationship with her only daughter. Lizzy, her child born of spells and sacrifices, grows up in Westchester in the 1980’s. Among the sprawling mansions, the golf clubs, and the yacht clubs, Lizzy’s mother Isabel secretly practices a jungle magic that leaves Lizzy paranoid, powerless, and riddled with fear. Juggling two worlds, ancient island spiritism and yuppy suburban materialism, Lizzy’s is a story of secrets and the wants and rages of women. It explores a girl’s quest for identity and freedom as she uncovers the surprising grace of magic found in words and the redemptive power of story.Item The Levon Helter Ticket(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Edwards, JeffreyNo one said you had to be sane to win the lottery. Popular conspiracy writer Levon Ignatius Helter, aka MOSES67, of Hells Kitchen has just resigned. The government knows too much, the people are apathetic, and his life’s work scribing truth from his cave-like apartment has made no significant impact. From this day forward, he pledges to bravely live his few remaining days in freedom until the black SUVs and helicopters come for him. That is until a ticket alters his destiny presenting him fame, fortune, and an uncomfortable face-to face meeting with the recently reelected president he madly despises. A dedicated patriot with comical anger management issues, Levon accepts his final mission. With the help of his friends from the Central Park Chess and Checkers Club and a disbarred attorney, he will launch the most unorthodox campaign ever seen against a president no longer running a campaign. Levon Helter, the loose cannon with endless balls, is about to make his mark as the biggest pain in the ass in the history of American politics.Item Another Kind of Love(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Del Rio, ChristinaAnother Kind of Love is a novel that tells of loss, love and fate as seen through the lives of Ray and Cheyenne—whose love for each other takes them both by surprise. Cheyenne begins her story engaged to Jedidiah, a loving, wealthy and caring man. Ray, the foreman of a construction company, meets Cheyenne, who is distressed by the growing illness of her nursing home-bound mother. Their initial meeting sparks the inevitable course of their relationship. Beyond love, Ray struggles with questioning her faith and her role in Santeria, the ancient earth religion practiced by many in the Puerto Rican community, including Ray’s mother, whose ultimate goal is passing down the ways of Santeria to her daughter. Through interactions with friends, family, and the heart, Ray and Cheyenne face different life choices that force them to ask the question: How do you answer love?Item D.C.B.(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-06-16) Bolger, Benjamin B.The work explores events related to the death of Donald C. Bolger. The author and son, Benjamin B. Bolger, reflects on the complex impact of his father’s death.Item THE SWITCHEROO: A Novel(MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa, 2016-01-07) Winter, Gerald ArthurMy novel concerns family conflict. The father, Jack, has lost his wife and son in childbirth. His surviving daughter, Bonnie, is his dead son’s twin. An alcoholic, Jack’s depression over his losses, results in neglecting Bonnie, raised by her grandparents to age seven where the story begins. Jack had been a star college baseball pitcher whose injury kept him from playing in the majors. He had put all his hopes on having a son to coach, who might succeed where he had lost his chance to pitch in the majors. Since the tragedy of his lost wife, Lydia, and his still-born son, Jack had spent the past seven years coaching high school baseball teams to State Championships allowing little time for Bonnie. When his in-laws invite Jack to Bonnie’s seventh birthday party, Jack challenges Bonnie with a wager that she can’t blow out all the candles on her cake with one breath. When she succeeds, she holds Jack to his wager that he will play catch with her. The dark tone of the story shifts to hope through their shared dream, that he can turn her into the pitcher he had hoped her twin brother might have been. Their dream congeals with Bonnie’s hope to develop into a closing pitcher in the World Series. From age seven to eighteen, we share their dreams and disappointments of Jack coaching Bonnie, who is driven by an internal spiritual force that she has thought since her early childhood has comes from her twin brother. Even at eighteen, she believes Junior’s name embossed on the baseball mitt meant for him provides her with the magic to throw an unhittable pitch she calls, “the switcheroo.” The theme of gender equality is the essence of this narrative as Bonnie attempts to break the invisible, unspoken gender line in the Boys Club called Major League Baseball.