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The two stories and five vignettes contained within These Days reflect the disparate experiences of people struggling to find fulfillment in modern life, searching for connection and intimacy in a digital age. The stories reflect a broad range of experiences, a 20-something experiencing the futility of love, to a retired

The two stories and five vignettes contained within These Days reflect the disparate experiences of people struggling to find fulfillment in modern life, searching for connection and intimacy in a digital age. The stories reflect a broad range of experiences, a 20-something experiencing the futility of love, to a retired professor who can do nothing to stop his mind deteriorating from dementia. The five vignettes are impressionistic sketches that in the same way capture the malaise and frustration of modernity. These stories capture such topics as infidelity, toxic marriages and abusive relationships, and apathy. These stories explore an unfulfillment and disillusionment with modern life, the disconnect between observation and experience, and the inability to connect or communicate meaningfully with anyone. The stories are objective in tone and narrow in scope, reflecting diverse but fleeting experiences, as people try and often fail to find meaning or contentment.
ContributorsAbernethy, Christopher C. (Author) / Ison, Tara (Thesis director) / Alvarez, Maria (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
An investigation into the cultural phenomenon surrounding books and movies that are considered critical failures, but are nonetheless championed in popular culture. Stories are an essential part of American culture, and many people not only tolerate but truly enjoy those stories that are shocking, confusing, and, in some cases, those

An investigation into the cultural phenomenon surrounding books and movies that are considered critical failures, but are nonetheless championed in popular culture. Stories are an essential part of American culture, and many people not only tolerate but truly enjoy those stories that are shocking, confusing, and, in some cases, those that were created by storytellers with almost no talent at all. The continued production of these lackluster stories was considered, with an eye to the corporate influences on film studios and publishers. This paper also looked at two storytellers, the filmmaker Ed Wood and the author Stephen King, whose value as artists has been debated by passionate fans and their strongest critics. The sociological concepts of taste and cultural capital, as defined by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, and the art movements of postmodernism and metamodernism, particularly the style of camp as defined by Susan Sontag and the value of bad taste in art as defined by John Waters, were investigated in regards to their connection to the popularity of bad films and novels. A brief investigation into the psychological effects of consuming bad stories, especially in children, was also included. From this foundation of the bad story as an important part of our culture's ideas about art and its consumption, the paper then addresses some of the popular methods of consumption of the bad story. For novels, the paper examines the trend of pulp fiction novels and of romance novels, going into depth on the role of E.L James' Fifty Shades of Grey in popular culture. For film, the paper examines the impact of the midnight movie trend on the popularity of subversive, counter-culture films, the role of camp genre films like Sharman's The Rocky Horror Picture Show in our culture, particularly with an eye towards audience participation screenings, and the way in which other projects, like Joel Hodgson's Mystery Science Theater 3000, transform bad films into new, enjoyable entertainment. Overall, this paper investigates all of the positive aspects around a failed story that allow these missteps in writing and directing to still find success in our culture.
ContributorsPehoushek, Scott James (Author) / Ison, Tara (Thesis director) / Free, Melissa (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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ContributorsPanosian, N. Zari (Author) / Ison, Tara (Thesis director) / Fortunato, Joe (Committee member) / Talerico, Daniela (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2013-05
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Description
In a comparative analysis of Vladimir Nabokov's "Pale Fire" (1962) and Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves" (2000), common aesthetic values and principles of content assist in establishing them as manifestations of ergodic literature. The term ergodic, derived from the Greek terms for "work" and "path" was defined in Espen

In a comparative analysis of Vladimir Nabokov's "Pale Fire" (1962) and Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves" (2000), common aesthetic values and principles of content assist in establishing them as manifestations of ergodic literature. The term ergodic, derived from the Greek terms for "work" and "path" was defined in Espen J. Aarseth's literature theory book Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Using Aarseth's theories about non-conventional novels, the unique similarities in specific postmodern novels creates a new classification and genre for novels that employ unique aesthetics and visual elements to recreate the act of reading into an experience that cannot be imitated by new age media.
ContributorsChan, Morgan Scott (Author) / Sadowski-Smith, Claudia (Thesis director) / Mallot, Edward (Committee member) / Ison, Tara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2013-05
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Description
This work of creative nonfiction explores the life of the writer's great-grandmother, Madge Richardson, and her sister Annie Richardson Johnson, as daughters of polygamist families and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the religious colony of Colonia Díaz, Chihuahua, Mexico. The piece depicts several highs

This work of creative nonfiction explores the life of the writer's great-grandmother, Madge Richardson, and her sister Annie Richardson Johnson, as daughters of polygamist families and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the religious colony of Colonia Díaz, Chihuahua, Mexico. The piece depicts several highs and lows in the late 19th to early 20th century pioneer town, with an emphasis on the mass exodus and devastation that occurred during the Mexican Revolution.
ContributorsGadberry, Emily (Author) / Ison, Tara (Thesis director) / Irish, Jennifer (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
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Description
When I first began thinking about what to do my honors thesis on during junior year, I knew that I wanted to do something creative. While I had successfully written a plethora of research papers and such throughout college, I knew that, were I to try to make my thesis

When I first began thinking about what to do my honors thesis on during junior year, I knew that I wanted to do something creative. While I had successfully written a plethora of research papers and such throughout college, I knew that, were I to try to make my thesis entirely research based, I would not be able to be passionate about it. This thesis is what is going to be left for other Barrett students, current and future, to look at. I do not want to work on something that I would not be passionate about knowing that other people would see it and maybe even look at it when trying to find inspiration for their own theses. In order to accomplish this, I knew working on a creative project as my thesis was my best option. I would be passionate about what I was working on, and it would also allow me to work on something that did not just feel like more schoolwork. In other words, I would not get as “burnt out” working on my thesis if it were something that I enjoyed working on, rather than something that felt tedious.
ContributorsPrieve, Connor Taylor (Author) / Schmidt, Peter (Thesis director) / Ison, Tara (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
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Description
The Vermillion Comedic Anthology comprises of three works of fiction, each around fifteen pages in length. The stories were written throughout the course of Hunter Vermillion’s residency in the English: Creative Writing (Fiction) program at Arizona State University. The first story Study-a-Broad, was written in his capstone fiction class, while

The Vermillion Comedic Anthology comprises of three works of fiction, each around fifteen pages in length. The stories were written throughout the course of Hunter Vermillion’s residency in the English: Creative Writing (Fiction) program at Arizona State University. The first story Study-a-Broad, was written in his capstone fiction class, while the second story Herald’s Horticulture was the first piece Hunter wrote in his first fiction class.

The content of these stories is edgy, humorous, satirical (unlike this abstract), and generally absurd—all this while retaining elements of realism. “Realism” in the sense that any of these stories could occur; there are no supernatural elements contained. However, the actions and characters are so exaggerated that their purposes are to call attention to the character/societal flaws to which they reflect. The more edgy elements of these stories are not included for shock value; in fact, just the opposite. Their sparse use is purposeful to call extra attention to a certain scene or action. Often a story’s use of crude language is intended characterize these despicable actions as negative—to show that a boss should not be treating those around him like servants, for instance (as is the case in the story Fore!).

Disclaimer aside, the true intention of these stories is simple: to entertain. These are humorous pieces, aimed at poking fun at some typical college, workplace, and neighborhood drama. That’s not to say the pieces are devoid of any deeper meaning, because as described above, they seek to satirize overlooked bits of culture. However, the overarching goal of the Vermillion Comedic Anthology is to entertain readers and provide them much need escape from the stresses of the world.
ContributorsVermillion, Hunter Dane (Author) / Ison, Tara (Thesis director) / Hoyt, Heather (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description

The Task of the Soul is a novel-length historical fiction manuscript depicting the major events surrounding the murder of the Imperial Romanov family. Set in Revolutionary Russia in 1918, the story follows the spiritual breakdown and moral dilemmas of the impoverished and idealistic laborer Dmitri Durakov as he struggles to

The Task of the Soul is a novel-length historical fiction manuscript depicting the major events surrounding the murder of the Imperial Romanov family. Set in Revolutionary Russia in 1918, the story follows the spiritual breakdown and moral dilemmas of the impoverished and idealistic laborer Dmitri Durakov as he struggles to support his young family. In an effort to amend his financial failings and to clear his name of an incidental crime, Durakov attaches himself to Isay Rodzinsky, a Cheka officer, under whose influence Durakov becomes embroiled in the historic executions of Tsar Nicholas II and the Imperial Romanov family. The Task of the Soul is a philosophical drama that enters into questions of truth, love, and patriotism in the context of a revolutionary state, with a plot that revolves around the psychological and emotional effects of murder. Additional themes include faith, wisdom, reason, morality, parenthood, and marriage.

ContributorsYoung, Madeline (Author) / Ison, Tara (Thesis director) / Van Brunt, Clare (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2023-05