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This thesis consists of three personal essays and a postface, in part experiments in genre, mode, and structure, and in large part explorations of the meanings of specific places in culture and on the self-definition of the observer-writer, the first essay being set in Florida and centered at Disneyworld; the second consisting of fragments of observations along the route from St. Augustine to Washington, D.C., and ending with a brief fiction; the third, a speculative/anti-speculative rumination over many things, including meaning, death, faith, and enshrinement, and set in Illinois, Missouri, and South Africa; and the postface a theoretical/descriptive theoretical defense of the thesis, all of which is abstracted in this abstract.

What You Leave Behind is a collection of essays framed by the theme of travel. The essays seek to understand the changeability and the consistency of the self when exposed to new cultures and new environments. They also explore what travel tells us about varying world perspectives, and how much of those varying world perspectives people can hope to understand. Lastly, these true-life stories and ruminations explore how travel shapes relationships: familial, romantic, and platonic. At its core, this thesis strives to reveal how traveling can inform the way people understand themselves, the world around them, and the relationships they have with others, both at home and abroad.

Half-Virgin. (Under the direction of Jocelyn Bartkevicius) Half-Virgin is a cross-genre collection of essays, short stories, and poems about the humor, pain, and occasional glory of journeying into adulthood but not quite getting there. The works in this collection seek to create a definition of a term, “half-virgin,” that I coined in the process of writing this thesis. Among the possibilities explored are: an individual who embarks upon sexual activity for the first time and does not achieve orgasm; an individual who has reached orgasm through consensual sexual activity, but has remained uncertain about what he or she is doing; and the curious sensation of being half-child, half-adult. Ultimately, I believe, a “half-virgin” possesses all of these traits. One of the goals of the collection is to scramble the prototypical coming-of-age story into bits and parts and halves. Among the approaches included are earnest memoir (the real and metaphorical costumes a young couple wears on Halloween), character-driven fiction (the life story of Marlow, a college track star who ends up the unwitting inspiration for Super Mario Brothers), and narrative experiments (a tongue-in-cheek creative writing syllabus and a bullet pointed resume of sexual conquests). By exploring the untidy fragments in love, lust, and human connection in these works, Half-Virgin aspires to find wholeness through the jagged adventures of growing up.

This is a collection of essays that works to illustrate the cultural force of Neo-Latin and the humanists who wrote them.

Potential Energy. (Under the direction of Pat Rushin.) Potential Energy is a collection of sixteen short stories. They range from the fictional to the autofictional to the entirely non-fictional. In all of them, characters both real and imagined struggle to live and define themselves in a world that is outside their control. They cope with the inevitability of loss, dangers both internal and external, and the passing of their own greatness. Some of these characters become lost while others learn to embrace life on its own terms'to accept 'without hope or expectation.' More often, they are not lost or enlightened, but simply survive to continue on, still uncertain. Though all the stories in Potential Energy are stand-alone, they are thematically connected. The themes of family and identity are most prominent in 'Potential Energy' and 'Eulogy to Maria Mamani, Fire-Eater.' Loss is confronted and the question of what comes next is asked in 'Oysters' and 'Slide.' The conflict between fate and the need for control rises to the surface in 'Threshold,' 'The Elizabeth Years,' and the non-fiction story of Charles Whitman's deadly rampage in 1966, 'Seed.' Themes of ambiguity, moral erosion, and literary exploitation appear in the non-fiction 'Bright and Loud and Then Gone,' about a landlord burned alive in Chicago in 2008, and 'What It Might Have Been Like If We Had Been There,' an apologetic for the writer's right to write inspired by the 2007 Al Mutanabbi Street car-bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. Most importantly all the content of Potential Energy tells stories of people trying to hold on to what is good when, tragically, everything must eventually come to an end.

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, 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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Niña de Cristal | Girl of Glass is a collection of essays focusing on how emotional sensitivity and identity converge through several lenses, but primarily through a mother-daughter relationship. In the title essay, "Niña de Cristal," the narrator's mother accuses her of being too fragile, a girl made of glass, and the narrator must contend with the instances in her life that caused the fragility. The first section explores generational trauma through lyrical essays about the narrator's separation from her family after her immigration to the U.S. from Uruguay. In "Daughter Language," the glossary form showcases her family's difficult history and the ways that language kept them connected despite the distance. The second section investigates the narrator's feelings on body image and desire. In "Body's Very Good Day," the narrator perceives herself as just a body and unpacks the detriments of how her upbringing emphasized self-image. Through the "I have a dead dog…" flash essays, the third section invites readers to see how the narrator experiences the pain of absence and grief after the death of her childhood dog. The fourth section details the narrator's struggle as a caretaker during her mother's battle with cancer. "the doctor says i must milk her body" leans into fantastical elements that highlight the chaos and absurdity of being powerless over a serious illness. The collection ends with "In Memory of The Perfect Body," which shows the lingering effects of knowing that her mother, the person she loves most, is also fragile. Niña de Cristal | Girl of Glass is a collection that acts as a mirror, demonstrating how the narrator and her mother's emotional sensitivities reflect each other.