EXISTENTIAL BEBOP is a collection of thirteen short stories that use humor and satire to address some of the absurdities of human existence. In some stories, characters are forced to come to terms with mortality, such as the six-year-old boy in “A Goldfish Memory,” who learns about death for the first time. In “Cassandra Knows All” a rational twenty-something is lured by a charlatan who convinces her that there is an afterlife. In others, the comedy centers on human frailties, such as “Weekend in Deceit,” where two couples confront infidelity. “The Sacrifice of Mikey Horowitz” explores family values, ancient and modern, through the lens of a bar mitzvah. Influenced by the work of Woody Allen, Kafka, and Dostoyevsky, the collection uses exaggeration, surreal juxtapositions, and absurd premises to point to the darker side of the human condition and the necessity for a sense of humor to get us through life.

THE GREATEST IS LOVE is a collection of ten short stories showing the painful manifestations of romantic relationships in the lives of contemporary American characters from many walks of life. As in the stories of D.H. Lawrence, these characters are often driven towards what may be bad for them, finding that love overrides their rational thoughts. In “The Mechanic” a woman whose legal career has left her isolated becomes irresistibly attracted to her friend’s ex-husband. Three stories center on one character, Charles, whose early failures both in college and at work lead him to become a detective, only to be tempted to betray his new calling by a woman who leads him astray. As in Italo Calvino’s Difficult Loves, the stories in THE GREATEST IS LOVE combine the pain and comedy of passion. Even when it is challenging, love offers characters irresistible glimmers of hope.

This thesis submission is a collection of short stories about women and the many ways women create identities for themselves in popular culture. Each of the main characters are painfully self-conscious, but still unaware of how carefully they have created their own personas. In “For the Sake of Anonymity,” “Annie” learns that a sweater set can have a mind of its own. In “The Voice of Reason,” Lauren defines herself against her sister. “The New You” and “Developing Chloe” both show characters who consciously create new personas for themselves through superficial changes. “Sensible People” is a story about a woman who decides to finally let her real self come out from her past. / Thesis / Master

The significance of the use of the short story in language teaching and the effective approaches that help to realise this significance are the two major concerns of this field study. The whole study consists of two parts : theoretical justification and practical application, with more emphasis on the second part. It starts with a brief discussion on the inseparable connection between language learning and literature (Chapter 1), followed by a close examination at the specialities and potentialities short stories can offer to language teaching (Chapter 2), which leads to a detailed discussion (accompanied by an exemplified demonstration through sample lessons) of the actual use of short stories in an EFL class (Chapters 3, 4, and 5). The practical value of the study lies in two aspects : it brings about, by analysing its substances, the awareness of the value of the short story in language teaching; and it opens to us, by presenting detailed and concrete examples, varied and practical approaches to the effective use of the short story in EFL environment.

<p>This dissertation deals with relations between parents and child institutions such as childcare, school and child health centers in terms of an institutionalization of childhood and expressions of parental identities in life stories. The empirical study consists of thematic life story interviews with parents focusing on their experiences of meeting and relating to these child institutions. A perspective on life stories as socially situated action and identity performance is adopted that views the life stories as co-constructed in between the interviewee and the interviewer. </p><p>The aim of the dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of relations between parents and child institutions in Sweden that takes as its point of departure the expressions of parental identities. Methodologically, the dissertation also aims to further develop a way of working with life stories that makes the interviewer visible as co-constructor of life stories and expressions of identity. </p><p>The analyses is focused on expressions of parental identities through the storytelling and in the stories told. Parental identities took shape and form as performances and constructions of, for example, social subordination in relation to preschool staff and other parents, helpful intervention in school helping an inexperienced teacher, worries about children being different from other children and not fitting in at preschool and of gratefulness for help and support from childcare staff when being short of time and money. The identity expressions were then analyzed in relation to recurrent discourses in research on relations between parents and childinstitutions. The results show that dominant discourses of relations between parents and child institutions tend to construct parents as a homogenous group, thereby concealing how gender, social class, ethnicity and age, and the subsequent different constructions of children and childhood, structure and influence the relations between parents and child institutions and thereby also the institutionalization of childhood.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: William H. Goetzmann. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: Imre Szeman. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-214). Also available via World Wide Web.

This dissertation deals with relations between parents and child institutions such as childcare, school and child health centers in terms of an institutionalization of childhood and expressions of parental identities in life stories. The empirical study consists of thematic life story interviews with parents focusing on their experiences of meeting and relating to these child institutions. A perspective on life stories as socially situated action and identity performance is adopted that views the life stories as co-constructed in between the interviewee and the interviewer. The aim of the dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of relations between parents and child institutions in Sweden that takes as its point of departure the expressions of parental identities. Methodologically, the dissertation also aims to further develop a way of working with life stories that makes the interviewer visible as co-constructor of life stories and expressions of identity. The analyses is focused on expressions of parental identities through the storytelling and in the stories told. Parental identities took shape and form as performances and constructions of, for example, social subordination in relation to preschool staff and other parents, helpful intervention in school helping an inexperienced teacher, worries about children being different from other children and not fitting in at preschool and of gratefulness for help and support from childcare staff when being short of time and money. The identity expressions were then analyzed in relation to recurrent discourses in research on relations between parents and childinstitutions. The results show that dominant discourses of relations between parents and child institutions tend to construct parents as a homogenous group, thereby concealing how gender, social class, ethnicity and age, and the subsequent different constructions of children and childhood, structure and influence the relations between parents and child institutions and thereby also the institutionalization of childhood.

In this study the researcher explored what participation was like for Kenyan women involved in an international curriculum development project, considering important aspects of international curriculum development projects that have been neglected in the research literature. The main research purpose was to understand the womens experiences in a Canadian-sponsored post-secondary education curriculum development project titled "Supporting Environmental Education in Kenya". In addition the research investigated the conflicts, tensions, and contradictions the women experienced between their previous ways of learning and their workshop experiences. Finally, the researcher addresses what could be done to mitigate contradictions generated by the project implementation.<p> The study documented power relationships, issues of control and issues of role functionality; the researcher also identified the ways in which, in a patriarchal country women, especially married women, are closely monitored by their husbands or other significant males. In fact the women needed permission from their husbands to participate, to educate, to visit, and to consort with others such as the researcher. The study shares the womens stories about the experiences that they had during and after the workshop situations, and how they interpreted these experiences.<p> Additionally, the study identified differences in the teaching methods and learning styles experienced by the women. All the participants had experienced the Kenyan education system; the Kenyan curriculum was based on the English, post-colonial system that treated the learner as an empty vessel into which knowledge was poured; within classroom sessions this system did not encourage learner engagement that might be evidenced through questioning the teacher or discussing the topic at hand. Indeed, it was observed that all of the women participating in the project required encouragement to voice their thoughts.<p> By honouring the experiences of the women and including their voices, the researcher generated information for proposal writers and project leaders to make appropriate decisions for programming that includes cultural and indigenous ways of knowing, learning and dissemination of knowledge.

This study described the stories of a First Nations mother and provides an interpretative analysis on how she used stories to teach Cree culture, language, and identity. The stories presented are in the stream of mother-daughter communication. The oral transmission of the Cree stories communicated through mother tongue form the basis of this work. It is through the analysis of my mother's stories that I have come to understand what it means to be a Cree woman. Throughout, we have a level of communication and understanding that has come full circle in appreciating my mother's ways as we collaborated to interpret our stories.<p> The literature reviewed presents a theoretical discussion which illuminates Aboriginal matriarchal voice. The literature review explores works within the historical, contemporary, literary, and feminists paradigms which speak from Aboriginal women and their stories. The literature includes the perspectives of Aboriginal authors and their views on epistemology. In this naturalistic study, I used the descriptive narrative approach to reflect on a mother's stories in the stream of day-to-day activity. I collected data using field notes gathered on-site, audio-tapes of stories from my mother's lived experience, and a reflective journal of observations and insights that linked theory and pedagogy. Themes were derived from the stories which illustrated a metaphysical, ecological, and cultural journey toward wholeness. These themes represent the ways story is used within the context of lived experience. Further, a cultural metaphor using the pattern of the flower symbolized a woman's connections with Cree knowledge. The study became an emancipatory narrative because it allowed a Cree woman's voice to be acknowledged.<p> Using storytelling as a narrative framework, I have found that the oral tradition is a fundamental communicative pattern for the Cree people. Further, the stories we share lead to growth and understanding of self as a Cree person. For this, the ways stories are told shape and form the basis of Cree knowledge. In this study, the use of analogies, symbolism, and metaphor are primary ways of coming to know.