In this collection of essays, I am looking at a young woman trying to find direction and decide what kind of woman she will be. Growing up, I have often felt like a woman of contradictions. I wanted to be tough, but not so tough that I was no longer "pretty." I was proud of being independent, but afraid of ending up alone. I wanted to travel the world as much as I wanted to find a place to call home. I began to see myself as a composite of gestures: The kind of girl who bought Gin and Tonic cologne. A girl who stole a book of Leonard Nimoy's poetry, danced on a pole she helped build in her living room, wished her life was an Aaron Sorkin script, hated Italian men but loved Italian Americans, and a girl who was as uncomfortable with her desire to date a nice guy as she was with her inability to find one. My one reservation about writing personal essays is that it feels a little self-indulgent. I don't think these stories are important simply because they are about me. Arkansans don't often tell people how fabulous and special they are; we leave that to Texans. If anything, I think these stories are worth telling because they deal with being a young woman finding out what she is capable of and who she wants to become. These essays focus on the struggle to find a balance between child and adult, girl and woman, observer and participant, naughty and nice, which I think many women struggle with. Also, there will be jokes. No one dies in these essays. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't typically write that kind of essay. Just as I had to find a balance in the extremes of my personality, I also seek to find the right mix of comedy and drama. Ultimately, I think humor works best when it has aspects of seriousness and there is something at stake. During the process of writing this thesis, I've read a lot more non-fiction in the form of essays, memoirs, and a book about corpses. My main influences remain Sarah Vowell and David Sedaris, not only for their use of humor but also for their conversational tone. I also read quite a bit of Dorothy Parker in college, and I still admire her ability to combine angst and venom in delightful heroic couplets. As a film and tv junkie, I am also looking at British comedies and American dramadies, which I think blend the elements of comedy and tragedy into something that is entertaining but also has a sense of purpose. I'm looking to curve out a niche somewhere between The Full Monty and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I hope you laugh, Ashley McKelvy / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2005. / March 18, 2005. / Creative Non-fiction, Essay / Includes bibliographical references. / Virgil Suarez, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Ned Stuckey-French, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Leigh Edwards, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_180814 |
| Contributors | McKelvy, Ashley (authoraut), Suarez, Virgil (professor co-directing thesis), Stuckey-French, Ned (professor co-directing thesis), Edwards, Leigh (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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