As we study the descendants of Holocaust survivors and the testimonies they give, we see how the effects of the event are not stagnant but move from the witnesses to their offspring. To better understand these narratives when they are told through different mediums, they have been divided into "generations": the first, 1.5, second, third, and so on and so forth. Susan Suleiman describes the 1.5 generation as the child survivors who suffered through trauma, and later, as adults, reflect on their childhood experiences (277; Felman and Laub 1992; Langer 1991, as cited in Suleiman 291). The second-generation of survivors are the children of those who survived the Holocaust (Suleiman 277). Marianne Hirsch uses the term 'postmemory' to refer to the memory that the second-generation has of their parents' traumatic events, something that they did not experience, yet suffer the effects from (4). Since the generations have different ways of processing and remembering the event, the memory of the Holocaust is represented differently by each. In this thesis, I analyze how generational memory of the Holocaust is shown through the artistic mediums of three graphic novel memoirs: We Are on Our Own (2006) by Miriam Katin, and Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (1986) and Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (1991) by Art Spiegelman. Katin's novel represents the 1.5 generation and both of Spiegelman's represent the second-generation. Through this analysis I have found that although there are differences in how the generations tell their stories, they also share important similarities.

Life is good at being inconvenient. It’s these inconveniences that make us who we are. In this thesis, I explore embarrassment, annoyances and memories. These things all made me the person that I am. Though they seem to be the worst thing possible at the time, they end up becoming positive memories that I can laugh about. When you learn to laugh at yourself, life becomes more fun.

As a prospective English teacher, I worked to create a project that encourages my readers to speak their truth. Teachers, like poetry, awaken their students to vital lessons. It is my hope that these poems will help readers develop their powerful voices. Similar to a teacher, I want to instill confidence and inspiration in my readers. However, there exists a thin line between lecturing your readers on what they “should” think or feel and allowing readers to develop their own experiences and understandings of the content you are providing within your poems. With this in mind, I set out to create a collection of poetry that guides readers towards establishing an understanding of my poems yet does not instruct them how to digest any singular one. Again, the theme of this collection is authenticity; I hope that each and every reader will experience their own unique emotions and ideas. What better way to accomplish this than writing poetry? I sincerely hope that my readers develop their voice, remain unwavering in their confidence and courage, and understand that the ability to be vulnerable is one of the most useful skills humans can develop. The purpose of the following collection of original poems (titled “Between the Lines of Life”) is to empower my readers; my poems will allow my readers to see the value in authenticity and encourage readers to tap into their most authentic selves. This collection of poetry was a rigorous challenge, but one that I was determined to accomplish.

The main goal was to create a story that combined different aspects of vampires to create a new version that appealed to the young adult readers. This story was heavily influenced by three particular authors and their works. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series got me into writing in the first place, but also provided one of the major ideas I wanted to change about vampires. I liked how the vampires in her stories had a more human side to them with their personalities. However, I did not want the vampires in my story to sparkle in the sun like they do in her books. I wanted to bring in some of the more “traditional” vampire traits, like those in Dracula by Bram Stoker. While my vampires do have more emotions, they do drink blood and have a more vicious side to them (i.e., they will kill if necessary or for fun). A heavy influence on how I created my characters came from Cassandra Clare’s novels, specifically her The Mortal Instruments series. Her characters were relatable while still having a slight disconnect, since they were mostly in the realm of the supernatural.

Beauty is a key element of culture. Every culture has its own ideas and views of what is considered beautiful. These ideas come from inspirational figures of the time or what is portrayed in art or in the media as idealistic. In the United States, trends in beauty are always changing, but history always repeats itself. Elements of cosmetics become trendy, lose their edge and are reborn into the industry decades later. Often we see looks from the past becoming a part of trend again. How do elements of classic beauty continue to reoccur in trend? How can these classic trends be kept original, yet altered? As an artist, this matters because to understand current trends in beauty, you need to understand the past. This project is an examination of looks in makeup trend from the 1920's to the present. Different cosmetic mediums were used to create looks that define the standard for what the ideal of beauty was in trend. Each decade will be examined closely to see what specifically stood out. There will be a series of 10 photographs that showcase makeup that has features of each decade, but would be trendy and wearable for the average woman today. These serve as examples of how classic looks can be replicated to create current trends for everyday wear and show what elements of beauty from vintage looks remain a part of our culture.

Kanye West would be the first person to tell you that Kanye West is not ordinary. He is an artist, a producer, a visionary. He is crude, egotistical, impulsive. My undergraduate thesis, from which the proposed paper is taken, examines how West’s music reveals that his albums are created for much more than entertainment. What sets Kanye West apart from many of the rappers of his time is his reluctance to commodify his art and his vision for profit. The proposed paper will examine how, in his first several albums, Kanye uses his platform to expose the trap of several prevailing ideologies through music. Soyica Diggs Colbert comments on his debut album as a rapper, “The College Dropout,” noting that it “decries alienated labor and incorporates bitter irony with notions of transcendence” (54). In the proposed paper I shall examine how Kanye mixes in his experience as a middle-class African-American to criticize the meritocracy in America, demonstrating that that “meritocracy’s” real purpose is to create social hierarchies and further segregate people. Specifically, and because of how predominant racial commentary is in his music, I will focus primarily on the complicated race relations in the U.S. and how they contribute to what I call his “conceptual martyrdom.” His lyrics suggest fame, fortune, and success are empty dreams because they foster a false sense of security and happiness. Furthermore, Kanye accuses black people specifically of being most oblivious to the emptiness of these dreams. In the song, “All Falls Down” off “The College Dropout,” he raps “Things we buy to cover up what’s inside// Cause they made him hate ourselves and love they wealth” (West). My proposed paper will argue that this reward system breeds a ferocious consumer culture that equates material possession with success. As Chris Richardson has asserted, “West recognizes that a university degree is necessary for attaining status and the hope of a well-paying career but is also a way for the dominant culture to judge others and legitimate social hierarchies and segregation” (102). By questioning what is otherwise widely and passively accepted by most, Kanye’s likeability suffers. Ultimately, the proposed paper argues that Kanye’s character suffers an unfair metaphorical death because his vision promotes radical thinking about the current state of American culture. The media mistakes his confidence for arrogance, and remembers his passion as mania. This paper is intended to recover his character as a radical social critic instead of a methodless madman, revealing how his work provides insight and inspiration for those willing to listen.

Since the publication of the first installment in 1997, JK Rowling's Harry Potter series has endured in popular culture as nothing less than a phenomenon. Thanks in part to its charming cast of complex characters, heroic adventures, and entertaining litany of magical spells, the series has attained a sort of immortality. Beyond entertainment, however, Rowling's novels also contain a spectrum of compelling cultural issues that everyone eventually grapples with as their rose-tinted view of the world is compromised. Chief among these issues are the concepts of prejudice and racism, which are embodied in the series through the dispute over blood purity, specifically between those with entirely magical ancestry and those with mixed or non-magical ancestry. Racial purity has been a cornerstone of numerous historical regimes and conflicts and as such, many comparisons can be drawn from the Pureblood-Muggleborn struggle; however, given the lack of emphasis on physical appearance, as well as a number of additional parallels among characters and events, one historical conflict stands out from the rest: Nazi Germany's anti-Semitism during the World War II era. Much of the existing criticism of the novels notes these parallels, but this paper seeks to deepen the examination of the overall theme of racial purity and its relations to WWII, primarily by engaging the mythology of the series and drawing comparisons between fiction and history. The paper also seeks to examine how these parallels help further understanding and tolerance on the part of young readers as they navigate modern society at large.

Executive is a play, first and foremost, that I wrote to grapple with moral issues both eternal and contemporary. What is the nature of right action? Do ends justify means? Is killing ever permissible? These questions, and more, are the ones I attempt to examine in this thesis project you have before you. The play is about many things. It’s about, as I mentioned moral issues, but it’s also about political and emotional ones. The main character, Geoffrey, is an autobiographical vessel; many of the elements of this work form a pastiche of my life. Like Geoffrey, I too struggle with fears about our contemporary political situation—with its absurdity, its hatred, and its uncertainty—as well as fears over the quotidian; I fear being dead, I fear being forgotten, and I fear being, ultimately, unimportant. As I struggle with these fears, so too do I make Geoffrey struggle. There is, of course, one important difference between him and me; Geoffrey—in a Twilight Zone-esque twist—is granted the ability to kill the bigoted politicians that plague his well-being and his TV screen with his mind. How these powers are granted are never explained because I did not really care to explain them. What interested me more was what a person—a person very much like myself—would do if given these powers and what would happen as a result of his actions. If that sounds intriguing to you then, hopefully, the play proper will make for a good read. I will offer up no spoilers in this abstract, so you will just have to read the work itself if you would like to know how the play ends. Is our hero victorious? What would victory even mean here? Who knows? All I can say is this; right or wrong, writing the death of a Donald Trump analogue was a fairly cathartic experience.

A memorable birthday party to a violent Christmas Eve, From the Ashes details the story of a broken family, and a young girl who learned to overcome. Jessica Olin details her parents' divorce, her many moves, and the challenges of becoming a parent to one's own parent in her memoir. From pleasant memories of a childhood Halloween to the soul crushing loss of someone loved, Jessica Olin impressively describes her most memorable moments, demonstrating how our experiences shape our future, and giving us some insight into the disillusion of what family really means.

Based off of the Hans Christian Anderson story "Thumbelina", this reimagining puts the character of Thumbelina into a modern setting. The beginning of the novel includes a diverse set of the author's original characters and characters adapted from the Anderson story. Thus far, the novel brings a fantastical quality to a world much like the one around children today. It includes representation of disenfranchised groups of people as well as representation of the conflicts within the modern world and possible solutions. It also touches on universal themes and weaves a story that will entertain and enlighten young readers.