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Cieplinski Lifespan of Chickadees.pdf (569.12 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

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The Lifespan of Chickadees

Cieplinski, Marybeth E
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1397818803

Abstract Details

2014, MFA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English.
CIEPLINSKI, MARYBETH E., M.F.A. MAY 2014 CREATIVE WRITING THE LIFESPAN OF CHICKADEES Thesis Advisor: David Giffels Nature and change are inextricably intertwined. As a native Ohioan of almost sixty years, I have seen a lot of both, and enjoyed their interactions with my life, as well as sharing them with my family. My Master of Fine Arts thesis project is a collection of personal essays that explore family, some of the changes I have experienced, and casts an observer's eye on the natural world of Northeast Ohio with the goal of enabling readers to relate to those experiences through similar occurrences in their own lives. The essays in this collection cover a range of life events large and small, but all linked together through the themes of family, change and nature in Ohio. Several of the pieces in this collection deal with family relationships. The title piece, "The Lifespan of Chickadees," talks about my early years with my future husband, but also covers our connection to Brecksville Reservation before it became a national park, being part of the last economic recession in 1980, and maturing as adults. On one hand, "Wishes Like Shooting Stars" is about watching a Geminid meteor shower with my younger son, but it is also about the challenges of raising a child with Asperger's and our relationship now that he's an adult. "Emptying the Nest" uses the aggressive way hummingbirds launch their young into the world to highlight and explore my own inability to give my older son "wings." Some of my experiences are unique to Northeast Ohio, such as attending concerts at the Richfield Coliseum, then seeing it torn down two decades later. For "20 Years Gone, 40 Years Ago" I returned to the site of the Coliseum and tried to make sense out of the things I remember as opposed to the empty fields there now. "Bells! The Ride Begins" is a meditation on the carousel at Chapel Hill Mall and the pains of growing up. Other pieces touch on changes I've seen in neighbors and neighborhoods, society's inability to slow down enough to relax these days, and the physical and emotional changes brought on in myself by aging. These are the types of subjects to which most people can relate in some way or another. They are stories about American life and families and the world at large.
David Giffels, Assistant Professor (Advisor)
171 p.
Families and Family Life; History; Literature; Personal Relationships
family; change; history; nature; Northeast Ohio

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Cieplinski, M. E. (2014). The Lifespan of Chickadees [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1397818803

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Cieplinski, Marybeth. The Lifespan of Chickadees. 2014. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1397818803.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Cieplinski, Marybeth. "The Lifespan of Chickadees." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1397818803

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1397818803
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.