Creative
The personal essay and creative non-fiction was the very first forray into seeing my work published. I loved the way that I could add a creative touch to articles. I have found that creative non-fiction is an excellent way to find and develop my voice over the years. While I have written a large number of personal essays/creative non-fiction over the years, I have focused on more contemporary pieces.
Academic Papers
This portfolio was created while I was taking a portfolio class at Western University. For the course, we were instructed to create a new piece. This is the piece I chose to create.
It is an exploratoin of my own grief over the passing of my mother in the summer of 2024 through the 5 Stages of Grief. However, while there is the grief of loss over the death of my mother, that grieving process is complicated by childhood abuse and trauma that has led me to grieve for her my entire life.
Trigger warnings due to themes of suicide, self harm, abuse, trauma, and childhood sexual abuse.
A creative non fiction exploring the impacts of suicide on a family and the methods used to cope with the generational trauma around that event.
The piece also explores my own relationship with my mother and the complications that come when one is trying to be parented while still being the parent.
Another self reflection on my childhood, this piece is a blend of both creative non fiction and personal essay as I unpack what it meant to have childhood depression without my family being aware of it.
The piece connects my journey of picking up the sorrows of others who were battling their own histories and traumas while finding the path toward a sense of healing for myself. The peopel in this piece were integral in shaping who I have become as an adult.
Everyone has little habits, quirks if you will, that they do on a regular basis. For me, it is tapping on objects or touching them when I am out in public.
In this personal essay, I explore why I have this particular habit and how it grounds me to the world around me...connecting me to more than just myself. As an introvert, this piece is a way to take stock of my own emotions when I am in society and being overwhelmed by the bustle of it.
A creative non fiction that started as an exercise to write a piece where I was not the main character. This centers on my mother and snippets of memory where she is the main character of my story. My reactions are through her interactions that I share with my siblings.
I found this piece very challenging as it moved away from centering a creative non fiction piece on myself and it can be difficult to not shift that lens back onto me.
When asked to write about a fear that I have, my mind went to my childhood fear of outhouses, thanks to my older brothers. While the fear is gone, there is still an aversion to them...outhouses, not my brothers.
What started as a serious writing prompt quickly turned to a funnier slant at my absolute horror of having to use an outhouse instead of clean bathroom. This piece is a playful creative non fiction about a childhood phobia and adult aversion.
