Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

As a neurodiverse artist working in dialogue with Kurt Cobain's and Lee Lozano's journals, my dissertation uses critical disability studies to imagine neurologically queer or “neuroqueer” bodies as rhetorical sites of knowledge production, coping and responding to negative social discourses and creating new narratives. Unintended for public consumption, journaling is a private activity, and a unique window on artistic process through encounters with the everyday, narrative reflection, story, poetry, sketches, grocery lists and rants that seep and leak into thoughtful reflections about the world and one's relationship to it. Occurring outside of neurotypical expectations of sociality, journaling creates space to dismantle oppressive social requirements, assisting those who engage differently to feel agential in their learning and being in the world. Neurological differences such as AD(H)D impact all aspects of lived experience. Those living with neurological “queerness” are often diminished as rhetors, through misunderstood social performances, undesirable behaviors, and applied narratives reenforced by negative medical model messaging. Journaling and artmaking reinstate rhetorical power through positioning the neuroqueer as an active subject. Strange impulses and repetitive obsessions, hypersensitivities, and non-normative social performances contain rich information which informs methodological approaches to research. More concerned with what can be learned through AD(H)D bodies as they engage in the process of artmaking, the focus of this research is not to define AD(H)D as an outcome, but instead as a rich method of investigation. Engaging in critical conversations surrounding the disruption of normal, the relationship between environment and disAbility, neurological queerness, and neuroqueer communication, this research aims to reshape perceptions of neuroqueer students, expanding access for all students in art classrooms. As we consider art spaces to increa (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: JT Eisenhauer Richardson (Advisor); Jack Richardson (Committee Member); Richard Fletcher (Committee Member); Shari Savage (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Education

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Cleveland State University, 2018, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

ABSTRACT Contradictionary Lies: A Play Not About Kurt Cobain is a one-act play that follows failed rocker Jimbo as he deals with aging, his divorce, and disappointment. As he and his estranged wife Kelly divvy up their belongings and ultimately their memories, Jimbo is visited by his guardian angel, the ghost of dead rock star Kurt Cobain. Part dark comedy, part docudrama, this play shows how closely man emulates their heroes, and how in the void of depression, music serves an escape.

Committee: Michael Geither (Advisor); Imad Rahman (Committee Member); Eric Wasserman (Committee Member); David Todd (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts; Literature; Music; Performing Arts; Theater

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2014, English (Arts and Sciences)

This dissertation is comprised of two sections: a critical essay entitled "Postmodern Persona Creative Nonfiction" and an essay collection, "What Are You Going to Do With the Rest of Your Life?" "Postmodern Persona in Creative Nonfiction" examines the use of multiple personas within nonfiction. For writers working within the era of Postmodernism, the self-identified fractured self often requires a multi-voiced persona to best explore complicated issues. The critical essay then examines these personas as they manifest in Truman Capote, Alison Bechdel, Janet Malcolm, and D.J. Waldie, as well as in the author's own work. "What Are You Going to Do With the Rest of Your Life?" contains essays that examine notions of identity and self as affected by sense of place, race, education, job status, and external appearances. The essays juxtapose personal experiences and external events in the goal of creating narrative.

Committee: Dinty Moore (Committee Chair) Subjects: Families and Family Life; History; Literature; Modern Literature; Teaching