Date of Graduation

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

English

Advisor/Mentor

Howell, Rebecca

Committee Member

McCombs, Davis

Second Committee Member

Szwydky, Lissette

Keywords

Girlhood; Religion; Trauma; Y2K Culture

Abstract

H.A.G.S (Have A Great Summer) The book transports the reader into a Y2K southern suburban landscape, influenced by Texas Megachurches, the height of the shopping mall era, and the upcoming and ever present loom of the internet. It narrates through this world by diving in and out of a younger and older voice. A voice that remains in the present tense as it searches through the speaker’s understanding and observance of the world around them and the danger looming over their young girl body. This book looks to uncover these moments where we as young girls might better understand why these moments took root in our bodies and build a safe understanding of how to navigate the world in this body.H.A.G.S dives into toxic patriarchal practices learned and rehearsed generationally from the southern church. It looks at “the drink, the church, the tv, the war, etc.” and how these are deep rooted and hurting our understanding of love, family, and belonging. The manuscript features experimental forms that bloom from the Y2K world like Fortune Tellers / Cootie Catchers, M.A.S.H, passing notes, and diary entries from the speaker’s own childhood — as if trying to answer the unanswerable — how are young girls supposed to survive? These forms offer a sense of play while tangled with the ever present danger within the poems themselves, where the reader will mark and count, while possibly discovering “Youth Pastor Micheal will kill [them].” The collection constantly holds the “honey yellow” glow of nostalgia next to the danger “dark as a mouth,” to show that girlhood is forever braided with both. The book serves as a place of understanding and shelter. Something they can explore their sexuality, their relationship with religion, media, their fathers, boys – in the safety of these pages. Somewhere they can imagine a time where young girls can just be kids, where young girls can just be girls.

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