http://faerye.net/tag/thesis Posts tagged with "thesis" - Faerye Net 2009-01-03T00:46:15+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/my-thesis-as-a-cloud My thesis as a cloud 2009-01-03T00:46:15+00:00 2009-01-03T10:11:36+00:00 <p>My friend <a href="http://www.robertpeake.com/" target="links">Robert Peake</a>, a thoughtful poet gifted in procrastination, recently turned in his <span class="caps">MFA</span> thesis and made <a href="http://www.robertpeake.com/archives/432-Poetry-Versus-Prose-A-Visual-Experiment.html" target="links">word clouds</a> of his critical essay and creative thesis (collection of poems, in his case), which you can see on his blog. (Clouds show each word at a size proportional to its number of uses in the text. Wordle defaults to removing dead-common words like &#8216;and&#8217;, and uses the 150 most used words unless you specify differently.) Of course I jumped at the chance to be the next to perform this act of procrastinatory genius, and plugged my opus into <a href="http://www.wordle.net">Wordle</a>.</p> <p>Here is my nearly-complete story collection/complete creative thesis, <em>Sea Selves</em>, in cloud form:<br /> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/faerye/3162711398/" title="Thesis Wordle by Eilonwy Anne, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/3162711398_b4d4463882.jpg" width="500" height="325" alt="Thesis Wordle" border="0"/></a></p> <p>I really liked the random font and other options Wordle chose, and the layout that came out first try, so this is exactly what Wordle pumped out, transformed only in color. I took all these shades from photos I&#8217;ve taken of the Pacific Ocean. (Pretentious? <em>Moi?</em>)</p> <p>Here is my critical essay, <em>Sea Change: Visions of the Ocean</em>, which I tweaked a little more:<br /> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/faerye/3161877561/" title="Essay Wordle by Eilonwy Anne, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3084/3161877561_c77dba6c55.jpg" width="500" height="303" alt="Essay Wordle" border="0"/></a></p> <p>If for some reason you want to look closer at either, you can click through to the Flickr page and press the &#8216;all sizes&#8217; button right above the image. My word clouds look very different from Robert&#8217;s, which is to be expected. Not only is my thesis prose, but mine is themed. I hope someone with a non-themed short story thesis tries it next to compare! There are a few words I&#8217;m slightly surprised by on my thesis word cloud, others I&#8217;m glad came through so strongly, and some which were a matter of course. And it&#8217;s interesting to see the names of characters from very different stories and worlds nestle so promiscuously together.</p> <p>For fun, here is a wordle of <em>Sea Selves</em> with 1500 words rather than 150. I think it makes clear why 150 is the default:<br /> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/faerye/3161934417/" title="Thesis Wordle with 1500 words. by Eilonwy Anne, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3260/3161934417_3b0604a036.jpg" width="500" height="282" alt="Thesis Wordle with 1500 words." border="0" /></a></p> <p>In short, I hope Robert has started a fashion. This was fun, and I hope to see other MFAers follow suit.</p> http://faerye.net/post/i-made-this I made this. 2008-06-16T18:51:52+00:00 2008-06-16T18:53:02+00:00 <p><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/faerye/157613768/" title="Formal copies of thesis"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2129/2586085072_462660ecd0.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Sea Selves, my thesis" border="0" /></a></center></p> http://faerye.net/post/my-first-public-reading---forest-grove-oregon My first public reading - Forest Grove, Oregon 2008-06-09T18:28:11+00:00 2008-06-09T21:16:36+00:00 <p>To fulfill the requirements of my Master of Fine Arts in Writing, I have to give a jolly ol&#8217; reading. The details:</p> <p><strong>When:</strong> Sunday, June 22, 4:15pm-4:45pm<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Taylor Auditorium (Room 216), Marsh Hall, Pacific University Campus<br /> <strong>What:</strong> Graduate readings (15 minutes each) by me and fellow fiction student Lesley Weiss<br /></p> <p><strong>About my reading:</strong> I&#8217;ll be reading a fabulist piece from my <a href="http://faerye.net/post/thesis-matters" target="links">thesis</a>, <em>Sea Selves</em>.</p> <p><strong>Logistics:</strong> Marsh Hall looks like <a href="http://pacificu.edu/as/mfa/residencies/images/IMG_4190.JPG" target="links">this</a> and is located in the middle of campus. That means you&#8217;ll have at least a short walk from any parking spot. Here are <a href="http://www.pacificu.edu/about/location/">campus maps and directions</a>.</p>