I Don't Know How to Tell You (thesis)

Abstract

My own project is multimedia, making use of prose, poetry, prose poetry, handwriting, images, and more. As it developed, I pushed myself to experiment, to discover the many ways a story can be told. It begins with general rumination, then moves into more specific incidents from my childhood/less immediate past. It ends with the third version of myself, the more immediate-past me, and sometimes, even present me. Seeing the ways in which these versions of myself interact and build on one another is one of the pillars of this project. It makes use of repetitions, weaving many disparate themes together to make a quilt of my life’s experience with sexual assault and harassment. This book taught me that I am capable of sticking with a long term project and seeing it through. It taught me that although I may not always believe it, I am strong enough to be capable of writing through the most traumatic points of my life. [From concluding sections]