On this page is a collection of creative nonfiction essays that I wrote as an undergraduate at Arizona State University. These essays trace both my interest in understanding environmental topics from a literary lens and my growing writing skills.
Wildness Is a Weed
This essay, written for Dr. Elizabeth McNeil’s course English 378: Environmental Creative Nonfiction, is the origin for the academic and creative work that I have completed at ASU over the past four years. The experiences I had in Dr. McNeil’s course led me to change my major to English and begin creative writing seriously for the first time as an adult. In this essay, I consider my interactions with weeds, and how examining what we define as a “weed” reflects our conceptions of nature and wildness.
The Nature Inside Ourselves
This essay, also written for Dr. Elizabeth McNeil’s course English 378: Environmental Creative Nonfiction, is a collage of my experiences on a childhood road trip through the American West. In relating my memories of Nebraska farmland, a Paleoindian archaeological site, Yellowstone National Park, and a Montana thunderstorm, combined with nonfiction commentary on the concept of “nature,” I reflect upon humanity’s increasingly perilous relationship with our planet and the possibility for a more interconnected future.
The Blessing of the Olive Tree
I wrote this essay as the culmination of a series of creative observation exercises for Dr. Elizabeth McNeil’s course English 378: Environmental Creative Nonfiction. This essay represents my attempt at merging my identities as a then-burgeoning scientist and author, using an olive tree in my backyard as a subject for contemplation and consideration of the connection between nature and spirituality.
The Symphony of the Stars
I wrote this essay for Dr. Kamala Platt’s course English 210: Introduction to Creative Writing just before the pandemic hit. It is poignant to read the idealism in my words about nature, space, and the future of humanity nearly three years later. While I am now not quite as optimistic as this essay portrays, I still hold hope that we will one day become an interplanetary species.
Kathleen Swain 