Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Thesis Supervisor Carla J. Mulford, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
creative writing english nonfiction satire memoir short stories
Abstract:
Through works of creative nonfiction and satire, this thesis shows glimpses of various State College subcultures and their sometimes complicated relationship with Penn State. With the framework of a coming-of-age story holding the collection together, these stories and essays describe a Happy Valley local’s estrangement from the carefully curated image of an unproblematic college town. This thesis looks at the divide between the university and the titular “townies,” as well as where that line is drawn, and it illuminates the glossed-over fissures that introduce discord to a harmonious town-and-gown relationship. Themes of erasure, gentrification, and cultural homogeneity interact with a celebration of a humble yet multifaceted community. This conflict elucidates the nuances involved with belonging, be it to a place or a
culture, and it interrogates the idea that State College’s greatest source of identity is the institution at its center.
