Clarifying creative nonfiction through the personal essay

In a recent issue of TEXT, Matthew Ricketson sought to clarify the &lsquo;boundaries between fiction and nonfiction&rsquo;.&nbsp;In his capacity as a teacher of the creative nonfiction form he writes, &lsquo;I have lost count of the number of times, in classes and in submitted work, that students have described a piece of nonfiction as a novel&rsquo;. The confusion thus highlighted is not restricted to Ricketson&rsquo;s journalism students. In our own university&rsquo;s creative writing cohort, students also struggle with difficulties in melding the research methodology of the journalist with the language and form of creative writing required to produce nonfiction stories for a 21st century readership.Currently in Australia creative nonfiction is enthusiastically embraced by publishers and teaching institutions. Works of memoir proliferate in the lists of mainstream publishers, as do anthologies of the essay form. During a time of increasing competition and desire for differentiation between institutions, when graduate outcomes form a basis for marketing university degrees, it is hardly surprising that, increasingly, tertiary writing teachers focus on this genre in their writing programs. A second tension has arisen in higher education more generally, which affects our writing students&rsquo; approaches to tertiary study. The student writers of the 21st century emerge from a digitally literate and socially collaborative generation: the NetGen(eration). From a learner-centric viewpoint, they could be described as time-poor, and motivated by work-integrated learning with its perceived close links to workplace contexts and to writing genres. They seek just-in-time learning to meet their immediate employment needs, which inhibits the development of their capacity to adapt their researching and writing to various genres and audiences. This article examines issues related to moving these NetGen student writers into the demanding and rapidly expanding creative nonfiction market. It is form rather than genre that denotes creative nonfiction and, we argue, it is the unique features of the personal essay, based as it is on doubt, discovery and the writer&rsquo;s personal voice that can be instrumental in teaching creative nonfiction writing to our digitally and socially literate cohort of students.<br /

Understanding the relationship between crime victimisation and mental health: a longitudinal analysis of population data

Being a victim of violent crime has a damaging effect on mental health, particularly for women, according to this report. The needs and experiences of victims of crime have become increasingly recognised as an important aspect of criminal justice and public policy. In Australia, victim support services grew from community-based organisations and lobby groups. With the passage of time, these services have become increasingly formalised, with the State progressively assuming a greater role in advocacy and service provision for victims of crime. While we know that many Australians will experience an incident of crime in their lifetime, the effect of this victimisation on health has not been sufficiently explored. This is unfortunate given the demand for victim support services; close to 6,000 applications for counselling assistance in 2011/12 were received by the Victims Compensation Tribunal, New South Wales. As such, it is timely to examine more closely the nature of the relationship between becoming a victim of crime and an individual’s subsequent mental health. &nbsp; &nbsp

Young but not so restless: trends in the age-specific rate of offending

Aim: To describe and discuss trends in age-specific rates of offending for property crime, robbery and serious assault. Method: Descriptive statistics and graphical displays. Results: The number of people apprehended by police for property crime and robbery has fallen sharply since around 2001 and is much lower now than it was 15 years ago. The decline has been most pronounced among adolescent and young adult offenders (aged 15-20 years). The rate at which people in this age group were apprehended for robbery first rose and fell between 1995 and 2004 and then rose and fell (again) between 2005 and 2012. The rate at which 21-24 year olds were apprehended for robbery declined between 1999 and 2012. A similar but less pronounced pattern is seen for 25-29 year olds. The rate at which people were apprehended for serious assault remained fairly stable for all age groups up until around 2003. Thereafter the rate rose rapidly for 15-20 year olds, peaking at around 2008 and then falling from 2009 to 2012. The rate at which older age groups have been apprehended by police for assault remained fairly steady since 1999 but over the last three years has slowly declined. Conclusion: It is impossible to be certain but there is good reason to expect a continuation of the downward trend in rates of property crime and robbery in NSW. The future course of trends in serious assault will likely depend on whether the current fall in alcohol misuse by young people continues

Taking risks- experiential learning and the writing student

The role of a professional and creative writing degree is to provide resources, structured workshops, professional interactions - and the potential for creative risk. Opportunities for risk, within the structured environment of the university, challenge the individual\u27s perspectives and judgements, as well as their ability to analyse and to reflect on their writing and creative practices.From this starting point the authors, both writing industry practitioners and academics, have developed experiential projects with the aim of transforming their teaching practice from a model of narrative hierarchies of knowledge to learning through performativity, social correctedness and immersive workplace learning.As the case studies illustrate, this transitional approach has enabled our millennial learners more confidently to take risks, accept challenges and transform their understanding of their own knowledge, skills and identities.<br /

Writer-as-narrator: engaging the debate around the (un)reliable narrator in memoir and the personal essay

Subjective and personal forms of nonfiction writing are enjoying exponential popularity in English language publishing currently, as an interested public engages with &lsquo;true&rsquo; stories of society and culture. Yet a paradox exists at the centre of this form of writing. As readers, we want to know who the writer is and what she has to tell us. Yet as writers we use a persona, a constructed character, a narrator who is only partially the writer, to deliver the narrative. How is a writer able to convey &lsquo;true&rsquo; stories that are inherently reliant on memory, within a constructed narrative persona?We find a &lsquo;gap&rsquo; between the writer and the narrator/protagonist on the page, an empowered creative space in which composition occurs, facilitating a balance between the facts and lived experiences from which &lsquo;true&rsquo; stories are crafted, and the acknowledged fallibility of human memory. While the gap between writer and writer-as-narrator provides an enabling space for creative composition, it also creates space for the perception of unreliability. The width of this gap, we argue, is crucial. Only if the gap is small, if writer and writer-as-narrator share a set of passionately held values, can the writer-as-narrator become a believable entity, satisfying the reader with the &lsquo;truth&rsquo; of their story

Synergistic recruitment of UbcH7~Ub and phosphorylated Ubl domain triggers parkin activation

The E3 ligase parkin ubiquitinates outer mitochondrial membrane proteins during oxidative stress and is linked to early-onset Parkinson’s disease. Parkin is autoinhibited but is activated by the kinase PINK1 that phosphorylates ubiquitin leading to parkin recruitment, and stimulates phosphorylation of parkin’s N-terminal ubiquitin-like (pUbl) domain. How these events alter the structure of parkin to allow recruitment of an E2~Ub conjugate and enhanced ubiquitination is an unresolved question. We present a model of an E2~Ub conjugate bound to the phosphoubiquitin-loaded C-terminus of parkin, derived from NMR chemical shift perturbation experiments. We show the UbcH7~Ub conjugate binds in the open state whereby conjugated ubiquitin binds to the RING1/IBR interface. Further, NMR and mass spectrometry experiments indicate the RING0/RING2 interface is re-modelled, remote from the E2 binding site, and this alters the reactivity of the RING2(Rcat) catalytic cysteine, needed for ubiquitin transfer. Our experiments provide evidence that parkin phosphorylation and E2~Ub recruitment act synergistically to enhance a weak interaction of the pUbl domain with the RING0 domain and rearrange the location of the RING2(Rcat) domain to drive parkin activity

Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Utilization in Kentucky Community Pharmacies

OBJECTIVE: Identify characteristics of Kentucky community pharmacists and community pharmacists\u27 practice environment associated with utilization of the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting Program (KASPER). METHODS: Surveys were mailed to all 1,018 Kentucky pharmacists with a KASPER account and an additional 1,000 licensed pharmacists without an account. Bivariate analyses examined the association between KASPER utilization and practice type (independent or chain) and practice location (rural or urban). A multivariate Poisson regression model with robust error variance estimated risk ratios (RR) of KASPER utilization by characteristics of pharmacists\u27 practice environment. RESULTS: Responses were received from 563 pharmacists (response rate 27.9%). Of these, 402 responses from community pharmacists were included in the analyses. A majority of responding pharmacists (84%) indicated they or someone in their pharmacy had requested a patient\u27s controlled substance history since KASPER\u27s inception. Bivariate results showed that pharmacists who practiced in independent pharmacies reported greater KASPER utilization (94%) than pharmacists in chain pharmacies (75%; p CONCLUSION: Utilization of KASPER differs by community pharmacists\u27 practice environment, predominantly by practice type and location. Understanding characteristics of community pharmacists and community pharmacists\u27 practice environment associated with PDMP use is necessary to remove barriers to access and increase utilization thereby increasing PDMP effectiveness

Using Multiple Imputation to Address Missing Values of Hierarchical Data

Missing data may be a concern for data analysis. If it has a hierarchical or nested structure, the SUDAAN package can be used for multiple imputation. This is illustrated with birth certificate data that was linked to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance System database. The Cox-Iannacchione weighted sequential hot deck method was used to conduct multiple imputation for missing/unknown values of covariates in a logistic model

Data Recovery at Justiceburg Reservoir (Lake Alan Henry), Garza and Kent Counties, Texas: Phase III, Season 1

Phase III data recovery investigations at one historic and three prehistoric sites, augmented by additional survey and off-site geological investigations, were conducted at Lake Alan Henry (formerly Justiceburg Reservoir) on the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River in Garza and Kent counties, Texas, during the fall and winter of 1990-1991. Descriptive data from this first of three field seasons of data recovery are presented here in anticipation of a final synthetic report that will relate all the investigations to a series of research design hypotheses. Analysis of surface distributions at 41KT42, a late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century ranch line camp known locally as the Ed Scott Cabin, groups the artifacts into material and functional categories that demonstrate primary and secondary refuse accumulations adjacent to the cabin. The distribution of primary refuse shows kitchen artifacts are spatially distinct from other types that include architectural, firearm, ranching, clothing, and personal items. The primary discard pattern is obfuscated by redistribution attributed to secondary refuse discard. The uppermost of two superimposed hearths at 41GR484, the Grape Creek Bench Site, is radiocarbon dated to 260 B.P. and yielded charcoal identified as Carya sp. Excavations were halt~d at this Late Prehistoric II site because of extremely low artifact recovery. Geoarcheological investigations demonstrate that most of the site has been destroyed by cutbank erosion associated with the meanderings of Grape Creek. At 41KT33, the Late Prehistoric I South Sage Creek Site, stone-lined hearth features dated to 1005 B.P. are surrounded by clusters of artifacts. Petrographic analysis of brownware ceramics suggests affiliations with the local Palo Duro Complex and nonlocally with the Pecos River valley. The Gobbler Creek Bridge Site, 4IGR383, spans the late Archaic and Late Prehistoric I periods. Intact· and dispersed stone-lined hearths radiocarbon dated to 1865-1215 B.P. are surrounded by artifact clusters. Both of the sites appear to have been multifunctional campsites, and repeated occupations are likely. Dense concentrations of fire-cracked rocks at these sites may represent secondary refuse disposal. Lithic analysis indicates extensive use of nonlocal materials derived from Cretaceous formations that occur in the Callahan Divide and Edwards Plateau to the south. Freshwater mussels are the only faunal remains recovered from either of these sites. The meat is presumed to have been consumed as food, while the shells sometimes were made into ornaments. An additional 440 acres of land were surveyed for cultural resources; 360 of these acres were subsequently acquired by the City of Lubbock for use as wildlife mitigation lands. Nine prehistoric archeological sites and one isolated fmd were documented and evaluated for their eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Five of these sites are considered to be ineligible for listing on the National Register, and five are potentially eligible for listing. Avoidance is recommended at these five sites, with testing recommended to determine their National Register eligibility if avoidance is not possible. Geological investigations provide information about depositional environments in and near the archeological sites. Two soils buried in the Double Mountain Fork floodplain are radiocarbon dated to 8~00 B.P. and 1700-1300 B.P.; fluvial sediments extend as much as 15 m below these soils in portions of the floodplain. An older terrace previously was identified 18 m above the modem river channel. Current work obtained a terminal date of 8690 B.P. from a buried soil that caps this older terrace. Another radiocarbon date of 3320 B.P. was obtained from fill in a gully that is eroded into the older terrace. These dates bracket an erosional episode when the older terrace was heavily dissected. The erosion coincides with the Altithermal, a period believed to have been characterized by a hot and dry climatic regime