A Cold In My Woman Parts

Abstract

In A COLD IN MY WOMAN PARTS the author explores her background and bi-cultural marriage in order to better understand why she drifted away from her familiar, rural Midwest “hearth.” A large section of the thesis is set during a first trip to Romania when the author, at the age of twenty three, is introduced to her fiance's family and culture on his native turf. With the inclusion of photographs, the final section of the piece combines that early trip with a much later trip, twelve years into the marriage. Through short, carefully chosen scenes or snapshots of different times in the author’s life and marriage, she seeks to piece together the various components of her identity.