Denevi, TimothyGreiner, Kristen A2021-01-26https://hdl.handle.net/1920/11916This thesis has been embargoed for 10 years and will not be available until May 2030 at the earliest.In Kristen Greiner’s twenty-five years of life, she has witnessed some of the most transformative moments in American history. Between two men being nominated to the office of the president without winning the popular vote, 9/11, the election of the first African American man to be president, the nomination of the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party, the rise of technology and access to infinite knowledge in the palm of her hand, an influx of mass shootings in the United States, and two presidential impeachments, she has seen quite a lot in a quarter century. This collection of essays—jumping from childhood memories to the front lines of protests in Washington, D.C. to the Iowa State Fair—follows the impacts of living in such pivotal times. They combine the intersection between the political and the personal, the universal themes of coming-of-age, and the portrait of a generation.enPoliticsComing of ageMillennialPersonal essaysCreative writing21st centuryThesis