Voices

“Voices” is a creative collection of fictional short stories based on perspectives from people residing in various locations worldwide. Research by way of historical documentaries, literature, and personal observation contributed to the completion of this project. Within this collection, multiple social justice issues are explored. These include but are not limited to the following: poverty, sex trafficking, educational opportunities, and malnourishment. Each individual story possesses its own set of characters, plot, and theme, but there are continuous thematic and structural consistencies throughout the collection. A few of these themes are desperation and survival, pain and suffering found in the human condition, and the significance of place. Interspersed between the fictional pieces are eight nonfictional, anecdotal micro-stories from the perspective of the author of the collection. These micro-stories are paired with various photographs taken by the author. These photographs display the settings where the fictional pieces occur