L.A.

Crawford

103 Pine Cone Ct. (252) 619-8356

Grandy, NC 27939 lacrawfo33@gmail.com

EDUCATION_________________________________________________________________________________
University of Nebraska – Kearney, History Department
MA, History. May 2022.
 Major: Modern European, Minor: Modern United States
 Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society

Full Sail University, Creative Writing Department

BFA, Creative Writing for Entertainment. May 2020.
 Advanced Achievement Award
 Valedictorian

UNC-Chapel Hill, History Department

BA, History. May 2014.
 Phi Beta Kappa, graduation with highest honors
 Major: American History, Minor(s): Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Naval Sciences

RESEARCH INTERESTS_________________________________________________________________
 Gender non-conformity in Progressive Era  Disability Representation
America  Gender representation in Norse mythos
 1990s LGBTQ+ culture & community  Queer Experience and War
 Transmasculine death & memory in  World War I Soldier Experience
America  War Poetry – WWI/WWII
 Disability Studies

WORK EXPERIENCE______________________________________________________________________
Seaside Vacations
Assistant Marketing Manager
June 2022 – Current Kitty Hawk, NC
• Write advertising copy designed to encourage customers to visit the Outer Banks and plan vacation rentals
through Seaside Vacations.
• Create content for internet, publication, and broadcast media using creative concepts.
• Utilize search engine optimization techniques; edit and revise content as needed

Currituck County Schools

Social Studies Teacher, Middle Grades
Aug. 2021 – June 2022 Moyock, NC
 Create lesson plans and curriculum based on state and local standards.
 Adapt lessons to different learning styles.
 Encourage students to explore individual talents and interests in history.

Outer Banks Hotline

Resident Advocate; LGBTQ+ Services Specialist
Jul. 2020 – Aug 2021 Nags Head, NC
 Provide direct victim advocacy services to LGBTQ+ clients.
 Create and administrate support groups, community events, and foster client engagement.
 Foster relationships with key stakeholders at local colleges and universities.
 Organize, develop, and open LGBTQ+ Resource Center space in Nags Head, NC.
Towne Insurance Agency
Personal Lines Account Manager
2018 - 2020 Corolla, NC
 Provide customer service on a daily basis and orchestrate solutions for problems.
 Service personal lines accounts; rewrite policies, maintain coverage, update replacement cost.
 Assist clients with claims; facilitate communication between clients and field adjusters.

United States Coast Guard

Operations Specialist, Technical Supervisor
2014 - 2018 Chesapeake, VA
 Edited and provided direction on daily legal documents in office over the course of a three years
and reviewed information and ensuring that it is free of errors and accurate for the events of the day.
 Assisted in the correction of legal documents created by coworkers.
 Conducted hands-on training with over a dozen co-workers which resulted in the successful
qualification of all new employees within 1-2 months of arriving.

THESES & OTHER WORK___________________________________________________________________

L. Crawford. (May 2014). The Human Spill: Economic and Social Impacts of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
This thesis seeks analyze the effects that the poorly planned and executed response and recovery efforts ultimately
had a negative impact on the infrastructure, economies, and social cohesion of Alaskan Native and non-native towns
with longstanding consequences that continue decades later.
Thesis committee: Dr. Michael Morgan, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse (UNC-Chapel Hill)

L. Crawford. (Panel). ‘Loyal Love Has Deathless Wings’: Pacifism, Homosexuality, and the Queer Community
during the Great War.
This article argues that the community of people, both soldiers and conscientious objectors, who interacted with
another primarily through poetry and literature during the Great War were not simply friends but were, in fact, the
precursor to the LGBTQ+ community as it is understood today. It attempts to place the members of this community
within the context of the modern framework of queer theory while still acknowledging the unique situation of queer
and gender non-conforming people at the turn of the twentieth century.
Presented at the George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War: Great War Symposium, May 2022

L. Crawford. (Panel). ‘Let's Talk Practicalities:’ Disability and Desire in Tony Kushner's Angels in America.
Previous study of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, which premiered on Broadway in 1993, has analyzed the play
in terms of queer and Marxist theory. This paper seeks to interpret the character of Louis Ironson through the
universalizing model of disability studies by suggesting that his actions throughout the play reflect the fear and
inevitability of disability as a fluid and temporary state for people within the able-bodied community. This paper
also connects Kushner's use of dual roles, specifically the actor playing Prior, to address the intersectionality of the
queer experience with disability and the recurring trope of desexualizing characters with a disability. Act II, Scene 9,
specifically, highlights the desexualization of Harper as someone with a mental illness and contrasts her relationship
with Joe to the assumed celibacy of Louis and Prior's. Both relationships show a deviation from a perceived norm
that may, or may not, have ever existed, thus destabilizing the audience’s understanding of disability in Kushner's
America as both influenced and defined by the 1980s AIDS crisis.
To be presented at 44th Annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, February 2023

L. Crawford. (PCB-AHA Conference, 2020). Magics, Mares, and Masculinity: Odin and Loki’s battle in the
Lokasenna as a microcosm of medieval Viking queer culture. Accepted proposal.

L. Crawford. (In Progress). ‘She’s dead, the poor fellow!’ Death, Obituaries, and Gender Non-Conformity in
Progressive Era America.
This book explores the idea that death and transgender identity have been interlaced for centuries. Between 1880
and 1940, AFAB people lived outside of their assigned gender binary for many different reasons, but their deviance
from their assigned gender ultimately shaped the way that they were commemorated and remembered. Murray Hall
became the embodiment of this reality when, despite living as a male for most of his life, he was buried in female
clothing. The lives and deaths described in this thesis demonstrate that transness has always existed and that the
ongoing fear of transgender success has never been about morality, but about control and conformity.

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS________________________________________________________________

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 2014
Boyatt Undergraduate Research Award
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 2014
Frank Ryan Prize, Highest Honors Recipient

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS______________________________________________________________
 Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
 American Historical Association
 Victorian Society in America
 Oscar Wilde Society
 Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society (2013)
 Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society (2022)

PUBLICATIONS______________________________________________________________________________
Crawford, Lauren Ashley. “‘Loyal Love Has Deathless Wings’: Pacifism, Homosexuality, and the Queer
Community during the Great War.” The Graduate Review, vol 2, issue 2 (2023).