Hothouse
Literary Journal
Author: hothouselitjournal
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Written by Sara Cline I’ll be forthright: I’m a stand-up comic. That means I’m absolutely biased in my argument that stand-up comedy should have a place in the literary canon, alongside the likes of prose, poetry, and drama. To my credit, I was a fiction-writer, poet, and English major before I ever stepped foot into…
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Written by Kayla Bollers “Alaya, will you accept this rose?” “Of course.” Peter Weber hands Alaya the group date rose. Cradling the freshly cut stem between two fingers, Alaya exchanges a knowing look and heartfelt smile with the man she’s falling for. The couple leans in for a warm embrace. But her softly murmured “Thank…
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Written by Chloe Manchester I. In a passage from Zadie Smith’s book On Beauty, she describes a meeting of protagonist Zora and her classmates. “Here were people, friends. A boy called Ron, of delicate build whose movements were tidy and ironic, who liked to be clean, who liked things Japanese. A girl called Daisy, tall…
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Written by Stephanie Pickrell Think, for a moment, of a vampire. Consider the young woman languishing across a couch, neck bared, and the tall, pale figure lingering over her, lips bathed a bright, delicious red. Or the creature hovering outside the sweeping balcony windows, silhouetted by the soft glow of moonlight, with a face as…
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Julia Schoos, Editor-in-Chief “Voice of Freedom” by Phillis Wheatley I was first introduced to Phillis Wheatley in our very own Dr. Woodard’s class on African American Literature Through the Harlem Renaissance. While certainly not a contemporary black author, Wheatley more than deserves recognition during Black History Month. A young girl enslaved in Boston, she utilized…
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Written by Abbey Bartz If you walk up George IV Bridge towards the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, you will pass by an unassuming red cafe called The Elephant House. Even on the gloomiest of Scottish winter days, when the wind is howling and a cold rain dribbles from the sky, tourists stop and take pictures…
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Written by Natalie Nobile One of the stranger things Tom Hooper said about Cats (2019) was that it was “about the perils of tribalism” (Vulture). Director Hooper, you are a bold one. Unfortunately, between all the CGI and Jason Derulo and catnip and snot, Hooper’s ‘message’ seems to have failed to reach the audience. To…
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Written by Vanessa Simerskey Short story. Definition supported by Oxford: “A story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.” While this definition is accurate, I believe I can write a better one. Let’s try this again. Short story. Definition provided by yours truly: A story that presents a…
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This Valentine’s Day, Hothouse’s website staff decided to rebel against cynicism and scorn commodification—they wrote about the different ways they experience love. From a wedding to a quinceañera, read on to discover how love appears (in all its forms!) to each website writer. Christie Basson, Website Editor: This photo is from my parents’ wedding day…
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Written by Leah Park The ability to move freely through the air, to see the world from a different perspective; the exhilaration of the wind rushing past your face, the power to carry yourself so far from the ground that once entrapped you on this earth: winged flight has always enraptured the human imagination. From…
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Written by Lindsey Ferris Whether you celebrate Valentine’s day with a box of chocolates or Ben and Jerry’s, the traditional romantic gesture involves words spoken from the heart. We all know the classic “Roses are red;” however, for the people lucky enough to dodge Cupid’s arrow and are exhausted by the cliches oozing off every…
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Written by Ingrid Alberding It was a sunny day on Avenida Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro as a woman with cat-like eyes and vivid red lipstick stared at an empty display of naked mannequins. Her name was Clarice Lispector, an interesting figure now regarded as one of the masters of Brazilian literature. Jose Castello,…
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