Hothouse
Literary Journal
Author: hothouselitjournal
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By Celeste Hoover The beginning of this semester came all too quickly for me. Soon after the announcement of two weeks in online class, I found myself on a bleak, empty campus. The precaution was necessary, yet, with little open and very few students returning, I inevitably had lots of free time. In my endless…
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By Jack Gross When you try to put it in words it doesn’t sound like anything special. But if you see it with your own eyes for ten or twenty minutes (almost without thinking, she kept on performing it) gradually the sense of reality is sucked right out of everything around you. It’s a very…
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by Lana Haffar The Megabus is always freezing. The frigid air conditioning strikes you as soon as you climb the top step. You shuffle sideways toward the back, and if you’re my height, you smack your head on the overhead bin before settling into your seat. A stranger makes their way down the narrow aisle,…
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By Kara Hildebrand A literary trope is something repeated so often it borders on cliché: the mad scientist, the forbidden romance, the antihero, the tragic backstory. Perhaps it’s just natural for certain repetitions to become cemented in our literary canon, or perhaps there’s something more to why we identify with tropes enough to reuse them.…
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By Medha Anoo I have been taught Shakespeare’s work by instructors both in the United States and across the globe in India. He is a central figure in the Anglophone literature education of anybody, but the first time I remember getting excited about his work—really excited, like the way I felt when I pre-ordered Rick…
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by Gerardo Garcia I was on the phone one night with someone I knew I wouldn’t marry, and as she hastily came up with a reason to hang up, I realized I had lost myself. I had been suppressing the urge to throw myself at her feet; every third thought was her. I was also…
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Harmony Moura Burk Every Sunday, three old women gather in the kitchen, chattering about the latest church scandal. They’ve turned it into a ritual over the years, laying out secrets like they layout tea sets and cakes. Their mothers did the same thing, and their grandmothers, and their great grandmothers. The table is set, the…
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We asked our website writers what their favorite way to curl up with a book is and for any titles that sparked that cozy-warm-holiday-feeling we all know and love. Read below for some ideal wintery-reading-respites and have a very merry holiday season! Stephanie Pickrell My grandmother’s house no longer exists as I remember it, but…
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By Lana Haffar Odin’s ears never stood up like a German Shepherd’s should. His cartilage was weak, so they sprawled from either side of his head, like wings. The force of every heartbeat made them flutter. He bounded everywhere, tongue lolling, paws spread to cushion the impact. On a November Wednesday, I turned twenty years…
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By Medha Anoo Are you watching shows that glorify unhealthy relationships? Good. For girls, close relationships with our best friends are a nearly universal experience, and often begin at young ages. We are all familiar with the depiction of the girlhood sleepover, which included hair braiding, scary movies, telling secrets, and then pinky-swearing never to…
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By Kara Hildebrand A novel I’m reading mentions a child who has died and I begin to feel it happen. Phantom fingers weave between my ribs and squeeze. The air seems to thin as I gasp for the whisper of a breath and think of the day when I will no longer have need for…
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By: Jack Gross “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.” Che Guevara When you hear the term “revolution”, what images come to mind? Maybe it’s French guillotines staining the cobblestone streets with bourgeoise blood, or hastily assembled signs with bold black writing announcing a…