Literary Journal
As you know from the many opening lines in the many emails you’ve received, the world is a confusing and often-frightening place to live in right now. In the long tradition of turning towards stories to temporarily escape the chaos around us, the Hothouse staff has compiled some of our favorite works that provide us…
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Written by Lindsey Ferris With the songs from the musical Come From Away still playing in my ears, the memories my parents have shared over the years of 9/11 comes to mind and I’m left again in awed silence of how the world responded to the devastation. Working off the baby fat from her last…
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Written by Leah Park On one of my perusals through social media, I came across a viral video that depicted a character from The Simpsons teaching a self-defense class. However, instead of playing the dialogue of the scene, the clip played a funky pop song called “Selfish High Heels” by Yung Bae. The song was…
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Written by Chloe Manchester We’ve all seen them. Wandering the halls of Parlin, hunkered down at the PCL, asleep on the front lawn. These are the people you know without ever really knowing, the English majors so distinct you’d recognize from a good six feet away. The Shakespearean The Shakespearean’s wardrobe consists entirely of graphic…
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Written by Natalie Nobile Hey, when you were assigned Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, did you try to get out of reading it by using one of the films as a cheat sheet? But then all the films sucked? Well buckle up buttercup, because there’s a new adaptation on the market, and it’s coming…
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Written by Stephanie Pickrell Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Or perhaps write an ode to a nightingale? Or maybe even reminisce about walking through an endless sea of daffodils? Poets throughout the ages are notorious for waxing sentimental about the natural scenery around them, but depending on where you live, sufficiently beautiful…
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Written by Abbey Bartz Whenever I meet someone new in Scotland and they hear my tell-tale American accent, they always ask what brought me to Scotland. I tell them that I am studying Scottish literature at the University of Edinburgh, and, specifically, that I am interested in the Gaelic language and its literature. Their next…
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Written by Vanessa Simerskey For many, poetry has become an ideal medium for expressing the emotions behind both physical and mental illness; poetry allows writers to be vulnerable and honest in a way that some other literary forms may restrict. One striking example of this expression of raw emotional honesty that instantly comes to mind…
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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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