Author Archives: ellakotsen

A Brief Film Review: The Summit of the Gods

In the age of Tik-Tok’s quick, attention-grabbing effects on the minds of a generation who has been witness to new technological developments in media (far beyond what was ever imagined before) I sat down to a film that engrossed me like no other. I was already interested in that weirdly obsessive pull people have towardsContinue reading “A Brief Film Review: The Summit of the Gods”

Little-Big Stories and Nikhil Anand’s Hydraulic City: Water & the Infrastructures of Citizenship in Mumbai

Sometimes we need to tell big stories with little stories or big stories with little stories. But first, let me give some context. In the most challenging course I’ve ever taken, Urban Theory, my class was going to read Anand’s work before we ran out of time. Instead, I was left with an unopened textContinue reading “Little-Big Stories and Nikhil Anand’s Hydraulic City: Water & the Infrastructures of Citizenship in Mumbai”

An Unremarkable Hum from the TV

An unremarkable hum from the TV takes up a different space in our brains. Not the part that you use when you’re talking to your mom about additions to the grocery list or the part you use when you’re chatting to your sister about how your day went. In a tucked-up corner, in the backsContinue reading “An Unremarkable Hum from the TV”

Telling the New Year and Jeannette Wall’s failures in The Silver Star

I remember reading Wall’s Half Broke Horses one sunny afternoon when I lived on the Schooner Shenandoah. Below deck, on my bottom bunk, an upwards-facing porthole that would leak salty water when we tacked too far provided me with enough natural light to dot on Wall’s words. I loved the book, reading it practically inContinue reading “Telling the New Year and Jeannette Wall’s failures in The Silver Star”

A Brief Book Review: Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton

*This will be a shorter review since I am also working on a publication for Midwestern Marx that involves observations from this book. Malcolm X’s autobiography took me almost two months to finish. Newton’s autobiography in comparison took me a little under a week to finish. I guess what I’m trying to say is IContinue reading “A Brief Book Review: Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton”

The Stick and My Hippie Grandparents

My grandparents were never like the others. My grandma shared a dark brunette bob like my sister and mother for most of my childhood— de-aging her for all spectators who had the privilege to witness our interactions. My grandfather, likewise, was notorious for scooping up our friends and putting them in funky places on theContinue reading “The Stick and My Hippie Grandparents”

A Brief Book Review: The Voyage of the Sanderling: Exploring the Ecology of the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Rio by Roger D. Stone

In my infinite quest to find books about travel and sailboats void of the fetishization of colonialism, imperialism, or eurocentrism, I dove deep into this novel which I purchased in a quaint bookstore called Westsider Books in the Upper Westside of New York City. While Stone, who recently passed away this year, makes some goodContinue reading “A Brief Book Review: The Voyage of the Sanderling: Exploring the Ecology of the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Rio by Roger D. Stone”

Discovering a New Universe in The Planet of Junior Brown

For my African American Childhoods class, we’ve been reading classics that have some sort of juvenilia reference. Whether that be books written by children, for children, or about children we’ve covered a wide mix. I according to the syllabus picked up my next weekly novel, a two hundred or so page book called The PlanetContinue reading “Discovering a New Universe in The Planet of Junior Brown”