ellakotsen

The Other Side

I’ve been to the edge of the world before. I know it seems like every other post I talk about some weird island or boat I’ve been to. Yeah, we get it, Ella, you like the ocean and lighthouses and schooners but what’s the point? What’s the point besides their aesthetic beauty or shiny galore.Continue reading “The Other Side”

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”

So Where Do We Go Now?

I sit here knowing I shouldn’t write about school stuff or the things that make my eyebrows squint downwards so the images in my head can replace my vision. The creases on my face tighten almost rhythmically at the thought of anything abstract. Yet all that spirals around in my brain are the things I’veContinue reading “So Where Do We Go Now?”

Map of “Somewhere”

m I am free On an island far far away from here, where sailboats toss and roll in the surf, and seagulls soar like a soprano’s song Lines destined for a diary or at least a schooner’s topsail becomes the indicator of land where inlets become infinite, coves abundant A land where I am free,Continue reading “Map of “Somewhere””

Last Resort

I have this backup plan that if my life turns out to be a total failure, devoid of success, passion, and whatever else I determine subconsciously to be continuous with my evolution. Then, if all else fails, I can run away and start all over with mountains and bushes of blueberries and an old banjoContinue reading “Last Resort”

W.E.B. DuBois Double Consciousness and Brittany Howard’s One Drop of Three-Fifths

Recently in my course “African American Childhoods” we’ve been reading literature ranging from pre- Harlem Renaissance to earlier work on the black existence in the Jim-Crow South. In Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk my class has been working on this essential idea of “double consciousness.” Inevitably, it wasn’t until I was sitting inContinue reading “W.E.B. DuBois Double Consciousness and Brittany Howard’s One Drop of Three-Fifths”

Intro to My Own Analysis on William H Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces in Princeton, New Jersey

My college friend had to watch this absolutely stunning 80s film for her cities class and as I viewed these nostalgic and sterile clips I found a complete connection to my own viewership in my hometown of Princeton, NJ. All though there are a lot of public small spaces in Princeton similar to the onesContinue reading “Intro to My Own Analysis on William H Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces in Princeton, New Jersey”

Swan’s Island

One of my favorite movies of all time undoubtedly has to be Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson. It’s the kind of movie where no matter how many times I drink in its scenes soaked in a yellow tint of childhood nostalgia and accompanied by a soundtrack you absorbed from your grandma’s record player- no matterContinue reading “Swan’s Island”

Midwestern Marx Publication: Delimited Spaces in Marxist Revolutions

Delimited Spaces in Marxist Revolutions. By: Ella Kotsen A piece I wrote for Midwestern Marx was recently just published. I would love if my readers here at SDS went and checked it out.

My Home

I’ve written fairly extensively on this idea of “home”. Between my reflection on voluntary and involuntary spaces in Laura Ingalls Wilder books, my take on houselessness during the covid19 pandemic in a response to an article published by N+1 “No Shelter”, in my own novel’s premise is an examination of the feeling of belonging, and myContinue reading “My Home”