The Bitch Who Stole Christmas Shades Print Magazines, While Also Showing Reverence for Them as They Exist in the Hallmark Version of the Present

While there are so many unexpected aspects of The Bitch Who Stole Christmas–namely, that it exists at all–maybe the most unexpected is what a quiet (if not eviscerating) champion it is for print magazines. All, of course, while mocking the shit out of how antiquated it is to even try to run one. As a writer for Gorge Magazine (ah yes, always the innuendo with … Continue reading The Bitch Who Stole Christmas Shades Print Magazines, While Also Showing Reverence for Them as They Exist in the Hallmark Version of the Present

Genna RivieccioDecember 4, 2021Leave a comment

Essay

How a Women’s Magazine Fortified the Myth of Thanksgiving and Its Absurd Menu

“He who loves not his country, can love nothing.” This quote from Lord Byron is how Sarah J. Hale, perhaps known more in the present for penning “Mary Had a Little Lamb” than being the “Mother of Thanksgiving,” commences Northwood: A Tale of New England, Vol. 1. Lord Byron’s words are a strong indication of just how much Hale was responsible for the white-washing of Thanksgiving under … Continue reading How a Women’s Magazine Fortified the Myth of Thanksgiving and Its Absurd Menu

Genna RivieccioNovember 25, 2021November 25, 2021Leave a comment

Essay

“Try to make it sound like you wrote it that way on purpose”: The French Dispatch is a Bittersweet Reminder of the Bygone Era That Fortified Writers Through Literary Magazines

Edgar Wright might be of the belief that the notion of there being “better days” is a fallacy, but that really doesn’t seem to be true when it comes to literary magazines. An enterprise that long ago achieved its heyday, never to really do so again. For it is a decidedly antiquated medium that is difficult to make “sexy” to anyone except pretentious East Coast … Continue reading “Try to make it sound like you wrote it that way on purpose”: The French Dispatch is a Bittersweet Reminder of the Bygone Era That Fortified Writers Through Literary Magazines

Genna RivieccioNovember 9, 2021November 9, 20211 Comment

Essay

Irony Overload: Grimes Reading The Communist Manifesto

People do all sorts of things to cope after a breakup. Get drunk, take drugs, have sex with random strangers—anything to numb the pain and forget about the ex in question, even just for a little while. But one coping mechanism that few engage in (except in a highly specific scenario such as Grimes’) is the decision to read The Communist Manifesto. Or “read” it, more accurately. Obviously … Continue reading Irony Overload: Grimes Reading The Communist Manifesto

Genna RivieccioOctober 3, 2021Leave a comment

Essay

Valeria’s Self-Publishing Journey Is the Type of Schlock That Encourages Naïve Dreams of Author Grandeur

There are all of about three truly “noteworthy” and “recent” self-publishing success stories: Legally Blonde, Fifty Shades of Grey and Diary of an Oxygen Thief (each book being decidedly diverse in content). There have been others, of course, even from the more “old school” authors, like Proust, Woolf, Austen and Hawthorne. And their work was perhaps more “viral” at the time precisely because we didn’t then use terms like “viral” … Continue reading Valeria’s Self-Publishing Journey Is the Type of Schlock That Encourages Naïve Dreams of Author Grandeur

Genna RivieccioAugust 30, 2021August 30, 20211 Comment

Essay

On the Subversiveness of the Act of Reading in The White Lotus

Reading, in general, feels like an “anomalous” act. Particularly if it’s tangible literature. For “screen methods” have made it easy for “regulars” and vacationers alike to download as many books (a truly odious phrase) as they want to without worrying about the extra bulk it might cause in their suitcase or carry-on. Thus, the subversiveness of “analog” reading is taken to a new level within … Continue reading On the Subversiveness of the Act of Reading in The White Lotus

Genna RivieccioAugust 22, 2021August 22, 20212 Comments

Essay

De Sade’s Reanimation in the Sex Book

Madonna’s still-underrated literary masterpiece, Sex, was arguably the last time a massive audience got truly excited—titillated—about a book. Coffee table or not. And, balk at the prose all you will (including, “My pussy has nine lives”)—it still got people talking about sex in a way they never had as a result of literature since the era of Marquis de Sade’s reign over erotic content. Madonna was … Continue reading De Sade’s Reanimation in the Sex Book

Genna RivieccioAugust 16, 2021August 16, 2021Leave a comment

Essay

Tarantino Petty: On Not Forgiving Those Who Piss On Your Dreams (Particularly Your Parents)

While promoting his recent novelization of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino confessed freely to Brian Koppelman on his The Moment podcast that the second his mother belittled his aspirations of becoming a writer, he vowed never to give her a “penny” from the eventual fruits of his labor. The revelation/solemn vow popped into his head when Tarantino was getting a verbal lashing for working on … Continue reading Tarantino Petty: On Not Forgiving Those Who Piss On Your Dreams (Particularly Your Parents)

Genna RivieccioAugust 11, 2021Leave a comment

Essay

“The Things I Once Enjoyed Just Keep Me Employed Now”: On the Benefits of Artistic Obscurity

There is an undeniable sadness to knowing that—short of a goddamn miracle—you’re going to end up dying in obscurity like Kafka. Oh sure, you can tell yourself you’ll be that “rare exception” and that you’ve got “true talent” (as if that’s what publishing is about) that outshines all the rest, but you may eventually find that you aren’t rare and talent isn’t enough. And yet, … Continue reading “The Things I Once Enjoyed Just Keep Me Employed Now”: On the Benefits of Artistic Obscurity

Genna RivieccioAugust 1, 2021August 1, 20212 Comments

Essay

Lourdes Leon Reading bell hooks Has Some Weighty Implications

Among other casual bombshells in Lourdes Leon’s first Vanity Fair feature, one included, of all things, her reading list. For starters, it wasn’t necessarily imagined she would be “basic” enough to fuck with Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility. For another, bell hooks being name-dropped (specifically 2000’s All About Love: New Visions) seems, in many respects, vaguely traitorous to her own mother, who was the subject of … Continue reading Lourdes Leon Reading bell hooks Has Some Weighty Implications

Genna RivieccioApril 25, 2021April 25, 2021Leave a comment