Phoenix Staff Picks of 2021

LITERATURE White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985) Satirical, funny, and all too real glance at American consumerism, ignorance, and the relation between self-obsession and self-deception. - Aslan A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (2016) Super comforting read after a rough…

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Should

By Jenny Darden Phoenix: Spring 2001 TW: Allusions to Suicide 1. The Disillusionment Romeo and Juliet are dead, and this time they’re not faking. Their dirty, naked bodies are lying beneath the apple tree, cradled in its roots, God-shamed. And…

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Book of the Month: LGBTQ: Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia

Written by Clint Liles Edited by Josh Strange I grew up about two hours north of Knoxville in a small-town just south of the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. The closest city was Knoxville followed by Lexington with an equal distance drive.…

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Were You On the Moon

Were You On the Moon by Brynna Williams Phoenix: Fall 2018 You have to wake up sometime. That’s what I’d like to say to myself, but it’s so peaceful to sleep. Warm hands on my back, the moment I open…

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Book of the Month: Kafka on the Shore

Written by Case Pharr Edited by Sadie Kimbrough Kafka on the Shore is a magical realist novel by famed Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. Framed in modern Japan, Murakami weaves a novel which explores metaphysics, utilizes Sophoclean prophecy, bridges dreams and…

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Homoerotic Motifs in Renaissance Art

Written by Josh Strange Edited by Sadie Kimbrough It is a societal mainstay that many, if not all, are familiar with seeing in Christian art; curly-haired, handsome men, are shown representing either Jesus himself or other biblical figures. For many,…

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Blue Grass

By Hannah Malia Kim Phoenix: Spring 2009 The thing I remember most about my girlhood in Beijing is the hutong neighborhoods. Especially, the way the houses were smushed together so that each shanty looked like a piece of a bigger…

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Knoxville Puts a Bird On It: Avian Art at McClung and UT Gardens

Written by Sadie Kimbrough Edited by Lynda Sleeter “Put a bird on it,” chant the characters in the sketch show Portlandia, mocking the trendiness of bird-themed decor in modern boutiques and Etsy shops. The skit pokes fun at the cultural…

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Art from Spring 1986

Pallet Head / Kirk Smith / acrylic on canvas and styrofoam / 35" x 40" Philosophy Even the Hollowest Nut Wants To Be Cracked / David Wilson / 26" x 40" Schmocks / Cynthia Roth Leatherwood / monotype / 12" x 8" Myself…

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Premature Canities

Premature Canities by Alexa White Twelve months, countless little gray hairs pulled from some cave of my scalp. I’ve studied each one, twirling it white against a background out of focus. How do I hold them? Three fingers pinched? I’m…

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