TCR Daily
by Alessandro Romero Jordan Salama demonstrated that, like gold, stories can be found by looking into a river. After all, his debut book, Every Day the River Changes, ultimately tells a formidable story about other stories. On an adventure down the Magdalena River, Colombia’s most treasured waterway, Salama aims to push back social stigmas that misconstrue the country’s conflicted…
by Jenny Hayes In Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records, Jim Ruland chronicles the history of legendary independent punk/alternative rock label SST—an epic tale filled with rock-and-roll thrills, chaos, bad behavior, good times, shady financial maneuvers, lawsuits, cross-country tours, and many other twists and turns with an eclectic cast of misfits. Started in 1979 by Black…
by Fabrice B. Poussin The Coachella Review: Where were these photographs taken? Fabrice Poussin: All these were taken at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. TCR: How did you become interested in photography? FP: My sister, who is five years older than me, was first to get a camera and to experiment with it. I was nine then and was…
I flick on the coffee machine and open the fridge. Oh, right. I finished all the wine, ‘coping.’ I rub my eyes and tighten the belt of my pink satin robe. It has a tendency to slip, putting my negligee on display. Course that never bothers Lionel unless the drapes are open. As if anyone can even see my breasts…
You Ask Me Where It Comes From It comes from anywhere and everywhere. It’s the irritant that starts the nacre’s flow within the shell, the thing that captures your attention and won’t let go. Somewhere in the back of your brain as you go about common duties: washing dishes, folding laundry, it begins to form until you pry your mind open with a…
By Emily Schleiger The Coachella Review had the pleasure of reprinting Maryann Aita’s essay “The Geography of Flight” in our Winter 2021 issue. The essay also appears in Aita’s debut memoir Little Astronaut (ELJ Editions). Aita’s collection of essays deals with her childhood experience in the shadows of family members’ illnesses (anorexia, cancer, alcoholism), the ways in which she coped,…
According to the CDC, one in four people in the United States live with some type of disability, whether visible or less apparent. Without respectful discussion and proper representation in the media, those living with disabilities are often stereotyped and misrepresented. This is also true for people who don’t always consider themselves disabled, such as Deaf and Blind folk. This…
by Ellen June Wright After My Life by Mary J Blige When I woke this morning I had been standing before the congregation preaching on the love of God, preaching affirmations of love because before I knew myself, I was loved. No matter the circumstance, I was created from His love. The energy that sparked the ovum to divide…
By Sara Grimes In Natashia Deón’s second book, The Perishing, Lou, a Black youth with no memory of her past, wakes up fighting for her life in an alley in 1930’s Los Angeles. She gets taken under the wing of a police officer who helps her as she adjusts to life in a foster home. But, as Lou transitions…
by Daniela Z. Montes Within These Wicked Walls, by Lauren Blackwood, is an Ethiopian retelling of Jane Eyre. The classic may be the inspiration, but Blackwood takes the bones and runs. We first meet the protagonist, Andromeda, in a carriage crossing the desert. The driver drops her off far away from her destination, but it is the closest he will…
By Rachel Spalding Writer and 2017 UCR Palm Desert MFA alum Pam Munter has, not completely joking, one subject that interests her—and she comes by it honestly. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, Munter grew up in a palm-treed paradise that included both the craftspeople who toiled behind the scenes of the moviemaking capital…