Greetings, weary traveler–
We’re back. Kiwi Bites (named after that adorable cat in our logo) is alive and well and better than ever! Brought to you by the Vellichor staff, our newsletter has been resurrected from the dead (yayyy), meaning we’ll send you cute little mail once a month (woohoooo). Who’s excited? We’re excited (can you tell?), so we hope the feeling is mutual. The year has just begun and we’ve already undergone *many* changes (a full-blown rebrand, a revival of our musician interview series, a new monthly writing contest, and so much more to come!) So if you haven’t been keeping up with our antics, you’ll get a little rundown of what all has been brewing this month and what in the name of Kafka happened to all our old posts on Instagram. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
—ANNOUNCEMENTS
First and foremost–we’ve rebranded. In case you haven’t noticed (it’s pretty difficult not to notice), all our old Instagram posts are *gasp* gone! We’ve got this woodsy little cafe vibe going on with a matcha green and espresso brown color scheme now. Whyyy did we do this, you ask? Well, it was the new year, so the timing was perfect. But, honestly? We needed a little bit of a refresh! We decluttered everything that doesn’t spark joy (Marie Kondo is an icon) and got some caffeine in our veins. New year, new us!
We also have a really cool broadcast channel now on our Instagram if you want to join in for exclusive updates, insider information, and also just being part of our super duper cool community :)
New writing contest?? That’s right! Ariadne’s Thread, another installment to our pantheon of Greek mythology-themed literary projects (e.g., The Gaea Anthology, Dear Aphrodite), accepts poetry and prose based on a new prompt each month. To spice things up, each prompt is a song lyric! One winning piece will be selected each month and published on our blog. Once the year comes to a close, all twelve winners from each month will be published in a collective anthology! January’s prompt was “there’s glitter on the floor after the party” from “New Year’s Day” by Taylor Swift. Check out our Instagram page and blog soon for the winner reveal!
We’re actually making a website lol (finally). If you’re an OG, you’ll know that we started many times and lowkey got too distracted with other stuff to actually focus on making it. Now, though, we’re dedicating time to getting it up and out there (yayy!)
Issue 03: Ivresse is releasing in early February (!!!) Get hyped.
Our musician interview series on our Instagram is BACKK! Every other Friday, we are posting an interview with a musician–most of them recommended by you all! So far, we’ve done Ha Vay and Solya and can’t wait to unveil the rest of them. Got an artist request? Let us know in the comments of any interview post!
—THIS MONTH ON THE BLOG
This month, our blog showcased several impressive pieces of work, primarily from the “What’s Your Roman Empire? Contest”! The Roman Empire Contest was a collaborative effort with our fellow literary magazine, The White Rose Muses. It was an essay contest where we invited participants to write as many pages as they could on their personal “Roman Empire” — a term used here to describe any topic they are passionate about and could discuss endlessly. You can read the six winning essays, which cover a range of subjects from Descendants to the TikTok-ification of misogyny, on our blog!
In addition to the Roman Empire Contest, our regular blog columns and media review columns have had some new installments. Here is the complete list of January’s reads for you to browse!
Christmas Shopping Stress; The Feminism Column by Kate Abrielle McCormick
Neither Rome Nor Us: The Gradual Unraveling of Bonds and Empires; by Emaan Adil, “What’s Your Roman Empire?” Contest Winner
Bertha Mason: Unhinged Heroine Against Patriarchal Repression; by Lavanaya Singh, “What’s Your Roman Empire?” Essay Contest Winner
The Return; by Fidha Mohamed Thayeb, “What’s Your Roman Empire?” Contest Winner
From “Legging Legs” to Anti-Aging Straws: The TikTok-ification of Misogyny and Its Impact on a New Generation of Girls; by Madelyn Rybak, “What’s Your Roman Empire?” Contest Winner
Descendants and the Roman Empire It Has Created for Me; by Arabella Serrata; “What’s Your Roman Empire?” Contest Winner
亡羊补牢; Jessica Xie; “What’s Your Roman Empire?” Contest Winner
Planet Money — Media Review — The Aux; by Sasi Kondru, Staff Media Reviewer
Enjoyment vs Quality: An Exploration of 'Literary Elitism'; by Sophia Bueskens-Wong, Staff Blog Writer
—STAFF READS
This month on Staff Reads, we are featuring one of our Videographers, Julianna Howe.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is blend of fantasy with painful realism that shows the vulnerability needed to get through life’s toughest moments. Conor O’Malley, a 13-year-old boy, is trying to come to terms with his mother’s terminal illness. He’s constantly facing challenges that even adults struggle with, feeling isolated at home and school. But every night, a monster visits him, demanding that he faces his worst, most brutal nightmare - the truth. The monster later tells three stories that encourage Conor to confront the emotions he’s been burying, unleashing emotional burdens the boy didn’t even know he was carrying: fear, guilt, anger, and exhaustion from pretending to be okay. After all, he is just a kid with a mission to feel like he’s enough. Instead of providing simple comfort, the book acknowledges that grief is messy, that love and loss are intertwined, and that sometimes, telling the truth is the hardest yet most freeing thing we can do. It’s not just about loss—it’s about the stories we tell ourselves to survive. If you’re looking for a book that will that will break your heart and put it back together in just a few page turns, A Monster Calls is worth every moment.
—STAFF TUNES
This month on Staff Tunes, we are featuring one of our Videographers, Judy Agami, with the review Diving Deep into the Submarine.
One of the albums that truly aided me during a traumatic period in my life was Submarine by one of my most loved and cherished bands, The Marías. The inspiration behind this album stemmed from the romantic breakup between the lead singer of the band, María Zardoya, and the band's producer, Josh Conway, making the feelings and emotions represented in the album raw and unfiltered, which in turn touched the audience deeply.
The main idea of the album was to embody the stages one usually goes through after a drastic change, which in this case was the breakup that affected the band as a whole. My favorite track on the album has got to be "Sienna." The rhythm and lyrics of this track seem to almost give life to the simple idea of asking ourselves, "What if...?" even when we know that nothing of merit comes from contemplating what could have been if we had changed something before it was too late. My second favorite, which also seems to be a public favorite, is "No One Noticed." The lyrics of this track, which go along the lines of "Hold me, console me, and then I'll leave without a trace”, appear to have gone viral, as the words were too relatable to many people, myself included. It mainly talks about the feeling of loneliness and isolation to the point where it morphs into a desperation to be comforted one last time. Feel free to tell me how you felt while listening to the album.
—CREATIVE COLUMN
[Trigger Warning: sexual assault, murder, violence]
Ballad of The Scorned
By Avis, our Newsletter Manager
I am dead. I have died not more than forty-eight hours ago. But the pictures of my dead body are on the web, my autopsy is an obvious one but my body has been violated into slices several times. Soon, I will be nothing but dust if anything is left of my mortal body. I can see myself in the mirror, or my ‘ghastly appearance’; my eyes are pitch black; I am nothing but the shell of myself a dark, translucent husk of my body.
I wonder how long it will take them to suspect my husband. Should I haunt him until he confesses? Should I make a domino of a chain of events for him to die? Yet, I want him to die so painfully! As painfully as I did, I wouldn’t have married that man if I knew he’d drug me to let me be an amusement of wonder to strange men as he records them for his pleasure. A pervert bound to his dark lust and audacity of being a man. Will mother–in–law protect him? Will my daughter be safe?
Can I even leave the mortuary? Watching my body being sliced more for them to discover broken joints; my spine was easily viewable from my privates “What barbarian could have done this!?” one gasped; I laughed, amused by the statement “My husband. Could you imagine?!” I speak in her ear but she would only get the chills. After all, dead bodies speak while the dead don’t.
Did I mention how charming he was to me? How foolish I was to marry him even though my father held a gun against my head? Men and their desire to murder women for ego, pride, lust, and rejection is always a spectacle. Would they ask my attorney what I was wearing? I mean, my body is nothing but sliced meat which makes me feel like a pig who has been killed to feast. Unfortunately, I was feasted upon against my will as a live soul. I was asleep as they ravished me like a pack of hungry wolves tearing open a lamb. Did I even have a will then?
Oh, look here, they found the hundred and forty-eight videos of me being raped over ten years and fourteen more folders of different women, young girls and –
“YOU HAVE PICTURES OF OUR DAUGHTER?! No………... SHES YOUR CHILD HOW COULD YOU!” my screams are only heard by the dogs, the shattering glass, and the wind. I will kill this man. A ghost can haunt your dreams but sometimes for a cowardly man that is more than enough.
My case has caught the wind of social media. My dead body’s pictures were circulated; rudely to make people understand the gravity of my case and its ‘historic’ trial. I am proud of my daughter for letting this be a public trial. Yet, I am tragically sad as well, there are so many souls of the scorned in this courtroom. Women of the past and present who never got the justice they deserved. All of them agree that why isn’t it enough to convince people that r*** is a serious crime? You don’t need graphic details of the incident, such as what was worn and who the victim was. Was the justice system truly made for us? Or is it an illusion we were sold?
“Did you know, my mother said it was my fault that my father r**** and murdered me? She said I shouldn’t have become an ‘object’ of distraction” a ghost spoke to me, trying to coddle me into her arms.
I await the trial with anticipation. The truth folds for me more in horror than the initial amusement I’d hoped for. My dead body was found underneath the poorly dug-up and planted roses. My missing persons’ isn’t why he was caught. He was caught recording under the skirts of minor girls as he jerked off in the process. He is a man; I don’t even recognise anymore. The safety, comfort, home, and everything I had built, hoped for, and lived in dark solace had been crumbled. His mother huffs and puffs in disbelief. After all, how could her ‘baby boy’ do such wrong? She defends him without a reason; “My son is an innocent boy!” “He is a man who has needs! Those girls should have known how to dress better” and my favorite “That w**** deserved to die! If she hadn’t kept my son from me, none of this would have happened!”
Despite it all, he was granted twenty years with no parole. This old fool deserves worse. Will the prisoners do something? Will they beat him to death or slowly and painfully ruin him as he ruined me? My daughter, I touch her, nothing but only coldness can my touch offer as she cries bitterly “Oh Mama, I wish I had kept in touch with you” she says curled up on her sofa “I am not angry my sweet child, I am proud of you. It was for the best” I wish anything I said could go through her. Maybe a comforting dream, a sonnet, a song, perhaps a ballad? Does that work? As she lay in bed, I sing.
“To sorrows, I pray;
To pain, I pray;
For misfortunes to woe me till I am nothing but shreds, I pray;
Yet, Whom do I pray to when my husband is the hunter and I am the prey?
Hell, hath fury of the scorned,
Hell, hath fury of women wronged;
Hell, hath fume & burn
Hell, thou shall justice the ignorance of God.
Woe the wrongdoings of men
Laugh, feast on their flesh”
“Hell, hath no fury than a woman scorned.” They speak.
” Hell fears the fury of a woman scorned. Hell knows what a scorned woman could do.” I answer. If I had the chance to be alive, I would burn him alive like that woman who burnt her daughter’s r***** when he made fun of her after being released from prison. But for now, haunting him would have to do.
My name is Heaven.
My name is Junko.
My name is Nirbhaya.
My name is Shiori.
My name is Giselle.
My name is Hatharas.
I have a name that will now always be associated with a crime associated with my soul. Soul ruined by a monster.
[Inspired by all the young girls, teens & women who lost their lives to patriarchy]
—TRIVIA
Q: In which country was Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov originally published?
A: France
Q: What is the true name of the Count of Monte Cristo?
A: Edmond Dantès
Q: Who is the leader of Oceania in Nineteen Eighty-Four?
A: Big Brother.
Q: Crime and Punishment opens in which city?
A: Saint Petersburg
—POLL
That’s all for January! If you’ve read this far down, thanks for sticking around! We’ll see you next month on Kiwi Bites <3
Much love,
Team Vellichor (but mostly Ben, Ella, and Avis)