Forget Cool owes a huge debt to March Xness, the bracket-style essay writing tournament that introduced founders Allison Renner and Melissa Fite Johnson. They bonded when Melissa selected Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” as the subject of her March Sadness 90s essay, and Allison commented that the song had her in a chokehold growing up. She had the flute sheet music for it! And oh my goodness, Melissa played the flute in high school! They were off.
Throughout the tournament in March 2026, Allison and Melissa were struck by how much they especially loved the essays that weren’t at all concerned with being cool—the essays that focused on a deep love for a particular song, no matter what others thought about that song. This made them want to create a whole journal where people wrote about their pop culture passions—with nostalgia and emotion and vulnerability, not taste-making, as their guide.
Allison and Melissa don’t like the term “guilty pleasure” because that implies that the only pop culture passions we should be proud of are the ones that pass some sort of “cool” litmus test. We want full-hearted essays and poems about the music, movies, TV shows, books, games, etc. that have shaped you.
Allison Renner, CNF Editor
Allison Renner is a freelance writer and editor living in Memphis, TN. Her fiction has appeared in Ghost Parachute, South Florida Poetry Journal, Ink in Thirds, Roi Fainéant, Gooseberry Pie, Six Sentences, Rejection Letters, and others. Her chapbooks Green Light: The Gatsby Cycle and Won’t Be By Your Side are available from Alien Buddha Press. She can be found online at allisonrennerwrites.com.
Allison’s favorite pizza toppings:
BBQ or Hawaiian
Melissa Fite Johnson, Poetry Editor
Melissa Fite Johnson is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Midlife Abecedarian (Riot in Your Throat, 2024). Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, Southern Review, HAD, Ilanot Review, DIAGRAM, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. Melissa and her husband live with their dogs in Lawrence, KS, where she teaches high school English. Find her at melissafitejohnson.com.
Melissa’s idea of the perfect date:
The classic dinner and a movie
Forget Cool 