"Oregon Humanities" call for submissions--deadline Jan 20

Oregon Humanities magazine invites submissions for its Summer 2009 issue:
Stuff


For the Summer 2009 issue of Oregon Humanities, the Oregon Council for the
Humanities is seeking essays and articles on the theme of ³stuff.² Earlier
this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that consumer spending in
America has doubled since 1990 to $8 trillion a year and that the $6 billion
storage and organization industry continues to grow at a brisk rate. From
comedian George Carlin¹s famous riff on a house as just a place for stuff to
Annie Leonard¹s critical look at American consumption patterns in her
popular online short film The Story of Stuff, writers, scholars, and artists
have often explored the deep, seemingly inextricable tie between consumerism
and the American identity.

This kind of reflection and analysis seems particularly relevant now as
Americans grapple with how to match lifestyles that involve the production
and consumption of vast quantities of material goods with concerns about
finite natural resources and realities of the current economic downturn. For
this reason, we are especially interested in writing that explores the
conflicts between consumerism and American culture: How do we use stuff as
proxies that explain who we are? What can we learn from historical and
artistic representations of American consumer culture? Is shopping a
patriotic act that keeps America¹s economy afloat?

We welcome all forms of nonfiction writing, including scholarly essays,
personal essays, and journalistic articles. We accept proposals and drafts
of scholarly and journalistic features, which range between 2,500 and 4,000
words in length. We accept drafts only of personal essays, which should
consider larger thematic questions and run no longer than 2,000 words. All
contributors receive an honorarium. Currently the magazine is distributed to
12,000 readers. Essays from Oregon Humanities have been reprinted in the
Pushcart Prize anthology and the Utne Reader.

If you are interested in contributing to this issue, please familiarize
yourself with Oregon Humanities and review our writers¹ guidelines,
available on our website (www.oregonhum.org).
The deadline for proposals and drafts is January 20, 2009. Please send
submissions to Kathleen Holt, Editor, Oregon Humanities magazine, Oregon
Council for the Humanities, 813 SW Alder Street, Suite 702, Portland,
Oregon, 97205, or kholt@oregonhum.org . No phone calls, please.