Monthly Archives: July 2012

07.14.12
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Call for Submissions: Stories about LGBT families

Editor Bruce Gillespie is making a call for submissions for an anthology of personal essays about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and transsexual people and their families. The collection will be part of a series about the changing nature of the family in the 21st century published by TouchWood Editions of Victoria, British Columbia.

At no other time in history have LGBT families been more visible or numerous. This collection aims to recognize and celebrate this moment by reflecting the broad range of experiences of LGBT families today. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

- stories by LGBT people about their relationships or marriages,

- stories by LGBT people about their relationships with their straight families,

- stories about LGBT parents, parenting or adoption,

- stories about the uniquely queer families LGBT people create for themselves beyond those they were born into that include friends, lovers, exes and others, and

- stories by straight people about their relationships with their LGBT kids, parents, siblings or other family members.

I’m looking for previously unpublished personal accounts between 2,000 and 4,000 words in length. You don’t need to be a professional writer to contribute to this anthology. But if your piece is accepted, you will be required to work with an editor to hone your submission to professional standards.

First drafts of all submissions must be received by January 1, 2013 [updated], along with a short biographical statement and your contact information. All essays must be submitted electronically, preferably as Microsoft Word files, to the editor at bruce [dot] gillespie [at] gmail [dot] com.

About the Editor: Bruce Gillespie is an assistant professor in the journalism program at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus and the co-editor of two anthologies for TouchWood Editions: Somebody’s Child: Stories About Adoption (2011) and Nobody’s Father: Life Without Kids (2008).

Please feel free to share this call for submissions with anyone you think might be interested. Thank you.

07.03.12
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Journalism instructor openings at Laurier Brantford

The journalism program at Laurier Brantford has two job postings open now for part-time instructors. You can find the official postings here (click on the link for Laurier Brantford) but I thought I’d provide a bit of context for them below.

The first is for an instructor for JN252 Technical Skills: New Media, which will run Wednesday nights from 7 to 9:50 pm in the fall semester. Ideally, we’re looking for someone who’s passionate about online journalism and can teach students about reporting with all of the digital tools used in newsrooms today, from social media like Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and Storify, to real-time blogging tools like Scribble and publishing tools like Scribd (of course, this is not an exhaustive list!). It’s not just about the tools, though: we also need someone to teach students how to decide how best to use the available apps and tools in a way that’s useful and meaningful for readers and viewers.

The second posting is for an instructor for JN/HR212: Journalism and Social Change, which will run Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 2:20 pm in the winter semester. This course is meant to look at the relationship between journalism and democracy and in particular how journalism can be an agent of social change. Ideally, it will look at public journalism and activist journalism movements and give students a chance at producing this kind of work themselves.

For those who don’t know, Laurier Brantford is about an hour’s drive from Toronto. Via Rail offers a few trips per day in and out of the city, and the station is just a few blocks away from campus. Similarly, it’s about 20 minutes from Hamilton and an hour’s drive from either London or Kitchener-Waterloo, so it’s a very easy commute for anyone coming from outside of Brantford.

The deadline for both postings is July 17.