Web 2.0 technology has created a strange predicament for writers. There are more ways to publish than ever before–but all selective publications are swamped with submissions, and almost none are able to pay writers.
A few of my essays were published on Reality Sandwich last year, but they haven’t responded about my last few submissions. I tend to write essays in the 2,000-8,000 word range, based on a mix of documented research (I prefer to use citations) and personal experience.
If you run a magazine or blog and you’re interested in publishing any of my work, please contact me at nick[at]nickmeador[dot]org. In addition to the finished essays described below, I also have plenty of ideas that I’d be happy to discuss with you.
1) An excerpt from chapter 2 of my debut book manuscript (3,200 words): Update 3/28/2011: This piece will be published by Reality Sandwich shortly.
The propaganda tactics developed during World War I are now the foundation for our entire addiction-based consumer system. While we now call it “public relations,” this dehumanizing force has been targeting entire demographic groups since the 1920s, starting with the suburban American housewife.
2) Affirmative Action’s Boomerang Phase (6,400 words):
While affirmative action was originally intended to bring minorities and women out of a dark history of oppression, in many cases it has begun to help historically advantaged groups. Since we refused to fully prohibit preferences based on race or sex, or examine the deep psychological reasons behind racism and sexism, we continue to have anything but “equal opportunity.”
3) An Experimental Hypothesis for the Information Age (4,700 words):
At first I was bothered by the concept from Eastern philosophy stating that everything must come with its opposite, such as “light and darkness, good and evil, pleasure and pain.” But after considering it from a scientific perspective—namely, the experimental method and Darwin’s theory of natural selection—traditional Western “morality” bothered me instead.
