It is something we seek throughout our lives: belonging. From the playground to the workplace, on the Internet and in the living room, from birth until our final breath, we long to be among people like us. We desire to be part of a community that spans time and place. We hunger for connection, for bonds of friendship, family, and sexuality. In a world spinning ever faster, we seek out roots to keep us on stable, comfortable ground.
This spring, INTHEFRAY Magazine asks what it means to belong to a culture, community, or another person. We ask you to interpret this topic as best suits you and consider what lengths are we willing to go to connect with our heritage, our homeland, our families-real or imagined-to uncover our roots? How do we cope with the obligations of belonging, or the ambiguities of not belonging? When do our desires for belonging lead us astray, our solidarity turning to conformity, our possession to a sense of entitlement? Where do we find new sources of belonging in a society that is increasingly individualistic? Why do we need to feel part of something larger than ourselves, and what happens when we are left out?
INTHEFRAY Magazine invites readers and contributors to share their own thoughts of the meaning and necessity of belonging:
1. INTHEFRAY¹s commentary channel, INTERACT, is looking for personal essays of 1,000-1,500 words addressing these questions of belonging, broadly defined. Please send pitches to belonging@inthefray.com NO LATER THAN February 7, 2005.
2. Contributors interested in pitching related visual essays, news features, or cultural criticism for the magazine¹s IMAGE, IDENTIFY, or IMAGINE channels can also e-mail us at belonging@inthefray.com. You should send us a well-developed, one-paragraph pitch for your proposed piece NO LATER THAN FEBRUARY 7, 2005.
All potential contributors should review our guidelines for writers and artists at Guidelines . Please direct any general questions to recruiting@inthefray.com. Thank you for your interest!
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