Social justice creatives in the Pacific Lutheran University community, let it be known: submissions for the Spring 2015 edition of the social justice magazine, The Matrix, are now being accepted.
Entries can be submitted here and can include personal essays, songs, academic works, photo campaigns, videos, spoken word, poetry, and many other media. Questions can be answered via e-mail: matrix@plu.edu
The new edition’s title and theme is “Breaking Binaries: Speak Truth to Power.”
This theme alludes to the idea that people do not need to fit any social implications considered normal for their identity in society. That is, simply because one identifies with a certain race, sexual orientation or gender does not mean they fit some stereotype associated with that identity.
From The Matrix‘s submission page:
There are a lot of contradictions in life that don’t fit the tidy stereotypes that society gives us. Girls can like monster trucks and hunting, boys can like make up and dresses. Race, gender, sexuality, class, it seems like every category that people come up with is riddled with ideal images that are impossible to live up to and stereotypes that are actively harmful.
That’s what breaking binaries is about. Debunking the myths that things are either this-or-that, and instead showing that they exist on a spectrum. Challenging the stereotypes that society tries to force on us, and instead showing that life is full of contradictions. Denying people the right to tell us who we are, and instead speaking truth to power by self-identification.
