About The Journal
The Modest Proposal: A Journal of Books, Opinion, and Comment is a collectively edited e-journal primarily concerned with producing solid, critical writing on a broad range of contemporary issues. It was born out of a healthy respect for a direct engagement with intellectual life both inside and outside the academy. It demands a curious reader with a desire to think beyond of their "comfort zone." Above all, it seeks to privilege the continued importance of critical discourse in everyday life through am intrinsic belief in the opinion essay, and, most importantly, that quickly vanishing art known as the "book review." With major newspapers liquidating their cultural writing in favor of advertisers, colorful charts, or "want" ads, concerned citizens must forge new communities elsewhere.
The Modest Proposal (known to the lazy as TMP) took root in 2007. Its initial participants (to begin with, it was a "thought experiment" carried out through several months of rigorous email discourse) desired to produce an electronic periodical that would marry their current intellectual lives with those lovely community virtues that often disappear with geographical distance.
While the audacity of Swift's "modest proposal" still rings in some circles, this Modest Proposal was started on the idea that people of varied professions, with little-to-no free time, could periodically band as one for the cause of publication. Thus, TMP as it is today, a thrice yearly journal fortified by a lively group blog to fill those gaps in content.
The Modest Proposal is always looking for well-wrought writing (WWW!) in a variety of forms. If you are interested in contributing, please see the CONTACT page and email the appropriate editor.
Enjoy!
Kevin Flanagan – General Editor [email]
Bobby Schweizer – Webmaster [email]
About The Contributors
Frank DiTraglia is a PhD candidate in Economics at University of California, San Diego. He received his M.Sc. in Statistics for the University of St. Andrews. He is a keen actor and enjoys the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Kevin Flanagan is a graduate student in Film Studies and English at North Carolina State University. His undergraduate studies at the College of William and Mary orbited around Literary and Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Art History, and American Studies. In addition to serving as editor of The Modest Proposal, he co-founded and maintains Virtual Fools and GameCulture Journal. He is editor of Ken Russell: Re-Viewing Britain's Last Mannerist, forthcoming from Scarecrow Press.
James Goodwin is a 2006 graduate of the College of William and Mary, where he majored in History and minored in Classical Studies. A native Californian, he spent two years of his childhood in the Philippines and now resides in Richmond, Virginia, where he works as a paralegal. In addition to history and politics, he is fascinated by the ocean, the Pacific Rim, all things Australian, and zoology. He plans to pursue a postgraduate degree in the sciences. In his spare time he is an avid, if amateur, cricketer.
Christopher Muir is a PhD candidate in Evolutionary Biology at Indiana University. He attended the College of William and Mary as an undergraduate. He enjoys the outdoors, homebrewing, and piercing arguments.
Kate Petty was born at home on Valentine's Day, and is waiting for Tom Waits to write a song about that. A graduate of the College of William and Mary and the University of St. Andrews, Kate is the MP fiction editor. Her work has appeared in Ambit and Mslexia, and she is starting her second novel. She currently lives in Washington, D.C.
Gabriel Ricard is editor-in-chief of Feel the Word net 'zine. He is a staff reviewer for Unlikely Stories and has interviewed many of the greats, including Henry Rollins, George A. Romero, and Harvey Pekar.
Bobby Schweizer is an MS candidate in Digital Media at the Georgia Institute of Technology and received his B.A. from the University of Virginia in Media Studies and American Studies. He is interested in video game studies, fan communities in the digital age, and the cultural use of immerging technologies.
Jasper Sluijs is a Fulbright Scholar and MS candidate in Georgia Institute of Technology's Digital Media Program. Originally from the Netherlands, he already holds an MA degree in Cultural Studies. Prior to going back to graduate school, Jasper worked as a researcher and editor at V2_, Institute of the Unstable Media. V2_ is one of the foremost research centers on new media technology and culture, and biannually hosts the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF). In his research, Jasper's main interests cover online social production, intellectual property, media ownership, post-structuralist thought and intermedial art. In his spare free time he enjoys discussing art and politics while smoking cigars, drinking single malt whiskey and wearing tweed trousers.
