Like the wild ramps that Chicago is named after, we are seeking stories about what has flourished in the complex soil of the Midwest.
In 2021, The Learned Fangirl will be publishing long view history-based pop culture/arts journalism and scholarly essays focused on Chicago. The Wild Ramp Project seeks longform stories on Chicago cultural history (music, theatre, arts, etc). We prioritize the writing and scholarship of BIPOC and writers of other marginalized identities.
Some examples of the kind of deep dives we are looking for (these are to give you ideas of the kind of topics we are looking for, but we welcome your own unique takes): the historical overlap of Chicago’s house and industrial scenes; the history of the Chosen Few DJs; Bronzeville’s influence on Chicago jazz and Black history; the history of Chicago’s live storytelling scene; John Hughes’ Chicagoland movies and their portrayals of class and race; Candyman, Chicago Public Housing, Race and Horror; Chicago journalism in pop culture, etc.
We pay $200-$400 based on length and time needed for research. We only take the right of first publication, copyright is retained by author. (So if you want to pitch a dissertation chapter or something that will be reworked later, please submit!)
email thelearnedfangirl@gmail.com, subject: Wild Ramp Project [name of pitch] with your pitch.