We Will Light the Way With the Bridges We Burn!

Ania Cartoon Hugging a Spoon

 

It is with great excitement and eagerness that I would like to announce that Alyssa and Ania Splain You a Thing will be joining a new blog network!

For the last several months both Alyssa and I have belonged to a support group of women and non-binary folk. This is a group of people devoted to an intersectional pursuit of social justice. Our frequent discussions have led to the creation of several posts and other media.

Much of our group falls into different spheres of oppression, and like many in these spheres, a significant portion of us have also had difficulty maintaining gainful employment. For some, it is various disabilities that get in the way. For others, prejudice plays a role in minimizing the opportunities available in a struggling economy.

Determined to improve our situation, while also interested creating a space that would discuss different issues and dreaming of having our own publishing house inspired by a social justice approach to literature, we decided to start Burning Bridges.

What makes our network unique?

For one thing, all our writers and content creators are women and/or non-binary folk. While we acknowledge that there are some good male writers out there, we want to highlight voices that are not always given priority in public settings.

Our writers come from very diverse backgrounds. By combining such different perspectives, we hope to encourage discussion of how the various spheres of oppression often intersect. To look at how any given issue can actually exist along different planes of oppression. Some of our writers are parents, single or otherwise, some are or have recently been homeless, many live in different levels of poverty, they have diverse disabilities, both cognitive, physical, and mental, both visible and invisible, many are obsessed with cats, or dogs, or even fish. Many of our content creators do not exist along binary gender lines, some are transgender, they belong to different races, with different educational backgrounds. Some are atheist, some are Christian, others are Muslim, but all of them believe in a multi-intersectional approach to issues that can affect any one of us.

We are looking to offer multimedia services to cater to diverse preferences. Some of our content creators are artists, others are looking to develop regular web comics that focus on various issues. Many of our contributors are interested in starting or redeveloping existing podcasts and video casts. Many are interested in some combination of different styles in addition to their on-going writing.

It’s not just for the non-fiction enthusiast. Many of our writers are also accomplished fiction writers. Social justice doesn’t just stop at the real world. We believe in highlighting characters in minority populations, whether people of colours, disabled, trans, queer, or non-male. We would love to help promote writing that explores various issues through the lens of fiction, whether speculative science fiction, fantasy world building, myths, poetry, short stories, or any of the various possibilities out there.

The blog network is just a foundation and stepping stone for the creation of Burning Bridges Publishing: a start-up press with a mandate towards promoting writing through a social justice lens. I personally would love to see about publishing anthologies of stories on individual matters likes race, disability, poverty. I would love to see more new and emerging writers see a chance at being published. I would love to highlight stories written by those in the same circumstances.

I would love eventually to open spaces for at risk youth, whether in difficult neighbourhoods, or youth who are LGBT, where they can explore their creative voices in different media. This is a dream that I would really love to see happen, but we need your help. We need investors to help get us off the ground. To make sure that we can offer a great product off the ground. Please donate what you can, and if you cannot, please share it widely. Together we can make this dream a reality.

Thank you.

 

 

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We Will Light the Way With the Bridges We Burn!
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2 thoughts on “We Will Light the Way With the Bridges We Burn!

  1. 1

    Reblogged this on Sunflower Punk of Social Justice and commented:
    My blog will be joining Burning Bridges. Please consider donating and/or sharing! We need all the help we can get. Thank you

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