• Why We Did This

    we were home alone...

    broken image

    Everybody reacts differently to a crisis.

     

    When the pandemic hit, we took the route that we knew best: We threw ourselves into work. We’re writers for America’s best magazines. Foreign correspondents. Investigative reporters. Essayists from the country’s most respected literary magazines. Poets, painters, sculptors, photographers. Global musicians and local heroes.

     

    We're not knee-jerk leftists, and we're definitely not hard right. At the same time, we don't pretend we're not sentient beings. A vs. B journalism, giving equal weight to patently false statements from industry spokesmen that you give to the impassioned words of citizens? That's nearly killed journalism. And it's dumb.

     

    Our first allegiance is to the truth. That means fairness, even when the conclusion isn't what we like.

     

    The second? Don't be boring. Nonfiction writing has evolved in deeply interesting ways during its stint in the academy. Now we're taking it back into the "real" world.

     

    Because we know now, as Americans, that we don't live outside history, and that's where art can be found.

     

    The most helpful way to support the work is via a paid membership. If you want a tax break, hit us up with an email. We're low-budget, but not no-budget.

     

    If it's not that kind of time for you, keep on reading. We will never have a paywall.

     

    You're welcome here.

     

    Susan Zakin, Editor

     

  • Editorial Policies

    Ethics, Fact Checking, Corrections

    Ethics

    Journal of the Plague Year is made up of volunteers, many of whom have long track records as published writers. Our authors comprise one layer of fact-checking. Our editors are careful to add the essential second layer of accuracy in all stories that we publish. We're human. Errors slip through. We work to correct them as soon as possible.

     

    Note: We also love it when our readers email us about typos! Seriously. We call ourselves a tribe and we mean it.

    Independence

    Journal of the Plague Year is a completely independent hybrid for-profit, non-profit publication incorporated in New York State. We are pleased to have earned non-profit sponsorship from The Media Freedom Foundation, allied with the respected Project Censored, which has given oxygen to underreported stories for the past 40 years with its awards, radio show, and annual book celebrating high-quality journalism that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. We are dedicated to following in that tradition.