Mission Statement

It looks like America has turned a corner. The recent change in Washington is certainly amenable to me and to most of the people who know my phone number. When I eavesdrop on people with book-bags or glasses, their conversations evoke a sense of relief: relief that the burden of being embarrassed by their home country is coming to an end. It's not simply the foreign policy adventures of the previous administration or their willful negligence of any domestic concern short of redistributing the nation's wealth to the vice president's former employers. This pervasive sense of embarrassment stems from a common yet misguided sensibility among thoughtful people: America is culturally and intellectually bankrupt. All the interesting ideas in the world originate elsewhere, particularly in Western Europe. While Americans follow Lindsay Lohan's every move, Europeans busy themselves with universal health care, film festivals, and Radio 4.

This vision of European and American culture not only overlooks Europe's shortcomings, it neglects the vibrant culture of the entirety of North America. American Polymath aims to be an online venue for thoughtful discourse on the cultural and intellectual life of the Republic. This journal of public opinion will serve an American cosmopolitan audience, one which realizes that not all of the continent's interesting ideas come out of New York and Los Angeles. American Polymath will publish essays, articles, and fiction about the country's ideas, culture, politics, and social life. The interests and expertise of American Polymath's core of writers dictate that the primary focus of the publication will be the United States, yet pieces on the rest of North America will be considered enthusiastically. This conscious effort to include the ideas and experiences of all Americans differs from the current affairs and culture magazines currently populating newsstands and the web. American Polymath aims to put the experiences of urban America, rural America, every region, and subculture into conversation with one another.

In response to changes in culture and technology, many publications have repackaged themselves as multi-media mishmashes both in print and online. American Polymath will not try to compete with them. The written word remains this journal's focus. I am seeking out textual reflections: essays, yarns, fiction, and cultural criticism. American Polymath aims to entertain while creating a space for the exchange of ideas. Whether political, social, or cultural, essays will focus on the authors' ideas and experiences. American Polymath will publish fiction in the American social fiction tradition. The publication will include a regular series of columns by core contributors, interviews with astute observers of our culture, and a message board aimed at expanding the dialogue set forth in the articles.

Clayton Trutor, Editor-in-Chief

Submissions

American Polymath is a monthly publication. Compensation consists of a venue for your ideas. Send all submissions to americanpolymath@gmail.com. Please include within the body of your email: your contact information, the title of your piece, the appropriate section of the publication (society, culture, ideas, politics, fiction). Attach the text of your article to the email. We will respond to all submissions within 2-3 weeks. We await your submissions.

The American Polymath Editorial Board:

Dominic Desjardins

Mike Gormly

J.G. Koefoed

Francis Lilley

Jocelyn Rousey

Clayton Trutor