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Preachings & Teachings

As you are led by the Holy Spirit, so write. But write well and accurately, and above all, with sound doctrine; such things as it is good for men to hear. We would avoid, like Paul, lofty speculations, and controversies, to the ruin of the hearer. So, for the most part, steer clear from partisan assumptions and wrangling - tax policy has very little immediate application to the Kingdom of God - and worldview issues probably belong elsewhere, with the essays or in The Daily Grind.

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Poetry, Fairy Tales, Short Stories or Serial Long Fiction

...but [they] became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools...

Romans 1:21&22

And this is where we take no prisoners. We like Milton, MacDonald, Jane Austen, Daniel Defoe, Dickens, and P.G. Wodehouse. What we cannot stand is "Art". We believe that Modernism, not Post-Modernism, was the turn away from the Tradition. We realize that Neo-Classicism, Romanticism, and Art for Art's Sake pre-dated Modernism, and were themselves theoretical departures - and the latter pair, very self-absorbed. But the inherited Christian legacy was so rich that, even in early (Pre-Orthodox) Wordsworth, or Stevenson, or Kipling, or even in the Rationalist/Spiritualist Conan-Doyle, the light still shines through. We require that our literary publishings Entertain and Edify. We require that they be, either: within the recognized canonical tradition, and therefore well-written, affecting, and improving to the reader, or, Authentic; by which we mean that a ten year old girl, or a twenty, may submit a poem about her horse, and we might publish it, if: It expresses her real heart, her real thoughts, and is in her real words - NO FREE VERSE, NO HAIKU, NO PRETENSE. If you really think it, write it; and if you write it, write it as you'd say it, or elevate it with the ancient forms, the ancient syntaxes, and the ancient dictions, and a pre-modern sensibility. Hacks are fine; it's "Artists" we can't stomach; because Hacks, you see, speak a language that real people understand, about family and work (and, of course, sex and greed). "Artists" talk about themselves, and, you know what? We don't care. As Oliver Douglas sang, "Take Manhattan, just give me that countryside". NO ARTINESS; and no attempt to impress the academic or literary gate-keepers. If they approve, we would disapprove, and so would the Lord; for, anything that pleases Him, they renounce utterly. We shall ignore into oblivion the hopeless ironies and theoretical mumbo-jumbo of the Post-Modernists, and the hopeless depravities of the Modernists. Even the best of formal poetry for the last hundred years would not be good enough to set Samuel Johnson's pen a-twitter, though some rock-and-roll might. And we, through positive literary outpourings, shall demonstrate, for once and all, that the Artist's new clothes, are in fact the Emperor's; and we shall not dress in them.

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Criticisms, Reviews, and General Essays

We take as our models Samuel Johnson, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Addison, George Will, and even, perhaps, the baseball writer, Bill James. Elegance and Art are here at a premium, unless you are twelve, and want to let us know what you did on your summer vacation.

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Reflections, Memoirs, and Perambulations

Think Leon Hale, J. Frank Dobie, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and, to a certain extent, Garrison Keiler and Lake Wobegon, but without, of course, the bitter and agnostic edge. We really do wanna hear about your Grandma, your garden, Hoot Owls, or Life in the Oil Patch; but again, NO PRETENSE. Do not disguise your voice with penny finery. If you can write as well as Johnson or Dickens, do so. If you cannot, then write it like you'd tell it to me. OIL PATCH VETERANS - NO PROFANITY!

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Kid Stuff

We're looking for comic pages - Superman, before he took to drink, or Batman, without the existential crises. Spiderman II is a good, wholesome model. We like the old Big Little Books, The Hardy Boys, the serial Westerns, or anything else that fits the pattern in Philippians; maybe think The Sugar Creek Gang, or Big John and Sparky. We would like to have some elements of Highlights Magazine. Teachers, whether Homeschool, Christian School, or Public School, and Mommies could be a big help on the idea end here. The old documentaries of the bunny in the meadow, without the ravening predator on Gore Week, and without the references to the danger posed to the bunny by the new city sewage treatment plant, and the other depredations of Man, were, we think, preferable. So, if you wish to submit a watercolor of a bunny in the meadow, this is the place to do it.

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Art

If your talent lies more with the brush than with the quill, we also welcome your submission. Norman Rockwell and Remington are our models here (not to exclude the painterly and edifying masters). But Representational, please. Little sketches are welcome, also; as is refrigerator art, from the little ones. But if MOMA would exhibit it, with a colon in the title of the exhibition, we're probably not interested.

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The Daily Grind

Here lodge our more ephemeral profusions. This is the closest we get to topical, and nearly anything could go here, always bearing in mind Whatever is good...from Philippians. These pages are added to frequently, whereas the magazine is a set piece, once disseminated. So here belong those things time-sensitive, those pieces less formal, updates, whether about us or your new Labrador, or your new Suburban. Prayer requests, encouragements, exhortations, or blasts to the RNC telling them to stop spinning are all most fitting here. Some pieces first published here could find their way into a later issue of the magazine.

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Controversies and Correspondences

Basically, our Letters to the Editor section. Praises of The CommonPlace (and criticisms) are welcome and published. Furthermore, if you desire to weigh in on Finn and Hingest, or take issue with something we print, or some idea in our matter, we and our other readers would be happy to argue back and forth in print over a period of time, within the Biblical parameters for rational debate. So keep it clean and come out fighting!

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Our Rights to Submitted Materials

All materials submitted to us remain your property. If we publish your work, we will retain exclusive publication rights for a set period; and we reserve the right to re-publish in perpetuity. The copyright is yours, and when our exclusivity agreement expires, the right to publish elsewhere is yours.

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Payment for Publication

We are operating on the honor system, here at The CommonPlacefor submissions other than Testimonies or Preachings and Teachings, the reader can click to pay a set price for the particular article. A high percentage of that money will go to the author of the article clicked upon. And as people subscribe, and others advertise, we will share the wealth in an honorable and honest manner with those who are partners with us in this venture; whoever writes for us, draws for us, writes to us, or prays for us,is considered a partner with us in this venture.

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