Call for Submissions 
Drinking Water
Lead Contamination,
Flint, Michigan, 2016

In April 2014, Flint changed its water source to the Flint River. This water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply. Now 6,000 – 12,000 children, in addition to thousands of adults, have been exposed to drinking water with unsafe levels of lead.

Plumbers have volunteered time to install filters on household faucets, but levels in some homes may be too high for these after-the-fact measures to be effective. This crisis is being called a case of environmental racism because it disproportionately exposes ethnic minorities to pollution.

At Broadsided, we believe that art and literature belong in our daily lives. They inspire and demonstrate the vitality and depth of our connection with the world. We had to speak out—we had to make a space for you to speak out—on this issue.

Three Broadsided Press artists have provided images they’ve created that, for them, speak to the Flint drinking water contamination in a wide sense. 

We now ask you to respond with words. 

Below are the images and specific guidelines for submission. We look forward to seeing what responses are inspired in you. 

Guidelines

Respond to the pieces above and to the right in poetry, fiction, or prose. Your response need not be literal—you may take off in any tangent the work suggests. However, the art and writing must, together, work to create a greater piece. We are not afraid of strong, political work, but we do not favor the didactic.

• Deadline: Work must be submitted under the “Responses: Flint Drinking Water” button at Submittable by March 15, 2016
• Include the TITLE of the ART to which your writing is responding via the radio button form
• Please also include a short bio in your entry. 
• Only one response per entrant per art piece, please (yes, you can do 3 entries, one for each piece of art, if you’re so inspired, but please use separate submittable entries). 
• Our usual guidelines for length etc. apply.

The editors will read all submissions, and the winning entries/entry will be published on or around March 30, 2016. 

If your piece is chosen, we will have a short question or two to ask you about your process and will ask for a photo of your collaboration up in your community.

You can get a pdf of this announcement here.

This is Broadsided’s sixth “Responses” feature.

– See more at: http://www.broadsidedpress.org/responses/2016flint/#sthash.Y6du0g5o.dpuf

>via: http://www.broadsidedpress.org/responses/2016flint/