This morning I got an email from a Vancouver-based real estate agent which I don't remember signing up for. So I immediately started mentally spending my essay prize money, because I submitted an essay with Vancouver as a topic before sending my computer to repair. I imagined putting money in my Vancity account and having a real address.
But no,
A few hours later my essay, which was part review and part based on a few academic blogs, was deemed to be an empirical study and not an essay, And I had thought that I had beaten the often biased review process by sending it to Vancouverites involved in the problem that I wrote about.
I was wrong.
"Given this was submitted to the essay competition I am afriad I am rejecting it at this stage mainly on the grounds that it is more an empirical study than an essay, It touches on some timely questions, yet as an empirical study understanding the role of the state and social provision through non governmental organizations would, I beleive, require more setting up to make for a publishable study, For example the work of Alan Badiou on politics of removal, or Scott on infra politics might be useful sources of provocation."
Of course when I submit it to another journal I will hear another story about it being an empirical study.
One minute I am walking away from an insane tirade about mops; a few weeks later a paper based on informal blogs is deemed to be an empirical study, because serious money (that I need) is involved. There seems to be no winning ground.
