Open Letter to Rosemary Feal, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, and the Modern Language Association

"I have been trying to finish a somewhat long-ish op-ed 'Open Letter to Rosemary Feal​, Kathleen Fitzpatrick,​ and the Modern Language Association' for several weeks now, but so many other things are getting in the way (such as the recent release of punctum books’s new Graduated Open Access platform), that I’ve decided to encapsulate the main points here more briefly (with the longer op-ed to emerge later). First, let me say how much I admire the work of Feal and Fitzpatrick and everything they have done on behalf of making the MLA more inclusive, less hierarchichal, more in sync with the contemporary landscape of literary and language (and really, cultural) studies (especially in globally inflected ways), more sensitive to the dire precariousness of graduate students and adjuncts (such as with their support of the MLA Sub-conference), and more digitally networked and social media-savvy. Let me also convey my immense gratitude to Fitzpatrick, especially, whose book Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy, and also her work with MediaCommons Press, has been one of the biggest influences on pretty much every editorial and publishing project I have ever been involved with. Her work has always stood (for me) as a shining beacon vis-a-vis the breaking open and enaction of peer-to-peer review networks and open commons projects, but given Kathleen’s own recent op-ed piece on Academia.edu, 'Academia, not Edu,' in which she urges us to explore alternatives to for-profit initiatives such as Academia.edu, which could never (supposedly) have our best Open Commons and Public Knowledge interests in mind, and to consider instead becoming part of the MLA Commons, and thus be able to take advantage of CORE, their new 'repository through which members can not only deposit and preserve their work, but also share it directly with the other members of the network,' I feel compelled to write this open letter ..."