Have an idea, story, or perspective to share?

Strand of Thought is open to new voices, new arguments, and ways of looking at things. You don’t need to have a finished article to get in touch. You can send us a pitch, a draft, or simply an idea you think might belong here.

Our contributions take several forms:

Opinion (Figures, Long Views, Theory Critiques)

We have learned to distrust anyone who starts a sentence with “we live in a world…”, but yeah, we do live in a world where everyone has an opinion and feels the need to share it. And that’s ok. It used to be that only a few people got to do that, through columns in newspapers. We are not saying that was better. But at least it didn’t create a habit where you debate with your friends and say “I read somewhere that…” when, really, you saw a forty second reel.

This section is our attempt to fill that gap back in with something slower. Write your opinion. Let it be taken, argued with and used. We’re not asking for consensus or balance, just your thoughts, yours alone, but longer and better fleshed out than a take. And if someone quotes you later, you get to act smug about it. That’s kind of the whole appeal.

Three ways in:

• Figures: Sometimes an idea lands better when it’s wearing a face. The expat who got sent to run a compound office in the Global South and pays no local tax, spends his days fighting for gender equality, to then waste his nights buying company at the bar. The environmental policy chief with oil stock and no solar panels. Or the reverse: the rights defender who’s been in hiding for years and hasn’t budged an inch. Write your opinion as a person; it can be real, composite, or fully invented. Sit back, relax and let the character carry the argument.
• Long Views: The long-form slot. No word count, no format rules. If an idea needs room to breathe and a reader’s full attention span, it goes here.
• Theory Critiques: We still want to argue with theory here, not just explain it but it needs to be argued in plain language, no jargon as a badge of seriousness. Feynman’s rule applies: if you can’t get the idea across to a five-year-old, you haven’t actually understood yourself. So: take a theory, a concept, a framework, and tell us where it holds up and where it doesn’t.

Overheard: You’re on the bus and you catch the most outrageous lie about immigration, said with total confidence. Or you’re early for coffee with an old friend and end up in a conversation with the table next to you that quietly rearranges what you thought “being late” even meant. This section is for the essay that starts somewhere accidental — something seen or overheard that snagged on your brain and wouldn’t let go. We want that thought, chased down.

Correspondence: Our one scheduled section. A monthly debate. A topic drops at the start of the month, and we go back and forth in letters trying to work it out, or at least work it over. Nobody has to land anywhere. This isn’t about settling the argument, it’s about keeping it moving.

Comments (Marginalia, Fieldnotes)

In Strand of Thought we are all about that dialectic… Comments are where you talk back to something outside yourself, the difference is just what that something is.

• Marginalia is talking back to a text. An article that made you think sideways. A chapter you disagreed with while reading. This is your commentary in the margins, made public.
• Fieldnotes is talking back to the field. A lot of us have seen strange, telling things out there. Maybe theory made real change and you watched it happen, maybe you saw exactly where NGOs and donor politics became a liability rather than a force for change. Good or bad, this is the part of the picture where theory can’t reach on its own. We want the whole thing, not just the flattering half.

How to contribute

If you have something that fits one of these sections, we’d like to hear from you. Send us a short pitch or a completed piece at contact@strandofthought.com.

We welcome new voices and perspectives.