Why are we designating creator categories?
The Upper New Review is an environmental literary arts magazine that accepts place-based creative works from all the watersheds of the world, with a focus on embracing bioregionalism and the environmental humanities in support of ecological literacy.
At The Upper New Review, we are seeking out place-based creative works around the globe.
We’ll say it again:
At The Upper New Review, we are seeking out place-based creative works around the globe.
We’d especially like to see works that focus on the environment and ecosystems of the Upper New River basin, but we’d also like you to share creative work about your home basins. Below are the ways we currently delineate our categories of creators.
Let us know which category (or categories) you’re in!
Where is the Work?
We want to know where our contributors’ work is coming from so we can demonstrate that community transcends boundaries. Eventually, we’d like to have contributors from every basin in the world.
A quick backstory: Upon founding the Upper New Review as an environmental literary arts magazine (and more), our focus on place-based creativity embracing bioregionalism and the environmental humanities in support of ecological literacy led us to create two categories of creators able to submit their work: residents and visitors.
It didn’t take us long to realize we needed to practice some systems wisdom and expand our scope of inclusion. We wanted to tell this backstory, because we think it is important: we think it shows that we’re practicing what we preach, embracing the dynamic within months of launching the Upper New Review project, recognizing the need for a policy shift. Creating feedback policies for feedback systems!
As such: we now have four categories of creators, based on place and activity. Moving forward, creative submissions to the Upper New Review will be categorized accordingly.
Our Creator Categories
Our categories of creators are: residents, neighbors, continentals, globals and visitors. This may seem a little self explanatory, maybe even common sense, but we want to give our definitions of each category to make sure we’re clear about what we mean for each category, and who qualifies for each category. As we continue to progress, we are prepared for the likelihood these categories and definitions will change as we expand our understanding of our neighborhoods and continents.
Find your HUC…
If you live in the United States of America, it is relatively easy to find your local watershed 12-digit HUC, or Hydrological Unit Code. Once you find that code, you can remove the last four digits and you will have your eight-digit HUC!
Click the button below to go to an EPA website (shown in the screenshot) where you can enter your ZIP code or City and State and you will be given your local HUC Code.
Creator Categories: Residents
You are a resident if you live in the Upper New River basin, USGS HUC 05050001. This is the home basin of the Upper New Review. It’s where the magazine and the organization live. It’s our headwaters headquarters. It’s where our founder and publisher lives.
What does it mean to live in the Upper New River basin? If you are registered to vote here, or it’s the address on your driver’s license, etc., then you live in the Upper New River (05050001). In case you need a refresher about HUCs, here’s a quote from our page about the HUCs…
“The United States Geological Survey created a hierarchical system of hydrologic units originally called regions, sub-regions, accounting units, and cataloging units. Each unit was assigned a unique Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC). As first implemented the system had 21 regions, 221 subregions, 378 accounting units, and 2,264 cataloging units. Over time the system was changed and expanded. As of 2010 there are six levels in the hierarchy, represented by hydrologic unit codes from 2 to 12 digits long, called regions, subregions, basins, subbasins, watersheds, and subwatersheds.”
Wikipedia: Hydrologic unit system (United States)
The Creative Work of Residents
Regardless of the type of creative work you’re making and submitting to us, the fact that you are a resident of the Upper New River means that you are making work that is inherently place-based, regardless of the theme (and location focus) of the creative work.
Should your work be accepted for publication, members of the Upper New Review staff will work with you to help tease out the place-based nature of your work.
Creator Categories: Neighbors
The Upper New has nine USGS 8-digit HUCs (basins) that touch its borders even if only for a few miles. You are a neighbor if you live in one of those nine neighboring basins:
- Watauga (06010103)
- South Fork Holston (06010102)
- North Fork Holston (06010101)
- Middle New (05050002)
- Upper James (02080201)
- Upper Roanoke (03010101)
- Upper Dan (03010103)
- Upper Catawba (03050101)
- Upper Yadkin (03040101)
These nine basins cover quite a bit of territory in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. That means we’ve got lots of neighbors who should consider submitting their work to the Upper New Review!
The Creative Work of Neighbors
If you are a neighbor of the Upper New River basin, we’re interested in seeing the creative work you’re producing that is based in or about your home basin. Again, it’s inherently place-based.
Should your work be accepted for publication, members of the Upper New Review staff will work with you to help tease out the place-based nature of your work, concerning your home basin.
Creator Categories: Continentals
If you live anywhere else in North America that is not within the boundaries of the ten basins that make up the Upper New and its nine neighbors, then you are a continental. This means that, from the purview of the Upper New Review, most of the millions of folks living in the United States, Canada, and Mexico are continentals. If you look closely at the map below, you can see the eastern outline of the Upper New River Basin in the tan section in the middle eastern portion of the continent.
The Creative Work of Continentals
If you are a continental outside of the Upper New River basin neighborhood, we’re interested in seeing the creative work you’re producing that is about your home basin. We want to see work that is more explicitly place-based.
Should your work be accepted for publication, members of the Upper New Review staff will work with you to help create a more specific critical eco-narrative about the place-based nature of your work, concerning your home basin. As an example, the map and structure diagram shown below will help you figure out how to drill down to your 8-, 10-, and 12-digit HUCs if you live in the United States. Notice there are several places along the Canadian and Mexican borders where the watersheds overlap.
Creator Categories: Globals
If you live on a continent that is not North America, then you are a global. This includes Central and South America (which we define as every nation and watershed south of the Mexico border), Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Antarctica (we’re curious if any humans consider themselves residents of Antarctica).
The Creative Work of Globals
If you’re a global, we’re interested in seeing the creative work you’re producing that is about your home basin. We want to see work that is more explicitly place-based.
Should your work be accepted for publication, members of the Upper New Review staff will work with you to help create a more specific critical eco-narrative about the place-based nature of your work, concerning your home basin.
Creator Categories: Visitors
You are a visitor if you live outside the Upper New River basin, anywhere on Earth. To be a visitor, you must have physically visited the Upper New River basin and have or will be making creative work that is explicitly focused on the Upper New River basin in a place-based manner.
Also, it should be noted that neighbors and continentals can also be visitors, assuming they’ve met the aforementioned requirement of physically visiting the Upper New River basin.
The Creative Work of Visitors
We would prefer that the creative work of visitors also have more specific ecological or environmental perspectives, but that is not required. We’re simply looking for good creative work that interprets and expresses the sense of place that visitors have when visiting the Upper New River basin.