Our Story
In May of 2021 - I needed an artistic outlet. I (Frankie, He/Him) had previously started a school paper in high school, The Claret & Gold, but the project had failed to gain traction in rural West Yorkshire. Looks like the country still isn't ready for radical thought, especially for the benefit of queer people, by queer people. Alex (He/Him) had a similar problem with The Herald in Kent, the outlands of England, where social science dwindled, and needed more time to be ready for print publication of radical new ideas from new, shiny, young minds. After meeting through an essay competition, I reached out to Alex, and we found common ground in our frustration. We knew we needed to write, so after a short stint of recruiting we hired three more members - Andrew (He/Him) from York, Caitlin (She/Her) from Portsmouth, and Rebecca (She/Her) from Dublin. Andrew had also tried to start a school publication at his college in York, The Rose Window after the city's iconic York Minister, although the paper didn't go too well. Caitlin had previously been involved in political activism and wanted a platform to express her views. Rebecca, too, needed an outlet for her journalism - and a lot of her style influenced what JUDAS has become. Then, in July we welcomed Alice (She/They) and Anna (She/Her.) Alice had become, too, frustrated by a lack of opportunity for people our age, and even living in West London, she failed to find projects that would challenge her skills as an academic, web developer, and programmer, so she was happy to join us as Webmaster.
Similarly, Anna was craving more academic stimulation after being fascinated by her EPQ - she now knew she wanted to research, read, write, and create knowledge, so she joined as a Writer. From our distinct corners of the UK: Huddersfield, Kent, London, and Leeds, we joined forces and founded JUDAS. We picked the name because of our shared love for Lady Gaga, primarily, but it also had a significant (if secondary) meaning. Judas Iscariot - a disciple of Jesus - was the one who gave up Jesus to the authorities for crucifixion. We felt he represented the unorthodox, disruptive, and shiny approach we were trying to take in our research, and so the untitled project became JUDAS: A Modern Journal. Unfortunately, both Andrew and Rebecca left us in August as they needed time to focus on university. Andrew is currently studying Criminology at the University of Manchester, whilst Rebecca is reading English Literature and Classical Civilisation at Trinity College Dublin.
Whilst Caitlin remained with JUDAS whilst studying Politics and Sociology at the University of Exeter, she relinquished her duties as Webmaster to Alice, and as Managing Editor to Alex. As the Webmaster, Alice created a social media presence for JUDAS, and our readership exploded - little did we know, these were the perfect conditions for disaster.
Then the dark ages came, perhaps this part shall be slightly overdramatized. In March of 2022, tragedy struck. We had been on Twitter - along with a few other platforms - for a while, recruiting new writers and promoting our media. On the 7th of March, I posed a now-deleted post entitled NCT FLOP: A Review of 'Sticker,' the third Album by NCT 127. For a while, all was quiet, and then the NCTizens came for us hard, we got thousands of replies, comments, and direct messages which were in all honesty, a little bit much for us all. We issued an apology for my admittedly inaccurate article and deleted it, along with JUDAS' Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (what a time.) We kinda disappeared from the public eye for a while, relying on our dedicated readers to keep the publication going. Viewing numbers almost halved, but we persisted. At the end of March 2022, Caitlin left us to focus on her studies at Exeter.
Almost a year later, in February of 2023, we're certainly recovering. We're now very grateful for a very reliable readership, much more stable than it used to be when we advertised through social media. Whilst our readership is small, we've got a good team here, and it's something we're all really proud of. In January of 2023, we were joined by both Megan (She/Her) and Finn (He/Him.) Megan is a great friend to me here in Huddersfield, and she's one of the first people I knew outside of JUDAS who I told about my involvement here, and I trust her implicitly to produce very high-quality content. Megan, a published author of fiction, felt unchallenged by her studies and wanted a creative and academic outlet for her writing. Whilst we're all anticipating Megan's next book, it's nice to see her creative genius here betwixt her traditionally published prose. Finn, similarly, was unchallenged by his studies in Kent. Wanting to get his ideas out into the world, he joined JUDAS through our new online application series and has been writing ever since.
In February we were joined by the wonderful Maria (She/Her) and Nella (She/Them) who both craved more academic stimulation and wanted to supplement their curricular activities with extra work. Maria joins us from London and Nella from Hertfordshire, and they've both been excellent additions to the JUDAS team, helping to create new information and present academia through a lens of casual comedy.
Unfortunately, Anna will be leaving JUDAS in September of 2023 to attend university. Should she meet the entry requirements, she hopes to attend the University of St. Andrews to read for combined honours in Neuroscience and Psychology - she will be awarded the title of Editor Emeritus upon leaving, and we're all so happy for her contribution to our project, even though she's choosing to leave. Alex, too, will be attending university in September - he'll be attending the London School of Economics (LSE) in the fall should he meet his offer - to read for an LLB in Law. However, Alex will be stepping into the role of Editorial Consultant, and will still edit and manage for JUDAS. We're so glad he's staying with us, because I truly adore him, and he made this a thing as much as I did.
Thank you all, truly, for staying with us. Thank you for your nonwaivable loyalty to our work. Mostly, thank you for understanding the NCT situation!
Yours, always, lovingly,
Editor-in-Chief
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