Quality-Cut Edits, Worth its Weight in Gold

I am going to come right out and say it. No hesitation. No second-guessing. No excuses.

I do not tolerate mediocrity.

That is not to say I do not realize that I, too, am mediocre, but I genuinely, completely, and unequivocally dislike sub-par production. I come with my own barrel of monkeys in the form of my perfectionism, which essentially means I get nothing creative of my own done. In a way I'm the pot calling the kettle black. However, that is not what I'm talking about, here. I am talking about the competition of production, the publication of an essay by a writer who flat out refuses to revise it because it would change the initial integrity of the thing. And because she doesn't want to "completely re-write it."

Now, laziness of the author aside, I use the term "initial integrity" very, very lightly. Whatever integrity of this essay the writer has disillusioned herself of, it is so shallow you couldn't drown in it. No, I'm too busy drowning in the excess flourish of semicolons (not even used properly most of the time), the schizophrenic dash from idea to idea, the unrelenting and irrational jumps in [who-knows-what-kind-of-]logic and the haphazardly created mask of an "experiment" to hide the true nature of this soapbox scandal.

I know I am being melodramatic here, but it is completely necessary. I don't want to give too much away about the work because, even though I feel the utmost disdain for this piece, I know the author and she is a good person, and humiliating her is not my intent. However, that being said, even the title of her work does not actually relate to it. One of the words she uses in the title has the definition of "the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures." Unfortunately, that has absolutely nothing to do with the paper, despite what the author may think.

Not only does the lack of quality of this paper makes me want to pull out my hair, but the professor I am editing with essentially has written me off as co-editor. He told me to tell the writers the overall edits they need to do, and then he would tackle copy-editing by himself. I don't know if he thinks I am not a credible source, seeing as I'm only a student and all, or if he's trying to make himself look good. He seems new this year, and half of his office was still full of cardboard move-in boxes. My frustration mounted when I went to see him last week; he even seemed to like this paper! Not only that, after the short retort from the writer about her "initial integrity," he sent me an email saying, "well, if she is truly unrelenting about her paper, I suppose we'll have to leave it the way it is."

Wait, WHAT? Are you crazy? This paper is in no condition to be published and you are going to let it be printed "as is" simply because the writer puts herself on a golden alter and is too perfect (and lazy) to edit her work? What the fuck kind of editor are you? Seems to me he just doesn't want to deal with a stuck up, irate author. He's just as lazy as she is, in my book.

In a way I am wary of even putting my name on this book. This may sound cold and shallow, but if this essay is published as is, or even with only a few edits, I don't really want to be associated with this edition of the WC Review. I look back at the old editions and they were all full of truly quality work, at least in terms of the essays. The poetry has since improved since the 90s, but man, those essays back then were the real deal. End notes ranging in the 50s to 70s, bibliographies running on for pages...these students were truly that: students. There is passion, effort and style running rampant in those old volumes. Not so much these days. Because students are "perfect" when they come into college and don't really need to be taught anything.

Before I slip too far off topic, I just want to say that even though I sound crazy with rage about this paper, I really do want it to get better. Maybe it's for my own reputation, maybe it's for the college' reputation, or maybe it's just because I want to see the proper use of a goddamn semicolon once in a while.