According to the writer Jefferson D. Bates, "If you want to find examples of clear, tightly edited prose, you'll look a long way to hunt down anything better than you can encounter in any issue of the much maligned Reader's Digest." The people who hold this popular, mainstream publication in such low esteem are the intellectual elite made up of academics and the literary and journalistic intelligentsia. These smug, self-righteous blowhards detest anything that smacks of God and country. And they ridicule anyone professing so-called "middle class values." Because the Reader's Digest carries stories featuring patriotism and faith, it appeals to middle class, "middle-brow" readers who also demand writing that is straightforward, unpretentious, entertaining, informative and accessible. The high-brows who snicker at the Digest, also turn their noses up at genre fiction, instead preferring "literary" novels, a brand of fiction that to the general public is essentially unreadable. None of this would matter except for the fact that these pretentious show-offs have taken over the university, literary journals, and perhaps even worse, schools of journalism. To be sure, no professor would be caught dead with a Reader's Digest in his Volvo.
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Friday, July 17, 2020
The Era of the Talking Head
If you watch cable news it may have dawned on you that just because an expert talks on and on about a subject doesn't mean that person knows what he's talking about. It's too bad that talking doesn't require the energy of sprinting. The silence would be golden.
Thursday, July 16, 2020
The "No Good Deed" Drowning Case
The Jesus Christ Light of Sky Church performed baptisms several times each year along the Pacific coast in Santa Barbara County, California. During a baptism Sunday morning, March 30, 2014, one of the participants got swept out to sea and drowned.
The pastor, Mauro Cervantes, told a television reporter that his cousin, Benito Flores, was helping him baptize a man when a rogue wave pulled him out into the ocean. Cervantes said he tried to grab his cousin, but a second wave took him out to sea. Flores was dragged out with two other people just before ten in the morning at the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve. The other two church members survived the ordeal.
The preserve, west of the town of Guadalupe, had sand dunes more that are 550 feet high, the tallest on the west coast. Officials had warned on its website that the surf can be "very dangerous."
The pastor, Mauro Cervantes, told a television reporter that his cousin, Benito Flores, was helping him baptize a man when a rogue wave pulled him out into the ocean. Cervantes said he tried to grab his cousin, but a second wave took him out to sea. Flores was dragged out with two other people just before ten in the morning at the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve. The other two church members survived the ordeal.
The preserve, west of the town of Guadalupe, had sand dunes more that are 550 feet high, the tallest on the west coast. Officials had warned on its website that the surf can be "very dangerous."
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Tasers
Tasers, which have been around since the 1970's, are handheld devices that deliver an electrical shock that temporarily stuns and disables suspects who resist authority or pose serious physical threats to arresting officers. The original five-watt stun gun, which produced a major jolt, was followed in 1994 by a seven-watt version called the Air-Taser, a product manufactured and sold by Taser International. In 1998, the company developed a higher-powered taser designed to stop the more combative, dangerous suspect likely to fight through the lighter applications. A year or so later, Taser International came out with the M 26, a 26-watt device that stunned subjects with 50,000 volts. The company began selling the X26 in 2003, a lighter, more portable version of the M 26.
While representatives of Taser International insist that their nonlethal device is safe, critics of the stun gun, such as Amnesty International, claim that tasers have killed hundreds of people. In cases where citizens have died after being shocked by the police, forensic pathologists have found preexisting illnesses or the presence of drugs and other toxic substances. The safety debate continues in forensic medicine and in the courts. But among those who recognize and appreciate that tasers provide a nonlethal alternative to billy clubs and guns, there is concern over the indiscriminate use of the device on people whose behavior doesn't call for such force. Over the past few years, police officers have tasered (or tased) children as young as six years of age; people who were mentally ill or physically disabled; and elderly women. Police officers have also stunned peaceful protestors and citizens stopped for traffic violations and other minor offenses whose actions did not justify the unpleasant experience of being jolted by 50,000 volts.
At present, officers in more than 11,000 police agencies carry taser guns. Although there is no governmental agency that keeps a record of the frequency and consequences of taser use, groups like Amnesty International assert that the frequency of taser use in on the rise. The rise in Taser use, at least in part, may be a result of the increased use of drugs that cause violent behavior, and the fact more people are resisting arrest. Although there is no hard evidence to support this, Taser use probably has reduced the number of police-involved shootings.
While representatives of Taser International insist that their nonlethal device is safe, critics of the stun gun, such as Amnesty International, claim that tasers have killed hundreds of people. In cases where citizens have died after being shocked by the police, forensic pathologists have found preexisting illnesses or the presence of drugs and other toxic substances. The safety debate continues in forensic medicine and in the courts. But among those who recognize and appreciate that tasers provide a nonlethal alternative to billy clubs and guns, there is concern over the indiscriminate use of the device on people whose behavior doesn't call for such force. Over the past few years, police officers have tasered (or tased) children as young as six years of age; people who were mentally ill or physically disabled; and elderly women. Police officers have also stunned peaceful protestors and citizens stopped for traffic violations and other minor offenses whose actions did not justify the unpleasant experience of being jolted by 50,000 volts.
At present, officers in more than 11,000 police agencies carry taser guns. Although there is no governmental agency that keeps a record of the frequency and consequences of taser use, groups like Amnesty International assert that the frequency of taser use in on the rise. The rise in Taser use, at least in part, may be a result of the increased use of drugs that cause violent behavior, and the fact more people are resisting arrest. Although there is no hard evidence to support this, Taser use probably has reduced the number of police-involved shootings.
The Burp Heard Across the Classroom
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, when a 13-year-old student "burped audibly" in physical education class, the PE teacher called a school "resource officer" to deal with the disruption. The resource officer summoned a city police officer who came to the school, handcuffed the boy, and hauled him off to a juvenile detention center.
The burping boy, while not charged with a crime, was suspended for the rest of the school year. (This took place in December 2011.) While in custody, the boy's captors gave him a risk assessment test. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extremely dangerous, the boy scored a 2. My guess is that if Mr. Rogers had taken this test, he would have scored a 2 as well. Perhaps the Dalai Lama would have pulled a 1. The kid's parents filed a lawsuit.
The burping boy, while not charged with a crime, was suspended for the rest of the school year. (This took place in December 2011.) While in custody, the boy's captors gave him a risk assessment test. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extremely dangerous, the boy scored a 2. My guess is that if Mr. Rogers had taken this test, he would have scored a 2 as well. Perhaps the Dalai Lama would have pulled a 1. The kid's parents filed a lawsuit.
Why Smart People Do Stupid Things
Stupid behavior is less the product of I.Q. and more the result of lust, anger, greed and/or vanity. Mix in drugs and alcohol and things can really get stupid. Perhaps this is why even the smartest people do some of the dumbest things.
Political Movements
In politics and public policy, many so-called "movements" start out with good intentions and noble ideas, are taken over by radicals and zealots, then devolve into corrupt organizations that are all about money and power. Beware of the movement.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
The Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier Murder Case
At eleven at night on January 16, 2015 in Pemberton Township, a community thirty miles east of Philadelphia in southern New Jersey, several people saw a young woman get out of a car she had parked along Simontown Road. They noticed that she carried something in her arms, a bundle she laid down in the middle of the street. When the woman set fire to the bundle, several witnesses asked her what she was doing. The woman replied calmly that she was burning dog waste.
To their horror, these witnesses heard the cry of a baby coming from the little fire in the street. People rushed to douse the flames while others called 911 and prevented the woman from driving off in her car.
Paramedics rushed the baby, still alive, to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. From there the newly born infant with its umbilical cord and placenta still attached was flown to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. The baby girl died sometime after midnight. The tiny victim, secretly born on the day of her death, had been sprayed with WD-40 and set ablaze.
The baby's mother, 22-year-old Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier, lived about a mile from where she set her infant on fire. After receiving medical treatment, officers booked the suspect into the Burlington County Corrections and Work Release Center on the charge of murder. The judge set her bond at $500,000.
In April 2016, Dorvilier pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. At her sentencing hearing, she said, "I was on a downward spiral. I believe I hit rock bottom. I apologize first and foremost for not giving my daughter, Angelica, the life she deserved."
The judge sentenced Dorvilier to 30 years in prison.
To their horror, these witnesses heard the cry of a baby coming from the little fire in the street. People rushed to douse the flames while others called 911 and prevented the woman from driving off in her car.
Paramedics rushed the baby, still alive, to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. From there the newly born infant with its umbilical cord and placenta still attached was flown to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. The baby girl died sometime after midnight. The tiny victim, secretly born on the day of her death, had been sprayed with WD-40 and set ablaze.
The baby's mother, 22-year-old Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier, lived about a mile from where she set her infant on fire. After receiving medical treatment, officers booked the suspect into the Burlington County Corrections and Work Release Center on the charge of murder. The judge set her bond at $500,000.
In April 2016, Dorvilier pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. At her sentencing hearing, she said, "I was on a downward spiral. I believe I hit rock bottom. I apologize first and foremost for not giving my daughter, Angelica, the life she deserved."
The judge sentenced Dorvilier to 30 years in prison.
The Rise of Shoplifting
Shoplifting came of age in America in 1995, when the FBI reported that it had jumped 93 percent in the previous five years and was "the nation's fasted-growing form of larceny." The crime was part of President Johnson's Commission on Law Enforcement; his "Special Message to Congress on Crime and Law Enforcement in the U. S." It marked the first time a president ever mentioned shoplifting. The shoplifting spike also inspired the modern anti-shoplifting technology industry, which in the past half century claimed multibillion dollar profits.
Rachel Shteir, The Steal, 2011
Rachel Shteir, The Steal, 2011
Monday, July 13, 2020
Book Editors On Editing
There was a time in book publishing when editors like Maxwell Perkins of Scribner and Sons played a hands-on role in getting a manuscript ready for publication. Today, editors still evaluate manuscripts and make suggestions, but get much less involved in shaping the book for publication.
A lot of writers think of book editors as failed novelists who take out their frustration on authors. This view is expressed in a quote by David A. Fryxell: "Most of them [editors] grew up wanting to be writers. Now they hold the power of professional life or death over people who are doing what they would probably still rather be doing--writing." I disagree. Literary editing is an art form in its own right, and great editors are talented people. A great editor can turn a good manuscript into an excellent book.
What follows are what authors say about book editors and the editing process:
Editors in publishing houses can be perceived as basically performing three different roles, all of them simultaneously. First they must find and select the books the house is to publish. Second they edit. And third, they perform the function of representing the house to the author and the author to the house.
Alan D. Williams
Although they're skittish and sometimes blind to real talent, they [editors] are often ambitious idealists; they would like nothing better than to discover and publish a great book--or even a moderately good one.
John Gardner
Often the editing talent is not the writer's own. An outside eye and hand is usually essential.
Dr. Alice W. Flaherty
The successful editor is one who is constantly finding new writers, nurturing their talents, and publishing them with critical and financial success. The thrill of developing fresh writing makes the search worthwhile, even when the waiting and working becomes months, sometimes years of drudgery and frequent disappointment.
A Scott Berg
Master editors taught me how to break books down and put them back together. You learn values--the value of tension, of keeping tension on the page and how that's done, and you learn how to spot self-indulgence, how you don't need it. You learn to become very free and easy about moving things around, which a reader would never do. A reader sees a printed book and that's it. But when you see a manuscript as an editor, you say, well this is chapter twenty, but it should be chapter three.
E. L. Doctorow
Good editing is one of those laborious invisible jobs, like housekeeping, that are apparent only when they aren't done.
John Jerome
Readers give as much credit to an editor for the books they read as pitchers pay tribute to the horses whose hides encase baseballs.
John T. Winterich
You know I'm not the sort of editor who pesters authors [of children's books] and artists. I love creative people, and I never want to do anything to make life harder than it is for creative people.
Ursula Nordstrom
Nobody remotely interested in the role of editors or their relationship to writers should fail to read Editor to Author: The Letters of Maxwell Perkins, edited by John Hall Wheelock. With their warmth, eloquence, total empathy with authors, and gentle but keenly persuasive suggestions, these letters stand alone as lasting beacons to those who would follow.
Alan D. Williams
A good editor is a man who understands what you're talking and writing about and doesn't meddle too much. A good editor can put his finger on weakness...without trying to tell you how to repair it.
Irwin Shaw
The job of editor in a publishing house is the dullest, hardest, most exciting, exasperating and rewarding of perhaps any job in the world.
John Hall Wheelock
When I was an editor, nothing turned me off quicker than reading a presentation that stated the author's book was suitable for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.A., and therefore the book had a potential sale of more than 200 million.
Oscar Collier
Writers work under constant threat of public ridicule and rejection. Editors are protected by a shield of public anonymity
Ralph Keyes
A lot of writers think of book editors as failed novelists who take out their frustration on authors. This view is expressed in a quote by David A. Fryxell: "Most of them [editors] grew up wanting to be writers. Now they hold the power of professional life or death over people who are doing what they would probably still rather be doing--writing." I disagree. Literary editing is an art form in its own right, and great editors are talented people. A great editor can turn a good manuscript into an excellent book.
What follows are what authors say about book editors and the editing process:
Editors in publishing houses can be perceived as basically performing three different roles, all of them simultaneously. First they must find and select the books the house is to publish. Second they edit. And third, they perform the function of representing the house to the author and the author to the house.
Alan D. Williams
Although they're skittish and sometimes blind to real talent, they [editors] are often ambitious idealists; they would like nothing better than to discover and publish a great book--or even a moderately good one.
John Gardner
Often the editing talent is not the writer's own. An outside eye and hand is usually essential.
Dr. Alice W. Flaherty
The successful editor is one who is constantly finding new writers, nurturing their talents, and publishing them with critical and financial success. The thrill of developing fresh writing makes the search worthwhile, even when the waiting and working becomes months, sometimes years of drudgery and frequent disappointment.
A Scott Berg
Master editors taught me how to break books down and put them back together. You learn values--the value of tension, of keeping tension on the page and how that's done, and you learn how to spot self-indulgence, how you don't need it. You learn to become very free and easy about moving things around, which a reader would never do. A reader sees a printed book and that's it. But when you see a manuscript as an editor, you say, well this is chapter twenty, but it should be chapter three.
E. L. Doctorow
Good editing is one of those laborious invisible jobs, like housekeeping, that are apparent only when they aren't done.
John Jerome
Readers give as much credit to an editor for the books they read as pitchers pay tribute to the horses whose hides encase baseballs.
John T. Winterich
You know I'm not the sort of editor who pesters authors [of children's books] and artists. I love creative people, and I never want to do anything to make life harder than it is for creative people.
Ursula Nordstrom
Nobody remotely interested in the role of editors or their relationship to writers should fail to read Editor to Author: The Letters of Maxwell Perkins, edited by John Hall Wheelock. With their warmth, eloquence, total empathy with authors, and gentle but keenly persuasive suggestions, these letters stand alone as lasting beacons to those who would follow.
Alan D. Williams
A good editor is a man who understands what you're talking and writing about and doesn't meddle too much. A good editor can put his finger on weakness...without trying to tell you how to repair it.
Irwin Shaw
The job of editor in a publishing house is the dullest, hardest, most exciting, exasperating and rewarding of perhaps any job in the world.
John Hall Wheelock
When I was an editor, nothing turned me off quicker than reading a presentation that stated the author's book was suitable for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.A., and therefore the book had a potential sale of more than 200 million.
Oscar Collier
Writers work under constant threat of public ridicule and rejection. Editors are protected by a shield of public anonymity
Ralph Keyes
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