[stylist] censorship

Thu May 7 07:09:49 UTC 2009

Lori,

Crap!  I would muse upon this, but I have no inspiration...

I don't actually know what to tell you, or what I would do in your
situtation.  It sounds like censorship to me, but I'm not well enough versed
to judge it more than that.

Questions:  If you refuse to edit the magazine, won't they just censor
someone else?  Is there any valid reasoning behind these arbitrary-sounding
nitpicks?  I'm thinking of the product references, in case they refer to
something that might be dangerous but were discussed favorably enough to
convince an unwary senior to buy them without realizing the danger.  (I
can't imagine, but I'm trying to look at it from more than one angle).

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of LoriStay at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 5:22 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] censorship

I may have mentioned that I edit a magazine called Musings of Maturity.   
Last year, the Town   commissioner for senior affairs decided to edit my 
editing, and instead of consulting me, cut and pasted (literally!) little 
squares of corrections, editing out names of products, and words she
considered 
obscene, such as crap.   (I'd already substituted that for the more pungent 
word).   Can't recall what she put.   Probably something that didn't belong 
there.   She also decided to change the word "muse" to "inspiration," thus 
changing the meaning of the article entirely.   

This year, I've asked for guidelines, and suggested that I'd be glad to 
make corrections so the publication doesn't look unprofessional with messy
cuts 
and pastes.   I was told, "But we don't do email."

Strange.   Doesn't the U.S. Postal Service still function?   I'll be glad 
to use it if the commissioner will.
Or I could hand carry the corrections.   It's not as though town hall is 
that far away.

I'm one step away from refusing to edit this magazine.   It's not a paid 
position.   Also, the writers who contribute to the magazine are quite
angry.  
 Last year was the first time our work was censored like this.   We were 
even told we couldn't rewrite a song such as "You're the top" if we said
Obama 
was the top.   (For heaven's sake, he's the President!   Can't we surmount 
politics?   Apparently not.)   The song writer gave me three possible verses

to replace, and all had product names, another no no.

Has anyone else run into this?   Yes, I have, by the way, since on occasion 
Slate & Style has had to change a word or two.   but nothing like this!
Lori

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