[stylist] censorship

[LoriStay at aol.com]

Is there anyone else willing to do it, that's the question?   Mary, one of 
our members, is capable, but she's angrier than I am about it, since it was 
her work that was the main target!

>From what I can gather, we are a Republican town, so can't say anything 
nice about the Democrats, but this is just speculation.   They don't like 
political references.   One of our members has done a limerick on each of the 
presidents, and now we are concerned they won't let him use them.

The product references were not dangerous.   The commissioner may have been 
thinking someone would believe we were touting the products.   It's hard to 
write about life as it is today without mentioning Kleenex, Coke, 
Hershey's, and Mallomar, but I suppose I'll have to do it.
Lori

In a message dated 5/7/09 3:09:49 AM, tamara.8024 at comcast.net writes:


> 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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