A The New Yorker copy editor, that is! I especially liked her comment that “The hours at The New Yorker are from ten to six, and I try to be on time, as it is embarrassing to be chronically late when you don’t have to be at the office till ten.” It’s interesting to find out the differences with book editing (and with the processes we have at UU World).
Although my details differ, I have this same feeling about my job:
The thing I like most about my job is that it draws on my entire background. I know a little Italian and Greek that sometimes come in handy. I once caught a mistake in Middle English (in a piece by Andrew Porter yet)—the only time my graduate degree has ever had a practical use. I know the name of the airport in Cleveland, and that can be useful when you’re reading a piece of fiction by a Southern writer who is making things up about northern Ohio. It’s redemptive to have a practical use for the arcana of Roman Catholicism.
via Copy Editing at The New Yorker Magazine. An Interview With Mary Norris | Red Room.
Remember when you caught a quarter-page ad that proudly announced a lecture by “Palmer Parker” instead of Parker Palmer? It was just one of many occasions when having a Quaker around came in handy!