The Ladder: Infrequent Intelligence from the NCSDO Staff
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People are surprised to learn that an NCSDO copyeditor can also work as a yoga instructor. Aren't the two jobs fundamentally disparate, they ask, the one being exacting, technical, and nerdy, the other, permissive, organic, holistic?
Yes and no.
They are dissimilar on many fronts (see above), and we all need balance, so I appreciate the mildness of yoga after a day of ink-red precision. In perhaps more ways, however, practicing yoga is not unlike editing for NCSDO: In both endeavors, we are exceedingly present (yoga without mindfulness is beside the point, and editing a proof while daydreaming has big, expensive consequences), so we approach both a posture and a document as if for the first time, no matter how many times we've experienced them. We focus on both the details and the piece as a whole—that is, we think about the placement of the big toe and the coordination of the spine with all the limbs, just as we think of the placement of commas while keeping in mind the overall message and voice of the institution. And in both services, we are compassionate in our criticism, subject to tradition and style, and continually striving for balance, harmony, grace, and strength.
And of course, the end result of, say, a well-executed downward dog and an error-free, magnificently written viewbook is the same: bliss.
Posted by Erica Ashton on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:33:38 -0400 | Permalink
If you don't read this blog...
Before alerting the SPCA, please know that Typo remains unharmed. The threat is disingenuous; but what other content could compete with this single dramatic image to bring visitors to the Ladder?
By the way, if harming a defenseless (albeit steely eyed and imaginary) dog to jolt a readership seems a familiar tactic, then you are likely remembering a 1973 edition of National Lampoon. The black-and-white dog made for an easy connection.
But back to worthwhile content . . . and blogs. Others do a fine job dispensing wisdom about higher education, communications, design, food, sports—the stuff that interests us. And then there are the professional listserves, where the idea of information doubling every 10 years is already obsolete.
We made attempts.
We ended up with the dog.
From time to time, we will find ways to salt this blog with thoughts on those topics. Mostly, however, we'll try to keep this area like Typo—a little off balance but, we hope, entertaining and more or less relevant for those likely to stumble upon the site.
But for now, there's a dog that demands an apology . . .
Posted by Clifford Lull on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:30:35 -0500 | Permalink