women’s ‘issues’ focus on health
April 17th, 2008 at 08:30am Jennie Pollock
next week (april 25), we’ll have our biggest rockford woman magazine yet — 84 pages.
you may notice two changes:
1. instead of being stapled together, the magazine is “perfect bound,” which means it has a spine.
2. we’ve added a spring health section, 16 pages, focused on how we women can look and feel good. we’ll also do the same in the fall. above is an alternate photo of verlinda hendricks we shot but did not use for the section’s cover.
meanwhile, we plan to do an upcoming cover story on elder care, since women often face overwhelming situations when they have to handle important life and health care decisions for their parents. i’ve gotten a bunch of feedback already from my advisory board, but if you have any suggestions on resources or angles, i’ll take them here….
Entry Filed under: Rockford Woman
6 Comments Add your own
1. Rebecca | April 17th, 2008 at 9:12 am
The “shift” button on the keyboard will allow you to use capital letters. Simply depress the “shift” key at the same time you press the letter you’d like capitalized.
Or is this a 12-year-old’s Myspace entry?
2. Jennie Pollock | April 17th, 2008 at 10:09 am
hey, good one, that made me laugh. seriously.
sorry if it drives you nuts.
a few months ago, when someone else questioned my ignorance of the “shift” key, i wrote this in the magazine:
“For years, I have written in lowercase for e-mail, blog posts and text messages, not any formal documents.
I do the lowercase thing for convenience: I figure the message is still clear. Have you seen those spam e-mails that show you can understand words just as long as you have the first few and last few letters correct and mess up the middle? At least I spell correctly most of the time.
It might surprise you that I had 12 years of Catholic school grammar and started in journalism as a copy editor. Language is my passion.
I’ve heard about the decline of proper language skills in school, and I intend to hold my own children accountable for their homework once they learn how to write a sentence.”
3. Rebecca | April 17th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
A quick Google search of “punctuation and credibility” yields over 100,000 articles addressing the subject, and a quick glance at the first page of results confirms my belief: Good punctuation lends credibility.
So why do you think the internet deserves less credibility? I know it’s a fluid medium, but I expect more from reporters having been one for ten years. It’s not that I believe you’re a bad writer. It’s that, in my opinion, by not capitalizing properly you rob yourself of credibility and make yourself look lazy. I can’t imagine any of your teachers or nun would be happy with that.
But it begs the questions: Why did you use proper capitalization in a magazine article and you don’t bother with it in your blog? Why give people an excuse to not give you the credibility and respect you deserve?
You deserve more respect as a writer, and as readers we deserve an adherence to style, regardless of where we read your work.
4. jennie pollock | April 17th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
per punctuation, i pay attention to everything but capitalization.
i have to say: yours is the best argument i’ve heard so far.
makes me think.
5. thedudeabides | April 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
are comments not working? this is the third time I’ve tried to post this…..
6. thedudeabides | April 18th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Ok, seems to work now. Let’s see if I can remember what I typed before it got erased:::::
_______________________
I concur.
The RRStar touts its move to the online format, but seems to hold the online version to a lesser standard. I agree with commenter Rebecca; if the online version is the future of Rockford’s print media, attention to detail and professional standards should be upheld. (Jennie, I’m looking at you!)
ex: Would you ever see a huge sticker advertisement blocking the entire front page of the paper? No, somehow it’s justified online. (Dickerson Nieman, I’m looking at you!)
Emails, private conversations, and the like; sure, go ahead and use the grammar, spelling, and punctuation that you like, but it seems inappropriate and too informal for a professional news industry publication. (Go Girls, I’m looking at you!)
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