Meditations in a Pandemic: Day 3

“1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy/ 2. Submissive to everything, open, listening/ 3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house/ 4. Be in love with yr lif” - J. Kerouac, Beliefs and Techniques for Modern Prose

Is it a roll or a role? Unlike the classic grammatical missteps, such as confusing their, there, and they’re or the misuse of it’s or its; when I come across a job description in which a “roll” is outlined, it becomes trivialized and I start to crave a spicy tuna roll. Bad grammar, of course, does not discount a potential client or candidate, but it does showcase a lack of awareness and care. Good grammar is timeless; find your comrades in Shrunk and White. 

Some think print is dead. The Times, Johannes Gutenberg, and I would disagree. We know the power of print, the strength of ink on parchment, the immutable force of words that are and feel tangible in this reality. As a staunch advocate for the written word, I offer the following advice in the age of automation: Treat the words you type as the words you write. Treat them with respect, care, and a sense of permanent urgency. At the very least, add Grammarly to your cyber-tool box. Write clearly; be it a job description or the next Great American Classic we are all writing as we telework (that will define this generation darn it!), write clearly. Appropriate word choice, correct form, and suitable phrasing or line breaks, will ensure clear communication and extends thoughtful deference to your reader. 

Sure, we all enjoy poking fun at the grammar fanatic at the party, but they will undoubtedly proof that midnight text you are scrawling out. In their honor, below are three more bullets to follow: 

1. Have another pair of eyes look at your work: The robots haven’t quite caught up in this respect (or perhaps they have, and want us to look foolish when sending out a pubic memo, instead of a public one). 
2. Omit Needless Words: Ripped from the pages of Shrunk and White, that phrase practices what it preaches: brevity whenever possible.  
3. Use the Active Voice: Guilty should be charged to me. Gross. Instead: Guilty as charged.

Now for the fun stuff:

• Tune of the Day: Chopstick > Forks (Stuff You Should Know Podcast) 
• Text of the Day: Catch & Release: How To Not Feel Overwhelmed By Your Books (Ed Grabianowski, 2018) ( Also a great couped-up project.)
• Misc.: Chef Show (Streaming on Netflix)