Though this should be a farewell letter to thank Mills, The Campanil, my peers, the cats, etc., I would much rather use this time to impart some wisdom. AP Style wisdom, that is.
This is to show my gratitude to The Campanil for taking me in a year ago and giving me the best, most entitled position in the newsroom — Copy Chief.
1) The Associated Press Stylebook —the press style guide that all journalists revere — is against the serial comma, or, the Oxford comma. This dislike for the serial comma is backed by a few number of arguments, but none of which I really care enough to go into detail. I personally love the Oxford comma, but what can I do; it’s not like I can buy out the Associated Press.
2) Department names are NOT capitalized unless it is a proper noun. So “English department” is A-Okay, but “History department” is not. Don’t ask me why.
3) Titles, such as academic titles, are not capitalized unless used before the name.
- Senior Ari Nussbaum will be graduating this semester.
- Patricia Powell, professor of English, once asked me my character’s favorite color.
4) Differences between quotation marks, italicization, etc.
- Italicize if the publication is a news/ journalist publication.
- The Campanil
- Use quotation marks for movies, poems, songs, books, etc.
- “The Laramie Project”
- “Selma”
- “Single Ladies”
- “I, Too”
- Do not format an event’s name.
- (Un)common Thread
These, I feel, are the four most common misconceptions that, as a graduating senior, I feel deep within my soul I must explain why The Campanil chooses to use or not to use them. Read it. Love it. Share it.
The less time we spend bickering over what style is grammatically correct, the more time we can spend getting down to the core of the articles.
These are my parting bits of wisdom. I hope that by the end of reading this farewell letter, everyone has come to a new perspective or are now willing to give The Campanil a little more recognition. After all, this whole year our staff has had one of the most diverse groups of people in The Campanil history, all with differing points of views, and yet despite these differences, if we can come together every two week to create a goddamn printed newspaper, doesn’t this say something?
Finally, I would like to thank The Campanil for taking in my love for clarity and consistency, I would like to thank all my professors for their support in my academia, I would like to thank my friends who have either put up with me for all four years or who have just bought their one-way ticket on the friendship train, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family — especially my parents. Wherever you two are, you are my home, my roots, my base when I need a reprieve from all the anxiety and a push to get back into the world of the living. Thank you, everyone, for your constant love and support!
