Today I feel like a pesky intern. I have been wandering around looking for work to do, but no one seems to have any for me. During my search I even wandered into an important meeting which I was promptly thrown out of. Incidentally, I have also been thrown out of my own office because my office mate is conducting a phone interview.

So I gave up on the search for work, got some orange chicken from Panda Express, and I have settled into a co-worker’s office for a nice, long blog post about life, love, the meaning of the universe, editing, and the summer. (But mostly the last two.)

I’ve noticed something since I started working here as a writer and editor. Even when I’m not at work, I now have the urge to edit everything. I am officially the person who everyone hates because I am always pointing out mistakes on signs and brochures and being really snotty and condescending about it (despite the fact that I, myself, absolutely depend on Microsoft Word’s automatic spell check). But I come across about 50 things each day I want to edit. From Facebook statuses to restaurant menus to the student newspaper (which got my last name and major wrong in my last of 60 columns) to the fortune cookie I got the other day telling me “it is time to moving forward.” I just want to fix the world’s mistakes.

And speaking of moving forward, this is totally unrelated but I am excited to continue working here as we move on into summer. Summertime in Bloomington is wonderful with most of the students gone, and it will be nice to have a reason to be in town every day. I am also excited for summer because I just opened my fortune cookie from my lunch and it says “You will have full contentment by summers end.” So achieving full contentment is definitely something to be excited about.

(Although there should really be an apostrophe before the “s” in “summers.”)

In honor of my first blog post a couple weeks ago, my boss presented me with a silky smooth milk chocolate Dove bar, which I spread out and savored over a 3-day span. (I did not blog because I was motivated by this chocolate bar. I had heard mention of a chocolate-y incentive but for some reason I had assumed it was more of a metaphorical chocolate bar, which made it all the sweeter when it turned out to be very, very real).

I hope my boss realizes that, now that she has set the bar (pun intended), I will expect chocolate in increasing qualities each time I blog. Over the next few months I expect to receive the following in this order: chocolate chip cookies, a chocolate bunny, a three-layer chocolate mousse cake, a chocolate fondue feast complete with fresh fruit for dipping, and—eventually—my very own chocolate fountain to reside permanently in my office.

Also after my last blog post, my co-workers started feeling sorry for me for never getting mail. So the next time I passed my mailbox, it looked like this:

If you think you’re looking at a toy car, an IU promotional mug from the 80’s, and some kind of nut that has been spray-painted metallic for reasons I cannot even begin to imagine, you’d be correct. Mail at last!

I’m still having a lot of fun working here and I continue to learn a lot about writing, marketing, and IU. Our office has been working hard to develop a YouTube channel for Indiana University. When we all arrived at our weekly staff meeting a couple weeks ago, we were told to go out on campus to interview students about what they watch on YouTube and to come back an hour later to report our findings. (The student I ended up interviewing told me that he watches YouTube videos to learn military tactics, which I found slightly frightening…) But I think we received a lot of interesting insights that day and started developing some really innovative ideas. I also got to spend some time surfing YouTube to see what kinds of videos IU students have made and posted that we could link as favorites on our channel.

I’ll leave you with a few of my personal favorites:

IU’s Straight No Chaser—Stand By Me

Why I Like IU: Squirrel Cam

Jordan River Junkies

A little over a month ago, I nervously entered the Office of Creative Services to begin my first day as an intern. It was 9 a.m.—an hour I had not experienced since high school—and I was priding myself on being able to function so early in the day. Like a real adult with a real job! (An hour later I realized that I was wearing my shirt backwards. I snuck off to the bathroom to fix it, but only after being introduced to everyone in the office.)

Anyway. I am really enjoying myself here. This is, after all, my first job that doesn’t involve serving either pizza or fried chicken. Also, I have two computer monitors at my desk, which makes it easier to pretend that I am extremely and irreplaceably important. Also making me feel important is my very own mailbox. I have never gotten any mail here, but each day I walk by it, hopeful. I refuse to be discouraged. I like to think that one day, when I least expect it, a piece of mail will be waiting for me. If not, maybe at least someone else’s mail will be delivered into my box accidentally, which would be equally exciting.

But I do more here than open multiple browser windows to spread out on my two monitors (just because I can) and think up reasons to pass by my mailbox six or seven times a day. I have spent most of my time working on the Founders Day booklet. I have been researching the distinguished teachers who will be honored with awards at Founders Day this year and writing page-long biographies of each. I have gotten to read about some amazing people, and I truly feel honored to get to do something for them—even in this very small and anonymous way.

I also enjoy going to biweekly meetings with all the other editors here to discuss current projects. We have also been known to debate our favorite punctuation marks, which is something that nobody outside of this office has ever wanted to do with me. For a while the editors were split evenly between the semicolon and the em dash, but slowly everyone but me has jumped to the em dash ship. I will loyally stand beside the semicolon until the day that I die, though, even if it costs me friends, family, and health. (Unless I eventually decide I like the em dash better. I didn’t even know what it was until a few weeks ago. And secretly, I’m still figuring out how to use it.)
I will continue to update about my internship throughout the spring. But right now, it’s time to go check my mailbox.

by Julia Boriss

I think many writers must use this tip: When I’ve worked especially hard on writing something, and I want to make sure that it sounds good, I close the door to my office and read the copy aloud. The ear is a great editor. It catches clunky, awkward constructions and sentences that are too long. It reminds you to vary sentence structure and length to hold your reader’s interest. Reading aloud lets you hear the cadence of what you’ve written so you know if you’re achieving the desired effect; it lets you know when your writing is smooth and when it “sings.”

“Millennial”: it’s a term I’m hearing often these days, particularly in the weekly editors’ meetings at the Office of Creative Services. As one of the few (okay, maybe the only) Millennial in the office, I bristle every time someone mentions the word. Funny, because until recently, I thought the generic term for my generation was “Gen Y.” And until I heard this new descriptor, my only annoyance was that I didn’t make it into Generation X.

But what is a Millennial? The term is used–along with “Gen Y”–to describe the group of people born in the 80s and 90s. I’ve even heard that it’s used to describe anyone born between the years of 1979 and 1997. As with Gen X and the Baby Boomers, Millennials supposedly share certain characteristics–having overprotective, or “helicopter” parents, for example. Perhaps because of these helicopter parents, we are sheltered, achieving, and special (we think we’re special, anyway). We are also technologically savvy, teaching our parents the newest trends, which they will then, by this definition, use to find the quickest way to e-mail our professors, demanding next semester’s syllabus so their child can be the best-prepared student. Other descriptors I’ve heard include “confident,” “team-oriented,” and “conventional.” I’ve even heard students’ rudeness be attributed to being Millennials–we’re just too darn special to be bothered with saying “excuse me” when we bump into someone. I perked up at this one. You mean I can be a jerk and blame it on my generation? This is great!

But then I thought about it, and I realized my dad would kick my butt if he saw me acting that way. In fact, he’d probably fly in and salvage the situation before anyone thought less of me. Wait a second–that is so, like, Millennial of me.

In fact, the more I think about it, the harder I fight against this Millennial accusation, the more I become one. No wonder my co-workers are smirking at my protests. I’m just too “special” to believe I fit in a category.

What do you think? Submit a comment and let ME know. But could you e-mail it to my dad first?

Do Midwesterners speak without an accent? Are e-mail and messaging ruining American English? Are mass media homogenizing regional dialects? Why is Buffy the Vampire Slayer linguistically significant?

The short answers are no, probably not, no, and because of its great slang. For the long answers, check out the Web site for Do You Speak American? This three-part television series, featuring reporting by Robert MacNeil, debuted on public television a couple of years ago. Its Web site is a great resource for information about the history, dynamics, and future of American English.

WTIU viewers can see the first part of Do You Speak American? on Friday, August 11, at 9 p.m. The other parts will air on subsequent Fridays. You can also order the series on DVD or video, or you can buy the book.

Do you agree or disagree with what Do You Speak American? has to say? Do you think American English is in decline, or are we merely expressing ourselves in new, informal ways? What do you love or despise about our language? Submit a comment and let us know. Thx! TTFN

The editors at the Office of Creative Services have no problem with being described as “style geeks.” Our weekly meetings consist, in large part, of intricate analyses of the finer points of punctuation, grammar, clarity, and other burning questions (to our way of thinking) related to writing style. We all have strong opinions, but we also rely on a few external “big guns” such as Merriam-Webster Online, The Chicago Manual of Style, and The Associated Press Stylebook. Each of us has one or two personal favorite sources as well. Mine would have to be The Slot, a Web site (no, we haven’t switched to “website” yet) maintained by Washington Post business copy editor Bill Walsh. (Walsh is also the author of some entertaining books; my favorite is The Elephants of Style.)

Over the past decade we’ve synthesized all of these influences and our own best judgments into four editions of the Indiana University Style Guide. The most recent edition is now available online. If you’re a style geek like us (or even if you’re not), we hope you’ll check out the new edition.

We also hope that you’ll let us know your opinions. (For example, is it time for the big switch to “website”? Should we stick with “advisor,” or return to “adviser,” which is favored by many spelling purists? How can we defend the lowercasing of “zip” in “zip code”? Which is better, “a historic” or “an historic,” and why?)

Our comment board is always open, and we’re eager to talk style with you.