Kudos to the Eclectica staff for producing another issue of collections created by Bakersfield College students. The task must seem ominous, at times, when considering the sizable body of essays, poems, short stories, plays and photographs that must be sorted, read and judged by so few.
However, the duty should never be so burdensome that the integrity of an author’s work is compromised. After two years, I finally submitted an award-winning essay that had been rewritten, revised, restructured and proof-read so many times that I no longer enjoyed reading it. I was never advised that it had been accepted for publication, but I was pleasantly surprised when I flipped through the new issue of Eclectica and noticed my essay listed in the table of contents.
Imagine my disappointment, though, when I read through the published copy to see that words had been changed, sentences restructured and punctuation omitted. I can understand and sympathize with the task of typing a 2,000 word essay, but I believe that if a person chooses to accept the job and earn the credit for being in the class, that person (or people) then has a certain responsibility to the authors to maintain the integrity of the work. One mistake could have been easily accepted, even two, but three egregious errors in the first paragraph (including changing the word “sordid” to “sorted”) compromise my reputation in the craft I love most (and the six errors in paragraph two don’t help, either).
In the words of Larry King, “Good writers are in the business of leaving signposts saying, ‘Tour my world, see and feel it through my eyes; I am your guide.’ ” To this goal I aspire, producing material of which I can be proud.
To the future staffers of Eclectica, please take more care in the reproduction of our signposts in order to preclude the embarrassment of other English majors and writers. Thank you.
Dana Martin, BC student