Wednesday, January 17, 2018 // The Statement
6B
Copy That: Stylizing my hometown
M
y flight ticket didn’t show
the boarding gate, and
“St. Louis” didn’t appear
anywhere on the blue departure
screens. I was panicking, but I didn’t
want anyone to know I was panicking.
This was my first solo flight, and I was
determined to solve this on my own.
So I stood in front of the departure
screens until I felt security shooting
me weird looks, and then I picked
up my bag and started confidently
walking in a random direction.
I must have walked the entire
length of the airport three times until
it finally occurred to me St. Louis
could also be spelled Saint Louis.
Instead of looking for flights starting
with “S-T,” I should’ve been looking
for flights starting with “S-A.”
Standardization is everything at
copy desk. It’s necessary in order
to
avoid
confusion
and
promote
uniformity. But to be consistent, you
have to have great attention to detail
and to know the correct way to stylize.
The “Saint” in St. Louis, for example,
should
always
be
abbreviated,
and seeing my hometown spelled
out Saint Louis makes me weirdly
uncomfortable.
But I’ve learned not only at the
airport,
but
almost
everywhere
I’ve traveled, that facts about my
hometown aren’t as widely recognized
as I’ve assumed. It’s always interesting
to hear outside opinions of your city,
or perhaps a lack of opinion because
many people don’t know where St.
Louis is. However, in the copy desk
spirit of consistency, I’m here to clean
up these misunderstandings.
First, St. Louis is pronounced
“Lewis,” not “Louie.” Since it was
named after King Louis IX of France,
it may be more accurate to use
the French articulation “Louie” —
however, Dr. Seuss is also technically
supposed to be pronounced “Soice,”
but I don’t think any of us are going to
change how we say that anytime soon.
Second, St. Louis is in the Midwest.
It is not part of the South, to the
surprise of many. It’s also not in the
West, though it’s called the “Gateway
to the West.” It’s Midwest in the
extreme.
Much of St. Louis is actually in St.
Louis County, but the county is more
rural than urban. My neighborhood
is surrounded by farmland. The bus
ride to middle school involved passing
horse pastures and misty cornfields,
which
my
friend
and
I
always
speculated would be the best place
for a horror movie scene: a murderer
appearing from the fog, framed
between the fence and dilapidated
barn. You drive a little farther and
you reach miles and miles of open
space, huge fields of wheat stubble
and hay bales.
Finally, St. Louis is fighting, but
it has not capitulated. Often, when
people hear I’m from St. Louis, they
ask me about the Ferguson protests
and Michael Brown, an unarmed
Black man who was shot by a white
police officer in 2014. The rage is still
very palpable in my city as protests
continue to turn violent and questions
continue to remain unanswered. This
is something that weighs heavily
on my soul because these national
discussions
have
happened
right
in my backyard. Yet, it appears
these discussions may be having a
positive effect. The city has elected
a new mayor. A newly formed citizen
advisory committee helped select the
city’s current chief of police. This may
be a turning point my city needs, and
an example my country can look to for
a more just future.
As copy chief this semester, I’ve
done my fair share of correcting small
mistakes. Accuracy is important, even
for airport staff. The problems within
my city are deep and evident, but I’d
like to think under closer inspection,
one can notice change is occurring.
BY ELISE LAARMAN, COPY CHIEF
ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH MYERS