Wednesday, April 17, 2019 // The Statement
2B

Managing Statement Editor

Andrea Pérez Balderrama

Deputy Editors

Matthew Harmon

Shannon Ors

Designers

Liz Bigham

Kate Glad

Copy Editors

Miriam Francisco

Madeline Turner

Photo Editor

Annie Klusendorf

Editor in Chief

Maya Goldman

Managing Editor

Finntan Storer
statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | APRIL 3, 2019

G

aining a solid foundation in
grammar was one of the hall-
marks of my 10 years attend-
ing Catholic school. Every year, from first
grade to eighth grade, there was a class
dedicated solely to grammar, a 45-min-
ute block of time each day dedicated to
learning the intricacies of the English lan-
guage. While most other schools include
grammar as a unit in the all-encompass-
ing “language arts” class curriculum, my
school gave it the attention it deserved.
We had both a textbook and workbook
for the class, with nightly homework in
each. While many of my classmates bris-
tled at the repeated instruction of nouns,
verbs, adverbs and adjectives, believing it
to be redundant and unnecessary, I found
grammar class to be the best part of my
day. I loved the challenge of continually
trying to master the complexities con-
tained in learning grammar. There were
always new concepts to learn, year after
year. Dangling participles. Collective
nouns. Passive voice.
Even the standard concepts underlying
the language needed continuous atten-
tion; with grammar, there was always
more work to be done. There were always
new situations for which to apply the
concepts, and every situation presented
unexpected complications that made it
different from another sentence. It was a
never-ending quest to master the mate-
rial, and I enjoyed every second of that
journey.
All those years of grammar class
instilled in me an unconditional love of
all things commas, appositives and semi-
colons. Having good grammar became an
integral part of my identity, and I jumped
at any chance to express that characteris-
tic. I would help my mom with grammar
questions in her marketing presentations,
ensuring there were no glaring errors in
her sentences. I would edit my sister’s col-
lege papers for grammar. I would (some-
times) correct my parents when they used
“who” instead of “whom,” at great annoy-
ance to them. I would mark my class-
mates’ papers full of comments in English
class, pointing out every little deviation
from the rigidity of grammar I could find.
It gave me great pleasure to flex my
grammar muscles, and doing so made me
a better speaker and writer. Unfortunate-
ly, many of these muscles atrophied dur-

ing my time in high school, as I didn’t have
a class or activity in which to use them.
That part of my identity lay dormant,
waiting to be put to good use. And I found
that good use when I joined the copy desk
at The Michigan Daily.
When I showed up at The Daily my first
semester of freshman year, I didn’t really
know what I wanted to do at the paper.
I planned on applying to News because
it seemed like the “cool thing” to do, but
I wasn’t so keen on the idea of covering
events and interviewing attendees; I like
working behind the scenes more. I didn’t
think I had the people skills required
for beat reporting, and I felt as though it
would take me too far out of my comfort
zone.
I had almost resigned myself to leaving
The Daily without finding a role when I
heard the copy chief start to speak. The
minute I heard the words “grammar”

and “editing” come out of her mouth, my
ears perked up. Here was just the chance
I desired to reorient myself with my true
love: correct grammar. At the sight of
the pre-test, I was instantly transported
back to the good old days of middle school
grammar class. I dived into those ques-
tions with a sense of eagerness and happi-
ness that I hadn’t found being stuck in the
doldrums of distribution classes. I knew
then that I found an outlet to channel my
grammar energies (without annoying my
parents).
I was beyond overjoyed to learn I was
selected to be on the Copy team last Octo-
ber, and my joy has only increased in the
past two semesters. Being on Copy has
made me proud. While there would be no
paper without the content sections, there
would be no readable paper without the
Copy section. Though our work may not
be considered “sexy,” and we don’t get to

put our name on the articles like writers
do, our work is no less important.
We maintain The Daily’s journalistic
integrity by ensuring the statistics cited
in articles are accurate and represent the
situation correctly. We certify students
don’t have their names misspelled or their
student organizations mischaracterized,
avoiding students from being turned off
by our work. And, most important of all,
we make sure the paper is stylish; that is,
there are no grammar errors and reading
it aloud would sound pleasing to the ear.
In short, Copy smooths out the rough
edges that can come with writing and
makes The Daily the beautiful final prod-
uct you can find in many campus build-
ings. I am glad to be a part of that process
every week, knowing that I can use my
grammar knowledge for something posi-
tive.

Copy that: Turning my passion into reality

BY ALEXANDER COTIGNOLA, PRIMARY COPY EDITOR

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL