Kindergarten fans judge circus by snow cones and swords
We hope it's not obvious, but the Star Herald has been getting by without the services of our trusty proof reader, Carol Hoogeveen, who underwent quadruple bypass surgery last month.
We’re happy to report she's on the mend, but we're sad to say she tendered her resignation shortly after surgery.
Physicians were clear she needs to slow down and take care of herself. That means dropping one or two of her four part-time jobs and declining some of her countless volunteer commitments and social engagements.
We hoped after the dust settled that we'd land on her "keep" list, but the stress of finding our outrageous errors before they're published can be hard on anyone's ticker, let alone a fragile one.
Alas, Carol stopped at the office last week and cleaned out her desk, taking with her nearly 20 years worth of experience in the copy editing position.
It was my job to write the help wanted ad for hiring her replacement.
The version we published went something like, "The Rock County Star Herald is seeking someone with a sharp eye and a passion for the printed English language. Duties would be proof reading copy for the Star Herald - everything from obituaries and legal notices to news stories and columns -"
We had to keep the ad brief, but I wanted to include the following stipulations in order to find another Carol Hoogeveen:
"Person must have thick skin." Writers are often proud of their masterpieces and don't take kindly to having problems pointed out in their work.
"Person must know everyone in the county, who their parents are and where they're from originally." In addition to catching misspelled names, we could always count on Carol to catch the wrong names under a wedding photo or an obituary photo in someone’s birthday announcement.
"Person must be a handy in the kitchen or have good taste with store-bought snacks." We get hungry here during our Tuesday late-night deadlines, and Carol often arrived with 9-by-13 pans of home-made goodies or crinkly bags of munchies to share.
"Person must find satisfaction in a job that exists to make others look good." Carol's byline never appeared on any of the columns and stories she worked so hard to polish. Copy editing is a demanding and thankless job, but she loved the challenge of finding flaws and fixing them.
"Person must have a sense of humor." Sometimes, even with three sets of eyes perusing an article, mistakes do find their way into print. Some are funnier than others.
Carol loves to tell the story about the time we published a recipe instructing readers to "mix ingredients, crap in plastic and refrigerate." (Wrap in plastic.)
We miss you, "Mrs. Hoogenveegen," and we wish you a speedy recovery.