Posted: July 14

AEJP at St. Peter's

You know that you are at a truly professional conference when 40 people become passionately involved in a presentation on proof-reading. I am back in the United States now, at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, attending the seventh meeting of the Association of Editors of Jesuit Publications which brings together men and women from colleges, universities, high schools and province communication offices.

We are in the first full day of meetings and have already covered topics such as morality in journalism and story selection to promote Jesuit identity. After a lunch break we will listen to photographer Joe McNally talk about photography and how to make use of photos in publications. Tomoroww I am going to do a session on web design trends.

You won't find as good a group as this anywhere else in the Jesuit world, mainly because Jesuit works in the United States have taken the lead in incorporating communication as an integral part of an institution's work. One of our presenters this morning was Linda Gustavson who works full-time as a copy editor for Fairfield University. I can't think of provinces or schools elsewhere who would have a full-time person to devote her energies to catching errors in writing. Fairfield is clearly committed to quality publications and is willing to invest in the staff to provide them. I wonder what is possible elsewhere, especially in provinces that are just starting communication offices. Perhaps we should try to get similar conferences started elsewhere in the world.

Last night we went to a minor league baseball game on Staten Island (the home team won 8-4) and then took the Staten Island Ferry back to Manhattan which glowed in the summer evening. And then we walked over to Ground Zero where the World Trade Center used to be. The site is just an enormous hole in the ground now and construction for a memorial is underway, but all the signs of a popular memorial--poems, photographs and mementos left on the walls of the pedestrian area at the side of the construction zone--attest to the fact that the area is already a memorial. Voices drop and people become reverent just walking around the edges of the site. It reminded me of questions facing all of us beyond proof reading and our own immediate concerns.