Education of the doomed is a theme of "Never Let Me Go." In two senses: educating people who aren't necessarily going to use a good grade-school education in the traditional way, by going on to college and a professional career; and the doomed-ness of any brand-new kind of school, how hard it is to keep it going and how it feels when it's eventually destroyed. I'm not sure if I'm reading into this because of my own experiences, or whether there is a nontraditional school in the author's background that helped him understand how it felt. I wonder what a charter student today would make of this book. It must be a somewhat similar experience to my own late-70s experimental school. The process of running the school is so much more apparent; the students are aware that they are taking part in a school built expressly for them; and the physical plant is in bad shape and the supplies are crappy.

My own nontraditional school, where half the student body was not college-bound, was closed after I went there two years, when I was in 6th grade. Our 7th and 8th grade teachers used to comment that the students who had attended this school were noticeably brighter than the other students. Then at 9th grade, we half that had college and career in our futures split off from the half that probably didn't. I realized a couple years ago that I assume all those other students are dead. My sister called me on this once; she sees people from school around town, and they're just regular people, not doomed geniuses.

Dear Sirs,
I'd appreciate more clarification on the May Q&A re Section 8.167 (3). This answer (pasted below) leaves two copyeditors with different ears no clear way to resolve a disagreement. For instance, the examples given below may seem correct to your ear, but to mine they are both off. Were we working on the same busy copy desk, you and I would have no other rule to help us resolve this -- and our co-workers would watch with growing amusement as we muttered "ALL About EVE!" "No, All ABOUT Eve!" for hours at one another. Can you give us a few tips for resolving "ear" conflicts by rule?


Q. Section 8.167 (3) of the 15th Manual of Style says that, when applying headline style, a preposition should be capitalized if it is stressed (A River Runs Through It). Please clarify what is meant by “stressed.” Furthermore, how would you capitalize “One Nation under God”? Thank you.

A. We are talking about how it sounds to the ear—admittedly, a somewhat murky rule. A river runs through it? A river runs through it? No—a river runs through it. Your “under” is likewise a good candidate for capping, for the same reason. Other examples:

A Man about the House vs. All About Eve

Desire under the Elms vs. One Nation Under God

Once again the June Q&As on the Chicago Manual of Style web site are just wrong and weird. The editors have directed this poor person (below) to lowercase a proper name in a title, just because the proper name is composed of common nouns. It's a glib response that hinges on a stupid comment one of the editors wanted to make ("lowercase the livestock"). I've been in this position where people are asking you all kinds of dumb questions and you just want to answer them any way you can and get on with your life. But this could have taken a bit more consideration.

On a related note, my next public art project will be to stand at the ticket counter of AirTran airlines the next time they cancel a flight out of Philadelphia and listen to people try to reason their way onto a plane that doesn't even exist anymore. We were on such a flight last weekend and accepted our fate, but the guy next to us, who'd read the ticket counter man's name off his badge, wouldn't let up. He kept saying, "Hey, Chris Brophy! What about if the plane is delayed until tomorrow, is that still the same flight? Chris Brophy, what about if I take another plane there and want to take this flight back?"

Q. I understand the general rules about titles (academic, civic, etc.), but I am working on a project that has quite a few instances of the following: “We are pleased to have the Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock here with us today. . . . We appreciate the support of the Prime Minister of India.” I would lowercase “prime minister of India,” but what to do about the minister of food, agriculture, and livestock? Should it be the minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock, all lowercase, or title case? Thanks for your help.

A. It wouldn’t seem right to lowercase the prime minister and uppercase the livestock. Chicago style would lowercase everything in your titles (except India).

Also just finished reading Joe Pernice's novelette about the Smiths' "Meat Is Murder." It was like something one of my classmates would have written and pretty amateur-ly published. But it had a lot of heart and charm. It was interesting as a work by one of my favorite musicians about being in your late teens in 1985. So it goes in the same category as "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "Romy & Michele." If I had to rank these three works in terms of fealty to my version of events it would be JP's "Meat Is Murder" first, then Romy, then GPB. One interesting motif here was the development of a high school musician and how high school bands get together. Which I knew a little bit about from overheard conversations, but it did always seem miraculous that three or four teenage boys could get together and not only do a directed activity such as sports but, on their own, find mutual free time, rehearsal space, money for equipment and the guts to play in public and even to write music and lyrics and share their likes and dislikes. It still seems amazing to me that kids do this.

I ordered a bunch of books and they're all coming! One shipment I got already. It includes "Never Let Me Go," as well as "The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living." But the one I was most excited about was one I had bought to give to N. He was equally excited to see it but he is finishing another book so I get to read this one first.

It is "Trawler" by Redmond O'Hanlon. I have been reading Redmond O'Hanlon since those Vintage Departures editions of his books about Borneo and the Amazon back in the late 80s. And I am proud to say his last two books I bought in hardback as soon as I could get them. The Borneo and Amazon books were funny and learned and really wonderful. His next book, about the Congo, got very weird. He did the same thing in that book that he always does: goes on a massive expedition into the jungle with some odd companion. But there were points in the Congo book where I got the feeling he was losing his mind. It was a very dark book and not a romp like his other two.

So "Trawler" -- I really wasn't sure what it was going to be. I hadn't even heard it existed, and then I saw it on the shelf someplace where I didn't want to buy it. But the very next opportunity, I got it, and between ordering it and getting it I anticipated it. And now I am reading it. It is art. I am moved by it and feel privileged to read it. It's his Moby-Dick, down to the messed-up punctuation and overuse of italics.

OK, the thing with the Chicago Manual of Style FAQs is this:

The CMS attempts to answer every question that could come up in copy editing, and it is resorted to in arguments between copy editors, of which there are many (arguments). But the latest edition, 15, which came out a year or so ago, deviated from the prescriptive approach of previous editions and got into this touchy-feely crap about how you're supposed to use your ear to decide. An example will help. This is from the Q&As on the CMS site:

_____________
Q. Section 8.167 (3) of the 15th Manual of Style says that, when applying headline style, a preposition should be capitalized if it is stressed (A River Runs Through It). Please clarify what is meant by “stressed.” Furthermore, how would you capitalize “One Nation under God”? Thank you.

A. We are talking about how it sounds to the ear—admittedly, a somewhat murky rule. A river runs through it? A river runs through it? No—a river runs through it. Your “under” is likewise a good candidate for capping, for the same reason. Other examples:
A Man about the House vs. All About Eve
Desire under the Elms vs. One Nation Under God
_____________

First of all, imagine the discussion that must have led to this question being asked. Second, imagine having your question picked to answer in this prestigious forum, and then getting this answer. There's nothing here you could take back to the person you were arguing with to say definitively that you're right or wrong. Picture the "discussion" that would lead from this: one copy editor saying "ALL about EVE" through clenched teeth while the other editor says "All ABOUT Eve" with equal feeling. There's no defensible logic, just conviction.

Non-editorial people follow this capitalization rule and other folk grammar notions when they write their own headlines and slogans. Verbs, for instance, should always be capitalized, but "is" almost never is, because it is rarely stressed: Shaeffer is the One Beer to Have When You're Having More Than One.

One of the kids in my office is reading Moby-Dick for the first time. He comes in and wants to talk about it but he's only in the early chapters. The other day he wanted to talk about the chapter where Melville compares the sizes of whales to the sizes of books -- the "folio" chapter. I think it confused him; he's a smart guy so I am taking it seriously that this chapter gives him pause. He was concerned that the book size terms would come up later in the book and be some kind of key to understanding the point of the book. Like the end of the book will hinge on a pun on "duodecimo."

But also, he's still at the point of deciding whether to skip the technical digressions and just read the adventure story. I feel that the digressions are important, and that if you're reading this as an "important" book or one that holds some key to America, the digressions are the book. I have stated this to him but also made some vague reference to guides on "the internet" that will tell him which chapters to skip if he just wants the straight adventure story. I have my Moby-Dick comic also but I think this would insult him. To me, the story itself is fun and all but the book is more interesting. Does that make sense?