Peridyd's Progress

It's no secret to those of you who know me that Salon's Gary Kamiya is one of my favorite writers. I admire him for his lucid and compelling political analyses. I've never been one who's enjoyed standing in the choir and being preached to. It's one of the reasons that I let my subscription to The Nation lapse. The fact that I can depend on Kamiya to teach me something new, something that mainstream voices are altogether missing, while maintaining a progressive and unflinchingly humane perspective is why he's one of my favorites.

Today he's published something unusual--a paean to editors--which, as a writer and sometime editor (usually of graduate student theses and dissertations), resonates with me.

Here's a sample from the article.

In the brave new world of self-publishing, editors are an endangered species. This isn't all bad. It's good that anyone who wants to publish and has access to a computer now faces no barriers. And some bloggers don't really need editors: Their prose is fluent and conversational, and readers have no expectation that the work is going to be elegant or beautifully shaped. Its main function is to communicate clearly. It isn't intended to last.

Still, editors and editing will be more important than ever as the Internet age rockets forward. The online world is not just about millions of newborn writers exulting in their powers. It's also about millions of readers who need to sort through this endless universe and figure out which writers are worth reading. Who is going to sort out the exceptional ones? Editors, of some type. Some smart group of people is going to have to separate the wheat from the chaff. And the more refined that separation process is, the more talent -- and perhaps more training -- will be required.

I had a similar conversation with my friend Margaret the other day, who was lamenting the fact that in our cultural moment it is nearly impossible to keep up with the glut of great music that's out there on the interwebs. We talked about the need for filters, editors, if you will, who help us manage the one thing that really is new about this "Information Age": the sheer quantity of "stuff" out there, some of which we want to know about, and some which we'd rather just never got on our radar.

Editors provide that and more. Much more.

I know that a few of my readers are also fond of writing. I hope you enjoy it.