Category Archives: Clients

Read Widely, or Becoming a Better Writer by Reading

Clients, Editing, Reprints, Writing

book collageAnd reading for pleasure. This piece first appeared, in different form, in 2014 on TheSocietyPages.org‘s Editors’ Desk. One of these days, I’ll publish some updated recommendations!

Read Widely

In case it’s hard to tell, that’s an imperative, not a descriptor.

See, many authors ask me for examples of how to incorporate a lot of information into something that’s thorough, academically sound, and engaging. It’s a tough balance, to be sure, but over the years, I’ve collected a number of books (and this is by no means a list of all of them) I can hand off as representations of that ideal. They likely have nothing to do with your area of study, but watching the authors’ deft hands at work (and knowing there are surely unsung editor elves in there, too) can be a truly enjoyable homework assignment. Think of it as “authorial excellence by osmosis.” Absorb and emulate these ten fine examples. Continue reading Read Widely, or Becoming a Better Writer by Reading →

Stacks on Stacks (Updated Feb. 2024)

About, Clients, Editing, Uncategorized

I’m often asked which books I’ve edited, and, truly, I’ve been lucky to get my mitts on so many talented authors’ words. Here’s a little sample of the books I’ve worked on that are out now:

Sex in Canada, Tina Fetner | The Peer Effect, Syed Ali and Margaret S. Chin | The Minneapolis Reckoning, Michelle S. Phelps | The Policing Machine, Tony Cheng | The Danger Imperative, Michael Sierra-Arévalo | Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics, Neil Gong | Indefinite: Doing Time in Jail, Michael L. Walker | Punishing Places, Jessica T. Simes | Predict and Surveil, Sarah L. Brayne | Uninsured in Chicago, Rob Vargas | Credible Threat, Sarah Sobieraj | Producing Politics, Daniel Laurison | Queer Carnival, Amy L. Stone | Orange Collar Labor, Michael Gibson-Light | Retail Inequality, Kenneth H. Kolb | Making Moral Citizens, Jack Delehanty | Policing Welfare, Spencer Headworth | Hedged Out, Megan Tobias Neely | Banished Men, Abigail L. Andrews | Now Hiring, Nicole C. Jones-Young | Mining the Heartland, Erik Kojola | Revolution Squared, Atef Said | In This Place Called Prison, Rachel Ellis | A Few Good Gays, Cati Connell | Walking Mannequins, Joya Misra and Kyla Walters | Chasing the American Dream in China, Leslie K. Wang | The Dating Divide, Celeste Curington, Jennifer Lundquist, and Ken-Hou Lin | The People’s Hotel, Katherine Sobering | Constructing Community, Jeremy Levine | Figures of the Future, Michael Rodriguez-Muniz | GoFailMe, Erik Schneiderhan and Martin Lukk | Living in a Nuclear World, Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Kyoko Sato, Soraya Boudia | Black Boys Apart, Freeden Blume Oeur | Migration, Incorporation, and Change in an Interconnected World, Syed F. Ali and Douglas Hartmann | The Quantified Scholar, Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra | Tainted Tap, Katrinell M. Davis | Power Grab, Paasha Madhavi | Gender, Sexuality, and Intimacy, Jodi O’Brien and Arlene Stein | The Color of Homeschooling, Mahala Dyer Stewart | The Toughest Beat, Josh Page | Breaking the Pendulum, Phil Goodman, Josh Page, and Michelle Phelps | Not for Long, Robert Turner |Total Liberation, David Pellow | The Black Elephants in the Room, Corey Fields | Blowin’ Up, Jooyoung Lee | Divided by the Wall, Emine Elcioglu | Citizen-Protectors, Jenny Carlson | The Revolution that Wasn’t, Jen Schradie | Midnight Basketball, Doug Hartmann | Assigned: Life with Gender, Lisa Wade, ed. | The Browning of the New South, Jennifer Jones | Grocery Activism, Craig L. Upright | Hard Work Is Not Enough, Katrinell M. Davis | Politics Beyond Black and White, Lauren Davenport | The Contexts Reader (second and third editions) | Owned, Doug Hartmann and Chris Uggen, eds. | Crime and the Punished, Doug Hartmann and Chris Uggen, eds. | Digital Punishment, Sarah Lageson | Social Theory Rewired, Wes Longhofer and Dan Winchester | Race, Nation, and Post-Colonial Citizenship, Ron Aminzade | Power Struggles, Jaume Franquesa | The Size of Others’ Burdens, Eric Schneiderhan | Hard Work Is Not Enough: KM Davis | Crossings to Adulthood, Swartz, Hartmann, and Rumbaut | World Suffering and Quality of Life, Ron Anderson | Undocumented Politics, Abigail Andrews | The Myth of Mob Rule, Lisa L. Miller | We Are All Criminals, Emily Baxter | The Social Side of Politics, Doug Hartmann and Chris Uggen, eds. | Give Methods a Chance, Kyle Green, Sarah Lageson, Doug Hartmann, and Chris Uggen | Prozak Diaries, Orkideh Behzrouan | Getting Culture, Doug Hartmann and Chris Uggen, eds. | Encore Adulthood, Phyllis Moen | Rights on Trial, Berrey, Nelson, and Nielsen | Retirement and Its Discontents, Michelle Pannor Silver | Politics of Empowerment, David Pettinicchio

Reverse Outlining

Clients, Editing, Uncategorized

Photo by Wes Peck via Flickr CCA friend reached out this weekend because she was absolutely mired in a bear of a final paper. She didn’t want me to edit it (and I definitely don’t edit exams or papers earlier than the dissertation and/or journal submissions), but to give some advice on how to handle what had become unwieldy. My suggestion? The reverse outline. Here’s what I wrote:

To reorient yourself to the question, I suggest grabbing a notebook and your paper, and making an outline of what’s actually in the paper. Continue reading Reverse Outlining →

beamanthefilm.com

“Be a Man”

Clients, Uncategorized, Writing

My write-up on Ray Harrington’s award-winning documentary, “Be a Man,” from long-time client Stand Up! Records:

American universities are increasingly offering courses in masculinity—the ways it’s culturally and socially constructed, the ways its boundaries are policed, and the ways its constraints and contradictions put basically everyone on edge. But studying masculinity is different from trying, at an individual level, to define and achieve manhood. What does it mean to be a man? Who is that man? Ray Harrington has charmingly, brilliantly, and with utter vulnerability chronicled his journey to find out.

As he seeks his signature manly cocktail, discovers his dream car isn’t a half-million dollar phallic symbol, and maniacally gets into a boxing ring with a professional fighter, Harrington gathers his collaborators for a film that’s part love letter, part personal journey, part support group, and part road trip movie. Like any movie worth the popcorn, there are fast cars and fashion montages, dreamy landscapes and a lewd joke or two. Mostly, though, there’s an earnest rumination on modern manhood and how we all get by with a little help from our friends.

Featuring fellow stand-up comedians Kyle Kinane, Tom Wilson, April Macie, Doug Stanhope, Steve Rannazzisi, Robert Kelly, and Kurt Metzger, “Be a Man” boasts Grammy-winning Dan Schlissel as co-executive producer alongside Ray Harrington, who, despite a little razor burn and wrinkled linen, is, without a doubt, both a man and a “ten.”

Semicolon Superhero

About, Clients, Editing

Well, it’s awfully rad to get the “Yelp” treatment from one of my favorite authors! From Jooyoung Lee, sociologist at the University of Toronto and research fellow with Yale’s Urban Ethnography Project:

It was a joy working with Letta! She helped turn a sprawling manuscript into a leaner and more polished book. As a Hip Hop scholar, it’s often hard to find someone who knows a thing or two about the subject matter. But, Letta combined her lifelong knowledge of Hip Hop and music more generally to make my book less nerdy and more readable. Different chapters were at different stages of writing, giving Letta a chance to show her flexibility as an editor. At times, she’d go through my manuscript like a chainsaw-wielding super hero, shredding through redundancies and unnecessary uses of “the ways in which…” In other moments, she’d make small subtle revisions that made the book read and flow better. Most of all, Letta was a great help during those tough stretches of writing and revision, where nothing seemed to come out right. This is when her expertise really shined brightest. She would give me feedback that kicked me into gear and nudged (and pushed) me toward the finish line. Part writing coach, part muse, Letta Page is a top-notch editor.

Essays from Inside Prison

Clients, Reprints, Writing,

Inside-Out letter from JamesThis article first appeared in Contexts magazine’s Winter ’10 issue.

This issue, Contexts is changing the format of our usual student essay. We received four extremely thoughtful—and handwritten!—essays from “Inside” students in response to our student piece in the last issue, and so we’re sharing their insights to give another perspective on this ground-breaking program.

In the fall 2009 issue of Contexts, Tasha Galardi, an Oregon State University student, wrote about her experience as one of the “Outside” students participating in the Inside-Out prison exchange course in Crime, Justice, and Social Policy. The course brought together students from OSU and students who are currently incarcerated for a 10-week, college-level sociology course. Galardi wrote that one of her reasons for taking the course was to challenge her own preconceived notions of prisoners. Learning sociological theories in dialogue and collaboration with the “Inside” students she got to know over the semester transformed Galardi’s ideas about crime (and criminals). Continue reading Essays from Inside Prison →

Laughs Last

Clients, Reprints, Writing,

brody writ largeThis piece was written for Laughs Last author and Stand Up! Records humorist Dylan Brody for inclusion as back-cover copy and on various retailer websites, press releases, and whatnot. I adore whatnot.

There may not be boxes strong enough for the weight of memory, but some books can do the trick. Laughs Last is a rumination on family, legacy, talent, and the fluidity of time, a poignant dream of adulthood coming in fits and starts to our protagonist Damon Blazer. Continue reading Laughs Last →

The Art of Being Edited*

Clients, Editing, Reprints, Writing

Art once on display @commonroots
Art  @commonroots

This post originally appeared on TheSocietyPages.org.

A primer on getting the most out of the editing process, this short article assumes that you’re working on a journal submission, but is generally applicable to an op-ed you might be pitching, sample chapters for a book proposal, etc. I am also assuming you’ve already found an editor, but I’ll talk about that a little bit. As always, I take questions and additional recommendations—I’m positive I’ve overlooked, oh, about a hundred things. A hundred seems about right. Continue reading The Art of Being Edited* →

A Remembrance of Mike DeStefano

Clients, Reprints, Writing, , ,

Mike-DeStefano-190x306This piece was originally written for Stand Up! Records, for whom I am a copy writer and loyal laugher. Written, unbidden, just after hearing Mike had died, it’s still one of my favorite pieces. Hasty, but heartfelt.

Mike DeStefano, a light of compassion in a dark world, passed away on March 6, 2011. And just like he predicted in an interview on Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast last December, it wasn’t drugs, disease, or his own hand. He had a heart attack and, just like that, we lost a friend. Continue reading A Remembrance of Mike DeStefano →