Edit the world

By Kristyna Mauch

Editors improve everything, or so my teacher told me while taking a journalism class at the University of Georgia. It wasn't long until I realized my teacher was right.

Many times I have walked by signs and other public advertisements and caught errors. To me, a misspelling here or a misuse of grammar there completely compromises the sign's message, even the company's reputation. The fact that I noticed these small but careless errors gave me the idea that I needed to do something about it. I needed to improve what the world reads everyday. To reach this sizable goal, I have been working to improve my own editing skills knowing that anyone can be reading with a skeptical eye, like mine.

However, this journey to improvement has comically hindered my ability to enjoy some of the little things in life. Love letters lose their enchantment if a word is misspelled. Chick-fil-A advertisements (the southern-based US fast food restaurant where cartoon cows advertise eating “mor” chicken) never cease to annoy me, and my need to constantly edit makes reading for pleasure much less pleasurable.

Nevertheless my joy for putting words together, outweighs the heavy burden of others' written indiscretions. You see, I recognize changing the world through editing is a hard burden to bear, but somebody's got to do it! That is why I spent the last year working with the Global Text Project.

Interning as an editorial assistant with the project, I not only trained to become a better editor, I learned about higher education around the world. I learned not to take my education for granted and more importantly I learned to give back. Working with textbooks everyday that will give others the opportunity to work towards a college education makes giving my time and talents all worth while.

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) says: “The more you know the more you grow.” Giving people the tools to educate themselves to create a better world is a valuable endeavor. I'll be graduating from the University of Georgia this December and soon be using my talents elsewhere, but I know I have made a worldwide impact from the small Global Text Project office at UGA. I am honored to be part of a grass roots effort to create education free to all.

As for myself, editing online textbooks is just the beginning. I hope to continue to improve this world, one editorial error at a time.