Y’all, I am beside myself six times over this video. We are all beside ourselves. It’s like clones and we’re all screaming.
Shana: I’m really excited to share this dramatic reading of a fan letter my author friend received from the clueless White person who was paid to copy edit her book.
The letter is about how reading the book reminded the editor of her favorite childhood mammy and it is truly unbelievable.
Shana: Sarah, you do not know how hard it was not to share this with you when I first read the letter.
Sarah: SHANA. SHANA OMG.
I think it’s not going to get worse and then it does and WHAT. The mammy and then the doll?! AM I HALLUCINATING.
Shana: It just gets worse and worse.
Kiki: I AM SCREAMING. IF YOU HEAR SCREAMING FROM BOSTON IT IS I.
Maya: Oh my god.
Shana, tell your friend that she needs to get her shit handled here in the future: Tessera Editorial. I’m a part of it now!
What a mess. White women in publishing are wild. I’m still reeling. So much racism in such an unnecessary moment.
Amanda: I was trying to figure out where I recognized Alison’s face from – Scott Pilgrim!
Can this be nominated for an Oscar?
Tara: I’m trying to pull a coherent thought out of my brain for this, but I think it’s just fully shorted out. I’m definitely going to listen to her podcast episode with Alison Pill now, though.
…
Can you believe that a copy editor thought this was a great idea? To write it all down and send it? And this is someone who is hired by publishers to work on books. Stunning. Truly.
I hope they aren’t hired as a copy editor again soon.
You can find It’s Always Been Ours wherever you get your books.
And, special bonus, that’s our own Shana on the cover!
Isn’t that a glorious picture? I smile every time I see it.
People. I watched this while at our front desk during a lull (library) and told my co-workers that I wasn’t listening to a thing they said and why. One girl heard me say the mammy thing went, ‘pause,’ blinked a few times, and then told me to continue. It’s that wild.
Okay….
I just want to….
I think….
I really just can’t. Just no.
And sadly, based on the prose, I feel like she’s a copy editor because her novel got several hundred rejection letters.
Favorite childhood Mammy? Are we back in the Antebellum days? Good grief!!
OMG I listened to the podcast but I had no idea there was video. What an incredible crossover I didn’t know i needed. I was trying to figure out how best to share it with my teen and I have my answer! Jessica Wilson’s podcast is excellent and her book is also wonderful. As a cishet white woman I also was impressed by the treatment of women/body/food/racisim/i cannot remember all of the things in the slashes in the letter.
Also, this is very much like something you’d read in an Amber & Lacey book (a great bedtime read-aloud with one’s teen!)
This can’t be real. I can’t even. Did this copy editor time travel from the antebellum era?
Okay, wait–I’m not a native speaker and not familiar with the US publishing world. Did…did…was the woman who wrote this the editor of that book??? Like…someone with that prose and mindset got hired to edit a book about Black women???
“And, special bonus, that’s our own Shana on the cover!”
Hi, Shana! A pleasure to see you.
@Steffi a copy editor generally is responsible for catching spelling and grammatical errors, not advising on actual content.
1st: 100% That is a glorious picture.
2nd: my internal Star Trek nerd lost her mind at Alison Pill! She’s in Picard seasons one and two as Dr. Jurati. (Loud internal squeezing)