Editorial Pandemonium!

In Sunday’s Charlotte Observer, Editor of the editorials page Ed Williams focused his weekly editorial on the issue of the tar baby. Please read his comments here. Go on, I’ll wait.

A few days later I read the article and felt compelled (ahem–thank you, Jodi) to respond since I happen to know a thing or two about Joel Chandler Harris and “The Wonderful Tar Baby Story” by now.

So, after a night of sittin’ and thinkin’ and a busy morning of writing, I formally responded to Mr. Williams via email in hopes that he’d publish the article. Like a point/counterpoint kind of thing. Or, in my wildest dreams, an Even Stephven kind of thing.

Except, of course, my name is Lain and his is Ed. And this is where I ran into trouble.

See, I submitted this terribly astute, well-researched and masterfully crafted essay that was proofread by a family member, someone with the nickname “eagle eye,” and two eminent Harris scholars.

All this trouble, and nobody noticed that I completely called the editor by the wrong name.

Four times.

Incredible. How did I catch this error you ask? Oh, you know, he emailed me about it.

Let’s recap: after Mr. Williams, who has been editor for over 30 years, writes his weekly article and I, a twenty-three year old schmuck, pick his argument apart and deride his skewed logic, I have the nerve to go ahead and refer to Mr. Williams as Mr. Edwards throughout the entire piece. And then! after reading my criticisims, Mr. Williams is forced to kindly inform me that he will be editing that part out, since there is “no Mr. Edwards involved in this anywhere.”

To my credit, reread the first sentence of this post. It wasn’t too hard to mistake Ed Williams, the Editor of the editorials page and author of the editorial, for William Edwards.

It’s all sorted out now, but seriously, who is the jerk in this scenario? This guy. And no, it’s not Marshall.

I’ll let you know if and when they publish my editorial. Either way, I’ll post it one day soon.