Copy editing example 2

I copy edited this story by Delaney Reyburn and had to correct and clarify the timeline, add the films into the story, clarify where information was from, correct titles and rephrase sentences. It originally ran in the University Daily Kansan Oct. 28, 2014.

¡Vamos! Film Festival brings Spanish culture to Oldfather Studios

¡Vamos! Spanish Language Film Festival is the first festival of its kind to be held at the University. The festival is showing a series of four different films in hopes of starting a new tradition of Spanish film festivals. Margaret Jamieson, one of the organizers of ¡Vamos!, hopes with the success of this festival, it will be the first of many.

“The University of Kansas has an incredible wealth of language programs, and people that I met early on here at KU really pointed out to me what a unique thing it is in Kansas, or in the Midwest really, that there are so many languages,” Jamieson said.

Jamieson, who moved to Lawrence from the Bay Area a year ago, is a lecturer in film and media studies at the University and a large contributor to the festival, which began Oct. 15 and runs through Nov. 14. The festival celebrates the film cultures of Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil and Spain.

With Jamieson’s Hispanic background, she has always been interested in the Spanish language and culture and how it can be found in all different places.

The festival is halfway through its series of four screenings. The next film, “El regreso,” (“The Return”) will screen Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in room 100 of Oldfather Studios. The final screening, “Xingu,” will be in the auditorium of the Spencer Museum Nov. 5 at 5:30 p.m. All the screenings are open to the public. Jamieson said the last two showings contained a mix of people, from faculty and students to community members.

Jamieson said the films in the festival may never have the chance to be distributed through the United States, so festivals such as ¡Vamos! make it possible to bring these different cultures to the U.S.

“Some of the films are a little bit challenging,” Jamieson said. “Some of these films you have maybe seen at a film festival in New York or in California but some not even that, you have to find really specific film festivals to view these films.”

Jamieson said many departments and organizations were involved in the contributions that have made ¡Vamos! possible. It was also funded in part with a grant from PRAGDA, a New York-based distribution company of Spanish and Latin American films.

Having previously known about PRAGDA, Jamieson and her team decided to apply for the grant. This led to her working with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, as well as a couple people from international programs such as international and interdisciplinary studies at the University.

Jamieson said aside from the help of PRAGDA, EGARC (Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center) was the festival’s largest financial supporter, and it made a commitment to purchase the films and make them available through the University’s library. EGARC is an academic unit within the Humanities division of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Being fairly new at the University, Jamieson said it was very pleasing to be able to successfully pull this festival off.

“What’s been really exciting to me as a new person here at KU is being able to work with all these different groups: the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, graduate students, EGARC, the anthropology department and global and international studies,” Jamieson said. “It’s just this fantastic group of people, I can’t say enough about how all of these groups helped us.”

Jamieson said graduate students from the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese helped select the film for the final ¡Vamos! screening. Since the business school is having its Brazilian festival the same night, they decided to combine the two events to avoid splitting the audience.

Graduate student of film and media studies, Stephanie Wille from Lawrence, said the festival has been really exciting for her.

“I love seeing culture and film being brought together,” she said. “It really shows how expansive the film industry is becoming.”

Jamieson said the motivation for the festival does not stem from anything specific going on in Latin American cinema currently, but rather comes from issues about nationality and immigration that affect us all, and the directors of these films are working with that.

“They’re making really innovative, expansive work which still expands many of the Hollywood traditions,” Jamieson said.

Although ¡Vamos! hasn’t been a tradition at Kansas, film festivals in general are routinely held by the Center for Global and International Studies.

“It’s just really the multitude of groups and departments of people who want to be able to present these films and discuss them that allowed all of this to come together,” Jamieson said.

The Films:

“También la lluvia” (“Even the Rain”) was shown on Oct. 15 as the opening film of the festival. Viewers were able to watch this film about exploration in South America while eating homemade tamales cooked by a local Mexican chef.

“La muerte de Pinochet” (“The Death of Pinochet”) explores Chilean history. It was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director, Ivan Osnovikoff. This documentary, screened Oct. 20, is a very challenging film, Jamieson said.

“It’s a really interesting film but it does not hold your hand, if you don’t know Chilean history, you don’t know who Pinochet was, it doesn’t really baby you along,” Jamieson said.

The upcoming third film, “El regreso” (“The Return”), will be shown Wednesday night at 6:30 in room 100 of Oldfather Studios. It tells the story of a New York immigrant’s trip home to Costa Rica.

The final screening, “Xingu,” will take place on Nov. 5 at the Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium. This film is based on a true story about the exploration of Brazil in 1943. A discussion with professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Luciano Tosta, will follow the film.

Copy editing example 1

I edited this story written by Miranda Davis, restructuring it, identifying the year and hometown of the sources and fixing other errors or rewording phrases. Originally published in the Aug. 25, 2014 University Daily Kansan.

Student Senate results overriden, re-election required

The Student Senate executive staff – Morgan Said, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., Miranda Wagner, a senior from Shawnee, and their hired officers – has been removed from office.

Emma Halling, a senior from Elkhart, Ind. and former student body vice president, is acting as interim student body president until new leadership is determined with a re-election.

In a decision released Friday, the University Judicial Board Appeals Panel overrode the results of the current Student Senate election and required a re-election of Student Senate positions, including President Said and Vice President Wagner, in the coming weeks.

The Panel met Wednesday to hear an appeal that argued that the results were distorted because all votes for Jayhawkers, whose members were disqualified in April, were not counted. The Panel agreed in its decision and determined the Elections Commission should hold a re-election.

“We conclude that the only reasonable reading of the Election Code is that, first, the election results were ‘materially altered by a violation of the Code,’ and, second, a new election is required,” the Panel said in its decision, signed by chair Thomas Stacy and Panel members Michelle Ginavan Hayes and Lisa Wolf-Wendel.

The decision says the Commission has flexibility in determining the rules of the new election:

“We stress that although the Code plainly requires a new election in cases such as this, it does not specify rules for the conduct of such an election. This means that the Commission necessarily has a large range of discretion in adapting and interpreting the Code for this purpose. It also means that many challenges to the Commission’s conduct of the new election must surmount of the very high bar of showing that Commission has abused its discretion.”

The Panel also mentions on page four and five of the decision that “the only reasonable means of eliminating . . . irrelevant guesswork, given that approximately 60% of the voters cast votes for the Jayhawkers candidates, is to ask those voters which eligible candidate they prefer. And the only feasible mechanism for doing this is to hold a new election.”

The appeal heard on Aug. 21 was brought to the Panel by Eli Hymson, a sophomore from Parkland, Fla. It was denied by the Student Senate Court of Appeals on May 2, the 2,662 votes for Jayhawkers were nullified, and Student Senate executive staffmembers took office in May.

The disqualification of Jayhawkers stems from a violation brought to the Commission by Grow KU about an incomplete financial report after a member of the coalition allegedly purchased Chipotle for other members on March 30.

On April 8, the Elections Commission disqualified the entire Jayhawkers coalition. Because this happened the night before the election, Jake Rapp, a graduate student from Lawrence and then-chair of the Commission, said he kept the Jayhawkers on the ballot because they had the right to appeal within 48 hours of the decision, which they filed April 9.

The Student Senate Court of Appeals announced April 10 it would not hear the appeal as there was a potential conflict of interest. It deferred the appeal to the University Judicial Board Appeals Panel, which upheld the decision to disqualify Jayhawkers on April 24.

The Commission released the unofficial results, which did not include Jayhawkers candidates, on April 27. It certified the election and released the full results, with Jayhawkers included, on April 29.

The full results showed that MacKenzie Oatman, a senior from Wichita, and Mitchell Cota, a senior from Overland Park, presidential and vice presidential candidates for the disqualified Jayhawkers coalition, received 61.4 percent of the vote, Said and Wagner of Grow KU received 31.6 percent, and Kevin Hundelt, a senior from St. Louis, Mo., and Sara Anees, a senior from Wichita, of Crimson & True received 6.9 percent.

Moving forward, the Elections Commission will meet this week to set parameters for the upcoming Student Senate re-election, according to Mark Pacey, a graduate student from Manhattan and the acting chair of the Elections Commission. They will have to decide who is allowed to participate in the re-election. He said he hopes to hold the re-election as soon as possible.

Pacey said he thinks the election will only be between candidates that participated in last year’s election and were not disqualified — meaning only members of Crimson and True and Grow KU — as the decision to disqualify members of Jayhawkers was upheld by the Panel in April. He said at this time, no new coalitions can be formed.

Oatman said she does not believe this is the correct understanding of the Appeals Panel’s decision and would like to see an entirely new election.

“What needs to happen is a new election needs to be held where new candidates can come, new coalitions can form and it doesn’t have to be just the people who were on the ballot. That’s how I read ‘new election,’” Oatman said.

Halling said she plans to meet with Tyler Childress, a law student from Coffeyville and last year’s chief of staff, and Reuben Perez, director of Student Involvement Leadership Center, to clarify the exact course of action based on Student Senate Rules and Regulations.

She said Marcus Tetwiler, a graduate from Paola and last year’s student body president, left in May and for that reason she has stepped into his role. For the same reason, Childress will resume his position as chief of staff.

Said said she is confident in Halling’s ability to lead the student body until a new president is elected.

“I will say that we are complying with what’s been mandated and will continue to have the student body’s interests in mind,” Said said.

‘Gone Girl’ critiques marriage through its shocking mystery

This was originally published in the University Daily Kansan on Oct. 6, 2014.

On the surface, “Gone Girl” is a mystery thriller about the search for Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) after she disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary. The case brings a firestorm of media attention, especially once her husband Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) is suspected of killing her.

But the movie’s really about what’s hidden underneath the surface — the ugliness of people’s true selves, and the show they put on to convince everyone else they’re living normal and happy existences. This is specifically applied to marriage.

Amy’s journal entries give us insight into her relationship with Nick and her side of the story. We see a blissful courtship and the first several years of marriage in New York City, but that marriage evolves into an increasingly toxic beast, following economic troubles and their move to Nick’s small Missouri hometown. These scenes feel distinctly like memories instead of objective flashbacks. They are straight to the point, inherently emotional and enhanced through Amy’s narration of her effectively written prose.

They come piece by piece, interspersed between the deepening search for Amy. The search includes community efforts, the investigation of the detective (Kim Dickens) and the police officer (Patrick Fugit) heading the case. Nick tries to figure everything out with his only confidante, his twin sister (Carrie Coon).

Then, about an hour in, the first layer of “Gone Girl” peels back in a jaw-dropping twist that changes the direction of the film’s gears from an enthralling mystery to a rivetingly, ingeniously plotted thriller. By the chilling end, it has changed into a satire about the politics of marriage and relationships — one guaranteed to spark conversation.

Kansas City, Mo., native and Kansas alumna Gillian Flynn adapted her best seller into the brilliantly paced screenplay, which retains the sprawling feel of a lengthy and extensively detailed novel, packed with frequent surprises and well-developed characters even on the supporting level. Her commentary about marriages prickles with raw honesty and cuts deep with razor wire sharpness, while also eliciting thorny laughs. Flynn’s take on Fox News-type analysts eating the characters alive in a case like this is cleverly funny too, while showing how easily the public opinion can be swayed.

Audience perceptions of Nick and Amy constantly shift, the way the public’s perceptions of famous figures or those under national scrutiny change when a shocking scandal comes to light or when they say something inspiring or offensive. Both of them have secrets we discover, and Nick particularly has trouble balancing his offhand charm against smarm, not acting how the media expects an innocent man with a missing wife to act.

Affleck has never fit a role so well. Nick’s situation recalls the early years of Affleck’s career, when he showed some initial promise but then slid into dramatic dullness and relied on his sweet-talking allure to sustain him. Affleck nails the put-upon incredulity and emotional distance, while still remaining likable as we learn he’s not such a good guy.

Even more surprising is Pike, a revelation here that should make her a star. She’s so sweet and smart, and once her hidden side is dug up, she embodies that difference so deeply she puts viewers in an entrancing state of astonishment. The whole film hinges on completely believing her performance, and she pulls viewers to the edge of their seats.

And yet, masterful director David Fincher is the one perfecting every little detail that ultimately makes “Gone Girl” the kind of movie that leaves a deep, deep impact on the psyche and enraptures as an enormously entertaining experience. Every shot draws the viewer in closer to the story, the nuance is always felt, the visual storytelling and editing captivate with gripping control and when something crazy happens, it’s felt viscerally.

The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross adds to that power, playing calm and ambiently most of the time with an undercurrent of something upsetting, rising to strength to capture the mood in important moments. It doesn’t stand out as much as their work on Fincher’s previous two films, but it fits just right with this story.

“Gone Girl” shocks with its twists and thrills, with its stylish and engaging storytelling, but what it really has to say will get under viewers’ skin and keep them talking — especially couples — long after they’re gone from the theater.

Four out of Four Stars