Excited But Torn

[CatherineM]

An article that I ghostwrote, won a Canadian journalist award. It was for the best editorial article in a Christian newspaper. The thing about being a ghost writer is that you don't have to deal with the public side of things. I truly hate that part. On the other hand, someone else gets the award. I'd probably feel bad about not getting credit, but this one I ghost wrote for my husband, so he's the one who's picture is going to be on the front page of the Western Catholic Reporter next week. We are headed out to celebrate.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='19 May 2010 - 02:58 PM' timestamp='1274299116' post='2113756']
An article that I ghostwrote, won a Canadian journalist award. It was for the best editorial article in a Christian newspaper. The thing about being a ghost writer is that you don't have to deal with the public side of things. I truly hate that part. On the other hand, someone else gets the award. I'd probably feel bad about not getting credit, but this one I ghost wrote for my husband, so he's the one who's picture is going to be on the front page of the Western Catholic Reporter next week. We are headed out to celebrate.
[/quote]

Congratulations on the award! I'm glad that it's your husband who is getting the award, but I hope HE doesn't feel bad that you were the one who actually wrote the article. When your husband receives the award, he can say something like, "I could never have done this without my wife--she deserves the award as much as I do." And, the award will be in your house.

I don't mind as much when I lose something, or don't get credit for something, if the person who does win or get credit, is someone who has been very good to me, and deserves credit that maybe he didn't get at the time. The credit for this is making up for past injustices. Your husband COULD have written the article--he just didn't. And, God obviously wants him to get some public recognition right now--only you, your husband, and God know the reasons why.

But, I can see why you're torn. I'd feel exactly the same way.

You are so blessed to have a husband, and to be able to do this for him.

Edited May 19, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[CatherineM]

He always gives me props. He gets the ideas, and chases down the opportunities, but his stuff comes out like stereo instructions. I joke that I translate it into real human English.

[CatherineM]

Just in case anyone wants to read the original article.

[url="http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2009/1012/mardon101209.shtml"]Western Catholic Reporter[/url]

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='19 May 2010 - 03:19 PM' timestamp='1274300351' post='2113766']
He always gives me props. He gets the ideas, and chases down the opportunities, but his stuff comes out like stereo instructions. I joke that I translate it into real human English.
[/quote]


[quote name='CatherineM' date='19 May 2010 - 03:19 PM' timestamp='1274300397' post='2113767']
Just in case anyone wants to read the original article.

[url="http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2009/1012/mardon101209.shtml"]Western Catholic Reporter[/url]
[/quote]

First off, thanks for the link. I was going to ask you if you minded if we read the article.

I understand completely how your husband can have great ideas, but not be able to get them on paper. For most of my career, I took tax laws and other things written by lawyers, and "translated" them in English for the clients of the company I worked for. Very few of the clients were lawyers--that's why they hired us, to help them navigate through the system. The lawyers were very smart, but law school ruined their ability to write like a human.

That's why I decided not to go to law school, although it was suggested to me many times, and my employer would have paid for it. First off, I don't like the "adversarial" nature of law, and then, I think if I went to law school it would ruin my ability to take very complex subjects and boil them down to what a "real person" wanted to know. The lawyers wanted to give every detail, but our clients were busy and didn't have the time or interest in all the details. So, if they got a newsletter giving every detail, they would never read it, and they'd hire one of our competitors.

I realized also that I only enjoyed tax law because the Internal Revenue Service was our "adversary" and I had no problems trying to outwit them! But, I'd never want to be responsible for sending a person to jail, or deciding a family custody case. Just like I could never be a doctor because I would never be able to sleep at night having responsibility for other people's lives. I know most people learn to "compartmentalize" if they have jobs like that. I can't compartmentalize at all, and I care too much.

I highly respect the fact that you were able to decide marriage annulment cases and other canon law decisions. A couple who truly loved each other might not be able to remarry in the church simply because the Vatican decided their reasons weren't good enough. People are imperfect by nature, and even the best of intentions can't solve every problem. We think we know ourselves at 25 or 30 when we get married, but life has a way of throwing things at us that make us realize we didn't know ourselves at all, and try as we might, sometimes it just can't be worked out.

Edited May 19, 2010 by IgnatiusofLoyola

[CatherineM]

I'm glad that law school didn't rob me of my ability to talk normal English. That was probably because I refused to conform, and my grades definitely reflected that. When I worked with farmers, I often got calls from them, while they were in their local attorney's office, because they couldn't understand what the guy was trying to tell them. He'd hand the phone to the lawyer, who would explain it to me, and then I'd translate it into Okie farmer-speak. I thought at first that it would anger the other attorney for me to do that, but they were just grateful to get them out of their offices quicker. Farmers don't punch a clock exactly, so they can make the time to call a lawyer 20 times a day.

I was able to pick and choose my clients, so I never really had that feeling of responsibility for screwing them up. Partly that was probably because I never lost a case. If I had, it might have scared me for the next client. The closest I came was working on death penalty appeal cases. After I got hurt, I had lots of time to fill. I could read thousands of pages of trial transcripts and somehow find little details that could be used for appeal. I was very careful about picking which ones I'd do. Some people wondered if I only did those people who I thought were innocent, and the answer is no. There are lots of people willing to help the innocent.

If you are against the death penalty, you have to be against it for the Ted Bundy's and Tim McVeigh's of the world too. Just like it is easy to find people against abortion to gender select, but harder when it is a case of rape or incest. If you're truly against abortion, you have to be against it even in hard cases. I made sure that I only worked on cases where the individual was serving time for other charges, because I wanted to get them off death row, but not out of prison. Every one of them needed to be behind bars, and I wasn't going to run the risk of turning one of them loose on society again. One thing about representing a death row inmate, you know you are their last chance. I wasn't technically their attorney though. I just dug up the stuff for their lawyers to use. I only made the mistake of getting too close to an inmate once. When his execution was scheduled, he asked me to be a witness. I wish I'd said no, but how could I have? It went horrible, and I couldn't do another appeal case after that.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='CatherineM' date='19 May 2010 - 05:28 PM' timestamp='1274308097' post='2113814']
I'm glad that law school didn't rob me of my ability to talk normal English. That was probably because I refused to conform, and my grades definitely reflected that. When I worked with farmers, I often got calls from them, while they were in their local attorney's office, because they couldn't understand what the guy was trying to tell them. He'd hand the phone to the lawyer, who would explain it to me, and then I'd translate it into Okie farmer-speak. I thought at first that it would anger the other attorney for me to do that, but they were just grateful to get them out of their offices quicker. Farmers don't punch a clock exactly, so they can make the time to call a lawyer 20 times a day.

[/quote]
You should have billed the lawyer for your time.

[CatherineM]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='19 May 2010 - 11:34 PM' timestamp='1274330050' post='2113977']
You should have billed the lawyer for your time.
[/quote]
My day job was a non-profit. I didn't charge anyone. The quicker I got my farmers out of their lawyer's office, the less out of pocket the farmers were. That's more money for the farm.

[Era Might]

Catherine, have you ever heard of the L'Arche communities? They are communities that welcome mentally handicapped people. The founder, Jean Vanier, is actually from Canada. Just throwing it out there in case your husband ever wants to look them up, maybe he can be of some help to them...your article brought them to mind.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Era Might

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Era Might' date='20 May 2010 - 12:39 AM' timestamp='1274330374' post='2113984']
Catherine, have you ever heard of the L'Arche communities? They are communities that welcome mentally handicapped people. The founder, Jean Vanier, is actually from Canada. Just throwing it out there in case your husband ever wants to look them up, maybe he can be of some help to them...your article brought them to mind.
[/quote]
Plus One. L'Arche is awesome. Vanier is most excellent.

[Archaeology cat]

Awesome about the award! I'll have to read the article later.

[Rebecca2009]

Congratulations!
I will be back to read that article.

[CatherineM]

[quote name='Era Might' date='19 May 2010 - 11:39 PM' timestamp='1274330374' post='2113984']
Catherine, have you ever heard of the L'Arche communities? They are communities that welcome mentally handicapped people. The founder, Jean Vanier, is actually from Canada. Just throwing it out there in case your husband ever wants to look them up, maybe he can be of some help to them...your article brought them to mind.
[/quote]
One of my Social Teachings classmates did their visitation project on L'Arche so I know we have one around here somewhere. I'm afraid to mention it to him for fear he'd take on something else. Chauffeuring him is a full time job. We don't let him drive because he can see things one minute that disappear the next.

[CatherineM]

Here's the [url="http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2010/0524/wcr052410.shtml"]Link[/url] to the article about the award.

[MissyP89]

A newspaper is allowed to use ghostwriters? This journalist is scandalized. Still, props to you Catherine for a job well done.