Lauren Wetmore <████████████████████████████████ >
To: Bopha Chhay <████████████████████ >
Cc: Josh Schwebel <privatejosh@gmail.com>
Dear Bopha,
Thanks for your patience as Josh and I took a beat to think further. We both continue to be so impressed by and grateful for this text. The work you are doing around creating a bibliography and citing precedents is a very important contribution, as is the way you weave your personal experiences and reflections in with professional and systemic observations. There is so much here that reflects, bolsters, and expands on other texts in the book, so thank you again!
Josh has made a few notes in a google doc that you can find here, and I wanted to share some thoughts below:
- I would like to suggest that you begin this text by telling the reader how you understand its context – what about The Employee as an artwork is prompting the subjects and themes you go on to write about. You do some of this throughout the text, but perhaps an introduction to your reading of the work up top would help situate a reader.
- Please do not feel constrained by the word count. We have texts ranging up to 7000 words at this point, so if you would like more room to better communicate you have the green light from us. Take as much space as you need.
- I would be interested to read what you cut about
- Don't worry about the style. We are using Chicago but have a wonderful copy editor who will bring everything into conformity at the end as long as all the citation information is provided.
- Your use of the first person is great, and on that subject, I wanted to respond to your note about exercising diplomacy although your desire was not to: Josh and I are in complete support if you would like to write more freely. I understand that you are choosing diplomacy for many different reasons, but keep in mind that this publication is a place where you will be supported in candor and truth-telling.