Today, we welcome Ellen Jovin, author of Rebel with a Clause, to the blog for a guest post. Stay tuned until the end for a link to our latest podcast episode with Ellen and her editor!
When Ellen Jovin first walked outside her Manhattan apartment building and set up a folding table with a "Grammar Table" sign, it took about thirty seconds to get her first visitor. Everyone had a question for her. Grammar Table was such a hit—attracting the attention of the New York Times, NPR, and CBS Evening News—that Jovin soon took it on the road, traveling across the US to answer questions from writers, lawyers, editors, businesspeople, students, bickering couples, and anyone else who uses words in this world.
In Rebel with a Clause, Jovin tackles what is most on people’s minds, grammatically speaking.
Welcome, Ellen!
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I am a lifelong library lover. A library reverer, in fact. I say that as the proprietor of a traveling pop-up grammar advice stand, called the Grammar Table, that I’ve taken to 47 states across the US so I can answer grammar questions from passersby. Sometimes I plop it down on streets, sometimes in parks, and sometimes in libraries. My grammar adventures are recounted in my new book, Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian.
I feel a kinship with librarians. I apologize if that sounds presumptuous, as I have no library degree or training, but I revere words, books, and facts, and those all seem pretty central in the lives of librarians. Librarians are for me an interface between society and truth. The role they play in our communities is of staggering social and intellectual value.
Libraries shaped my own childhood and fueled my love of language. Sure, I loved grammar lessons and sentence diagramming, but reading books, books, and more books gave me a sprawling, inspiring sense of the possibilities of words. Language use is preserved in the pages of ages.
I grew up in 1970s Los Angeles with my mother and my sister Diana. We made frequent trips to local libraries, where we were allowed to take out 10 books at a time. Every two weeks we’d return the 30 books we’d checked out during our previous visit (3 family members x 10 books) and replace them with new ones. Whenever I carried those book towers back and forth to our blue Chevy station wagon, the books’ corners would stab my inner arms, but I didn’t mind.
I loved roaming the library looking for new things to read. My mother, who was first an elementary school teacher and later a principal, was knowledgeable about children’s literature, and our book piles often contained Caldecott and Newbery Medal winners. What I remember most about the library, though, is a kind of floaty readerly freedom—we were allowed to roam the library, browse through books, and become the readers we wanted to be.
My maternal grandmother’s two sisters were both librarians. Perhaps this is why, when I was on the road and outdoor weather was not compatible with grammartabling, I automatically thought of libraries first. In Arizona, I ended up at the East Flagstaff Community Library, where I had a long talk with a librarian who was enchanted by the Oxford comma—the comma before the “and” at the end of a list.
Grammar Table snow day at the East Flagstaff Community Library
Oxford comma negotiations underway in Flagstaff
In Montana, in the Bozeman Public Library, I sat at the Grammar Table for hours and met visitors of all ages and dispositions.
Ready for any "grammergencies" at the Bozeman Public Library
The Grammar Table is family-friendly
One of my favorite conversations there was about a hot-button issue of our time: how many spaces to put after a period.
Punctuation enthusiasts in Bozeman
“For decades when I typed, I always did two spaces,” said my visitor, a part-time library employee. “It was just habit. It took me a while to switch. I was extremely resistant and had to read several articles about why we don’t need to do that anymore before I gave in.”
“Did you stop then?” I asked. “You actually stopped?”
“Yes,” she said.
“I think this is a really good sign about you,” I said.
She laughed. “Do you do astrology readings too?” she asked.
“Because lots of people are permanently resistant to making that change,” I said. In my own 1979 typing class, I was taught to put two spaces, but I switched to one in the 1990s when I began working as a freelance writer.
“I’m a very logical person,” she said. “When I actually started reading people who were knowledgeable about typesetting and all that stuff, I kind of went, all right, I guess I see. I understand.”
“I’m impressed!” I said. “This is what libraries represent: facts! I’m going to congratulate both of us right now for making that change.”
She put out her hand and we shook on it.
Taking a flexible approach to grammar
Many thanks to the librarians who have hosted the Grammar Table—and to all the librarians who bring inspiration, ideas, and comfort to our communities.
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Thanks, Ellen! We so appreciate all the lovely photos (credit to Brandt Johnson) as well!
We also recently had Ellen on our podcast, speaking with her editor. Listen to the episode here:
Get a copy of Rebel with a Clause now!
-Lainey
