ETS! publishes articles based on a rather subjective mix of factors, including length (we have severe space constraints in our print publication), timeliness, readability, relevance to our readers, what we have (or haven't) published before on the topic, whether it's a perspective already represented in mainstream media, trying to include diverse voices, and consistency with the overall politics of ETS!. We rarely publish reviews, and then only on a space-available basis. We don't publish the following: poetry, conspiracy theories, long academic or political treatises, articles contrary to our goals (e.g., that we feel are sexist, racist, homophobic, or overtly fond of George Will), or the one and true path to world revolution. Otherwise, pieces need not adhere to political beliefs on a given issue of any or all editors or collective members. (E.g., just because we have published an article critical of Seattle's light rail project doesn't mean we wouldn't publish an article defending it.)

There are three simple things that ETS! likes in an article: 1) make it entertaining and relevant to a non-political audience; 2) do *not* use rhetoric or political jargon; 3) be accurate and include enough information to ensure that it's credible. Write casually, in everyday language; don't use long words when short ones will do. Any sentence should be able to comfortably accommodate the word "shit."

While ETS! has a large readership in Seattle's activist community, we assume that our reader is not an activist. Include enough background information on your topic that, however brief, it gives enough context to the main points of your article for somebody who knows nothing about the issue--or why they should care about it.

We also, particularly through the Net and our web sites, have a large readership outside Seattle, the state, and even the U.S. Don't assume readers are familiar with local officials--at least once, give titles or contexts for people like Mark Sidran, Gary Locke, Maria Cantwell. The same goes for local activist groups or other possible topics where the nature of the subject isn't obvious from the name: No on 200!, Seafair.

Write as through you were in a conversation with someone. Speak as bluntly, or as patiently, or as excitedly. If something is a scam, call it a scam; if an elected official is acting like an asshole, name it.

Keep it simple. Do not include footnotes or citations in the body of the article; a *short* italicized "for more info" blurb at the end is OK. Avoid technical jargon; translate it to plain English.

On political issues, avoid abstract theory, utopian visions, and cliched rhetoric. The following words should not be used unless they are clearly put in context, and then they should only be used sparingly: imperialist, colonialist, conspiracy, oppressor, patriarchy, fascist, genocide. Don't stand in solidarity, expose ideas, or engage in courageous or righteous action. Sisterhood and brotherhood are best left to actual families.

Our articles generally range in length from 300-900 words; longer by prior arrangement with the editors *only*. You are not writing a term paper. Nor are you writing a masterpiece for the ages; the important thing is that you write in your own voice. It doesn't have to be perfect. Editors exist to fuss over spelling and grammar and cleaning up the sequence of the paragraphs. Do the best you can. It is more important to us to get a variety of voices in print, particularly voices of people who don't consider themselves writers or experts or activists, than to have perfect little essays each issue.

If you are uncomfortable with an article format, consider writing something as a letter for the letters column. Letters are generally a bit shorter (0-600 words, on rare occasions longer), and we don't edit them much. Since they are clearly your opinion, the burden of being "authoritative" is much less.

Where possible, include information on what readers can do: contact information for local groups or upcoming events, or the political strategy that will be needed to bring about change.

If the information contained in an article has been generally unavailable in mainstream media, consider adding citations at the end of the article. This will increase the article's credibility and help readers who want to find out more.

Tone: Part of the charm of ETS! is that we provide informed rants. That is, it comes from the heart, includes actual emotion and at times personal experience, but also includes knowledge and information about the topic. There is a fine line between being angry (OK) and being sarcastic (OK) and being abusive (not OK) and being libelous (not OK). Respect that line.

ETS! manages a tricky balance of publishing something that's fun to read even though much of the subject matter is rather grim and depressing. Humor is essential to making this work. Less obvious, but also essential, is a sense of empowerment and hope: People can do something effective about the bad things in the world, and in fact *are* doing something about it.

Tell a story. The narrative of your article should ideally be such that the lead paragraph makes the reader want to find out more, and the subsequent paragraphs make the reader want to know how it ends.

Above all, and once again, don't be afraid to be you. We grow up learning that to be taken "seriously" we have to argue political or social issues in a certain, logically rigorous way; we must write in a certain style; that your own experience is anecdotal and therefore not relevant; and that we're not credible if we don't adhere to this model of advancing one's ideas. Unlearn all that. Write from the heart. You know a lot, including many things that other ETS! readers don't know. Share them. Use these tips as a guideline, but don't let them get in the way of your voice.

Style Guidelines for Eat the State! (Rev. 12/00)

ETS! uses basic AP stylebook standards, with a few exceptions and additions. Here are some of the most common problems and editorial questions writers encounter.

Punctuation

Brackets: Used to indicate author's addition to a quotation, or the author's summary of a longer phrase that is being skipped "...his vice [that is, of smoking] should..."; "...his vice [of smoking] should..."

Colon: Capitalize first word of a full sentence after a colon: "I'm perplexed: How can we do this?" Lowercase if not full sentence. Also, unless part of a bulleted list, the colon should be preceded by a full independent clause, and should not separate a verb from its object. Wrong: "The community included: Catholics, Jews, pagans, and Unitarians." Correct: "The community included people of many spiritual backgrounds: Catholics, Jews, pagans, and Unitarians."

Commas: Use serial commas, including for the last in the series. Example: "Lions, tigers, and bears," not "Lions, tigers and bears." Also, a comma is needed in the phrase "Martha and her husband Joe" unless Martha has more than one husband. So: "Martha and her husband, Joe, work hard."

Ellipses: Use four dots if the phrase before and after the ellipse are full sentences. Otherwise, use three. "I am a full sentence....So am I." "I am just one sentence with something...taken out."

ETS! always needs exclamation point. If it falls at end of sentence, do not put period after the "!".

Quotation marks always go outside of periods and commas, inside of other punctuation, unless the punctuation is part of the quote.

Parentheses go inside punctuation if parenthetical phrase is part of sentence, outside punctuation if entire sentence is parenthetical.

Spacing: Use only one space after colons, periods, or any other punctuation at the end of sentences.

Dates: Use comma in month-date-year constructions (April 10, 1995), no comma for month-year only (April 1995). No "th": "May 8," not "May 8th."

Use two dashes for a hyphen--like that.

Numbers

Spell out one through nine, use numerals for 10 or more, except for dimensions: 2 miles, 4 acres, 3 percent. Okay to mix words and numerals in sentence: "The community consists of 12 adults, eight children, and 17 cats." Use commas for numerals of four digits or more: 1,200.

Do not begin sentences with numerals. Either spell out or recast sentence.

Decades: '60s, not `60s or 60's. However, spell out if referring to age: "She is in her sixties," not "'60s."

Money: $9, not $9.00 or nine dollars.

Time: 8 PM, not 8:00 PM.

Phone numbers: "425-224-9080," not "(425) 224-9080."

Zip codes: Don't use the four-digit add-on (e.g., "98103," not "98103-4567").

Spelling

African American (noun), African-American (adj.)

"Decision making," "decision maker" as noun, "decision-making" when modifying a noun.

"Childcare," "lifestyle" one word, no hyphen.

"Grassroots" (adj.), grass roots (noun).

Nonprofit, nonviolence. Put a hyphen after most other "non" constructions. Two hyphens in ages: "four-year-old."

Spell out "United States" when used as noun, abbreviate "US" only as modifier.

Upper case abbreviations: Don't use periods. US, FBI, UNESCO.

Cybertalk: Capitalize "Internet," "Net," "Web." Hyphenate "e-mail." Always skip the "http" part of URLs.

"Et al." requires period of abbreviation (after second word only).

For -ed and -ing words where either a single of double final consonant is considered a correct spelling, use the single consonant version (e.g., focused, traveling, targeted).

Capitalization: Beware of overcapitalizing. Examples: Do not capitalize seasons (winter, spring, etc.) except when using as name of magazine issue (e.g., the Spring 1995 issue) or otherwise part of a proper noun.

Do not capitalize governmental titles unless preceding a name (e.g., "Mayor Schell"; "the mayor is a sellout").

Do not capitalize "city" or "state," except when part of proper name for government (e.g., "I love Washington state, but I hate the State of Washington"). Lowercase subsequent references (e.g., "the state taxes its citizens more regressively than anywhere else in the nation.").

Do not capitalize government bodies in generic references (e.g., city councils), but capitalize when part of a proper name (Seattle City Council) or when referring to a specific body where the context does not require the name (e.g., "the Legislature voted...", "Congress is full of idiots"). Lowercase "council" by itself (e.g., "the council's blunder").

Remember to use adequate modifiers for government bodies with duplicate names. Wrong: "The Supreme Court ruled..." Right: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled..." (there are also state supreme courts, city councils, state houses of representatives, and so on).

Do not capitalize parts of proper names in subsequent references (e.g., the Green Party, the Discovery Institute, and the Mississippi River become "the party," "the institute," and "the river").

Capitalize Earth when referring to planet, lower case when referring to soil.

Avoid excessive use of abbreviations.

Other

Caption style: Always use periods, even if not full sentence. "Newt Gingrich, far right." Photo credits do not take a period.

Contact info: Separate parts with semicolon: name, address; phone; fax; e-mail. "Lance Scott, 4302 Meridian N, Seattle, WA 98103; 206-632-4334; lanscot@aol.com."

Don't use periods in "PO Box" or directional parts of street names: "Spruce NE," not "N.E."

E.g., i.e.: Follow with comma (e.g., like this).

"However": Takes a semicolon before it and a comma after when it joins two sentences. "I live in a commune; however, I don't like tofu." (Or these could be separate sentences. The main thing is to put a comma after this type of usage to distinguish it from a different kind of usage: "I like theater; however, you spell it `theatre' in my country." "I like theater, however you spell it.")

Latin plurals: Treat words like media as singular nouns (e.g., "the media is...," not "the media are..."). Use stadiums, not stadia.

States: Spell out state names in text when used by themselves. Okay to use abbreviation when used in conjunction with city names, but not two-letter postal abbreviations. Put commas around state names or abbrevations when preceded by city: "The Farm, located in Summertown, Tenn., was founded in the early '70s." Okay to abbreviate states without cities only as part of proper noun (Wash. State University, Calif. Dairy Council).

That/which: Watch for correct usage of "that" and "which": "that" for restrictive clauses, "which" (preceded by a comma) for non-restrictive.

Titles of books, publications, movies, etc. No italics.

Extended quotations are italicized. Italicize contact information, bibliographies, citations, etc. at the end of articles.

ETS! uses HTML coding to mark layout instructions in the text: <I> and </I> to designate starting and stopping italics, <B> and </B> for bold. Avoiding using underlines or all-upper-case words as ways to emphasize a word or phrase. In italicized sections, such as extended quotes or article tags, emphasis is shown by stopping and starting itals: </I> , then <I> .

Avoid invective aimed at individuals; focus on their bad choices, not them as a person. ("The mayor's idiotic policy," not "The mayor is an idiot.")

Be careful about including "other" when making generalized comparisons. ("Washington has more prisoners than any other state," not "Washington has more prisoners than any state.")

Always avoid alliteration.