Written for my 1976 B.A. Portfolio for Antioch.

1. Describe the learning setting. Include where it took place, the role of other persons who were involved with you, and any materials employed which assisted your learning.

ZCLA JOURNAL is the official publication of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. In the time that I have been associated with it it has been produced in the apartment of the editor Tom Schulz, who is a monk at the center. The other people involved, besides Tom and myself, have been John Buksbazen, who is the former editor has been around on a consulting basis; Lou Gross has been the editorial assistant and responsible for setting up the filing system. Photographers and layout people have been in and out for briefer periods of time. Last summer Grant Conrad, one of the original monks at the center and a former printer was around for three months giving some valuable technical assistance. The teaching materials and methods are those of an apprenticeship in a small publishing operation. Tom is the editor and he has been teaching me, one by one, all the tasks that that position entails.

2. Describe your participation and responsibilities in this setting.

Before I was on the JOURNAL staff I noticed in the Winter 1974 issue some major
errors of transposition in a new series of translations that was being published. I brought these to the attention of the editor, and he was shocked to see that the JOURNAL had been out for some time and nobody had caught these errors. It seemed that I was the only person who was reading these difficult translations carefully enough to catch those mistakes. I typed up the corrections, and they were put on the back page of the next issue, dated Spring/Summer 1974 (Vol 4, Nos. 2 & 3). Having found out that I was a good typist, the editor also had me type up the main body of the issue to be sent to the typesetter. My name appeared on the staff for the first time that issue.

For the Fall 1974 issue (Vol.4, No.4), I also typed up the bulk of the contents to be sent to the typesetter. My proofreading skills were put to use and I read every word of copy at every stage of production: first drafts, final typewritten manuscripts, type-setter’s proofs, printer’s galleys, and finished copy. I was listed as the Editorial Assistant.

My duties expanded in the next issue, Winter/Spring 1975 (Vol. 5, Nos. 1 & 2). The feature article by Maezumi Roshi was transcribed from a talk he had given, but the original transcription was too freely rendered. A second transcription was made and I was asked to make a composite of the best parts from both. There were still spaces unsatisfactorily transcribed so I had Maezumi Roshi fill them in. This was my first assignment to be editorially responsible for the words of our teacher.

I disagreed strongly with the tone of the article submitted by Roshi’s co-translator, Dana Fraser. I presented a radically edited version to him and Dana rewrote the article, substantially incorporating the changes I had suggested. As before I typed and proofread the majority of the contents of the issue. I also chose the cover photo, and working with Tom Schulz, composed and designed the layout for this issue, including the acknowledgements and contents page.

The next issue, Summer 1975 (Vol. 5 No.3), was the last one to come out before my enrollment at Antioch. This time I was given a complete article by Maezumi Roshi, on the subject of Patience. I was told to improve the quality of the English, a job which had been handled by the editor for the previous four years. I changed all of the grammatical errors into proper English, polished the final style, and presented the finished product to some of the senior monks to double check for accuracy of meaning.

As this was a theme issue on Zen and Science, I wrote the introduction to the special Science section. Tom Schulz and I designed the collage on page thirty. As before I typed and proofread virtually all of the contents of the issue. For the first time I was listed as Assistant Editor, and with the two editors did a final touch-up rewrite on all articles that needed minor changes.

Before I enrolled at Antioch we had started work on a special issue “On Zen Practice.” This has been repeatedly postponed for lack of funds for production, but I already have performed my largest task to date for the JOURNAL on this issue. I was given transcripts of three talks given by Maezumi Roshi on successive days on the same subject, and told to combine them into one major article. I made Xerox copies of all the transcripts and using a scissors and glue rearranged the text so it fell into a logically consistent pattern, rather than the informal rambling, characteristic of spoken discourse. Then I went through the whole thing as I had with the Patience lecture, polishing the English while trying to retain the sense. Although this issue has not yet been published, the type has been set and, as before, I typed and proofread all contents. I did the research for the glossary, which consisted of listing every word in the issue that might need to be defined for the new reader. I have been consulted at editorial meetings as to the best way to work around our financial difficulties and get this issue printed.

3. Describe new skills and/or knowledge derived from this learning activity which contribute to your Degree Plan.

Almost everything I have done on the JOURNAL makes use of language skills I had developed ten years ago or more. I had never applied them in any way to produce a publication, or anything else. While working for the JOURNAL I learned proofreader’s notation and did actual proofreading for the first time. I learned editor’s notation and did actual editing and rewriting of copy for the first time. Of course, this involved having an adequate knowledge of the specialized subject matter. I made decisions between alternatives for layout and design for the first time. I designed (with another person) a published collage for the first time. I wrote (the Zen and Science intro) for publication for the first time, although I did not ask for a byline.

I learned, by watching or helping, many additional aspects of putting out a periodical for which I was not solely responsible. In following three issues all the way through from start to finish I learned that the process, in our case, consists of: transcribing the talks, editing the transcripts, typesetting the copy, designing the book and laying out the artwork, sending the pasteup to the printer, final editing of the printer’s proof copy, and then distribution. I was involved, if less directly, with every aspect of this process. I was an equal member of editorial committees which wrote and designed advertising for the JOURNAL. I was also in charge of editorial correspondence.

4. Self-Assessment: Evaluate this learning activity. Mention such things as the quality of the experience itself and its personal significance to you.

Quality. The quality of our JOURNAL has increased by a recognizable margin with each issue for the past two years. We are dealing with a very high level of verbal, historical, religious, and graphic precision. We are close to being the highest quality publication of our kind in the country.

Personal Significance. Becoming a resource person rather than just a seeker has been an important change for me. I feel a lot of responsibility being one of the directors of what I feel is a historically important publication. Also, it has been important for me to learn, using verbal, religious, and organizational skills which I already had, a whole new field of competence. It has added a whole new dimension to my life.

5. Describe the methods of evaluation and feedback used during the learning experience itself.

I was encouraged in my assumption of responsibility by my two senior editors, John Buksbazen and Thomas Schulz.

6. Describe the material products of this learning experience, if any.

Issues of the JOURNAL on which I have worked.

7. List the forms of testimony and evaluation that you will include in your portfolio as demonstrable evidence of learning. Please attach these.

Evaluation written by Thomas Schulz.  Copies of the JOURNAL.

Evaluator: Thomas Schulz

1. A brief self-description: your relationship with the student relative to this learning experience; professional and/or academic qualifications. You may attach a resume.

See attached resume.

2. Describe the student’s learning in this experience. Mention observable growth, skill development, information mastery, aesthetic sensibility, or other evidence of acquired learning. Use the back of this sheet if necessary.

Editing consists mostly of doing something or another with pencils, typewriters, paper, ink, photographs, artwork, typeset copy, negatives, books, printing equipment, rubber cement, words and the like. The various functions of editing require specific skills and some have a fairly unique information system. The several stages of publishing, from pencil and paper copy or tape to a periodical or book form, are linked chronologically— first one stage and then the next. In short, there’s much information to acquire in order to carry out editorial responsibilities.

Ed Levin has shown a remarkable facility for taking on this new information at a functioning level, and at an amazing pace. In two years he has become competent in or achieved a working knowledge of every essential aspect of editing, even where in some areas it was completely unfamiliar to him beforehand.

My association with Ed on an editing basis began a couple of years ago when he pointed out some critical footnote errors in the Winter 1974 issue of ZCLA Journal. At that time the Journal was being produced by less than a half dozen people—I was the only full-time, paid staff member. When it became apparent that Ed was not only willing to help but was bringing to this effort a considerable talent his presence was especially welcomed. He was from the beginning enthusiastic in undertaking even the most menial tasks such as typing out copy, making runs to the typesetter, or researching correct dates, spellings of names and so forth in articles translated from Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit.

As Ed became more familiar with the language of editing he was given additional responsibilities such as proofreading, and then, as he developed more confidence in his acquired skills began to assume, under the encouragement of the senior editors, responsibilities for final editing and rewrite of transcribed articles.

A note here about the nature of Zen Center publications. Much of the material that appears in our books originates as taped lectures, sometimes by English-speaking, native-borns, but more often by the teacher and Zen Master of the Center, Taizan Maezumi Roshi who is Japanese, and whose English is not precisely idiomatic. This presents a problem which we have dealt with more or less successfully, but not infrequently the nature of the problem is on the order of making Peking duck out of chicken soup; i.e., it requires a certain amount of verbal legerdemain to retain the integrity and essence of the Roshi’s highly specialized lecture form (teisho) and at once render it comprehensible to Americans.

Again, when Ed was given three such transcribed lectures and was asked to combine them into one cohesive, publishable article, he accomplished this in a style that could only be considered in terms of excellence.

As Ed became more and more involved with the publications effort his responsibilities spread out into other areas such as becoming an influential voice in the publications committee, assisting in certain design aspects of the Journal, selecting artwork and photographs to augment the articles, co-authoring a glossary of Zen terms for the upcoming book, On Zen Practice, and not in the least, keeping our filing system up to date.

Somehow it doesn’t seem quite enough to describe Ed as having merely “assisted” in the editorial operations of Zen Center publications. In the beginning, to be sure, when he did not know specifically how certain tasks were to be carried out his contribution was in that vein. That is no longer the case. Along with four or five others who have committed themselves to this undertaking, Ed Levin is now considered among the key people, and regardless of how his title may appear in the masthead of our various works, or not at all, definitely he is an editor of the first caliber. His attention to detail, his command of the language, and his apparently encyclopedic memory—all of which he brought to this work —have made it possible for him to assimilate the array of information connected with each phase of publishing.

All I can say is, well done, well done.