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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor

@carolinavonkampen.com
1.8K followers 824 following 6K posts

Editor: Books, poetry, query letters, content marketing Host: #StetChat @stetchat.com Member: @acesediting.bsky.social @authorsguild.org Former history major. Writer? Reader Fan: #Survivor #JetLagTheGame #TheTraitorsUS 🚫 AI she/her carolinavonkampen.com

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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 22h
A weird thing I've started doing while writing editorial letters to authors is finalizing one section, then highlighting it black, like a blackout poem. This forces me to not keep fiddling with it and focus on the in-progress sections of the letter. Unusual but effective #amediting #fictionediting
An editorial letter that has its lines blacked out, like a blackout poem.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 04/10/2026
Highly recommend participating in this research study about endometriosis! Their team is great and make it easy to participate, and it's cool to know you're helping with endo research. They need folks with and without endometriosis for the ROSE study. 🌹 feinstein.northwell.edu/institutes-r...
The ROSE research team (winner of the 2018 Northwell Innovation Challenge) is a group of Feinstein Institutes scientists and professionals who use several innovative approaches to study endometriosis and other women’s reproductive health disorders. Our goals are to:

Reduce the time between symptoms of endometriosis and diagnosis
Develop noninvasive (nonsurgical) methods to diagnose endometriosis
Discover improved treatments for women with endometriosis
Better understand the genetic basis of endometriosis and relate it to what is occurring at the cellular level in the disease, with emphasis on the role of stromal cells and the immune system
Alleviate the pain and suffering among women with endometriosis
Learn more about uterine health
By participating in the ROSE study, you can help us reach these goals.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 01/10/2026
This book is making me RAGEFUL holy fucking shit #booksky
Audiobook of Gisele Pelicot’s A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 30/09/2026
Just finished up reading Never Whistle at Night and am currently listening to Gisele Pelicot's memoir A Hymn to Life! #amreading #booksky #StetChat
Book cover of Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.audiobook cover of A Hymn to Life by Gisele Pelicot.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 29/09/2026
Author: "My last editor didn't catch all these basic errors!" Also author: stets 80% of my proofreads #amediting
Meme of confused black guy.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 28/09/2026
Reading for work 🥰🥰🥰 Working on a manuscript evaluation this week! #amreading #amediting #fictionediting
My hand holding my Kobo ereader. In the background are my bookshelves.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 27/09/2026
1 page edited = 1 chocolate eyeball eaten #amediting
7 chocolate eyeball candies sitting in front of my keyboard
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 21/09/2026
what an opportunity!
email offering to let me join the illuminati membership
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 18/09/2026
Last breakout session of #ACESVCON26 is my panel “Red Flag Roulette Live! Navigating Difficult Conversations With Authors and Clients" with @editrix-rachel.bsky.social and @raqueledits.bsky.social!!!!! This session is based on our #StetChat Red Flag Roulette format. #amediting #edibuddies
Title slide reads Red Flag Roulette Live! Navigating Difficult Conversations with Authors and Clients.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 18/09/2026
What should we call it? Today, we use African American English. But the term has evolved over the years from Ebonics to African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to African American English. #ACESVCON26 #VCON26
What should we call it?
Labels used over the years:
Ebonics
Coined by psychologist
Robert Williams in 1973
Was intended to be a
broad label for languages
spoken by Black people
Not limited to the United
States

African American
Vernacular
English
Frequently used in media
Refers to varieties of
American English that are
rule-governed and
systematic and used
chiefly by African
Americans
Often associated with
language used in informal
contexts

African
American
English
An all-encompassing
term that refers to several
varieties of American
English used chiefly by
African Americans
Rule-governed and
systematic
Variation: regional,
generational, etc.
Often used in linguistic
literature today

African
American
Language
Originally referred to all
varieties of language used
by African Americans
Now used as an umbrella
term for all varieties of
systematic, rule-governed
language used by African
Americans (includes
creole-based varieties
and BASL)
Also used interchangeably
with AAE
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 18/09/2026
Currently at #ACESVCON26: From Wack to Cool: A Linguistic Introduction to African American English by Diana Jones, Assistant Editor at @merriam-webster.com! #amediting #edibuddies #language #words #aae #lingustics
Title slide of From Wack to Cool: A Linguistic Introduction to African American English by Diana Jones.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 17/09/2026
Next up at #ACESVCON26: Everything Except the Editing: Building Systems for a Cohesive Editorial Practice by Nicole Hardina. #vcon26 #amediting #freelanceeditor #freelanceediting #freelancing
Nicole's face on the right side of the Zoom screen and the title slide "Everything Except the Editing" on the left.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 17/09/2026
Next session at #ACESVCON26: Tropes in Developmental Editing: The Good, the Bad, the Twisted by @tanyagold.bsky.social, @cloviseditorial.bsky.social, and @elixireditorial.bsky.social! #amediting #edibuddies #editorsky #developmentalediting #vcon26
Tanya Gold, Mary Brydon-Kehoe, and Genevieve Clovis smiling and waving at the camera.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 17/09/2026
Peter Sokolowski has a book about dictionaries coming out in 2027! It's called By Definition: The Surprising History of the English Dictionary. Preorder here: bookshop.org/a/6998/97812... (affiliate link) #ACESVCON26 #VCON26 #language #dictionary #words #linguistics #amediting #edibuddies #writing
Peter holding up his new book, By Definition: The Surprising History of the English dictionary.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 17/09/2026
Next up at #ACESVCON26: Time Traveling With the Dictionary: Smart Ways to Use a Word's Date by @petersokolowski.bsky.social #language #words #vcon26
Slide with the title "Time Traveler."
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 17/09/2026
now you know it's gonna be an interesting #ACESVCON26 session when the slides are from a time traveler... 👀
Slides file in Whova is labeled "Sokolowski, Peter_ACES Time Traveler."
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 17/09/2026
First session of Day 2 of #ACESVCON26: Beyond Borders: Plain Language and Editing for Global Audiences by Ema Naito, @theclarityeditor.bsky.social! #vcon26 #amediting #plainlanguage #editing #editorsky
Beyond Borders: Plain Language and Editing for Global Audiences by Ema Naito (The Clarity Editor).
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
A5: I've sent a personalized version of this email to writers who have reached out and asked for a copyedit or proofread. I explain gently that their manuscript is not ready and explain what next steps I'd recommend they take. #StetChat
Part of my editing process is making sure that the author is not rushing into querying/publication. I’m concerned that you’re rushing the revisions and querying process, given where this manuscript is  currently. It’s really important to work from big-picture feedback (developmental edits and beta readers) down to line and copyedits, then query edits, because you don’t want to pay for a copyedit, then hear from betas that you need to revise a major part of the plot, which would require rewrites, and thus another copyedit.

It often takes new authors multiple rounds of developmental feedback (from editors or betas) to hone the big-picture elements of their manuscript.

Here’s why it’s important to slow down:

Once you query an agent with a manuscript and they reject it, you often can’t query them again with that same manuscript, even if you go back and edit the manuscript. So you want to make sure that you’ve done everything you can to revise and polish the manuscript before querying to make the most of that one shot when an agent reads your manuscript. You’ve spent a lot of time writing the book, and you don’t want to rush the editing and submitting stages. It’s important to get it right the first time.

I work with writers whose manuscripts are practically perfect, down to the copyedits. They still struggle in this market to find a literary agent who’s willing to take a chance on their writing. It’s a really hard market out there, and your book has to be incredibly well-developed and impeccably written to stand a chance of getting representation from an agent. That may sound discouraging, but I want to be brutally honest with authors so that they slow down and take the time to revise their manuscript as best they can before querying or publishing. I don’t want authors to waste time, money, and energy on copyedits/query edits if their book isn’t ready on a dev level or querying if their book isn’t ready.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Hi #StetChat! I'm Carolina in St. Louis. I edit books, creative writing, poetry, and content marketing materials (like blog posts, social media content, etc.) with the help of my two editorial assistants, Les and Lou! (Pictured: LOU!)
My tuxedo cat Lou in the sun.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Question: How do we protect our work from being included in the AI training pool? Consider adding a disclaimer to your editing contract since we often can no longer ensure that services like Microsoft Word, Google Drive, and Adobe don't let us opt out of AI training/uploading. #ACESVCON26 #VCON26
Disclaimer:Due to the AI-training clauses in Google, Microsoft, and other common systems used by writers, the editor is no longer able to guarantee that client manuscripts will not be added to the AI-training pool. While manuscripts will not be intentionally added by the editor, it is possible that system settings allow external systems to access the files for AI-training purposes anyway. It is frustrating, but guarantees can no longer be made.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Do you use programs that have AI embedded? For instance...Copilot isn't the only AI tool in Microsoft Office. 😵‍💫 #ACESVCON26 #VCON26
List of Word functions that use AI.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Next session: Creating an AI Policy to Address Client Concerns (and Guidance You Can Give to Clients) by @judylmohr.com #ACESVCON26 #VCON26 #amediting #editorsky #editing #freelanceeditor #freelanceediting
Title slide reads "Creating an AI Policy to Address Client Concerns" by Judy L. Mohr.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Time for the #ACESVCON26 keynote by @korystamper.bsky.social, "Human in the Loop." 👏 #VCON26 #amediting #copyediting #editorsky #edibuddies
Human in the Loop.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Secured a scone at Made. by Lia! #ACESVCON26 #VCON26
Scone display.Cheddar chive scone.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Some checklist tips: ✅ List what needs to be done in the optimal order for the task to be done efficiently and correctly ✅ Include "Run spellcheck"! ✅ Be specific! For instance, don't just say "Check headings." Show how headings should look. Example below! #ACESVCON26 #VCON26
Don’t just say, “Check headings” on an editing checklist. Do show how the headings should look. With example below.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
Kelly Schrank breaks down the difference between basic checklists vs. comprehensive checklists: #ACESVCON26 #VCON26
Checklists: Basic vs Comprehensive.
Basic Checklists:
Generic lists of items
No procedural steps
No particular order
No style details
No time tracking
No reminders
Comprehensive checklists:
Specific to you and the task
Procedural checklist
Preparation checklist
Style sheet
Time tracking
Reminders
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
First breakout session of #ACESVCON26: Build Better Checklists for Your Editing Tasks by Kelly Schrank. #VCON26 #amediting #copyediting #editing #editorsky
Build Better Checklists for Your Editing Tasks by Kelly Schrank.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
You were fantastic!!! #acesvcon26 #vcon26
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 16/09/2026
#VCON26 attendees, we’re looking for a few more brave PUN-testants to participate in the Pun Slam during the Opening Session at 11 a.m. ET on Wed., Sept. 16. Contestants will be assigned a topic an hour before the opening session, then pun for 2 minutes each on their assigned topic. We need YOU! 🙏
A graphic that reads "Sign up for the VCON26 Pun Slam" with a person looking at a laptop.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 12/09/2026
Meet my friend Archie! :) #caturday
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 11/09/2026
Hope, 2026 #filmsky #moviesky
Half Badly Drawn Horse Horse Drawing Meme
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 09/09/2026
incredibly NOT interested in this, Moshe!
Email that reads: Hi Carolina,

I’m Moshe, the person behind a fiction-analysis tool I’m introducing to a small group of editors and literary agents.

It is designed for the professional reviewing the submission. Before investing time in a full read, it can provide an initial map of a scene, chapter, or excerpt, including story structure, pacing, character and plot development, weak points, unclear stakes, and areas that may deserve closer attention.

The potential benefit is improved productivity: faster orientation, more consistent initial evaluations, and better prioritization of the parts of a manuscript that need your judgment. It is not intended to replace reading, editing, or representation decisions.

If the idea is relevant to your work, would you like me to send a screenshot and a short explanation? I am not asking you to click a link or recommend anything.

Best,
Moshe
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 02/09/2026
A2: I use a Google Sheets style sheet that I adapted from Jeri Walker’s template that looks like this! You can see more examples of what it looks like in my blog post about how I do my style sheets: carolinavonkampen.com/style-sheet/ #StetChat
The Words section of my example book style sheet, where I record preferred spellings, capitalizations, and punctuation for words.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 02/09/2026
A1: If your book is traditionally published, that publisher likely has their own style guide that outlines their house’s stylistic preferences. Your copyeditor will create a style sheet specific to your book. Chicago, APA, AP are style manuals. #StetChat
Graphic comparing style guides and style sheet. Text reads: Style guide is a set of standards for style, usage, and grammar for documents in a particular organization or field. Style sheet is a list of words, stylistic preferences, and notes about YOUR particular manuscript.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 02/09/2026
Hi #StetChat! I'm Carolina in St. Louis. I edit books, creative writing, poetry, and content marketing materials (like blog posts, social media content, etc.) with the help of my two editorial assistants, Les and Lou!
Les and Lou at my printer
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 31/08/2026
Really love how I have all the Google AI "Smart Workplace" features turned off on my Google accounts, yet they still try to shove Gemini down my throat on every page. 😐
Google Drive displays a prominent "Ask Gemini" button despite my account settings turning Gemini off.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 31/08/2026
For the intrigued
Google Ngram chart showing "water sports" (two words) is more popular than "watersports" (one word), but "watersports" (one word) has become more popular since the 1980s.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 31/08/2026
Why is water sports / watersports not in @merriam-webster.com? (Not that kind!!!) #amediting #copyediting #language #words
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 30/08/2026
Scout oath or Scout Oath? Does it quality as an "official or accepted title" per CMOS 8.85? I know the answer is "Just decide one and put it in the style sheet!" but I'm curious to hear #edibuddies' thoughts! #amediting #copyediting
Screenshot of CMOS section 8.85: Formal oaths and pledges.
Unofficial or descriptive names of formal oaths and pledges are usually lowercased, but official or accepted titles are capitalized.
For example:
the oath of citizenship (lowercased).
the Hippocratic oath (lowercased).
the presidential oath of office (lowercased).
marriage vows (lowercased).
but
the Oath of Allegiance (for US citizenship) (capitalized).
the Pledge of Allegiance (capitalized).
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 26/08/2026
I have my map of Rome from study abroad and photos of the Pantheon and St. Peter's Basilica framed in my office!
Left frame: St. Peter's Basilica as seen from a bridge on top, and the Pantheon interior on the bottom. Right frame: Map of Rome.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 26/08/2026
Thank you to Sydney for the testimonial! 🥰 You can read more testimonials from #indieauthors whose books I've edited here: carolinavonkampen.com/client-testi... #authors #writersky #selfpub #publishing #selfpublishing #bookeditor #freelanceeditor #bookediting
“I highly recommend Carolina and her editing services. I recently finished revisions on a new science fiction novel and was about to start querying. After I failed to get an agent with my last project, I was feeling very anxious kicking off my agent search. I decided to hire an editor who could take a look at my first fifty pages, clean up any typos, and share with me what was and was not working. Carolina was fantastic! She was very easy to communicate with and clearly laid out how we would work together. She met every deadline she set and was very proactive in her correspondence. Her edits really helped tighten up my first few chapters, delete embarrassing typos, and craft a stronger pitch in my query letter. While I am just now kicking off my querying in full force, I am confident that Carolina has improved my chances of landing an agent. If I ever need another freelance editor for a project, I will definitely be reaching out to Carolina again.”
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 23/08/2026
Two Tillies 💛 Charity & Sylvia and A City Inside by Tillie Walden
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 19/08/2026
Hi #StetChat! I'm Carolina in St. Louis. I edit books, creative writing, poetry, and content marketing materials (like blog posts, social media content, etc.) with the help of my two editorial assistants, Les and Lou!
My cats laying on a blanket in front of my bookshelves.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 13/08/2026
cheese sticks!!!
My hand holding two individually packaged cheese sticks.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 09/08/2026
Library stack 📚 Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden Nature Poem, Junk, and Feed by Tommy Pico Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White #booksky #amreading
My hand holding the spines of the books Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden, Nature Poem, Junk, and Feed by Tommy Pico, and Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 05/08/2026
Hi #StetChat! I'm Carolina in St. Louis. I edit books, creative writing, poetry, and content marketing materials (like blog posts, social media content, etc.) with the help of my two editorial assistants, Les and Lou!
My cats Les and Lou.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 05/08/2026
Of course, because it's an AI overview that changes every time you run the search, it's different today when I search it. It still doesn't identify the correct poem though. Because the Posey poem is so old and out of print that AI hasn't scraped it, I presume 🙃
Ai Overview saying that the line adapts a famous phrase from Edwin Markham's poem.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 05/08/2026
Google AI Overview showcasing racist bias by saying the line "Through this dread shape the Filipino looks" is a misquote of the Edward Markham poem "The Man With the Hoe"... ...when in fact it's a line from the poem "The Fall of the Redskin ((With apologies to Edwin Markham)" by Alexander Posey.
Google AI Overview showcasing racist bias by saying that the line "Through this dread shape the Filipino looks" is a misquote of the Edwin Markham poem "The Man With the Hoe."
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 30/07/2026
However, I did really like some of the exploration of Sophia struggling to stay afloat in classes taught in another language. LOVE this page. That was the strongest part of the book for me!
A page where Sophia drowns in Spanish words that her teacher is saying as she struggles to understand.
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Carolina VonKampen 📚 Freelance Editor @carolinavonkampen.com · 30/07/2026
We start strong with a disclaimer that the book doesn’t represent the views of the U.S. gov. Intriguing! This was a nothingburger, because the book barely talks about Sophia discovering that her parents are CIA spies…nothing happens…her parents tell her at the end…and nothing changes.
Printed disclaimer stating that statements of fact, opinion, or analysis are the author's and do not reflect official U.S. government positions.
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