Some Perfectly Timed Inspiration

While I feel like I should take this opportunity to be typically whiny about this oppressive heat wave we’re suffering through on the East Coast, its having a strange effect on me: I’m actually looking forward to coming to work MORE than usual.

I don’t know what your living situations are like, fellow interns, but my adorable abode is on the top floor of my apartment. And by adorable, I mean big, spacious adorable...one of the pluses of not being in NYC is that a dining room and full kitchen with washer/dryer are in my price range! But safe to say that our one lonely AC and couple fans have just been blowing around hot, humid air all week and not much else. Hello, air conditioned office! I’m wearing a sweater as we speak, and it’s 95 outside. If I can’t be near a lake wrangling screaming kids into waterskis (which is way more fun than it sounds), this is the next best thing.

Anyways. This week we had our second intern brown bag lunch, which give us a chance to meet with some of the higher ups who work on different parts of The Mag. Last month we heard from the publisher, who talked a lot about the business side of The Mag. He told us that they never know how much room there will be for editorial until the ad sales come through, which I’d never thought of before. Still, it’s funny to me to see how each department of a magazine - sales, art, editorial, online - think that THEY are the ones who keep the mag going, when really, it’s such a huge collaboration between everyone. If you took one piece of the puzzle away, there’d be no The Mag (though as an editorial girl myself, I like to think that WE’RE really the essential ones, ahem).

My plug for teamwork aside, this week’s brown bag was with Beautiful, Blonde, Fiery, Award-winning Executive Editor. She’s written for all the biggies (GQ, NYT, etc., etc.) and edited a ton of City Mags all over the country, and she’s pretty much my hero. She really made me want to do this job more than I already do -- some of her stories about pieces she’s done and writers and journalists she’s worked with were INCREDIBLE. She encouraged us to be aggressive and enthusiastic about pitching and helping out at The Mag. A direct quote:

“We’re not paying you, so you better be getting SOMETHING out of this - clips, great references, an education, whatever. And if you’re not getting it, go and get it.”

Amen to that, Beautiful, Blonde, Fiery, Award-winning Executive Editor.

Until Next Week,
Ed's City Intern