This is how I know I'm in the right job: I get excited about things that anyone outside of my industry probably wouldn't get excited about.
Today, my editor and I had a meeting about a new project. We were talking about some new layouts, and he relates everything to sports, so he handed me a couple editions of ESPN magazine. To be perfectly honest, I'd never seen the magazine before. If the sport doesn't have something to do with water, I probably don't care. (OK, that's a lie. I like playing basketball, and being a backup for a soccer team last summer was fun, even though I sucked at it.)
But let's go back to that other sentence: I'd never seen the magazine before. That's embarrassing to admit, because in my job, I should be leafing through all the magazines and newspapers I can get my hands on. In university, I had a broadcast instructor who advised us to read two or three papers before breakfast in the morning. At the time, I thought, "Hell no," mostly because I didn't have even have time for breakfast in the morning, but I'm coming back around to the idea. In a nutshell: Read and examine every piece of media you can get your hands on. (Also, Nate Silver's advice for young journalists: "Don’t feel guilty if you spend the first 90 minutes of your day drinking coffee and reading blogs — it’s your job. Your ratio of reading to writing should be high.")
I love finding interesting blogs and interesting profile pieces. I love looking at layouts, designs and graphics and thinking, "That is such a cool idea."
But I'm also usually a little jealous, because someone else had the cool idea. One of the things I miss about not being on the Reflector editorial board anymore is the brainstorming we used to do. For big projects, our EIC liked to send us into the archives and skimming through other publications, to figure out what bits and pieces we liked, and how we could bring that together into our own creation.
One of my favourite memories is creating the parking edition, where we sat around the table for a very long time, brainstorming a cover. Someone would come up with a bit of an idea, or explain a concept they liked, then someone else would disagree but build off of the idea, occasionally the photo editor would redirect us based on technical capabilities. It was probably the longest time we spent trying to design a cover, and even though it was long, I loved people bringing up ideas and others tweaking them to get to the final product. Eventually, we settled on the idea of using the kids' game Rush Hour, except I couldn't remember the actual name of the game, and some time was spent on just trying to describe it in terms so that everyone else could figure out what I was talking about.
Now that I'm not in school anymore, I have a lot more time to read blogs and read long profile pieces. What I haven't been doing is looking at layout and design so much — there are places in town that have the Edmonton Journal, but I don't get any form of hard copy newspaper or magazine.
So looking at the ESPN magazine was a lot of fun — it reminded me it's something I should do more often. Their layout is very clean, but they've kept a magazine feel, breaking some of the newspaper rules, especially when it comes to white space and snapping to columns. They don't create dog legs — which earns them a lot of points, in my opinion :) — but a three-column page (six columns on a spread) might have eight photos running horizontal, and the breaks between photos don't necessarily line up with the breaks between columns.
Consider this blog post fair warning. If you need to find me in the near future, I'll be the one with her nose in the various hard copy publications, geeking out over layout and well-written articles.
Thursday 25 August 2011
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Right here, right now
That's all I really have to say, is the title of this blog.
It's a reminder to me (and whoever else needs it) that sometimes, you just need to remember to be right here, right now. I have no idea where the Desiderata came from, but my favourite line in it is this:
"You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."
I need to figure out a way to hang the plaque (there are no hooks on the back) because there are other lines in it that I should read more often, but, like I said, the above line is my favourite.
Letting the universe unfold as it should is something I'm struggling with right now. I have all these big plans — where I want to be in a couple years, what I want to be, even who I want to be. Overall, I want to be content. And I feel like I'm so focused on that — daydreaming about how I'm going to get there and what it's going to look like when I do — that I can't be content, right here, right now.
Right now, I'm living in the middle of the prairies. You can walk to the edge of town and see canola fields. You can drive past the limits of town and drive through gorgeous landscapes. Right now, I'm doing exactly the kind of job that I set out looking for when I left school, knowing that I didn't want to be pigeonholed into any aspect of working at a newspaper (just writing, just photography, etc.) In a couple of weeks, I'll start working on a new project that should be challenging to me as a fairly recent journalism graduate.
In the spring, I lamented to a friend that with the seemingly hundreds of copy editing positions available (OK, there were maybe 10 or maybe 15, but that's a lot all at one time) that I was sorely tempted to apply, except for the fact that I want to stay put for a while and I'm done with moving for at least another two years (the moving count for me stands right now at six times in three years). I think he asked why I was so hung up on it, and I said something along the lines that I'm worried I won't know when the perfect job walks up to me, knocks me on the head and says, "Hello, I'm your dream job." His reply? "Yes I worry about that too. Then I realize that I'm 20 years old and not in a hurry."
I almost came back with a retort about being 22 and thus in much more of a hurry, but let the comment slide. Like I said, right here, right now.
It's a reminder to me (and whoever else needs it) that sometimes, you just need to remember to be right here, right now. I have no idea where the Desiderata came from, but my favourite line in it is this:
"You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."
I need to figure out a way to hang the plaque (there are no hooks on the back) because there are other lines in it that I should read more often, but, like I said, the above line is my favourite.
Letting the universe unfold as it should is something I'm struggling with right now. I have all these big plans — where I want to be in a couple years, what I want to be, even who I want to be. Overall, I want to be content. And I feel like I'm so focused on that — daydreaming about how I'm going to get there and what it's going to look like when I do — that I can't be content, right here, right now.
Right now, I'm living in the middle of the prairies. You can walk to the edge of town and see canola fields. You can drive past the limits of town and drive through gorgeous landscapes. Right now, I'm doing exactly the kind of job that I set out looking for when I left school, knowing that I didn't want to be pigeonholed into any aspect of working at a newspaper (just writing, just photography, etc.) In a couple of weeks, I'll start working on a new project that should be challenging to me as a fairly recent journalism graduate.
In the spring, I lamented to a friend that with the seemingly hundreds of copy editing positions available (OK, there were maybe 10 or maybe 15, but that's a lot all at one time) that I was sorely tempted to apply, except for the fact that I want to stay put for a while and I'm done with moving for at least another two years (the moving count for me stands right now at six times in three years). I think he asked why I was so hung up on it, and I said something along the lines that I'm worried I won't know when the perfect job walks up to me, knocks me on the head and says, "Hello, I'm your dream job." His reply? "Yes I worry about that too. Then I realize that I'm 20 years old and not in a hurry."
I almost came back with a retort about being 22 and thus in much more of a hurry, but let the comment slide. Like I said, right here, right now.
Thursday 18 August 2011
Working even when I'm not working
"No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft." – H.G. Wells
For whatever reason, my Firefox browser won't remember my StumbleUpon bar — according to one friend, it's because I have a Mac, but I'm not sure.
Anyways, every time I feel like Stumbling, I have to go to a previously bookmarked Stumbled page and then start Stumbling from there. I think that's a good thing, that it's a conscious move, because otherwise I would never get any work done when I logged onto the Internet.
I started Stumbling tonight for a bit, and apparently StumbleUpon has a new feature. Initially, you put all your interests into preferences so you only Stumble, in random order, on pages related to your interests. Now, the added features asks you to type just one interest into a search bar, and it not only shows you just pages related to that initial interest, but you can also continue Stumbling on that one interest alone (instead of the mixed bag of interests you usually get when Stumbling).
For whatever reason, I typed in "copy editing." (Note: I haven't been working full weeks lately. The paper closed for a week in July, and since then, due to stat holidays, days we close the office early and me taking some personal vacation, I've worked anywhere between three to four-and-a-half days in the last five weeks. Even this week I unexpectedly took some time off, so I shouldn't be in "work," ie copy editing, mode.)
However, I found this post. It doesn't get really interesting until the end, the part that is bolded and boxed out.
The story of my term as an EIC in my last semester of university deserves a post all its own when I can finally look at it objectively, but one of the things I'm firm about is that my own copy should be clean if I'm going to tear apart someone else's copy. Which is why I'm happy working as a jack-of-all-trades journalist right now — I think there's still some things I need to learn and get better at before I become a full-time copy editor.
That said, when I'm editing, I will double-check rules I'm only three-quarters certain about. I have learned to keep style preferences in check (putting the verb before the noun in attribution drives me crazy — you wouldn't write "said he," so why do people write "said Jones"?) but I have one rule. I firmly belong in the "said" camp when it comes to says vs. said attribution, and while I've come to respect people's preference, here's the catch: if they switch tenses and there's one "said" when all the rest of the attribution is "says," then it's all going to past tense. You had your chance and you screwed up.
What I'm trying to say is, the guy has a point. Style should be respected — I would personally rather use "such as" instead of "like," but that's his choice. Same thing with the we/I/you point he has.
Him and his copy editor need to meet each other halfway — everyone needs at least a second pair of eyes. I doubt this guy is that good that everything he writes is perfect, in style, grammar and spelling that he never needs a copy editor.
I have a friend who is an English major, and if I ever want to get into a really fun argument with him, I tell him that under no circumstances should periods or commas ever be outside quotations marks. Which is true, unless you're British. Question marks and exclamation marks can be inside or out, depending on the tone of the quote and if it's a quote with a speech, etc.
He has a couple different views on this, to say the least.
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Digital body language
In junior high, my Grade 8 English teacher came into my homeroom and started talking to my homeroom teacher, who was also coincidentally my Grade 9 English teacher. I don't remember why this came up, but the Grade 9 teacher essentially asked the Grade 8 teacher — call her Mme. C. — about my personality. I was sitting right there, by the way (which they both recognized).
I found Mme. C's response interesting.
She said I watch people very intently. Which, she added, is kind of a scary feeling when you're teaching at the front of a class, though it's nice to know at least someone is listening. :)
I didn't realize it until she pointed it out, but it's true. I like to sit at the back of the class so I can see everything going on, but I'm still really focused on what's going on at the front.
I think it's for the following two reasons.
I have really poor eyesight, and when I'm not wearing corrective lenses, I forget that people can see me, and how hard I'm focusing on them because I can't see them very well. It sounds stupid until you think about it in child's logic — if I can barely make out the blurry shapes and barely see them, then how are they able to see me?
I also find people fascinating. Communication is about so much more than just the words that we say, or the print that appears on the page. It's about the way we move, the way we speak, the way we interact with people. In marching band, when we're all in the same uniform and the girls all have their hair pulled back in the same style, I can tell exactly who's who at a distance where faces aren't recognizable, simply by the way someone holds themselves, the way they're walking, or, if I'm grasping at straws, the instrument they're holding.
So people-watching is an incredibly fun past time for me. I was just in Toronto, and a friend and I went down to Yonge and Dundas. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything scheduled going on, but people were still running through the fountains and just generally hanging about the square. (This is also the day it was 48 C with the humidex.) We'd been walking all day, and it was nice to just sit and let your mind wander; later we went up on one of the roof top patios and definitely switched tables just so we could lean over the edge and continue to watch the flow of people.
Now, in the digital age, I guess blogs are an extension of people-watching. It gives you an idea of the person, what they're thinking, what interests them.
I really like the idea that Facebook is for the people you went to high school with, and Twitter is for the people you should have gone to high school with. I've found a ton of interesting (mostly language- and grammar-related) links through there (because my feed is largely journalists and editors) but blogs also get you thinking about ideas that can't be said in 140 characters, or expand on an interesting link.
I love finding a new blog of an interesting person or interesting topic; I don't even mind going all the way back into the archives, but I can only read so many posts before I start skimming and not really paying attention to the links that would normally catch my eye, etc.
I found Mme. C's response interesting.
She said I watch people very intently. Which, she added, is kind of a scary feeling when you're teaching at the front of a class, though it's nice to know at least someone is listening. :)
I didn't realize it until she pointed it out, but it's true. I like to sit at the back of the class so I can see everything going on, but I'm still really focused on what's going on at the front.
I think it's for the following two reasons.
I have really poor eyesight, and when I'm not wearing corrective lenses, I forget that people can see me, and how hard I'm focusing on them because I can't see them very well. It sounds stupid until you think about it in child's logic — if I can barely make out the blurry shapes and barely see them, then how are they able to see me?
I also find people fascinating. Communication is about so much more than just the words that we say, or the print that appears on the page. It's about the way we move, the way we speak, the way we interact with people. In marching band, when we're all in the same uniform and the girls all have their hair pulled back in the same style, I can tell exactly who's who at a distance where faces aren't recognizable, simply by the way someone holds themselves, the way they're walking, or, if I'm grasping at straws, the instrument they're holding.
So people-watching is an incredibly fun past time for me. I was just in Toronto, and a friend and I went down to Yonge and Dundas. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything scheduled going on, but people were still running through the fountains and just generally hanging about the square. (This is also the day it was 48 C with the humidex.) We'd been walking all day, and it was nice to just sit and let your mind wander; later we went up on one of the roof top patios and definitely switched tables just so we could lean over the edge and continue to watch the flow of people.
Now, in the digital age, I guess blogs are an extension of people-watching. It gives you an idea of the person, what they're thinking, what interests them.
I really like the idea that Facebook is for the people you went to high school with, and Twitter is for the people you should have gone to high school with. I've found a ton of interesting (mostly language- and grammar-related) links through there (because my feed is largely journalists and editors) but blogs also get you thinking about ideas that can't be said in 140 characters, or expand on an interesting link.
I love finding a new blog of an interesting person or interesting topic; I don't even mind going all the way back into the archives, but I can only read so many posts before I start skimming and not really paying attention to the links that would normally catch my eye, etc.
Saturday 6 August 2011
Another list
Most of the reason that I haven't been posting has been due to lack of Internet (my favourite part of what is quickly becoming an epic is that the Internet service provider who has failed to hook up my Internet for the past two months still tried to send me a bill for the month of July).
However, I've also been on vacation, which has started me thinking about the following.
Now that I have a “big girl” job and I actually get vacation, I’ve started compiling a list of places I want to go. Despite the fact that it’s my list, even I’ll admit it doesn’t seem that exciting. I will say this though – I love road trips, and a lot of these places, given the time and right opportunity and possibly the right people, could turn into road trips instead of flight plans.
Ontario - I have family there, and though I was back there just a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t been back for 10 years before that. And it’s hard to beat laying by a pool with a book.
Montreal and Quebec City and the Maritimes (not necessarily all the same trip) - the furthest east in Canada that I’ve been previously is Hull, Que., though I’ve been further east in the States.
The North - I spent four months reading the weekly papers from the three territories as part of an internship, and I find it fascinating that it’s a completely different culture. I’ve been considering even taking a position for a year at a northern newspaper, but we’ll see.
New Orleans - there’s so many reasons for New Orleans. But if I had to pick just one reason, I’d say the jazz history.
Dallas, Lubbock and Clovis - I have family in Dallas, Buddy Holly is buried in Lubbock and he recorded the majority of his songs in Clovis, New Mexico, which is about an hour drive straight west from Lubbock. The time difference makes it so that when the group was recording, they'd try and get to the studio before they'd left. Now, I think there are these things called speed limits.
Follow-up trip: Clear Lake, Iowa - it’s where Holly died, and while there’s not much there – I’m not sure if the farmer still lets people into his cornfield where they crashed; the ballroom where their last concert was is still standing – I still have to be able to say I’ve been.
Greece - I know they’ve got problems, but it looks so gorgeous!
New York - because it’s New York
San Francisco - because it's San Francisco
(edit, Aug. 7) Coquihalla Highway and Seattle - my childhood summers were spent driving around the country in a pickup truck and tent trailer, and later a fifth-wheel trailer. Except this highway is too steep to haul anything on, so we've never done the Coquihalla. And on my way out to the coast, I'd have to stop at the Enchanted Forest. ;)
And finally (keep in mind this is an evolving list, so more can and probably will be added):
Fort McMurray.
The problem is, I’m not interested in Fort McMurray the townsite. I’m interested in the oilsands surrounding Fort McMurray.
Even though I was born and raised in Alberta, and in Calgary, essentially the headquarters of nearly all the major oil firms, I never really cared about oil until I was an intern with Natural Resources Canada. I realize what an ignorant statement that is – not caring about oil, even though it has everything to do with my everyday life – well, I know that now. (Side note: Normally, I don't think I have much of an opinion. However, when faced with writing an editorial on a topic of my choice when I returned to school, I'm pretty happy with the way my piece on how oil affects our lives turned out.)
Natural Resources Canada essentially has three branches: forestry, oilsands (formerly coal research) and mining and minerals (the Geological Survey of Canada).
I did hardly anything with mining and minerals, and did a little bit of work with forestry, though I had just started a major forestry project when my internship ended. Most of the communications work I did was with the oilsands.
I know I’m a communications major, and yes, math is usually beyond me (I was strangely good at logs and algebra though), but I love science. And the science behind the oilsands, especially the tailings ponds, fascinates me.
So I want to go up there and see what all this fuss is about. I narrowly missed out on a trip hosted by U of A through Mount Royal during my last semester of university, but it was interesting interviewing the people who came back. Sure, I've seen the pictures, but I want to see it for myself. And while I said I'm not interested in Fort Mac the townsite, the social problems from having a ghost population is certainly interesting.
However, I've also been on vacation, which has started me thinking about the following.
Now that I have a “big girl” job and I actually get vacation, I’ve started compiling a list of places I want to go. Despite the fact that it’s my list, even I’ll admit it doesn’t seem that exciting. I will say this though – I love road trips, and a lot of these places, given the time and right opportunity and possibly the right people, could turn into road trips instead of flight plans.
Ontario - I have family there, and though I was back there just a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t been back for 10 years before that. And it’s hard to beat laying by a pool with a book.
Montreal and Quebec City and the Maritimes (not necessarily all the same trip) - the furthest east in Canada that I’ve been previously is Hull, Que., though I’ve been further east in the States.
The North - I spent four months reading the weekly papers from the three territories as part of an internship, and I find it fascinating that it’s a completely different culture. I’ve been considering even taking a position for a year at a northern newspaper, but we’ll see.
New Orleans - there’s so many reasons for New Orleans. But if I had to pick just one reason, I’d say the jazz history.
Dallas, Lubbock and Clovis - I have family in Dallas, Buddy Holly is buried in Lubbock and he recorded the majority of his songs in Clovis, New Mexico, which is about an hour drive straight west from Lubbock. The time difference makes it so that when the group was recording, they'd try and get to the studio before they'd left. Now, I think there are these things called speed limits.
Follow-up trip: Clear Lake, Iowa - it’s where Holly died, and while there’s not much there – I’m not sure if the farmer still lets people into his cornfield where they crashed; the ballroom where their last concert was is still standing – I still have to be able to say I’ve been.
Greece - I know they’ve got problems, but it looks so gorgeous!
New York - because it’s New York
San Francisco - because it's San Francisco
(edit, Aug. 7) Coquihalla Highway and Seattle - my childhood summers were spent driving around the country in a pickup truck and tent trailer, and later a fifth-wheel trailer. Except this highway is too steep to haul anything on, so we've never done the Coquihalla. And on my way out to the coast, I'd have to stop at the Enchanted Forest. ;)
And finally (keep in mind this is an evolving list, so more can and probably will be added):
Fort McMurray.
The problem is, I’m not interested in Fort McMurray the townsite. I’m interested in the oilsands surrounding Fort McMurray.
Even though I was born and raised in Alberta, and in Calgary, essentially the headquarters of nearly all the major oil firms, I never really cared about oil until I was an intern with Natural Resources Canada. I realize what an ignorant statement that is – not caring about oil, even though it has everything to do with my everyday life – well, I know that now. (Side note: Normally, I don't think I have much of an opinion. However, when faced with writing an editorial on a topic of my choice when I returned to school, I'm pretty happy with the way my piece on how oil affects our lives turned out.)
Natural Resources Canada essentially has three branches: forestry, oilsands (formerly coal research) and mining and minerals (the Geological Survey of Canada).
I did hardly anything with mining and minerals, and did a little bit of work with forestry, though I had just started a major forestry project when my internship ended. Most of the communications work I did was with the oilsands.
I know I’m a communications major, and yes, math is usually beyond me (I was strangely good at logs and algebra though), but I love science. And the science behind the oilsands, especially the tailings ponds, fascinates me.
So I want to go up there and see what all this fuss is about. I narrowly missed out on a trip hosted by U of A through Mount Royal during my last semester of university, but it was interesting interviewing the people who came back. Sure, I've seen the pictures, but I want to see it for myself. And while I said I'm not interested in Fort Mac the townsite, the social problems from having a ghost population is certainly interesting.
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