Liberal Arts Voices

Read the perspectives of our current students

My Internship with Philadelphia Magazine

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Philadelphia Skyline
Originally uploaded by Fordan

As a double major in English and Print Journalism, I am often faced with the question: What are you going to do after graduation?

The answer . . . I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’ve been collecting skills and racking up experiences to fill my resume so that when I finally do figure out that question I’ll hopefully have a skill set that allows me to be anywhere I want.

Academically I have been involved with the Penn State Marketing Association, was a sales representative at Victoria’s Secret, a summer camp counselor and spent a semester as a Teaching Assistant. Currently I work for the College of Agricultural Sciences as a writer (Thanks to the wonderful Liz Jenkins!), am involved in the Penn State Public Relations Student Society of America, Peers Helping Reaffirm Educate and Empower and also I am an Event Planning Intern with New Leaf Initiative.

I have taken classes on Photoshop and InDesign and am currently taking a Web Design and a Photojournalism class. I am told again and again that I have to be as useful as possible to potential employers, a goal that I work as hard as I physically can to achieve.

However, since I was little, I can remember I have always loved magazines. I always begged my mom to buy them for me on trips to the grocery store. The glossy pages filled with beautiful people I wanted to meet and places I wanted to go.

Those few times she said “yes,” caused me so much happiness trying to describe it might be embarrassing. But, I would spend hours a day paging through my newest prize. Eventually I started actually reading the magazines and fell even more in love.

I wanted a job working for a magazine, but getting an internship with one was another story. After looking at various magazines I wanted to work at, I discovered that applying and accepting a position just wasn’t going to happen. I felt hopeless. I simply could not afford to relocate and then work for little or nothing. I would not have survived.

But then my father told me to apply for Philadelphia Magazine. I could commute in and would still be able to live at home. I don’t know why I thought New York was the only place magazines came from, but it was . . .

. . . Perfect!

I applied and after some initial disappointment I was told that I could apply to intern over my winter break. I had to write a mock blog entry, take two fact checking tests and do an interview to see if I was qualified for the job. But, I did end up getting the job. I was thrilled to finally be able to work for a magazine as prestigious as Philly Magazine!

I spent the majority of my time fact checking, but I also had the opportunity to do some light research for one of the writers and transcribed interviews for two others.

The atmosphere was usually quiet and I sat in a cubical, but everyone was super friendly, I felt like I was a part of a family there. Ironically there were also more than a few Penn State graduates working there. We Are . . .

The only thing about the experience that I didn’t like was that it was so short.

“Take what you can get,” my mom said, and so I did. If I had stayed longer I may have been able to write something for the magazine or one of their blogs. The writing experience would have been an incredible confidence boost, but I can’t complain. I learned that I would be happy to work for a magazine again in the future, and if I get the opportunity to be on staff at one, I will JUMP at the chance.

But – if I don’t. I think I could be happy working in a publishing house, a public relations firm, a nonprofit or something else I haven’t discovered yet. Opportunities abound for English and Journalism majors you just have to put in some work and find them! The key is being versatile.

Internship at Fly Fisherman Magazine: Part 2

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I’ve often found the phrase “the perks of the job” to be an annoyance, mostly because it usually follows a lengthy, overstated summary of tantalizing luxury, fun-packed adventure, and stunningly gorgeous locales-all of which tend to put me into a frenzy of jealousy. It is quite nice, I must say, to be on the other side of the phrase for once.

You see, I was standing in the front (bow?) of a twelve-foot raft, fly rod in hand, surrounded by big, hungry rainbow trout, and trying desperately to cast without looking like a complete amateur. Oh, and the water was moving fast. And there were lots of rocks. At the risk of sounding like a wuss (I am), it was relatively intimidating. I was about two seconds away from going for a refreshing swim, my heart was pounding, and I was loving every second of it.

My internship at Fly Fisherman magazine has (of course) continued since my last blog post, and with quite a few interesting developments. I’ve continued to edit, format, and organize a “best of” anthology of the magazine’s Seasonable Angler columns; I’m relatively close to finishing the collection in ebook form (available for Kindle and other e-readers). As the fall issue nears, I’ve been working with my boss Ross Purnell to edit and format its main articles, and I’ve even gotten to write a few short product reviews, which has definitely been the most interesting process of my internship experience thus far. Seeing the transformation of simple text documents into full-on magazine format, with photos, illustrations, captions, and advertisements has given me serious insight into an important process of the editing business.

A particular thrill has been writing a review of Mikey Wier’s DVD Soulfish 2 (you’ll hear more about him later) in the upcoming fall issue of the magazine. I’ve always wanted to write professionally, which is one of the main draws of an editing career for me; I hoped, but didn’t expect, to get this opportunity when I applied for my internship. Thankfully, it’s gone well, but the jury’s still out. They’re not calling me the Hemingway of DVD reviews just yet.

Truth be told, I’m still enjoying myself a lot. My editing skills continue to improve, and like I mentioned in my first post, the environment that Ross has created for me has allowed me to be confident and make relatively bold moves (as far as editing is concerned, mind you. It’s not as if I’m James Bond in a cubicle, though I often like to think of myself as such). Ultimately, the combination of being good at (or at least feeling good about) my work, getting a chance to do some writing, and seeing how influential an editor truly is in the production of a magazine has begun to convince me that I could enjoy a career in the field.

Let us not forget the perks of the job. Two weeks ago, my family headed out to Lake Tahoe, California, for a week-long vacation. When Ross heard where we were headed, he quickly informed me that the Truckee River, which flows into and out of Lake Tahoe, is an extremely good trout river, and proceeded not only to lend me top-of-the-line fishing gear, but also to get me in contact two excellent writers and fishermen, Greg Vinci and Mikey Wier, who live in California and fish the Truckee often. What followed next were several incredible fly fishing ventures in the midst of a fantastic family vacation. Greg Vinci and his fellow fly fishing buddy Bruch Ajari treated my dad and I to a beautiful, wonderful day on the river, along with a wealth of kind, helpful knowledge that neither of us will forget; Mikey Wier and his fishing friend, Terry, put me in the front (bow?) of their aforementioned raft and gave me the rush of my fishing career. It wasn’t always pretty, but I didn’t fall in, I didn’t snag Mikey or Terry with my fly, and I caught a few really nice fish (see the picture included with this post). Both fishing trips were an absolute blast; I’m a lucky man to have a boss cool enough to set me up for such things, and to have met people gracious enough to put up with me.

I left you with a quote last post, and this time I’ll leave you with one that’s closer to home. As I was fishing with Greg Vinci, my strike indicator hesitated, I set the hook… and nothing happened. “Was that a fish?” queried Greg.

“I don’t think so,” I muttered, “It seemed like a snag.”

“It had to have been a fish. You’re a bad liar,” Greg said with a smile. “If you want to be a good fly fisherman, you’ll have to get better at that.”

I’m an eager student.

Internship at Fly Fisherman Magazine

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I wasn’t in the office on my first day more than five minutes before my tie came off. As I was introduced to my casually dressed coworkers throughout the workspace, my already moderate anxiety leaped toward a full-on panic attack. My perfectly ironed slacks, spotless white dress shirt and (quite fashionable, I should say) Brooks Brothers tie made me stick out like a sore, and rather embarrassed, thumb. After more than one decidedly good-natured chuckle graced my coworker’s lips, my boss pointed to the painstakingly tied Windsor knot around my neck. “Let’s drop the tie, Chris. We’re pretty laid back about the dress code around here.” The slight wardrobe change made a significant difference in my comfort and relaxation, and began the start of a pleasurable, exciting day, but the flak-taking wasn’t quite through yet. As my boss sauntered away, a coworker, his face filled with a friendly yet mischievous grin, quipped, “Well, what are you gonna wear tomorrow, a tuxedo?”

I guess a quick introduction is in order. I’m Chris Wright, a (soon-to-be) senior undergrad student at PSU studying History and minoring in English. I pursued my current internship, an editing position at Fly Fisherman Magazine in Harrisburg, PA, with particular zeal because it combined not only two things I enjoy (editing and fly fishing), but also could, I hoped, give me great insight into a possible career field. As I anticipated, the job is definitely affecting how I view my future career and education plans. But more on that later in future blog posts, perhaps.

My memorable first morning at Fly Fisherman Magazine is a perfect example of one of my favorite aspects of the job so far: a relaxed environment, which allows me to expand my skills and learn new things without fear of excessive pressures or burdens. Editing at the magazine presents tens, and often even hundreds of opportunities to misstep in each article I tweak and pore over; however, lacking a fear of failure, I am able to boldly make decisions, gaining confidence when I succeed, and building upon my editing skill set when I go astray. My boss–Ross Purnell–and all of my coworkers are always ready to answer my questions and give kind, insightful advice. In short, I’ve been dropped into the deep end, but with some pretty big arm-floaties, and maybe even an inner tube, if that helps the metaphor.

On top of my editing work for the magazine’s next issue, I’ve been working on gathering and editing articles from the past ten years of the magazine’s “Seasonable Angler” column (short stories and essays) to put into a “best of” anthology book. Having a large amount of control over what goes into the collection is certainly a thrill, and I’ve been having a lot of fun choosing my favorites and getting in touch with their authors in order to renew contracts.

Speaking of fun, an exceptionally unique part of my internship has been learning the art of fly tying. Later in the summer I’ll be editing a second collection–this one the magazine’s “Fly Tier’s Bench.” Because I’ll need some specific knowledge, Ross has set out to make me fly-tying literate–a process that’s been surprisingly enjoyable, and has provided refreshing periods between some mentally challenging editing work.

I’ll keep you updated on how everything turns out, and end today’s blog with a somewhat pertinent quote by fly-fishing writer Alfred W. Miller: “If fishing is interfering with your business, give up your business.” It is my pleasure to avoid this problem entirely.

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