Pick up a popular national magazine or newspaper and you may well read the words of a Newhouse alumni from the magazine, newspaper and online journalism graduate program. Our alumni are producing content for major US print and online publications, as well as niche magazines and global publishers. Here, a few of our best and brightest, field questions about their professional careers and Newhouse experience.
Luis Rendon
What do you do?
I'm a news designer with the Colorado Springs Gazette. That means I Iayout and design all sorts of pages in the newsroom, help out with making graphics and other non-traditional storytelling aspects. From time to time, you'll also find me on the copy desk helping to edit stories and also curating content for the web.
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
Not limit myself. I knew I wanted to be a visual journalist, but that meant I couldn't scrape on my reporting classes. I took what's probably the roughest reporting class, Professor Grimes' Political Reporting, to make sure I could go into any interview and say I had reporting experience. Aside from that, I just took advantage of working on as many campus mags and papers as I could to bolster my portfolio.
My favorite magazine story is:
"The Queen is Dead" by Joe Nick Patoski, which is a piece published by Texas Monthly in May 1995 after pop star Selena Quintanilla Perez was murdered. I connect with this story, and every time I read it I get chills and even a little weepy because Selena really was an icon and someone me and so many people like me could relate to. I'm not sure it's the best story ever written, but it really pulls at my heartstrings and as a Hispanic and a Texan, there's just no beating this story.
Frances Yin Wang
What do you do?
I am a photo editor at American Lawyer Media in New York. I work with the art and editorial departments to present a selection of strong, newsworthy, and creative photographs to go along with print and online stories for six magazines, supplements, and their websites. I also go to photo shoots and search for new photographers.
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
Taking a variety of classes to figure out what I really want to do. When I first walked into Newhouse and decided to pursue a career in the magazine industry, I was not 100 percent sure what kind of magazine person I wanted to be. There are so many to choose from: writing, editing, graphic designing, and more. I am glad I dipped my toe into the water of so many different practices and finally discovered my true passion in photo editing.
My favorite magazine story is:
My favorite magazine story is "Notes From a Bottle" by James Stevenson, a fiction piece published in The New Yorker in 1969. It is one of the first magazine stories in English I¿ve ever read and can still remember now. After reading it, I had a two-day discussion with my friends about what to do if there is a flood disaster happening. I simply love any magazine story that draws me into the scene and provokes thinking. Later on I became a devoted reader of The New Yorker and made up my mind that I would study journalism abroad in an English speaking country one day.
Marvin Pittman
What do you do?
I work for ESPN as a senior editor on the BottomLine, ESPN's 24-hour news and information ticker service. I handle both its content and operation alongside a team of editors. From writing news headlines and postgame statistics to operating score alerts and sponsors. Combine a news editor with a copy editor, a sports writer and a TV show producer, and that's the basics of what I do. Somehow TV plucked me out of my newspaper copy-editing life, but these skills brought me here for a reason. In my spare time I write a column at geek-culture website Forces Of Geek! titled Blerd Vision, which elaborates on my life as a black nerd, or blerd.
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
Working on my final project, which was a magazine marketed toward Hispanic women. As copy chief, I had an eye on every page. In a feature I wrote (and illustrated!) on the Latin vote, I spoke to political pollsters and middle-class working folks, and even got some quotes from Bush/Cheney 2000 media consultant Lionel Sosa. Oh, and I got to write the romance column. How cool is that?
My favorite magazine story is:
Typically, any long-form feature in Esquire magazine. But the most affecting one I remember is a profile on Dr. Warren Hern, who was the only doctor left in Kansas who specialized in late-term abortions after Dr. George Tiller was murdered. Hern's struggle and calling to provide a just-plain-needed medical procedure that is life-saving yet heartbreaking -- one that is complicated by unknowing politicians and unhinged would-be crusaders bent on murder -- is haunting and astounding. It's a chance to see an "issue" through the eyes of actual people going through it, and the expert who performs the task at debate.
Kyle Leach
What do you do?
My newest job is as copy editor on the newly-formed Universal Desk at The Newark Star-Ledger, the largest paper in the state of New Jersey. Surrounded by paginaters, designers and editors, I align copy with the paper's style, write corresponding photo captions and create display type that includes heds, decks and teasers.
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
The best thing I did at Newhouse was to get out of my element. I worked for undergraduates at the school newspaper, covered city politics in advanced writing and learned how to shoot, edit and produce video. And I want to be a long-form sportswriter.
My favorite magazine story is:
This past November, Chris Ballard profiled Cal junior Jill Costello, the late coxswain for the Bears' rowing team, as she went back and forth between cancer treatments, school and team practices and race days. Ballard operates an emotional elevator that stops at each floor for a few minutes, giving you time to look around and see where this young woman was in her life, and then re-evaluate where you are in your own life. Tissues recommended. Nov. 29, 2010 issue.
Christine Fennessy
What do you do?
I'm a senior editor at Runner's World.
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
The best thing I did at Newhouse was a newspaper internship. I knew I wasn't going to become a newspaper reporter, but I also knew that nothing would give me respect for deadlines, quick thinking, and accuracy like working for the Syracuse Post-Standard and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. When it came time to sell myself for a paid magazine internship, I could make a great argument for why they should choose a student with a newspaper background over one with a magazine background. Ultimately, the two want the same thing, good ideas, smart sourcing, and sound reporting. Work in newspapers and you also learn how to engage people, police your own work, and turn things around fast. Not to mention negotiate a lot of personalities.
My favorite magazine story is:
My favorite magazine story is an essay, A Sudden Illness by Laura Hillenbrand. Her words suck you completely into her world and the misery of her disease becomes as mesmerizing as it is horrific. It's the only story I can think of that I've read more than once.
Jennifer Jackson
What do you do?
I am the associate web editor at DailyCandy, which means I write and edit features for our web site, work with the city editors to integrate the web content in their newsletter emails, create fun shopping and fashion trend stories during Fashion Week, and manage a wonderful team of interns (among other things).
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
I started an LGBT magazine called The Out Crowd with my friend and fellow Newhous-er Brandon Miller. It was a really crazy project to take on during the jam-packed master's program year. But it helped me meet and work with so many passionate people who were also committed to giving a voice to the LGBT community, so it was definitely worth it once the first issue was published.
My favorite magazine story is:
I'm not sure if this is a cliche, but the first time I read the Esquire's Fred Rodgers: Can You Say "Hero"? I must have emailed it to just about everyone important in my life (and posted it on my Tumblr blog). I guess I'm a sucker for touching, well-written profiles.
Tom Huddleston
What do you do?
Online Reporter for The American Lawyer
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
Get published in any way I could. Newhouse gave me so many opportunities to get bylines in a variety of publications. I might write web stories about lawyers now, but I probably wouldn't be employed if I didn't have a diverse portfolio that includes a feature about historical dishes from The Post-Standard and a web column about the evolution of female sexuality from the student-run Jerk Magazine.
My favorite magazine story is:
"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," by David Foster Wallace. I remember reading this story in my cubicle in Washington, D.C.--instead of doing work--one day a couple of years ago, more than a decade after it was published in Harper's. Somewhere around the time DFW was worrying about getting flushed out to sea, I was coming to the realization that I wanted more out of my career than PR and the annoying lady in the cubicle next door were giving me.
Lauren Ober
What do you do?
I'm a staff writer at Seven Days, Vermont's only alt-weekly publication. I primarily write about maple syrup -- how to spot fake stuff, how to run your car off of it and how it can spice up (or gunk up) your sex life. I also write about covered bridges, red barns, cows, skiing and foliage. Sometimes I blog for fun at oberandout.com. Often I tweet for work at @OberandOut.
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
The best thing I did at Newhouse was not fail graphic design. But barely. Really though, the thing that's stuck with me in the years since I've graduated is how to interview people. Making real people (not politicians or other folks contractually obligated to talk to the media) comfortable is of utmost importance, and the tips and tricks I learned in my newswriting classes on how to do that have served me well over the years. I can now interview even the tetchiest of subjects without them punching me or pulling my hair.
My favorite magazine story is:
I'm a total sucker for long-form journalism and the magazines that do it, and, like Sarah Palin, I've read most of 'em. But the stories as so voluminous, I can't remember any of them, let alone get to the end of one. So I love a good newspaper feature and there's no better feature writer than my pal Dan Zak at the Washington Post. His recent piece on the "best in show" winner at the Westminster Kennel Club is bright, peppy and takes a fresh look at an old story.
Paul Brockwell
What do you do?
Right now I'm the marketing director for the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit that tracks campaign money in Virginia's elections. We also database the public records and make them available for free on a searchable online database. The Virginia Public Access Project has a number of transparency projects going on and serves as a trusted source for information about money in Virginia politics. We also recently launched a redistricting web portal to track the process going on to redraw the state's legislative districts. On the side I do freelance editing for a quarterly magazine on Virginia politics and government and edit directories of the legislature and candidates. I also consume lots of coffee and baked goods. Occasionally, I make it to the gym.
The best thing I did at Newhouse was ...
The best thing I did at Newhouse... was seriously sharpening my writing skills. It's too often understated how important this is to EVERYTHING you do, especially producing a multimedia piece. The key underpinning to good anything rests on solid writing ability in our field. It's sometimes not the sexiest thing to work on (and it's certainly painful at times), but you can play with fancier gadgets once you can wow someone with words. I'll also say that the magazine capstone was one of my fondest, craziest experiences. It's tough, but exciting to be a part of something that you see from start to finish and produce with your program cohorts and future professional colleagues.
My favorite magazine story is:
My favorite recent story would have to be the Rolling Stone profile ("The Runaway General") that Michael Hastings wrote. If ever someone attempts to argue that journalism veers increasingly towards irrelevance, direct them to this. In terms of general magazine crushes, I love Esquire's personality and design. I think Rolling Stone does a great job on public affairs long form. And if I see three cover lines on a New Yorker, I'll own it. Otherwise, it would be impossible to read and appreciate an issue each week at this point in my life.
