have you seen my magazine?

This semester I was part of a class entitled "Magazine Production." As a class we literally came up with all-original ideas for a magazine, including its name, articles, pictures, layouts, etc. down to who would print it and where it would be distributed.

The class tries to be as real-world as possible, so we had to apply to get a position on the staff. Everyone who was enrolled in the class got a position, but the application process was to see exactly which position each student would get. (We even had to have samples of our writing and references.) There were only a certain number of people who could work in each position; for example, there really can only be one editor-in-chief. We also had two divisions of the magazine: print and online.

I was one of the senior editors of the print magazine! I assigned, assisted and edited an entire section - called "revive" - as well as a feature story - the "Sister, Sister" story on the cover! I also wrote two pieces for the magazine. As a class we came up with the headlines, etc. along with assisting with all sorts of other small tasks (especially finding sources for stories.)

And now it is real! You can see it online here: http://refuge.umn.edu/

You can download a copy of the entire magazine in a pdf from the website, if you want to see it all and are far away from Minneapolis. I also have a few spare copies, so if you want one give me a shout and I'll send one your way!

Oh! And here are the direct links to the stories I wrote: http://refuge.umn.edu/2010/04/relate/staying-plugged-in/ and http://refuge.umn.edu/2010/04/replay/virtual-romance-taken-offline/

This was such a fun experience and really helped me realize that, good gracious I love editing! I love the process of helping people figure out the angle their story should/could take, along with helping with research, finding sources to talk to, and getting into the way it's written. It was a very fun project and is so rewarding to see it finally in print!