Check us out as we taste test various NYC street food carts, providing you with the full scoop on what's good and what's not.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Final Reflections
My summer in NYC is officially over - which I still can't wrap my head around. After 11 weeks in the city, I can truly say I couldn't have imagined a better experience and for that reason, I feel so blessed. I was able to maintain an ideal schedule working at the Observer on Mondays and Wednesdays and at Spoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Fridays saved for ballet classes at Steps and seeing friends coming in from out of town. After a great first four weeks with my roommate Sarah, who was interning at the NYU Medical School, I was lucky enough not to be put with a random roommate and basically had a full studio apartment to myself! The extra bed actually came in handy for many of my friends to crash on, while visiting New York for the weekend.
Between meeting an incredible array of talented people in the city, including a great group of interns, (especially the lovely ladies at Spoon) and spending time with friends from college and high school, I can't say I ever really felt lonely in my roommate-less apartment. Although my internships are officially over, there are a few remaining articles that I will be coordinating to have published on the Observer website as well as the Spoon website and during the year, I will be joining the Spoon chapter at Wash U (which was started last fall!)
To be honest, I began this blog as a way to record my experiences for myself, so that I could remember details for reports I have been required to write, in order to receive school credit (for my internship at the Observer). However, soon after I began, I realized it had become much more than that, as I actually enjoyed keeping a running account of my activities and now it offers me an invaluable opportunity to look back on my time in the city (in a totally tangible way). To all who read through my posts, I am flattered that you were interested in my day-to-day reflections and I will miss sharing them with you all!
Between meeting an incredible array of talented people in the city, including a great group of interns, (especially the lovely ladies at Spoon) and spending time with friends from college and high school, I can't say I ever really felt lonely in my roommate-less apartment. Although my internships are officially over, there are a few remaining articles that I will be coordinating to have published on the Observer website as well as the Spoon website and during the year, I will be joining the Spoon chapter at Wash U (which was started last fall!)
To be honest, I began this blog as a way to record my experiences for myself, so that I could remember details for reports I have been required to write, in order to receive school credit (for my internship at the Observer). However, soon after I began, I realized it had become much more than that, as I actually enjoyed keeping a running account of my activities and now it offers me an invaluable opportunity to look back on my time in the city (in a totally tangible way). To all who read through my posts, I am flattered that you were interested in my day-to-day reflections and I will miss sharing them with you all!
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Interns Take on Food Challenges!
The Spoon interns took on two infamous food challenges over the past couple of weeks, stuffing our cheeks with marshmallows and then pounding saltine crackers. Sounds like loads of fun, right? :)
Check us out completing the Chubby Bunny challenge and the Saltine challenge in these incredible videos made by video intern Mira!
Check us out completing the Chubby Bunny challenge and the Saltine challenge in these incredible videos made by video intern Mira!
News Newbie
These past couple weeks at the Observer have been filled primarily with lede searching and until now, I did not grasp the challenges in finding and pitching buzzy, fresh and informative news articles. Since Lale, the intern supervisor and Managing Editor of the Observer decided to take the NY News section of the Observer in a slightly different direction to include more original pieces and fewer re-blogs, I have been on the search for interesting pitches. We are encouraged to either take an existing story and find a new angle or spin on it to generate something entirely different or uncover something newsworthy that has not been covered at all and complete the necessary research and reporting to cover it. This has been a huge challenge for me (especially because I never expected to be writing for publication this summer, nonetheless pitching and writing news stories). But, at the same time, it has been an invaluable experience, as I am doing exactly what I would be doing as a news reporter working at the Observer and am able to get direct feedback on the quality of my pitches and writing from one of the editors. Of course the learning curve means that several of my pitches simply do not work in that they do not cover relevant info for the Observer audience and my writing has also had to be tweaked significantly to adopt a catchy, news-y tone also suited to the Observer audience of educated, upper-middle class New Yorkers.
Another inherent challenge is seeking interviews, quotes and pictures from large organizations included in pieces that I am covering. Usually it takes a little while for a response from a PR or Marketing person at the company in order to set up a time to speak with a representative or manager of the said company or to receive photos suited for the press. This has allowed me to really up my communication skills in emailing and speaking directly on the phone with prominent people in their fields. Unfortunately, this also slows down the publication process, though, as this info is often necessary to complete a piece. Again, more insight into the journalism field and what it takes to bring an article from a pitch/idea through the draft process and to publication.
Currently, I am wrapping up a trend piece compiling museum, zoo and park sleepovers in NYC this summer. This has involved contacting several organizations that host such overnight activities to secure photos and interview managers on the motives behind starting these programs.
Another inherent challenge is seeking interviews, quotes and pictures from large organizations included in pieces that I am covering. Usually it takes a little while for a response from a PR or Marketing person at the company in order to set up a time to speak with a representative or manager of the said company or to receive photos suited for the press. This has allowed me to really up my communication skills in emailing and speaking directly on the phone with prominent people in their fields. Unfortunately, this also slows down the publication process, though, as this info is often necessary to complete a piece. Again, more insight into the journalism field and what it takes to bring an article from a pitch/idea through the draft process and to publication.
Currently, I am wrapping up a trend piece compiling museum, zoo and park sleepovers in NYC this summer. This has involved contacting several organizations that host such overnight activities to secure photos and interview managers on the motives behind starting these programs.
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