Look what they did to her May 30, 2008

I told you so. I tell everyone so. Do they listen? No. Maybe they’ll start listening though, as per this Washington Post article.

How much anger is there among women about how Hillary Clinton has been treated during this campaign? Some of the nation’s leading female politicians will tell you: quite a lot.

“From the beginning, she’s been treated very badly,” says Therese Murray, president of the Massachusetts Senate. “No woman would have run with Obama’s résumé. She wouldn’t have been considered.” But Clinton has been “demonized by the press and the talking heads. How do you get away with that?”

It’s not just Ms. Murray; it’s quite a few other female Rep’s. Important women. Women who are outraged. Like me. If you look long enough, you’ll find your niche.

Cooking school May 26, 2008

I want everyone to know that my mother tried to convince me that it takes two hours to bake a potato.

It doesn’t. I tried to tell her that, citing past examples of potato baking. Did she believe me? No, of course not.

I google it. 45 minutes. 55 minutes. 1 hour. Maybe just over an hour if it’s a really big potato.

Not two frickin hours.

My mom is being loopy. And I’m hungry.

Conquering the phones and PR May 21, 2008

I admit, the first two days of my internship were not happy days. I was…extremely disillusioned, I suppose, and definitely not thrilled about what I was doing. And I despised the phone that was a foot away from me, with its tangled cord and horrid little beeping button things. :shiver: I didn’t touch it for the first day, having given myself a reprieve. The second day, I wasn’t so lucky. As soon as I walked in, I was given directions to make a few phone calls. More phone calls followed a few hours later.

I was terrified. I hate the phone, I really do, and I particularly loathed this big black phone. Holding and transferring and … ugh…phone stuff. I just don’t like it. If everyone was perpetually connected to email, I would be so much happier.

But that’s not the way life works, so today, I decided to conquer the Big Black Phone.

And conquer I did. EIC was out today, working from home, so it was me and the Junior Ed up in the attic room manning phones and stalking PR people at various companies. And it was scary and incredibly frustrating. But somehow, at 4:00, just when I was sinking into despair, people started calling back. Things were being overnighted, photos were being emailed. Stuff that I had been badgering peoples’ voicemails about all day, going through filofax numbers and finding out just how outdated they are (called one “PR” person, and the phone on the other end of the line was answered by a temp in accounting. Huh.)–stuff was getting done. Finally!

It was hard, and it was maddening, but damn it all, it was invigorating too. And I’m a good researcher :beams:.

/end.

An Interesting election piece from INTHEFRAY May 19, 2008

It’s an article about allowing now-17 year olds who will be 18 years old come Election Day in November to vote in state primaries in order to determine party candidacy. This is a very interesting issue, I think. I read earlier tonight that around 3 million kids apply to college each years. Thats potentially 3 million votes, give or take, that we’re not counting in primaries, isn’t it?

Check it out here, at INTHEFRAY.

Goodbye, my almost lover… May 19, 2008

I’m saying goodbye to summer, until mid July when vacation rolls around, now that my internship has officially begun! Today was my first day at the New Jersey Life office in Lambertville, NJ, working with the EIC and the Junior Ed, both of whom are fabulous women. I spent my six hours of work (10 to 4:30, with a lunch break) doing research on two different pieces that I *think* will be in the September issue…well, at least one will be, unless it gets killed. I had my own little desk up in the tippy top third story of the cute little house-turned-office that the (very small) NJL editorial team (plus publisher) inhabits. The EIC told me that it is thought to be the house of the parson who worked at the church that’s, oh, a yard away. If I opened a window and leaned out, I could probably touch it.

It surprising how quickly a work day can go when you’re researching. I have phone calls to make tomorrow, which I probably could have done today had I not given myself a reprieve from answering/using the phones. I really, *really* don’t like telephones. But, I just need to get into that not-me personality, the Brittany that’s New Jersey Life Brittany, not me Brittany. She’s bubbly and outgoing and chatty without being annoying. And brave. She doesn’t mind calling people cold. Me Brittany hates doing that. Sigh. Back to work tomorrow, and time to conquer my introversion!

Bouncing in to say… May 12, 2008

That this semester was my best one yet, grade wise! 3.9 cumulative! Yeah baby! Good to know that all of that work, particularly the last two weeks, paid off!

Whoo!

Go visit hangPROUD.com! May 11, 2008

Hello hello!

I’m back (briefly) with a bit of news/plug for hangPROUD!

My update tonight took me exactly 1.25 hours–10:30 to 11:45 p.m., for those who like precision–which is…more than I’d like to spend, but then again, it is my job. And I do enjoy it

Anyway, tonight’s update brings you a slew of lovely things, including a Stuff We LOVE feature on John Mayer (“The man behind the (fabulous) music), which contains a fab picture and a few great quotes. The new A Day in the Life of a PROUDgirl feature is Melissa Walker, author of a series of young adult novels (Violet on the Runway and company). The piece is wonderful, written by Lisa Fraser who has been so great to work with over the past…eight months? Wow. We’re getting old! She’s been taking on a lot of celeb interviews lately, so check back Mondays and Thursdays for new features! She has also been constructing a series focusing on mental, emotional, and physical health and well being, which will be live (probably) in the next month.

Speaking of HP getting on in age, we’re almost a year old! In celebration, for the next month or so, we are showcasing the best of hangPROUD’s feature articles! They are handpicked by moi, some (certainly not all, unfortunately!) of my favorite pieces that the hangPROUD contributing writers have written over the last year. Thank you to everyone who has been involved, from Liz Schau, who has been there since the beginning with me, to our newest crew–Casey and Jacqueline, who you can see writing Top Tips, A Day in the Life of PGs features, and featured articles! Thank you ladies! You are INCREDIBLE, and it’s been a pleasure!

Much love to all of you! hangPROUD!

Watching the Today Show May 9, 2008

And Clay Aiken looks weird. Like, before, he looked cute.

And here:

But now…

And here:

He looks like Andrew Lloyd Webber. No offense intended; ALW is a great writer and composer. But he looks like a turtle.

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/photo diary of Clay Aiken

NYT Q & A with Assistant Managing Editor Susan Edgerley May 8, 2008

You can find Edgerley’s answers to reader-submitted questions (May 5-9) here.

Migrating to the Web

Q. Has all that investment on The Times’s Web version started to pay off already? Or does print still pick up the bills for those delightful videos and other Web 2.0 enhancements to your site?

— Oscar Gomez

A. It depends on how you define “paying off.” Does NYTimes.com make more money than The New York Times newspaper? No. Could we finance our newsroom of 1,275 reporters, editors, photographers, graphic artists, videographers and producers on the revenue from NYTimes.com? No.

But NYTimes.com is growing — in readers and revenue — at a much, much faster clip than the print paper. Is it our future? You bet.

The first few address integration of web and print media and journalism, as well as the future of a tangible print newspaper. Quite interesting and readable, so go read it!

London students giving Undergrads a bad rap! May 6, 2008

or NOT ALL UNDERGRADS ARE STUPID TEENAGERS! LET ME INTO THE BRITISH LIBRARY PRETTY PLEASE! (from NYT, by Sarah Lyall)

The article described how the author Lady Antonia Fraser had been obliged to wait for 20 minutes in freezing weather just to enter the building, and another 20 minutes to leave her coat at the mandatory check-in desk.

It described how another writer, Christopher Hawtree, had been “forced to perch on a windowsill” because he could not get a desk.

Claire Tomalin, a historian, was quoted as saying that the library was “full of what seem to be schoolgirls giggling” and not using the library for any necessary research purpose.

“I heard one say, ‘I’ve got to write about Islam. Can I have your notes?’ ” she said.

In a letter to the library, Lady Antonia said that while she did not object to the admission of students per se, she felt that the library had failed to address the “chaos and confusion” that came with the larger numbers.

It’s kind of sad how stupid and immature (cough:British:/cough) students are being at this mecca of knowledge. I would love to go to the British Library (um…need a research project, stat!), but I don’t want Lady Antonia Fraser (who writes fabulous historical fic, by the way. Wonder what she’s researching now…) to think I’m one of the stupid teens who can’t control themselves! Why is my generation just…URGH. Themselves!