Actual Fun

For a class I'm taking at the J-school, I have to write a profile of an editor—any editor. It could be a newspaper editor, magazine editor, book editor, copy editor, whatever. To report the story, we were supposed to arrange to shadow the editor at work for a day. Our professor, who has worked at the New York Times for 20+ years, offered to connect us with someone at the paper if we wished.

Well, I wished.

At first, I asked her to hook me up with someone from the Science/Health section, since that's what I've been spending so much of my time on. I figured it was the strategic choice: a potential future contact, someone to whom I could pitch stories down the road.

About five minutes later, I realized I had made a huge mistake. After all, I've been living medicine, right? Shouldn't I seize the opportunity to take a break from all that and write about something, you know, fun??

Yes. Yes, I should.

And that's how I ended up spending the day with the editor who oversees the Dining, Home, and Real Estate sections at the paper. I basically followed her around all day, which was a pretty cool thing to do. It was work, of course—I had to be in "sponge" mode, and I practically crippled my hand filling a notebook with observations and quotes—but it was the kind of work I'd happily do all day, every day.

I hadn't been in a regular workplace in almost two years, and it was really nice to be around smart, funny, collaborative people again, if only for a day.

Oh, and there was even a bonus: not a doctor in sight!