Week 2 Union Tribune

One of my favorite experiences at my internship thus far has been meeting a young designer named Rebecca who sits across from my desk. She recently graduated from University of San Diego and has worked at the Union Tribune for two years. We discussed the history of the Union Tribune, the future of print journalism and laughed about the majority of older workers here at the newspaper. It was refreshing to speak to someone my age and interesting to hear about her possible job opportunities. She explained to me an interesting perspective about design work. She explained that more and more design work can be something that anyone can accomplish online or with simple computer software and recently the jobs for designers have declined. In comparison she encouraged me by saying that writing jobs, though may be published online, will always be needed. That sort of brain power will always be in demand. I admire how friendly and confident Rebecca is, despite being one of the youngest in the office. She builds friendships with people forty years older than her and loves it.

This week I spoke to the three copy editors that sit near me about how they got to their position and it was interesting to hear their reasons for finding the job they have today. Barbra, who sits next to me, explained that with two children at home she loves that she can get them off to school or spend time with them during the day during the summer and then come into work from 3pm to 9 or 10 at night. These conversations have really made me think about my own job after I graduate and if I work in a newsroom would I be prepared to have the irregular work schedule that correlates with producing a paper.

This week I got to visit the "showhouse" (see pictures) I was writing a story about and meet the Editor-in-Chief of Coastal Living Magazine, along with many other local writers. It was so rewarding to arrive at the event and have people understand who I was (because they knew the Union Tribune). This was a much different experience I have had writing for high school and college newspapers. Speaking with other writers of local papers along with the designers and coordinators of the showhome tour was inspiring. Each and everyone of them were every passionate about their part in the project and really dedicated to articulating the hard work so that I could properly illustrate it in my writing.