beat/beet

Random updates from the week of 2/4-2/11:

on the beat
On 2/4, I attended a seminar in Evanston, IL on the Northwestern campus that was hosted by both a senior editor and a frequently contributing writer for National Geographic Traveler magazine. One part of the seminar required the participants to put some of the morning's knowledge to immediate use by crafting our own article pitch. There were about 80 people in the seminar (mostly women by a factor of about 8:1) and I'm not sure how many people submitted pitches, but let's say it was about 35. My pitch was one of a handful that got selected by the senior editor to discuss in front of the entire group, so that was gratifying (if a tad nerve-wracking) since I've had no formal journalism training or experience. According to the senior editor, the article I pitched would have been good for a segment that was formerly contained within the magazine but that did not survive the restructuring. The editor did recommend, however, that I round-up a total of six sites that function similarly to the idea proposed and pitch the resulting article to a newspaper. Previously she and the writer had mentioned USA Today as a good newspaper to pitch to for travel-related stories, but she didn't mention a particular paper with my pitch so uh... I'm evaluating my options. At any rate, I'm working on that and I have three sites in mind right now so I guess that leaves me with three more to suss out. On top of that, I have thought of a place I'd like to review for "The Long Weekend" segment of NG Traveler.

The bottom line of the whole seminar was that I came out of it with a huge insight into the world of freelance writing for magazines, contact info for the senior editors who would review pitches for NG Traveler, and a brand spanking new edition of the NG Traveler magazine that is still not on the newsstands (the edition that happens to be the first edition of their newly updated format). I can't look at magazines in quite the same relaxed and recreational way I did before - now I see the "front-of-book" material, the "feature well," service pieces, and round-ups. I see the reverse engineering of the articles, so to speak, and I feel like I've been shown the secret workings of a magic trick but without the let-down.

beat downs
I attended my first hockey game on Friday night. The smell was awful (like a locker room left to rot)... but it was pretty fun, and surprisingly entertaining to see players get smashed up against the wall. I know that sounds terrible, but it's true. Brought back old memories of high school p.e. floor hockey too, which were glory days indeed.

beet chips
Saturday, I got what must have been the last order of beet chips at Crane Alley. Mmmm... their beet chips are tasty anyway, but they had that extra special pinch of exclusivity and because-I-have-it-you-can't-have-it.

she's got the beat
I watched some of the Grammys last night and happened to catch Christina Aguilera's performance honoring James Brown. Now, I'm no Christina Aguilera fan but her performance of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" was powerful and captivating, showy in a James Brown kind of way, but without straying into caricature. Well done.