Each day that goes by I have to remember to stop and breathe deep.  I have so much under my belt that I move with the motions, sometimes too fast, and don’t even fully acknowledge what I’m doing.  I am at an amazing institution, learning about the deeply complex and exciting world of journalism, from the absolute best in the industry.  I am lucky.

My classes are going exceptionally well and my professors are fantastic.  I learn new things everyday, challenging myself to gain experience in things that I never thought I would do, or that seemed daunting in the past.  Daunting?  Not this time.  I was so excited when I came to school that I got involved in too much!  My bandwidth was stretched too thin and I had to take a step make and realize that I’m not superwoman and I need to eat, sleep, and breathe just like every other human on earth.

Besides classes I am a journalism faculty assistant to two professors with careers that someone like me could only dream of achieving.  Tim Riley is a highly successful music journalist and Beatles fanatic.  He just released his fifth book entitled “Lennon: The Man, the Myth the Music – the Definition.”  Tim is genius and his love for the Beatles is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.  Kudos to him for going on a promotional book tour and upholding his duties as a professor at Emerson.  I don’t know how he does it.  The lovely Cindy Rodriguez is Emerson’s newest Journalist-in-Residence with articles that have appeared in the Boston Globe, Detroit News and the Denver Post.  She has also taught at Fordham University and NYU.  At orientation she told my class about an assignment she went on in Israel to report on homosexual orthodox Jews.  Now that is serious journalism.  I envy her intelligence, grace, creativity and successful career!

As for Media Ethics Magazine, I was recently named their new production assistant.  Basically my role entails uploading articles onto their website.  It seems pretty simple, but it can be quite complicated sometimes especially because I’m still learning about online publishing.  What I love about this job is that I get to work with the amazing Manny Paraschos.  Manny is the program director in the journalism department and probably one of the smartest and funniest people I’ve met in my life.  He reminds me of the Greek grandfather I never had.  He’s a joy to work with and I’m learning a lot from him.

In addition to the above jobs I’m still writing for Caught in Southie and North Shore Magazine.  These assignments are light, fun and opportunities I take to get some creative relief.  My latest articles appeared in the October/November issue.  I’m working on a light piece about a personal shopper and stylist from Andover, MA.  It’s coming out in December.  Keep your eyes peeled!