Editor's Note Print E-mail
Written by Liz Orenstein   

Three Things I Learned As A WebWire Editor
Being one of three editors for the New Voices Magazine WebWire has taught me many things. For my final issue as co-editor, I would share with you three of them:

1. Soliciting, writing, editing...we get the WebWire out.

Behind the scenes of any magazine, the WebWire no less, there is so much more going on than the average reader sees. From acquiring articles – rather, squeezing articles out of friends and acquaintances like the juice from an orange – to revising the articles via email, proofing the changes, and finally getting the article on the screen in WebWire format takes a lot more than just the click of the send button. At least three sets of eyes look over each story, preparing them for the glory that is the WebWire, and finally get sent off into cyberspace for all eyes to enjoy. Being a virtual team is not an easy task: crashes happen, articles do not send, formatting errors occur. But at the end of the day, we get the WebWire out. What a process.

2. You never know who writing for a national magazine reaching college students across the country will connect you to.

I usually write editorial pieces on aspects of my life, relevant in one way or another to my Jewish upbringing and family. As it turns out, these stories are not just a way for me to explore my family and Jewishness, but a way for others to actually relate to their families and even to catch up with old friends. What do I mean? New Voices Magazine goes out to colleges and universities across the country. Students pick up the magazine hoping to connect with what we on a bi-weekly and bi-monthly basis publish and once in a while come across a name or an event with which our readers can relate.
After my Chanukkah story went out, a New Voices reader emailed me with an interesting quandary. She wanted to know if I was the same Liz Orenstein as she grew up with in Wisconsin. She wasn’t sure if it was me until she picked up the magazine and read further. As it turns out, the WebWire connected me with a friend with whom I went to Sunday School and rode bikes around the dead-end cul-de-sac as tots. It never occurred to me that writing for such a publication would connect me to people I haven’t talked to since I was a child. What I thought was just going to be a nice editing experience has now made a connection I never thought possible.


3. Working closely with someone halfway across the country is not only a challenge, but also an interesting way in which to form both professional and personal relationships.

Going to school in Minneapolis while working for a magazine in New York City is not something one may consider normal. But with today’s technology, working 1,200 miles away from one’s residence becomes less of a challenge and more of a privilege. My experience with New Voices has not only enhanced my editing and writing, but has also welcomed a new friend or two into my little black book. The personal friendships I have created while working on this electronic abyss of a magazine has enhanced this experience more than I could have ever imagined and for that I am forever grateful. Thank you to every one of you who has made co-editing the WebWire all it could have been and then some. You know who you are.
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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.
 
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