The Nation is running a little contest to get people to sign-up for their email lists. The grand prize? One lucky subscriber will spend “A Day at The Nation.” The promo offers a peek at editor in chief Katrina vanden Heuvel’s datebook (“9:30 am-finish article, 11 am—editorial meeting…”). Now doesn’t that sound exciting!
The problem here is that actually working at a magazine, I can assure you, involves a lot of solitary staring at computer screens and page proofs, punctuated by phone calls and the occasional meeting. I love it, but I’d be the first to admit it doesn’t make for a thrilling site visit.
Still, this Nation gambit led me to wonder, tongue-firmly in cheek, as to what “A Day at CJR” might look like. Here, in the spirit of a holiday weekend, it is.
9:45 am—impromptu discussion of highlights/lowlights from MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
10:00 am—editorial meeting scheduled
10:48 am—editorial meeting begins
11:15 am—Audit boss Dean Starkman joins editorial meeting
12:30 pm—redirect lost delivery person/prospective J-school student who has inadvertently wandered into office
1:30 pm—impromptu Andrea Mitchell joshing
2:00 pm—chit chat with intern
3:13 pm—paper jam
4:00 pm—chit chat with intern
4:30 pm—file piece to that you’d implied would be done by noon
(FYI, CJR’s newish email list sign-up is on the right side of our landing page. But no day promised, ok?)
Clint Hendler is the managing editor of Mother Jones, and a former deputy editor of CJR.