Fall 2005 PDF - Milton Academy

Later, she enjoyed stints at Working Womanand Child magazines, all in preparation forher study of celebrity and writing “thesnappy, punchy, creative” copy that makesit come alive.“It’s particularly gratifying to be paid totalk about the things people talk about anyway.We’re also lucky in that we have theTime, Inc., reputation working for us,”Vick says. “Readers trust that we have ourfacts straight; what we print has beenresearched and carefully checked for accuracyby fact-checkers as well as by correspondentsin any one of our eight newsbureaus here and abroad.” (Several of thelarger Time, Inc., magazines rely onbureaus for research, reporting and interviews;writers and editors in New Yorkthen pull stories together.)When Vick was at Milton, she served asthe co-editor of Milton’s student paper. “Ialways enjoyed writing,” she says. “As aneditor, I get to shape ideas and think abouthow best to package a story.”Evan Hughes ’94Assistant to the EditorNew York Review of BooksIn conversation with Heather Sullivan,associate editor of Milton Magazine.HS How would you describe your job andhow you got there?EH The two editors who founded The NewYork Review of Books in 1963, Robert Silversand Barbara Epstein, are still at the top ofthe masthead, and I am Barbara’s assistant.Because the editorial staff is small—around 12—and jobs here are sought after,mine is not really an entry-level position,as editorial assistant jobs are at book publishersand some other magazines. Prior toworking here, I was an editor for two yearsat The New Leader, a political magazinesmall enough that I was given a considerableamount of experience editing andworking with writers. Now, in addition tohandling Barbara’s correspondence, faxingproofs to our writers and taking correctionsfrom them, ordering review copies ofbooks, etc., I edit some pieces (by writersyou probably know about) and play a largerole in sorting through the many booksthat come in to us—sometimes 100 aday—and deciding what we ought toreview and to whom we should assign it.My job is an editorial one, not a writingone, but I have just completed in off hoursEvan Hughes ’94my first piece for the magazine, whichshould be published this fall. It’s about anovelization of the Patty Hearst saga,Christopher Sorrentino’s Trance. Otherrecent work includes a review of JamesFrey’s two memoirs of addiction and recoveryand a piece about the sexual politics ofthe lap dance. Seriously.HS From whom have you learned the mostabout your craft?EH My boss at The New Leader, MikeKolatch, was a stern instructor, to put itrather mildly, but I learned a great dealfrom him about the way sentences oughtto work. Much of what I know about writing,though, came from my teachers inMilton’s English and creative writingdepartments, more so than Yale’s. Manythanks are owed, not just by me, to DavidBritton, Kay Herzog, Doug Fricke, J. C.Smith, Rick Hardy and the creative writinggolden god, Jim Connolly. The man whohired most of them, former English chairGuy Hughes, had some additional influenceon my life and education. He’s mydad.HS My impression is that you’re a writerfirst and editor second. Can you commenton the relationship between those twoselves?EH I write and edit both, and hope to continueto do so, but I’d like to add morewriting to the mix. Sometimes one findsthe two roles battling. It’s hard to writefreely with a critic and editor staring overyour shoulder.HS This issue of Milton Magazine focuseson the media. Do you think that more literateperiodicals face pressures similar tothose of mainstream media (e.g., consolidation,fewer resources, etc.), or are theyoutside of that fray?EH Most intellectual publications aremoney-losing operations and face greatpressure to improve the bottom line, particularlywhen they are owned by larger(and publicly held) corporations. The NewYork Review is independently owned and,remarkably, is a profitable enterprise, fromwhat I understand. I’m not privy to themath, but I think our success owes somethingto our crossover appeal to the academicworld. Many professors read it tokeep up with new work in their fields.HS What are some of your favorite newspapersor magazines, and what makesthem valuable to you?EH I’m addicted, despite reservations, tothe New York Times. I don’t know what I’ddo if they tripled the price. My other prioritiesare The New Yorker, Harper’s, and TheAtlantic, although employed people whosay they read them all every issue are lying.HS Career highlights?EH Highlights of my short career mostlyinvolve talking to people I’ve long admiredfrom afar. A few articles the NYRB haspublished since I’ve been here (two years)have been particularly exciting for me,though I played no role in editing them:Two of these were Michael Massing’s “NowThey Tell Us,” about the press’s failures inIraq, and Tony Judt’s “Israel: The Alternative.”The feisty letter exchanges that followedeach were a kick.HS I’m reading The Moonstone by WilkieCollins. In it, a character always turns tothe text of Robinson Crusoe when he needsguidance or inspiration. Is there a book,story or poem that functions that way foryou?EH I don’t know about guidance, but forinspiration: Joan Didion’s justly famouspersonal essay about being young and inNew York, “Goodbye to All That.” Can I goon? Robert Lowell’s Collected Poems. Thenthere’s David Foster Wallace’s essay aboutgoing on a cruise, “A Supposedly FunThing I’ll Never Do Again.” In its sometimescruel way, it is probably the funniestthing I’ve ever read.Heather Sullivan23 Milton Magazine