Week 1

It begins. My three month journey toward becoming a better researcher while learning the ins and outs of the magazine business got off and running Thursday.
It was certainly a lot to take in. I got to the office shortly after it opened and met with the Editor, Mark Nardone. He showed me around for a while. Two things struck me immediately. To begin with, the office was way bigger than expected. My experience in any kind of newsroom or journalism office was limited to the Review office above Perkins Student Center, and the Middleboro Gazette newsroom, which consisted of one room and eight or nine cubicles. Delaware Today had a Business Department, an Advertisement Department, and about seven other branches all dedicated to a specific task in the publication of the magazine. It was definitely impressive, to say the least.
The other thing I noticed immediately was that I was way underdressed. Everyone was dressed as if they, well, were in an office. My jeans weren't exactly cutting it. I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen again.
Mark sat me down at a desk and gave me my task: to work with two other interns, or "research assistants," as he prefers to call us, to research and create a story. The story we were going to be working on was "Delaware's Best Jobs." It seemed simple enough, until Mark left me alone and went back to his office. I was left with a gigantic task and didn't really know where to begin. I started by browsing through a similar story Delaware Today did two years ago. I created a folder to keep notes and brainstorm ideas, and actually had a fairly productive first day.
Amy (one of the other interns, or "research assistants") came in shortly after I did. We did some brainstorming together. Amy pointed out that perhaps our platform should deal with jobs that are good despite the depleated economy. For instance, they may make our list because they're stable, still hiring, or cover the cost of health care.
I'm working again on Monday, and on Tuesday I'll be meeting with both Amy and Erica (the other two "research assistants") to discuss in more detail the direction we want to head in. I can't wait to really get the ball rolling next week.