Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Time and Life

The Time magazine newsroom. The Time and Life building. 23rd floor. Rockerfeller Plaza. The view is Radio City. This is working in Manhattan and in Time magazine, no less.We ran onto the subway with hudreds of other hurried people. This is the collective breath of New York, the clock-like consistency of swiping metro cards, zip, zip, zip, go, go, go, from every walks of life, through those gates and onto the subway that submerges us and from looking around, might be the only thing you have in common with most people on the train.

Time and Life, even the names are broad philosophical concepts that swallow you whole just when you consider them. Endless, larger than the sum of your parts, ever flowing, miraculous. We are interning in Time.com for a week, getting a free pass to the epitome of cosmopolitanism of Manhattan. Where else could you possibly start your morning with a sit-down with Alec Baldwin? And by noon its all over. Cameras are packed, lights are unscrewed, food is cleard off and you're back on the 23rd floor newsroom.

yes, so here I am in Time magazine news room. As far as my perhaps uninformed preconceptions are concered, this is not a news room. there is no screaming or shouting or running around, its pretty swanky actually, macs everywhere, entire walls showing off cover after cover of impeccable Time magazine Cover pages.

So what is it then. Maybe its a little too dry for me. Time magazine is a little polished. on paper, online and on-ground. Something inside me is pushing me to grab my camera, run out the door hop onto the new york city street and never look back. A few would call me ungrateful maybe, unable to seize a good opportunity, this learning experience that has fallen into my lap. That might be so but i cant ignore that a powerful surge in my gut is telling me there's tons more learn on the pavement just outside. Im itching to get out of here, even if it is Time magazine. There is surely more to Life.

6 comments:

zeinab said...

well said:)

Wael Abbas said...

نفس الاحساس باشعر بيه كل مرة اشتغل فيها مع ناس زي دي

Sarah Rifaat said...

Awesome insight. I can relate.

Craig Duff said...

And some of us inside this "dry" and "polished" institution are reading your blog.

EgyDiva said...

thats ok craig, to each his own. ive met some great people through you and appreciate it..doesnt mean i want their jobs...

No Man said...

Interesting post.

Personally, I can't and probably never will relate. Time magazine, with its (roughly) 3.4 million readers, sounds like an excellent opportunity to share whatever you've learned from the "outside".