Stephen Mejias

So, I'll post her first entry — written Monday, the 19th — now. In this entry, KR takes us inside a typical day of working with audio components (as opposed to making quilts). It's a day marked by Lucky Charms, Excel spreadsheets, and the hustle and bustle of Grand Central.
–SM

***

Stephen has suggested that I write a weekly blog describing my experience as an editorial intern for Stereophile. I suppose the perspective of a 20 year old female in 'the business' (as Stephen puts it) is few and far between. So here I am. However, I must forewarn that I am new at this.

In comparison to last year's experience as an intern my job has not become more difficult, per se. All in all, I have the same responsibilities, except that Stephen and I made it a point to get so organized last summer that all of the time I would have spent trying to find contact information for manufacturers and distributors (who were desperate to remain anonymous, it seemed) is spent asking Stephen, "Do you have anything for me?" And of course...he does. And so the organization of last summer has afforded me the opportunity to do some writing, which is not something most companies allow their interns to do, let alone the one's who cannot drink legally. (Ouch!)

On a normal day, I come in with my Lucky Charms and tea, answer my e-mails, check the forums to make sure everyone is behaving, and tell Stephen about my commute on the number 5 train. After accepting the fact that I am awake at an ungodly hour, as I am still on college time, I get in the zone with one of my many playlists on my iPod and pray that someone will get me some real headphones (as Monty has already taken notice of...thanks, by the way).

Spreadsheets.Excel and I are on a first name basis at this point and I can short cut so many commands that if Stephen and I should battle, it is likely that I would reign victorious. (Sorry, Stephen). For our Buyer's Guide, I e-mail each manufacturer, distributor, or PR agency a spreadsheet specific to the components they specialize in (cartridges, tonearms, loudspeakers, amps, etc. etc.). The spreadsheets, for the most part, are blank or contain last year's specs and simply need to be filled out or revised for each brand. More often than not I just look for errors in continuity, misspellings, etc. etc. etc., but there are the occasional manufacturers who see it necessary to add specifications that were not asked for, or worse: they copy and paste information and therefore change the pull down menus that are specific to each category...and so the Excel debauchery begins. Most of the time, it doesn't take very long to correct these kinds of errors, but when you are anticipating little over 400 spreadsheets, sometimes you need to pause, take a trip to the staff kitchen for some more tea, and refocus. It all begins to look the same, and that would kill some audiophiles, but it's true. Luckily that happens right around lunch time, so my hour feeding birds at Bryant Park is much appreciated.

Aside from that, I do the occasional trip to FedEx to mail out components that have been reviewed and handle shipping paper work. I keep Stephen updated on the progress of the Buyer's Guide, my baby, as I have come to call it, and keep our manufacturers and distributors on their toes when it comes close to deadline.

And so that is a typical day in the life of KR. Most of my work simply requires familiarity and attention to details. I would be lying if I said some of it wasn't tedious. But for the most part, I consider myself lucky to be working with audio components, as opposed to quilt making, for example, (although there is nothing wrong with that if you are a quilt enthusiast).

If this is as close to music as I can get at 20, that's okay by me. I am simply getting my feet wet. I should also mention that I work with some amazing people. Elizabeth brings me candy and cupcakes, Stephen answers all of my questions, and John and Robert make me laugh.

I would also be lying if I didn't mention that sometimes I feel like a big shot when people ask what I do over the summer while I am away from Boston University. "I'm an Editorial Intern for a magazine on Madison Ave." The hustle and bustle of Grand Central in the morning always gives me a big head, but it deflates quickly and quietly. Life is peachy.