For my interview, I’ve decided to do a dual interview comparing two very different subjects: my mom and dad.

My mother is an occupational therapist. Specifically, she focuses on injuries to people’s hands and wrists. Currently, she’s out of work due to Covid-19—for the first time since she was a teenager. She’s also in the process of getting her masters’ degree.

My father worked in construction. He hurt his back in the September 11th terrorist attacks, so he’s been out of work for over a decade. Prior to working at the Trade Center, he was in marble work. At the trade center, he worked on the elevators.

I chose my parents because I feel that they could offer two very different perspectives on work and what it means to be a worker: white collar vs blue collar work, the experience of a displaced worker, the role labor plays to one’s identity, the role of education, etc. I’ve never been particularly interested in either of their fields, but I feel that they each have interesting perspectives on what it means to work and be a worker.

I chose the Blake digital archive. I’d definitely say it’s easy to navigate—the different sections are clearly demarcated and at the top of the page, so it’s easy to tell where things are. It’s also aesthetically appealing—the color scheme is good—not too high or low in contrast, the layout simple.

I think perhaps the greatest benefit of archives like this is that you get to actually look at and experience the work in a way that is frankly impossible through a book or textbook. You can zoom in on the images, resize them so the details are clearer, and see documents in the original form, rather than the text simply being typed out on a page. It’s not the same sort of interactive experience that going to a museum that houses Blake’s paintings would be, but it is definitely more interactive than seeing them in a textbook—an image that is considerably less detailed than the one on an archive.

Archives like this are also useful in terms of research because they tend to have a focus on primary sources, which can be difficult to find. Most academic sources that students have access to are secondary sources. Archives make primary sources accessible to the general public.

I chose to look at Penguin Randomhouse’s website. Corporate writing from my perspective seems to be any writing used within business, be that proposals (in the case of a company like Penguin, that would include book proposals/queries) or descriptions of what the company does. I’ve copied and pasted Penguin’s company description here and also am including a link to a book proposal, as it would be too long to include I think :https://writersedgeservice.com/sample-book-proposal-from-a-professional-literary-agency/

The reason I chose Penguin is twofold. On a personal level, I’d like to work in publishing in some aspect someday. But also I think that the publishing industry is a fairly obvious choice for a discussion of corporate writing because it’s quite literally based around writing. All industries ARE to an extent—communication skills are central to business, after all. Yet publishing is one of the few that makes this centrality fully apparent—while writing is important in the medical and legal fields, for example, it is not typically given the acknowledgement it deserves. Publishing is a field about writing, creative and otherwise.

Our Story

Our Mission

Penguin Random House is the international home to nearly 250 editorially and creatively independent publishing imprints. Together, our mission is to foster a universal passion for reading by partnering with authors to help create stories and communicate ideas that inform, entertain, and inspire, and to connect them with readers everywhere.

What We Do

Our dedicated team of publishing professionals is committed to helping authors realize their very best work and to finding innovative new ways of bringing stories and ideas to audiences worldwide. By leveraging our global reach, embracing new technologies, and collaborating with authors at every stage of the publishing process—from editorial and design, to sales and marketing, to production and distribution—we aim to provide them with the greatest platform possible. At the same time, we fiercely protect our authors’ intellectual property and champion freedom of expression, ensuring that their voices carry beyond the page and into the folds of communities and societies around the globe.

Our Heritage and Ongoing Commitment

With a rich history dating back to the 1800s, our expansive publishing portfolio contains books and products for readers of all ages at every stage of life. We’re also proud to count more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors as part of the Penguin Random House family.“…committed to expanding our role as a cultural institution beyond the books we publish…”

Penguin Random House is committed to expanding our role as a cultural institution that serves society not only with the books we publish and investments we make in new ideas, creativity, and diverse voices, but also through our charitable donations and leadership of numerous campaigns and initiatives worldwide that promote literacy and reading culture, support freedom of expression, and reflect our belief in the power of books to connect and change lives.

At a Glance

• Established on July 1, 2013
• Shareholders: Bertelsmann 75% and Pearson 25%
• Headquartered in New York City with operations in 20 countries across five continents
• Made up of 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints
• Comprised of adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing
• More than 10,000 employees worldwide, with more than 5,000 employees in North America
• Publishes 70,000 digital and 15,000 print titles annually, with more than 100,000 eBooks available worldwide
• Committed to publishing and operating responsibly. Click here to read more about our Corporate Responsibility and how we contribute to our readers’ communities.

Other Op-Ed Pieces:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-03-12/op-ed-fear-not-coronavirus-is-roiling-world-markets-and-upending-daily-life

https://www.cjr.org/opinion/newspaper-death-independent-family-owned.php

With the suspension of Bernie Sanders’ campaign, former vice president Joe Biden is now the clear Democratic nominee.

There is still talk in leftist circles of protesting the DNC come August, or of Sanders’ receiving the Green Party nom. And you can technically write Sanders in for your state’s primary.

But ultimately, these measures are likely to be ineffective. Whether it’s the sting of defeat or the fact that going to Milwaukee to stage a protest just isn’t feasible for the average American, it’s likely Biden will remain the candidate and that Sanders is out for the count.

This is not good.

Regardless of your feelings about him, Biden has been effectively out of the public eye since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. And his few appearances have been…less than impressive. Ol’ Joe seems to be a few cards short of a deck, particularly in comparison to New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose Stern-But-Loving-Italian-Dad energy has made him the unexpected face of the Democratic party, a cool, competent, yet human contrast to President Trump’s bumbles.

Photographer Pete Souza captioned a photograph of Cuomo and Barack Obama as “A former president with the current acting president”. #draftcuomo trended on Twitter. Think-pieces praising the governor (and, bizarrely, speculating about the state of his nipples) have been popping up all over the place, with little more than a peep on Biden.

Yet it is sufficiently unlikely Cuomo will be drafted as the democratic presidential nominee. He doesn’t seem terribly interested in being president, anyway.

So what are we to do?

Hope people forget Biden’s going senile by November.

Yet by viewing the election as over and done with, we risk a repeat of 2016. Sanders is, in many ways, Trump’s good counterpart—both are political outsiders who are openly critical of the establishment. And there is a segment of Trump supporters who, instead of being taken in by the president’s open racism and xenophobia , were simply sick of being let down and feeling forgotten by establishment politicians. There is a chance that Sanders could sway these supporters, especially as Trump has betrayed them.

Biden couldn’t. And unlike Sanders, he lacks resonance with the youth—who are steadily beginning to outnumber the baby boomers who has social control. This renders him a much less effective candidate in the face of Trump.

Yet if we act like Sanders has already lost, he will. Acting like there’s no point in going out and voting hands the nomination to Biden and potentially, hands the election right back to Trump.

I’ve always been confused by what constitutes a selfie.

If the definition of a selfie is a picture of oneself taken by oneself with the front facing camera on the cell phone (like the pictures James Franco shows in his New York Times think piece), then I’ve probably only ever taken like. Two selfies. I generally don’t like taking photos with the front facing camera. I find them hard to edit.

But, if a selfie is any picture of oneself taken for the purpose of posting on social media (whether taken by self timer or by another person), then I have taken a lot of selfies. I’m going to go with this slightly broader definition, in part because Franco’s description of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift’s instagrams sounds more like that. But mostly because I find it easier to go with.

A lot of times, the photos I take are based around which VSCO filter I can use on them. My favorite one is A6, so I tend to try to stick to pictures I think will look good with that.

This was taken at the Cloisters. I actually was reading Beowulf at the time, and since I had it on me, I figured I’d use it as a prop for the photo. Which sounds kind of icky and pseudo intellectual when I say it that way, but at the time I thought it was a good idea. I do really love reading (hence the English major), so this photo definitely encapsulates that particular trait. I even started a bookstagram to take pretty photos of the books I’m reading, though I’m admittedly super bad at keeping up with it. But that one particular facet of my identity is definitely on display in this picture and a lot of my other instagram posts. Also, as stupid as this may sound, I thought the book complimented my outfit to a degree—the fishnet tights kind of look like the chainmail on the cover, and my dress reminds me of a tapestry (which is kind of the entire reason I bought it). Actually, I think the reason I tend to prefer selfies taken with self timer or by another person rather than forward facing is because it gives me the chance to show off what I’m wearing. I like to think I have good taste in clothes, and I really like this particular outfit.

Laura Pappano talks about how the selfie engages with the practice of journaling, and I think this picture really falls in line with that. It’s kind of like a visual diary entry of what I did that day—I went to the Cloisters with my mom, looked at art, and finished reading Beowulf.

This one was taken with self-timer. Pappano discusses how the filter shows off “the taker’s personal, arty style”. I think this one is most deliberate in that—it’s the P8 filter on VSCO, which is specifically designed to look like a polaroid. I don’t usually use the P series of filters. But sometimes if I have a picture of me and my friends (like this one), I think it works. It gives kind of a summery, nostalgic feeling and I dig the vintage vibes. My whole aesthetic is vintage inspired, and I like to take photos and edit them in a way that emphasizes that.

This also falls in line with the “pics or it didn’t happen” ideology Pappano suggests. When I hang out with Steph and Vicky, we tend to take a LOT of photos. They don’t all get posted, but I think there is some subconscious need to be like “hey look! I’ve got friends!” That might be more on my end—when I was a kid, I was kind of an outcast and I only really started meeting people I connected with towards the end of high school. So there may very well be some psychological need to prove that I do, in fact, have a social life.

This shot was taken in the Planting Fields Arboretum, which is plenty photogenic on its own, so I think it’s interesting that I always end up with a lot of selfies when I go there.

This was taken after I went to a goth night in Greenpoint. I don’t usually like taking pictures at night, but I thought it fit when combined with the industrial look of the stairs and brick building. Also, the lighting was uncannily good (I try to avoid flash when I can).

The ripped fishnets-leather skirt-Docs thing, while also generally encapsulating my personal style, has a lot to do with the curation of and creation of the self. Of course I don’t post selfies where I’m wearing something I didn’t put effort into. My curated self has a strict, vintage/goth inspired/grungy aesthetic, so I’m going to stick with it.

Related to the above, I have quite a few pictures of myself where I’m either lighting a cigarette or smoking. Sometimes this is because the picture is a candid. Sometimes it genuinely is a prop of sorts—I think it’ll add something to the photo if I’m smoking in it. Usually its a sort of in the middle type thing, where I really want a cigarette and also hey, it’ll look cool if I take a picture of me smoking it right now.

Alexandra Fitzpatrick

Education

Archbishop Molloy High School| 2012-2016Graduated with a 3.3 GPA.

St. John’s University|2016-2020 BA | 2020-2021 MA

Current overall GPA is 3.5, undergrad major GPA is 3.8. Graduate GPA is 4.0. Relevant coursework: Introduction to Critical Theory, Reading and Writing for English Majors, Introduction to Creative Writing, Poetry Workshop, Caribbean Literature, The Modern Novel, Writing for Money. Member of Sigma Tau Delta

Skills

-strong writing and reading comprehension

-editorial experience

-research experience

-awareness of current literary titles and trends, both in fiction and nonfiction

-social media literacy

-experience with Microsoft Office and Adobe

-prior office experience

Experience

Office Assistant at Delta Court Services| 2017-2019

As an office assistant for Delta Court Services, I did digital filing of cases, sent out emails to clients regarding the statuses of their individual cases, and assisted the management with clerical tasks.

Bookseller at Barnes and Noble| 2019-present

As a Barnes and Noble bookseller, I am expected to not only provide standard retail customer service, but to also be aware of a variety of popular titles and genres.

Freelance Content Contributor for Liberal Examiner at Vetti Media |2019-present

I have been contributing articles for Vetti Media’s Liberal Examiner website since June of 2019. As a content contributor, I am expected to provide articles on a weekly basis, doing the research and fact-checking independently.

Other Relevant Experience

Co-Founder of St. John’s University Novelous Book Club| 2019-present

As the co-founder of Novelous Book Club, I help organize events, communicate with our members, and run meetings.

Associate Editor on St. John’s University Sequoya Literary Magazine| 2016-2017, 2018-2019, 2019-2020

As an associate editor for the Sequoya literary magazine, I am required to report to the editor-in-chief, assist in selecting poems for publication, and edit the poems that are selected to be in the magazine. My own poetry was published in the 2018-2019 publication of the magazine.

Hempstead Odyssey Contributor| 2016-2017

As an Odyssey Contributor, I was expected to provide articles on a weekly basis, doing the research and fact-checking independently and then working with my editor to improve my articles.

In my spare time, I run a literary blog and Instagram called persephonespages.

Workview Reflection

Society generally defines work in terms of profit. What labor is is something upon which a monetary value can be applied and something which benefits profit rather than something which necessarily benefits society at large. If I’m being completely honest, my own definition of work was pretty much this. It wasn’t until I got to college and realized that I wanted to be a writer and that that particular profession isn’t always very profitable and is generally considered worthless if you base your definition of “work” on profit. Furthermore, that definition excludes care work and emotional labor, usually regulated to women, and devalues it.

Rather, I think “work”, in the truest sense, is something that benefits the society at large. That allows for the inclusion of care work, artistic work, and emotional labor. While these forms of work may not be as profitable as others, they allow for greater personal development.

Lifeview Reflection

The most important thing in life is fulfillment. One does not always have to be happy. Positing that is both problematic and unhelpful, and I think one of our biggest societal issues is that we view the most important thing in life as happiness. Happiness is an emotion. It’s inherently fleeting.

But I think if you don’t feel fulfilled, you can never really self-actualize and form a stable identity. And if you don’t self-actualize and form a stable identity, then it’s really difficult to live a decent life.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.