Back to school, back to blogging

Already a week into the new school year? Where the heck did summer go? I'll be honest: I kinda wish I was still in college. I miss Drake and Des Moines a lot more than I thought I would. And I miss back-to-school shopping.
Anyway, as you can see, it's been a while since anyone has posted here. We're getting the blog started up again, though, so let us know what you want to hear about. A typical day at the office? Our biggest mistakes ever? Tips for coming up with story ideas? Leave your requests in the comment section!
For now, I'll leave you with some video clips Reader's Digest just posted online to get more joke submissions. I thought you guys would enjoy these for two reasons. 1. You can see our Pleasantville, NY, headquarters. In college, I was always really curious about what magazine offices look like. Ours is rather quaint; some of the offices even have chandelier-ish light fixtures. 2. You can also see that nowadays, being an editor doesn't mean you hiding behind a desk all day. You may be asked to run around making a fool of yourself for an online video. Fun!

Talkin' about my generation. Or: Guess what fellow Millennials? We're all self-centered idiots who can't function.

Has anyone else noticed the plethora of articles about millennials in the workplace? Apparently, we're so different from workers in the past that large companies like Disney and Merrill Lynch are hiring consultants to advise executives on how to work with us. News and business publications are all over this generational shift in the workplace, but unfortunately, the articles are full of stereotypes—stereotypes that paint us as clueless idiots.

Disclaimer: I know any article on broad generational trends is going to be full of unflattering stereotypes. And any manager (or average person) worth his/her salt is going to take these articles with a healthy dose of skepticism. But...they still irk me.
This "60 Minutes" report is the worst (and at the same time funniest) I've found on the topic.

I'll sum up the gist of these articles (my reactions are in italics):

• We're self-centered, laugh at the mere thought of showing up at 9 am, and refuse to work late or on weekends. Because, duh, our social lives are obviously way more important than your stupid company. I don't know a single person in my age group who doesn't show up to work early and stay late on a regular basis.
• Don't you dare criticize us or our work. We'll fall apart if you do. Don't you know we're the coddled generation that grew up hearing "You're the best" and "There's no losers in this game!"? Only positive feedback, please, and you better offer it often, or else we just couldn't possibly function on the job. OK, I admit I like positive feedback. What generation doesn't? But you know what I like even better? Constructive criticism. Because then I'm LEARNING and IMPROVING at my job, which I find much more important than protecting my feelings.
• We're unmotivated, have zero work ethic, and you need to give us step-by-step instructions for every little task! Sticking with the generational stereotypes for a minute: Weren't we the generation of overly-scheduled kids who missed out on a real childhood because we went from soccer practice to piano lessons to Spanish Club to
  AP study groups? How on earth does one grow up that way and NOT have work ethic, time management skills, and initiative? What exactly happened in college that we went from childhood-less schedule zombies to entry-level slackers?
  
• We like being social at work. In fact, we can't work by ourselves. So do as many team projects as possible! Um, actually I like WORKING when I'm at work. If a team project is more productive than assigning individual tasks, that's cool. But please don't force me into pointless group projects that aren't necessary, just because you think that's the only way I can work. I had enough of those group projects in school, and they were always major time-wasting headaches where one or two people end up doing all the work.
  

• And the one positive trait: We're, like, sooo into technology. My iPod/cell/texting/laptop/YouTube/Facebook/blah/blah/blah is like an extension of my very being! Play to my strengths! Show me your company is tech-savvy! Let me design programs for the company and lead this corporation into the future!!! Well now I just feel like I need to be overly interested in techy gadgets as a job skill. Great. Am I old-fashioned because I use a paper-and-pencil planner instead of the calendar function in our e-mail program? UPDATE: As of August, I'm the technology beat reporter. It actually is an expected job skill now to be overly interested in techy gadgets. But I'll never give up my paper-and-pencil planner. Never!
  

And, just for giggles, a few points taken right from that "60 Minutes" report:

• We don't know how to eat with a knife and fork, let alone how to work.
• One exec says, "You do have to speak to them a little bit like a therapist on television might speak to a patient." Ha! Priceless...
• I'll give them points for actually talking to a couple of 20-somethings (most articles I've read don't). However, the two they chose are people who make their careers out of counseling their peers on how to act in the workplace. So of course they're going to be complete tools and say ridiculous things, such as, "We want to hear [praise] and truly we'd love for our parents to know. There's nothing better than Mom getting that letter saying, 'You know, Ryan did a great job. Yeah, I just wanted to let you know you raised a fantastic son.'" Oh, by the way, this guy admits his mom picked out his clothing for this interview.
  

OK, maybe I'm calling BS on all of this because I work in magazines, an industry in which you practically grovel for an entry-level job. Once you get it, you're not going to screw it up by acting like a total jackass. Or maybe it's because I'm only friends with overachievers, or I have that stereotypical Midwestern work ethic, or I wasn't coddled enough in my extracurriculars. (My coaches and teachers were definitely not in the "You're all winners!" camp. They were more in the "Get your butt in the pool right now or you're doing 20 extra laps!" camp.)

So, fellow bloggers and J-school students: Am I the only one who thinks these generalizations are way off? Or do you know people who fit these descriptions? Angela and Pat, what about you guys? From your years of teaching and working, do you think our generation is lazy, incompetent, and clueless compared to past generations?

I'll leave you all with a nice little BusinessWeek article that actually makes sense.

It's Baaack

I was more than a little excited yesterday to learn that Organic Style, one of my favorite magazines on sustainable living in its short life (it lasted from 2001 to 2005), is back. And it's online (hello, environmentally responsible publishing and easy access for the masses).

Check out the winter issue. I'm a big fan of the digital publishing they use for it—it's the same format as one of my other favorite green magazines, Greenlight (which, by the way, you can subscribe to for free and have delivered to your email inbox). What's so great about this form of digital publishing? For one thing, you get to read a magazine that looks like a magazine rather than web content. And if a story interests you on, say, the cover or TOC, click on it and you're taken right there. Plus this form of digital publishing allows you to easily provide (and get readers to) additional content online. Like a product featured? Odds are with one click you can be on the company webpage ordering it for yourself. (And I have to assume advertisers love the instant access it provides to their products too.)

I haven't read the winter issue of the new Organic Style yet, but I flipped through it (yep, you can do that with these online magazines) and liked what I saw. It's certainly different from the original print version (owned by Rodale), but I'm excited nonetheless.

Take a look. Tell me what you think.

Wikipedia

Just a reminder: Wikipedia is NOT a real source.

Dairy Today

I found this post about Dairy Today via How About Orange. What? An ag mag with great design?



The magazine was designed by Pentagram, of all places -- a great design firm.

See? You don't have to be at some glitzy glossy to get great magazine experience.