Gather round, Sun Devil whippersnappers: as your wiser, more sophisticated elder, I have a tale to tell. It's the cautionary story of a former SPM editor who, dreaming of seeing her name on the masthead of a national magazine, graduated from ASU and moved to New York City.
Back in my days at ASU, I drove five miles uphill in the snow — I mean sun — to find a parking space. When I started as a freshman, Hassayampa, the Fulton Building and light rail construction didn't exist — none of that highfalutin' development you spoiled youngsters have come to expect. And this damn magazine sure as hell wasn't a separate, color publication — it was hidden on the back of the newspaper, condemned to black and white pages without any Drink of the Week to make life worth living.
With such a bleak and terrible existence, you can't blame me for getting out of Arizona two months after I graduated this past May. Destination: The City That Never Sleeps. Job? Apartment? Who the hell needs those? All I had was my gumption — and approximately 16 suitcases full of everything I owned.
Eventually, I found an apartment and a job, which forced me to use the math skills that had lied dormant during my time as a journalism major. A 300-square-foot apartment plus rent that is three times what I paid for a whole house in Arizona equals $10 a week left to spend on food. Becoming an editorial assistant at a home decorating and remodeling magazine when your own place is furnished exclusively in IKEA is ironic, to say the least. And taking orders from half-a-dozen senior editors when you used to order half-a-dozen student staffers around — well that's just life, I guess.
But don't worry, kids: there's hope for you yet! If the bright lights of a big city seduce you the same way they did me, my advice is to heed their siren song and take a chance. I don't mind my tiny Upper East Side studio and my low-paying magazine job, but most of all, I love my independence. Like Carrie Bradshaw from "Sex and the City" (without the rich friends, expensive shoes or hot boyfriends), I'm having a love affair with Manhattan — and I don't expect to be breaking it off any time soon.
Some day, you youngsters will understand.
— Reach the writer at spm@asu.edu
»Send us your own life story at spm@asu.edu.
