It’s Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. and all is hushed in the Lehigh Valley Style magazine headquarters. Our Palmer Township office is not glamorous (in fact it’s unlikely that it would cut the aesthetic muster to be featured in the magazine itself), but having spent nearly four months here I can vouch for the enthusiasm that permeates this space. The women who run this magazine fill it with personalities bigger and brighter than any decoration could. It’s been fun to witness their excitement launching the magazine’s new website. (A soft launch is scheduled in May). I can vouch (again) for how good it looks, having previewed the reenergized platform.
I’ve been as much a visitor to this office as I will be to this blog—posting two entries before I exit this now familiar building hardly leaves me time to establish any kind of online personality. By necessity, LVS has a revolving door of interns, and while everyone has been very sweet, it’s clear that six women in particular define this enterprise. Their relationships are business first, but charged with singular friendships that emerge from years of working with the same people, engaging in a shared mission.
All of the exchanges are shared, too—by default, really, because every conversation is audible in this open-format editorial space. The editorial department and account executives know each other, they care about how the other is feeling, what the other is cooking, what she is wearing. But above all they care about the magazine.
The last four months have been my immersion into the world of regional magazine publishing. From my corner cubicle I have listened to stress about deadlines, small spats over editorial content and discussions about which cover photo is stronger. Attention to detail is evident in every meeting—whether it’s formal and takes place in the conference room or unplanned around someone’s desk—and reaching a consensus among the staff is of paramount importance.
Writing for a particular audience requires a swallowing of pride (this is embarrassing to admit, as I consider myself a writer with very little scribe-like ambitions or artistic principle). Still, a small, self-important kernel in me resisted tailoring my words to match LVS’ needs. This has changed in four months. It’s not that my values have come to align perfectly with the magazine’s ideal. There was no metaphorical letter lining up perfectly atop another as happens in an optometrist’s exam room. I’ve just come to respect the dedication to a particular readership—the consistent delivery of valuable and high-quality information. I’m happy to have met some very great people in the Lehigh Valley.
With one week left in my internship (for me, that’s two days) I want to pay proper tribute to the respect that the staff at Lehigh Valley Style magazine has for you, dear reader.
