{January 2008}

Just the other day an old classmate, who happens to attend a rival journalism school, asked me about the Humber program. My response included the usual student grumbles about stress and rushing around, but as I was thinking about my response all of this stuff about opportunity really hit me: I wasn’t just sitting in a classroom learning how to write stories, I was out there actually writing them.

Spending the past three and a half months at Urbanology has probably been the best experience I’ve had as a budding journalist. Unlike my fellow intern, and homeboy, Jef I hope to be going on to a different publication in January. This is more about the fact that I want to have as many different work experiences as I can before entering “the real world,” but the more I think about it I feel a twinge of regret at having to leave.

It’s not just that I get to be around, and write about, something I love (hip-hop for you suckas who can’t read between the lines). It’s also the fact that Urbanology has actually given me opportunities — something that many organizations don’t trust their interns with.

It’s a difficult position for magazines, newspapers and broadcasters to be in, to trust young, often inexperienced, journalists with public output. But — ask any of us — there is nothing that can make an internship more rewarding than interviewing, researching and writing. I understand that there is no room for error, but what’s the point of carefully selecting and interviewing potential interns if you don’t have trust in their ability to produce?

Recently Humber hosted an alumni day that coincided with the printing of the winter issue, so when Priya showed up with the new issue and bylines bearing the names of both Jef and I, our classmates flipped! It’s not to take away from their experiences — because you’ll probably find me doing the same next semester — but most of them are spending their time fact-checking, researching and getting coffee. All things that Jef and I do here at Urbanology — well, maybe muffins instead of coffee — alongside developing our craft, witnessing the creative process and getting exposed to interesting issues and ideas.

Anupa Mistry
Editorial Intern, Urbanology Magazine

{January 2008}

Last entry, I wrote about how I got to attend a hockey event for the magazine and enjoyed it despite being the biggest non-hockey fan in Toronto (that says a lot). Since then I was lucky enough to see the spring collections at L’Oréal Fashion Week (LFW) in Toronto.

Clothes are a bit more up my alley.

Not only am I a habitual shopper (ask about me), I enjoy fashion enough to keep up with what designers are doing each season. So, when I first found out about being able to attend LFW, visions of Dsquared danced through my head and I thought I would be able to see my favourite Canadian designs — especially from the cream of the crop, Arthur Mendonça, Pink Tartan and the new Joe Fresh line — on the runway.

Um, I won’t lie. I was kind of disappointed.
Not only did Mendonça not show at the event, but the best and most high profile collections — including Pink Tartan, Joe Fresh and Phillip Sparks — were by invite only. And guess who wasn’t invited.
But don’t get me wrong, I had a great time seeing other shows. In fact, a couple of them really blew me away, like Bustle’s playful, tailored menswear and Nada Yousif’s super-girly, candy-themed dresses and blouses. My favourite show, however, and the one that I told Priya I would love to see in the magazine, was by GSUS. It wasn’t just because it was probably one of the only collections I saw comprised mostly of casual wear, but also because the models had personality and seemed to enjoy showing off the clothes they were wearing. I remember working in a tiny independent clothing store back in high school and selling GSUS to skater kids, so I think the line has really grown up and transitioned well to high-end street wear.

Unlike the two other press events that I’ve been to, LFW was a bit clique-ier and I felt really young amongst the other, older, established industry-folk. But I met some interesting people and bonded with a few other young journalists. We dashed between the showroom and the media lounge, making pit stops at a sponsor booth to pick up Cadbury Thins. And that’s my final fashion week lesson: free + 100 calories a bar != the best meal choice. Next time, I might risk the street meat outside.

Anupa Mistry
Editorial Intern, Urbanology Magazine

{October 2007}

I don’t know the first thing about hockey. I know so little about hockey that I don’t even bother taking up that great Torontonian past-time of jumping on the bandwagon every time the Leafs make the Stanley Cup play-offs. As a result, attending a hockey event didn’t seem like the most amusing way to spend some time out of the office — but still, it was better than fact-checking stories.

So that’s how I found myself at my first real press event inside Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame one Tuesday morning. I ran into a couple of classmates who were also there for their respective internships and we allowed ourselves to — briefly — relish in feeling like real journalists (even though we all knew we’d been sent because our bosses have bigger and better things to do).

The event was the launch of Thermablade; a one-of-a-kind skate blade that heats the ice just enough to create a film of water allowing for better performance with less effort. Like many unversed in the world of hockey the concept left me boggled, but as the event went on, the PR-charm kept me enthralled, and left me — a locked-knee skater — wanting a pair of Thermablades for my own. The video comparisons make skating look effortless and who wouldn’t want, as one member of team Thermablade put it, “mini zambonis in front of your skate blade.” I mean, that shit sounds so cool.

The downside to this is that Thermablades will retail for $399 (and that’s just the blades), meaning that they’re not targeted for hockey dads and their peewee players. And I wasn’t able to decide if this new product is a gimmick or if I was witnessing a piece of history. I suppose I’ll have to wait and see — but if that means watching hockey, then count me out.

Anupa Mistry
Editorial Intern, Urbanology Magazine

{October 2007}

I’m a writer, so it’s kind of wack that Kanye West beat me to the blog-o-sphere.

Yup, Mr. West is now officially a producer-slash-rapper-slash-designer-slash-blogger. He’s not the first star to take up blogging — ?uestlove, Pamela Anderson and John Mayer also regularly check-in with fans via the web — but, you have to admit, a blog by ’Ye is akin to stumbling upon an official looking URL like georgewalkerbush.blogspot.com.

I’ll confess that I’ve got a love-hate relationship with the Louis Vuitton Don. His braggart tendencies are incredibly unbecoming, but he always creates that one banger on every record that trips me head-over-heels in love again (this time around it’s “Flashing Lights”).

And as a writer I’m also jealous: in one month of blogging, West has probably gotten more web-hits than I will ever get in my whole life. But it’s not like I have the kind of time that he does. Anyone can write a blog if all they do is shop for Louis backpacks, attend Paris couture shows, have Emmy karaoke competitions with cast members from “The Office”, and drop an album once every couple of years.

And his blog totally reflects that. Entries consist of all-caps, self-obsessed intros to a milieu of video clips, images of exclusive Goyard and Nike pieces, and paparazzi shots of himself — and sometimes Alexis. Note to Kanyeezy: TYPING LIKE THIS means you’re yelling at me (I don’t appreciate it) and Youtube has its merits but is so 2006.

Personal musings are noticeably absent from the site as well. Eff a sneaker, I want to know what goes on in the mind of the real Kanye Omari West. Instead I’m convinced that the visual-heavy blog is some Pinky and the Brain-type scheme involving, not only, the acquisition of more slashes to his title, but world domination as well. Pretty soon he’ll be facing off with Perez Hilton on the cover of Wired, or something, to steal the celeb-blogger’s title of Queen — er, King — of All Media.

But, hateration aside, Kanye is a pastel polo-wearing, neck scarf-tying, shutter-shaded trendsetter. Out of the many fans that may follow his blog for emulative purposes perhaps a prosaically-inclined few may conclude that blogging, or writing, is cool. And truthfully, I admire any attempt by celebrities to reach out to the fans that make them money. So I’m preemptively conceding my position and backing his blog 100 per cent — at least until his next PR mishap, when the love-hate saga will continue.

http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/

Anupa Mistry
Editorial Intern, Urbanology Magazine