Journalism 24/7

Student journalist Tatiana Craine has covered author Neil Gaiman (Coraline), directors Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) and Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air)—even London Fashion Week.

Tatiana Craine ’11
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Major: English/Creative writing

Experience:

• The Mac Weekly, Editor-in-Chief for spring 2011; currently arts editor
• Graywolf Press, marketing intern
• Hennepin Theatre Trust, marketing intern
• City Pages, alternative news and arts weekly, marketing and editorial intern
• Cliché magazine, writer

Her start: My first real taste of journalism came when I signed up for The Mac Weekly at the Student Org Fair during fall 2007. I was thrilled that Macalester had an entirely student-run news publication and jumped at the chance.

Interning: After taking Professor Jeff Shotts’ Literary Publishing course, I decided to pursue an internship. After a few interviews, I got a marketing position at Graywolf Press in my sophomore year. I think my success came from this overwhelming urge to show people that— even though I was young—I could still produce great work.

High points: I will never forget my interview with director Peter Jackson. I was a ridiculously huge fan of Lord of the Rings Trilogy. As fate would have it, I got H1N1 right before the conference call. I felt like I wanted to die, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to him—so I soldiered through it.

I also loved interviewing Jason Reitman, who directed Juno, Up in the Air, and Thank You for Smoking. His charm was offset by his incredibly sharp wit. He even took a picture of each journalist on his iPhone because he liked placing faces with names when reading articles and interviews. It definitely felt like one of those MasterCard commercial moments—Bus ride to Minneapolis: $2.25. Being on Jason Reitman’s phone: Priceless.

Study abroad: While I was studying abroad in Europe, I got a coveted “golden-ticket” into London Fashion Week and reported about my mind-blowing experiences there for Cliché.

Craine’s advice: Passion alone can’t get you anywhere. This field requires quality work, good time management and a lot of sacrifice. Sometimes I’ve missed out on great parties and events because I have to write. You just have to be willing to put a lot on the line when you’re held accountable for that page-space—but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.