Baum Takes Her Degree Down East
If you’re among the 100,000 who purchase Down East, you’ve no doubt seen Jennifer Baum’s handiwork as the magazine’s editorial production assistant. Baum, who graduated from UMF with a BFA in creative writing, wrote a recent “Getaway” piece, titled “Young at Heart.” She lays out images and text in Down East’s “What’s in a Picture?” photo feature and the “Inside Maine” section, giving readers a breezy tour of arts, culture and dining destinations. She even gets photo credits now and again for smaller, but stellar shots sprinkled throughout the magazine.
“I guess I’m somewhat unique in that I was hired to do graphic design work, but I have a writing background so we both got lucky,” said Baum, whose job description keeps her primarily focused on page layout, “mousing in” corrections (made by editors after the text has been laid out) and photo research. “I’m not the type of person who waits to be told what to do. I would rather be busy helping colleagues than see them miss lunch because they’re overwhelmed with work.”
Baum credits hands-on experiences at UMF with helping to break into periodical production. Through internships with campus-based poetry press Alice James Books, she served as assistant editor and later editor of The Sandy River Review, the University’s literary journal. Spanning two semesters, the internships gave her ample opportunity to wordsmith, as well as learn graphic design software to layout covers and pages.
As happy as Baum is to be at Down East, she knows these aren’t exactly giddy days in the magazine industry. Nationwide, the number of magazine and newspaper subscribers seems inversely proportional to the growing legion of “webzines.” Baum, however, resolutely believes print isn’t dead.
“It’s distracting to see an ad flashing on the side of the page when I’m trying to read something on the Web. I always feel I have to read in hurry to click the next link here or there, even when I’m not in a hurry,” she said. “You get a whole different experience from taking the time to slow down, sit down and read a magazine. That’s something not enough people do. I want people to connect with my work, and that’s not possible if they’re in a rush.”
-- By Marc Glass, managing editor of the UMF alumni magazine
