After 30 years as a professional editor/writer and 18 years presenting library programs, all that experience finally came in handy (you know, aside from that ‘keeping a roof over my head’ thing) when I became an adjunct at St. Joseph’s College in the spring of 2022.
Taking over the “Introduction to Feature Writing” class was a whirlwind experience, even outside of the classroom. A week after I began, the college announced it had become St. Joseph’s University New York, and a week after that, I was asked to come back for the fall semester. The semester flew by, everyone passed and, to break out an old but truthful cliché, I learned as much as my students. Teaching them how to do things that I take for granted when writing forced me to reflect on why those methods are used, and a little examination of preconceived notions is never a bad thing.
In short, it has been a lot of fun. Of course, I still co-edit Mix and do library programs, but now I have the authority to apply extra gravitas to both.