The Man Behind Harry Potter and a Rooftop Party at Time Inc.

Yesterday I pretended to be way fancier than I actually am. 

It was Professional Development Day at the Columbia Publishing Course and I, as well as 16 other people, had the opportunity to have lunch with Arthur Levine of Arthur Levine Books imprint at Scholastic. To put in very simple and exciting terms, this is the man who was J.K. Rowling's editor for the Harry Potter series from start to finish. The lunch was held at the Scholastic offices in SoHo, which was an amazing experience in itself, but even more exciting was getting to listen to Arthur tell stories about his journey through the publishing industry, why he was drawn to children's literature, and of course, some funny anecdotes about his time working on Harry Potter. Since I just finished the entire series, movies included, a little over a month ago, I was extremely starstruck by this man and can honestly say he is one of the most brilliant people I have ever met. 

(Of course we had to take a photo with the giant statue of Harry in the lobby of Scholastic!) 

After this once-in-a-lifetime lunch, our next stop was Time Inc. which is located at the very end of the island just steps away from the Freedom Tower and 9/11 memorial. It definitely made the walk  from the subway worth it as I got to stop and see the memorial, which I haven't had to the opportunity to do in a few years. It really is just as breathtaking as it was the first time. 

At the Time Inc. Headquarters we received a presentation from a woman who works in the Virtual Reality department as well as a panel of Time Inc. employees. They shared their stories of life navigating the publishing industry pre-Time Inc. and were really helpful in providing advice and bits of wisdom! After the talk was over they hosted a rooftop party for us with drinks and snacks and it was absolutely incredible. It overlooked the Hudson River (making me think of Marist of course!) and I got a chance to talk to some people in the program that I haven't had a chance to meet yet! 

(Here is a photo of me, once again, living a momentarily fancy life) 

After the rooftop party was over it was still early and we were given the night off of lectures, so a bunch of us decided to check out Clinton Hall Beer Garden. This was only a half mile from the Time Inc. building and has actually been on my NYC bucket list since my mom recommended it to me not too long ago! (Thanks mom!) It ended up being so much fun. Aside from the delicious food and drinks there were so many games you could play. I played corn hole (which I won a couple times) and ping pong (which I lost miserably every time) and there were table games available too like Connect 4. It was definitely a great way to end a busy day of traveling around the city! 

~ 

Last weekend was our Magazine Workshop which, If you read my post about Book Workshop, was very similar. I was placed in the "Food" group as a Digital Features Editor, and after many...MANY hours of hard work, my group created a really awesome magazine! We had our evaluation today and it went well so we're all feeling really accomplished :) 

It's so hard to believe that we're in the home stretch of the course. Tomorrow is our last day of lectures and then Friday is our final banquet and "graduation" (which I will post about of course!). This has been one of the most awesome experiences of my life and although I don't want it to end I am really focusing on making the most of every guaranteed minute left living in the city!