My friend just emailed me this portion of a story posted on the Ed site:
Emily Hendricks, now an Associate Editor at All You magazine (and Ed’s City Chapters Director), remembers the days when, for one, she had to buy six-packs of beer instead of spending money going out when she was an EA.
“I lived in Brooklyn with a roommate. We didn’t have cable. I bought clothes at Old Navy, Forever 21, and H&M. My parents paid my cell phone bill and student loans the first year,” she explains.
OK, number one!
This is typical of everyone starting off in NYC. Why is this a bad situation? What is wrong with shopping at any of these stores? Actually, why does it MATTER? This is how I live, and to tell you the truth, I’m ecstatic I can even afford new clothes.
Number two!
So many people in this city live at or below the poverty line. So boo-hoo if you must slum it at H&M. Buying a six-pack of beer? I have no sympathy.
Number three:
Perhaps the more important lesson we could learn from all this, is that saving your money and realizing that being smart about it is far more important than making that big salary. The message of this clip from the Ed article is that, when you make more money, spend it! This is the mindset I see so many friends being sucked in to, and it saddens me to think that any of us would feel upset by having to actually live LIKE 23-YEAR-OLDS in this city.
So, put things in perspective, please. I am pissed at Ed for even putting this article up. There are people out there with far bigger problems.
i agree with the above
i agree with the above comment, the internet is with a doubt growing into the most important medium of communication across the globe and its due to sites like this that ideas are spreading so quickly.
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i understand why this
i understand why this article might sound annoying. i have been an editor for 5 years and make a great salary now, but i still live like i did as an EA and i am fine with it. i save lots of money each month in hopes of buying an apt someday and i live a modest life. there is no need to make it sound like the end of the world that you are living that way. most people in nyc (unless they make 200k+ or have family money) live like this. we rent small apartments, try not to eat out too much, shop at the chain stores, have roommates. that’s not necessarily a reflection on getting paid terrible, rather big city living. i did live in not so desirable neighborhood with mice and vandalism and ate noodles daily- 5 years later i live in a nicer neighborhood with the occasional bug and i eat pretty much the same, but i pay the organic premium. such is life…
wow
Geez, don’t be so sensitive! That note was intended for the entry level hustlers and wannabes tired of having roommates, tired of living home, annoyed by friends who make twice the ea’s salary right out of college, annoyed that after 4 years of undergrad they still can’t pay their phone bill, etc etc. Don’t judge a person’s struggle. You don’t have to be homeless or missing an organ or on the verge of bankruptcy to wish life were better. I found it inspiring :)
Know your audience
It’s a key rule of magazines: Speak to your audience. The people that article was intended for seem to be EAs and EA-wannabes who are trying to be as comfortable in their new lives in the city as they’d like to be.
You’re right: There are people out there with worse problems than having to shop at H&M, but I don’t think the homeless are who that article was intended for. I don’t think the girl quoted in the article is knocking Forever 21 or drinking six-packs; sounds like she was just trying to give suggestions to fresh-out-of-college kids who feel like they HAVE to wear Prada to be taken seriously. You don’t at 23 or even at 43, but when you grow up in the middle of nowhere, you may have a perception that you do. I sincerely doubt she was looking for sympathy by listing her tips for living comfortably on little means.
And maybe it’s just me, but the message of the article seems to be that living paycheck to paycheck isn’t glamorous, but it’s not half-bad either, and the best news of all is if you WANT to have the option to go out to dinner every once in a while instead of eating Ramen each night as an EA, you will soon.
Don’t hate on Ed! I think he’s trying to help!
the audience is speaking.
I don’t know anyone my age who thinks they have to wear Prada to be taken seriously. If your entire notion of the magazine industry is based on “The Devil Wears Prada,” then hopefully once you get a job in NYC, you instantly realize that no one cares. I’d imagine that most of us, having gone through college before working at a magazine, do not think this way. Why do we think we need to wear Prada to be successful, anyway? I bet it has a little something to do with the messages conveyed by some of the magazines we so laud at times. I know these are bigger issues, but seriously. If anything, I am more upset by my feeling of powerlessness in changing some of the irrational, ridiculous standards set by this industry, and perpetuated onto our country’s girls [and boys]. If you’re going into magazines, I’d say that - if you work at consumer pubs - one of the biggest walls you will run up against is not going to be all the bills, but, if you’re a thinking person, how you can really make a change, and how you will or even be able to make that change. That is my message. So, there.
Keep thinking deeply, loves.
oooh, I have sooo much
oooh, I have sooo much sympathy for someone whose mom and dad are still footing the bills. Instead of buying six packs of beer, why not pay your own bills instead.
I’d love to have parents who could help me when I’m in a jam or starting out, they’re both dead.
Buying a six-pack of beer...
…or several, for that matter, isn’t exactly equivalent to first month’s rent.
I’m sorry to hear about your parents, but I think everyone needs to lay off that girl a bit.
No brand new EA can afford to live in NYC without saving for months, working nights and weekends, or getting a little help from their parents. And if you get the last one, you’re lucky, but it doesn’t mean your parents are rich and you’re spoiled. They’re just in a better position to help you than you can help yourself.
Yeah, if you’re drinking all day instead of working, that’s one thing, but that’s not what this girl said!