Day 11 to 16 of Internship - Features

Assalamualaikum and hello! The description here's probably will be very vague since I didn't write much in my notebook while being in Features. Features is another name for star2. Basically it's the pullout in the newspaper with different themes covered every day. For example, technology stuff on Monday, R.AGE and environment on Tuesday, fashion and beauty on Wednesday, entertainment on Thursday and family wellbeing on Friday. Sorry if this post is monotonous and boring, I'm fasting today and my head right now is just @_@


Day Eleven, Monday, 28th December 2015

My intern buddy here was Serena so I clung onto her because she's been here the week before. As Metro was on the opposite side of the floor we could just walk over there to meet Jerrell and Ashley. It was almost empty in the morning. We talked to a woman there and she called the newsdesk as the "pressure cooker"!. Like at other desks, we have to introduce ourselves to the editor but she wasn't there, so the woman brought us to introduce ourselves to the second-in-charge, Paul. He told us that sadly the editor won't be in at all that week. This was also a bad time for us to be there because everyone's clearing their leave (everyone can take around fourteen days off per year so when they haven't been using it they just use it all up at the end of the year) and it'll pretty much be a slow week without any work. He asked us about our interests and I just replied fashion (don't judge me) while Serena answered health. He also introduced us to Mumtaj who gets to go to movie premieres every day and review them, looking all comfy wearing a plain grey t-shirt and jeans. Man, I want to get paid to watch movies and series too. Mumtaj told us to send her a list of international award shows happening in 2016 with their dates. Time passed. Then Paul suddenly appeared behind us and asked if we want to go to the premiere of Daddy's Home starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg tomorrow. Who wouldn't want to? So we watched the trailer, getting all excited until Paul came and told us unfortunately because of a policy/rule, they can't bring someone under 21 for those kind of assignments sobs. As the office was filling up, he introduced us to the others, including Dzireena who remembered us but sadly even her and the others said there was not much to do. She even told us to pretend to look busy ("the first thing you need to learn here!"). Time passed. Then Dzireena appeared behind me and told me to write this filler article about Swarovski's new collection and asked me for my e-mail to send me the details and pictures. Then she went to Serena and gave her instructions to write about the new shoes collection from Melissa. It was cool because I got to visit the Swarovski website and enter this press room link which can only be accessed by entering the password. And the Swarovski S/S 16 Sea of Sparkle collection is BREATHTAKING, coming from a non-jewellery-fan here.

SO PRETTY

I had to download the pictures and upload it on the special Star website for pictures so Serena who had done it before taught me how to do so.

Day Twelve, Tuesday, 29th December 2015

I finished the Swarovski article and sent it, but I got a reply from Dzireena that she won't be in until the 4th of January. Oh. So she forwarded it to another person. She called me and asked if the pictures uploaded were correct. TURNS OUT I UPLOADED THE WRONG ONE.

which was something like this, and although it's beautiful and all, it's just the drawing and incomplete set of the necklace.

So I reuploaded the correct one. I sat beside Chester (who was also the writer for the K-Pop entertainment section) so we talked about K-Pop. Meanwhile, Serena was complaining about the shoes, "Look they're selling plastic shoes for three hundred ringgit."

She wasn't kidding.

Paul called us and told us how things work there, gossiping about the politics and the dark side of the hierarchy there. He told us about his working experience, how he was a doctor first before working there. "So many people don't think much, they say they want to do medicine, want to become doctor, then study first year ok second year ok then third year when they start having to go to the hospital and see all the bodies they have to treat that's when they realize they don't have that much passion to do it and it's just to please others but it's too late to regret," he said. 

Sorry for the weird format I somehow can't return it back to normal. He also introduced us to Sunita, the editor for the Living In Style (?? can't remember the exact title) pullout/magazine in The Star for the higher end people. I've read it before and saw her face, all glam-ed up and luxurious but there she was looking so approachable with glasses and barely any makeup. 

 Thanks to Jade, the four of us interns ate at a mamak stall. That day ended with me getting time to finish my overdue stuff@schol assignment about the dark side of academics. Serena and I finished almost half of the cookies available at the snacks place in Features.

Day Thirteen, Wednesday, 30th December 2015

I finished another overdue assignment s@s about what you learnt in life and not in school. I love how being there actually enables me to want to be more productive. Ate more cookies. As we were so bored, we actually came up with some topic ideas and went up to Paul and asked him if we could write them or if he could suggest us any topics to write. So in the end I was writing something about what change we would like to see in 2016, although the way he said it made me sure it won't be published anyway (and it didn't) but I didn't care, nothing wrong with practicing right? I was so desperate to be published I even sent an article I did last year where I interviewed a psychiatrist about Malaysian maids' mental health that was unpublished for stuff@school but again it wasn't published hahaha. He did, however introduced us to Indra who was a journalist specializing in women, wellbeing and family inspiring stories. He told us that we can follow her for an interview tomorrow in KLCC with an abused woman and learn from it.

Day Fourteen, Thursday, 31st December 2015
As we waited for Indra, Greg (not his real name) (from entertainment who we met on the first day in features) asked us if we were free to write this article about a wayang kulit show happening for new year's. Sadly, we had to reject that offer because we had to go soon.

Oh hey it's Ian and Baiti on the elevator door!

 In the car, I found out that Indra is actually Saiis' aunt hahaha! So yeah from KLCC we went out to a nearby restaurant to meet the person we would be interviewing. I have to admit, when the phrase abused woman was mentioned in my head there's already an image of a timid, shy, tired woman. How surprised was I that she was a confident, cheerful, outspoken Malay woman with perfect English working for a top company! She even gave us chocolates she bought from a trip to Singapore recently. She told us about the abuse happening three years ago (the guy no longer contacted her thank god) and it was more surprising to know that the man himself had a good family background, was educated well and even studied abroad. Her story of her new beginning was inspiring and I realized that only as a journalist do you get to meet and listen to people with different background's story to be shared to the public for awareness. She was also (surprise,surprise!) an ex-SA-ian! I exclaimed my surprise to Indra that wow, anyone can be abused, even the people you least expect to happen to them. She replied grimly, "And anyone can be an abuser, even those who we least expect to."

with Serena at the restaurant,

When we reached back to the office, on Facebook, Rowena was asking us to choose our next assignment regarding plastic surgery for stuff@school. Because we arrived late, all the easy topics were taken and I had to choose a topic where I had to interview someone who did plastic surgery. I was alarmed, thinking that I couldn't just go up to a person and ask, "Hey, nice nose, where did you do it?" I asked around but who would admit they ever did plastic surgery? Oh Indra also asked us to send in the article before we leave Features. 

Day Fifteen, Monday, 4th January 2016

Went back to kampung the whole weekend so only finished and sent in the abusive relationship article on that day. Nothing much happened, except that Po the panda from Kungfu Panda suddenly made an appearance in the office lol so we took pictures with him. Aside from that, I don't remember what else happened hahaha.

He appeared out of nowhere.

with Ashley and Serena

Day Sixteen, Tuesday, 5th January 2016
Last day in Features! Finished the article that Paul asked us to write and sent it to him. Also helped the people from Education to find people who will be taking UPSR later this year to be interviewed. Then I went to Metro for fun as I will be there the next six days. Gotta introduce myself to the editor Vicky and she told me to go the brunette Indian woman behind so that she can get my details and add me in the schedule for assignments. I found out that I need to call Vicky every night at 7.30 to ask about the next day's assignment and which senior reporter to follow as the assignments are usually done in the morning. Then Paul told me that I'll have a short byline the next day for that Swarovski article so yay!

Conclusion

It's a great place to work. The reporters there would get to travel abroad at least once a year FOR FREE for an assignment. The articles are mostly long too, although nowadays it's been shorter with more pictures included because as Paul says, "The generation nowadays have short attention spans." Most of the time when we had no work though Serena and I were busy looking up volunteer activities we could participate in and scholarships out there. And although I might write up there simply "finished this article etc etc" it really means I'm just starting on it but to be able to finish it after a few hours was satisfying. So there you go! Can't really add a video now but if I could it would be EXO's Sing For You because I had been listening to it since it came out when I was in news. Goodbye.

Read: Day 1-5 (Newsdesk) , Day 6-10 (R.AGE) , Day 17 - 22 (Metro)