Dec 14th, 2018, 01:50 PM

A Day In the Life of Our Editor-in-Chief

By Eugenie Stall
Katerina McGrath in the streets of Bordeaux. Image credit: Instagram/@daddy_kruger.
Katerina McGrath's weekly Wednesdays.

It is November 28, a Wednesday morning. The horrid noise of the alarm goes off at 8 a.m. Katerina McGrath, better known as Kate, tries to avoid scrolling through social media and instead closes her eyes for another nine minutes of snoozing. When the alarm goes off a second time, you hear Kate mumble, "Oh shit, I have to get up."

A cute little studio on the seventh floor of a typical Parisian walk-up building is where McGrath has made herself at home for her senior year at AUP. That McGrath chose to live in the Beaubourg neighborhood, a very artistic one, only seems logical, regarding her passion for art in any of its forms. The walls of her studio apartment are home to her personal photography, which, besides being beautiful, give insight to who Kate is as an individual.

Kate McGrath's seventh-floor apartment. Image credit: Eugenie Stall.

Getting out of bed, McGrath explains that, “I shower every morning because it’s the only thing that can really wake me up. I try to take care of my body everyday with lotion or just washing my face. I can’t always listen to music because of my neighbors but in the morning I will listen to Amy Winehouse or Stevie Wonder, sometimes I’ll wake up and need to listen to Eye of the Tiger. This morning I was listening to Rock the Casbah.”

The Clash - Rock the Casbah (Official Video)

McGrath's style can only be described as unique. It changes often, and usually is whatever makes her feel good. McGrath uses the terms "really girly," "chic" or "sporty" to describe her style. “But sometimes I can dress like a man,” she adds. By 10, McGrath is headed out the door to go to campus and attend the Magazine Journalism Practicum.

By 10:35, McGrath is on the third floor of Combes, in the multi-media lab. Surrounded by her team, McGrath tells us that we will be doing some last spell checks today, as well as ensuring that everyone's name is spelled correctly. In two days time, the magazine will be sent off to the printer. By December 12, we will be celebrating the magazine at the Launch Party. McGrath is the Editor-in-Chief of the Peacock magazine this semester. That entails that she is in charge of producing a whole 80-page magazine. The students in the practicum class all contribute written work, some even do their own photography. For McGrath it was really important to also get students outside the course to be involved, specifically regarding photography and artwork.



Stylish in red. Image credit: Instagram/daddy_kruger.

Luckily, McGrath did not have to do all the edits and artistic work alone. Instead, she often consulted artistic and logistic decisions with her team: Deputy-Editor Leona Caanen, Art Director Sophia Foerster, Photography Director Alizée Chaudey and Editorial Advisor Marc Feustel. McGrath and her team worked hard to keep the students motivated and produce quality content.

After the practicum, McGrath, Sophia and Marc occupied the next-door studio where they spend all their time reviewing the magazine, fixing last minute edits. McGrath mentions that it is "super nice to be in the same room in case anything comes up.” Magazine editing works best when done as a team. In between the edits, McGrath dropped out for a quick interview with Madeleine Czeigler, the fashion professor at AUP. McGrath explains: “I’m writing a story on the role of social media in fashion and how they tend to blow the whistle when racism comes up, especially the Instagram account Diet Prada.” 

Katerina McGrath in her cheetah print hat on her way to the Magazine Practicum class. Image credit: Eugenie Stall.

After her interview, Kate regrouped once again with Marc and Sophia, before having to go to another interview. Besides editing and crafting a magazine, McGrath also creates content for the online Peacock Plume. She is currently working on an investigative piece for the Feature and Investigate Journalism course: "I can’t discuss what the subject is right now, but it’ll be up in mid-December."

Once all of that was done, it was time for the final piece of the magazine: the Letter From the Editor. This is almost always written last, and is one of the hardest pieces of the magazine. You have to include different pieces and aspects of the magazine, as well as explain why the issue relates to the world right now. But knowing McGrath, the letter will be exactly what the next issue needs.

Katerina McGrath explained the last to-do's for the magazine. Image credit: Eugenie Stall.

McGrath's busy Wednesday was no where near being done. At 4:55 PM she attended the weekly AUP Student Media (ASM) board meeting. McGrath updated the board on where the magazine was at, and shared the exciting news that it would be send to the printer that Friday. After the board meeting, McGrath got a beer to relax with her friend, co-worker, and AUP senior Fernanda Sapiña. After that she headed to the library to get some work done.

After getting all of her work done at the library, McGrath goes home, which means her long day is finally over. She goes to bed early due to the current lack of WiFi in her apartment. But sometimes, using her phone's data, she "can be guilty of Netflix binging.” McGrath says she is normally up 'til midnight and after a cup of camomile tea and her body being super calm, she goes to sleep.