TAKEAWAY:Oh, that volcanic ash from Iceland is still creating havoc for European travellers, including me. But, alas, those train rides remind us of another time, when people took to the rails and leisurely enjoyed the view of the countryside, or sipped expressos in the dining car. In my case, catching up with emails from here and there,and answering questions you send me.
It is not easy to travel in Europe these days. Twice this week I have had my flights within Germany cancelled and so trains were the next best alternative. I am getting used to train travel, and finding that, although perhaps not as fast as air travel, they tend to be enjoyable and without the hassles of all the security that consumes so much time.
One benefit of train travel on the fast ICE train within Germany is the fact that all wagons are wireless, allowing to pull out my iPad and complete work and catch up with emails.
Yesterday was one of those days as I did the Ulm to Frankfurt route on ICE 514, a two and a half hour ride. In the process, I took care of long-pending emails, and decided that some of the questions people ask me thru mails might be of interest to the rest of our readers here. A sampling of five:
Well, we normally take one intern, as that is all we can possibly handle if we are going to serve him/her well. In my view, interns are not recruited to do menial work, bring us coffee or to be stationed in a corner to do what nobody else wants to do. I try to provide our intern, in this case Reed Reibstein (Yale University ‘11), who returns for his third internship with Garcia Media, with experiences that will allow him to grow professionally while also offering opportunities to discover what areas of our craft interest him the most. This year we had applicants from as far as India and Australia, but also Argentina and Italy. We are a small firm, and as impressed as we were with the applications received, we can only take one intern. As this changes in the future, we will let you know here.
Of course! Garcia Interactive is the digital branch of Garcia Media, headed by my son, Mario Garcia Jr., whose specialty is digital-related projects. However, we are housed in the same office, work together as a team, and I personally participate in Garcia Interactive projects, the same way that Mario Jr. comes in to help me with Garcia Media projects as needed. Thanks for asking, since sometimes people believe that Garcia Media is a print-only consulting firm, while, in truth, we are now almost 50-50 in terms of our print/digital project load through 2011.
The project you are referring to is Colombia’s El Tiempo, and, indeed, this is our happy 5th time consulting engagement with that iconic leader of Latin American journalism. Each time we have been at El Tiempo at a pivotal moment in its rich, almost 100-year-old history. Over the past 22 years, I have been honored to accompany the Santos family on a journey that first took their newspaper from black and white to color, then to an increase in number of sections, eventually a different navigational system, and , now, perhaps the most complete and drastic change in a total rethinking of El Tiempo for 2012 and beyond, including its incursion into tablets.
I must admit that the writing of this daily blog satisfies my “book writing” thirst rather well. However, you will be happy to know that I am in early conversations with a New York publisher for an update of Pure Design——Pure Design for the Digital Age?—-which may happen in 2011.
Like William Powers, I, too, believe that print is eternal, and I will be working with print projects till I decide to call it quits. However, I admit that I am fascinated and challenged to the max with our tablet projects. More importantly, I prefer projects these days that involve rethinking of the total organization, creating seamless processes between print and digital.
As I have said repeatedly, these are the best of times for storytellers and my only regret is that I am not 30 years old to enjoy it for a longer period.
TheMarioBlog post #550