Nostalgia is a rather interesting feeling but dissipates with age. The older we get, the less attached we feel to places and things. At times, though, nostalgia does grow through the barren nonchalance of adulthood.
It’s what I feel as my internship at National Review ends. I joined in April for a ten-week stay and, while little time has passed, it feels like it’s been much longer. Such is the warm embrace here, even for an intern.
My time at NR has taken me to all corners of journalism, exciting and instructive from the very start. On my first day, April 12, a few minutes after arriving at the office, Jack Crowe, our news editor, grabbed me for a dash to Brooklyn — to cover the attack on the subway at Sunset Park. Two hours later, I was huddled under the hot sun with a throng of loud reporters shouting questions at the governor and police commissioner, interviewing eyewitnesses, and writing up news copy on the fly. It was a whirlwind exposure to breaking-news journalism, which, sans NR, would’ve been difficult to gain elsewhere.
What followed was by no means downhill. In between writing several articles a day — news and opinion — I was traveling the length of the city, and beyond, to search for the stuff of copy. From attending cocktail receptions in Gramercy Park to taking the old decrepit bus to Rockaway Park; covering abortion protests and Chris Rock specials in SoHo; crashing the Met Gala and Christie’s; getting into the opera and Broadway for free; shooting at a range in Jersey; and interviewing people from all walks of life (e.g., cops, Wall Streeters, bodega owners, congressmen, soldiers . . . ), my time as an NR writer has been nothing short of exhilarating.
Perhaps what’s best about writing for NR, however, is the freedom of the pursuit. At NR, writers often choose their own subjects. Our tasks are self-executed, with the hands of editors being to guide rather than dictate. This allows writers to cover a wide array of issues and interests, with zeal. As an intern, at the start of my writing career, this rather conservative lesson of personal responsibility has been fundamental and invigorated my craft as a journalist. There is no place like it in contemporary American journalism, much less on the conservative end of the spectrum.
In short, it’s been a treat. Here, the team not only stands athwart, but also “stands for” ideas in a persuasive and inviting way — leading national opinion. Bill Buckley’s powerful legacy lives on. Those whose company and counsel I often (wisely) took include Andrew Stuttaford, Brent Buterbaugh, Craig Young, Jack(s) Butler and Crowe, Jason Steorts, Jay Nordlinger, Jimmy Quinn, Judd Berger, and Wister Hitt, among many others.
Ten weeks is a short time in a young man’s life, but I will remember these at NR, with nostalgia, for auld lang syne. I look forward to returning often to its pages — as a writer, reader, and, above all, a friend.