Julia Spencer-Fleming: One of the great pleasures of parenthood is seeing your kids grow and blossom as they enter into adulthood. When you look at their tiny faces in childhood, you try hard to see the future. Dancer? Financier? Psychologist? Newspaper columnist?
I'm rather ridiculously pleased to say that last refers to my oldest daughter, Victoria Hugo-Vidal (known to all on JRW as The Smithie.) Victoria is the newest and youngest columnist at the state's largest and most widely-circulated newspaper, the Portland Press-Herald. In exchange for a delicious meal of German Potato Salad Casserole, she has agreed to be interviewed about the first four months of what I hope will be an illustrious writing career.
JSF: How
did you get started as a columnist? Were you writing professionally
before the Portland Press Herald?
VHV: I
got started at the Press Herald through stubbornness and a deathbed
promise. I wouldn’t stop sending in letters to the editor and one
got a lot of views and started a lot of conversations online. (It was
about millennials, and EVERYONE has an opinion about millennials.
Everyone and their mother.) It was declared ‘letter of the month,’
I was invited to the newspaper’s podcast, and apparently the
editorial board decided the oldest state in the nation needed a
youthful voice in circulation….and I do have a loud voice.
As
for the deathbed promise factor: I have been unable to confirm it
either way, but the senior editor of the paper is a friend of my
family’s, and he visited my father in hospice. He hasn’t spoken
of their meeting, but knowing my father, he guilt-tripped the editor
into giving my talent a chance. (It’s hard to say no to a terminal
cancer patient.) That’s my dad for you. Always looking out for his
lovely and talented wife and daughter.
How
do you decide your topics? Do you have a particular brief as a
columnist?
I
was hired on to bring a millennial perspective, so I try to lean
towards topics that are important to us youths or columns explaining
things to old people (my first column was explaining Tinder). Mostly,
my goal is to make my readers smile, and to bring a new perspective
into their lives - to think outside their box, if you will. I’ve
taken on some serious topics, like racism and gun violence, but I’ve
also written about my grandparents’ romance and about all the
shenanigans my cat has gotten into.
I
have a running note on my computer that says “column ideas.” I
add to it when I get one. Right now, among others, there is “why
millennials like socialism,” “that time I accidentally won a
medal at the state championship track meet,” and “Ice Storm of
98.” Stay tuned every other Saturday!
What’s
your writing and editing process like?
I
usually bang out a draft on my lunch break at work (I do have a real
job) and then edit when I get home. Because I’m just writing my
thoughts, and don’t have to worry about things like “plot” or
“characters,” and because I have an awful lot of thoughts, it
tends to get done pretty quickly. Then I send it into my editor to
make sure it passes muster and won’t make too many readers clutch
their pearls.
What
are the best things/worst things about being a columnist for a large
regional paper?
The
best thing is getting to connect with people from all around Maine. I
get a lot of emails from people who say I remind them of their child
or grandchild; or that they have hope for my generation. I love being
able to distract people from the usual partisan doom and gloom of the
editorial pages and give the 700 words of me and my mother attempting
to buy a car instead. And due to my mother, I had a built-in fanbase
the day I started. I have an army of murder-mystery-loving grandmas
behind me.
The
worst part is that my dad isn’t here to brag to all his co-workers
about me. I know he would buy stacks of every paper my column was in.
I am also scared of being recognized in a Dunkin Donuts before I’ve
brushed my hair and made myself presentable for the day.
Can
you share some of the more interesting reader mail you’ve gotten?
Without
a doubt, the absolute best comment left on one of my articles was
this:
“Way to go, Portland Press Herald. Hugo-Vidal uses her column
to solicit dates with both men and women, and the Press Herald
enables it. When I call them on it, what do they do? They delete my
comment, of course.”
I
sent it to my editor and he replied, dry as the desert, “Before you
became a columnist, you had absolutely no way to get dates. It’s
true.”
(And
the comment was, in fact, later deleted. I don’t know by whom.)
Most
of the emails I get are from amazing people who have wonderful,
thoughtful things to say. It’s a big boost to my ego. Because my
title is “The Maine Millennial,” 80% of emails to me begin with a
person telling me their age (which is usually over 60, because that’s
newspaper’s demographics) and then saying I remind them of their
grandchildren, which is the ultimate compliment. I also had a reader
email me last week and he told me he was a liberal republican.
Truly,
Maine is the way life should be.
What do you think, dear readers? Do you have a favorite
columnist? Do you remember your first exciting job?
You can follow The Maine Millennial on Twitter
as @Mainemillennial or give her a piece of your mind
at TheMaineMillennial at gmail dot com.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I have to admit, I always had fantasies about one of my kids' weddings being in the New York Times wedding section, but with the way print readership is plummeting today, this may get just as much attention as a column there. Plus, I don't have to take a picture where the couple's eyebrows are in a line. (Yes, that's a real requirement for the engagement photos!) So:
