Training the next generation
Our interns (left to right): Molly Liebergall, Olivia Poches, Isabel Marshall, Alexandria Millet.
The other day at The Progressive, we had an Intern Appreciation Lunch, where we ordered a couple of pizzas from the restaurant next door and spent a few minutes talking about how much we rely on our interns. It felt good to express our gratitude, and to hear from our interns that they feel grateful, too.
But what struck me most about it was how, after only twenty minutes, we were all back to work, attending to our respective tasks. Being an intern at The Progressive, it’s hard not to feel urgently needed, because that’s the truth. Our interns make it possible for us to get by with a small permanent staff. They are charged with a huge variety of tasks and consistently rise to the occasion, working with diligence and skill.
The Progressive currently has four interns, all of whom happen to be students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Let me tell you about them.
Molly Liebergall, our editorial intern, helps edit and fact-check stories for the magazine and website. Originally from Westport, Connecticut, she is a junior in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and is also pursuing a certificate in criminal justice.
Olivia Poches, our publishing intern, creates drafts of posts for web stories, manages donor information and acknowledgments, and works with subscriber data and fundraising initiatives. Originally from Portage, Wisconsin, Olivia is a senior pursuing her bachelor of arts in English literature.
Isabel Marshall, our digital media intern, focuses on data visualization, graphic storytelling, video, and infographics for online stories. She writes original digital content, conducts research, and experiments with social media and audience engagement strategies. Originally from New Canaan, Connecticut, she is a senior with a double major in political science and sociology.
Alexandria Millet, our Public School Shakedown intern, works with writers for this vital project, which highlights the importance of public education to democracy. She helps plan, create, and post content on our website and social media accounts. Originally from Milwaukee, she is a junior majoring in journalism, with certificates in educational policy and criminal justice.
Internships at The Progressive are paid positions, a big plus for cash-strapped students, and they pay off in other ways as well. We recognize a responsibility to challenge our interns and help them grow professionally. Many go on to professional careers. Cara Lombardo, who interned at the magazine in 2016, is now a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. My predecessor Ruth Conniff and I both launched our careers with internships at the magazine, under legendary editor Erwin Knoll. Stephen Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco and regular contributor to The Progressive, interned for the magazine in the summer of 1978.
My internship at The Progressive was a life-changing experience. What I learned in those four months in 1984 set the foundation for the next four decades, during which I have always used interns. At Isthmus, a Madison weekly where I logged a quarter century, three of my interns—Anthony Shadid, Richard Winton, and Abigail Goldman—went on to win Pulitzer prizes. (Anthony, who won two of them, died tragically of an asthma attack in Syria in 2012, while working for The New York Times.) At the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, my next employer, interns were assigned some of the most daunting investigative projects. It was a revelation to me how well it worked: Throw them in water, and they swim.
Working with interns, helping train the next generation of journalists, is among the most important things we do at The Progressive. Every day in the life of the magazine is Intern Appreciation Day.
This issue of The Progressive, like much of what we do, is fundamentally optimistic. It focuses on approaches that hold promise—i.e., solutions. John Nichols examines Representative Ilhan Omar’s progressive foreign policy vision. Laurie Mazur and Erik Gunn report on replicable strategies for neighborhood revitalization in Orange, New Jersey, and Detroit, Michigan, respectively. Sharon Johnson explores the sensible approach of licensing gun owners. And James Goodman writes about the effective practice of offering sanctuary to immigrants in places of worship.
There is, of course, much more packed into this issue, which we present with pride. It is dedicated to our interns—past, present, and future.