LiA Week One!

For my LiA, I will be working with Playback Magazine in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Playback is the main source of domestic screen industry news for all of Canada, and their staff also organizes the Banff World Media Festival happening next week–which I will be helping to staff!

When I was initially thinking about my LiA two summers ago, I wanted to go to Canada to find something similar to my Laidlaw research project. Because my project focused on the representation of Chinese-Americans during the Exclusion Era, I wanted to travel somewhere that had a similar cultural context to the U.S. to be able to build on what I had been studying. However, rather than journalism, I imagined that I would be doing something in the university space like contributing to a public research project, or working with a non-profit such as the many film festivals that Toronto hosts. 

I was unsure about taking the position at Playback because I don’t have any experience with a publication of this type, and I wasn’t sure how my research interests would fit, since they are very focused on the business side of film rather than analyzing the creative or cultural sides. But, even though the articles they publish daily are very focused on industry news, there are more long-form features and projects that highlight certain creators, producers, or broadcasters. 

While I also write articles for the daily newsletter, I am currently working on a feature piece on how children’s programming is contributing to Indigenous language revitalization. My Laidlaw skills certainly came in handy for closely reading documents about a new initiative and conducting background research on existing revitalization efforts. I also got to interview a representative of the Indigenous broadcasting network APTN and the director of an upcoming children’s show, which was really exciting! 

One challenge I didn’t anticipate is that working 9-5 is quite difficult for me. I’m so used to going from classes, to work, to the library that I didn’t realize how much I jump around from task to task. Even though the writing and research I do at university is a transferable skill that’s helping me in my LiA, the workflow I’m used to has also presented some unexpected challenges. But, I've really enjoyed the commute and getting to explore a new city!