Flora Lee

Half a continent away, in New York City . . . 
Flora Lee, BA '03, sat at the copy desk of The New York Times and edited a story to be printed in the newspaper the next day.

Lee spent her summer interning as a copy editor for the Times' metro section, a paid position. The previous year, she interned at The Dallas Morning News and was editor-in-chief of the Baylor Lariat during her senior year. She discovered "in the end, a newsroom is a newsroom. They are, somehow, the same everywhere," she says. "Sometimes I thought if my Lariat copy desk [staff] were restrained by the dignity of being 30 years older, we'd fit in nicely."
Lee's job was to edit copy and write headlines and photo captions. "I have relearned copy editing," she says. "I've also learned to let a writer's words dance a little more than I usually permitted them to." 
Like most internships, her job at the Times also taught Lee about life, other people and herself. "I've learned native East Coast people think only peasants live between the Mississippi River and the big, West Coast cities," she says. "I've learned that I can take anything someone throws at me and make the best of it. And I've learned other things that aren't related to the Times or New York at all -- things about growing up and maturity."