I meet the highest-ranking New York Times editor (super cool!) and see my first Broadway show

Grrrrmrrrrrgrrrrrrmrrrrrrgrrrrmrrrr. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmrrrrrrrrrrgggggggrrrr.

That was how my morning started when I awakened at 5 a.m. to the sound of incessant jack-hammering below my street-facing window. You have to love summer construction in NYC.

My day started with me publishing my final story for the Indianapolis Star, a feature about a local blacksmith and recovering alcoholic who found refuge in God and metalworking. You can read it here (and check out Michelle Pemberton’s exceptional photo gallery and video of him at work while you’re at it). This was a fun one to report and write!

One of the highlights of NY Times orientation today was a visit from the Times’s style editor, Choire Sicha, who offered some great advice about the best things to do in NYC this summer. I learned that Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, the largest open-air weekly food market in the U.S., serves pineapple shrimp teriyaki in an actual pineapple, in addition to a variety of other creative eats. So look for a weekend visit soon!

The highest-ranking editor in the newsroom, Executive Editor Dean Baquet, also answered questions from the fellows this morning. Here’s me casually sharing a photo with him.

In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, the other fellows at the Times are all really cool. But considering they were selected from a pool of more than 5,000 applications from every continent except Antarctica, you can pretty much assume that. The culture fellow sitting next to me wrote a front-page story for the Wall Street Journal last summer about the people who attempt to ride every day at Disney World in one day. The secret? Carefully timed bathroom and food breaks and visiting on a non-peak day. Apparently, it is possible.

We also got to screen this Sunday’s episode of The Weekly in advance, about New York’s cutthroat taxi industry and the inflation of taxi medallion prices in the past decade. I’m really enjoying what The Times is doing with the series, and I love seeing how other reporters work.

I also met with my editor on the flex editing team this evening to go over more CMS protocol and best practices before I jump right in to doing the real thing on Monday. I’ve heard from nearly 30 speakers this week, watched The Fourth Estate, and asked tons of questions. Very excited to finally get to work!

This evening, I saw “Be More Chill” on Broadway with the lottery ticket I won on Thursday. In hindsight, I probably would have skipped this one. Let me explain.

I was really looking forward to seeing the show after listening to the cast recording earlier this year (George Salazar’s “Michael in the Bathroom” has been stuck in my head for months). But it was a low-budget affair with minimal sets in a smaller, 950-seat theater (the Lyceum). That would’ve been fine if the material had been stellar. But the plot quickly became clichéd, as there are only so many times you can inject lyrics and acting with stereotypes before it grows old. Nerdy boy loves girl, takes a pill to become cool, plan backfires, he alienates his best friend, etc.

HOWEVER: Salazar’s “Michael in the Bathroom” was fantastic. And Jason Tam as “The Squip” was giving his all, but the entire first half was just super slow. Things picked up in the second half when The Squip begins enacting his plan for world domination, but the conflicts driving the first half just weren’t compelling. The fight choreography was also cringe-worthy.

Let me be clear, though: This wasn’t the actors’ fault. The material just wasn’t there.

One note on stage doors v.s. London: It’s so much more organized in New York! In London, half the time it was me and two other people waiting in an alley for a star to *maybe* show up. In NYC, they have stage door managers who tell you who each actor is and when the last person leaves the theater. But stage dooring is also much more popular, with massive crowds forming all along the street outside each theater when the shows let out.

Side note #2: Peep this delicious falafel and shawarma combo plate I grabbed at Mamoun’s Falafel today. It also features hummus and baba ganou (Levantine mashed cooked eggplant with tahini and olive oil). I’ve been on a Middle Eastern food kick lately.

My weekend plans are still up in the air a bit, but I’m excited to have not just one Saturday or Sunday off, but BOTH DAYS after working Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays since December. What will I even do with myself now that I have days off?!!! I’m used to grad-schooling during the week and then working all weekend, so this is actually amazing.