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NYU students launch online magazine

Publication gives a fresh perspective on life in Prague

By Julie O'Shea
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 28th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
NYU students Simon Franzini, Myla Arumugam and Megan Stride take a quick break from their editorial duties.
It was J.R.R. Tolkien who once said “Not all who wander are lost.”
Many travelers would probably agree these are words to live by. The mantra also, however, carries a deeper meaning for a couple of New York University exchange students studying in Prague this semester: It was the inspiration behind their recently launched “Webzine.”
VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Nicholas DeRenzo, Megan, Myla and April Antonellis put the final touches on their new Web magazine, The Prague Wanderer.
Aptly named, The Prague Wanderer — www.praguewanderer.com — is a compilation of news stories, columns, features, pictures and an amusing top-10 list dedicated to life in the Golden City, written and edited entirely by university students.
“I think it [offers] a fresh look at Prague,” says April Antonellis, The Wanderer’s co-editor-in-chief, who is majoring in journalism and art history.
“It’s turning into a bigger deal than anyone thought it would be,” Antonellis adds. “People want to hear what we have to say.”
Most of the online magazine’s staff landed here at the beginning of January for a one-semester stint at NYU’s Prague Center, located in the heart of Old Town. The idea of starting an online magazine, was pitched to them shortly after their arrival, and students quickly began laying the groundwork for a publication that would debut less than two months later.
“We literally created something out of nothing,” says the publication’s other co-editor-in-chief, Megan Stride, who is majoring in journalism and politics. “It’s been an awesome learning experience.”
NYU journalism coordinator Dinah Spritzer couldn’t be more pleased. “I think this is even better than a class. People really learn by doing,” she says.
“It was smoke and mirrors in the beginning,” laughs Spritzer, a former news editor at The Prague Post.
Spritzer says she was thrilled, however, with the final product. The stories “are student work, but they are very good student work,” she notes proudly. “I think what these students realize is the importance of not having an ego.”
Spritzer adds that she is hoping to get Czech university students involved with the online magazine in the future.
For many of these writers and editors, coming to Prague was their first brush with living outside of the United States.
“I think a first-timer’s experience is a valid one,” Antonellis says. “We are trying to keep a healthy balance of fun and serious.”
The stories range from Prague’s homelessness epidemic to “the condom conundrum” to a look at the city’s massive souvenir industry; the title posing an interesting question: “The kitsch of Old Town: tempting or tasteless?”
“Our goal is to encourage everyone to take a moment and think about this city, its people and the history — how far it has come and how far it will go,” Antonellis and Stride write in a joint letter from the editors. “The Prague Wanderer is an outlet for the frustrations, questions, curiosities and adventurous spirits of a group of young and mostly first-time expatriates.”
Students were pretty much permitted to write and post just about anything they wanted, so long as the contents of their observations and critiques were respectful to the Czech culture and people.   
Spritzer terms it “reflect with respect.”
And, with that firm rule in place, students were turned loose to explore the city. After gathering stories and pictures, The Wanderer staff began the painstaking process of building a Web site from scratch, something none of them had ever done before.
“We didn’t have time to be nervous,” Antonellis insists.
The day before the official March 9 launch, the staff worked around the clock to get everything ready — and then the server crashed at 1:30 a.m. The team gives a lot of credit to Webmaster extraordinaire Simon Franzini, a shy, curly-haired econ–political science major who simply smiles when asked if the experience rattled him at all.
The others, however, are quick to hail Franzini “a god.”
Antonellis goes on to admit that in the last frenzied hours, “I was a little scared for Simon’s heart.”
Now back from spring break, students should be getting ready to post a new issue soon. If all goes as planned, the site will be updated every two weeks. While the current staff will be heading home in May, Spritzer says the publication will live on with a new crew at the helm next fall.
“It’s sort of passing the torch,” Antonellis explains, adding with a laugh: “NYU loves this torch metaphor.”  

Julie O'Shea can be reached at joshea@praguepost.com


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