Editorial intern Regan Olusegun ’26 talks with former NER intern Paulina Choh ‘16 about returning to academia, applying her editorial experience, and the power of hands-on learning.
Regan Olusegun: Where are you now, geographically and professionally?
Paulina Choh: I am currently based in New York City and working at the Yale University Art Gallery as a Fellow in the Photography department while finishing my PhD in German Studies at Stanford.
RO: What were some of the steps in between graduating from Middlebury and where you are currently?
PC: After graduating from Middlebury, I completed a MA in southwestern Germany at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität through the Language Schools program. I then moved to NYC where I worked in the arts before entering my PhD program.
RO: When were you an intern at NER and what do you remember from your experience?
PC: I was an intern in 2016 during my last J-Term at Middlebury. I remember trudging through the snow to get to the New England Review office and sitting together in a circle to discuss the submissions we received—reasons for accepting or declining them, for instance.
I appreciate that Middlebury offers programs such as this for students to gain editorial experience. I’ve gone on to edit and write in both public-facing and academic publications.
RO: What was one skill you developed as an undergraduate, either in school or through an internship, that you carry over into your professional work?
PC: Middlebury provided an excellent foundation for studying languages, with a real emphasis on immersive, hands-on learning and rigorous practice led by the most dedicated, passionate teachers. This model remains the gold standard to me and inspires my approach to instruction. In my time, students from all sorts of majors took language classes, and most of my friends were bilingual if not trilingual. I cherish the friendships and memories made over language tables, and the opportunity to break bread and commune with others in languages other than English. I hope that despite the increasing pressure on the humanities nation-wide, the university continues to demonstrate its support for these kinds of departments.
RO: What do you read for pleasure? Have you read anything good lately?
PC: I am currently working my way through Cao Xueqin’s The Story of the Stone, but I most recently finished Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, which I really admired for its evocation of horror without explicit violence. Jackson does a brilliant job of maintaining tension throughout her text and making the house an actor in a twentieth century update to the ghost story genre.