Jen MacNeil '03G: Like a Superhero...

Jen MacNeil is like a superhero… well, in a way. She doesn’t jump from buildings or fight crime on a nightly basis like Clark Kent, but she does live a double life: copy editor by day, entertainer by night.

MacNeil, ‘03G, has worked as a copy editor for Positive Thinking, an inspirational magazine, since March. Like staffers at most small magazines, MacNeil does more than just copyediting.

By day, she inputs information from Quark documents, corrects information and ensures that production goes smoothly. Most of the magazine passes through her hands during production, and she even helps with some of the design. It is what she calls “serious copyediting.”

MacNeil also writes features for the magazine such as “Love Your Life” and “Positive People.” A recent highlight for the “Love Your Life” series was an interview with Ellen Albertini Dow, the rappin’ granny from “The Wedding Singer.”

The job can be hectic at times, but that’s okay with MacNeil. “I’ve always been someone who thrives under pressure,” she said in a recent interview. “The other stuff I do is my outlet.”

By night, the “other stuff” includes the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and the Blue Man Group, where she is a tube talker. Yes, a tube talker. Five nights a week, for about 40 minutes each night, MacNeil “warms up” the crowd by talking into tubes that run from the basement up to the audience area. From her spot down below, she has some fun with audience members as they find their seats. “The hard part is getting their attention. I usually sing some Journey or a random Michael Jackson song,” she said with a laugh.

MacNeil also does theatrical radio bits for 92.5 KISS FM in Toledo. And, she is taking part in a forthcoming Altoids commercial campaign. “I’ve been performing since I was a little kid, and doing comedy on the side is a compromise for never having pursued acting professionally,” she wrote via email. “The ironic thing is that I am doing it professionally.”

MacNeil recalled her first month after graduation, searching for a job while she “embarked on the fabulous journey of unemployment.” After that, she spent a few months in the world of freelance, writing for publications like Young Money magazine and NY Resident. MacNeil also spent a year and a half writing copy for catalogs such as dELiA*s and Victoria’s Secret Direct before she found the job at Positive Thinking. “I was really, really sick of writing catalogs,” she joked.

MacNeil seems to have found her niche, though she has considered leaving New York and trying the freelance scene again. No matter what her day job, she will always aim to find a creative outlet too, adding that, “I could never be someone who just went to work and came home every day and that was it.”

—Joseph Daniel Michener, 06’G