Have you ever wondered about the people behind your favorite Cricket Media magazines? These talented editors and designers work hard to make sure each page of their publication delivers “the best of the best” for their audience each month. We decided to ask some of these busy folks a few questions to try to get a sense of how they shape their issues. Today we talked to Rosalie Baker, the editor of Dig Into History.
Q-How Long Have You Been With Cricket Media?
- My husband and I founded Calliope in 1980, took on Dig in 2000, and then merged the two magazines into Dig Into History in 2014.
Q- Who is your favorite Cricket family character?
- Difficult to choose one – I would say: Dr. Dig and Calliope
Q- If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want to have with you and why?
- Some dessert – I can’t imagine dinner without dessert; paper and pencil to write with – I have always loved to write stories about ancient myths and legends; a piano – I love to play every day, at least for 15 minutes or so.
Q- Describe your desk / office space.
- Actually – it’s quite small –a table and window sill that holds a laptop, a computer screen, a printer, a scanner. I have on shelves right next to my desk all the issues of Calliope and Dig and Dig Into History, external hard drives, and all the key office equipment (pencil sharpener, erasers, pencils, paper, and the like). I also have my Samsung 4. And I have a little placard (have had it since college) that was my father’s with the saying: “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.”
Dig Into History editor Rosalie Baker’s very first “selfie”.
Q- Chocolate or vanilla? Dogs or cats? Spring or fall?
- Love coffee ice cream but not coffee; have a terrific 11 1/2 year-old mini schnauzer named Brady (our son named her Brady for the football player, saying she would not know she had a boy’s name).
Q- How do you choose the theme for each issue?
- I try to work chronologically, starting with a theme that is prehistoric and then working through the centuries to the 1800s or 1900s. My idea is to include:
- -One city and take it through time.
- -A formidable and fascinating female personality.
- -A male personality whose actions/beliefs affected/changed the world.
- -A theme that crosses all borders (for example – the July/August 2016 issue will focus on the “power of fire”).
I also try to make sure I go around the world—that is, a theme concentrated in Europe, the Middle East, Asia. (I do not cover U.S. history as Cobblestone does that.)
Q- What advice do you have for young writers/artists?
- Be true to yourself and be willing to take time to think, plan, write and rewrite – but also try to spontaneous, to get the joy and sorrow of how you are feeling/thinking to come through in your phrases and paragraphs. Never give up if you really want to write and enjoy it.
Q- Did you grow up with any of the Cricket family magazines? If so, what’s your favorite Cricket memory?
- Unfortunately Cricket did not exist when I was growing up. But that is one reason my husband and I started Calliope – we wanted to publish something on history that was unavailable when we were young, something that we would have loved to read when we were young. We also wanted to publish something that was accurate, that made readers think about themselves and life and history.
Thanks, Rosalie, for taking the time to speak with us today. To see the results of Rosalie’s hard work each month, be sure to subscribe to Dig Into History.
Look for more interviews with the people who make Cricket Media magazines happen in the coming months.
