A senior at Harvard University, Juli Min ’05 is one of five contributors to Ivy Gate, a blog that covers gossip from the eight Ivy League universities. Min’s articles for IvyGate have ranged from discussing the upcoming election to Natalie Portman’s appearance in a music video. “[IvyGate] is pretty ridiculous and pretentious, but we try to make fun of ourselves and the Ivy League community as much as possible, so it’s fun,” said Min. On getting started at Ivy Gate, Min said, “At the end of [this past] school year, I applied for it and I sent in a few clips. I wrote about ten articles for them this summer, and they asked me to stay on during the year for articles here and there about Harvard.” Min also writes for the The Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s daily student newspaper, and the Harvard Book Review. While at Phillips Academy, Min had no affiliation with The Phillipian or any other publications. “I didn’t actually do much journalism at Andover. I wrote a lot of poetry in high school, so I guess I’ve always been interested in creative writing,” said Min. Min took up journalism her sophomore year at Harvard as a way to continue writing. “I got interested in journalism because the organizations are so big at Harvard, and it just seemed like the natural thing to do if I wanted to…write and get published,” she said. After Min’s introduction to the Harvard Crimson as a sophomore, she started writing for the Arts section. Min spent her freshman year at Bard College before deciding to transfer. “The second time around … I knew much more clearly what I wanted,” said Min. Min offered a few words of advice to aspiring writers. “Try to write as much as you can, to write every day and to try out different styles. It’s really important to have strong opinions about what you write, especially as a journalist. Being able to do these things is pretty valuable,” she said.
