Internship Spotlight: Alexia Angelina Santoro McGeorge - The Upstream Journal

I am grateful to the Arts Undergraduate Society and the Arts Undergraduate Improvement Fund for their support. This upcoming Fall semester, I will be completing my bachelor's degree with a Joint Major in Liberal Arts & World Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. I am deeply passionate about learning, and extending this passion is one of my many aspirations. Having the privilege to attend a university, such as McGill, I became aware that education is not accessible to everyone and is often constrained. It was because of this frustration that I decided to intern with Upstream Journal, which offered me the opportunity to explore more accessible forms of “knowledge sharing.” I have always been sceptical about the journalistic media, thinking it was heavily biased, cold-hearted, and dehumanizing. However, Upstream Journal presented itself as a perfect alternative.

Upstream Journal is an independent publication, dedicated to human rights and social justice. In addition to the wide array of articles, it hosts the podcast Human Rights Magazine. Committed to fostering honest journalism and education, it seeks to promote the protection of human rights through active engagement. Entirely digital, it offers free access to its articles and podcasts.

During my time at Upstream Journal, I developed my own personal research project on the disappearance of migrating people in Mexico and the grassroots movements fighting against this crisis. I interviewed people involved in different organizations, foundations, and committees at the forefront of this fight for justice. From this work, I wrote an article and produced a companion podcast episode, weaving into a narrative the hemispheric crisis these people are confronting. Over the past three months, I met weekly with the Editor in Chief and the other interns to discuss the progress of our projects, questions, and challenges. While much of the work was independent, these weekly check-ins kept me motivated and created a space where we could all share doubts and relate to one another.

The many research projects I have completed over the course of my studies gave me the experience to move through this project with confidence. More specifically, the skills of narrowing down topics, weaving together narratives, connecting diverse sources, and developing my writing helped me greatly in producing my own journalistic project. What proved more challenging, however, was the process of arranging interviews: constantly contacting people, waiting for responses, and often receiving none. Securing interviews remained one of the slowest and most difficult parts of the internship, but it showed me that perseverance pays off. I still feel incredibly lucky to have spoken with the people I did. I even received a response from one of my favourite authors—though they couldn’t meet, I was thrilled simply to hear back, as I quickly learned that many people never reply at all.

However, the highlight of my internship was the interviews themselves. I noticed how much more comfortable I became with each one, and all of the conversations I had were truly inspiring. Another highlight was submitting the final version of my podcast. Having never produced one before, I spent several weeks learning the process. The day before submission, I accidentally deleted my entire project and had to start from scratch. What had once taken weeks, I was able to redo in just two days–proof of how much I had learned about using the platforms effectively.

This experience also helped me reframe what I want for my future professional path. It opened my perspective on the many different ways that knowledge and advocacy can take form. I was entirely focused on an academic career, but now I am enthusiastically open to more audio-visual, popular-oriented learning!

The Arts Undergraduate Improvement Fund made this experience much more enjoyable, since I did not have to worry as much about financial responsibilities. As an international student, financial anxieties are one of the many challenges I face. The award allowed me to work fewer hours than planned at my other jobs and dedicate myself more fully to my internship.

Thank you again to the Arts Development Fund and the Arts Undergraduate Society for this generous support!