Name: Ben Lerner
Year: Senior
Major: English (Creative Writing Emphasis), Theatre Arts minor
Campus Involvement: Under the Button, Penn Players, Phi Psi, Carriage Senior Society
Spirit Vegetable: Potatoes? Because I am not the best for you, but the possibilities are endless. Mashed, baked, roasted, fried…damn. Actually, that sounds less sexy than I thought. Let’s go with Brussels sprouts, which get a bad rap but are D-E-L-I-S-H when seasoned properly. Ugh, no, that still sounds like I’m qualifying my spirit. I am sweet, divine and AUTUMNAL: I am butternut squash.
How long have you been writing for Under the Button?
Since January 2012, second semester of my freshman year. I became an editor at the beginning of sophomore year and the rest was history.
When did you first hear about Under the Button?
Oh, god…I don’t know when I first HEARD of it, but I know I read it religiously since WELL before I applied to Penn. Probably since spring/summer of 2010. Its hilarity and tone honestly put me over the edge to apply E.D., and I read it all through the end of senior year before getting to campus. I sound like a FREAK, but real talk: so many others did too. Admit it. It’s not like I posted every day in our 2015 Facebook group, okay?
Give us a rundown of A Day in the Digital Life of an Under the Button Editor-in-Chief.
In the new ~digital age~ there IS no day in the life, because it’s always changing in this exciting age of new media. Okay, actually IS ever-changing, but an average day includes waking up and checking the blog before my email or Facebook or peeing or anything, because I need to make sure the scheduled posts made it up in time and that there are no egregious lapses or scandals. I sleep (too) late (and stay up too late), so the other editors are usually publishing posts in the morning before I emerge from my slumber. So first thing is to check up on everything. The day then unfolds with an absurd amount of emailing and GroupMe-ing between (and during) classes, in which preplanned news stories and features are published. This includes editing, publicizing and giving feedback to our contributors. There are currently seven editors, myself included, and ten contributors to the blog, eight of whom are freshmen and are just getting started. The average day also includes unexpected breaking news stories (of varying drama levels), which we have to spontaneously write and post while they’re still hot! That never gets old. Every day is equal parts managerial, editorial, journalistic and ridiculous fun.
How do you decide what to post and what not to post?
UTB is Penn’s top news and entertainment blog, so many news stories are totally in our jurisdiction, particularly if they’re breaking, funny or are ripe for snarky commentary. Other stories are more “hard news,” and these are more the territory of the DP, which comprehensively covers Penn news. The entertainment side includes original and recurring features, many of which are gossipy or satirical. So we’ll have What’s HapPENNing and Flyerer of the Week every week, as well as some of our newer recurring ones like Random Dude At A Party. Sometimes we post one-time only features, such as the 100 Greatest Things About Wawa, which is perhaps our greatest achievement, as we simultaneously told BuzzFeed to suck it and got retweeted by Wawa’s official account. (Please note the article included super Penn-centric references like #74: running into your DFMO by the f’realz.)
Our tone is always colloquial and humorous. So much of our content is self-generated, and the editorial board collectively weighs if we think an idea is worth pursuing. Others are just obvious, like when a campus speaker is announced, Penn is heavily covered in the national media or we’re crafting features for a specific time of year like Halloween or Valentine’s. Overall, if it’s funny and accessible, any idea is valid, which is why we are always creating new features and posting about new things beyond news. There’s no formula.
As far as what we don’t post, there are sometimes reader tips that are too specific to one group or person and wouldn’t be funny to everyone. We aren’t in the business of being mean or spreading gossip about specific people. Similar to the Roundup in Street, we never make a specific person identifiable in our gossipy posts, so we’ll black out faces. But, like, if something’s on the internet for all to see, it’s legally fair game, and YouTube vids, websites…and public Google groups are sort of why a snarky blog like UTB was born. We also often turn down post pitches if they’re too promotey for one group or are just boring/dime a dozen. Not every startup is getting a promotional post on UTB unless it’s newsworthy for a special reason or we can take a fun angle with it as writers. We love to promote awesome events in What’s HapPENNing, but tons of people expect publicity from us, and we’re not tryna become all product placement. We have a voice, we’re not Britney & Will.i.am‘s “Scream & Shout” video — which is flawless (don’t get me wrong), just sponsored AF.
What percentage of your posts come from readers’ tips?
A very high percentage that we would love to be even higher. I don’t have actual stats right now, but as a group of seventeen Penn students, we can only brainstorm so many features, hear of so many news tips and get so many funny pics around campus. We have our eyes and ears open and are in the know fosho, and when nothing comes in, we find stuff to write, but it’s always a joy when an email arrives at tips@underthebutton.com with a GEM of a tip, be it breaking news or just funny. This happens every day and we encourage everyone to tip us, even if they’re skeptical that it’s postworthy. We can decide that. There’s no downside to tipping us because you’ll always be anonymous. Lots of our most recent posts today, for example, are from reader tips, like USHER rolling through FroGro, the fruit flies in the Commons breadbasket or any of those cray-cray professor emails.
What’s your favorite blog to read (after UTB, of course)?
The fact is I’ll probably still be reading UTB more religiously than any other blog five years from now, because I’m a diehard lifelong devotee. Once you join staff, you really can’t not be. BUT the blogosphere is a remarkable, buzzing, exciting place and I love it. I am actually ONE YEAR SOBER from Perez Hilton’s clutches. That’s right, I’m getting my chip — as a proud celeb gossip addict, I actually had a dangerous compulsion of reading every story on his endless (and poorly written) blog. It ate up my time and made my brain melt, and I was getting most of my star news covered by other sources anyway. So when I was abroad a year ago, on November 1, I gave it up cold turkey. He was getting too self-referential so I just said ENOUGH! I am living proof. If I can do it, anyone can.
Oh, but my current favorite blog…I’ll just say the non-blog Twitter, a glorious social media platform which allows me to aggregate my news sources’ content (Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, People.com) as well as certain humor blogs (Suri’s Burn Book), but most importantly, the musings of my friends and (primarily) my favorite celebrities. In the words of Billy Eichner, “Twitter is a force.” I have interacted with a myriad of celebrities on Twitter (@LernerBen). Some are mere favorites, others are retweets and extended convos. Here is an non-comprehensive list: Kristin Chenoweth (7x), Billy Eichner, Retta, Rosario Dawson, Harvey Fierstein, Playbill, Orange Is The New Black, Morello from Orange Is The New Black, Jane Lynch and others. (Ed. Note: We get it, you’re pretty popular, huh?)
If you could ghostwrite an autobiography for any celebrity, who would it be and why?
Britney Spears because she is the goddess of pop and has eternal staying power as a hitmaker and overall sweetheart, plus she has the comeback story of the millennium and is stronger than yesterday. Since she’s a living legend, it would sell incredibly well and I would make bank. And Kristin Chenoweth already wrote an autobiography.
Halloween’s coming up — have a costume yet?
Oh my god, these were supposed to a surprise. I have three and am going all out for senior year. (Last year in London I refused to pay the 30-pound cover at a club when my female friends were let in free, so I snuck in and was then forcibly removed. So I’m making this year better.) For dear Her Campus, I will announce one and give major hints to the other two. See my Instagram @LernerBen later this week for the full reveal. On Thursday I will portray the iconic Cruella de Vil in all her fur glory and some of my friends will be dalmatian puppies! One of the other nights I will be a certain celebrity recently in the news for what must be a facial reconstructive surgery, but AS her Oscar-nominated role from a 2002 musical masterpiece. Connect the dots. My final night I will pay homage to a recently departed octogenarian comedy legend who happened to also be a proud Penn parent.
“Chasing Amy” is one of your most loved series – how will you pass the torch?
It’s hard. I was unofficially assigned the Amy G beat my first semester at UTB, and I’ve really developed an impressive canon of bylines on A-Gut-themed articles. Snapping photos of our elusive Queen Amy, who we spot less as a university administrator and more as paparazzi spying a celebrity in the airport, is a time-honored UTB tradition. Madame President has told us she loves it too. I hope to thank her in person before graduation for all the content-generating divahood, but I have begun to assign stories about the bombshell to others this semester…to phase out.
What’s your favorite writing utensil?
My two most used writing utensils are undoubtedly the keyboard of my MacBook, which has lasted me all of college minus two awful weeks when she was in surgery at the Apple Store last semester, and my chewed-up pens, which are used more for doodling women in Oscar gowns than for note-taking. But my FAVORITE? Probably the Crayola colored markers in my house, The Underboob, which we use to contribute to our CAN GET IT and CAN’T GET IT lists on our wall. We all lived in the Nipple together freshman year (hence the house name), and in varying levels of sobriety, we use these markers to add items that can and cannot “get it” to the posters. (Ed. Note: Yes, these lists are as funny as they sound like they are.)
Ten years ago you were?
That would be October of 2004. Sixth grade? Yikes. I was pubescent. I wore a lot of Abercrombie and Hollister. I was beginning preparations for my Bar Mitzvah, which would arrive as a Broadway musical-themed extravaganza in February 2006. I was listening to the then-new-ish song “Toxic.” I feel like — oh snap, I just had a vision — I was probably watching a lot of That’s So Raven.
In ten years you will be?
31 years old. And, if there is good in the world, famous. You know, just your average socialite/celebrity, doing good, loving his fans, featured in the pages of tabloids as just like US. No, in all seriousness, I hope to be working in entertainment or pop culture journalism. Perhaps as a cast member on SNL. And working towards my inevitable EGOT. (Ed. Note: That’s winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, for those not in the know.)
Any last words?
Read UTB! Tip us! Come see Penn Players’ GYPSY in a couple weeks! It’s my grand return to the stage since freshman year, but my first time in drag since I was Mrs. Hannigan in ANNIE at my sleepaway camp in 2007! Leave Amanda Bynes alone! Britney, if you’re reading, I’m serious about the autobiography! I will never be Ego of the Week since I am a former 34th Street editor, so this is truly a dream come true. Thank you for having me, Her Campus. Hugs, kisses and Hocus Pocus.
Read Under the Button: www.underthebutton.com