The Ferris wheel awaits. This charticle serves up the Blue Ribbon goods on five State Fairs. Pick up the July/Aug issue of Traveler to find out the best place to eat candy buckeyes, which fair serves reindeer sausage, and where you can meet Bardo the Clown.
About Me
- Although I usually write about travel, food, books, and business, I consider myself a general assignment reporter and writer. I went freelance so that I could cover the world--no use limiting myself now.
A contributing editor (of the writing variety) for American Way, contributing articles editor (of the editing variety) for Entrepreneur, and co-founder of Flyover America, I've also written for loads of other print magazines, websites, and guidebooks. And, yes, of course, there's a travel-related app in the works, too.
Ready to put my curiosity, strong reporting skills, and wordplay (or photography) to work for your publication? Send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.
(Oh, be sure to visit the haiku diaries where I'm living life 17 syllables at a time.)
Working on pieces for...
- Fodor's Alaska
- National Geographic Traveler
- Entrepreneur
- Heart & Soul
- Southern Living
- American Way
Entrepreneur: 100 Brilliant Companies
June 2011
The magazine's annual 100 Brilliant Companies report highlights great ideas across 10 different industries. For this year's section, I wrote about a travel search company, Hipmunk; a media app, Zite; and Yellow+Blue, a company that boxes up wine in the name of convenience, flavor, price, and the earth. Also in the June issue: How to map out an M&A brand strategy.
American Way: Know This
May 1, 2011
Break out of your reading rut with five books that will teach you things you didn’t think you needed to know about, but you’ll be grateful that you do.
National Geographic Traveler: New Yorkers' New York City
April 2011
For this feature package about New York City, I wrote the introduction and a piece about the "oddest of underdogs," the Upper East Side. Here's how the piece begins:
Though I'm not usually very chatty on planes, I do love when, flying home to New York City, I end up sitting next to first-time visitors. They almost always have a slightly wild look in their eyes; it's a sign that they’re worried they won't be able to see everything. Their questions spill out, and I'm happy to answer them: Where should I go for dim sum? How do you get to Brooklyn? Have you ever been to the Apollo? What they really want to know: Is three days or five days or even a week enough time?
American Way: Fun with History
April 1, 2011
Sarah Vowell has a distinctive take on what makes for an entertaining read. From the New England Puritans to the spots where U.S. presidents were assassinated, Vowell has spun the good, the bad and the odd of American history into enlightening and hilarious literary gold. Now, in Unfamiliar Fishes (Riverhead Books, $26), the author dishes on the United States' annexation of Hawaii in 1898.
American Way: Beyond Machu Picchu
February 15, 2011
Clara Luz slips her hand into mine as soon as I reach down for it. For me, the aunt of two nieces, taking a 4-year-old's hand is a natural movement. But Clara doesn't need any assistance getting around. There's no road to cross, and if anybody is going to slip and fall, it will be me.
The surface beneath my feet feels like a padded but uneven gym floor. Very uneven. We're walking across one of the Uros Floating Islands in Peru, where Clara lives. The Uros, a group of more than 40 islands anchored on Lake Titicaca, are manmade; thick beds of totora reeds are piled on top of cubes of earth lashed together. The islands have been home to the Uros people--a pre-Incan culture--for hundreds of years. Clara is the youngest child of one of the seven families who live on the island I am visiting. Two older girls, 11 and 14, are also part of our little pack. The girls are short on English. My Spanish--their second language--is weak, and I don't know a single word of their first language, Aymara. But, as I know from my nieces, there are far more powerful ways than the spoken word to connect with kids.
I have an iPhone.
Mariner: Northwest Notebook
Winter 2011
Heading to Anchorage? Here, 10 places and experiences I wouldn't want you to miss...
American Way: Pony Express
January 1, 2011
Ten years after author Stanley Gordon West self-published his novel Blind Your Ponies, the book gets called up to the big show.
Nearly 30 years ago, Stanley Gordon West was living and working as a camp director in southwestern Montana, an area that had become a hotbed for Hollywood scribes and others of that ilk. Inspired by the creative energy, he decided to try writing a book. “I jumped in, got out an old manual typewriter and started pounding out a novel,” he says.
What My Editors Say...
- "I have had the fortune of hiring Jenna Schnuer for multiple contract writing projects, both while I worked in the role of Senior Interactive Producer at the Travel Channel, and as Senior Editor and Producer at World Hum. Jenna's passion for both the art of writing and her subject matter, as well as her promptness with deadlines and great understanding of the intricacies of writing for the web, have made her and her content a valuable asset."--Valerie Conners
- "Jenna's charming wit and outstanding writing style are the perfect complements to her professionalism and dedication. Bottom line: She makes me look good--and that's a tough act to beat. Besides, any freelancer who would risk life and limb by attending trapeze school (and live to write about it) is top-notch in my book."--Chris Wessling, Senior Editor, American Way
- "Jenna's careful reporting, coupled with her desire not to take the easy-way-out and write the same old cliches everyone else writes, makes my life as an editor easier."--Margaret Littman, my editor on projects for MapQuest, Journey magazine, and Mobil Travel Guide
