Much appreciate your comment on my Ukraine stories, Ben. It's a bit frustrating that I see so much more on Medium about who's up or down this week the GOP horse race than about the war, and I'm glad the posts sometimes hit the mark.

At this stage of your career, the most valuable things you could do are, in order: a) build the strongest portfolio you can; b) learn from the best editors you can; and c) make all the helpful contacts as you can. The first two don't mean you have to leave Medium, just to keep trying to publish elsewhere too.

As one example: The Inquirer accepts freelance op-eds and maybe arts reviews, and a few articles there would be great to have in your portfolio (and the paper has more experienced editors than Medium). Arts reviews or other content in a good alternative weekly, if Philly has one, would be great, too.

In your situation I might write to the arts eds at either or both of those and offer to do freelance music or other arts reviews, including gaming. Look for a gap you could fill. That your parents are musicians is a good credential as long as you disclose it up front (editors might want you to avoid their genre).

You might also see if the Writers Center in Philly has free or very low cost programs with people *who have published a lot* or at least some work in the kinds of pubs you aspire to write for. There are no doubt lots of other things you could do, too, but these are just off the top of my head.

I'm tagging @Bri_Michele because she's a young writer (a lawyer) in Philly, and some of this might also apply to her. Again, thanks for your kind words!