As you probably already know if you follow the media, ElleGirl, one of the few really good magazines for teenage girls, has folded. For the last year and a half, I worked with Senior Features Editor and sometimes mb contributor Melissa Walker on the "Class of 2008" series. I caught up with her to bitch about the closing and also find out about what life is like for an editor at a magazine that goes under. She had some surprising input.

"I've been there three times," she says, regarding other experiences at Rosie and a dot.com in London. "And it's kind of nice! Because, when you leave, you don't feel like you made any bad choices by quitting early or that led you to get fired. And, of course, it frees you up and you get severance."

Of course, the downside can be the element of surprise. "We had absolutely no idea that it was coming," says Melissa. "None of us."

Being part of a magazine that closes, however, can also do good things for your career, namely, free-flowing freelance assignments. "The editors at other magazines definitely want to hear the gossip. But it also helps that they know you weren't fired and that you didn't leave, so there's no black mark on you."

For anybody who's been unemployed, though, knows the other shoe does drop. "First, there's a flurry of activity after a magazine folds," says Melissa. "But then eventually, it settles in--you're not going back."

Speaking of defunct magazines, my co-blogger Annie Logue sent me the following email this morning:

Budget Living is paying freelancers 33.2% of what they are owed, rather than stiffing them entirely and saving them the hassle of filing a claim in bankruptcy court. Give them a shoutout for doing the right thing.

So, many thanks to recently defunct Budget Living for looking out for its erstwhile freelancers.