In the News...
Jane was on the Joan Hamburg Show!
Download the podcast here
Jane was on NPR (again!)
"StoryCorps is a national oral history project that's collecting the voices
of everyday people around the country. Today we bring you a story recorded here in New
York City at StoryCorps' Grand Central recording booth. Queens native and New York City
tour guide Jane Marx celebrated her 25th anniversary in that profession this week. Here
she talks to her friend, and fellow tour guide, Joseph Svehlak, about her job."
Read and listen here
Jane was mentioned in Time Out New
York!
Here's what Jonathan Wynn of TONY has to say about Jane: "Brassy, with a good-natured if slightly wicked sense of humor,
she's the character to call if you've got family or first-time visitors
coming to town."
See
the whole article here
Jane was featured in the Abilene Reporter-News (TX)
"Big Apple, Big Country"
New York City tour guide visits her pen pals at Merkel Elementary
By Brye Butler / Reporter-News Staff Writer
March 5, 2005MERKEL - Forget a taste of city life - some of Merkel's 1,500 residents got one big, boisterous bite of The Big Apple on Friday. And lively New York City tour guide Jane Marx's visit has them craving more....
Marx's first stop was to Netta Hart's classroom. She befriended the teacher in 2002 when Hart and her daughter went to the city on a class trip, and Marx was the class's guide around New York....
As the first anniversary of 9/11 approached, Hart contacted Marx and asked whether her students could send letters to her. Ever since, each of Hart's third-grade classes has corresponded with Marx.
Marx will keep writing to each class "until I become paralyzed, Mrs. Hart retires or I move to Merkel," she said....
Marx told students of her busy, people-packed life in New York, riding in taxis (she hasn't driven since 1969) and living in a small, expensive apartment where she stores books in the oven and dines out all the time.
Several students said they're ready to visit New York.... Meanwhile, Marx would like to make her jaunt to Merkel an annual one.
Jane was interviewed on the David Letterman show!
Jane was on NPR...
Test for New Your City's Tour Guides Revamped.
New exam Excites Passions Over Big Apple's True Identity
"...No test --
especially one written by a single individual -- can
measure a tour guide. A tour is more than facts or
stories..."
See the whole article here
Jane was even mentioned in Fortune!!!
SPECIAL FEATURE
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
By Elaine Pofeldt
Jane Marx,
...
an AWED member who has run New York City
ProvocaTours, a walking tour business as the
"New York Tour Goddess" in New York City for 22
years, said she was also looking for ideas for
growing her business, which has suffered because of
the attacks. Before she attended an AWED workshop
recently, she said, "I never perceived myself as
being in business." As a result of the class, she
said, she has set objectives for her business and
concentrated on catering to high-end clients who can
appreciate her style: "I'm a New Yorker; my entire
body reeks New York sarcasm and confrontation, but
I'm so knowledgeable, you can't object." Attending
the conference, she hoped, would be a next step
toward meeting her goals for growth. "I came here,"
she said, "to take myself more seriously."
See the Whole Article Here!
And Jane was quoted on Fox News
Tour Guide Testing Gets Tough
Monday, June 30, 2003
By Amy C. Sims
...The increasingly difficult standards demanded of professional guides are taking the fun out of tours, according to New York City guide Jane Marx of Nytourgoddess.com ..., who has been showing tourists the nooks and crannies of the city for 23 years.
"A good tour is 25 percent education and 75 percent entertainment and that's what's wrong with this whole approach," she said.
In the Big Apple, some find the new guide test, which was updated last month, rotten for several reasons including the fact that previously licensed guides must take the test no matter how long they've been leading tours.
Marx, who has offered everything from walking tours of Harlem to a movie lover's bus tour, is working with others to try to get the 2003 test revoked.
The new test is 150 questions and covers topics
from ethnic food to historical facts. In comparison,
the New York Police Department's exam is about 85
multiple-choice questions, according to the
recruitment office.
...
A great guide offers "learning propelled by humor
and warmth," she said. "This is not a college class,
you aren't going for your Ph.D. — you are on
vacation."
 |
 |
