Dear Readers,
We are excited to present to you The Writopia Quarterly News. As you can see by the map above, we have the pleasure of working with teen reporters from around the world. While we dial in from very different cultures each week to our Zoom meetings, we process a dramatically altered international world together, a new normal that has brought us closer to family and to our creative capacity, but that has also forced us to navigate the challenges of remote learning, disconnection from our peers, a lethal health threat, and, for many of us, frustrations with social and systemic inequity and ineffective leadership. Two brilliant Writopia alums, Emma Goldberg from the New York Times, and Sam Levine, from The Guardian, Zoomed in to join us to discuss what it means to pursue fairness and accuracy while reporting and how to write for an international audience. Emma left us inspired to practice transparency with our sources, no matter their views, and Sam left us with this insight: “As journalists, we are writing the first draft of history.” In the end, we were filled with gratitude to have had the opportunity to research, write, and share with one another—writers and thinkers from all over the states and the world from California, to New York, to Washington DC, to Toronto, to Taiwan, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and more. The emergence of Writopia’s online newspaper workshop has been a silver lining through it all, and we are so happy to now share with you all of our research, writing, thoughts, advice, and creative engagements! Please enjoy and feel free to share your thoughts or ideas with us in response to letters@writopialab.org.
Stay safe, connected, and inspired, The Editorial Team Rebecca Wallace-Segall, Danielle Sheeler, & Laura Owsiany and the Reporters for The Writopia Quarterly News–International Edition!