I didn’t take a straight path to journalism.
Out of college, I worked in a school for children with autism, spent a mere month making sandwiches at Whole Foods, worked in Russia briefly, followed the wine harvest as a cellar hand and eventually applied for an internship with Crosscut. I always wrote when I had time between jobs, but I hadn’t received formal training in journalism.
The internship program at Crosscut was that training. It's a program that pairs tangible experience in the journalism field with coaching and professional development, and it's only possible because people like you support Crosscut.
The enthusiasm and passion of the staff was an inspiration and filled me with the energy to take on Seattle’s big questions: District elections, police, transportation, privacy in a digital age and so much more.
When the City Reporter position opened at Crosscut, I applied, but sheepishly. After all, I hadn’t served my time writing obituaries or horoscopes for any backwoods newspapers. Surely they would laugh me out the door: “Your inverted pyramid is just no good!”
My winding path to journalism would have worked against me at most news publications. But at Crosscut, it was an opportunity to cast a broader net and bring new and important viewpoints into the conversation.
News can and should be more than an inverted pyramid. So much of what makes Crosscut great is that it tells the story of the Northwest through an enormous range of voices and stories. We report facts, yes, but in a context that matters.
If you believe, like I do, that news shouldn’t always go from A to B, but should examine C and D and X along the way, please consider making a gift today. And thank you.
