Writing and Reporting
Growth as a writer
Writing doesn't come naturally to me - in fact, I am much more of an artistic person. So, when I joined staff, I wanted to photograph and design, not write. However, since we are a smaller publication, writing and reporting is not something you can avoid. So, to make it more enjoyable, I choose to cover topics I care deeply about - politics, the South Asian experience, and food. In my first stories, I learned the basics of quote transitions, AP style, and how to interview.
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After a while, I started to gravitate to writing, and in particular interviewing. I loved the conversations I was able to have through The Emery platform. I have interviewed congressional candidates, start-up companies, my town's sole female mechanic, and survivors of war and genocide. Through reporting, you are able to give people a larger platform to share their message. I am honored that so many interesting people have given me the opportunity to share their stories.
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I am conducting an interview with an admission officer from Wayne State University for my first piece about affirmative action in the college admission processs.
MY WORK
FEATURE
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"Ann Arbor teens impact this election"
Scholastic Writing Award - Regional Honorable Mention
When the 2020 election came around, as a publication, we wanted to cover it. However, I knew we had to approach it from a different perspective. This story documents how two students from our community, on both sides of the aisle, became involved in the election. I conducted over a two-hour interview with the founder of a Democratic Student Organization, that has now amassed over 300 members, and a Republican student leader from my school. For my angle, I wanted to focus on why they hold their beliefs and what pushed them to become political activists.
"How Huron alumna MYNA's suspension success led her to musical success"
My advisor actually gave me the lead to explore this story. After researching her music rise and albums, I knew her story would be a fascinating feature. Our interview was long and covered a breadth of topics, including her identity as a South Indian woman, her rebellion in high school, and how she can visual colors. Ultimately, I realize to tell her story - I had to touch on all the parts of her identity, and consequently how it inspired her music today. This required me to transcribe the entire two-hour interview and piece together quotes to make a coherent storyline.
"The popular video chat app House party is plagued with racism and ignorance"
In July, mere months after the death of George Floyd, I was on a call on House Party with my Avonte, who happens to be Black. On our four-hour call, several people came in and out of the room expressing racist sentiment towards us. Avonte was called the N-word on three separate occasions by three different people. I wrote this feature to explore how the app had cultivated a community plagued with bigotry. Through connections from my friends, I was able to interview multiple sources that were racially targeted on the app. I hope this story not only exposes the racism within the Houseparty culture but hidden in big-tech as a whole.
OPINION
"A rigged system: why gifted and talented schools need to make amends"
Best of Sno
In my 5th grade graduating class, there was not a single Black and Latinx student. As I grew older, I began to reflect on why my gifted and talented elementary school didn't reflect my town or America population. After doing comprehensive research, it because clear that the gifted and talent system was clearly rigged to favor white, upper-class students. My article argues that gifted and talented schools need to make amends to fix the racial divisions within it's the system, starting with changing the flawed IQ entrance exam.
"How stereotyped TV minorities ruined my impression of myself"
MIPA Awards- Honorable Mention for Opinion Article
Growing up, when I saw South Asians on children's shows, I often saw them as over-exaggerated stereotypes - which thick accents, Indian clothes, and a job at 7/11. This had a profound effect on me and my self-image. I saw Disney use these characters' culture as a joke, which made me feel like my own culture was a joke. This article details how Disney has a history of using South Asian characters as comedy props and how it specifically affected me, as a young South Asian child growing up in America.
"Unfair yet still lovely: the issue with South Asian Beauty standards"
Recently, I had an older family member tell me that 'you should stay out of the sun.' While I have always been aware of the impact of colonization on South Asian Beauty Standards, for the first time, I had experienced a form of colorism. This offhanded remark led me to write an article exploring the root of colorism, and why the South Asian community needs to be more proactive in dismantling it. For this article, I view colorism from the lens of history and capitalism. And after the article was published, it sparked dialogue with many readers, with many reaching out to me to share their experience of colorism.
SPORTS
"Historic diver closes her Huron career "
Annie Costello is not only a good diver at my school; she is the best high school diver in the state of Michigan and one of the best in the country. While I intended to write this article about her experience at the state meet, it evolved into a greater piece capturing her love story with the sport of diving. She initially responded to my questions in a few sentences, however, after adapting my wording to extract better answers, she spoke about her diving experiences with strong emotions. Additionally, this story required doing a bit of research about diving itself to formulate thoughtful questions and to provide insightful commentary on the meet.
NEWS
"Student Council discusses No Homework Weekends, other student concerns at monthly meeting with admin"
Every month, the student council meets with our administration to discuss problems that the student body is facing. As a journalist, this meeting is a great event to report because it gets a good pulse of the community. This article recaps the very first admin meeting. The original draft had some problems, and it was at risk of libeling admin for certain statements that were said by students in the meeting. However, I was able to work with my advisor and my collaborator, to find ethical quotes and additionally sources.
My news beat - the public library
The library is the heart of Ann Arbor. Many students, including myself, rely on the public library system as a safe place to go after school. At any given time, you will find several Huron students at the library - doing their homework, hanging out with their friends, or using it as a place to keep warm during the winter. As the library's beat reporter, I developed a relationship with Eli Neiburger, the AADL communicator director. During the library renovations or COVID-19 book distributions, I was able to quickly access him for quotes and comments. Below, I have attached some of the stories I covered as the beat reporter, including articles that covered a branch renovation, COVID-19 shutdown, and the lunch of their 'Summer Bummer Games.'
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
"Vegetarian and meat eater debate Burger King's new impossible burger"
Alternative meat is rising in the food scene as vegetarianism is becoming more mainstream. As a life long vegetarian, have very strong opinions about alternative meat. This piece let me voice my frustrations with health concerns and the taste of Burger King's new impossible burger. To provide a comprehensive view, I worked with Josh, a new writer on staff, to create an opposing review about the burger based on his experience being a meat-eater. I think creating the dual review was not only unique but ultimately, very helpful to our audience. Many people said they liked reading the review from two very different perspectives.
Table-side Coloumn
In my first issue on staff, my friends and I founded The Emery's Food column called Table-side. We try to showcase all foods from Ann Arbor through photo stories and short reviews. For this specific column, we reviewed three up-and-coming Asian restaurants. We look at each restaurant by reviewing the food, ambiance, and decor. We received great feedback from our first column, and it has now evolved to become a popular reoccurring section of all of our issues.