The future is written

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Check out our annual teen issue. It seems almost every year this newspaper gets high school Gifted and Talented Program interns in the spring. They choose us, which I find charming. The RN&R covers a 21-and-over city, and while we often write about all-ages events, most of the time I feel our newspaper isn’t as relevant as it should be to the under-21 crowd. On the other hand, we’re about as relevant as anything anyone is going to find around town.

This year, A.J. Shugar and Storm Kelly found their way to my office. They’re a pair of sweet, smart kids, and even though they came from different schools, I can’t imagine a team more suited to working in tandem. Still, I never really know what’s going to come out of these teenaged minds, just as I can’t always predict what’s going to come out of my own teenager’s mind. Teenagers in general are such a chaotic combination of angsty adults and optimistic children. I do my best to keep my mouth shut when I’m around them because I learn far more from them than I think they do from me.

These teens remind me of my first teen intern: Shana Krochmal in 1996. Shana went on to graduate from Northwestern University and to edit magazines in New York City and Los Angeles. We’re friends on Facebook, and she sometimes calls me for a beer when she’s in town.

Recently at Tonic I ran into another of my high school interns. I like that the time I spend with teenagers has a continuing effect on the community.

There’s been a lot of conversation about the decline of daily newspapers and print journalism in general in this country. Working with young people who are still committed to writing words is good for my heart. As with all the interns and writers who have worked with this newspaper over the years, I have great expectations for A.J. and Storm.