I interned with the Tucson Sentinel in Southern Arizona, an independent, nonprofit newsroom of only a couple full-time reporters and editors respectively. It was an opportunity to report and write as much as I wanted, and largely decide what I wanted to write about. The way one editor put it: the Sentinel hoped to work like a small collective of freelancers, covering whatever interests them. The only requirements were that stories were local to Tucson, true and interesting.

I wrote and/or contributed to 32 stories. Those ranged from short, assigned briefs (say, when a local court was accepting votes on new hires, or something new was opening) to mid-length hard news stories to longer features of a few thousands words. I contributed some data skills by wrangling election results into an interactive map, and filled one proper investigative piece with some records requests, interviews etc. I was also leaked documents, played stringer for an election night, and got to immerse myself in a series of ten stories about a particular new mining project.

Tucson was a wonderful, strange place to live and — even at its most inhospitable in the summer — I enjoyed getting to know the city. Really, though, I fell most in love with Tucson when I was driving around outside of it. From the Patagonia Mountains and Parker Canyon Lake to Bisbee and Tumacacori, Southern Arizona is breathtakingly beautiful. I'll be back, even if not for a while.