No name, nationality, education, occupation, or professional experience to be mentioned. And so, naturally, I threw references to Bollywood music, Euro ‘96, and curry in my job application to The Correspondent.
By the end of summer 2019, I had 14 new colleagues from around the world. I read every single contribution posted by some of you 50,000 founding members in over 130+ countries. I learned about your life experiences and life’s work; your mental and physical health struggles; your childhoods and resilience; your places in the social, political, environmental and economic environments you were in; you gave your advice, tips, recommendations and criticisms.
Conversation was a space for curiosity, respect, learning and candour.
We didn’t need to agree. Some debated, others loved. I sought out experts from around the world daily; many were intrigued by the way we were doing journalism with you. On a given day, we welcomed writers from Africa and the diaspora; the next, experts in climate justice or children from all over the world.
I learned so much working with you, dear members. You can read about my highs, lows and aspirations from the past 16 months here.
These were my favourite parts of being your conversation editor:
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MEMBERFUL REPORTING: A COLLECTION
YOU & THE CORRESPONDENTS
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Illustration by Luka van Diepen.
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You told our Sanity correspondent to be more inclusive about who was unfairly marginalised; one of you proofread our First 1,000 Days correspondent’s story; another taught her that no story is too small; you debated the vision of a climate future with invited guests; you were curious about a world where we tried, with the Better Politics correspondent, to unpick what truths connected our systems together.
Here's how you enriched our journalism
Collection: 18 articles
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THE OTHER SHELF: A BOOK CLUB
OLUTIMEHIN ADEGBEYE
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Illustration by Sandro Rybak.
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You suggested books to our Othering correspondent, and oftentimes, the book authors joined us in conversation. We made space to discuss important foundational issues: borders and death, reproduction on reservations, entire histories of the world, Nigerian cult classics.
Here's what we read together on The Other Shelf
Collection: 14 articles
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TRANSNATIONAL CHATS
YOU, US & INVITED EXPERTS
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Illustration by Luka van Diepen.
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I hosted monthly parties where I could, online, swotting up on my timezones, asking those with lived experience or expertise of a topic to take a leap of faith with the journalistic experiment I was testing out.
We heard stories from so many different contexts: much connected us, even while we had never thought to connect these particular groups of people from different continents.
Here's who we spoke with in our global live chats
Collection: 23 articles
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NESRINE MALIK, ERIC HOLTHAUS, IRENE CASELLI, TANMOY GOSWAMI & OLUTIMEHIN ADEGBEYE IN CONVERSATION
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From fake news to the state of democracy in their home countries, to how they became journalists – our writers got together for a one-off Zoom call where they answered all and any questions from members. This event took place on our first birthday this year, which is why we're still talking about renewing memberships or a world before Joe Biden's election win and the End SARS protests in Nigeria.
If you want a flavour of what our twice-weekly editorial meetings with these talented correspondents were like, tune in to this edited video.
📹 Watch the conversation here!
Video: 38 minutes
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Throughout the last two weeks my colleagues Eliza Anyangwe, Carmen Schaack, Tanmoy Goswami, Nesrine Malik, Irene Caselli and Sabrina Argoub have all said their goodbyes and let them know where to find them next.
I have some inklings about what's next for me. To stay tuned, you can always find me on Twitter, or send me an email to my Correspondent address by 31 December 2020. I'd love to stay in touch.
And hey, if you want to read that cringe-inducing paragraph where I vied for the position as your conversation editor, I sneaked it in under my colleague’s newsletter once.
So. It’s exit, pursued by a bugbear: I shall miss you all.
Stay inquisitive!
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Nabeelah Shabbir
Conversation editor
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