Every year, a new Editor-in-Chief, the highest position in the newsroom, emerges. Who is ours, and how did she come to be?
Amalia Madrid-Lilly began writing as a child, spinning up stories in her head, and writing them down. As an underclassman “bookworm,” Amalia still loved to read but her pursuit of writing remained insecure; after all, how could she incorporate her passion into professional life?
Amalia’s father studied politics and kept diaries and photographs from his travels. These adventures, while unpublished, illuminated Amalia’s love of storytelling.
Then in sophomore year, Amalia drove into the beautiful old wine town of Winehaven on the coast of California; its deserted atmosphere changed her. Inspired to investigate its mysterious abandonment, Amalia was given a new sight into her future: journalism.
Later, Amalia was captivated by the music scene of journalism, she found herself backstage with rock bands like Pulp and in reports on local punk bands like Jellyfish Method.
However, Amalia has now branched out to write more cultural criticism and opinion pieces. To her, journalism is not just “an exploration and analysis into issues in our community, but also the human condition.” This passion eventually led her to intern for KALW, where she interviewed people involved in Indigenous land-return organizations.
Amalia’s future now lies at the historic Trinity University in Dublin. Next fall, she will enroll in the honors history and political science program while participating in their renowned student publication.
Amalia also has her own Substack, where she writes without the constraints of appealing to an audience.
Every newspaper is meticulously designed for hours and hours–a job highly regarded and given to one student a year. Who is our Layout Editor?
Racceb Arikew doesn’t just spend her weekends making sure every article fits into the layout, she has been contributing to the newspaper as a vibrant writer since her junior year.
Racceb’s love for storytelling began as a little girl upon reading a book about an Ethiopian princess. Despite never really liking princesses before, Racceb’s Ethiopian identity allowed her to connect with its creativity and gain insight into the stories she could create herself.
The opportunity arose in 4th grade, when Racceb stumbled upon a bunch of staff discussing school productions. Fascinated, she gradually began to chime in as a contributing writer and, at just 9 years old, wrote an entire skit that was later produced on stage.
Racceb has been “journaling” for a while now, a process she refers to as feverishly writing down all the thoughts jumping through her mind. But these writings had never been formed into something like an article until she started taking AP US History. She began to notice how similar the philosophers mentioned were to the rap music she listened to every other minute. This realization birthed her first idea for an article: “Are Rappers Modern-Day Philosophers?” which has amassed almost 2000 views on the Scribe’s website.
With plans to become a lawyer and continue writing, Racceb has already interned at a law firm where she spent a summer drafting a Consent Guide for OUSD students after becoming aware of sexual assault within Oakland schools.
Currently, she is saving up for a record player and is looking for a summer job at a record store. Beyond this summer, Racceb looks forward to her first fall at UC Berkeley, where she will major in Legal Studies and minor in African American Studies.
Racceb plans to continue creating and writing in her new era, whether it be for the Californian (UC Berkeley’s newspaper) or maybe Substack. In any case, she is just beginning.