When I was 8 years old, I entered journalism by creating a newspaper for and about my street Murray Avenue.
My first feature articles were about a neighbor's large, gentle dog, Murray's annual Halloween photograph, and the life of a nearby beekeeper. I sold The Murray Ave Times as a 4-page hand-stapled stapled photo-copy for one dollar outside local businesses and talked about my work on Michigan Radio. Writing The Times, I became more involved in my neighborhood and saw neighbors show more interested in local events and each other. The value of hyper-local, community journalism became foundational in my reporting, writing, and editing. Whether watching every school board meeting to deliver information to residents or contributing local interviews for national stories on youth voter turnout, I'm focused on how storytelling can strengthen and grow communities in a world where in-person connections have been changed by social media. I'm currently an Editor for Swarthmore College's The Phoenix, working to both connect the campus and widen it by linking local stories to students. I also am studying economics and English, and am interested in how economics -- a traditionally data-driven field -- can be made more relevant and accessible to readers by combining people-focused reporting and data. I have experience with writing and reporting as well as audio journalism through Kids These Days, a podcast I produced with Michigan Radio (NPR). I also serve as Chief Copy at The Phoenix and am comfortable in WordPress and Adobe tools for newspaper and magazine print design. |
The Early Years.
The Murray Ave Times
Left: Presenting in 2015 in front of 500 people at Ignite Ann Arbor about The Murray Ave Times, a newspaper I started for my street.
Right: Speaking on Michigan Radio's Stateside with Zoe Clark about The Murray Ave Times and my continued hope in the local newspaper industry.
Right: Speaking on Michigan Radio's Stateside with Zoe Clark about The Murray Ave Times and my continued hope in the local newspaper industry.
"Lucy Tobier understands community journalism at its very core. Her newspaper offers a connection, a sense of place, telling people little tidbits about each other they did not know. That matters in today’s world." - Kurt Johnson Editor-in-Chief of the Aurora News Register, 2015