I read on Twitter one day that fewer than 1% of American nuns are under the age of 40. This dilemma made me curious. How does someone become a nun anyway? I decided to find out more.
I watched a documentary about "nun runs," where young women travel across the U.S. and tour convents like high school kids visiting colleges. A few years later, our newsroom was hosting a creative pitching session, and I threw out the idea that we could join a nun run. The editors were intrigued, so I tracked down a handful of young nuns in New Jersey and interviewed them.
Unlike interviews for news stories, these conversations were long and winding. I wasn't looking for a specific angle. I just hung out with the nuns at their convents or monasteries to find out more about their lives. I built common ground with them and slowly gained their trust.
I returned to the newsroom with a few motifs in mind. I was assigned a co-writer, Amanda, to help cover more ground and give the story another perspective. We were two young women interviewing other young women and I think some of that natural dialogue comes through in the story. We wrote several drafts before landing on the final version, and I asked if I could personally design the article.
I knew what image I wanted for the cover and I worked closely with photographer Patti until we landed on the perfect shot. I did this project before I knew how to code, so I googled a few CSS tricks and made the graphic assets in Illustrator. I went through a few dozen design options before deciding on the branding and flow of the story. This project taught me how to ask the right questions about stakeholders' goals and how to iterate and refine a design concept.
The story was well-received by our audience. WNYC invited Amanda and me to speak on air about the reporting process. The society for features journalism awarded the article second place in its diversity in the digital features category. It also landed me a spot at the Michael Cromartie Faith Angle Forum in Washington D.C.
I stay connected with some of the nuns. Recently,
I asked one for her advice on social distancing, and I've considered one day writing a book about their lives.
