I’d like to work for you

I’m a moderator on beehaw.org, and one of the admins told me about your campaign. We’re a bit of a leftist collective. I’ve seen some of your coverage and of course your announcement video. I’m inspired.

So, here’s the hard turn: I was working most recently as a green-energy and -tech reporter, which came to a screeching halt for self-evident reasons Jan. 20. I’m currently homeless and unemployed in Texas, after winning national awards for writing decades ago. The country has gone to shit, and I left commercial journalism in 2020 (just before the pandemic – bad idea) because I no longer believed we were serving the public good as the Fourth Estate.

I can’t do something I don’t believe in for very long.

I started in college as a columnist, veered into design and ended up opinion editor 17 months later because I was so pissed off with how being edited for the first time went that I said “fuck it, I’ll do it myself.”

My first editorial took first place from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and I wasn’t even aware it had been entered into the contest. It was about the redevelopment of affordable student housing, and not particularly nice to the UW administration.

I dropped out of college after hitting managing editor, as I felt there was nothing left to learn. I got my first copyediting job in 2001 and was second in command at a daily with yet another award-winning column by 2003.

So I know what I’m doing and how to talk to journalists. I’m not going to claim that I’m your guy for public outreach, but I’ve been playing this game since the '90s and can have that five-minute bonding conversation at the start of a call before heading into the actual content. And, of course, I can also write.

I really like what you’re doing and would love to be a part of it. I’m also desperate and living in a van, so do with that what you will.

Regards, Pete Hahnloser