The Junior Inquirer (JI) has ceased publication for a while now and it is only in the library of the Philippine Daily Inquirer where copies can be retrieved. At the time, around the early 2000s, the JI was a launch pad for aspiring writers, young and old. If you need to see a good model for campus journalism, turn to the JI. There were workshops and training sessions for students on all kinds of writing. It featured texts and materials for students to read which were all written with verve and a sense of wonder. It celebrated the joy and curiosities of children as well as the young at heart.
At the time, I was working in Xavier School. My students would tell me stories of their trainings and meet ups with the JI staff. How they encouraged and mentored them to write, to speak and to find their voice. Our English teachers who mentored them alongside the JI staff were appreciative of this support from community resources.
Ms. Vizcarra is now a science writer based in Denver Colorado. She writes about nature and people's interaction with the environment so engagingly well it branch out to real life events, making one think about the connections we have as precious links in the fragile chain of life. I had an interview with Ms. Vizcarra last week wherein I had a glimpse of the meticulous research and fact checking work she and Ilaw ng Tahanan put into the book project. I felt the sincere care and caution these wonder women put into making this book. At the front, back and center is the child reader who will meet the book.
I was happy and honored to meet once again the editor in chief of the JI I know back in the day. And I think, this is one of the many reasons why we need journalists. They help us make sense of events, big and small, that shape their world in order to understand their role in reshaping and reforming it.
I look forward to getting my copies of Spikeys, Prickles and Prongies: A Coronavirus Discovery Story!
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