As the June issue rolls around, “Tatler” is ready to welcome two new wonderful people — Jackson B. ‘25 and Reagan R. ‘25 — as our new Editors-In-Chief (EICs) for this last issue of 2023-2024, as well as the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. Since they’re currently spending the semester away at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership, Reagan and Jackson spoke with “Tatler” over Zoom to share their experiences, aspirations, and words of wisdom as they take over our beloved newspaper.
When did you start in “Tatler” (or, more broadly, newspapers), and what sections have you contributed to over the years?
JB: I first got involved with journalism in the inaugural year of the Lakeside Leo, and I was one of the Opinion writers. I applied in my eighth-grade year to be on Tatler, and I was lucky enough to be accepted. I started as a staff writer, and then that year, I served as an EIC for the special issue we ran on the Ukraine war. Sophomore year, I was a staff writer, and junior year, News Editor.
RR: At the start of freshman year, I was new to Washington State, so I applied to Tatler sophomore year — that’s when Aaron and Stellan were EICs… I started off as a staff reporter with absolutely no journalistic experience whatsoever, but something sparked that first year. That October, I got accepted as part of the Seattle Times’ student voices cohort, and that spring, I became a Life and Culture Editor. I also was an EIC on another special issue we had on performative activism.
What’s your favorite article you’ve ever written?
JB: One of them is probably my profile on CJ Jatabarry that I wrote at the very end of my freshman year. CJ just has so much wisdom to share; he’s a really insightful guy. It also set me on a track of valuing the interpersonal aspect of journalism … I really enjoyed that piece because it allowed me to form this robust connection on campus, and it was the catalyst for a lot of later articles that were really rewarding. And then my other favorite article is probably my pajama pants article. I stand by that opinion very firmly.
RR: One of my favorite articles was the Downtown School article. I wasn’t expecting it to get the reaction it did — some students took quotes from my article and put them on a Downtown School meme page on Instagram. The second one is one I haven’t written yet: it’s my very long-awaited, eight months in the process, censorship deep-dive. Some — a lot — of people say it’s never going to be written, but I’m trying to push back on those rumors.
What’s one major change you’d like to see in “Tatler” next year?
JB: Part of what I’m really excited about is making “Tatler” a louder paper on campus. That means having more campus presence, but also just being more opinionated. So as a part of that, I’m really excited about this new column called ”‘Between Two Lions,” which would be a regular pro-con column.
RR: Speaking of my eight-month censorship article, one change I definitely want to see is Lakeside signing on to the PSJA statement. PSJA stands for Private School Journalism Association, and they created a statement for private schools to sign to guarantee students the First Amendment rights that public school students have. While I am really, really grateful to have press freedoms that Tatler seems to have not had in the past, I also think it’s really important for us to sign on to this PSJA statement and then solidify those press freedoms for every single student who comes after us.
What’s one aspect of Tatler that you think is underappreciated?
JB: The Lakeside student body should look out for a revitalized sports section next year. I think the sports section at Lakeside is historically underappreciated and overlooked by students, but there’s a lot of potential there; Lakeside has a very strong sense of school spirit and very strong involvement in sports. Both Reagan and I — and Tatler staff in general — are excited to breathe some more life into that section and bring it into full force next year.
RR: I also think what’s so underappreciated is how much work that every single member of Tatler puts into this paper — I mean, we only meet for 45 minutes every week. I think it’s also really exemplified in our Tatler social media; Mason [D. ’25], Timothy [D. ’27], and everyone takes a lot of time to work on that, and I’m really, really excited to see where it goes, considering how much ground it’s covered in the past year.
JB: Finally, just a very quick shoutout to design. Outside of Tatler, people don’t realize the crunch that design has to work under; they only get a week — maybe a week and a half — to put a full issue together. From the bottom of our hearts, a big shoutout to them for all that they do, and also for taking on new initiatives this year like more color.
Do you have any suggestions or words of wisdom for prospective EIC “Tatler” applicants?
RR: I’d say stay curious, kids. That has been my motto for my entire Tatler career. I think everything I’ve done has been out of some innate sense of curiosity, and genuinely, it can take you so, so far.
JB: My advice would be to write what you want to write about. We, and the community, want to hear your unique voice; we want to hear what you’re interested in and your passions, and that applies to everyone. Writers — both prospective and on staff — shine through when they are covering things that make them excited or that tickle their fancy, for lack of a better term.
Responses were edited for clarity.
