The Provincetown Independent, in collaboration with its nonprofit partner, the Local Journalism Project, last week welcomed its fifth cohort of summer journalism fellows for 10 weeks of work and learning in our newsroom. The program, which has produced award-winning reporting, is made possible by gifts from readers and supporters of the Outer Cape’s only independent newspaper. We are delighted to have them introduce themselves to you. —The editor
Molly Reinmann
Chappaqua, New York
Yale University, Class of 2026
American Studies and Education Studies
As a freshman in high school, I was cast in the ensemble of a local production of Rent. Six years later, I still ruminate on the lyrics I sang each night: How do you measure a year? How do you measure the life of a woman or a man? The song “Seasons of Love” suggests that we measure our lives in love. But I have always preferred a slightly different metric: stories.
When I reflect on my own life, I think of the personal anecdotes that define it and the local, national, and international stories that color its perimeter.
My desire to seek out and produce stories of all kinds has put me on a path that has led me from theater to oral history to archival work to journalism — and delivered me now to the Indie. Lives, and, I think, communities, are immeasurable save for the stories we tell about them. I believe in the ability of journalism to do for both what little else can. Its traditional role is to hold the powerful accountable, and it can deliver steadfast truths. It can also start meaningful conversations and give a voice to the silenced.
Last year, I covered admissions, alumni, and financial aid for the Yale Daily News, taking over the beat just after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action. I spent much of the year digging into issues of access to higher education, asking questions about which students might be deterred, implicitly or explicitly, from attending a school like Yale, and what can be done to circumvent such systemic roadblocks.
Alongside my pursuit of a certificate in education studies, my beat year fueled my interest in issues relating to education policy, access, and administration. This summer, I hope to zero in on the issues that face the students, teachers, staff, and parents in schools on the Outer Cape.
Come fall, I will say a temporary goodbye to New Haven and take a gap semester to head to Madison, Wisc., where I will cover the 2024 election for the Wisconsin State Journal.
I consider it a gift to join the Independent this summer and contribute to the stories that can help measure the life of this beautiful — and I am already learning, complicated — place that I am so excited to learn more about.
